Contents
The Cuisine of the Deep South
The roots of Southern cuisine date back to before the arrival of the English and Spanish in the Americas. As in most other areas of America, the cuisine was heavily influenced by the Native Americans indigenous to the region. When the settlers founded James Cittie, later to be called Jamestown, they encountered the Powhatan tribe of the Algonquian Native Americans and shared a dish of succotash, venison, and berries. The Native Americans’ diet included meat and seafood cooked over open fires associated by many as the original barbeque. Game stews, sweet potatoes, cymlings (squash), pumpkins, and maize (corn) were also staples of the local cuisine. The Native Americans introduced corn to the settlers and taught them to cultivate it for themselves. The corn that colonists grew did not resemble the corn of today, but was more like Native American corn with starchy, multi-colored kernels, which required slow-cooking in order to make it edible. The whole kernels were also boiled in lye solution, then hulled, washed, and dried to create hominy, an ingredient used in succotash found on page xx. The settlers brought with them boar, sows, and the seeds of carrots and turnips. The food items settlers brought, as well as the indigenous foods of the region, particularly the corn and pork, have become essentials in the cuisine of the Deep South.
As the American diet became more diverse, many new foods began to be used in the cooking of the region. Many varieties of meat and seafood as well as beans, onions, greens, berries, and stone fruits were incorporated into local dishes. When the Carolinas were founded in 1670, the first wave of settlers moved south and west and crossed the Appalachian Mountains into Kentucky. With the influx of immigrants came the settlement of new lands. The influence of these new cultures began to shape the cuisine of the Deep South region.
As these lands were settled, the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road connected them. This road, called the Philly Road, was completed in the 1750’s and became the first road to link Philadelphia to South Carolina. The immigrants traveling down the Philly Road included those of Irish, Scot, Welsh, English, and German descent. From Augusta, Georgia, wagons could leave the Philly Road and follow the nation’s second road, the Upper Federal Road, through Georgia and Alabama bringing goods to market towns like Columbus, Mississippi.
Rice cultivation began in South Carolina in the early 1700’s. By 1725, rice was also a major crop in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Rice was exported by the ton to England. Charleston became an affluent port full of wealthy plantation owners in the rice production business. Rice became a staple used frequently in the cooking of the Lowcountry—an area of South Carolina that extends from Orangeburg to the coast and from the North Carolina border to Georgia’s Savannah River. Southerners stirred the grain into casseroles, soups, breads, and puddings. Red Beans and Rice had its beginnings here. Chicken Country Captain, a curried chicken dish named after a British army officer who allegedly brought the recipe to the Lowcountry from India, is another famous local recipe. Pilau is another well-known regional rice dish where the rice is simmered until done in an aromatic broth. The Civil War, hurricanes, and the end of slavery took its toll on the rice business in South Carolina. By the end of the 1800’s, most of the rice production had moved to Texas, California, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
A second wave of immigrants split off the Philly Road in North Carolina in the 1790’s to settle in the Blue Ridge Mountains, valleys, and plateau regions of Tennessee. In the early 1800’s, Natchez Trace was carved out of the wilderness to link Natchez on the Mississippi River to Nashville. It was created so merchants traveling downstream could get back home again. By the time it was completed, the steamboat had been invented and soon after that the steam locomotive ushered in the Industrial Revolution. These historical benchmarks helped to further diversify the southern diet and its lifestyle.
The Old South can be defined as the pre-Civil War period from 1820–1860. It is comprised of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. Arkansas became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase and received statehood in 1836. Its tie to the Deep South was its main crop, cotton. During the pre-Civil War period, the main cash crop in all of the Southern states from North Carolina to Texas was cotton. Other crops flourished in South Carolina, which grew rice, indigo, and tobacco. Sugar, wheat, grains for distilling, sheep for wool, and cattle for meat were regular mainstays of the Deep South. Today, the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee are also included in the culinary region of the Deep South.
The tobacco and cotton plantations led the economic growth of the Deep South and, in turn, provided the materials for the industrialization of the north. With the plantations came the slaves. The rice plantation owners in South Carolina first enslaved the indigenous Native American tribes. When they rebelled, the colonists began importing slaves from Africa. The Africans had a profound influence on the southern diet. They brought with them yams, sesame seeds, okra, peanuts, black-eyed peas, as well as their own cooking methods and styles. On a typical plantation, only a few products beyond salt, molasses, spices, rum, and sugar were purchased. The slaves produced everything else. The smokehouse was an integral component of any plantation. Normally, a shallow pit was dug in the center of the earthen floor inside the dark smokehouse. Pork was rubbed with salt and placed in a wooden box to cure for about six weeks. It was then hung from the ceiling or placed on shelves around the edges of the smokehouse. The butchered meat was then smoked over a slow-burning fire flavored with corncobs and applewood. Poultry was also an important part of the Southerner’s diet. Most plantations kept a variety of domesticated fowl including chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, and turkeys. Chickens were the most popular due to their high yield of meat and their ease of care.
The slaves of the Deep South possessed such an ability at cooking that they were sought after, even more so than French cooks. Slaveholder Robert Q. Mallard in the mid 1800’s said “my slaves possess so much natural genius that they completely distanced French cooks in the production of wholesome, dainty, and appetizing food.” Before becoming president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson allowed one of his cooks, James Hemings, to apprentice in Paris. In 1787 James Hemings became Chef de Cuisine at the American ministry. The slave cooks’ style was dramatically different with their own families as they were only provided the “waste” after preparing the finer cuts for their masters. Pork fat was rendered into lard and the hog’s skin was fried, called cracklings. Fried hog’s intestine was called chitterlings. A variety of other ingredients were common with the slaves and included hoofs, ears, tails, and brains. This mingling of Native American, European, and African traditions is the backbone of today’s cuisine of the Deep South. The frequently used term “Soul Food” refers to African-American cooking that came from the soul. Soul food recipes were typically handed down through the generations by word of mouth. Soul food also refers to Southern food that is spicier, saltier, and sweeter than typical Southern cuisine and is of African heritage.
The New South or Reconstruction Era began with the freeing of the slaves after the Civil War. By 1900, the expansion of Southern railways, cotton textile, tobacco and forest products, iron, steel, and coal industries were the benchmarks of the New South. During the 1920’s cotton was still the main cash crop of the south, along with rice, sugar, and tobacco. The cultivation of apples, peaches, peanuts, pecans, and soybeans also emerged about this time. President Roosevelt’s New Deal allowed southern farmers to replace 50% of their topsoil-depleted cotton acreage with soybeans, peanuts, hay, wheat, and truck crops. Truck crops included fruits such as peaches, apples, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and blueberries.
Vegetable varieties in the south are endless, with major cultivation of mixed greens, squash, tomatoes, a variety of peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, and beans. The only tea grown in America is on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina. Other primary crops include sweet potatoes, peanuts, sweet corn, mushrooms, eggplant, and okra. Agriculture items of importance are chickens, turkeys, eggs, beef cattle, milk, hogs, goats, and catfish. Seafood varieties from the shores of North Carolina to Georgia to Mississippi include tilapia, pompano, red snapper, flounder, grouper, mullet, shad, trout, striped bass, shrimp, stone crabs, scallops, oysters, crawfish, clams, and soft-shell crab.
The people from the islands off the South Carolina and Georgia coastlines mainly speak Gullah, a Creole language combining 17th and 18th century Black, English and West African languages. Words such as ‘goober’ for peanut and ‘gumbo’ for okra are Gullah by nature. Gullah cooking is similar to that of the Lowcountry except the Gullah cooks tend to use rendered pork fat instead of butter. Gullah cooks are also known for their seafood and shellfish dishes.
A Lowcountry specialty is She-Crab Soup. Foods from this region contain elements of French, Spanish, African, and English culture and tradition. The French Huguenots brought sauces, gratins and meat dishes to the area. The Spanish brought figs, pomegranates, and peaches to the Lowcountry 100 years before the Carolinas were founded. The Spanish also brought red beans and rice and pilaus to the region. Local Lowcountry dishes were born such as Sally Lunn Bread, Benne (sesame seed) wafers, Huguenot torte, and Chicken Country Captain, (which contained curry brought from India). The Mediterranean influence of preserving food such as relishes and pickling (most likely the origin of the southern condiment Chow Chow) were also frequently used in the Lowcountry.
Icons of the cuisine of the Deep South region include fried chicken found on page XX, Hoppin’ John on page xx, biscuits on page xx, Brunswick Stew on page xx, and, of course, barbeque found on page xx. Other notable regional dishes consist of Burgoo from Kentucky, Frogmore Stew from St. Helena Island, South Carolina, and Shrimp Awendaw from Awendaw Island, South Carolina. Vidalia onions, mint juleps, country ham, grits, and red-eye gravy are also popular regional specialties.
The Dutch, French, Spanish, English, German, African, and Native American gastronomy enriched the Deep South’s style of cooking and made food a central focus of their lives. Throughout our history, southern hospitality has revolved around Sunday dinners and public feasts. It is worth noting that what the rest of the country refers to as lunch, southerners call dinner and their evening meal is called supper. Public feasts, such as barbeques, oyster roasts, and Lowcountry boils, attract crowds of people. No matter what the purpose, Southerners are known for their hospitality and culinary delights.
Ingredients Indigenous to the Deep South
Ambrosia: A chilled salad or dessert frequently served in the Deep South region made with diced fruit, nuts, marshmallows, and coconut.
Baby Lima Beans: A New World bean named for its origin in Lima, Peru. Baby lima beans are different from the larger variety of lima bean, the Fordhook. Baby lima beans are pale green, plump, and have a kidney-shaped curvature. Baby lima beans are available from June to September and need to be shelled just before use. They are also available frozen and canned.
Banana Pudding: A vanilla custard dessert frequently served in the Deep South region topped with sliced bananas, and vanilla wafer cookies.
Barbeque: A barbeque is a piece of equipment also known as a grill. Barbeque is also a cooking technique utilized for meat. In the Deep South region, pork and chicken are the most commonly used meats for barbeque, where in Tex-Mex cooking beef barbeque is preferred. Barbeque in the Deep South is generally seasoned with a dry rub, then slowly cooked over a fire giving it smoky taste. Basting with a wet rub made of an acid such as vinegar and spices, to keep the meat moist, is highly recommended.
Barbeque Sauce: Used primarily to baste barbequed meat. Barbeque sauce is also used as an accompanying sauce for barbequed meats. Typical ingredients used in the Deep South region to make barbeque sauce include tomatoes, onions, mustard, garlic, brown sugar, and vinegar. There are, however, many regional preferences, making the barbeque sauce of each area distinctly different from one another.
Benne Wafers: Thin, crisp cookies made with brown sugar, pecans, and sesame seeds.
Bibb Lettuce: Born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1865 this lettuce is named for Judge Jack Bibb who propagated it in his greenhouse. It was also known as limestone lettuce because the alkaline limestone soil of the area was credited in helping to produce the superior lettuce. This lettuce has small, round, loosely formed heads with soft, buttery-textured leaves.
Biscuits: Small, round, quick bread leavened with baking powder or baking soda with the addition of cream of tartar. When made properly biscuits should be tender and light with a savory flavor. They are usually served smothered with gravy and served with breakfast or as an accompaniment at dinner with fried chicken.
Black-eyed Peas: Originally from Asia, these peas were brought to America with African slaves. They are small, beige beans with a black “eye” in its inner curve. They are available fresh or dried and are sometimes referred to as cowpeas by the locals.
Bourbon: This distilled spirit is made from corn and was invented in the 1700’s by the Baptist Minister Elijah Craig, from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Bourbon, also called “straight” whiskey, is the only distilled spirit to originate in the United States. Dr. James Crow invented “Sour Mash” whiskey during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800’s. He employed the principles of sourdough leavening to the mash (what the fermenting mixture is called), which is used to start the next batch. Homemade Bourbon is also known as white lightning or moonshine.
Bourbon Balls: A confection made from ground cookies, nuts, and sugar, which is usually spiked with bourbon or rum.
Brunswick Stew: Attributed to the people of Brunswick, Georgia, this stew traditionally used squirrel as its primary meat. Today, it contains smoked pork and/or chicken and is sometimes seasoned with a ham bone. Brunswick stew is hearty and thick, somewhere between soup and stew in its consistency. The traditional vegetables included are tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, lima beans, and corn.
Burgoo: A thick stew made from barbequed meat or mutton and vegetables. This dish usually has a shot of bourbon added to it due to its origination in Kentucky.
Butter Beans: A regional name for lima beans.
Catfish: A fresh water, bottom-feeding fish indigenous to the rivers and lakes of the Deep South. The wild variety, which used to be eaten mainly by Southerners, has recently been replaced by the farm-raised variety, popular across America. Belzoni, Mississippi, is recognized as the catfish capital of the world and is famous for its production of high-quality, farm-raised catfish, which has a fresh, subtle taste and no fishy odor.
Chicken Country Captain: A traditional Lowcountry dish made by simmering chicken smothered in tomato gravy flavored with curry. Chicken Country Captain is typically served over rice.
Chitterlings: The small intestine of a hog. After being cleaned, they are simmered until tender. Chitterlings are usually fried and added to soups or served with sauce. They are also used as a casing for sausage.
Chow Chow: Its roots are unclear (Native American, British, or Chinese), but it is a genuine condiment in the Deep South region. More often than not it includes cabbage and green tomatoes, which are boiled in pickling brine, and flavored with a hint of mustard.
Coca-Cola: The Deep South region’s original beverage. In 1886 an Atlanta pharmacist named John Styth invented Coca-Cola. Its beginnings were as a prescription medicine to cure headaches and hangovers. Coca-Cola was originally made from the Kola nut and coca plant. Later, carbonated water was added to the recipe. Asa Candler purchased the syrup rights in 1888 and eliminated the coca leaf ingredient, then registered the trade name known to everyone today as Coca-Cola.
Corn: The Native Americans introduced this staple to the colonists of the Deep South region. During this time, corn was tough and required slow cooking to become edible. Corn was used for bread, beverages, sweets, side dishes, and snacks, and to feed cattle, hogs, and poultry. Today every part of the plant is used: husks for tamales, silks for medicinal teas, kernels for food, and stalks for fodder. By-products include bourbon, flour, cornmeal, oil, starch, syrup, and whiskey. The peak growing season for corn is May through September. Corn can be purchased fresh, canned, or frozen.
Cornmeal: Dried corn kernels ground into a fine, medium, or coarse texture. One of three methods is used to grind the meal: water, stone, or steel. Cornmeal can be purchased in yellow, white, or blue colors, depending on the type of corn that is ground. Each of the colors has a very distinct flavor.
Cornpone: The first cornbread. The word “apone” refers to a Native American term meaning “baked.” These cakes are made from water and cornmeal and baked in ashes. From this simple recipe an assortment of breads were developed, including hushpuppies, spoonbread, cracklin’ bread, Johnnycakes, and hoecakes.
Country Ham: A dry, ham that is salt-cured for up to three months and aged for up to twelve months and is produced in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. After the curing process, which can take up to 40 days, the salt is rinsed off and the ham is slowly smoked over a hardwood fire before being aged. The salt used to cure country ham draws out the moisture in the meat, yielding a firmer, very flavorful finished product. Country ham is much different than a canned or water-added ham. With canned or water-added hams, the salt is dissolved with the cure and injected into the meat, taking as little as 24 hours for the entire process.
Cowpeas: A broad category of peas that include black-eyed peas and blue-hulled peas.
Cracklings: The crispy fried, brown skin of roasted pork. Cracklings are sold packaged and eaten as a snack. They are also used as an ingredient in cornbread.
Deviled: In the Deep South, deviled is a term that means that the dish contains mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and peppers. Deviled eggs are a commonly served appetizer or hors d’oeuvre.
Divinity: A Deep South regional confection made from white fudge, corn syrup, or molasses combined with stiffly beaten egg whites. Chocolate, nuts, coconut, or other ingredients are sometimes added.
Fatback: A fresh, unsmoked, and unsalted layer of fat that runs along a hog’s back.
Fiddlehead Ferns: Grown in the swampy lands of Georgia and Louisiana during spring, fiddlehead ferns are the young, edible, coiled frond of ferns when they first emerge. Fiddlehead ferns are only available for approximately two weeks, sometime between April and July. They are a rich green color, and are about 2 inches long and 1½ inches in diameter. It is said their flavor is similar to asparagus. Fiddlehead ferns are usually served as a side dish or used raw in salads. They must be washed very carefully before using.
Frogmore Stew: Named after a town on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Frogmore stew is a Gullah dish of crab, shrimp, sausage, and corn cooked with spicy seasonings.
Greens: The edible leaves of plants such as collard, mustard, turnip, beet, watercress, poke sallet, spinach, kale, ramp, and dandelion. Greens are usually sautéed with salt pork or bacon or steamed.
Grits: Ground from hominy, grits are typically made into a soft, savory cornmeal mush. Grits come in a choice of grinds: coarse, medium, and fine. Coarse-ground grits are cooked for 30-60 minutes. Medium-grind grits are packaged as “quick grits,” which take only 5 minutes to cook. Finely ground grits are sold as “instant grits” and are boiled for one minute. Grits are commonly used as a side dish during breakfast. On the southern coast, grits are often served with seafood.
Hoecakes: Also referred to as Johnnycakes, these flat griddlecakes are made from cornmeal, salt, and boiling water. They were supposedly created by slaves who would cook the mixture on their hoes under the hot sun, while working in the fields.
Hominy: Corn kernels boiled in a lye solution then hulled, washed, and dried. Hominy is usually sold whole in cans. It is an ingredient commonly found in succotash. When ground, hominy is referred to as hominy grits.
Hoppin’ John: Originated by African slaves on the South Carolina plantations, this dish is made from black-eyed peas cooked with salt pork and combined with rice. Hoppin’ John was a traditional dish on New Year’s to ensure good luck and prosperity, but is now served year round. This recipe made with black-eyed peas represents the soldiers who died in the Civil War. Collard greens and cornbread usually accompany Hoppin’ John. The greens are said to represent money and the cornbread signifies gold.
Huguenot Torte: A dessert honoring French-Hugenot immigrants made from an apple and nut mixture.
Hushpuppies: Hushpuppies came to be in the town of Nouvell near New Orleans, shortly after 1727. It was created by a group of Nuns that sailed from France to New Orleans. The nuns converted corn meal into a delicious food that they named Croquettes de Maise. The origination of the term hushpuppies has many accounts. One such account is based on an aquatic reptile called the salamander found in the South, and was referred to as a “water dog” or “water puppy.” These salamanders were deep-fried with cornmeal dough and formed into sticks. It is said that they were called hushpuppies because eating such lowly food was not something a southern wife would want known to her neighbors. Another account follows the Civil War era, when army cooks would toss scraps of corn batter from frying fish, to hungry dogs saying, “Hush, puppies.” In yet another tale, it is said that the fried cornmeal cakes kept the dogs from barking and revealing the location of a southern battalion during the Civil War.
Iced Tea: A Southern drink which is served at any time of the day. Iced tea became popular at the St. Louis World’s fair in 1904, when Richard Blechynden found out that he could not sell his hot tea in the summer’s heat. He transformed the drink into an iced version sweetened with sugar and it became an instant success.
Mint Juleps: An alcoholic beverage made by crushing mint with a spoon and then mixing it with sugar, bourbon, and crushed ice. Mint juleps are typically served in a silver tumbler and are a traditional beverage during the Kentucky Derby.
Muscadine: A thick “slip skin” purple grape that grows only in the Deep South. Muscadine is native to America. It is mainly used to be eaten as a fruit, but originated as the grape used for the first American-made wine.
Okra: Brought to America by Ethiopian slaves, this vegetable is a pod that has a ridged skin and a tapered oblong shape. Select okra that is less than 4 inches in length for the best taste and texture. Okra is usually available fresh, frozen, canned, breaded, and frozen breaded. Okra can be prepared by stewing, baking, boiling, or frying. When cooked, Okra exudes a substance that acts as a thickening agent. Okra is commonly used in gumbo and is also served as a fried vegetable.
Oyster Roast: A popular Lowcountry event similar to a Northeast Clambake. Bushels of oysters are dumped into a roasting kettle and covered with a burlap sack, then placed over hot coals to cook. Once cooked, the oysters are served on newspaper-lined picnic tables and are pried open with special knives.
Peanuts: Natives from South America originally cultivated these nuts over 5000 years ago. Before arriving in the New World, they were taken from South America to Africa by the Spanish explorers. The African slaves brought the high-protein nuts to America. Slave traders used peanuts to provide sustenance to the Africans on the long overseas voyage. Today, peanuts are grown primarily in the Deep South region. The peanuts grown in Georgia are used primarily for peanut butter and peanut oil. The peanuts grown in Virginia are for eating raw or as cocktail nuts.
Pecans: Related to the hickory nut, the pecan has a fat content of over 70%, which is higher than any other nut. Originally from Texas, the trees were brought east by Thomas Jefferson to his estate in Monticello, Virginia. Most pecans are grown in Georgia now, but they can also be found in Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. The trees prefer temperate climates. Sold shelled and packaged, pecans are available year round. They are typically eaten as a snack or used in sweet or savory dishes.
Pecan Pie: The most well-known pecan dessert. The Colonial settlers who transplanted the trees combined the nuts with molasses or corn syrup and eggs to make “transparent pie,” In Kentucky, Pecan Pie is spiked with bourbon.
Pilau: A rice dish indigenous to South Carolina, but with roots from Persia. Long-grain rice is simmered in an aromatic broth until cooked and nearly dry. Some pilaus call for meat or seafood similar to Spanish paella.
Poke Sallet: The leaves of the perennial pokeweed plant that grows wild in the eastern United States. The plant can reach a height of ten feet and bears small, white flowers that eventually become purple berries. The berries and roots are poisonous. The young leaves must be washed, boiled, and washed again. Once cooked poke sallet resembles spinach but tastes like asparagus.
Ramps: A wild onion that grows from the Carolinas to Canada. It resembles a scallion with large leaves. Found between February and June, it has an assertive garlic and onion flavor. Ramps are used both raw and cooked.
Red-Eyed Gravy: This gravy marries ham with biscuits and mashed potatoes with fried chicken. The gravy is made from pan drippings and flecks of ham, a few spoonfuls of coffee, and water. It is cooked until thick and is usually served with ham, biscuits, cornbread, grits, or used as a sauce with grits or other breakfast foods.
Salt Pork: A salt cured layer of fat from a hog’s sides and belly. Salt pork should be blanched before using.
Scuppernong: A variety of Muscadine grape that has a tawny skin. Scuppernong is used primarily as a snack or to make sweet wine.
She-Crab Soup: A flour-thickened cream soup prepared exclusively from female crabs due to their superior flavor. The roe (crab eggs) is usually added to enhance the flavor. Hard-boiled eggs can be used as a substitute for the crab roe.
Silver Queen Corn: A hybrid of corn that is sweet, tender, and white in color. Silver Queen corn matures beginning in the month of July and remains in season for only about thirty days. It is the preferred corn the Deep South region.
Spoonbread: A type of cornbread that is cooked similar to a soufflé. This bread is found today all over the Deep South region.
Succotash: A dish Native Americans served to the first American colonists. It is a cooked dish of lima beans, corn kernels, sweet peppers, and, sometimes, meat. The name is taken from Native American word “misickquatash,” which means “boiled whole kernels of corn.”
Sweet Potato: A large edible root predating the arrival of the colonists in America. Sweet potatoes belong to the Morning Glory family. There are two varieties of sweet potato. The first is a pale sweet potato with a light-yellow skin and a pale yellow flesh. It is not sweet once cooked and has a crumbly texture. The second variety is darker and has a thicker, dark orange skin, and an orange, sweet flesh that cooks to a moist texture. Store sweet potatoes in a cool dry place and never refrigerate. Sweet potatoes can be prepared by baking, boiling, sautéing, and frying.
Vidalia Onions: Sweet onions brought from Texas 65 years ago and only grown in twenty counties in and around Vidalia, Georgia. The soil in this region yields a milder, sweeter onion than those grown in Texas or Hawaii. The peak growing season is late spring and every onion is set, clipped, harvested, and sized by hand.
Menus from the Cuisine of the Deep South
Menu One
Mock Turtle Soup
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Fried Green Tomatoes with Herbed Goat’s Cheese and Roasted Tomato Sauce
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Carolina Pulled Pork Barbeque
Creamy Southern Coleslaw
Potato Salad
Succotash of Corn, Hominy, and Baby Lima Beans
Menu Two
Tuskegee Peanut Soup
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Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Onions with Tarragon Vinaigrette
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Southern Fried Chicken with Creamy Pepper Gravy and Buttermilk Biscuits
Squash Casserole
Grits Soufflé with Roasted Garlic and Cheddar Cheese
Menu Three
Vidalia Onion Tart with Red Pepper Sauce
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Hoppin’ John Salad with Pecan Vinaigrette
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Pan-Fried Catfish with Corn Relish
Honey Roasted Butternut Squash and Turnips
Southern Hushpuppies