The Southern Way

[JPMMURPHY]

Looking for a little help. I’m setting a story in the Deep South (Mississippi), along the banks of the same. I’m looking for southern dishes (sorry, not the curvy kind) and the recipes. Also, why cooking them the southern way makes them better. Hominy grits, red eye gravy, cornbread (specifically why the southern recipe is different – interpret better) and whatever else comes to mind. Also, anything that uses the word mud. I recall from my youth mud pie – a very chocolate pie. Is that a southern dish or just an invention of a great aunt of mine (maybe she got it from Betty Crocker)? I want the food to be one of the seductions of the south.

Thanks.

 

[Misty_Morning]

Lived in Mississippi for @24 years.......Mississippi Mud pie is not your aunts invention...


Biggies: anything fried including fried okra, fried chicken, hush puppies with the ever popular fried catfish, fried pickles, fried green tomatoes....you get the hint.

Also: Mint Julips & Pecan Pie

Cornbread (add a little of your "good" gease drippings to the batter and always use a cast iron skillet to bake in the oven)


I'll think about this some more and come back later....

 

[Guest]

Just make sure all of it is cooked in a cast iron skillet...preferably with the bacon fat saved in a jar by the stove...

biscuits and gravy (not that disgusting thin, brown gravy either)
home grown tomatoes for those fried green tomatoes

i almost forgot the pecan pie...(and make sure you pronounce pecan right)

 

[JPMMURPHY]

Lived in Mississippi for @24 years.......Mississippi Mud pie is not your aunts invention...


Biggies: anything fried including fried okra, fried chicken, hush puppies with the ever popular fried catfish, fried pickles, fried green tomatoes....you get the hint.

Also: Mint Julips & Pecan Pie

Cornbread (add a little of your "good" gease drippings to the batter and always use a cast iron skillet to bake in the oven)


I'll think about this some more and come back later....

Thanks Misty. You certainly jogged my memory. Is there a fish dish that uses the word mud?

 

[Guest]

Cat head biscuits and sausage gravy. Scattered, smothered, diced, covered (any-style) hashbrowns from the Waffle House. Boiled crawfish, peel-n-eat boiled shrimp with lots of ice-cold beer (Bud, Miller's, or Coors no out-of-country-brews), fish fries complete with catfish, french fries, and hush puppies. Mustard greens, dirty rice and black-eyed peas. Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting (my favorite cake).

Southern food is good because it's so bad for you. *sighs* This Cajun misses Louisiana.

 

[JPMMURPHY]

Just make sure all of it is cooked in a cast iron skillet...preferably with the bacon fat saved in a jar by the stove...

biscuits and gravy (not that disgusting thin, brown gravy either)
home grown tomatoes for those fried green tomatoes

i almost forgot the pecan pie...(and make sure you pronounce pecan right)

Honest question - as in pee-can?

 

[Guest]

Honest question - as in pee-can?

Pe-cahn.

 

[JPMMURPHY]

Cat head biscuits and sausage gravy. Scattered, smothered, diced, covered (any-style) hashbrowns from the Waffle House. Boiled crawfish, peel-n-eat boiled shrimp with lots of ice-cold beer (Bud, Miller's, or Coors no out-of-country-brews), fish fries complete with catfish, french fries, and hush puppies. Mustard greens, dirty rice and black-eyed peas. Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting (my favorite cake).

Southern food is good because it's so bad for you. *sighs* This Cajun misses Louisiana.

Cat head biscuit is a new one for me. Can you tell me a little about it? And do boiled crawfish have a local name? Mud shrimp???????

 

[Vermilion]

Pe-cahn.

Curious. I'm from the UKwhere we say it pee-can... if I imagine it in a Southern American Accent, then I imagine it to sound that way. I thought pe-cahn was a more... I dunno... Eastern way of saying it? <is admittedly out of her depth with regional accents now>

x
V

 

[Misty_Morning]

Just make sure all of it is cooked in a cast iron skillet...preferably with the bacon fat saved in a jar by the stove...

biscuits and gravy (not that disgusting thin, brown gravy either)
home grown tomatoes for those fried green tomatoes

i almost forgot the pecan pie...(and make sure you pronounce pecan right)

hehehehehe....a yankee says pee-can...to us thats what the good ole boys call the coffee can in the bass boat (can't pee in the water, it'll scare the fish!)

Buiscuits and gravy....no better ways to start a morning....after cooking your sausage, use the grease along with flour and milk to make the gravy plus crumble some of the sausage into the gravy....always use buttermilk for your biscuits...my cutter for my buiscits was always a enpty sweetened condensed milk can that I removeed both ends from (I found it was the perfect size)


In the fall....quail and dove are served alot as Dove Shoots are really big social gatherings...all day events with a party atmosphere usually live music and the occational politician.

All throughout the year we always had plenty of venison (frozen) from deer season. Tricks of the trade to get that gamey taste out of the venison soak it in buttermilk and diet coke (known lots of folks from various places in MS that used this trick) other say soak it in milk...deer meat makes the BEST Friggin chili and spagetti sauce ever...


Craw-dads (non southerners call em Crayfish.....I personally call them bait)...you can get them anywhere....you even see folks along the side of the roads with nets catching them in the ditches....


I don't do anything aquatic....hate all forms of fish and such but I still had to cook the shit for my ex....of course there's catfish (catfish farms are extremely big in the MS Delta...in fact Bezoni...(pronounced bell-zo-na)...is the catfish capital of the world)...also really big is bream (pronounced brim) and crappie (pronounced croppie)


OK. no matter where you go in MS you can always spot a redneck cuz he got his Moonpie and RC cola......


Barq's rootbeer was created in Biloxi MS. When I first moved to MS I lived on the MS GulfCoast and Barq's was only a local beverage...


Got to think some more....I'll be back.....


What part of the River? Southern around Natchez....Mid around Vicksburg...or Northern around Rosedale (or Greenville)? Makes a difference.....can help with Natchez and Rosedale......

 

[scriptordelecto]

Cat head biscuit is a new one for me. Can you tell me a little about it? And do boiled crawfish have a local name? Mud shrimp???????

LOL loving your obsession with the mud thing.

Don't forget fried corn, or corn cakes(kinda like pancakes, but greasier and with a thicker texture). We also grew up on green beans with fat back and blackberry dumplins.

Livermush, chitlins and gravy(shudder... I may be southern, but there are some dishes I don't even go for)

 

[minsue]

Curious. I'm from the UKwhere we say it pee-can... if I imagine it in a Southern American Accent, then I imagine it to sound that way. I thought pe-cahn was a more... I dunno... Eastern way of saying it? <is admittedly out of her depth with regional accents now>

x
V

I love the way Brits say "Southern American" or "South American" when referring to the US South. It always throws me since that tends to bring to mind the continent, not the states.

 

[Misty_Morning]

LOL loving your obsession with the mud thing.

Don't forget fried corn, or corn cakes(kinda like pancakes, but greasier and with a thicker texture). We also grew up on green beans with fat back and blackberry dumplins.

Livermush, chitlins and gravy(shudder... I may be southern, but there are some dishes I don't even go for)

Almost ALL vegatables HAVE to have fat back, my squash dishes didn't though....I don't do chitlins either....that shit's nasty....

 

[Vermilion]

hehehehehe....a yankee says pee-can...to us thats what the good ole boys call the coffee can in the bass boat (can't pee in the water, it'll scare the fish!)

Buiscuits and gravy....no better ways to start a morning....after cooking your sausage, use the grease along with flour and milk to make the gravy plus crumble some of the sausage into the gravy....always use buttermilk for your biscuits...my cutter for my buiscits was always a enpty sweetened condensed milk can that I removeed both ends from (I found it was the perfect size)


In the fall....quail and dove are served alot as Dove Shoots are really big social gatherings...all day events with a party atmosphere usually live music and the occational politician.

All throughout the year we always had plenty of venison (frozen) from deer season. Tricks of the trade to get that gamey taste out of the venison soak it in buttermilk and diet coke (known lots of folks from various places in MS that used this trick) other say soak it in milk...deer meat makes the BEST Friggin chili and spagetti sauce ever...


Craw-dads (non southerners call em Crayfish.....I personally call them bait)...you can get them anywhere....you even see folks along the side of the roads with nets catching them in the ditches....


I don't do anything aquatic....hate all forms of fish and such but I still had to cook the shit for my ex....of course there's catfish (catfish farms are extremely big in the MS Delta...in fact Bezoni...(pronounced bell-zo-na)...is the catfish capital of the world)...also really big is bream (pronounced brim) and crappie (pronounced croppie)


OK. no matter where you go in MS you can always spot a redneck cuz he got his Moonpie and RC cola......


Barq's rootbeer was created in Biloxi MS. When I first moved to MS I lived on the MS GulfCoast and Barq's was only a local beverage...


Got to think some more....I'll be back.....


What part of the River? Southern around Natchez....Mid around Vicksburg...or Northern around Rosedale (or Greenville)? Makes a difference.....can help with Natchez and Rosedale......

OK. Now I desperately want to come stay with you. You'remaking me so hungry!
x
V

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Southern Hot Dog... Get your weiner really hot and wrap it in a bun. If he screams put a gag on him

 

[JPMMURPHY]

hehehehehe....a yankee says pee-can...to us thats what the good ole boys call the coffee can in the bass boat (can't pee in the water, it'll scare the fish!)


In the fall....quail and dove are served alot as Dove Shoots are really big social gatherings...all day events with a party atmosphere usually live music and the occational politician.

Craw-dads (non southerners call em Crayfish.....I personally call them bait)...you can get them anywhere....you even see folks along the side of the roads with nets catching them in the ditches....

OK. no matter where you go in MS you can always spot a redneck cuz he got his Moonpie and RC cola......


Barq's rootbeer was created in Biloxi MS. When I first moved to MS I lived on the MS GulfCoast and Barq's was only a local beverage...


Got to think some more....I'll be back.....


What part of the River? Southern around Natchez....Mid around Vicksburg...or Northern around Rosedale (or Greenville)? Makes a difference.....can help with Natchez and Rosedale......

I haven't decided where. A yank from Chicago ends up there (running away from life). I want one of the main eateries right on the bank of the river (high enough or far enough north it doesn't flood every spring).

 

[JPMMURPHY]

LOL loving your obsession with the mud thing.

Don't forget fried corn, or corn cakes(kinda like pancakes, but greasier and with a thicker texture). We also grew up on green beans with fat back and blackberry dumplins.

Livermush, chitlins and gravy(shudder... I may be southern, but there are some dishes I don't even go for)

I would like Mud in the title... something very bad (and contrary to good eats) happens there. I kinda wanna get the reader hooked on mud this, mud that, ummm... good. Then, yikes!

 

[Misty_Morning]

I haven't decided where. A yank from Chicago ends up there (running away from life). I want one of the main eateries right on the bank of the river (high enough or far enough north it doesn't flood every spring).

There's an extensive levee system along most of the river. Flooding is only a problem on rare occations when the water tops the levee...

in the 70's there was a very tragic event the occurred in Natchez which is situated on the bluffs (no levees)....

Originally, part of Natchez was right on the water...where goods could be loaded and unloaded easily...during this century it became a tourist attraction known as Natchez Under The Hill....during flood season the bluff gave way and several tourist spots were washed into the River killing alot of folks.....Natchez Under The Hill is still a big hotspot and where the casino is located as well.....

Natchez is one of the most beautiful Southern towns...many, many antebellum homes and lots of plantation houses....every spring there is "The Pilgrimage"...they also have the annual Balloon drop....very cool.....


the Delta...well if you've ever been there you would understand why The Blues came about......

 

[Guest]

Cat head biscuit is a new one for me. Can you tell me a little about it? And do boiled crawfish have a local name? Mud shrimp???????

Cat head biscuits maybe more of Alabama/Mississippi term? They're the size of cat heads. Crawfish is called crawfish in Louisiana and the other frequent name they're called is mud bugs.

 

[TxRad]

Crawfish = Mudbugs

Boil em up in a big old pot with enough spices to make your eyes water along with the corn and potatoes being cooked at the same time in the same pot.

Pecan = (pa con) is probably closer to the way people say it.

make sure you have lots of collar green, mustard greens, even a little poke salad... yes it really is real... it'll poison the hell out of ya if you don't know how to cook the wild stuff

I can't think of to many things to eat with the word mud in them....

Oh and always iced tea and it's as sweet as syrup.... or it just ain't right.

 

[Vermilion]

Cat head biscuits maybe more of Alabama/Mississippi term? They're the size of cat heads. Crawfish is called crawfish in Louisiana and the other frequent name they're called is mud bugs.

MUD!!!!

 

[Guest]

Curious. I'm from the UKwhere we say it pee-can... if I imagine it in a Southern American Accent, then I imagine it to sound that way. I thought pe-cahn was a more... I dunno... Eastern way of saying it? <is admittedly out of her depth with regional accents now>

x
V

Oh, I don't know. I'm Cajun and that's how I pronounce it. Louisiana is just a whole different world in US of A.

 

[Misty_Morning]

Cat head biscuits maybe more of Alabama/Mississippi term? They're the size of cat heads. Crawfish is called crawfish in Louisiana and the other frequent name they're called is mud bugs.

Crawfish....more likely to hear crawdad in Missisippi....mudbug is more a coon-ass term and folks from Florida as well....


Remember: pinch the tails and suck the heads.....

 

[JPMMURPHY]

Thanks to all....

I'll do a little checking on Natchez... sounds interesting. Might have the right mix of money and jez plain poo folks for what I'm looking for.

Thanks very much to all. Your input is graciously received and appreciated.

Made me so hungry, I had to go make lunch. Lol.

I will keep an eye on the thread and I may ask for a few specifics a little later on.

 

[Misty_Morning]

OMG...how could I forget...Chicken and Dumplings.