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Main Section » Ask the Readers » Ask The Readers: Southern Cooking

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Ask The Readers: Southern Cooking

Mar 5, 2011

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As I was looking through one of my new favorite cookbooks the other day, I knew I had the perfect question for my Ask The Readers feature this week.

The cookbook is called 1,001 Ways to Cook Southern, and it got me thinking about southern food in general and its influence in our culture.

So, my question today has to do with southern food.

I want to know what is the first thing you think of when you hear the term Southern Cooking or Southern Food?

« Quick and Easy Mexican Pork Chops
The Butter Dish and A Gluten Free Life »

Filed Under: Ask the Readers

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Erin

    March 5, 2011 at 12:32 pm

    crawfish. nom nom nom…

    Reply
  2. gramee

    March 5, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    greens, grits, barbecue , and sweet potato pie.

    Reply
  3. stacy

    March 5, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    I think of fried chicken, grits and okra.

    Reply
  4. leah belle

    March 5, 2011 at 1:11 pm

    1. fried ckn, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans (cooked with oil).
    2. biscuits, gravy, cheese grits, bacon

    Reply
  5. Jessica

    March 5, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    Fried everything, Okra, hush puppies, barbeque, coleslaw, greens. Yum.

    Reply
  6. Sheila

    March 5, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Fried. 🙂 I’m from southeastern Oklahoma, and I just remember so many things being fried.

    Reply
  7. karen

    March 5, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    Several things come to mind. Coming from SW Virginia, I think of my grandma’s chicken and dumplings, my aunt’s fried catfish and coleslaw and my mom’s soup beans and cornbread.

    Reply
  8. Allyson @ a Heart for Home

    March 5, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    I’d agree with fried! Also, grits and … my personal favorite… sweet tea.

    Reply
  9. sunny

    March 5, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    Beige food lol. I love it!

    Reply
  10. Merrilee

    March 5, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    Fried food & comfort foods 🙂

    Reply
  11. wanda

    March 5, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    HOME!!

    I’m a GRITS and thought I’d never leave it! But, then I got married to a preacher boy….and off we went.
    We live in Indiana and trust me…..they don’t have a clue about southern cooking (or as I really want to say it, cookin!).
    My kids were so funny about (yankee) foods. Even though they’ve lived in Indiana for 12 years now….they WILL NOT EAT CHILI WITH NOODLES IN IT!
    haha

    Reply
    • Lynn

      March 6, 2011 at 1:45 pm

      @wanda, Wanda, I feel for ya, sister! I’m a GRITS too and am moving to Indiana in 2 weeks. I cannot fathom chili with noodles!!!

      Reply
  12. Alexis

    March 5, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    I’ve never lived in the South… but I think of fried chicken, grits and cornbread when I hear the phrase “southern cookin”.

    Reply
  13. Anna

    March 5, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    fried chicken and gravy. Also I think of the North Carolina State Fair where, it seems, they up the ante every year: fried candy bars, fried cream-filled yellow cakes, and of course, fried fruit.

    Reply
  14. Nicole

    March 5, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    Fried Chicken dipped in honey!

    Reply
  15. Carla

    March 5, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    I was born and raised in Ohio, but after college I lived in Georgia for over a year and then Mississippi for 4+ years… that was awhile ago. 🙂 Anyway, to me southern cookin’ means real food, most of it cooked for a long time and made with lots of love. Nothing ever seems to taste exactly as it did last time because there is much improv in the process. And everything is served with real, fresh brewed (for longer than a northerner would ever dream of letting it steep) sweet tea! I love the South!

    Reply
  16. Don B

    March 5, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    I am a subscriber and I would like to enter for the giveaway

    Reply
    • Lynn

      March 5, 2011 at 5:03 pm

      @Don B, To enter the giveaway you have to leave a comment on my giveaway post. Thanks! https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2011/03/barnes-and-noble-gift-card-giveaway.html

      Reply
  17. Ginger

    March 5, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    Grits, country ham, and red eye gravy.

    Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, fresh sliced tomatoes.

    Collard greens and black eye peas (or crowders!)

    Fried corn bread, fried okra, fried Squash.

    Beans cooked with a ham bone, or green beans cooked with a ham bone and teeny-tiny, baby ‘taters.

    Now I’m home sick for Sunday dinners at Granny’s house all those years ago!

    Reply
  18. Margaret

    March 5, 2011 at 5:58 pm

    Fried chicken

    Reply
  19. Donna Lambeth

    March 5, 2011 at 7:14 pm

    chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes & gravey, biscuits with butter and honey.

    Reply
  20. Sharon

    March 5, 2011 at 7:20 pm

    Fried and butter.

    Reply
  21. Marcy Smith

    March 5, 2011 at 7:58 pm

    From NE Oklahoma, I think of cornbread and turnip greens seasoned with vinegar and bacon.

    Reply
  22. Darleen

    March 5, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    BISCUITS, of course! Sweet tea, fried chicken, pecan pie & peach cobbler.

    Reply
  23. Sandy

    March 5, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    Fried chicken, fried okra, cornbread, sweet tea, greens, grits, banana pudding…

    Reply
  24. Colleen

    March 5, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    I am not from the south – but when I think of southern food I think of anything fried!

    Reply
  25. jamie

    March 5, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    Biscuits with sausage gravy, grits, turnip greens, chicken and noodles, cornbread, sweet potato pie, burnt sugar pie…and sweet tea. 😉

    Reply
  26. mary

    March 5, 2011 at 11:10 pm

    Biscuits and fried chicken!!!

    Reply
  27. Darlene

    March 6, 2011 at 12:08 am

    Cornbread, sweet tea (I mean SWEET), fried green tomatoes, fresh from the garden green beans, butter beans, peas, squash, greens, pecan pie, pound cake. Meals with no meat; just cornbread, some kind of beans, and fried potatoes.

    Reply
  28. Michele

    March 6, 2011 at 12:13 am

    Pinto Beans, Cornbread and Fried Potatoes or Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy or Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. Yummy!

    Reply
  29. Tamsyn

    March 6, 2011 at 5:37 am

    I was born and raised in Georgia, so I think of my (now-passed) Ma-Ma, my stepmom’s mother. She made the best chicken and dumplings EVER- so light and tender! Nothing tastes like her dumplings now that she’s gone. I also think of fresh-caught catfish, fried or broiled right next to the pond where they were caught, and venison stew on a cold and windy night. All made with love, and only a few ingredients. You always knew what you were eating; there was no guesswork as to what was in there.

    Reply
  30. Lucy

    March 6, 2011 at 7:03 am

    HOME

    Reply
  31. Teresa in NC

    March 6, 2011 at 7:58 am

    Southern Food represents family and tradition to me. Country ham with red eye gravy, homemade biscuits and apple butter, blackberry cobbler, corn meal mush, fried squash, speckled butter beans, and anything seasoned with fat-back grease is true southern cooking to me!

    Reply
  32. Joni

    March 6, 2011 at 8:16 am

    Cornbread, grits, fried okra, pinto beans and turnip greens. (I’m a Alabama gal.)

    Reply
  33. Joni

    March 6, 2011 at 8:17 am

    Cornbread, grits, fried okra, pinto beans and turnip greens. (I’m an Alabama gal.)

    Reply
  34. Alice Bishoff

    March 6, 2011 at 8:29 am

    I think of collard greens, black eyed peas, sweet tea and biscuits.

    Reply
  35. Courtney

    March 6, 2011 at 8:30 am

    I always think of fried things and butter. YUM!

    Reply
  36. Courtney S.

    March 6, 2011 at 9:00 am

    This is sort of the opposite….Some people think that fried green tomatoes are a southern thing, but my family grew up eating fried green tomatoes in northern NJ. I really think the fried green tomatoes is more a “rural” thing.

    Re: southern food – grits, greens, black-eyed peas, gumbos….

    Reply
  37. Pat

    March 6, 2011 at 9:07 am

    Fried chicken, cream gravy, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, sweet tea.

    Biscuits, gravy, sausage, bacon, eggs, grits, red eye gravy.

    Fried, Fried! 🙂 Okra, squash, potatoes…you name it. Veggies just cooked to death, like green beans and new potatoes.

    Cobblers, coconut cake, pies and homemade ice cream! Yum ~

    Reply
  38. Jennifer

    March 6, 2011 at 9:09 am

    Oyster dressing at Thanksgiving… and barbecue (though NOT at Thanksgiving unless you consider fried turkey or Turducken)!

    Reply
  39. jan

    March 6, 2011 at 9:21 am

    Hashbrowns, red eye gravy and grits.

    Reply
  40. katklaw777

    March 6, 2011 at 9:27 am

    i think of Ham & Beans, corn bread, greens, fried okra, fried chicken…comfort, not very healthy, but yummy foods.

    Reply
  41. Brenda

    March 6, 2011 at 9:43 am

    Pinto beans, onions and cornbread, fried okra, fried potatoes. A great meal

    Reply
  42. Ann Williams

    March 6, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Unhealthy!!!

    Reply
  43. Jo

    March 6, 2011 at 9:56 am

    Easy — chicken fried steak, key lime pie, sweet tea and White Lily flour.
    Now I’m hungry!

    Reply
  44. Casey

    March 6, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, grits, cornbread, collard greens cooked with ham hocks in them, okra, fried green tomatoes, potato salad, all served with sweet tea.

    Reply
  45. Eileen

    March 6, 2011 at 10:08 am

    Cheese grits, fish frys, sweet tea and home.

    Reply
  46. Jan

    March 6, 2011 at 10:22 am

    Tasty food, but all fried…

    Reply
  47. cheryl

    March 6, 2011 at 10:27 am

    ok, this is easy my mom’s side is from the south, so for me southern cooking is grits, cornbread, tangy vinegar barbeque, fried okra and swwet tea!!!

    Reply
  48. Cindi

    March 6, 2011 at 10:37 am

    Lots of fried food.

    Reply
  49. Heidi

    March 6, 2011 at 10:55 am

    Southern cookin’ represents family & tradition…following great-grandma’s recipes (which are more than likely passed down verbally) and getting together with all the family- aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, black eyed peas, biscuits with sausage gravy, grits, *real* barbeque (meat that has been smoked for hours) strawberry shortcake and sweet tea. Of course, we then work it all of by playing football or gathering around the piano for a good old fashioned gospel sing. 🙂

    Reply
  50. Maria

    March 6, 2011 at 11:05 am

    Black-eyed peas, okra, biscuits and gravy, collard greens…I also think of lightning bugs, screened in porches, and family enjoying all of the food together.

    Reply
  51. Marsha

    March 6, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    freid chicken, grits and collard greens

    Reply
  52. Paula Cameranesi

    March 6, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    I think of Paula Dean, okra, grits and fried foods!

    Reply
  53. Lynn

    March 6, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    Grits, fried okra, catfish and sweet tea!

    Reply
  54. Clairee Meeks

    March 6, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    I think of many good things, but mostly I think of all the overweight people there are down there. No that they have an exclusive on that! Love Southern food, but very infrequently, as it can surely put pounds on in a hurry. and as good as it tastes, it is mostly unhealthy!

    Reply
    • Nan

      March 6, 2011 at 2:07 pm

      What parts are you from?

      Reply
      • Clairee

        March 6, 2011 at 7:37 pm

        @Nan,
        I’m a resident of Washington state, although I originally hailed from Canada. I also lived in Florida for awhile, and have visited several friends in the south many times.
        Probably my favorite southern food is fried Okra, and Pecan pie, although I also love fried chicken.

        Reply
  55. Nan

    March 6, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    Been in the south my whole life and I think of fresh, home grown vegetables (not from the grocery store but from friends’ and family’s garden) and anything fried and sweet tea. And cooked from scratch with everyday ingredients and not with funky ingredients that you can’t pronounce.

    Reply
  56. Kim

    March 6, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    BBQ (baby-back ribs), biscuits and collard greens, YUM!!

    Reply
  57. Sharon

    March 6, 2011 at 3:17 pm

    Southern food…it’s the feeling of home, family, and friends…I suppose comfort would be the word to sum it up best. I’ve been in the South my whole life and have no intentions of leaving. Contrary to apparent popular belief, not ALL of the comfort is necessarily fried. Fresh veggies from my garden -which happens to be located in the field I played in as a child – are just as comforting as my grandma’s biscuits and fried chicken…I think it’s almost as much a mindset as it is a style of cooking.

    Reply
  58. stepmomof2

    March 6, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    Macaroni and cheese! Homemade, of course 🙂

    Reply
  59. Laurie

    March 6, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    My grandmothers fried chicken, green beans and creamed corn…and…bacon, eggs and grits-mixed together! Oh..and sweet tea!!

    Reply
  60. May

    March 6, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    Fried Chicken, sweet potato pie & biscuits & gravy
    Whoah, we used to get the BEST sweet potato pie in Pasadena CA at a little rib joint!

    Reply
  61. Vickie

    March 6, 2011 at 5:00 pm

    Fried chicken with milk gravy, followed by grits (yes, I’m a Girl Raised in the South now living in the great NW)!

    Reply
  62. Tamara

    March 6, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    I think of cajan, shrimp and gumbo…Yummy!

    Reply
  63. Andrea

    March 6, 2011 at 5:56 pm

    chicken and waffles… i have yet to try the seemingly delectable goodness

    Reply
  64. Jessica

    March 6, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Corn on the Cob, Rolls. I asked this same question to my husband to see what he thought he said “Grease” Ha!

    Reply
  65. Wendy

    March 6, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    Fried foods, okra, collards, peanuts, sweet tea and lots and lots of cakes and pies. That’s my overall general impression of Southern food. But, specifically, I think chicken w/rolled dumplings, country fried steak, fried catfish, cornbread and hush puppies, and biscuits and gravy. Good eats!!

    Reply
  66. laura

    March 6, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    i think of fried chicken and paula deen!

    Reply
  67. Pam

    March 6, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    Comfort Food!

    Reply
  68. susan

    March 6, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    fried chicken, grits, biscuits & gravy (not necessarily together but those are the first 3 thing s i think of)

    Reply
  69. Mary

    March 6, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    Comfort food and grandmas arms around me when I was hurting for any reason. Grandma was a real southern bell, she taught school in a one room school house and believed that there was nothing a good meal and a hug could not fix.

    Reply
  70. Tina Wilcox

    March 7, 2011 at 12:08 am

    When I think of Southern Cooking, I think of Home. I think of confort food that warms the belly deep down inside. I think of Family gathering around the table and the love that goes into cooking it.

    Reply
  71. Bible Babe

    March 7, 2011 at 6:59 am

    That’s easy–POKE SALLET! Well, that plus just about any wild growing edible, with cornbread and pinto beans,, plus a saucer full of sliced white onion,

    Hey, my family were POOR southerners. lol–say whatcha want–what most folks consider peasnt food is many times tastier, healthier and cheaper than ‘uptown’ food.

    Reply
  72. Lori A.

    March 7, 2011 at 9:33 am

    I think of fried chicken, mashed potatoes & grilled corn on the cob. Yum.

    Reply
  73. Monica D.

    March 7, 2011 at 10:35 am

    I’m from Louisiana and the first thing I think of is Cayenne Pepper and Seafood!!

    Reply
  74. s

    March 7, 2011 at 11:42 am

    fried chicken, black eyed peas, grits, ribs. When I traveled to the south a few years back, I was introduced to the great seafood – shrimp po’boys yum!

    Reply
  75. Mary j

    March 7, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    butter and gravy

    Reply
  76. Sandy

    March 7, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    I think of hospitality and fun times around the table.

    Reply
  77. Ashley

    March 7, 2011 at 2:01 pm

    A list of usual food we eat in our TN home. Cheese grits, homemade buttermilk biscuits w/ sausage gravy or/both chocolate gravy, fried okra, fried chicken, fried deer backstrip, squash casserole, broccoli casserole. I could go on and on. Now I am hungry.

    Reply
  78. Lisa

    March 7, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    I think of heavy foods – fried meats, veggies cooked in bacon grease or with a ham hock, biscuits and fruit cobblers. But then there are also the veggies that we have all summer sliced and served straight from the garden; and varieties of fruits freshly picked and served chilled with just a little sugar.

    Reply
  79. Dawn

    March 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Fried Chicken, church potluck casseroles, yams (ugh!), sweet potato casserole

    Reply
  80. Faith

    March 10, 2011 at 6:46 pm

    Fried Okra & Collard Greens

    Reply
  81. Candice

    March 12, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    I think of fried okra, peach cobbler, smothered chicken, corn pudding, sweet potato pie, ox tail stew, barbecued neck bones, short ribs baked in beer, pork skins, sauteed cabbage with bacon, a pot of pinto beans with ham hocks, three cheese mac & cheese, pickled beets, potato salad, macaroni salad, chitterlings, blue cheese dressing, black eye peas,
    potatoes and green beans, and cornbread baked in an iron skillet.

    Reply

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About Lynn

Lynn's Kitchen AdventuresI love to cook and bake, and my family loves to eat. Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures is all about sharing my love of cooking, recipes, tips, and ideas of how I combine this cooking passion with a busy life. [Read More]

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