Updated as noted below
Last week, I posted a 100 foods you should eat list that had been posted from the blog Very Good Taste. It made me decide to do a similar list for Southern food, and here it is. This is an invitation for discussion in comments, and for other bloggers to post their own reactions to the list.
There are some regional specialties folks could live forever and not eat (a slug burger from Corinth, MS, for instance), but others that may not be wonderful but are too important to leave out (bbq mutton, pickled eggs), and so they are here. There are recent fads (koolickles) that got left out, as did a Coca Cola with peanuts in it. I was sad to cut country captain, and decided key lime pie was from so far south it could be dropped. I had a problem not listing specific places to eat some of the dishes (fried catfish at Taylor Grocery or Middendorfs, Memphis barbecue at Paynes, cream pie at the Family Pie Store), and had to cut a couple of other restaurants I regretted (Luscows, the Mayflower). Also, there’s not enough gulf fish left on the list, and there are some prizes from local fresh produce (from tomatoes to heirloom sweet potatoes) I cut, and I would like to have had more game (particularly doves and turkey). My wife and daughter think there is something very wrong with lacking a tomato sandwich (with Hellmans, says my daughter) in a list that includes fried turkey. I cut muscadines, oysters from Louisiana, and fig preserves, too.
I know I’ll draw howls that this “south” does not include Texas (but includes Florida and Kentucky). All I can say is that Texas (with Tex-Mex food, for instance) would make this list impossible. Too many things would have to be cut.
I’ve managed to eat all but seven myself, and there’s only one I won’t eat, number 74 (crawfish etouffee, because I learned I was allergic and have had to settle for shrimp).
As with the prior list, the way it works is you highlight what you’ve eaten, italicize what you haven’t eaten but really want to eat, and strikethrough what you haven’t eaten and won’t.
If you have a blog, post your version. If you don’t, tell me what you think in comments. In coming weeks, we may offer some related lists– looking to particular regions, or particular sub-lists like restaurant experiences.
1. Appalachicola oysters
2. souse
3. A sazarac
4. moonshine
5. A Ramos gin fiz
6. single-barrel bourbon
7. Jack Daniels and coca cola
8. a moon pie (Lookout Mountain brand of course)
9. sweet tea
10. a pimento burger (Georgia)
11. whole hog barbecue
12. one of the “freak” bbq dishes (bbq sundae, bbq spagetti, etc.). Freak is my term.
13. pork shoulder in Memphis
14. dry ribs
15. wet ribs
16. a hot dog at the Varsity in Atlanta
17. a muffelata
18. what your waiter thinks you should have tonight at Galatoire’s
19. frogmore stew
20. fried catfish
21. she-crab soup
22. Boiled crawfish at a roadhouse in Louisiana (e.g. the Guiding Star in New Iberia)
23. bbq with Carolina mustard sauce
24. insanely hot chicken in Nashville
25. bbq mutton (Kentucky)
25. burgoo (Kentucky)
26. brunswick stew
27. bbq chicken with “white sauce” (North Alabama)
28. shrimp and grits
29. a lucky dog
30. seafood gumbo
31. chicken and sausage gumbo
32. fried okra
33. chitterlings
34. greens cooked with a ham hock
35. yellow squash casserole
36. deviled eggs
37. kumback sauce
38. Delta tamales
39. a steak at Does
40. red beans and rice
41. fried pie
42. Natchitoches meat pie
43. maquechoux
44. fried chicken, milk gravy, and rice
45. alligator
46. deep fried turkey
47. bread and butter pickles
48. blackberries just after they are picked
49. blackberry cobbler
50. pecan pie
51. extract pound cake
52. tea cookies
53. a breakfast of country ham, fried eggs, grits, biscuits, red eye gravy
54. a glazed and baked Tennessee or Kentucky country ham
55. hickory smoked sausage in a canvas poke
56. a Greek hot dog with meat sauce in Birmingham
57. pimento cheese sandwich
58. A fried fish plate from a fish shack anywhere along the Gulf or Atlantic coasts
59. a mint julep
60. boiled peanuts
61. peanut soup
62. sweet potato pie
63. sorghum molasses
64. Chesapeake bay softshell crabs
65. Maryland crab cakes
66. Stuffed ham (Maryland or Virginia)
68. cornbread
69. cornbread stuffing
70. andouille
71. boudin
72. jambalaya
73. gumbo z’herbes
74. crawfish etouffee
75. sugar cane
76. wild duck gumbo
77. shrimp remoulade
78. bread pudding with whiskey sauce
79. barbecued shrimp
80. A New Orleans creole Italian salad
81. field peas
82. okra and tomatoes
83. skillet corn
84. a “meat and three” plate lunch in mid-to-late summer
85. a revolving tables-style boarding house meal
86. red velvet cake
87. fried buffalo fish
88. ramps
89. yellow meat watermelon
90. Food and drink at an SEC football game tailgating
91. venison
92. turtle soup
93. quail for breakfast
94. pickled egg
95. Barqs root beer
96. A home or house-made cream pie with meringue on it
97. A country church “dinner on the grounds”
98. squirrel and dumplings
99. beaten biscuits
100. hoop cheese and saltines in a country store
Updated:
Cuban sandwich was eliminated in favor of a muffelata
Omissions noted in comments that trouble me to varying degrees:
banana pudding
grillades and grits
seafood stuffed mirliton (or eggplant or artichoke, I add)
sweet potato cassarole
Abita beer
caramel cake
fried green tomatoes
Lotus — you gotta try souse.
Pssst ske. NMC posted this, not Lotus
NMC. I’m going to try to work on #98 for you before the end of hunting season. You’ll move it up somewhat on the list AND make it bold.
Good list, but one must have a Pimm’s cup on a hot sweaty summer afternoon. I’d have to add elderberry jelly too. And Jam Cake. And shoe peg corn casserole. Your women folk were right about the blt. And where is the muffuletta?
shaves — what was I thinking? Seems I just thought Lotus was the leader re culinary delights.
NMC you have to try souse. And while you are at it try some pickled pigs knuckles. They sort of go together (at least up in the upper midwest on the Northern Tier).
Re #98, squirrel is good, but with dumplings? I will have to think about that.
Muffuletta: I’m embarrassed about leaving that one out. I don’t know what to cut to put it in, perhaps the “freak” bbq dishes. Help me out here.
Pims cup, on the other hand, doesn’t feel specifically southern to me. It’s English (very much so) for starters. Jam cake and elderberry jam… Maybe the former, but what to cut? I felt the absence of some desserts.
souse: I actually may have eaten it (I think so) but wasn’t sure. And– hey– check the byline, I’ve posted lots about food. I’ve had pickled pigs feet, too. Have you had pickled pigs lips? They’re available at many convenience stores as a routine thing in Louisiana.
PS — while we are thinking about food, the George Bush “lets go shopping” economy is on the verge of tanking. What is about to happen may well make the Crash of ‘29 look like kids play, a walk in the park. Hope I am wrong.
NMC — you have posted a lot about food and you have gotten me interested. Did not mean to offend. Pickled pigs feet, that’s what got me on to pig’s knuckles. The Hormel stuff is great. Pig’s lips, now you have to be kidding. You must be reading my comments about Sarah Palin.
#18-I say don’t leave it to the waiter-order the crabmeat ravigot and an old fashion
Live dangerously – whip up some home made mayonnaise with eggs, lemon juice and Wesson. Jazz it up with a little fresh onion juice, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and paprika. Works well with BLTs, deviled eggs, tomato aspic (don’t forget the pecans & Tabasco), and of course home made pimento cheese. Makes killer chicken salad too.
fried green tomatoes-cup them up and fry them with you okra. Awesome. Thin fried catfish at Middendorf’s. Stuffed Snapper at Mary Mahoney’s. Grits–creamy, buttered or cheese. Add an Orange Crush in a brown glass bottle or a nugrape soda in a glass bottle to the hoop cheese and saltines, consume under a huge shade tree on a hot summer day and you’ll be as close to heaven on earth as you ever can be.
Confounded, I love your rhapsody about the nehi or grape soda under a trea with the cheese and crackers (although it would have a coke in very cold small bottle with me)…
BUT if you’re going to add (this is for the muffelatta addition, too) you have to say what goes off. green tomatoes replace what? etc.
duckweed:
shoe peg corn casserole
A reliable source says: this one turns up in church suppers and funerals and other women say “ooh, I have to have this recipe”–that it’s a happy, accidental mixture of canned stuff– canned shoe peg corn, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, garlic powder or salt , “the cheesecake of casseroles and very addictive.”
Is that it? (you might guess from the recipes I’ve posted that this would not be in my repretoire but my wife says I’ve missed out)
well I thought by adding the green tomatoes to the okra; we could save the other items on the list. I am no fan of boudin or andouille so I would put the middendorfs catfish and the Mahoney stuffed snapper in their place.
Ice cold coke in the small bottle could definitely be substituted for the orange crush or nugrape according to the picnicer’s preference.
I just found a recipe for shoe peg corn casserole online. Is this it?!? I can’t possibly endorse such a concoction. My wife says it’s wondrous and addictive.
Oh, no.
I had middendorf and taylor both, and had Louisiana oysters (Castamentos or Acme) along with Florida, but combine catfish into one (fried catfish) and Florida won on the oyster selection.
OR we could take out the squirrel with dumplings. I haven’t seen that since my grandmother fixed it about 46 years ago. Someone asked why put squirrel with dumplings? It makes the meal go farther. Whereas Granny could only feed two growing boys with six squirrels; she could feed a family of eight with six squirrels and dumplings and have leftovers.
Confounded. You almost blaspheme. In the spirit of being from the most obese state in the Union I’ll ask why do we have to take anything off.
‘ceptin’ maybe whatever “peanut soup” is. Peanuts boiled too long?
The corn salad I’m most used to eating is not baked. It’s served cold and doesn’t contain anything but the corn, celery, pickle relish and mayo/sour cream 50/50 with salt and pepper unless they really do it up and add paprika on top of the grated cheese. For color of course
okay take out the squirrel and dumplings put mahoney’s stuffed snapper leave off middendorf’s, put the fried green tomatoes in with the fried okra. The grits are already included with shrimp and grits. That should keep it at 100.
Peanut soup is a big thing in Virginia. I’m trying to get all the regions of the south in (I got a lot of static at home about both burgoo and brunswick stew, and bbq mutton).
The fried okra stands alone.
There isn’t much difference to me in brunswick stew and burgoo. At least not the ones I’ve eaten.
The moon pie was always best to me with an RC Cola (a southern brewed cola).
I’ve eaten approx. 85% of the things on that list. Appears I have some new things to try, especially the Kentucky and Alabama selections.
One omission worthy of note: I don’t know if this is truly a southern thing or not, but there are two places that serve a type of Italian/Greek salad that are wonderful if you like the taste of olives — Lillos’ (Leland, MS) house salad, and Pete and Sam’s (Memphis) house salad. These two salads are very similar — iceburg lettuce soaked in the olive based dressing, served with other good stuff including black olives, tomatoes, and anchovies. Its out of this world and into the next county. Lillos sells its salad dressing so that you can enjoy at home. I just haven’t had these same types of salads anywhere else.
With regard to tamales, I have eaten them all over the MS Delta and elsewhere. The best, IMO, hands down, even better than Doe’s, are from Joe’s Hot Tamale’s in Rosedale, MS (also known as the White Front Cafe). Although the original proprietor (Joe) is now deceased, they still sell his style of hot tamales(his family is continuing the tradition). Even better than the beef tamales they serve to the public, were his venison tamales, which he would make upon special order after you dropped off some venison to him. I don’t think they still do the special order venison tamales since Joe’s death.
It was a good memory seeing on the list the yellow meat watermelons. I used to help my grandmother in her garden in Chickasaw County, where she grew, among many things, these type of melons. We enjoyed eating many of these melons together on her front porch before her death. I don’t think I have had one since. I’m overdue.
With regard to grits, I would highly recommend Sciple’s grits, made from an old water grist mill that predates MS statehood —located in Dekalb, MS. While you can order these and have them shipped to you, it is a neat day trip to travel to the old mill to buy them there. They have the grits sitting out and an honor box to deposit your money into in the event no one is there to collect your money. I have eaten many grits in my day —and these are absolutely the very best.
Nice list NMC. Well done.
Boiled peanuts, blergh: GOT to go in favor of peanut brittle. Gimme purple-hull peas (unless that’s what you mean by “field peas”) for, oh, the ramps (sorry, Appalachia). Trade ya many an item on the list for fried green tomatoes, but since I don’t know what a lucky dog is, that’s my easiest candidate here. Roas’ beef po’boy for any of the bbq freaks — gah! Deviled crab for the boudin. Scuppernongs/muscadines for sugar cane also easy. Peach cobbler for the blackberry one. Corn on the cob for skillet corn. Would gladly give up my pickled egg to anyone with fresh figs, and I feel awful bad for anyone who’s missed yellow-meat watermelon.
shaves @ 17: nmc made the rule if you suggest an addition to the list you have to suggest a subtraction to keep it at 100. I agree it’s a harsh rule. I think one item definitely missing is all things sweet potato: baked sweet potatoes, sliced sweet potatoes sauteed in butter, sweet potato pie, sweet potato casserole with tiny marshmallows melted on top, canned yams.
@9 I should have provided a deletion for the home made mayo. #65 Maryland crab cakes would be mine, as I regret that I am allergic to all crustaceans
Financial calamity calls for comfort food . . . Time to make buttermilk cornbread sans sugar and throw it in some sweet milk. Eat it like cereal.
Sorry to be picky, but one “l” in Galatoire’s, Lotus.
To expand the list, combine the concept dishes into one listing for each. Gumbo and its spin-offs, BBQ and its regional interpretations. Same with hot dogs.
I would add the Inez Burger at CS’s in the burger category. Also, I would add Ellis Stansel’s rice but only as a companion to red beans, gumbo, etouffe, etc.
I would omit the drinks because they deserve their own list.
Shaves,
If you can’t taste much difference between Burgoo and Brunswick stew you have obviously never dined at Moonlite BBQ in Owensboro, KY.
They have a web site for ordering, if you’re interested.
Banana pudding instead of blackberry cobbler. Though blackberry cobbler is delicious and a favorite of mine, I’ll bet there are more banana puddings on southern tables than blackberry cobbler. Many people I know seek a banana pudding “just like my grandmother’s—the best in the world.” I’ve heard hundreds of banana pudding stories.
With all due respect to Lotus, boiled peanuts are the first thing I thought of when I saw the list. Mmmmm, I love me some boiled peanuts! And this is the time of the year when the grocery stores start carrying green peanuts for me to take home and boil. Some folks like crab boil in theirs, but I prefer straight salt in mine. My grandfather called all peanuts “goobers.” They are quintessentially Southern.
Oh God, Nomiss, you’re so right — what were we thinking?! A 100 Southern Foods list without banana pudding? Impossible!
Maquechaux? What is that? Tried to google it and google didn’t have it.
Maquechaux is also spelled Maque Choux. From Wikipedia:
Maque choux (pronounced: “mock shoe”) is a traditional dish of southern Louisiana. It is thought to be an amalgam of Acadian French (Cajun) and Native American cultural influence, and the name is likely to derive from the French interpretation of the Native American name.
It is a simple dish that fundamentally contains corn, green bell pepper, tomatoes, onion, and sometimes garlic and celery. The ingredients are first braised in a pot. Historically bacon grease was used for this, although this is now more often substituted with various combinations of oil, butter, or cream. The vegetables are then left to simmer until they reach a juicy, saturated consistency, with chicken stock or water added as necessary. The dish is finished with salt and a combination of red and black pepper, and some cooks include hot sauce and a bit of sugar for greater complexity.
Maque choux is usually served as an accompaniment; however, it can also act as a base for a main meal and use focal ingredients such as bite-sized portions of chicken or crawfish.
Isn’t #80 “A New Orleans creole Italian salad” what folks in New Orleans call a Wop salad?
Here’s a Crawfish Maquechoux recipe.
Plexix 33, betcha it is.
Oh, hell no, that ain’t the shoe peg corn I’m talkin’ bout. First you make a nice bechamel sauce, then you mix in a good size bag of frozen shoe peg corn. Taste & add some salt and pepper maybe. If you feel like it you can add a few shaves of nutmeg or some paprika, maybe an egg or some yolks and a few handsful of mild cheese. I like jack. Pop that sucker in the oven at 300-325 F til it sets up some and looks done. Yummmm.
Pimm’s may be British, but after sweating through a late summer afternoon in New Orleans and fainting into a chair at the Napolean House, there’s nothing that feels more Southern than being revived with the cucumbery coolness of a nice Pimm’s cup.
burgoo vs. brunswick stew
They may be kin, but they are particularly local dishes from quite different regions (Ky. v. Georgia/Virginia).
various gumbos:
Maybe there’s one too many, but I think they are separate entities. I wanted wild duck on there, and so the gumbo. Suggest another wild duck dish (which won’t free a space…)? gumbo z’herbes is radically different from other gumbos, and that leaves seafood and chicken & sausage, which I view as classic dishes. So I’d consider swapping duck gumbo for another wild duck dish but that’s about it.
ramps: I think it’s important to show very dishes that are important to very distinct communities, in this case Appalachia, which may only be represented by ramps.
sweet potatoes. Pie is on there in the 60s. Maybe there should be another representative
lucky dogs: Lotus, surely you have read this book? If not you should. Here’s another book about Lucky Dogs. Confederacy of Dunces is a southern lit classic, and the Managing book is a lot of fun. Lucky Dogs are part of the scene in New Orleans.
Hot dogs in Bmghm are another very local thing. While it may be odd to have both that and Lucky Dogs, they represent distinct corners of southern culture.
banana pudding and fried green tomatoes probably should be on the list, but I’m not sure where. I resist removing blackberry cobbler.
further clarification: I said “field peas” because I thought lady peas and purple hull peas would be covered.
So I’m considering:
taking off cuban sandwich and putting in its place banana pudding.
The other two omissions I’m convinced may be a problem are muffulettas and fried green tomatoes, but I don’t see what to remove to add them. Should I drop skillet corn for the muffulatta? I think probably.
Some other omissions that were mentioned: The Italian / Greek salad that AFOTL mentions I think is covered, only better by the New Orleans Creole Italian salad (which, yes, is called a wop salad, and I was prevailed on by folks at home not to call it that). I purposely kept specific restaurants to a minimum (there were suggestions from Mary Mahoneys and others), and hated cutting, say, the Greek salad with crabmeat at the Mayflower. I’ll do a restaurant list in the future…
I think that covers most of the others except shoe peg corn casserole, which I’m not buying.
Oh, also: corn on the cob is pretty much a national thing. I’m not so sure about skillet corn, which (see above) may be about to go away.
So what do folks think about the changes I’ve mentioned?
hoe cake cornbread is a category by its self
Please someone come up with a list of places to get a good hamburger–I love hamburgers and it woud be great to have a list of the best in the south.
rnb, you know right where to start: Bill’s Hamburgers, Main Street in Amory.
NMC. The English don’t have 100 "good" dishes so what do they know anyway? At least they didn’t when I visited some years ago. However, we in the American South have almost that many food groups. I realize that a lot of our laws and traditions were developed there initially, but we did after all kick their butts to get out from under such banal laws and rules. Would you entertain a motion to increase the size of our list? We’re just leaving out too many good ones. I didn’t see but or two I’d like to even negotiate on and then I’d not negotiate very hard. I would much rather negotiate for more entries since you can after all, change the rules
KYCOL. @ 27. I’m taking your word for it and I ordered some. You should know however that your integrity as an epicurean is at stake. NMC, get ready to take #25 off your list. You gotta eat some if I gotta eat some.
rnb-the Hastee Tastee on Canal Street in Yazoo City-makes my mouth water just thinking ’bout it. Sorry, I can’t compete w/lotus’ Bill’s Hamburgers link-apparently Amory is more hi-tech than YC.
DeltaLawMama @ 24: Yum. Save some for me!
NMC @ 39: I think you are getting close to a niña fire list there.
ske or nmc-what is souse-been trying to bring that up from the far reaches of the brain-is it some sorta pate-like thingee?
Nina fire? I meant to write bona fide but I cant get the edit button to work.
Technically 90 and 97 are not foods but they are events at which foods are eaten. If we include events, we need to add Mississippi State Fair– for the taffy and pineapple ice cream.
Regarding the blackberry cobbler, I was very surprised when a friend of mine who grew up in New Jersey told me that one of his best memories were the blackberry pies his grandmother would make him. He explained that he would go pick the blackberries and she would make a pie of them. And there I was thinking it was a southern thing all these years. Of course the only difference is that my grandmother would make a cobbler instead of a pie but I didn’t want to worry his Yankee brain about the difference. Southerners came up with the idea of a cobbler because in hard times there was only enough flour for one crust. A bona fide blackberry pie requires two crusts.
gg asked what souse is. Here’s a definition on the web:
pork trimmings chopped and pickled and jelled
That’ll work.
Hmmm, souse. Nooo thank you. I’ll just double up on the breakfast quail and/or beaten biscuit-had both together once in Jennings, LA-yum!
Confounded @ 48, “pie requires two crusts.” Hence the phrase “society’s upper crust.” As you commented, poorer folks had to be frugal with their flour and the cobbler used less flour. Those folks in society who could afford to be less frugal with their flour could splurge with a bottom and upper crust. Therefore a pie, with two crusts, was a display of affluence, and those people became “those of the upper crust.”
well that’s an interesting piece of history, nomiss..upper crust, huh.
I’ve eliminated the cuban sandwich for the muffelata.
So that leaves two omissions that I think are probably meaningful: Banana pudding and fried green tomatoes. I can’t see what to cut.
I’ll note here there are three hot dogs on the list, but with very different cultural contexts: The Varsity in Atlanta, Lucky Dogs, and the Greek places in Birmingham. Is that too many? I’m not sure it is.
okay-at the 11th hour, I’m gonna mix it up and say, how ’bout Pineapple Upside Down Cake? Not a great cake but very southern. Might replace pecan pie since you can most likely find it on a menu outside of the south but you won’t find Pineapple Upside Down Cake on many menus, even in the south. Or Red Velvet cake could go. Dontcha just hate these last minute requests by late comers? Oh, and I’d cut fried green tomatoes, a fairly recent southern delectable, in favor of banana pudding that has been around forever.
That was fun! I posted a few additions to my list including caramel cake, cheese straws and Abita beer.
Enjoyed your post, Aimee. I thought about Abita beer…
mmmm Abita beer and cheese straws! I had to add stuffed mirlitons, although they’re very regional– Louisiana and South Mississippi, to my knowledge.
Regional is part of the deal, and there’s not one of those creole stuffed dishes on there. Hmmm.
ooowee, caramel cake. I had an aunt who made the best I ever tasted. NMC–ever consider making that a list of 150?
NMC: I realize you have several grits items on the list, did
you give any thought to grits and grillades? Personally, I would replace the shrimp and grits with grits and grillades, which are a very traditional New Orleans dish.
NMC, I guess I meant that maybe the “regional” consumption of mirlitons is more like a neighborhood (small, small) and for that reason, you might not want to include that very tasty recipe.
I thought about grits and grillades. I’m still pondering what omissions are critical. Problem: The list is dominated by Louisiana and New Orleans. What to do about that? Drop some gumbo dishes?
I was curious whether anyone would suggest an alternative wild duck dish to wild duck gumbo.
My daddy braises wild duck in red wine w/ apples, oranges, onions and celery. I think he lightly dusts the breasts w/ flour and red and black pepper, browns in a little oil, and cooks for at least three-four hours in a covered dutch oven at about 275 degrees. Simple and delicious. Before serving, he removes the breasts and makes a lovely reduction for a rich, fruity gravy.
Only one “l” in Galatoire’s.
Souse/hoop cheese and saltines scenario: don’t forget rag bologna! Filled a small cooler with all the above from a MS country store to help sustain me during my Amtrak trip from Memphis back to AZ. And a good thing too, had plenty to eat when that dang Ivan caused us to be stranded several places along the way. Oh, and sweet potato pie. Never even tasted pumpkin pie til high school.
Ok… I am the nut case in NH who buys green tomatoes by five lb bags. I actually thought about doing a mail order service up here. I could sell…. especially to us desparate displaced southerners. There are so many ppl up her. I had the most rocking okra pickles today.. my 4 yr old ate them all….
jane