Sunday, January 15, 2012

People and Southern Cooking

When it comes to southern cooking, not only is it fun but the food is sublime. Food cooked through the southern method comes with a mix of influences from the Irish to the French and even the African Americans. Apart from the Cajun style of cooking southern food, there is also the Creole method that people like.

The great traditions of the south are seen in areas to the south of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio River, Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma. Aside from squash, corn is another famous ingredient in these parts. They particularly enjoy deep pit barbecue, which was a practice inherited from American Indians from the southwest, specifically Native Americans that belonged to the Seminole, Caddo and Choctaw tribes.

A part of every southerner's diet includes sugar, milk, flour, and eggs. When it comes to this, Europe influenced the trend. When it comes to meals, breakfast is the most popular meal in the south and everything from large quantities of breads to cheese are served.

Apart from greens and a side of corn bread, expect some grits and of course, chicken, when it comes to southern food. Usually, a pie is served during dessert if the person can still eat. There are plenty of famous American soups like chicken noodle which have been influenced by southern folk.

Most of the time, southerners make and eat pies with pecan or apple fillings while the vegetables that they love include everything from okra to squash. Garden salads or fruit salads are eaten by southerners regularly and when it comes to breads, rolls and biscuits are conventional. Southerners are also particular when it comes to table settings as eating on a nice table makes the experience more pleasing.

Something that can never be absent is corn bread. It will not be a meal without corn bread and so you can always expect free flowing bread in southern kitchens. When it comes to a southern meal, one of these three, biscuits, corn bread, or rolls, should be present.

Aside from flour, corn bread is made with the use of ingredients such as baking soda, baking powder, and salt. To the dry ingredients, you have to put in some milk, eggs, and shortening. Some add sugar while some do not.

The ingredients include 1 ½ cups of self-rising flour, 2 eggs, 1 cup of buttermilk, liquid shortening (olive oil), all-purpose flour, a tablespoon of liquid shortening (oil for the skillet), and ¼ cup of sugar, if desired. Remember to combine all elements for a great dough. Use grease on the muffin tins that you will pour the mixture into.

For corn bread or biscuits, they are always hot when served. To do this, the oven is usually fired up to 450 degrees. Warming the bread involves turning them back and forth in the pan and prior to cooking, the pan is lined with cornmeal making the bread more delicious.

See to it that you have dough that is not thick at all as this is not a good sign. What you have here is an example of southern cooking. There are many other tips for this kind of cooking that applies to other southern fares.

Are you interested to learn more about southern cooking? If so, hitting the link will help a lot.