rickmcdaniel

Thanks for all the great info, guys. The working title of the page (it may change) is Super Bowl Food: Sushi Versus The Big Sandwich." Our food stylist is making a copy of a Primanti Brothers sandwich, and we have salmon and sushi for Seattle.

Hi, PNW foodies- I have been ordered by my editor to put together a food front on the foods of Pittsburgh and Seattle this week to run before the Super Bowl. In North Carolina, we have pork Barbecue, grits and country ham. What is the indigenous chow of Seattle? If not indigenous per se, what do folks enjoy chowing down on in restaurants. Please educate this southern boy. Thanks a heap!

Greetings, foodies of the Keystone State- I have been ordered by my editor to put together a food front on the foods of Pittsburgh and Seattle this week to run before the Super Bowl. In North Carolina, we have pork Barbecue, grits and country ham. Philly has the cheese steak. What are the native foods of Pittsburgh? Please educate this southern boy. Thanks a heap!

Short Sugar's is awesome, as is Lexington # 1. Also, my personal love, Bridges Barbecue Lodge (still AKA Red Bridges, even though Red has been dead for forty years now) in Shelby, NC.

All of the above, plus Bone Suckin' Sauce, Carroll Shelby's Chili Mix, and in the limited parts of NC and SC they sell it in, RO's Barbecue Slaw. Yummy. And can't forget King's Cane Syrup.

As a native son who grew up in Kings Mountain, just 12 miles from Shelby, I grew up on Lexington style from Red Bridges, AKA Bridges Barbecue Lodge on US 74. I have personal, inside information that when God sends out for 'cue, it comes from Red's. I have been eating there every chance I get for the last 44 years (ever since I grew teeth) and have never been less than orgasmically satisfied with the chopped pork, wonderful dip, red slaw (which even my Yankee-born wife now likes) and gtrat hush puppies. The best thing about living in Asheville is it's only an hour away. Eastern 'cue is great, too. I never met a pig I didn't like.

I have been blessed to have eaten at Hominy Grill. The food is heavenly. About 4 years ago, I was bummed to find that the only Cajun/Creole restaurant in town (Asheville, NC) had closed. A couple weeks later, I saw a new restaurant with a catchy logo in its place. Checked out the menu board outside, came in and had the best pumpkin gingerbread, hot country ham biscuits and grits I had put down my gullet in ages. When I commented on how good the gingerbread was, the incredibly nice (not to mention pretty) girl waiting on me thanked me and came back shortly with the recipe written in her own hand. Turns out she was Julie Stehling, Robert's sister-in-law and wife of Robert's brother John, who was behind the line. They had left Hominy, where they met, and moved to Asheville to open their own place, Early Girl Eatery. So who's better? It's a tie. I like some things better at Hominy, and some better at Early Girl. My wife and I have become fast friends with John and Julie, and I have passed many happy meals at my new favorite restaurant.

I am collecting food quotes for a writing project and meed a good quote anout biscuits from a Southern writer. Any literature buffs out there know of a Tennessee Williams, Faulkner, Wolfe or other literary reference to that most noble creature, the high-rising Southern biscuit?

I guess I should have mentioned that "fruit cobbler" has instructions for all major cobbler fruits (apple, peach, blackberry, strawberry...) Also, in regards to triffle and Scottish shortbread, the book covers foods that have become a part of our foodways in the South, even if they originated elsewhere. Look at Bill Neal's Southern Cooking and John Edgerton's Southern Food: at Home, on the Road, in History. Both of them minclude those foods because they have been here from the "get go." Hummmingbird cake seems traditional, but the earliest recorded reference to it I have been able to find (and confirmed by the excellent foodtimeline.org) is from 1978; not exactly traditional. Caramel cake and pecan tassies are now under serious consideration, as well. Here is the revised list: Cakes Grandma Hill’s Plain Cake Aunt Ruth’s Pound Cake Grandma Hill’s Coconut Cake Apple Stack Cake Blackberry Jam Cake Scripture Cake Lane Cake Lady Baltimore Cake Red Velvet Cake Caramel Cake Pies, Cobblers and other fruit Desserts Basic Pie Crust Aunt Ruth's Sweet Potato Pie Pecan Pie Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Strawberry Shortcake Peach Pie Fruit Cobbler Chess Pie Black Bottom Pie Buttermilk Pie Jeff Davis Pie Coconut Custard Pie Baked Chocolate Pie Key Lime Pie Puddings, Fools And Trifles Real Banana Pudding Grandma Hill’s Sweet Potato Pudding Fool Trifle Ambrosia Bread Pudding Candy, Cookies And Other Treats Shortbread Pralines Bourbon Balls Pecan Tassies Divinity What is Pig Pickin' Cake, Varmint?

Thanks for all the help so far, guys and gals! Some answers to comments: Great idea. I'll work on that later today. Yep, it's that one. Yes it does, and is made with fresh coconut, with directions on how to stalk, kill and skin one. Only in Southern New York. For years, the couple who developed this recipe in the 1940s gave it away, and it appeared in a gazillion cookbooks. After they died, their son trademarked the name and set out to enforce it. I had to remove it from my Web site under threat of legal action, so thanks, but no thanks. I had it in the original list I started with, but cut it, It may re-appear, but like Dreby Pie, there may be legal things as it is a fairly new recipe compared to the rest (I believe it came about in the 1940s or very early 50s, off the top of my head). This is made in the South, but is more identified with the Amish. I only have two New Orleans desserts, pralines and bread pudding. Beignets are in the bread chapter under quick breads. I may put in a Gateau de Sirop (cane syrup cake), but if the book gets picked up and I get to do another, it will be desserts with lots of Creole goodies. Another one I considered, but didn't make the cut. It is in reserve and still might. Again, my thanks to everyone, and all you folks who are reading and not posting, don't be shy! If you like to eat and can type, let me know what you think. What sis Grandma make that I don't have here?

Jenkins was based out of Shelby. I have not seen it up here (Asheville) in the 7 years since I moved here, so I dom't know if they are still around. I love Neese's just as well. For my birthday this year, I threw out all dietary restrictions (I suffer from advanced Dunlop disease from being a food writer and chef) and had what I call a 'Southern Bowl." Take a buscuit, crumble it up in a large bowl. Top with a fluffy scrambled egg, grits, liver pudding and gravy. Oh, man, that's good. P.S.- Dunlop Disease, for those unfamiliar with the condition, is when your belly dun lopped over your belt!

I am doing the chapter outline (in preparation for shopping it to publishers) for a book on traditional Southern food. I am writing my book so that hopefully it will be a definitive guide to Southern food and how to prepare it. Since I have a gazillion dessert recipes, choosing the one to use in the dessert chapter is very difficult. So I’m asking people whose opinion I respect: what are the “classic” Southern desserts, the ones which define Southern cooking? Here are the ones I have come up with: Cakes Grandma Hill’s Plain Cake Aunt Ruth’s Pound Cake Grandma Hill’s Coconut Cake Apple Stack Cake Blackberry Jam Cake Scripture Cake Lane Cake Lady Baltimore Cake Red Velvet Cake Pies, Cobblers and other fruit Desserts Basic Pie Crust Aunt Ruth's Sweet Potato Pie Pecan Pie Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Strawberry Shortcake Peach Pie Fruit Cobbler Apple Pie Chess Pie Black Bottom Pie Buttermilk Pie Jeff Davis Pie Coconut Custard Pie Baked Chocolate Pie Puddings, Fools And Trifles Real Banana Pudding Grandma Hill’s Sweet Potato Pudding Fool English Trifle Ambrosia Bread Pudding Candy, Cookies And Other Treats Scottish Shortbread Oatmeal Cookies Pralines Bourbon Balls The two pound cakes are very different in flavor and texture, hence the duplication. Any comments and additions are welcome. Thanks!

A very good background on livermush, Kathleen. As far as I know and have always been told, (I grew up in Kings Mountain, 12 miles from Shelby), the difference between liver mush and liver pudding (other than the textural) is that liver mush contains only liver and cereal, while pudding contains shoulder meat. I HATE beef liver, but love liver pudding, especially Jenkins brand. Fried up crispy with grits and toast...MMMM-MMM!

Regarding the gravy or sauce for shrimp and grits: I have seen many variations on this, from a simple butter and garlic mixture to the thicker, brown gravy (usually made with pork fat) to heavy cream to tomato sauce. There is no standard. 82 Queen even uses a barbecue sauce for their shrimp and grits. As for She-crab soup, 82 Queen's is the best I have eaten anywhere on the planet; sooo creamy and pergectly seasoned.