Kim Shook

Just a beautiful, fascinating article, Shaun! Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us. I am a white woman who spent a lot of meals at black families tables as a child. This was during the sixties in the country in NC. Soul food was a phrase I heard during the school year at home in the Washington, DC suburbs, but not at all during the summers spent on my grandparents farm in NC. This little town seemed to be (an in some ways remains) stuck in the past. Most of the food that I was given at the black folks tables was not much different from the food at my grandmother's table. More 'cheap' pork cuts, maybe (I don't think that I got my love of fried fatback or hog jowls from my grandmother ). I never have thought of this food as white Southern or soul food, but as country food because it was so different from the 'city' food my mom served in VA. A little off topic: Is there any other region of the country that people spend as much time talking about, making observations about, microscopically examining? I really don't think so and I find that interesting, beautiful and deeply sad (because of what I think are the reasons for the constant interest - the hunger for repairing the harm caused to the South by slavery).

When I do special occasion steaks, I usually like to offer a sauce on the side. I have done peach steak sauce and, of course, béarnaise. But I would like a new idea for my Father’s Day steaks. I’ll probably be serving: Baked goat cheese w/ caramelized onion, garlic and mission figs & slice baguettes Texas Caviar & Tortilla chips Grilled rib eye steaks w/ ________sauce Some kind of potatoes Some kind of big salad – maybe with beets Bread Peanut butter cheesecake Some kind of cupcakes I am looking at the chimichurri thread, but I’d like some other ideas, too. TIA!

Sounds good to me, Lori! I am not protective about 'Southern Stuff' at all, I was just told that it was very Southern and it surprised me! Nice to know I am not completely ignorant !

Here's another one. You know that bowl of slice cukes, onions, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper that you keep going all summer long??? Thats apparently Southern, too. Why would that be?? Everyone has fresh cukes in summer, right??

Dana - You are right - they (and I) will get used to it - just like they have gotten used to pictures of meals before we are allowed to eat ! As far as cases, here you go: Knife Cases on Amazon

My husband knows me so well! For mother's day, he gave me a Henckels Professional Knife Case! I have wanted one for a long time. I hate using other people's knives - most people who's kitchens I cook in don't have decent knives. So now I can pull a 'Top Chef' - pack up my knives and GO ! The only thing is, I wonder if I'm going to feel a little silly unpacking this thing?? Kind of like a diner cook in a toque?

Mike, we (Mr. Kim & I) are in awe of your butt. However, we are deeply disapproving of and frankly disturbed by the butt cheese ! That is just WRONG, dude!!

OOOOOOOhhh, Andi. I have eaten and enjoyed rabbit before. I totally agree with those who say that we should realize that 'meat' means animal and that it doesn't magically appear nicely wrapped up in plastic wrap in the grocery store. Having said all that (and meant it), that bunny gives me the shivers a bit . I think that Banshee (my little girl kitty) would look just like that all 'undressed'. But I'll bet it was good.

That is actually very cool, Rachel! I might try that sometime. I have made a gingerbread bowl in a similar way to give cookies in for Xmas. No one is going to eat it, probably, so I have just used the tube gingerbread dough. You roll out the dough fairly thick and mold it around the bowl and bake. Then you make cut out cookies and 'glue' the around the top with frosting. Cute.

I'd bet good money that the Japanese would not tolerate such programming junk. -Dick ← You are kidding, right? Haven't you seen some of the original Japanese programming that airs on Spike TV (I think it's Spike). The stunt shows that make Fear Factor look like Masterpiece Theatre??? I know that it is cool for Americans to trash ourselves, but keep in mind that we didn't create crap entertainment. Karaoke is, I think, a Japanese creation and Reality TV is a British import.

It's not a slur any human being worth anything should make on OR off camera. ← In the South, publicly calling someone 'white trash' is something that trashy people do (privately doing it is, however, another matter ).

Hot bacon dressing is Southern, too????????

I am sometimes surprised when I discover that something in my life is considered particularly Southern. For instance, I was an adult (transplanted to Indiana) before I realized that Yankees don’t have hissy fits or that, to a Northerner, being ugly had something to do with your looks. I guess you don’t know what is uniquely yours until you learn more about other cultures. Anyway – I noticed on some other board that under a ‘Southern Tea Party Menu’ was spinach and strawberry salad! I have eaten this forever and had no idea that it might be ‘ours’. Is this true?? I know all about fried chicken, collards, candied sweet potatoes and actually edible green beans , but what else am I ignorant about?

My families (current and 'of origin') are sharers. Chinese, French, Greek - doesn't matter. We share it all. We almost never order the same dish, because then sharing would be pointless. If someone at the table doesn't share, we don't say anything to them, of course. We just mock them mercilessly later when they are gone.

What H. du Bois said.

ummmm...culinary school anyone?! i just loved how many classmates (and current students, and recent grads, etc.) thought they knew more than the chef instructors...isn't there a reason why you're paying $15K+ to the school?! ← Yeah. I won't tell you how much my school cost, but it was a hell of a lot more than $15k, and we still had the same issues. There was a guy who started out in my class, and ended up being suspended because he was constantly arguing with the chef instructors over various idiotically nit picky things. He made a HUGE point of informing us all that he worked at The Slanted Door in San Francisco, to the point that we doubted the veracity of this claim. In Protein class, every other time chef said anything he would pipe up, "Well, Chef, at the Slanted Door we did it differently." or even worse, "That's not the way I was taught. I think you're wrong." Then on smoke breaks, my fellow students and I would be regaled with tall tales of what a bad ass he was, how he should be teaching the class, etc etc. Chef (bless his little heart) finally lost it one day, kicked him out of class, and had his butt suspended. I don't think that guy ever came back, but I'm sure when asked about why he never finished culinary school, he makes up some sort of nonsense about knowing more than the chef instructors did, so what was the point of finishing. ← Um...was this guys name Steven??

But Fress, is she Southern???

See, I thought Jason was making fun of me for not knowing how to deal with large garlic ! I am of Italian origins and eating it whole would still make my head explode. Also, Mr. Kim has allergies and cannot smell much anyway - I have to do visual stuff to chase him off !

Thank you, ma'am. I think I will do just that! (Jason thinks I am an idiot )

I haven't ever used this stuff before, but found it recommended on some thread somewhere. I decided to give it a try and bought the fresh garlic and basil version. When I open it up and pour it out there are maybe 5 or 6 whole, humongous garlic cloves in it. What am I supposed to do with them?? Mush them up (they are firm - like raw, not roasted), fish them out when finished cooking?? Please advise. Thank you.

I could not agree more with all the comments about the ridiculousness of this 'challenge'. My fantasy was that the final five called bullshit on this insane challenge after learning about the 16 hour time limit. I would have loved for them to actually get together and to say "this has nothing to do with being a chef and everything to do with your television ratings. We all quit, fuck you and your ratings." Wouldn't that have been awesome????

Oh, wow. I am drooling. We are having guests over tonight for burgers and stuff, but I so want to change the menu now!! We have breakfast for dinner all the time - sometimes very elaborate, sometimes just pancakes and sausage. We used to do waffle night every Friday, until our daughter complained!

Ok, report time! We finally had the Croquettes and the baked eggs. They were both very, very good. The croquettes were really different, but we liked them a lot. The eggs, I just cut in half and topped with a cheese sauce - a bechamel with a little cheddar, parmesan and fontina. Then I baked them until they were hot. I wasn't sure I'd like them, but they were great - rich and cheesy, but still eggy.

Not to be at all argumentative (and I don't like Reggie much, myself), but he makes a big thing about being 'Southern' (I don't really see it). And 'girl' is very much a Southern thing (see the GRITS thread on the Southern Food Culture board) - 70 year old women having lunch call each other girls. We don't mind being girls at all - in fact we call those other folks 'boys'.