High-end Southern cooking

[kpurvis]

OK, my first question wandered sort of far afield. I only wanted to raise the issue that the South is more complex than the sum of its barbecue and great Sunday-dinner vegetables. To ward off complaints: I love barbecue. I love Sunday-dinner vegetables. My late, great, Aunt Roselee could do creamed corn better than most angels can sing.

But I love so many more things about the South. So: Say your fantasy food team is coming to town. Colman Andrews, Steve Shaw, Jonathan Gold and Ruth Reichl call and they want to do lunch. You want them to experience the South in a way that will surprise them, delight them and make them stop making bubba jokes forever. Oh, and you have a Lear jet, unlimited airport privileges and a way to suspend the space/time continuum. Where would you take them?

My first try at a quick list of great food surprises in the South:

To Oxford, Miss., for the duck hash at the Yocana River Inn and a small plate of the Shrimp and Grits at City Grocery.

To Birmingham, for the Grits Timbale with Country Ham Reduction at Highlands.

To Charlotte, for the Heirloom Tomato Plate at Sonoma and the tasting plate at Zebra, with a quick stop by Nova Bakery for a bag of the house granola to pass around on the plane.

To Chapel Hill, for the Two-Terrine Plate at Crook's Corner, with a stop at the Carrboro Market for a selection of Chapel Hill Creamery cheeses.

To Durham, to finish it all with the Lemon Chess Tart at Magnolia Grill.

Where else?

[Varmint]

Rather than taking a ton of time on this, I'll add just one restaurant for now.

To Pittsboro, NC for the Fearrington House's foie gras with scuppernong jelly and celery brioche or their sweetbreads with butterbean and dixie lee pea succotash.

But don't forget Charleston (Oysters at Bowens Island, anyone?), Savannah, Atlanta. What's in Columbia? New Orleans is in a different category altogether.

[kpurvis]

Foie gras with scuppernong jelly? Oh my god, I've got to try that. Another interesting scuppernong sighting: At the Yadkinville Wine Festival, I had a dessert wine that was scuppernong and gewurtztraminer and something else. It was scuppernong, but with some of the flavor notes of a late-harvest riesling.

[Zeb A]

We went to Fearrington House last September and had the aforementioned foie gras with scuppernog jelly--amazingly good. as i vaguely recall, they also sprayed some scuppernog mist over everything. it was sort of wierd and something i had not seen b4, but quite tasty.

[Fat Guy]

Can you pick some places that only have two-tops so Colman and I can sit apart from the Gourmet people?

[Pyewacket]

My God!!!

If you are going to Chapel Hill and eating at Crook's, how can you skip the Shrimp and Grits?!?!?!?!?!!!!!

It's the dish that put Crook's Corner and Bill Neal on the map and still the best thing they make---aside from the Eggs and Country Ham Benedict that's served at Sunday Brunch.

[joler]

But the best Shrimp and Grits I ever "et" were at Slightly up the Creek in Mount Pleasant (just outside of Charleston).

[Varmint]

Shrimp and Grits are almost a cliche these days. They've traditionally been considered a "low country" dish, but as far as I know, Crooks Corner was the restaurant that "re-discovered" them. I'll look and see if I can find a history for this dish when I get home.

[Pyewacket]

This thread got me thinking.... is it southern cuisine if you serve fois gras? I tend to think not.

Just because a restaurant is located in the southern tier and makes terrific food doesn't mean it's southern cuisine. I believe that to be representative of a particular region, a dish or menu must necessarily pay

homage to its indigenous cultural and culinary roots. Mrs. Fitch created in Fearrington House a place that raised the culinary standard by which southern cooking is judged while graciously reflecting its southern roots and traditions. I believe Bill Neal did the same thing at Crook's Corner, elevating the food from a different southern socio-economic strata yet remaining true to its origins.

Sad to say, both Bill Neal and Ellie Fitch are gone now.

[kpurvis]

Shrimp and Grits are almost a cliche these days.  They've traditionally been considered a "low country" dish, but as far as I know, Crooks Corner was the restaurant that "re-discovered" them.  I'll look and see if I can find a history for this dish when I get home.

That story about shrimp and grits being discovered by Bill Neal is an urban legend, from what I've heard. Bill didn't invent it, he took an old fisherman's breakfast dish and gussied it up. He did, however, bring it new respect and for that I'm grateful.

I also wrestled with which restaurant's shrimp and grits to include. The best I ever had were at a restaurant in Charlotte that has unfortunately disappeared (although the chef, Todd Townsend, is still around and still creative. He morphed into his own catering business, where he's doing very well.)

However, the back story on how I missed the s&g at Crooks is that I was there while doing a story on eating in the Triangle and the only way to make the schedule work was to hit Crooks after a three-course at Magnolia and after a day of one breakfast, three lunches and two dinners. So I mourned all the other things I wanted to try, but contented myself with a late-night snack. Still, I do think their Two-Bird Pate is fabulous.

[kpurvis]

This thread got me thinking.... is it southern cuisine if you serve fois gras? I tend to think not.

I'd agree with you that some awful sins have been committed in the interest of "haute Southern" (and that's definitely a good thread on its own). But why couldn't foie be on a Southern menu, especially when it's paired with a Southern touch like scuppernong jelly? Geese can be and have been raised in the South. North Carolina currently has producers of farm-raised caviar and truffles, too. Does that mean Southern chefs shouldn't use them?

[kpurvis]

Can you pick some places that only have two-tops so Colman and I can sit apart from the Gourmet people?

Sure. You and Colman keep the engine running in the jet and let me sit with Gold. The guy rocks.

[Varmint]

This thread got me thinking.... is it southern cuisine if you serve fois gras?

Certainly, foie gras is anything but southern cuisine. I'm sure lots of duck and goose livers have been eaten in the South, but nothing ever to the level of even a mediocre foie gras.

But merely adding scuppernong jelly to the dish adds an incredible southern twist to a very foreign dish. That's the beauty of the South (call it -- eek -- the New South or "New Southern Cuisine"), that very traditionally southern elements are being used in very upscale dishes. I love meat and three places that in some way represents the quintessence of the South. That's not something I want to eat everyday, however. I like progression and evolution. Let's use our heritage and build from there.

And yes, I do miss both Bill Neal and Miss Fitch. I'll tell a good story about her some other day.

[Varmint]

North Carolina currently has producers of farm-raised caviar and truffles, too.

Although, Kathi, you have to admit that NC truffles really can't be called truffles, in any pure sense. They're a different product than the European truffle.

[pogophiles]

This thread got me thinking.... is it southern cuisine if you serve fois gras? I tend to think not.

I disagree, provided a southern twist is put on the dish (eg. adding scuppernong jelly). I agree that it is not a traditional southern dish, but if you eliminate ingredients not indigenous to the area, then what are we to make of traditional southern dishes that do include such ingredients? I'm thinking specifically of the use of pineapple which does show up in a lot of southern salads and desserts...

[kpurvis]

Shrimp and Grits are almost a cliche these days.  They've traditionally been considered a "low country" dish, but as far as I know, Crooks Corner was the restaurant that "re-discovered" them.  I'll look and see if I can find a history for this dish when I get home.

Eek -- my apologies to the noble Mr. Varmint. I didn't see you had typed "re-discovered," which I'd totally agree with. Mea culpa -- hadn't had my second cup of coffee yet.

On the truffles, I don't have to agree they aren't truffles because I don't know enough to agree or disagree. (My, I AM being grumpy today. I need that first cup after lunch.) When you get a chance, enlighten me. I'd like to hear more.

[Ron Johnson]

I am not so sure that the South is about haute cuisine in the sense that we think of French food or "new American". I mean you can dress up anything, but that doesn't make it haute per se. I think that the best expression of southern cuisine is using the very best and ripest ingredients and letting them improve the dish. In that way I think southern cuisine has much more in common with regional foods of Italy.

A terrific southern meal could be slices of artisinal country ham, ripe tomatoes from the garden with salt, pole beans cooked with a hock, fried catfish with homemade tartar sauce, biscuits, and a made from scratch peach pie. Its not haute, but if the peaches were hanging on the tree that morning, the fish was line caught from the pond on the neighbor's farm, the tomatoes are from your own garden, and the beans are too then its going to be as good of a meal as one can have. Which is not to say that technique is not important or that sophisticated methods of cookery do not exist in southern cuisine (just ask anyone who has tried to make buttermilk biscuits that tasted like cardboard).

[baruch]

how CAN u forget the BBQ?????????

sorry, couldn't resist

[kpurvis]

This thread got me thinking.... is it southern cuisine if you serve fois gras? I tend to think not.

Just because a restaurant is located in the southern tier and makes terrific food doesn't mean it's southern cuisine. I believe that to be representative of a particular  region, a dish or menu must necessarily pay

homage to its indigenous cultural and culinary roots.

I've been mulling this question over for a day or so, and I started wondering:

Is it really wrong to discuss a fabulous restaurant dish in the South that isn't a Southern dish?

New York has regional dishes that it's known for. But when great New York restaurants are discussed, no one dismisses Jean-George or Le Cirque for not making "true regional New York cuisine."

When the subject is great food in the South, why do we feel compelled to put it into a tradition, rather than just celebrating it as great food?

If you go back to the question I posted, it was about food in the South that would surprise and delight people who don't know the South and don't know the variety and diversity of what's going on down here. I find it interesting that we can't get away from the idea of traditional South.

The South that I know, here in North Carolina, has an amazing, fast-growing Latino population, a huge Asian population, beautiful chemical-free farms growing heirloom vegetables and working closely with chefs. Those things aren't "traditionally Southern," but they're certainly producing exciting cuisine.

No, it's not Southern cuisine because it's located in the Southern tier.

But it is cuisine.

[timothycdavis]

Lesse. Kathi's post wanted "food in the South that would surprise and delight people who don't know the South and don't know the variety and diversity of what's going on down here."

I agree with Kathi here. It seems to me that most of what people commonly refer to as "Southern" dishes are what I heard a lady recently call in a restaurant "peasant food": shrimp and grits, BBQ, pimento cheese, etc. Strangely, the ignorance of that woman does have some truth to it. It is food that started from the ground up, food-wise, and was then adapted by restaurant chefs, as opposed to the other way around. (Let it be said that I agree with Ron Johnson's take that this *doesn't* mean it doesn't take mucho skill to make this stuff -- it does, and then some).

Does scuppernong added to foie gras make it Southern? No more than adding a fried green tomato to a brick oven pizza makes it California-style. To me, Southern cuisine to me is more a matter of regional ingredients and cooking styles than it is anything else. in this way, it's no different from Cali cuisine, except one may have humbler origins.

When I grew up, I loved me some corned beef hash and chipped beef on toast for breakfast. My mother is from Texas, and my father from NC. Up until I was in my teens, I just assumed this was all Southern cuisine. My father ate chipped beef on toast in the Army, which is where he met my mother. After my brother and I were born, it became a favorite breakfast. It added mystery to it all, and a story. This to me became Southern cuisine. It was food that our family made that had a story. We just happened to live in the South.

Perhaps people need to take a little more time looking for the story.

(forgive the rookie post!)

Timothy C. Davis

Writer/Contrarian/Gut

Charlotte, NC

[Varmint]

Welcome, Timothy. That's a great post and we hope there will be many to follow.

As I've said many times, lore and relevance of southern cuisine are extensive. Yes, we can stereotype it, and there's a pretty sound argument that the stereotype appropriately represents a major portion of the cuisine. But it is far broader than that stereotype, as Kathi put so well. Whether it's good or bad from a cuisine standpoint, the South is an amalgamation of many different societies and ethnicities. As long as we remember our gastronomic heritage and how it developed, and we can find a place to sample its food, I'm fine with the way the cuisines are evolving. It would, however, be tragic to lose something so precious as the food that was developed from the "ground up", as Timothy stated.

[Dave the Cook]

Welcome, Timothy.

[timothycdavis]

Thanks, all. Now if I could figure out how to make a signature line, I'd be in business!

I did a little essay thing in the current "Gastronomica" about the SFA Symposium on BBQ held last year in Oxford. Much of that piece (at least the non-cheeky parts) was a sort of rebellion against that same thing: the whole "South Under Glass" syndrome when seen from afar.

If we do have more mystery and tradition than some other places, it's because of geography and and the mixture of black and white culture and the sheer age of most of the cities, not from some strange fog that emanates from Charleston or Oxford. I love when people try and get the culture here, and have a real interest. Just don't act like we're some indigenous tribe to be studied, though.

It is true we have some of the oldest American foodstuffs in the South, but that has a lot to do with the above culture, etc. You really want old-school, area-specific cuisine, check out the Native Americans!

Timothy

[Varmint]

If we do have more mystery and tradition than some other places, it's because of geography and and the mixture of black and white culture and the sheer age of most of the cities, not from some strange fog that emanates from Charleston or Oxford.

I agree, but it is exactly that history and the geography and the sociology of the South that makes our food so damned interesting. I love the sociology of food and dining. I love the fact that the barbecue restaurant in the 50s and 60s represented segregation at its worst, yet today it (with a few exceptions) represents integration (both racially and economically) at its best. I love the influence that African slaves had on southern cuisine. And the Lumbee Indians. And the French and Irish and others. Ultimately, all these influences evolved into the southern cuisine that we think of today, having its own identity.

As far as your signature is concerned, I'll PM you with those instructions!

[hjshorter]

I did a little essay thing in the current "Gastronomica" about the SFA Symposium on BBQ held last year in Oxford. Much of that piece (at least the non-cheeky parts) was a sort of rebellion against that same thing: the whole "South Under Glass" syndrome when seen from afar.

Your article is my favorite piece in that issue. Welcome to eGullet!