Brand Name Southern Staples You Can't Live Without

[patti]

And to the above I'd add:

Abe's boudin

Rabideaux's sausage (they're down since Rita, but hear they're planning to regrouop)

Bunny and Evangeline made bread

Bootsie's Bean mixes

ro-tel tomatoes

creole cream cheese from Bittersweet plantation, or anywhere else I can get it.

Louisiana fish fry

Konriko pecan rice - you can find it most places. It's usually a christmas gift from a client who has an interest in the brand. I guess I'll have to sniff some out in the Rice isle since we've been forgotton this year. You can literally smell the stuff in the bag, smells just like popcorn when it's cooking, and is soo good with anything you serve it with. Has a nice, nutty flavor.

There's more but it's more local..like anybody's mayhaw jelly, or fig preserves.

←

Hmm, I heard my BIL mention Rabideaux's at Christmas, but I'd never heard of it. Is it a meat market, or a local brand distributed out of Lake Charles? He's in Jennings and shops in Lake Charles pretty often, so maybe that's how he knows it.

There are several other things on your list I'll have to give a try. I've seen Konriko Pecan Rice, but I've never had any, nor have I had creole cream cheese. That's not one of John Folse's new products, is it?

Edited December 28, 2005 by patti (log)

[highchef]

And to the above I'd add:

Abe's boudin

Rabideaux's sausage (they're down since Rita, but hear they're planning to regrouop)

Bunny and Evangeline made bread

Bootsie's Bean mixes

ro-tel tomatoes

creole cream cheese from Bittersweet plantation, or anywhere else I can get it.

Louisiana fish fry

Konriko pecan rice - you can find it most places. It's usually a christmas gift from a client who has an interest in the brand. I guess I'll have to sniff some out in the Rice isle since we've been forgotton this year. You can literally smell the stuff in the bag, smells just like popcorn when it's cooking, and is soo good with anything you serve it with. Has a nice, nutty flavor.

There's more but it's more local..like anybody's mayhaw jelly, or fig preserves.

←

Hmm, I heard my BIL mention Rabideaux's at Christmas, but I'd never heard of it. Is it a meat market, or a local brand distributed out of Lake Charles? He's in Jennings and shops in Lake Charles pretty often, so maybe that's how he knows it.

There are several other things on your list I'll have to give a try. I've seen Konriko Pecan Rice, but I've never had any, nor have I had creole cream cheese. That's not one of John Folse's new products, is it?

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Rabideaux's is/was just off I-10 in Iowa, about halfway between your BIL and me. They're in the local stores and I've found Rabideaux sausage in Beaumont. They have they're own trucks (not a huge fleet, but they had a pretty good regional business before Rita).

You can get creole cream cheese in some stores, mostly Bittersweet's brand. Folse has a pretty good distribution setup, I've found it in Albertson's up and down the coast. I can always get it at the produce market on Airline, going out of Baton Rouge (Pictsweet?). It's a nice tart flavor and smoother, softer texture than regular cream cheese and makes a hellova cheesecake.

Ask your local Albertson's to stock some Bittersweet, mine did..for a while. It's mostly popular with a more rural/older crowd, and Creoles.

[patti]

You can get creole cream cheese in some stores, mostly Bittersweet's brand. Folse has a pretty good distribution setup, I've found it in Albertson's up and down the coast. I can always get it at the produce market on Airline, going out of Baton Rouge (Pictsweet?). It's a nice tart flavor and smoother, softer texture than regular cream cheese and makes a hellova cheesecake.

Ask your local Albertson's to stock some Bittersweet, mine did..for a while. It's mostly popular with a more rural/older crowd, and Creoles.

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Funny you should mention the appeal to an older crowd; the first place I noticed Bittersweet products was at a small supermarket convenient to my office, whose clientele is mostly older folks, but upscale, rather than rural.

Edited to add: Not that rural couldn't be upscale, of course. Around here, it's mostly not.

Edited December 28, 2005 by patti (log)

[highchef]

And somehow I forgot Barque's Root Beer.

Barques Bites.

[Jaymes]

Yeah, sign me up for the Zatarain's Shrimp & Crab Boil.

And Durkee's Famous Sauce. Can't have a fridge without that in it.

[FistFullaRoux]

Well, you could pretty much include the whole Zatarain's product line. Not mentioned so far is the root beer concentrate.

-Around here (Birmingham) there is a thing for Dale's seasoning. I don't quite get it myself, it's a marinade kind of thing, somewhere between soy sauce and worcestershire.

-Zapp's, Golden Flake, and Lance snacky things.

-Evangeline Maid bread. It's white bread, but it is the stuff dreams are made of, and it's unavailable anywhere outside of south Louisiana. Some claim to be close, but a fresh loaf of Evangeline Maid is simply dreamy.

-Blue Bell and Mayfield's ice cream

-Jack Miller's BBQ sauce. It's not tomato based, but it's not Carolina style either. It's a category all it's own.

-Domino sugar

I'm sure more will come to me...

[patti]

←

And somehow I forgot Barque's Root Beer.

Barques Bites.

←

I love Barq's! Their diet root beer is pretty damn good. I guess I forget that it's a regional product.

Well, you could pretty much include the whole Zatarain's product line. Not mentioned so far is the root beer concentrate.

-Around here (Birmingham) there is a thing for Dale's seasoning. I don't quite get it myself, it's a marinade kind of thing, somewhere between soy sauce and worcestershire.

-Zapp's, Golden Flake, and Lance snacky things.

-Evangeline Maid bread. It's white bread, but it is the stuff dreams are made of, and it's unavailable anywhere outside of south Louisiana. Some claim to be close, but a fresh loaf of Evangeline Maid is simply dreamy.

-Blue Bell and Mayfield's ice cream

-Jack Miller's BBQ sauce. It's not tomato based, but it's not Carolina style either. It's a category all it's own.

-Domino sugar

I'm sure more will come to me...

←

Yep, Evangeline Maid has been a staple for us all of our lives. Sometimes a sandwich made on soft white bread is what I have a craving for.

And yes to Zapp's and Blue Bell and Domino Sugar. Domino used to make a product called Liquid Brown Sugar that was great for candy making. I called them after they discontinued it and they insisted I'd get the same results using their regular brown sugar, but my Nut Butter Crunch has never been quite as good.

As far as Jack Miller's BBQ sauce, it will do fine for me, but not my husband. We both grew up on a similar sauce made in our tiny hometown of Jennings, LA, called Southern. It used to be easier to get in Lafayette, but I have to hunt for it. My husband protests when I try to substitute Jack Miller's or Pig Stand. He'd prefer nothing if he can't have Southern.

[patti]

Yeah, sign me up for the Zatarain's Shrimp & Crab Boil.

And Durkee's Famous Sauce.  Can't have a fridge without that in it.

←

I feel like a bad southerner. I don't think I've tried Durkee's Famous Sauce!

[Moto]

From the carolina's - Neese's country sausage, texas Pete hot sauce and Blenheims ginger ale

[racheld]

Conecuh Sausage, both regular and HOT, from Evergreen, Alabama. We pick up ten pounds every time we go to the Coast. (NEXT WEEK!!!)

One year we didn't make it there for several months, and Chris' Daddy had them ship us one of those little styrofoam coolers full. Most of it was still frozen solid when it arrived next day. Can't have Chris' birthday brunch without it and homemade beignets.

[FistFullaRoux]

Conecuh Sausage, both regular and HOT, from Evergreen, Alabama.  We pick up ten pounds every time we go to the Coast.  (NEXT WEEK!!!)

One year we didn't make it there for several months, and Chris' Daddy had them ship us one of those little styrofoam coolers full.  Most of it was still frozen solid when it arrived next day.  Can't have Chris' birthday brunch without it and homemade beignets. 

←

Oh, yes, that's good stuff. I use it as a substitute for andouille when I make gumbo. You have to render out some of the fat first, though. There's a little too much in there. But a damn fine product.

And no one has mentioned RC and/or Moon Pies yet...

[Jaymes]

Yeah, sign me up for the Zatarain's Shrimp & Crab Boil.

And Durkee's Famous Sauce.  Can't have a fridge without that in it.

I feel like a bad southerner. I don't think I've tried Durkee's Famous Sauce!

Oh, no. You must rectify that at once.

It's so ubiquitous that most Southerners don't even say the "Famous Sauce" part. Just "Durkee's."

As in, "I always put a dab of Durkee's in my potato salad and cole slaw."

Of course, of course.

Edited January 1, 2006 by Jaymes (log)

[Holly Moore]

Martha White SR flour and meal,

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Never baked with it, but as a five-thumbed, five string banjo picker, The Martha White Theme Song is one of the first songs I battered, right after "Cripple Creak." Earl Scruggs first picked it and, I believe, wrote the music.

[hjshorter]

My local Food Lion has stopped carrying Duke's mayonnaise.

[kpurvis]

All of the above (and amazingly, I have almost everything named in my kitchen right now, including the Durkee's and the Steen's), adding:

Dixie Lily Grits. The only kind I use when I don't have time to cook the stone-ground kind.

Lard from a plastic tub, cut up into blocks and frozen in a big plastic bag. (Any brand but Armor, the stuff in the box.)

Lawry's Seasoned Salt. It isn't a Southern brand (I don't think), but you can't make potato salad without it.

Texas Pete. Oh yeah, somebody already said that.

Tabasco Sweet and Hot. It's only out in test markets, but I got a sample of it recently and I'm already addicted.

[Rebecca263]

Domino Dots, Florida's Organic Sugar and Crystal Hot Sauce. I do not care what anyone says, those items are always in my house. And I will not live with any man who won't let me have 'em, either, even if he has to have 'em sent by post to Madrid. Or Barcelona. Or Tokyo. Or Dusseldorf. Whatever, if you require my charm, you'll get them for me. Consider it charm insurance. Enough said. I've never had to do without, yet. Is Crystal still making sauce now? I've only got 6 bottles in the pantry. Mr.Miami better get some for me.

Edited January 4, 2006 by Rebecca263 (log)

[Lan4Dawg]

Martha White SR flour and meal,

←

Never baked with it, but as a five-thumbed, five string banjo picker, The Martha White Theme Song is one of the first songs I battered, right after "Cripple Creak." Earl Scruggs first picked it and, I believe, wrote the music.

←

"You bake better biscuits, cakes, and pies

'cause Martha White Self Risin' flour

(the one all purpose flour)

Martha White Self Risin' flour's got 'Hot Rize'"

Any one who listens to "Praire Home Companion" will easily recognize that the "Powder Milk Biscuits" theme song was stolen fr/ Flatt & Scruggs Martha White jingle.

[R.E. Turner]

A handful of staples, by my definition:

White Lily flour for biscuits: There may be equal or better flours for biscuits, but I can't make a decent biscuit without White Lily, buttermilk, and Crisco.

Dixie Lily's yellow Quick Grits: Not the ultimate in grits, but pretty danged good when I can't/am to lazy to head out to the mill for stone-ground grits. They don't have that funny "quick grits" flavor. I tend to add water and cooking time to the package directions, but these still allow me to have a nice pot of grits ready in 15 or 20 minutes.

Hellman's, Sauer's, or Duke's mayo: Yeah, I know how to make my own mayonnaise, but I'm hard-pressed to make better than that readily available at the local IGA.

Tobasco, Louisiana Hot Sauce, Texas Pete. Each for its own purpose.

Ro-Tel tomatoes, for quick versions of red sauces, dips, etc.

White Lily cornmeal mix: Again, when I can't make it to the nearest mill for freshly stone-ground cornmeal, I've never met a better pan of cornbread from a grocery store brand.

Luzianne tea, for iced tea.

Tony Chachere's (sp?) special seasoning, for virtually everything. (Somewhere, I have a recipe with the precise amounts. The TC seasoning, though, consists of salt, black pepper, cayenne, and MSG, IIRC. It's great on most anything.)

I guess that Dixie Crystal sugar products also qualify as one of my Southern staples, since one of my uncles used to drive one of their trucks out of their Port Wentworth, GA facility. I'm not really assiduous, though, about buying that particular brand since the company was bought out a few years ago.

Like Cucina, though, I'm particularly fond of the Cpt. John Derst bread - only for tomato sandwiches. The brand is based in Savannah, and the butter bread is softer than three downy ducks padded with bunnies. It's fabulous for "kitchen sink" tomato sandwiches. (Several years ago, I was dating a submariner who was transferred from Kings Bay, Georgia to Bangor, Washington. "Care packages" from home always had to include at least two loaves of Cpt. JD bread.)

Zapp's potato chips - not an ingredient, just a staple!

And I was introduced to Blue Bell ice cream umpteen years ago, when I was married to the ex. I never regretted the loss of the hubby, but it was nice to finally reconnect with Blue Bell when it became available in my SE Georgia market!

[Harry]

Bunny white bread

Conecuh County sausage

Dale's Marinade

Zatarain's crab boil--I prefer the powder, but if I happen to be too far from the Gulf and can only find the perforated bags, then that will do. I know it has its proponents, but I do not like the liquid.

Zatarain's Fish-Fri--I think there is a gallon jar of this stuff in every pantry on the Gulf Coast.

Hellman's Mayonnaise--I can stand other mayonnaise on hamburgers and sandwiches, but for tartar sauce and crab dip I won't use anything but Hellman's.

Sunshine Brand Turnip Greens

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire

Crystal Hot Sauce

Tabasco Sauce

Sophie Clikas's horseradish

China Doll beans

China Doll rice

[Probono]

Add Hollywood Broadway to this list..