Talk:Cuisine of the Southern United States

I whipped this up because I wanted to edit the page, but wasn't sure where to start. My experience here is mostly as an outsider - while I've lived my whole life in the South, those who cooked for me grew up mostly in California. So I'm not entirely familiar with the Southern pallet. Todo says the To Do list is "Not a place for experimental ideas (these should be discussed first to reach a consensus)", but I wanted to try it anyway. --Golbez 08:28, Oct 3, 2004 (UTC)

I've lived in the South my whole life and I have never ever heard of that. Mike H 08:34, Oct 3, 2004 (UTC)

• Welcome to the horror that is North Carolina cuisine. ;) Livermush, chili and slaw on everything, and a vinegary red stuff they pour on shredded pork and call "BBQ". It truly offends my Texas sensibilities. Google seems to agree that it's NC-only. One link says, "2 years in North Carolina, never got a good answer as to what livermush really is. It kind of looks like shoe leather though... really old shoe leather."

The recipe seems to be:

1 fresh hog liver
1 1/2 lbs. fresh fat pork
2 c. cornmeal
Red pepper
Salt
Black pepper
Sage

Cook liver and fat pork until tender.  Remove from broth the liver
only and grind.  Add corn meal, peppers, and sage to taste.  Add
enough of the broth to soften mixture. Cook in saucepan until meal
has cooked, stirring constantly. Put in mold. Press down until
cold.  Slice and serve cold or broil.

[1]

Sounds absolutely horrid, doesn't it? ;) I've heard of it mostly being in cube form, and either spread on bread, or heated and eaten that way. --Golbez 09:33, Oct 3, 2004 (UTC)

Isn't grits known in the north as hominy? Or am I wrong? Should this be mentioned as a "Southern variant"? Mike H 00:21, Oct 4, 2004 (UTC)

Hrm, I am from Florida (central Florida, not the Panhandle, and we still have some Southerners despite what some people believe..) and grits is kinda like a ground up corn product, hominy is whole corn which has been dried and treated with something, I think lye, and rehydrated. Two different things. --Ameireaganach 06:10, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

In the north, grits isn't known, period. Occasionally you can buy instant grits in the grocery story; most northerners wouldn't know what to do with any other kind of grits. There is, as far as I know, no northern equivalent--unless you cound oatmeal, which is similarly yucky-looking breakfast food of the you-had-to-grow-up-on-it variety.

You can't get good fresh okra in Ohio, either. I don't know about everywhere else. [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 01:09, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

i did some research on some of the histories, but I know it is not as detailed as i want it...i would welcome some help on this section! Kayellen 21:04, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I think this is a very good start. I will help you later this evening. Mike H 21:09, Oct 4, 2004 (UTC)

Hey y'all we need a really good pic of a good ol fried chicken dinner or something (you know with greens and beans and tea and the whole nine yards. I am no good with images, think we can find someone to fix us up? Kayellen 16:58, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Someone bring a digital camera to Po'Folks! Mike H 17:01, Oct 5, 2004 (UTC)

MMMMMMMMM Po'Folks....I am jealous, they closed the one in Huntsville! Kayellen 17:29, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)

There was one in Pensacola. I don't think there are any in Tampa. There are Bob Evans restaurants here, though. That should be mentioned in the article...the advent of "fast food" Southern cuisine, like Cracker Barrel, Po'Folks, and Bob Evans. Mike H 17:54, Oct 5, 2004 (UTC)

You read my mind! I was just at lunch thinking about how we needed to add that to the article. I think alot of northern snowbirds get their first "taste" of southern food from places like those. Kayellen 19:22, 5 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Used to have Po'Folks at least as far west as Texas. The one here closed years ago though. -- Cyrius|✎ 21:29, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I'll bring my camera to lunch this week. Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll have something really southern. (I missed the fried chicken and mashed potatoes, though.) [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 01:09, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Wow things are starting to come together, huh! I was looking at the japanese cuisine article and they had a list of traditional dishes. I didn't like the list before but what about putting one in? I am going to add one in a minute, see what you think. Kayellen 21:02, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

"To a lesser extent, the Bob Evans chain of restaurants have extended across the Midwest and East. Surprisingly enough, the key Southern states of Alabama and Georgia do not have any Bob Evans locations. "

This is probably because Bob Evans is really an Ohio chain (although it actually originated right on the southern border by West Virgina). The food is somewhat reminiscent of "proper" Southern food, lacking some of the things that are most distinctive—okra, greens, sweet potatoes, sweet tea, black-eyed peas, etc. They may occasionally have some of these things, but they aren't staples. (Although they do have fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, country fried steak...)

I've lived in Ohio for most of my life (but I was raised on Southern food) and it only just now occured to me to think of Bob Evans as Southern. They call it "homestyle". Southern Ohio does have some Southern tendancies, but it's still Ohio. [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 01:24, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Should it be reworded or just taken out? We can afford to take it out. Mike H 01:35, Oct 7, 2004 (UTC)

I would say just take it out unless there are more people who think it's worth mentioning, in which case it can be added back in. (It may be. I don't know what perceptions are of Bob Evans outside of Ohio.) [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 01:40, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Feel free to take it out...but if you can think of a better one, please add it in its place. I think we need another good example. Mike H 01:53, Oct 7, 2004 (UTC)

We need more photos than the Waffle House sign. The new COTW is on Sunday. The article looks pretty good, but we mos def need more pictures. Mike H 05:11, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

We need to slow down on the COTW. We have fewer people than the main COTW; maybe we should move it to every two weeks. --Golbez 16:46, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

I think two weeks is too long. Besides, then it stops being a Collaboration of the Week, doesn't it? :-/ Mike H 07:45, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

COTFortnight? :) --Golbez 16:46, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

Here's a Public Domain image of a woman preparing poke salad. I'm not sure where you would place it, but in my experience wiht featured articles having some sort of historic perspective helps. It would also help to have a picture of someone preparing a dish in additon to a picture of the finished staple dish like fried chicken. -JCarriker 16:58, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

I'm not a native, but I like pie. What is shoo fly pie? Maurreen 03:32, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)