The Southern Belle's Rules for Cooking

Fried Green Tomatoes

Now all Southern Belle's know the 7 basic things you need in your kitchen to be a great cook.

1. Always use Dukes mayonnaise when making any salad (southern tradition since 1917).

2. When making sweet tea it's Luzianne( a southern tradition since 1902).

3. Never put anything in your tea but Dixie Crystal sugar (southern tradition since 1917).

4. Martha White flour is the only thing for homemade biscuits (southern tradition since 1899).

5. Buttermilk is not optional for biscuits or cornbread!

6. Crisco is not your enemy (southern tradition since 1911) It is mandatory for your pie crusts!

7. I will say that on occasion I still use bacon grease when seasoning beans, a touch in potato salad will have your guests wondering what that wonderful flavor is and of course add a small amount  to your healthy vegetable oil for fried green tomatoes.

Yummy New Red Potato Salad

These ingredients have been around a long time and they are tried and true for the Southern Belle cook! Now I know most of you reading this will think well there you have it that's why everyone in the south has health issues! True we might have our share of health issues BUT a good southern cook will grow most of her vegetables and can them herself therefore cutting down on processed food. I always have a vegetable garden and love to cook and can them. I have cut back on the use of butter, whipping cream, and the amount of sugar I use in all my everyday cooking. I do however reserve the right to bring all those heavenly ingredients out on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. My children swear I make the best mashed potatoes in the world and they think my homemade green bean casserole is to die for. My friend from out west said mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes! Then she tried mine and said I quote her "I stand corrected not all mashed potatoes are the same yours are divine"  then she asked for my recipe.

I think cooking is an art form and I love to cook. I will find a new recipe and then turn it into my own with a few changes! I even create new ones just for fun. Mine are mostly southern dishes and a few Tex-Mex dishes. I have discovered that Hatch green chilies from New Mexico are a must for those recipes. It's really the ingredients (fresher is better) and the amount of love that goes into cooking that makes the difference.

I remember last summer I was visiting my Mother in Kentucky and we made a trip to the Amish village to buy fresh veggies. I love to buy from them when I'm up there as they are very fresh! The young boys will pick it off the vine for you! They also sell homemade butter, buttermilk, bread, and sorghum. They are all very good for you as NO processing or added ingredients. My Mother and I came home from that trip and I started cooking for her (she did love my cooking) I made her stuffed bell peppers(her favorite), fresh green beans and new potatoes, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes in a homemade vinegar dressing, fresh creamed corn and homemade biscuits with sorghum. She stuffed herself and it did my heart good to make my Mother happy with my cooking.

                                            Fresh Stuffed Bell Peppers

My first lessons in cooking was by watching my great grandmother Mammy Jenkins cook on an old wood stove. I used to watch her roll her biscuits and pie crusts out making them just right! She lived on a very large farm and they grew all their own fruit and vegetables. She would can jams and jellies, relishes, and of course fresh fruit and veggies. Then she would put them away in the root cellar to have all winter. When I got a little older I started watching my grandmother Anna Lee and noticed the differences in her techniques  She also grew all her own fruit and veggies. I started cooking at an early age and I mean I was making meals at 11 and 12 years old. My Mother was a good cook too and she let me play in the kitchen cooking. She always made me clean up too which I didn't enjoy! When I got married I started watching my new grandmothers and my mother-in-law and if I liked something they cooked I remembered it and even made it better sometimes. In fact my ex-husband will tell you to this day that the thing he misses most about me is my cooking!

I think cooking for me is a way to show my family and friends that I care about them. I remember when my younger sister had a health issue and had to go to the emergency room. The first thing I did was make homemade potato soup, sub sandwiches and homemade brownies and took to her when she and her husband got home. Southern food in particularly can be comfort food. We always take food for the sick and bereaved. It is part of our culture and history. I can remember my great grandmother talking about bereavement biscuits. They were basically lady fingers that had a design on them (a heart or flower). They were given out to all the guests who showed up for the service. She thought it was sad that people stopped making those and giving them out.

Every Southern Belle will make her best dish for a funeral. I will confess that some of the best food I have ever eaten has been after the funeral. There is always mounds of fried chicken, green beans, Lima beans, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, biscuits, corn bread, deviled eggs, potato salad, macaroni salad, green bean casserole, cooked cabbage, candied sweet potatoes, fried apples and the list goes on and on! I haven't even made it to the deserts! German chocolate cake, pineapple upside down cake,  red velvet cake, pecan pie, apple pie, coconut pie, banana pudding and it goes on and on! All this food is washed down with gallons of sweet tea! Am I making you hungry yet?

My Mother Loved this Coconut Pie.

There are two restaurant's in Savannah, Georgia that have the best Southern cooking I have ever eaten from a restaurant and of course #2 is Paula Deans the other is a best kept secret from tourist. The locals line up at lunchtime 30 minutes before they open to get a seat at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding house! They cook just like my great grandma Jenkins! Everyone sits around the table together and will pass the bowls of food around just like when I was small (and don't worry if the bowl gets empty they will bring another one). Fried chicken is always on the menu, with dishes like okra and tomatoes, fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy and of course biscuits so lite and fluffy they melt in your mouth. Her banana pudding is almost as good as my Mother's. Yes Mrs. Wilkes know a thing or two about cooking!

                                         My Mama's Famous Banana Pudding!

Well all this talk of food is making me hungry! So I guess I will go cook myself something to eat if your hungry just give me a shout and I'll set another plate because we all know in the south that friends and family are always welcome for dinner.