Transcript File

The Great South
Where hospitality and good
food abound.
The Mason-Dixon Line
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Division between northern and southern
states (free and slave) during the Civil War
and throughout the 1800’s. The exception
was Delaware, a slave state that did not leave
the Union.
 Delineated in the mid-1700s to settle a
property dispute. It was mapped out by two
surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon
Immigrants
England
 France
 Ireland
 Scotland
 Spain
 Africa
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Year Round Crop Production
Tobacco
 Sugar cane
 Rice
 Cotton
 Peanuts
 Corn---a staple food
 Fruit
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Ample Water & Forests
Pecans
 Fresh water and salt water fish
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– Shrimp
– Crayfish
– Catfish
– Crab
– Alligator
The Southern Attitude
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Southern hospitality---dates back to Colonial
days
 Relaxed lifestyle as compared to Northerners
 Lost Cause Minstrels
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Wear a mask to hide defeat
Immensely proud
Fiercely independent
Quick to take offense
Virginia
English culinary heritage
 Authentically southern food
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Foods of Virginia
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Corn pone: cornbread shaped into oval
mounds & fried
 Batter Bread (called spoon bread throughout
the South): cornbread type pudding
 Brunswick Stew: (According to Virginias, it
was named after Caroline of Brunswick, wife
of George III) Stew made from chicken, ham
bone, beef, rabbit, onions, tomatoes, celery,
butter beans,corn, potatoes, red pepper,
black pepper & other seasonings.
Smithfield Hams
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Native Americans taught settlers how to salt and
smoke-cure hams.
Original Smithfield hams came from hogs raised in
Smithfield, VA and were fed peanuts.
Today Smithfield hams must still come from
Smithfield, VA, all other similar hams are called
Country Hams.
Red Eye Gravy
Made from the juice of a Smithfield or
Country Ham and black coffee.
 Legend has it Gen. Andrew Jackson
told his cook, who had been drinking
moonshine, to bring him some ham with
gravy as red as his eyes.
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North Carolina---The Vale of
Humility Between Two
Mountains of Conceit.
Virginia to the north.
 South Carolina to the south.
 Both states traditionally are more
industrialized and progressive.
 North Carolina considers itself to be
“down to earth.”
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Two Distinct Regions
Coastal North Carolina
 Western N. Carolinas & the Blue Ridge
Mountain people
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Mountain People
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Very independent
 Some still speak Old English---the language
of Raleigh, Bacon and Shakespeare
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Morn gloam
Rain Seed
Cowcumber
Mess of turnip salted
Tee toncy bit
Giggle soup
Mountain People
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Hearty, ample portions
– Bacon & cabbage
– Chicken soups, pot pies
– Irish potatoes & hominy
– Buckwheat pancakes
– Tarts & puddings
North Carolina Pig Pickin
West---barbecued pork shoulders
basted in a tomato based finishing
sauce.
 Eastern---roast the whole pig, split down
the middle and baste in a vinegar &
pepper based sauce
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Coastal Carolinas
Hush puppies
 Corn dodger: hush puppies country
cousin; an oven-baked cornmeal biscuit,
with a cannonball like quality
 Pokeweed: used for poke salad. Name
was derived from the brown paper sack
it was collected in. Only the leaf is
edible.
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Carolina Rice
“Carolina Gold” serving as a major cash
crop in Colonial days
 Used in many dishes
 Hoppin John
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Eat poor that day, eat rich the
rest of the year.
Rice for riches and peas for
peace.
This dish is thought to have originated with
African slaves on southern plantations, and is
essentially black-eyed peas (cowpeas) cooked
with salt pork and seasonings, and served with
rice. There are several theories on the origin of
the name, 'hoppin-john'; a lively waiter who
served the dish at a Charleston hotel; a lame
cook who hopped up and down while cooking
it; and finally from a custom that children must
hop around the table before the dish is served.
It is traditionally served on New Year's Day in
the Southern U.S., and is supposed to bring
good luck during the coming year.
Hoppin John???
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It was the custom for children to gather in the dining
room as the dish was brought forth and hop around the
table before sitting down to eat.
A man named John came "a-hoppin" when his wife took
the dish from the stove.
An obscure South Carolina custom was inviting a guest
to eat by saying, "Hop in, John"
The dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when,
according to tradition, it was hawked in the streets of
Charleston, South Carolina by a crippled black man who
was know as Hoppin' John.
Some say that the dish got its name from a corruption
of the word, bahatta-kachang, which is of African origin
Southern Vegetables
Corn
 Beans
 Sweet potatoes or yams
 Greens including turnip and dandelion
 Black-eyed peas
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Southern Breakfast
Ham
 Grits
 Biscuits
 Molasses
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Two Distinctive Cuisines
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Soul Food---Soul represents the
black/African-American lifestyle emphasizing
directness, spontaneity, & uninhibited
feelings. Both the food & music originated
from the poor slaves & became the food of
the south after the war.
 Creole & Acadian (Cajun)---The food of the
Louisiana French
Soul Food
African-American invention---not African
 Black slaves & later the free ate what
was available to them. This included
corn, greens, beans, pig (not the best
parts), catfish
 No part was wasted---feet, tail, snout, &
ears were often pickled & boiled.
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Soul Food Includes
Pork
 Chicken
 Anything that could be made with
cornmeal such as batter bread, hush
puppies, hoe cake and cracklin corn
bread. (Cracklin: pieces of hog skin
that float to the top when rendered lard
is melted.)
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Hoe cake: cornmeal pancake that was originally
cooked over an open fire on the blade of a hoe.
 Catfish
 Black-eyed peas
 Beans
 Corn
 Yams: dark orange tubers added to stews, fried
as fritters, made into pones & pies
 Pone: pudding
 Greens of all types cooked with salt pork
 Pot likker: rich mixture left on the bottom of the
pot after cooking greens and fat & slab of pork
 Chittlins (chitterlings): fried pork intestines
 Spare ribs
African Foods
Benne Seeds: sesame seeds
 Okra: used throughout the south, often
to thicken soups
 Many spices
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Let da Good Times
Roll!!!
The Foods of Louisiana
Creole & Cajun
"New Orleans food is as
delicious as the less
criminal forms of sin."
-- Mark Twain, 1884
Creole Versus Cajun (Acadian)
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Creole: people of
mixed French &
Spanish ancestry. Their
food is Grande
Cuisine, with delicate
blends of flavor and
separate sauces.
Recipes & chefs came
from France or Spain
Combined local
ingredients with
European cooking
methods
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Cajun (Acadian):
French Canadians
driven from Canada by
the British. Many
settled in the Bayou.
– Queens of “le make do.”
– Nothing that moves by
the house on all fours or
on its belly will be looked
at without an eye as to
how it might taste
cooked.
How They are Similar
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No one rule for cooking
No one recipe for a particular food
Rice is a staple dish
Most dishes begin with a roux
Common ingredients
– crab, river shrimp, lake shrimp, oysters,
crawfish, freshwater and saltwater fish, plus
squirrels, wild turkeys, ducks, frogs, turtles,
pork, homemade sausages, beans of all
kinds, tomatoes, okra, yams, pecans,
oranges and wines, liqueurs and brandy.
Creole
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Distinctive European influence as well as others
From France---Pastries & Bouillabaisse: fish soup,
led to Louisiana gumbo
From Spain---Paella: a dish of rice, meat or seafood,
vegetables & sausages led to jambalaya
Italy---pastry making and ice cream
Haitians from the West Indies brought smoke pots,
exotic vegetables, spicy sauces and the use of
tomatoes. Another influence on gumbo.
Native Americans (Choctaw)---ground sassafras
leaves or file’, & bay leaves
African Slaves---kin gumbo (okra)
Cajun
Spicy, sometimes fiery
 Lots of rice
 One dish meals
 Strong, country food
 No right way or wrong way to do it
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Louisiana Foods
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Grillades: Veal round steak braised in a
sauce of green pepper, celery, tomatoes,
garlic, often served at breakfast
 Café au lait: strong coffee with cream
 Café brulot: strong coffee flavored with
spices, citrus peel, & brandy; often flamed
 Gumbo: soup/stew made from poultry,
seafood, & vegetables thickened with okra or
file’,but not both. Thickening is added after
removing from heat so it won’t become
stringy
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Jambalaya: shellfish, poultry, sausage
simmered together with a spicy tomato sauce
& served over rice
Red beans & Rice: Classic Monday dish
flavored with cracked ham bone
Pralines: candy made from sugar, cream, &
pecans
Petits fours: small pieces of cake often sliced
and filled then covered in a icing that is
poured over it
Beignets: Sweet pastry fried and covered
with powdered sugar