Black-eyed Peas and Cornbread

Black-eyed peas and cornbread are a staple in southern food. They are best known for making appearances on New Year's Day to herald good fortune for the New Year. This tradition is believed to have started with the Jewish religion around 500 A.D. They would eat black-eyed peas to show humility to the God during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. More recently, the tradition carried into southern tradition during the Civil War when the northern troops left the black-eyed peas alone,  believing them to be food for livestock. This oversight allowed many southerners to survive the winters during the Civil War. Now, the peas have come to represent humility and an increase in wealth. The latter idea stems from the peas expanding as they cook. Black-eyed peas, cornbread and some kind of green (collared greens, green beans, mustard greens, turnip greens, etc) represent pennies, gold and dollars, respectively. In addition, some families add a penny or dime to the black-eyed peas and whoever is served it is supposed to receive extra luck.

This is one of my favorite snacks and, in reasonable proportions, is good for you. But who pays attention to proportions when faced with black-eyed peas and cornbread?

Black-eyed Peas
1 bag frozen black-eyed peas (24-32 ounces)
1 can Rotel tomatoes
2-4 slices of bacon
5-10 sharp beans
salt, pepper, and garlic to taste

In a large saucepan, place a few slices of bacon cut into strips in the bottom. Cook until brown. Add black-eyed peas, Rotel tomatoes, and snap beans. Rinse the can with water and add it to the pan. Bring everything to a boil and add salt, pepper, and garlic to taste (about 1 tablespoon of each). Reduce to medium and cook until peas are no longer crunchy (30-45 minutes)


Cornbread
1 egg
2 cups White Lilly Self-Rising White Cornmeal Mix
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cup Buttermilk
1/4 vegetable oil

Coat pan with oil and place in oven to heat the oil. Mix/whisk egg, cornmeal mix, buttermilk, and vegetable oil together in bowl*. If the batter is thick, thin with buttermilk until it is manageable. Remove the pan from the oven and add the batter (the pan should sizzle). Bake for 25-30 minutes.

*bacon, bacon drippings, onions, peppers, corn, cheese, etc, can be added per preference

-Madison Monnette

Monkey Bread

            Monkey bread is a sweet, sugary American dish composed of biscuit dough, sugar, cinnamon, and a brown sugar and butter glaze. It can be served as either a breakfast or a dessert.

Monkey bread is popular all across the country nowadays, but it is a dish tied to the South that continues to have a strong southern vibe. Simple to prepare and simple to eat, monkey bread epitomizes the southern dish qualities of centering around common main ingredients, such as dough, butter, and sugar, and of kinship and family. Monkey bread is meant to be shared by a table of people. Monkey bread is not meant to be cut into slices and served onto separate plates, but instead pulled apart with fingers piece by piece in an extremely communal fashion.

            The name monkey bread is a bit of a mystery, but some historians claim that it arose from the combination of “monkey food,” southern slang for snack food during the 1940’s, and jumble bread. 

            This dish was widely popularized by the Reagan Administration. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan ate monkey bread during their Christmas dinners at home and then at the White House. Their recipe is even featured in The White House Family Cookbook. However, monkey bread is rarely heard of outside of the United States.

            The recipe I will be using today is off of thepioneerwoman.com, a website for the popular Food Network show, The Pioneer Woman. The star of the show, Ree Drummond, is a resident of Oklahoma whose family owns and works on a cattle ranch. Her show focuses on down-to-earth, homey cooking. Drummond herself defines her lifestyle and her show’s theme as “country living.” While some people may debate just how southern Oklahoma deserves to be labeled, The Pioneer Woman presents undeniably southern recipes to her viewers that contain culture of the South. 

Pastor Ryan’s Monkey Bread – The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

½ cup brown sugar

2 sticks of butter

2-3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup sugar

3 cans of buttermilk biscuits

Directions

1.    preheat oven to 350

2.   open biscuits and cut each pre-cut biscuit into quarters

3.   combine 1 cup sugar and 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon into a 1 gallon zip lock baggie, shake to mix evenly

4.   drop all of the biscuit quarters into the sugar mix and shake to unstick pieces from each other and coat in cinnamon-sugar

5.    spread evenly at bottom of Bundt pan

6.   melt 2 sticks of butter with ½ cup of brown sugar, stir over medium-high heat until blended

7.   pour brown sugar butter over biscuit quarters in pan

8.   bake at 350 derees for 30-40 minutes until crust is a deep brown on top

9.   let cool for 15-30 minutes, then turn upside down to get out of pan

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/monkey-bread/

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-monkey-bread.htm

http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2013/12/american-cakes-monkey-bread/

Frogmore Stew and the Low Country

    In the ever confusing distinctions of the American South and its cooking, the Low Country style is one of best defined and most recognized. This style arrises out of the southern coast land of South Caroline and parts of Georgia, which includes the Sea Island. This cuisine has created such a distinction from the rest of the southern eatery primarily because of its geographic location. The close proximity to the salt marshes, bogs, and oceans of the east coast allows for a completely unique list of ingredients to thrive there. Dishes with shrimp, crab, and other seafood dominate the cuisine and flavor almost every dish that comes from this region. As it is clear that the Low Country is a definable style of cooking, the question is, “What is the quintessential Low Country dish” . To this I answer, Frogmore stew. Despite the name of the dish, it has absolutely nothing to do with frogs. In fact this dish’s name is a bit of a debated matter, with people referring to it as Low Country Boil, Frogmore stew, Beaufort Boil, and the names go on. However Frogmore still remains the one of the oldest and most popular names for the dish. As there is no clear origin story for the dish, legend has it that in the town of Frogmore, South Carolina a fisherman had run out of ingredients for dinner so he took everything that he had, which happened to be potatoes, corn, and shrimp, and boiled it all together in a pot. It happened to be so good that he spread the word of the delicious dish and the rest is history. My reasoning for choosing this dish is because of the cultural implications that this dish has. This dish is normally served at a family gathering or a tailgate or any other large gathering. Its a dish that you dump out onto a table and join together to consume. This dish is a social affair forcing you to rub elbows with your neighbor and makes it necessary for you to communicate to effectively eat the meal. Because of this it is deeply entangled in people’s memory and means a lot more to many Southerners than simple being a good boil.

Recipe (from link to recipe)
Mike Lata's Frogmore Stew
Ingredients
½ cup (at least) Old Bay Seasoning
16 small new potatoes, about 1-inch diameter, rinsed but not peeled (about ¾ lb.)
½ lb. smoked sausage (kielbasa), cut into 16 ½-inch-thick coins
2 medium sweet onions, peeled but not trimmed, quartered lengthwise from stem to root
3 ears fresh corn, shucked and  cut into thirds
16 largest available fresh shrimp, preferably white Carolina shrimp with head on (you may want more depending on size of shrimp)
 8 stone crab claws (about 2 lb.)
Bring a large stockpot (at least 12-quart) of water (filled 2/3 of the way, about 9 quarts) to a simmer. Add Old Bay and simmer to infuse. (The water should be abundantly seasoned and aromatic.)

Add potatoes, sausage coins, and sweet onions, and bring to a lazy simmer until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 to 18 minutes.

Keeping water at a lazy simmer, add corn, and cook until kernels are slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add shrimp and crab claws, and cook until the shrimp becomes pink and white (instead of opaque), about 5 or 6 minutes. Strain solids from cooking liquid, and transfer them to an oversize platter.

Serve with soft butter and olive oil (for potatoes and corn), sea salt, Tabasco, and cocktail sauce. Lemon wedges and chopped hot peppers (like jalapeño) are also sometimes served as accompaniments.

Introduction

Southern Foodways 

Fall 2015

University of Alabama

Blount 301

Dr. David Meek
ddmeek@ua.edu

Course Description:

Southerners tend to be quite passionate about food. There is considerable debate surrounding the authenticity of particular dishes and their preparations, and some conflict over who can or should claim certain culinary traditions. Underlying these passions, debates, and traditions are important lessons about historic and contemporary race relations, gender roles, immigration patterns, and other phenomena. In this course, we’ll use southern foodways as a lens to explore deeper questions about ownership and access; inclusion and exclusion; and what it means to grow, cook and eat in the 21^st century South. In that sense, we will examine southern foodways from a critical perspective. We will begin by studying the region’s culinary history, considering the crucial importance of climate and both voluntary and involuntary migration for shaping southern food. We will consider the trenchant but evolving relationship between food and regional identity, and the ways in which food can be understood as indicative of a changing South. We will also be cooking throughout the course, and will use our culinary endeavors to explore southern foodways, and what it means to be southern, from a first-hand perspective.