Sunday, January 15, 2012

About Southern Cooking

Great food and good preparations make what people know as southern cooking. The southern cuisine is greatly influenced by the Scottish, Irish, French, Spanish, English, Native American and African American ways of cooking. Several examples of this form of cooking include Creole a mix between Florida and the Caribbean.

For areas in the south of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Texas, and Oklahoma, their lively culture is well represented when it comes to the food that they cook. Americans residing in these areas love squash, tomatoes, grits, and corn. There are different styles of cooking that southerners like to engage in and one of them is the deep pit barbecue which was influenced by Native Americans that were part of tribes like the Seminole and Caddo.

When it comes to the south, people do love their flour, milk, and sugar. What you have here is an influence straight from Europe. When it comes to meals, breakfast is the most popular meal in the south and everything from large quantities of breads to cheese are served.

Apart from greens and a side of corn bread, expect some grits and of course, chicken, when it comes to southern food. Usually, a pie is served during dessert if the person can still eat. When it comes to good old American soups like lentil or split pea, these are actually southern style soups.

Most of the time, southerners make and eat pies with pecan or apple fillings while the vegetables that they love include everything from okra to squash. Garden salads or fruit salads are eaten by southerners regularly and when it comes to breads, rolls and biscuits are conventional. Southerners are also particular when it comes to table settings as eating on a nice table makes the experience more pleasing.

Corn bread is always part of the southern meal. It will not be a meal without corn bread and so you can always expect free flowing bread in southern kitchens. When it comes to a southern meal, one of these three, biscuits, corn bread, or rolls, should be present.

As an example of Southern cooking, cornbread is prepared using self-rising flour with the added ingredients of baking soda, baking powder and salt. It is important for milk, eggs, and shortening to be added to these basic ingredients. It is okay to mix in some sugar if you like.

Aside from a couple of cups of flour and milk, you need a couple of eggs pus the shortening to make your corn bread. Remember to combine all elements for a great dough. Put the mixture into muffin tins that have been lined with grease.

Hot bread is what you can always expect in the south. This means firing up the oven to 450 degrees. Warming the bread involves turning them back and forth in the pan and prior to cooking, the pan is lined with cornmeal making the bread more delicious.

A thick dough will not result in great bread so be careful when preparing it. Here is a tip for southern cooking that you can enjoy. There are many other tips for this kind of cooking that applies to other southern fares.

Are you interested to learn more about southern cooking? If so, hitting the link will help a lot.