You can with just a little practice, the right recipes and a few tips and techniques. Southern cooking is a little different, not only in the type food used, but, more importantly, in the
techniques used.
Some of the food used in Southern Living Recipes are rarely used in other cuisines. But it is the recipe and the cooking style, that makes it Southern. For example, okra, cooked in any manner, is rarely found except in Southern Cooking. And fried okra is pure Southern Living. Collards, Mustard and Turnip Greens, also, are seldom found except in Southern Living Recipes.
Southern Cooking Techniques
This is a brief summary of Southern Cooking Techniques.
Cookware::
Cast iron cookware is traditional for Southern cooking. It retains and transfers heat unlike other material. It is especially suited for baking and is a "must" for cornbread. Cast iron has the
unfortunate trait of sticking and rusting, but that is easily fixed by curing (seasoning) the skillet. See Care and use of cast iron skillets If you intend to cook Southern
food, you should obtain cast iron cookware. It is relatively inexpensive compared to other cookware and will last a life time.
Cooking Method:
Southern Living Recipes utilize a great degree of fried foods. And it is generally cooked longer than you may be used to. Chicken, cornbread, okra and many other dishes are cooked until crunchy.
Vegetables are cooked until they loose their bright color. Green beans, collards, carrots and other vegetables, cooked Southern style, do not resemble the brightly colored canned vegetables
(ugggh).
Buttermilk, Sugar, Vinegar and Cornmeal:
* Buttermilk is used in place of regular milk in most dishes except desserts.
* Sugar should never be in cornbread and always in iced tea.
* Vinegar is used in some unexpected recipes. Greens, black eyed peas and even fried fish can be enhanced with a touch of vinegar.
* And cornmeal is used in many Southern Living recipes. Some prefer yellow cornmeal, some white. Most good Southern cooks, in my experience, prefer white, although you will find most recipes on the
web call for yellow. Read entire Cooking Techniques article
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