On my Southern Food Road Tour, I asked everyone who would talk to me to name five foods and beverages that are most expressive of “southern food,” and the answers varied a lot more than I thought they would. Louisiana in particular was out there on its own, and some of the answers I had…
Category: Southern Food Road Tour
A Pie Tasting: Lea’s of Lecompte
Monroe, LA — The days leading up to Thanksgiving can be overwhelming for the pie-bakers at Lea’s of Lecompte (which is a confusing name for outsiders, who don’t know it references Lea’s Lunchroom, the original Lea’s, which IS in Lecompte, a small town almost 110 miles almost due south on State Highway 165.) Lea’s of…
The sauce is alright! (After panic, negotiation and phoning a friend in Memphis)
I shouldn’t be sitting down: there’s still mac and cheese, coleslaw and red velvet cupcakes to make. But I just experienced all the highs and the lows that come along with cooking in a strange kitchen in a foreign land and also cooking new-to-me food (Memphis BBQ sauce). It seems a bloggable moment. As much as…
Southern Food Road Trip: Bone Marrow Luge & Proof on Main Preview
Proof on Main’s Chef Mike Wajda and I do a fino sherry luge through a spent marrow bone — a unique experience to be sure.
Southern Food Road Tour: Thibodeaux Joke from Eunice, Louisiana
Here’s a Thibodeaux joke from Dwight Landreneau of Riceland Crawfish.
Southern Food Road Trip: Biscuits Lesson with Susan Spicer in New Orleans
New Orleans, LA – Making an iconic Southern recipe with one of the region’s most influential chefs was beyond my wildest expectations when I started planning in December to eat my way to culinary enlightenment through the American South. But Susan Spicer is legendary for being generous with and supportive of other chefs, or, in this…
Biscuit Recipes from Alabama, Telephone Pioneers of America Chapter No. 34 Cookbook
Mayo Biscuits? I guess if mayonnaise is just eggs and oil, it’s not so completely bizzare to use it as fat for a biscuit. If you try this one, take a pic and send it in, with your recipe review. Tangy Cheddar Biscuits No Old Bay in this recipe, so maybe Red Lobster is safe. But who doesn’t like…
Southern Food Road Tour: Susan Spicer and NOLA Edition
New Orleans, LA – In just two and a half hours, Susan Spicer, one of the most celebrated chefs in the South, is going to personally give me a lesson in how to make biscuits at her new, New-Orleans themed restaurant Rosedale. It’s hard to overstate how excited I am about this brand new development….
Southern Food Road Trip: Glock Sidetrip in Indiana
I have limited experience with guns, but I did grow up in Kansas, so I’ve shot skeet and been to a gun range and fired shotguns and various pistols with more gun-oriented friends out in the country. John here is amazing, as you will see; someone to have with you when concealed carry is called…
Southern Food Road Trip: Bettie’s Caramel Chocolate Pecan Pie
Humboldt, TN – My AirBnB hostess here, a ferociously charming woman named Christine Warrington, recently moved back home after making her international fortune, with designs on taking out the sitting mayor. Her very first Machiavellian move? Finding a caterer, of course, since the most effective Southern schmoozing is done over a plate. Christine introduced me to Tim Hayes, owner…
Southern Food Road Trip: Tennessee Holodeck Replies
Memphis, TN – Yesterday and today I’m learning all about smoke and barbecue. I spent half the day yesterday with Helen Miller, the country’s only African American barbecue pitmaster and, according to her customers, the best bar none. (I had to start a second laundry bag for the BBQ clothes!) Pics and video of that tomorrow. My…
