[adavis21]

Ditto on the south Al food. Also crabcakes, stuffed flounder, hush puppies.. I'm hungry.

There is a Southern Foodways Alliance, as mentioned on Feasting on Asphalt, Alton Brown's 'road food' show (don't watch this show if you're hungry!).

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by aiangel_writer

You are so very welcome. Ya know, I read this thread and got so hungry.

My mom has a restaurant in town and serves a buffet of veggies, catfish, fried chicken and sometimes bbq, beef tips, roast w/gravy, potatoes and carrots, meat loaf and hambuger steaks.

So, I just had to go today even though I don't cook with all the good stuff like fats and crisco etc much, I had to go was craving all the good stuff.

Got there, and loaded up on pinto beans, cornbread, sweet corn, and some baked chicken. Oh my goodness, I was so full I wanted to cry. Am so sleepy I am miserable. And desserts: she had me try a new cherry cobbler and it was scrumptus. Her other mainstays are: chocolate cobbler, peach cobbler and banana pudding. SOmetimes she has sweet potato cobbler, plum cobbler, strawberry cobbler or hot apple cobbler. And yes, there is plenty of ice cream to go with this as well. Her customers simply flock in during lunch, as the desserts are included in the meal.

Guys, I am so miserable right now I could go lay down on a hard surface and go to sleep.

Oh honey, where do you live and who is yore mama?!?! Sounds wonderful!
I do not cook nearly as many good veggies as my mama did because my loutish husband thinks potatoes are the only vegetable he needs.
Re: Grits. I love grits, if they are cooked right, which is not too long! Cracker Barrel has some of the worst grits in the universe. No wonder our Yankee friends hate grits if all they get is Cracker Barrel's!
Some of the best grits I've had were made with cheese and garlic. In Natchez, they like to serve those with fried catfish.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by Southlander

Actually, Virginia ham, spoonbread, "ring tum diddy" (I don't know what that is!), VA pork BBQ and Brunswick stew are not Alabama foods. But they are indigenous to other parts of the South.

Originally Posted by vasinger

But they are Southern.

Yes, V, but the original question was: "What kind of dishes would you recommend if I were to pay a visit to Alabama?"
Livermush is Southern, too, but I usually find that in the mountains of North Carolina, not, thank God, here in Alabama!! (And by the way, what IS "ring tum diddy??")
OK, here's a question to ponder.
I once made something out of my reliable Betty Crocker cookbook that called for using bay leaf. Being a young bride and not knowing any better, I put a whole bay leaf in the dish (I think it was a stew). Needless to say, the dish tasted so powerfully of bay leaf it was inedible.
When I told my mother about it, she said, "No wonder! That's a Yankee cookbook!"
What's your favorite Southern cooking cookbook?

[Keeper]

Ha ha ha ha.. got one better than that. My MIL use to make a bar-b-que basting sauce to use while cooking. I kept seeing these leaves in it and the homemade dipping sauce.. I thought they were from the oak tree above where they sat on the grill. Imagine my surprise when I started cooking and found they weren't from the oak tree but were bay leaves
If you ever had Fletcher's Bar-b-que in Mobile it was the sauce they made for the restaurant

[bohem21]

Paula Deens has 2 cookbooks that are wonderful. (her first 2) They are not really all 'her" recipes. But a very comprehensive collection of traditional southern recipes. I have used MANY of hers and have never been disappointed. Ok? to endorse Paula, she is from Georgia Southern Living has very great cookbooks. Again, I have never gone wrong with any of those recipes as well. The Hummingbird Cake recipe is AMAZING.

Funny, I did not grow up in the south but I retained so much of my great-grandmothers and my grandmothers cooking, I turned out to be a pretty decent southern cook.

One item, that we always had here in Alabama is west indies salad (crab salad) and it is still a real treat/favorite.

[Tarrytown]

Originally Posted by VMH2507

Nobody has mentioned Grits. That is what I missed when I lived in Texas.

They are in every restaurant

[SunnyKayak]

hey guys
I just stopped at this restaurant and uurgh I am not pleased with their attempt to try to make southern foods. It just like people from north with their best intentions they cannot make a true southern dish due to they often dont follow recipe make it healthy or modify ingredients.

Im a carolina southern boy and since you guys are the heart of the south I gotta know what color and what is in your cole slaw and potatoe salad?

[Keeper]

I believe there are 2 different kinds of southern cole slaw, some put a vinegar in it, but I was raised eating cole slaw with mayo.
For potato salad, I like potatoes, sweet pickles, eggs, celery and mayo, but I also like to put green olives in mine but that is just my taste not for everyone.

[Rikrich]

Originally Posted by aiangel_writer

This is one Southerner who absolutely hates grits. YUK...

Hi, and I am not going to hold that against you. You know, I haven't eaten grits since I was in the Army (1983-89). I acquired a taste for them, even though it wasn't exactly a favorite of mine. Not bad, though. By the way, I was raised in Pennsylvania, so there are indeed YANKEES out there who have eaten grits.

[33458]

Huh...nobody's mentioned rice/fries with brown gravy or the ever-pleasing country style gravy...I doctor mine a bit spicy, made from scratch with drippings, er, drippins', in to what a friend calls "White Trash Gravy" and man is it goooooood.

Or pimento cheese sandwiches.

Now I'm hungry.

P.S. Grits with lots of butter, salt and pepper or shredded cheese and Tabasco.
YUM.