Excalibre writes:
> And since black people were the majority population of the antebellum south,
> naturally the cooking of southern white folk influenced and was influenced by
> that of black people.
Blacks were never a majority of the antebellum (or postbellum) south. The only state (or colony if we’re talking about before the American Revolution) where blacks were a majority was South Carolina, for a couple of periods in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
As a white, nothern woman whose Slovene mother always served spaghetti with the sauce and pasta combined, I must say I never heard of this as a black thing before. My mother’s reasons for mixing it together?
You only see a platter of plain pasta with a small puddle of sauce poured across the middle in magazines, because they think it looks prettier. It all has to get mixed together sooner or later, and when small children are involved, it’s better if mom stirs it all up first.
Plain pasta tends to stick together, mixing with the sauce makes the leftovers more manageable.
In my mother’s world, you are not alowed to want more or less sauce than anyone else. Eat what you are served.
Hmmm… and all this time I thought glazed ham was “Episcopal Food.” 
After all, dinner in the Parish Hall means glazed ham.
I grew up eating spaghetti with sauce mixed in, with extra sauce on the side in case somebody wanted more. I thought it was supposed to be that way. Live and learn!
That’s a African-American thingie?? Wow!!! So that’s where my Italian friends (in Italy) learned how to do it!!
I swear I’m not making this up guys.
One day I was talking to a couple of black coworkers of mine and we were talking about an up comming event where everybody was goin to bring a dish. I asked what so-n-so was bringing when one of my coworkers mentioned she was bringing spagetti. She then also mentioned she makes her spagetti like white folks.
I asked what the difference was and that’s when she told me the above mentioned in my former post.
[shrugs] I was surprize as much as anyone.
My Sicilian dad and Italian mom always served the pasta with the sauce, and with a big pot of sauce on the side with meatballs and beef chunks.
The biggest advantage to this is that the pasta doesn’t stick together.
My VERY FIRST POST (after lurking and spitting liquids through my nose twenty-'leven dozen times (that’s southern – and county (and perhaps ebonical)) and nearly getting fired 'cause of the snorts of laughter coming from my cubicle all day 'cause of you funny, funny people).
I remember reading about ham glazed using “co-cola” in Richard Bradford’s coming-of-age novel, “Red Sky at Morning.” Since it sounded really nasty and was made to be served in the upper-middle-class household of transplants from Alabama to the midwest (the Arnolds), I never would have believed it had anything to do with “soul food,” “African-American cooking,” or any cuisine that made any kind of gustatory sense.
Oh, and yes, my moms always served baghettis with the sauce already mixed in, we being African American and all.
Which goes to show, just like with everything else in this country, we’re all confused and mutts of sorts (even our food!). Therefore, and relating to another thread about people being wrongly perceived as racists, "Can’t we all just get along? (and maybe share a meal of baghettis and co-cola sauce? No? then how about cockies? And beer? I like beer! And being a gay man, I like cockies! Oh, that’s not what Swampbear means? Never mind the cockies then.
Grrr… 
A dash of olive oil in the noodles will prevent this from happening. Also when you keep them seprate the noodle don’t get the chance to dry out the sauce…
Come poeple, can’t you see MY way is the best…
/kidding
If you cook pasta properly - highest heat, biggest pan, lots of water - it never sticks together. It’s all about the pasta being able to move about while the boiling takes place.
(And for sauce-vs-no sauce, I can’t think of any one place in Italy where I didn’t have the option of both.)
Ah, but my mother doesn’t use olive oil. Why add those calories when you can just add sauce to accomplish the same thing? And dry out the sauce? It’s absorbing all that flavor!
And GorillaMan? I’m not talking about it sticking together while cooking (if it says 6 quarts of water, you can bet my mom is using 6 quarts of water) but afterwards, while it’s sitting there in the serving bowl, plain and nekkid.
That is exactly what I mean 5-4-Fighting. Now, fork over the $14.95 and join already!
As was I. As far as I’m concerned, there is no difference. They are one and the same.
If you leave it in the oven too long,glazed ham is DEFINITELY black…
Hell, I’ll spring for it. Can we keep 5-4, please?
Jeff, I’m awful flattered you wanna keep me. But I live in New York City and it cost a lot to keep somebody. At least, more than $14.95 – it’s at least $25.00. Whatcha got? Meanwhile, Swampbear, what do you bid?
The cafeteria where I had lunch today is also having a “ethnic food week” and coincidently today was “soul food day.” The food is what you’d expect (fried chicken, greens, cornbread, yams) and some rather baffling to me at least (red beans and rice, catfish). The most confusing thing was the fact that the cafeteria workers were (supposedly) appropriately costumed for “soul food day.” They were wearing tie dyed shirts and plastic Mardis Gras beads. 
I’m sorry, I don’t quite get it.
I mean, I don’t think anyone was offended. The cafeteria workers just looked like they were having a good time with dressing up. It was a fun atmosphere. It just kept me half giggling throughout lunch wondering how they came up with this.
Reminds me of a debate going on in the African American community now. Who, exactly, can refer to themselves as African American? Only the descendants of the original slaves? Or can more recent arrivals?
So could, for instance, Ethiopian food be considered African American? Or just African? Or just Ethiopian?
Most of us realize Mexican food really encompasses a great many different regional styles. Same with Chinese food. Even Italian food is broken down into regions.
So how can we possibly point to a particular dish and say, “that’s African American”?
I’m thinking there are lots of ways to celebrate diversity, but “food day” probably isn’t the best one.
I swear to god I’ve never heard of glazing a ham with Coke. WTF? Last I checked, fatback was pennies at the grocery store. Or can you glaze a ham with fatback?
I give up.
Then you probably don’t want my aunt’s recipe for Coca-Cola cherry marshmellow Jello salad.
A glaze is pretty much sugar based by definition. A glaze is a syrup that has been reduced to the point where it starts to get really viscous, but not rock hard.
Suppose you could try to glaze with fatback, but there’s no way it would stay on. The fat would all melt and run to the bottom of the pan.