Sawmill gravy is my favorite. It’s like the gravy recipe posted earlier, except you add milk instead of water. And you do it after you’ve cooked the sausage, so little spicy sausage bits get mixed up in the gravy. Yum. My mama made the best sawmill gravy…
And no sugar in vegetable is correct, with the exception of turnip greens. Somehow I missed being in on the cooking of turnip greens when I was growing up. I spent years trying to figure out why the turnip greens I cooked as an adult didn’t taste the way I remembered them tasting when I was a kid. By accident I stumbled on the secret: a little bit of sugar to cut the bitterness.
Cook some cornbread, crumble it up in a pile on the plate, spoon some hot cooked black-eyed peas over it, and set a slice of onion on the side – yummy yummy! Alternately, cook up a mess of turnip greens, and use the cornbread to sop up the pot likker (the juice left in the pot from cooking the greens.)
And I never heard sorghum syrup called sorghum molasses – I learned something new! Thanks!
Man, a thread about black-eyed peas, barbecue, fried okra, cornbread, fried squash, gravy, corned beef hash, and Roy Blount, Jr. ::sniff:: Brings a tear to my eye.
So I gotta question: how do y’all pronounce the word “oil?” I’ve pretty much had my accent leeched away by too much television and too long living on the Left Coast, but I still get a lot of grief for the way I pronounce certain words.
For “oil,” I pronounce it like it’s spelled: kind of like “oh-ell.” Two syllables. Same with “boil” and “toil” and “tin foil.” Is that a GA thing, or is my family just peculiar?
I know that the other words I supposedly mis-pronounce are Georgianisms, because I hear them all the time: “can’t” (cain’t), “want” (won’t), and “ruin” (ruhrn).
Number one on that list: why are you being such a jerk? Especially when everybody else has been pretty civil? Just let it go. Y’all.
CB’s grits are just served plain so that you can add whatever you like to them. For breakfast I add sugar and butter. Sometimes I’ve had fried grits with grape jelly. And I don’t want to hear any nonsense about that not being acceptably Southern! I am eleventh generation, dammit!
At other times I prefer cheese grits.
And i’ve been known to put a tiny bit of sugar in my cole slaw. And in my pimento and cheese too. Just try it one time and see for yourself. Just a tad.
Left Hand, I have great contempt for anyone who tries to denigrate others because of their race, country of origin, religious preferences or any of that. I’ve done what I can do to atone for it. My attitude does not make me any less Southern. And the people who live elsewhere in the States who hold these prejudices aren’t characterized as being Southern-like.
I truly don’t think that bigotry and the pushy style of religious fundamentalism are characteristic of most Southerners. Do you?
If y’all will excuse me now, I’m going out on the porch to sit in the swing and sulk over ever having this gastric by-pass. I want fried chicken gravy on buscuits and lots of it!!! :mad:
“Well, she ain’t much to look at, bless her heart.”
“I saw that boy eatin’ dog doo, bless his heart.”
Oh yeah, don’t forget the chow-chow on my black eyed peas.
“Ell, I swunnie!” sounded more like “Well, I swannie” in northeast Tennessee. Heard it many times. I took it as another polite version of swearing about something.
TeaElle, that offer’s mighty tempting–why do I always read this thread right before lunch? But I figure maybe I can convince my wife to eat some blackeyed peas. I’ve managed to win her over to regular peas, lentil soup, and a few other dishes; maybe I’ll put blackeyed peas up next.
No, not at all. I think they’re pretty common in the South, though, and they’re among the less attractive features of the region. If we get to be proud of the bucolic landscape and of the general friendliness of people, I think we need to bear some responsibility for some of the less attractive features of the region as well, though.
But I absolutely agree that your lack of bigotry doesn’t make you less Southern.
Archergal I say “since buck was a calf” a lot too. Reckon we’re kinfolk?
Zakalwe be here by 1:00 p.m., January 1, 2005. That’s when New Year’s Day dinner is served. Mind you, the pickin’s can be mighty slim for late comers, so be on time.
I once read an e-mail that had 20 things for Yankees to remember when they move down south. My favorite was instructions for what to do if you get stuck in a ditch: Just wait around and eventually a large pickup full of rednecks and a 12-pack of beer will come along and pull you out. Don’t get in their way, don’t try to help them. Apparently this is what they live for.
