Snipes and Southern Eats

[iplawyer]

I'm originally from san Francisco, not DC. Don't do grits, don't do boiled peanuts. Have, however, found a new delicacy in little straws filled with flavored honey.

But have you tried real grits or boiled peanuts? Wonderful food. Peanut harvest time is my favorite time where I came from. People boiled freshly harvested peanuts on the side of the road in big vats. That is when they are best - boiled when they are green - right out of the ground. Now I'm really envious of Demo.

Grits can be properly eaten many ways. One can mix their eggs, bacon, and sausage in with plenty of butter. Terrific. They are equally good served with boiled shrimp or fried fish. Man I'm hungry.

[Prof]

I'm originally from san Francisco, not DC. Don't do grits, don't do boiled peanuts. Have, however, found a new delicacy in little straws filled with flavored honey.

But have you tried real grits or boiled peanuts? Wonderful food. Peanut harvest time is my favorite time where I came from. People boiled freshly harvested peanuts on the side of the road in big vats. That is when they are best - boiled when they are green - right out of the ground. Now I'm really envious of Demo.

Grits can be properly eaten many ways. One can mix their eggs, bacon, and sausage in with plenty of butter. Terrific. They are equally good served with boiled shrimp or fried fish. Man I'm hungry.

The Souterners are really talking about comfort foods, you know. These things remind me (at least) of childhood and the farm community I grew up in and the things my mother cooked (like grits). I'm sure if I had grown up in S. Texas, I'd have fond memories of enchilladas and tamales from little restaurants, etc.

Which reminds me of a bad joke: Why are Charlestonians (SC) like the Chinese?

They eat a lot of rice and worship their ancestors.

Time to go home and fry some country ham and cook up some grits.

[Famspear]

In addition to my childhood Southern memories of Piggly Wiggly, Winn-Dixie, and RC cola, one of my fondest memories is of being at my grandparents' farm, sitting at the kitchen table, and enjoying the delicacy of "syrup and bread" - yes, just plain old syrup and bread -- with the syrup coming right from the yellow can - specifically, Steen's 100% Cane Syrup.

Also, my grandmother used to make a sort of corn type dish called "coush-coush" (not sure of the spelling).

Does anyone here share these kinds of memories?

[Famspear]

And Steen's Syrup is still around --

http://www.steensyrup.com/

[Prof]

And Steen's Syrup is still around --

http://www.steensyrup.com/

I was just down the road last weekend in Lake Arthur, LA. I understand that Black's Rest. in Abbeville was closed but has now re-opened. What a great place to eat oysters, shrimp, etc., and drink beer. I didn't get over to Abbeville, because I spent all of my time in a duck marsh, but Abbeville, home of Steen's, is one of my favorite places (it's SE of Lake Charles, and is part of cajun LA).

For those of you who want to know what GOOD fried seafood tastes like, there is a small fishing village, now filled with restaurants, just N. of N. Myrtle Beach, SC, accross the border in NC, and just off of US 17. It is called Calabash. Try Mrs. Becks. The fresh fish and shrimp, all fried, tastes as good as it did fifty years ago when I was a really small kid. Same building, by the way.

[Demosthenes]

Been driving around town looking for a place to buy a nice jacket. What the heck is with all these Waffle Houses? They got more Waffle Houses per capita here than DC has Starbucks...

[Judge Roy Bean]

Been driving around town looking for a place to buy a nice jacket. What the heck is with all these Waffle Houses? They got more Waffle Houses per capita here than DC has Starbucks...

There's inherent wisdom in that.

[Demosthenes]

Bah. What I miss most from Los Angeles is Tommys Burgers, fresh tamales from carts, and In N Out Burgers.

[grixit]

I miss Pioneer Chicken.

[BBFlatt]

Some observations:

1. The trouble with grits is, nobody makes them as good as you mama does (or did). For me, eating grits in a restaurant has always been a disappointing experience.

2. Creamed chipped beef on toast (aka SOS) is virtually unknown to Southern Cuisine. Its not to distant cousin, Sausage gravy and biscuits (SOB) is ubiquitous this side of the Mason Dixon. You can even get it at Hardees.

3. Piggly Wiggly's still exist, mostly in smaller towns like Blountstown or Freeport (FL). These days they are mostly enlarged convenience stores.

4. Demo, if you're stilllooking for a jacket, I believe there's an outlet mall about 20 miles south of Ocala just off I-275 before the turnpike exit. Not far if traffic was like is was Sunday night for you.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Or a place where you can get SOS over biscuits with your eggs and hash browns for breakfast. DAMN! That's good eatin'.

I love SOS. It's a damn shame they don't serve it in my Navy anymore.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Bah. What I miss most from Los Angeles is Tommys Burgers, fresh tamales from carts, and In N Out Burgers.

Bah! In Los Angeles, there's only one way to fly for a burger jones:

[Prof]

Been driving around town looking for a place to buy a nice jacket. What the heck is with all these Waffle Houses? They got more Waffle Houses per capita here than DC has Starbucks...

Try the Waffle House; it is very blue/no collar, but the country ham they serve is real, bone-in cured ham, and, in my experience, very good. (The chain is probably out of Atlanta, but the doesn't get any farther west than Houston, if it gets that far.) But, as I said, this is a blue collar/no collar sort of place, especially late at night.

It is sort of a working man, red-neck Starbucks, by the way.

[iplawyer]

In addition to my childhood Southern memories of Piggly Wiggly, Winn-Dixie, and RC cola, one of my fondest memories is of being at my grandparents' farm, sitting at the kitchen table, and enjoying the delicacy of "syrup and bread" - yes, just plain old syrup and bread -- with the syrup coming right from the yellow can - specifically, Steen's 100% Cane Syrup.

You do remember Scout's classmate in "To Kill A Mockingbird" who wanted to pour molassas all over his dinner - including biscuits? Yes - it's a Southern thing.

Oh yes - I'd almost forgotten real cured ham. Goes great with grits. Yum.....

I concur about the sausage gravy. I never saw chipped beef until the Marine Corps Dining Facility (I'll never, ever call it a "mess hall" again - if you get my drift). The SOS in the south is gravy made with the drippings of pork sauasage and pork sausage crumbled into it (if you can afford that step). Yep, I'm sure it's real good for the heart. That being said, my Grandfather lived to nearly 80 eating three fried eggs, sausage, bacon, grits, toast, and sausage gravy every morning.

Who gives a shit about Snipes, Demo - just send us deprived folk some pictures of real food.

[Evil Squirrel Overlord]

Afer reading this thread I am reminded of why I don't travel south of Iowa unless I have to.

[iplawyer]

Afer reading this thread I am reminded of why I don't travel south of Iowa unless I have to.

Sqirrel, I can understand your sentiment. My grandmother said that stewed squirrel in gravy was her favorite meal. As she got older, she had my uncle's shoot her one on a daily basis. There were days when I was a kid when all we had to eat were the squirrels and rabbits somebody shot that day. Can't say that I have the fondness for squirrel that my grandmother had, but I still adore rabbit.

[Judge Roy Bean]

...And for the record, I have witnessed squirrels trying to open macadamia nuts.

Then you know probably what a macadamia nut tree leaf blower does, or at least did back in the 50's.

Do they still use flame throwers or has Homeland Security confiscated them all?

[webhick]

The SOS in the south is gravy made with the drippings of pork sausage and pork sausage crumbled into it (if you can afford that step).

Strange. My grandmother's version involved unseasoned boiled ground beef, strained, and served over stale wonder bread. And sometimes she'd boil some creamed corn with it. And I assure you, it actually looked like SOS.

I've also heard over at the food pantry something called a salmon wiggle that I'm not too keen on hearing more about. And frosting on crackers "make a great snack". BLECH. Not a fan of "New England Style" macaroni or potato salad either, thanks to the massive amount of vinegar. I'll have it the way I had it actually growing up in "New England" thank you very much.

[grixit]

I never heard about "sos" until i was in college. As a child, i knew creamed chipped beef as one of the special dishes normally reserved for my parents since it was made with expensive lean dried beef.

As for sausage gravy, Alton Brown did a show on diner food and demonstrated several versions. But as someone concerned about chloresterol, i can't follow anyone who goes "step one, pour milk into the drippings on the griddle". For me, step one is always, "pour the drippings into a cup, let them seperate and pour out the fat".

[Quixote]

Been driving around town looking for a place to buy a nice jacket. What the heck is with all these Waffle Houses? They got more Waffle Houses per capita here than DC has Starbucks...

Try the Waffle House; it is very blue/no collar, but the country ham they serve is real, bone-in cured ham, and, in my experience, very good. (The chain is probably out of Atlanta, but the doesn't get any farther west than Houston, if it gets that far.) But, as I said, this is a blue collar/no collar sort of place, especially late at night.

It is sort of a working man, red-neck Starbucks, by the way.

I can confirm that there are Waffle Houses in Houston. And I think I saw one on 290 between here and Austin, but I could be mistaken.