Butter, butter, and more butter. Very essential to a Southern cook.

catfish. purple shell peas. snap beans. bananas. squash.
(makin' me hungry...)

Grits, anyone??

There has always been a lack of representation of the South on the Kitchn. This post of stereotypical and dated ingredients is clearly no exception.

Don't forget the rice... Growing up in Louisiana surrounded by rice fields we would put the rice on before we decided what we were having for dinner. Rice and gravy for 3 meals out of four, scrambled eggs and rice for breakfast. And cayenne pepper. And filet (sassafras) powder.

Ooo, scrambled eggs and rice. That is one of my favorites, even for a quick dinner. I put ketchup on mine, though. I thought it was a military/asian thing.

Yeah, scrambled eggs and rice is delicious and perfect for using the leftover rice you didnt finish the night before. My family just loads it up with cayenne pepper and/or Tony Chachere's seasoning (they use this by the case). Oh, and figs! It seems like everyone I knew growing up had fig trees and made all kinds of preserves. Since strawberries are harder to grow in that climate a lot of people make fake strawberry jam by flavoring figs. But I don't know if figs are native?

Andouille Sausage, red beans, rice, and the essential spices: garlic, black pepper, cayenne, onion, and parsley. That's how they cook in the bayou, y'heard?

"There has always been a lack of representation of the South on the Kitchn. This post of stereotypical and dated ingredients is clearly no exception."

Yaheardme, they DID ask if anyone had anything to add. If you think they got it wrong, how about actually, y'know, ADDING what you think they left out rather than griping?

My grandmother used to grow something called scup-a-nons - which i'm spelling phonetically, since I think I was nine the last time I saw one... I haven't run into them outside of the south, and don't remember what they're for.

They were grown in a short tree and were kind of a yellowish-brown...I was wondering if anyone had any information on them.

Muscadine, vinegar, crawdads, White Lily flour : ), sesame seeds, sunchokes, pimento cheese

empresscallipygos, I don't think a list of ingredients would have communicated my point as clearly as my previous post. Can't the South get a little love and understanding that goes deeper than cornbread and okra?

I am dying to try this recipe:

http://ayankeeinasouthernkitchen.com/2008/08/31/pickled-shrimp-a-low-country-classic/

(Check out the rest of the blog too.)

Gingus, you mean scuppernong, the Southern grape. I see them used for jams and jellies, as well as wine (which is a little too sweet for my taste).

Word up to those who mentioned figs, purple hull peas, catfish, and *especially* pimento cheese. Did anyone add boiled peanuts yet? Banana pudding? Don't forget country ham! Also, the alligator cheesecake at Jacques-Imo's deserves a post all its own.

There are so many subcategories under the Southern umbrella, too. New Orleans cuisine is way different from Tennessee, which differs quite a bit from the Carolina coast. My mind was blown when I moved from Alabama to Georgia and found out no one in Atlanta knew about white bbq sauce! And the inclusion of *oysters* in New Orleans Thanksgiving dressing definitely threw me the first time I tried it.

Stolichnaya, I used to live in Alabama and I'm constantly trying to explain white sauce to people.

In addition to those mentioned, one quintessentially Southern food I've only had or heard of there is green pepper jelly. Served on a triscuit with cream cheese.

alabama has almost every type & variation of barbeque, white sauce in north alabama, mustard based, ketchup based, sauceless barbecue in thomaston, west alabama, its great, just don't ask for sauce, its in the meat! greensboro alabama is the catfish capital, anyway you like it. fried chicken. greens, greens, & more greens. special sauce on burgers & dogs in birmingham, alabama, every place has their own variation. where else can you get a ground beef special sauce on top of a burger? no, its not chili. milo's sauce anyone? creamed corn. what about blackberries. and last but not least, hot sauce. you can put it on almost every food mentioned in this thread. especially delicious on okra. i think the louisiana post forgot to mention boudin. best from road side stands & small mom & pop groceries.

Green Snap Peas
Yellow Squash (pronounced "yella squash" by my grandma)
Molasses & Sorghum (<very important in my opinion!)
Catfish
Sweet Corn on the Cob
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Cornmeal (for the fried catfish, fried squash & okra!)

By the way... I just made fried okra, fried squash, buttermilk biscuits with sorghum & peach preserves, & barbecue chicken for dinner!!! (I don't usually cook like that!)

I grew up in KY, but now live in TN.

how's about hog's head cheese and mirlitons? no holiday went by that i didn't go with my mom down the road to Trietler's and get hog's head cheese (not that i actually ate the stuff) nor did we not eat stuffed mirlitons.
and big ups to the oyster dressing mention. usually its called "'mock' oyster dressing" or as my cousin says "gimme some mock"

yay for chalmette, louisiana!!!

well i must add, hate to have to state the obvious, but i simply CANNOT live without my sweet tea. oh, and add almonds to the Extras.

I'm from a small town in South Carolina that has an annual Chitlin Strut. It's a festival dedicated to chitlins and well, the whole hog. Chitlins are hog intestines for those who don't know. Anyone ever tried pork bbq hash and rice? I asked my mother to describe the ingredients in hash -She replied that it was everything but the squeal.
The Chitlin Strut also has a beauty pageant - humans not swine.

Ditto on the sweet tea. Sometimes we make half sweet tea and half lemonade. It's called an Arnold Palmer.

"There has always been a lack of representation of the South on the Kitchn. This post of stereotypical and dated ingredients is clearly no exception."

There's a lack of representation of the South all over AT. Two pages in CA, nothing in the entire Southeast. And they added Washington DC bloggers instead of anyone Atlanta/Southeast and didn't even consider this WHOLE region of the country.

Seafood, people, there's a lot of coast in the South - Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, besides tons of inland waterways and lakes. Crawfish, oysters, crabs, & all kinds of fish are all over Southern cooking.

All kinds of eccentric fruits and veggies get preserved here, too, not just the big three exports of peaches, oranges, and strawberries.

Don't forget the Caribbean influence throughout the Gulf South, the Creole and Cajun cuisines of Louisiana, and the African influences all over the South. Check out the Center for Southern Culture's conference on Southern foodways, too.

Also, as a vegetarian, I hate to bring this up, but there's a lot of deer-hunting that goes on around here, which means lots of people eat venison on a regular basis.

I second kat98, and I'm a little sad that they don't consider Florida apart of the south. Along with great Island and Latin flavors, Florida has great southern food and fabulous soul food. But add gator, deer, wild turkey/hogs to that list! We have more than just "small wild game"!

This post reminds me of my childhood growing up on a farm in TN. :) We had fruit trees all over, plus a garden full of peppers, corn, cantaloupe, squash, you name it! The best part: The dozens of sunflowers that grew alongside the garden. Fresh sunflower seeds, anyone?

I live in MN now, and I never realized I missed okra until I saw it in the photo.

Crowder (aka Field) Peas are the best peas by far and totally southern in origin as far as the U.S. goes.
Wild Blackberries (pies, cobblers, sugared, plain, even wine!)
Karo Syrup
Your special brand of hot sauce- the one commonality to all BBQ.
Aspic/jello salads with vegetables, fruits, nuts, you name it!
White vinegar. No household in the South can cook (right) without it.

"empresscallipygos, I don't think a list of ingredients would have communicated my point as clearly as my previous post. Can't the South get a little love and understanding that goes deeper than cornbread and okra?"

And I guess I needed to more clearly communicate MY point.

You have identified a problem. You have the choice of either pointing at the problem and saying "look, that's a problem" or helping to SOLVE the problem. What's more, others have ASKED you to help contribute to solving the problem. And yet, you are still continuing to simply point and saying "look, that's a problem." I'm saying, "I know it's a problem, now what would you like to do to solve it?" And you are continuing to simply say "look, that's a problem."

I'll go talk to the people who want to SOLVE the problem.

It was a whole new culinary experience visiting my mother in law in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The White Lily flour she used in making fried chicken, tomato and mayo sandwhiches, seafood, chitlins, pecans from her tree, and more. As a Filipino Southern cooking was my version of exotic food.

mississippi mud pie, cornbread pudding, boiled peanuts, the hurricane, mint julep, chickory

sweet potato pie too!