Southern Snacks: 77 Recipes for Small Bites with Big Flavors

178 Pages·2018·8.588 MB·English

by  Perre Coleman Magness

Southern
Snacks

Southern
Snacks
77 RECIPES
FOR SMALL BITES
WITH
BIG FLAVORS
Perre Coleman Magness
Photographs by Justin Fox Burks
The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill
Text © 2018 Perre Coleman Magness
Photographs © 2018 Justin Fox Burks,
http://www.justinfoxburks.com
Food styling by Jennifer Chandler
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Kimberly Bryant and set in Arno Pro
by Rebecca Evans
The University of North Carolina Press has been a
member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover photograph by Justin Fox Burks
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Magness, Perre, 1940– author. |
Burks, Justin Fox, photographer.
Title: Southern snacks : 77 recipes for small bites
with big flavors / Perre Coleman Magness ;
photographs by Justin Fox Burks.
Description: Chapel Hill : The University of
North Carolina Press, [2018] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018001365| ISBN 9781469636726
(cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469636696 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Cooking, American—Southern style. |
Snack foods—Southern States.
Classification: LCC TX715.2.S68 M316 2018 |
DDC 641.5975—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018001365
Introduction 1 sRo-Tel 8
rTailgating 13
Dips and Spreads 3 aSudden Sundays 23
bThe Southern Cheese Board 30
Cheese, Please 27 eDerby Day 40
d
The Hollywood 48
Deep- Fried Love 47 i
sFair Food 56
The Stove-Top Smoker 74
Seafood and Eat It 63
Crawfish Boil 80
Midnight Snack 86
The Meat of the Matter 83
Barbecue Nachos and Other Uses for ’Cue 98
Opening Day of Dove Season 106
The Garden Path 113
Vienna Sausages and Saltines 109
Ham Dust 110
Nuts for Snacks 135
Koolickles 117
Festival of Food 120
Lagniappe 153
The Mardi Gras 134
Uncle Bill’s Peanuts 139
The Sip and See 147
Sources for Ingredients 161
Gas Station Peanut Brittle 149
About the Author 162
Lagniappe 155
Index 163
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Southern
Snacks
You don’t
need a
silver fork
to eat
good food.
—Paul Prudhomme
It is no great secret that southerners love to eat. Or that huge parts n
of our lives revolve around food. The need to feed is born into us.
We bring food to new parents and the recently bereaved, and no o
family gathering would be complete without some nostalgic fam-
i
ily dishes prepared the way grandma used to make it. The most t
iconic images of southern food are often the groaning boards laden
c
with bowls and skillets and platters of abundance: piles of fried
chicken, greens, field peas, mayonnaise salads, gelatin molds, cas-
u
seroles, baskets of biscuits and cornbread, cakes, pies, and cookies.
Southerners adore a generous Sunday dinner surrounded by good d
people and good food, dinner being the big midday meal while
o
supper is the evening one. The use of southern ingredients are
just as evident in our snacks as in our suppers, from the shrimp of r
the coastal states to the crawfish of the bayou, the country ham of
the mountains, and the catfish of the Delta. We delight in okra and t
field peas, sweet potatoes and buttermilk, all in small- plate form.
n
But southerners are just as creative and generous with the sim-
ple snack. I would argue that there is no food southerners excel at i
more than the small bite. We often call it pick- up food. Food for
tailgating or watching the game on TV. Food for baby showers
and sip and sees. Derby-w atching days or cocktail parties. Holi-
day buffets and funeral spreads. Garden clubs, book clubs, Bible
study, and bridge parties. We love a full spread of little bites — lots
of choice and, well, lots. Dips and spreads and little filled biscuits,
cheese molds and cheese coins, pickled vegetables and crispy little
pieces of fried. Even at a party with a buffet overflowing with de-
licious supper dishes, there will be little silver bowls of seasoned
nuts, or plates of cheese straws scattered about the house. And
chefs in the South have caught on. From the finest restaurants
to pop- up projects and food trucks, chefs in the South are offer-
ing little bites and lots of variety. And it stands to reason. When
southerners congregate to celebrate and bloviate we like lots of
choices, small bites that keep us mobile, mixing, and mingling.
Loquacious southerners like to work a room, to find out about
your mama and them and what you think of the team’s chances
next year. The standard practice for the big southern wedding is
a buffet reception rather than a seated dinner, so guests can catch
up with as many friends old and new as possible, and then get out
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