​This is an adaptation of an old Lowcountry recipe. It provides a mayonnaise-free variation on modern cole slaw, and in our estimation is more interesting than typical cooked cabbage.  

​INGREDIENTS
​1/2 head green cabbage
​3/4 milk
​1/2 cup cream
​4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup vinegar
​1 teaspoon cumin seeds
​Salt and pepper to taste
1 dash hot sauce

DIRECTIONS
​Shred the cabbage. Place in a large pot on top of the stove. Add the milk and cream and heat through over medium heat. Add the butter. While it is melting, toast the cumin seeds in a small hot pan over medium-high heat, stirring 1-2 minutes until they begin to smoke.  Add them to the pot and stir. Cook the mixture about 20 minutes. Remove from stove and add the vinegar, salt and pepper, hot sauce. Do not reheat. Toss briefly and serve at once.

​Hampton Court is of course the magnificent centuries-old palace of Britain's King Henry III and his six wives. It is also a bucolic residential street in Athens, Ga., favored by University of Georgia faculty and the like, where some of the brick cottage homes have hints of English architecture. The latter was no doubt inspired by the former, and we are inspired by both. The origins of Southern sauces have a few roots in the old English ways of cooking, including the use of mustard, horseradish and vinegar that we incorporate here.

INGREDIENTS
​1 package of chicken thighs, about 8-10 pieces
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
4 ounces of horseradish mustard
​
8 ounces of SouthernAirs Kickin' Vinegar Barbecue Sauce, OR
Substitute:
8 ounces of cider vinegar
​1 tablespoon honey (or molasses if you have it)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
​1/4 teaspoon pepper
​1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 dash hot sauce

DIRECTIONS
​Remove the skins from the chicken, rinse them and pat dry. Dredge each piece lightly on both sides with flour. Melt the butter on top of the stove in a deep skillet large enough to lay the chicken out in a single layer. Brown the chicken pieces over medium-high heat, about 6-8 minutes on each side. While they are browning, open a bottle of SouthernAirs' Kickin' Vinegar Barbecue Sauce OR substitute it by mixing together the rest of the ingredients above in a bowl. When the chicken is browned, use a spoon to place a dollop of horseradish mustard on the top of each piece of chicken and spread it with the back of the spoon. Add the vinegar mixture to the skillet, being careful not to wash off the horseradish mustard. Lower the heat to simmer, cover the skillet, and let simmer about 45-60 minutes until the chicken is tender enough to fall off the bone. Garnish with parsley and serve hot.





  

We have tried each of these recipe alternatives, and like them both. Congealed fruit & nut salads like this were once a staple on the church picnic circuit, and serve to remind of family times gone by.

INGREDIENTS
1 package lime jello
1 package lemon jello
​24 large marshmallows
​1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
2 tablespoons white vinegar
​1 can crushed pineapple
​(or, substitute 1 small carton of cottage cheese and 1 cup mayo for the cream cheese)

DIRECTIONS
​Dissolve jello packages in a large bowl with 3 cups of boiling water. Add 24 large marshmallows and beat until melted. Add cream cheese and beat until melted. Add pecans, vinegar, pineapple. Mix well and chill until firm.

​The other way: omit the cream cheese and substitute the cottage cheese and mayo, using only 1 package of jello, either flavor.

Mrs. S.R. Dull is one of our inspirations as a dedicated cook and a luminary of Southern cuisine.

In an earlier piece on the companion Notions from Home blog on this website, we described her as "The South's first celebrity chef," which is hardly an understatement.

Her 1928 cookbook "Southern Cooking" is a basic primer for the regional cuisine that she helped bring broader recognition to. It effectively bridged the 19th and 20th centuries with a wealth of classic recipes, some of them dating to the ante-bellum period.

​Here is one of the 1,300 gems from Mrs. S.R. Dull, aka Henrietta Dull.
​
​WATERMELON RIND PICKLES
​Ingredients
​1/2 gallon of cut watermelon rind
​1 quart apple vinegar
1/2 ounce whole cloves
1/2 ounce whole mace
1 ounce mustard seed
​2 lbs. sugar

​DIRECTIONS
Cut the rind in small pieces, about two-inch cubes; pack in brine until ready to use. Put a layer of rind and a light layer of salt; let stand until ready to make up. Soak in water over-night or until they are fresh. Then boil in weak alum water until they are firm and brittle. Boil again in plain water to remove the alum, and the rinds are clear.

​Put sugar and spices into vinegar; boil together for five minutes. Add rind and boil gently for 10 minutes. Put rinds into a jar; pour the hot vinegar over, having the jar full; seal. They will be ready to use in a few days.

​The most recent edition of Southern Cooking, from the University of Georgia Press, can easily be purchased online at ​http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/southern_cooking/

​​"Please Pass the puh-Kahn Pie!"

Pecans are quintessentially Southern for perfectly natural reasons. The most popular varieties don’t grow very well in many areas outside of the South. Secondly, they don’t freeze very well for long, which limits their shelf life and their range.

Most Americans know them only in pies at Thanksgiving, but there are plenty of other satisfying ways to consume pecans as well, from candies, tassies and cookies to cooking oils.

One controversy about pecans is unlikely to die down soon: how to pronounce them. Some linguists say that “pee-KAHN” is dominant nationwide, but in much of the South “pick-AHN” or “puh-KAHN” holds sway. When I was growing up, one way to detect a Yankee was that many of them pronounced it “PEE-can,” a mild source of amusement to folks where the nut is actually grown.

​Here is one of our favorite takes on pecan pie, featuring the addition of caramel to give it special distinction.
​
CARAMEL PECAN PIE

INGREDIENTS
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 egg white
1/2 cup butter melted
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
6 whole pecans for topping
1 unbaked pie shell

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine sugars and flour, mixing well. Add butter, beaten eggs, milk and vanilla. Stir in the chopped nuts until evenly distributed. Brush pie shell with egg white to make the crust crispy. Pour mixture evenly into pie shell and embellish in a pattern on top with whole pecans. Bake for 50 minutes.