Southern Green Beans Redux

Slow-Simmered Green Beans and Turnips with Smoked Turkey

It’s a summer dish in every southern grandparent’s home. It’s served at weddings, funerals and special events. The sight of it makes pseudo-healthy eaters start a conversation about unhealthy southern food and it’s over-cooked vegetables. Every child of the south has memories of watching television, only to have a large bowl of this vegetable unexpectedly placed in front of them. They dare not verbally protest. The snapping sound of each wax green bean’s ends being trimmed are heard with the sound of a television. For a generation of a certain age, such sounds brings back memories of watching their grandparents prepare meals.  Read more

Duck and Turnip Stew with Dandelion Greens

Duck and Turnip Stew with Dandelion Greens Garnished with Pickled Okra

Often when we think of Southern Soul food, we think of mac and cheese, fried chicken, collard greens, and potato salad–to name a few dishes. In reality, it’s about the first animal shot in the morning and served in a stew in the evening. Depending on the size, it’s served in various forms within the next few days. Bellies are salted and cured for preservation (Read: Bacon). Bones, such as poultry backs with little meat, are used for broth. Inners are fried to a crisp or simmered in broth. Fat is rendered into lard for baking or frying. Brains are served in rich root vegetable gratin dishes freshly made with butter, cream or buttermilk (that generation wasn’t lactose-intolerant). Generations ago, our grandparents feasted on wild possums, doves, turtles, squirrels, rabbits and deer. As Craig Samuel, co-owner of Peaches Restaurant in Brooklyn, mentioned, “…it’s the food that kept our grandmothers…[and families] alive…” Read more