The giveaway entry period is now closed, but please don’t let that keep you from sharing your favorite Southern dish! Check back in a few days for the winner, and in the mean time, we have even more Holiday giveaways and Gift Guides!
Someone once told me that the most stressful experiences in life are death, taxes, and moving.
Hm. I may have mixed something up there with the death and taxes part, but you know what I’m getting at right?
I am still deep in the throes of moving which is stressful enough, but for some reason, instead of moving the normal way — taking three all-nighters in a row to filter out the junk, clean the old house, and hire professionals to move the material representation of my life to the new house in one single stressful shot — I have stretched and pulled and dragged the process out to a long, painful, black, blue, tear-streaked six weeks.
Six.
(F**king.)
Weeks.
At this point, we’re physically all “moved.” We are not however, mentally moved, and are now facing the real-time nightmare of unpacking, putting things away, cleaning and the most detestable task of my life, contact papering shelves. This, of course, on top of the (ab)normal Holiday chaos this time of year, has stressed us so much to the point that we are now schizofrenetically referring to ourselves in both the single and personal plural forms in the same post, but we have forced ourselves to take a breather and just…
…give stuff away so we don’t have to put it away.
What We’re Giving Away
No, we aren’t giving away stained clothes, shoes we’ve worn or the partially complete set of Corningware dishes in the ever-so-Korean Gold Butterfly pattern. At least, not giving those away to you.
You’re getting cookbooks! (Our special friend Craig S. List is getting the other stuff.)
Over the last two years, the TasteSpotting Kitchen’s cookbookshelf has been stacking up books that authors, publishers, and PR reps have sent us to review and test. We meant to review/test the cookbooks as they came in, but you know how life gets…
So what better reason than this once in a lifetime moving opportunity (because we really don’t think we can handle this kind of stress ever again) to finally give those cookbooks away? We might also love our TasteSpotting community and want to thank both contributors and readers for this past year, but don’t let that get to your head.
Check back every day. And we’re not saying we have more than just cookbooks, we’re just…
Okay, and we have more than just cookbooks, too.
Bon Appetit, Y’all
But those are later!
First up, we have this kind of very much amazing cookbook, Bon Appetit, Y’all. The Southern-cooks-French collection of recipes from Virginia Willis is the perfect combination of all the flavor and fun of Paula Deen with the finesse and beauty of Giada de Laurentiis. If Giada were French. And didn’t overpronounce (is that even a word?) non-English words.
All of the usual Southern suspects are there. We love that there are recipes for Coca-Cola Baby Back Ribs, Fried Chicken and Gravy, and Buttermilk Cornbread, but what makes this book special is that these recipes are right alongside Boeuf Bourguignonne, Coq au Vin and Gougeres. From a font/type/design-geek perspective, we can’t help but love the fonts and how pages are laid out.
How to Enter this Giveaway
This is a quick and easy giveaway. There is one step:
Leave a comment on this post with your favorite Southern dish.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a favorite Southern dish; just make something up. It doesn’t actually matter what you say since we’re going to pick the “winner” randomly, it only matters that you do comment, and that you do by the deadline, midnight Friday December 3. Make sure to enter your email address in the space provided address so we can contact you if you’re chosen!
Just to get things started, we’ll go first.
We love buttermilk biscuits. So much so that sometimes, we find ourselves sneaking out of a KFC drive-thru with a box of just biscuits in our lap at 1 am.
Good luck!
{ 253 comments }
Fried Okra or Fried Green Tomatoes . . . can’t decide.
I love Grits :)
I absolutely love jambalaya, always have. I love just throwing any meat or seafood I have on hand into a big pot of roux goodness. Delish.
Buttermilk biscuits sound good to me! Isn’t mac & cheese considered a veggie in the south? :)
I don’t know how southern it is, but I have only had it in the South, Shrimp and Grits.
I always love jambalaya. Or gumbo!!
Corn nuggets. I miss the deep fried amazingness of corn nuggets.
I havent thought of corn nuggets in years – those ARE little bites of goodness
Mmm, pecan pie!
Shrimp & grits!
crawfish etouffee!
I love jambalaya and cornbread!
Soooo delicious!
I’m going to have to go with Mac & Cheese… I don’t think I’ve had enough southern dishes to gauge by, so I’ll have to go with what I know this time!
I love biscuits as well!
My favorite Southern dish is Waffle House hashbrowns, well done and smothered, diced and peppered! (for those of you who have not experienced this delicacy, the translation is: with onions, tomatoes and jalapenos)
Hard to pick just one since I grew up in and currently live in Alabama. Gonna have to go with my grandmother’s chicken & dumplings, though!
Turnip greens and cornbread
Fried Chicken and corn bread
Hands down, Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes!
It has to be Shrimp and Grits. That’s pretty rich and downright Southern!
Southern Dishes….Blackened Louisiana Redfish over dirty rice with greens and divine southern cornbread….
Ok, i am not sure I can pick one southern dish over another. I looooove southern food. But I can say that being above the mason dixon line, I never get good okra or southern cornbread.
Fried Catfish and fried okras..yumm!
Cheese grits and mustard greens with a slice of buttermilk pie afterwards! YUM.
I would have too say fried chicken with biscuits and hunny…..Good luck with the move and this time of yr you have more guts then i do lol
Favorite Southern Dish –LOVE true, traditional SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN. Zachary’s in New Orleans did it best —one of their secrets to the best fried is a cold water bath…I don’t know if this restaurant is there since Katrina, but if it is, GO!!!!
Bon Appetit! I loveee biscuits!
Fried chicken and jalapeno corn bread.
Being a northern girl having lived in the south, I miss okra; fried, pickled, or stewed it is all good! That and chicken bisketts…. Yumm
Kiss my GRITS! Yummy!!
Pineapple Casserole.
jumps up and down… new cookbook…and this one sounds exciting
Pee-can Pieeeeeee!
Got a kick out of the “Craig S. List”. You know, just to prove I read the whole thing.
Our family favorite is chicken and dumplings! Thanks so much for offering this holiday!
hmm fried chicken and mac & cheese
Pinto beans and cornbread! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!
Cornbread, baked mac and cheese MMMM
Shrimp & corn gumbo…yummmm!
Eastern North Carolina vinegar-based pulled pork BBQ sandwich!
My mom’s pecan pie, but she made it with walnuts (having grown up around walnut trees — our school was built in the middle of an old orchard — and no where near the south).
I DOOOO love buttermilk biscuits – and I may or may not have done the exact same thing at KFC, with extra gravy in the box. :)
But, man do I love chicken fried steak. TEXAS-sized chicken fried steak. With mashed potatoes and gravy. And green beans!!!
And by the way, Craig S. List had me rolling around in my chair laughing my head off!
Southern Pecan Pie. swooning and hungry!
bread pudding!!! =)
cornbread and veggie chilli!! Yum!!
Bourbon Pecan Pie!
Love vegetables! Fried okra is one of my favourite!
Chicken and Waffles!
Love any kind of pulled meat– pork– chicken— can you
“pull” catfish??! Yum.
cornbread and chili!
Mmm… North Carolina-style pulled pork & slaw. For sure.
biscuits and gravy! yummmmm
I haven’t really had very much authentic southern cooking, but I do love cornbread!
Fried chicken!
Granny’s pickled peaches… Mae’s tiny, perfect butter yeast rolls… and her squash casserole… Miss Annie B’s Quakin Puddin for her sister, Miss Dot’s Christmas eve birthday day supper every year. Viola’s greens… Aunt (pronounced Ain’t) Mildred’s homemade mayonnaise with well, anything… Mama’s salt water cornbread… Petit Jean peppered ham and hot curried fruit with cheese grits souffle and black eyed peas with jalapeno pot likker on New Year’s Day… with enough of Mama’s milk punch to make us giggle.
Pecan Pie!!!
navy beans and cornbread. or black eyed peas and greens and pulled pork.
i’m southern through and through, so i love it all!
Uh…that would have to be beignets…with a Hurricane chaser!
Fried Chicken and krispy kreme doughnuts!!!!!!
I love biscuits too!!
Cornbread! Especially with a big bowl of chili to eat it with :3
Mmm…. cornbread and bean soup. I also love jambalaya.
Pinto beans and corn bread.
My favorite southern dish(es) – hush puppies and pecan pie!
gdblogger1 at gmail dot com
CORNBREAD all the way!
My favorite southern dish is fried chicken and a big glass of sweet tea!!
Fried Okra. I love it!
I’d have to say Hoppin’ John. :)
Gumbo…or fried okra…or biscuits…okay, I can’t decide. Now I’m hungry.
Fried Chicken and Mac & Cheese
shrimp n grits!
Biscuits!
cornbread…but it has to have actual pieces of corn in it to count!
Spiced Molasses Cookies for sure…
I have a great recipe for them and they never fail to be a crowd pleaser!
Mac n Cheese!
Fav southern dish has gotta be buttermilk biscuits. That’s not a dish, but still…
buttermilk biscuits to the grave and beyond!
biscuits and gravy!
My favorite southern dish is lickity stickin’ cheddar upside down buns. Okay, that’s probably not a real southern dish (I’m an Alaskan girl and you said just to make one up!!), but I do love a good rib!!
buttermilk biscuits and honey + butter… or gravy…
and catharine it is TOTALLY a dish! =P
Oh, definitely fried chicken with biscuits and gravy!
Love fried green tomatoes but have been getting into some collard greens lately too.
Hush puppies. Oh, lord, hush puppies.
Black Eyed Peas
fried green tomatoes!
i LOVE some good biscuits and gravy.
red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting!
Flaky buttermilk biscuits!
Pecan Pie
I LOVE sweet tea :)
Mmmmm, flaky biscuits!
Oyster Po Boy Sandwiches
Sweet Potato Pie, all the way.
Gotta love the great, lip smacking Texas BBQ and creamed corn!
Soup beans and corn bread. Now that’s comfort food.
BBQ Shrimp and Grits
Has to be sweet tea and a good brisket.
Fried chicken
biscuits and red eye gravy
jambalaya!
I have to concur on the biscuits! nothing better
Cheesy grits with chilies!
The best has to be hot buttered sweet cornbread!
How can you not want to eat that for every meal?
Good luck with the contact shelf paper! : )
Fried Pickles!
COLLARD GREENS!!
Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, fried green beans, …and coconut cake.
cornmeal breaded skillet fried okra, corn bread, turnip greens, pralines, deviled eggs, country ham…gah…so many more. Dirty South represent!
Fried green tomatoes, bar none.
Gumbo, gumbo, gumbo, gumbo. And of course, there’s gumbo. Did I happen to mention gumbo?
Buttermilk biscuits and vegetarian pepper gravy! Yum!!
Buttermilk biscuits with fried chicken and a little gravy on the side! :)
I resently was in Branson and had deep-fried okra. OMG it was better than French fries! We don’t get okra here in Seattle but I’d like to try making the dish!
Fried Chicken and cornbread!
Homemade Mac & Cheese, but it has to be my family’s recipe! I haven’t had anything as good as what I can make, but I’m always looking for a new recipe.
there’s something amazing about a good mojito on a hot day
nothing like a minty mojito on a hot day!
biscuits, mac & cheese, ribs ?
fried chicken! and pecan pie
Fried okra!
jambalaya!
cornbread…..i could eat that stuff every day!
I’d love to say that I love a good bowl of gumbo w/ okra bc my dad claims to love a gumbo w/ okra but in all honestly I’m not sure I’ve even tasted it before… but I do love fried chicken! ;)
Chicken-fried steak; the perfect hearty breakfast.
Hashbrown casserole!
I love me a good gumbo!!
hands down…it’s hot browns!
Don’t know if it’s southern, but I LOVE raspberry cobbler!
I haven’t had much of southern food but i really like the jambalaya!
Wet cornbread.
I love biscuits and gumbo and jambalaya!
fried green tomatoes!!
Collard greens with Smoked turkey, Turkey Wings, Baked mac and cheese, and a big piece of Coconut cake.
Texas cornbread’s the favourite in my household
Sticky, finger lickin’ ribs – mmm…
Jambalaya! Always delicious.
Cheese grits does it for me!
I’m an Atlanta native. Nothing beats blackeyed peas and cornbread, with jalapenos added to one (or both)!
Creamed corn. Absolutely.
sweet potato pie maybe. anything that contains sweet potatoes!
Biscuits and sausage gravy. Didn’t even know I loved them till my now-husband made them with a little nutmeg and lots of crushed red pepper. They are a welcome weekend breakfast whenever we can make them!
Our family is all over buttermilk biscuits! Breakfast time, lunch time, supper time, anytime!! What about ribs?? We love them too, sweet and smokey and oh so juicy.
pecan pie :)
Macaroni and cheese :-) Actually, anything with a lot of cheese!
fried chicken and waffles
Collard greens — with or w/o hot pepper sauce
g.r.i.t.s (girls raised in the south) of course!
So many fabulous Southern recipes to choose from… where to start? I’m with Zach on Eastern North Carolina pulled pork sandwiches with a spicy vinegar sauce (and extra slaw!), and of course soft, fluffy buttermilk biscuits but my favorite may have to be Brunswick Stew, made with leftover slow cooked pork shoulder, tomatoes and a bevy of vegetables. It is the perfect cold weather meal! Yummm!
Fried okra…..yum!!!!!
I love baked macaroni and cheese! You can’t go wrong with fried chicken either.
Southern food is a delicious treat! My favourite is Shrimp and Okra Gumbo!! Mmm!
Beaufort Stew (aka Frogmore Stew): Shrimp, Corn on the cob, red potatoes, Sausage, Old Bay Seasoning. Yummmmm!
I would have to say my favorite southern dish is homemade biscuits and gravy. My great grandmother used to make them and none of us has managed to recreate them.
Spoonbread!!
I’m a huge fan of fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. It’s a total weakness – the perfect meal on a hot, lazy day or a cold, snowy day; if you’re happy, sad, or somewhere inbetween; it’s my favorite comfort food!!
Anything crawfish yummm
First off, good luck with the move. My husband and I have moved three times in the five years we have been married (OH to VT, VT to TN, TN to OH).
That doesn’t stop me from wanting more cookbooks though! My favorit Southern food is collard greens.
I love fried chicken!
Fried Chicken of course
shrimp & grits…definitely
All things tex-mex but especially tomatillo chipotle shrimp. Mmmmmm.
firecracker cornbread!
Chicken and waffles – or Tx MEX… ANYTHING. (Is chicken and waffles southern? lol) I live in western PA.. But married a man from texas.
Jambalaya for sure… yummy yum yum
I love grits!!
Fried pickles…. very hard to find in the north, but when I go to visit my mom in Charlotte, I always get them!! :)
Coconut cake!!!
Almost anything Cajun… But I make a Court Bouillon that will make you cry!
Jambalaya with sweet potato biscuits! anything Cajun is good!
Pecan pie. Omg yum!
Jambalaya…Oh my God do I love me some Jambalaya. That, and grits.
I love pecan pie!
Biscuits are a huge love of mine as well, but BBQ has to be mine.
Well, if foreigners can participate, I’m in!
Anything with pecans in it is elegible to be my favorite, so I could say pecan pie.
Hey, good luck with the moving process.
Papa Ted’s Black Bottom Pecan Pie. ymmmmmm……..I just made one for Thanksgiving and it was gone in a flash. I need to think of a reason to make another one this weekend!
Shrimp and grits! The cheesier the grits, the better.
pecan pie!! thank goodness for leftovers from thanksgiving
Shrimp & Grits!!!
I love carbs so biscuits!! But I also love fried okra.
Definitely cornbread!
Shrimp n’ grits! So classically delicious!
BBQ Pork!
maque choux… mm… mm… :)
Coconut Cake
Fried okra and cornbread!
gumbo by far
Catfish!
I am not American, and i dont know the Southern cuisine, but i sure would like a nice, warm, piece of any home made fruit pie! Just the thought of it makes me shiver!!!
Happy holidays everyone!
I love buttermilk biscuits!
My uncle’s chocolate pecan pie for Derby week! Warm and gooey and like a rock in my stomach after I’ve eaten a huge wedge!
Cheers,
*Heather*
Pecan Pie!!
Mac & Cheese and Texas BBQ, mmm love it!!
Chipotle corn bread. It’s smoky and sometimes a little spicy and always AMAZING.
We love to eat all sorts of food. we have biscuits at least twice a week!
A good homemade gumbo. Or mac-n-cheese.
Grits!!!!
I am sorry your move has been stressful. My last move was from Italy to the US, from one south (Sorrento and Rome) to the next (Atlanta, GA). I just brought one luggage and one box…of cookbooks!!! Over the past years I have come to really appreciate Southern US cuisine, especially some of the new approaches, focused on seasonal and local.
I would have to say that “shrimp and grits” is one of my favorite southern dishes: it can be done country-style or upgraded to a pretty sophisticated dish.
This book is STUNNING. I have been coveting it for a while!!!
Everything I make has southern roots – from shrimp and grits to chicken and dumplings…..
throw in a little polish from the other side of the family with “golumpkes” (sp) – or stuffed cabbage rolls and sweet and sour cabbage………it’s all good. and i hope to be randonly
selected because i collect cook books too!
Banana pudding! amazing with home made pudding, Nilla wafers, and real whipped cream!
Chess pie, definitely.
I haven’t had too many southern dishes. But, I really love gumbo and fried shrimp!
Deep fried turkey! or…deep fried anything!
http://wanderlustforfood.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/how-to-fry-a-turkey/
I love fried green tomatoes and fried pickles.
Fried green tomatoes are my new favorite.
When I was going to school in Texas it was hard to beat chicken-fried steak.
Poke Salad with scrambled eggs! It doesn’t get any more southern than that!
I think my favorite would be fried chicken with biscuits. I have tried to duplicate the biscuits but I havent found the perfect recipe yet! Maybe one day. I just finished moving, my heart goes out to you as it is a very emotional time. Good Luck!
I have a friend whose parents signed an agreement before each move that they would not divorce over anything that happened during the moving process. I am staying in my falling-apart, way-too-small, middle-of-nowhere house only partially because I don’t think I can sell it. I haven’t even tried to sell it, mostly because I dread the thought of moving so much it makes having no closets, no bathtub, no insulation, and a mind-numbing commute seem bearable. Enjoyable, even.
As for Southern food, I sincerely love it all. When I was home for Thanksgiving my mom made one of our favorite meals (usually reserved for when our (yankee) dad was out of town because he wouldn’t touch most of it). We had Peas Beans & Okra (with ham), okra and tomatoes (with bacon), fried corn (with ham), fried green tomatoes, and fried okra. My New Jersey-born husband actually loved it and I was in heaven.
My mom’s chicken and andouille gumbo is hands-down the best Southern dish out there.
Cheesy grits, cornbread and fried okra are my favorites! Love chicken po’ boy and collard greens too…Mmm. My mouth is watering and my stomach is grumbling thinking about it..Think I need to go get some lunch..
Collard Greens & Cornbread
Southern US? I’d say it has to be blueberry muffins. They may not even be Southern but in my mind, they are indelibly associated with a childhood trip to the Southern States of the US, a few decades ago, now!
shrimp and grits
jambalaya for me.
Barbeque!! And pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw mmmm
I looooooooooooooooooooove me some corn bread, right next to a big ol’ pork bbq sandwich
Fried chicken and biscuits & gravy :)
Shrimp and Grits! Oooooweeee!
Definitely going with Fried Okra. I’m the only one in my family to eat it( the rest of ‘em can’t even look at okra) so I send everyone else out of the house and sit down and unapologetically enjoy myself
I am going to New Orleans in two weeks so I will have a better answer then. For now, either bbq pulled pork with a vinegar/mustard mop or Gus’s fried chicken just north of Memphis
doh, that should say Carole, not carike lol
I loveee Fried Okra, haha fried anything is quite delicious…
Anything with crawfish.
Can’t tell what I like most as I’ve never tried Southern cooking :D That’s why I would love to have that book!
Cheddar grits, baby! Gotta be grits!!
I’m from the Deep South, so it’s all just Sunday Dinner to me!
I luv southern fried chicken, black eyed peas, buttery mash potatoes and biscuits.
Crawfish Etouffee,
fried grits with cheese
Fried chicken with cornbread w/honey butter
Cornbread
Fried Okra is amazing!!
Spoonbread – I dream about it.
Southern style biscuits. And my Dad’s are incredible!
i lovelovelove new orleans food, but my favorite, is not food but dessert…RED VELVET CAKE. but then if you’re talking about food i like gumbo and jambalaya and cornbread and sweet biscuits with apple butter…yum
Cornbread!!
anything with buttermilk in it.
Chicken and biscuits!
Fried chicken of course.
Mac & Cheese!
Oh god, those biscuits from KFC are one of my biggest guilty pleasures. Of course I want to make my own. Of course I know eat biscuit takes a month off my life. But they’re sooooo goooooood ugh.
Mac and Cheese! Grits!
I was going to say my family’s BBQ sauce on pulled chicken, but then you had to you and say biscuits… So maybe BBQ chicken on a cheddar jalapeno biscuit. See, I’m flexible!
Red Velvet cake! Good luck with the move!
Gotta go with Jambalaya
Jello salad! Which is served as a vegetable, NOT a dessert :)
Brunswick Stew!!! Super yummy!!
I have to go with the biscuits!
Fried Green Tomatoes.
I’m a Yankee myself, but I’ll admit I can’t eat enough grits. LOVE them!
Does cornbread count as southern food? If so, that’s my favorite of all times!
pecan pie
Grits!
My fav-Buttermilk Biscuits.Hope to win!
Jambalaya… definitely. And I hear ya on the contact paper process. ugh.
Corn bread. Slow bbq’s meats. Pulled pork. Anything chicken fried and smothered with country gravy.