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My Favorite Eggnog Recipe

A beverage classically served during the Christmas holidays.

Sugar’s Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are perfect for potlucks, tailgates, and summer suppers.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are centered around helping my mom in the kitchen. She was a terrific cook whose dishes, although simple country fare, were always flavorful and extremely well prepared. Among some of my favorite foods were those she made for holidays and other special occasions such as birthdays and church potluck […]

The Spear or The Chip?

I was out with some friends at a popular fast casual chain restaurant that had just opened in Dallas when I first saw them on the appetizer menu–fried pickles. "FRIED PICKLES! Who the hell ever heard of fried pickles?" "You gotta try them," one member of the group said. "They’re great!" So being a curious […]

Hollywood Cafe Fried Dill Pickles

These fried Dill Pickles were made famous by the former Hollywood Cafe in Hollywood, Mississippi.

French Fried Pickle Slices

These fried pickles were an appetizer prepared for the 1962 Newspaper Food Editors Conference in New York City.

Classic Pecan Pie

Pecan pie came to be closely associated with the culture of the Southern United States in the 1940s and 1950s.

Chess Pie: Just Custard Pie by Another Name

The major difference in a chess pie from other custard pies is most chess pie recipes call for a small amount of cornmeal or flour.

Buttermilk Chess Pie

This buttermilk pie has the wonderful tangy flavor from buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest.

Southern Chocolate Chess Pie

This rich and delicious chocolate chess pie is a true Southern classic.

Lemon Chess Pie

The filling on this pie is pure lemon, and sooo creamy and delicious!

Traditional Chess Pie

This recipe first appeared in the Fort Worth Women’s Club 1928 cookbook, and perhaps the earliest printed reference to chess pie.

Sweet Tea Pie

Sweet tea pie was created by Mississippi chef Martha Hall Foose as her entry in the 1987 Crisco State Fair Pie Baking Contest.

Shrimp and Grits

This award winning rendition of an American South favorite comes from The Swamp Fox Restaurant & Bar in the Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, South Carolina.

Smoked Gouda Grits

These creamy Southern style smoked Gouda grits taste like Sunday brunch.

Charleston Style Grits

This recipe is one of the Chef Emeril Lagasse’s signature breakfast dishes.

Grits: Cuisine of the South

My wife, Maria, just loooves grits. Normally this wouldn’t be such a revolution, but she’s a born and bred Italian New Yorker. And, New Yorker’s do not eat grits. They eat farina, that creamy, smooth, rather bland breakfast portage known by many of us as cream of wheat. My wife Maria was certainly no exception. […]

Coffee Snob

Okay I admit it, the “best part of waking up” is not Folgers in my cup. It is not that I don’t like coffee, nor do I have anything against Folgers. Quite the contrary. Not only do I love coffee, but I am an official Starbuck’s Gold Card carrying coffee snob. And I rarely, if […]

Mayhaws: The Revival of a Once Forgotten Fruit

A few months ago, while visiting with some ladies at a local retirement community, the discussion turned to homemade jellies and the fruits from which they’re made. One of the women, born and raised in Louisiana, mentioned that her all-time favorite jelly was mayhaw, a fruit that until then I had never heard of. By […]

Mayhaw Jelly

Mayhaw jelly is a rare delicacy made from the tart red berries that grow in river shallows, creek beds, swamps, and byous of the American south from Georgia to Texas.

Benedictine Spread

This recipe is an adaptation of a sandwich spread made at Emma Lou’s Cafe in Louisvill’s Highlands neighborhood. It can also be used on celery sticks, crackers, and numerous other ways. Whatcha Need: 1 1/2 seedless cucumbers 1/2 small white onion (vadalia or other sweet variety) 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon white pepper […]

The Masters Pimiento Cheese

Pimiento cheese has been served annually for over 40 years at the Masters Gold Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

Red Rind Pimiento Cheese

Homemade Pimiento Cheese is a classic Southern recipe that’s rich, creamy, and so easy to make.

Apple Cheese Casserole

This wonderful casserole pairs cheddar cheese and apples.

Cheeses of the South

I’ve always been a lover of cheese. Any kind of cheese–hard cheese, soft cheese, and numerous in-between varieties. While I certainly have my favorites, I can’t remember a cheese I’ve ever tasted that I wouldn’t eat. And I’ve tasted a lot of cheese. But last evening, my wife, who was reading a new cookbook, asked […]

Girl Scout S’Mores

This is the original 1927 recipe for “Some More” as it appeared in the Girl Scouts manual.

And Then There Were S’Mores

As a youth of about eleven or twelve, I was somewhat coerced by my best friend Billy to join the Boy Scouts. Although this experience was extremely short lived by both of us, we did manage to stay in the troop long enough to go on our first (and Billy’s last) camping trip. As I […]

Dr Pepper Bundt Cake

While this recipe uses boxed cake mix and boxed pudding mixes, we had to include it because it’s so doggone delicious.

Spicy Dr Pepper Ribs

If you like barbecued spareribs, you’re going to absolutely love these.

Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce

This thick, sticky sweet sauce with it’s cherry and spicy overtones is perfect for grilled chicken, brisket, or pulled pork.

Dublin Dr Pepper Braised Short Ribs

Although Dublin Dr Pepper is no longer available, the use of regular Dr Pepper will provide outstanding results in the preparation of this delicious dish.

Dublin: 120 Years of Bottling America’s First Major Soft Drink

Some months ago while passing through Waco, Texas on a business related road trip, I couldn’t help but think about some of the historic events surrounding this small city named after Native Americans who once lived in the area. One of the most significant of these events is that Waco is the birth place of […]

Southern Fried Chicken: America’s Ultimate Comfort Food. And Mine.

As I’ve mentioned before, ours was a family of modest means. But my father worked hard to see that we were able to afford some of life’s nicer things. An occasional dinner at the “Log House” after Sunday’s church service was one of the more pleasurable of them. And one of my life experiences I […]

Paula’s Spicy Southern Fried Chicken

This is a great recipe if you like fried chicken, and who doesn’t.

Grandma’s Fried Chicken

It’s the buttermilk batter that gives this chicken its crunchy texture.

Classic Texas Caviar

Texas caviar, also called cowboy caviar, is a bean salad consisting of black-eyed peas lightly pickled in a vinaigrette dressing, often eaten as a dip with tortilla chips.

Hoppin John

Hoppin’ John is a classic Southern dishes with as many versions, stories, and flavors as there are cooks.

The Painter’s Black-Eyed Pea Cakes

Black-Eyed Pea Cakes are the perfect way to enjoy these Southern legumes.

Another Year, Another Black-Eyed Pea

For longer than I care to admit, I’ve started each year enjoying a typical Southern style New Year’s Day meal—baked ham, collard greens, cornbread, boiled new potatoes, and of course, black-eyed peas. In fact, to the best of my recollection, it’s about the only day of the year that I eat these black spotted legumes. […]

Classic Green Bean Casserole

The dish everyone’s expecting on the holidays, so easy to make.

Thanksgiving: A Day of Feasting, Reflection and Thanks

Although raised in modest, humble surroundings, my childhood was filled with happiness and more than my share of blessings. While we didn’t always have the luxuries of life, my father worked two and sometimes three jobs to make sure we had all the necessities. And my stay-at-home mom seemed to have an uncanny knack for […]

Ricotta Ice Cream

This is my youngest son’s favorite ice cream.

Sugar’s Vanilla Ice Cream

This ice cream recipe was my momma’s favorite and the one she most often made.

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

One of my all-time favorite desserts is ice cream. I mean, I could literally enjoy a bowl of ice cream every night of the week, year ’round. And when it comes to this light, creamy, frozen lusciousness, I’m really not very picky about the flavor–vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, banana nut, peach–almost any flavor will do. Some […]

Hummingbird: The Cake That Doesn’t Last

My younger sister, while an accomplished pianist and singer, was not especially blessed in the art of cookery. In fact, I’ll never forget her first attempt at baking. One day while our mom was at work, Sis thought she’d surprise everyone that evening with a freshly baked cake. The recipe Sis chose was from a […]

Hummingbird Pancakes

The South’s favorite cake takes a breakfast turn as Hummingbird Pancakes.

Hummingbird Cake

This is Mrs. Wiggins’ original recipe as taken from *Southern Living* Magazine, February 1978.

Donuts: Coffee’s Perfect Partner

You’ll find them in offices, boardrooms, classrooms, breakrooms, and newsrooms throughout the nation. They’ve become popular at baby showers, birthday parties, and other social events– even weddings. They’ve been featured in movies, television sitcoms, cartoons, video games, children’s books, and music albums. And, it’s purported that they’re a staple in just about every police station, […]