My husband's grandmother was a true Southern cook, and her biscuits (which I could not taste because they exist only in my husband's memory) were my Moby Dick. Continue reading

I think I just found my favorite way to enjoy peanut butter and chocolate. Mmmm, peanuts. One shouldn't underestimate the importance of peanuts to the South. In the late 1800s, agriculture in the Deep South was in serious trouble because poor cotton cultivation practices had left the soil depleted, and... Continue reading

Today's cake is brought to you by the letter P. This is the "mystery ingredient" cake from my last post - have you guessed it yet? (If not, you really weren't trying. This is not rocket science.) It's prunes! This cake hails (again) from the Southern Heritage Cakes Cookbook, and... Continue reading

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird...it's a plane...it's....a mystery ingredient. I'm sure you can fairly easily guess what the next cake will feature. For those who don't know what it is, I'll give you a hint: it used to be a key ingredient in Dr. Pepper. Stay tuned... Continue reading

If Richard Dawson were to ask a Family Feud contestant to name a food that is associated with the South, it's a safe bet that 'cornbread' would be an answer worth a lot of points. Cornbread also rates as one of the most contentious disputes between Southerners and damn Yankees,... Continue reading

Remember when I said that almost all the recipes in the Southern Heritage Cakes Cookbook (SHCC) contained pecans and/or coconut? Well, this one not only has half a pound of pecans, it also has a full cup of bourbon! It's called Bringhurst Pecan Cake (my best guess is that it's... Continue reading

Some recipes make you question their origin. Were they invented by a frugal housewife, crazy chemist, or hungry stoner? While stoner recipes don't tend to hold up well to reexamination, there are other excellent recipes that beg the question of what circumstance prompted their creation, or at least what set... Continue reading

General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), one of the South’s most venerated heroes, was affectionately known to Southerners as Marse Robert. He was respected by leaders on both sides of the Mason-Dixon, and many historians believe that had he accepted Lincoln’s offer of command over the Union Army, the Civil War... Continue reading

What better way to begin the new year than to make a resolution that puts undue pressure on oneself? I am starting another baking blog, even though I can't even keep up with my other one (Bacon-n-Bakin). This blog is a tangent off my first: having lived in the Upper... Continue reading