The southern U.S. has always been a place of warm hospitality, varied agricultural endeavors, and food. Some southern food traditions are performed in southern kitchens every day. These days, it’s no longer necessary to butcher the stock or sift flour by hand, but some recipe ingredients have stood the tests of time – surviving even beyond the Civil War that changed so many southern traditions for good.
Cookbooks were as popular in the 19th century as they are today, and even regional recipes had the chance to spread. Today, everyone has heard of the mint julep, a sweet cocktail made with bourbon and flavored with mint and sugar. The signature drink of the Kentucky Derby since 1938, mint juleps are actually much older that the racetrack itself. The cocktail first appeared in print in 1803, said to be consumed by Virginians. The first mint juleps weren’t mixed with bourbon, but the bourbon-based julep became popular at Kentucky racetracks as early as 1833. Today, the mint julep is considered a very southern cocktail, and no Kentucky Derby could be conducted without a great quantity of them.
There is a lot more to southern food traditions than cocktails, however. Cornbread is still considered a traditional southern staple, but it’s origins are as ancient as the colonial era. Even before the 17th century, settlers were using vast amounts of corn in their cooking, and by the 18th century cornbread became ubiquitous at southern tables. Heavier foods with rich sauces were the mainstay of the southern diet, and frying was acceptable for most any meat product. Country fried steak was born early in the 18th century, and now is a southern favorite that’s served every day. Even the tradition of barbeque was born in the south, where hospitality reigned. Inviting most of the neighbors in the county over to enjoy barbequed meat was a great way to enjoy a party, and it was taken to with lavish abandon. Today, the south is still full of summertime barbeques, a southern food tradition that's lasted for almost two centuries.
Breakfast reigned in many southern homes, and the first meal of the day had to be substantial. Today, biscuits and gravy (biscuits with white, or milk, gravy) is a southern food favorite, but a hundred and fifty years ago it was much-needed, heavy nutrition. Milk gravy was used in American colonial cooking, appearing in a Kentucky cookbook as biscuit dressing as early as 1839. It was in the south that beaten biscuits, which today are the most common in America, were born. First mentioned in southern cookbooks in 1853, the beaten biscuit wasn’t mass-marketed until 1930, when General Mills sold their Bisquick biscuit mix. This mix was based on the traditional southern beaten biscuit, consumed at even northern tables to this day.
Southern food traditions have survived war, change, and even the health food revolution. Remember, the next time you start cooking, it’s possible that recipe’s older than you think.
