Food Traditions

One of the awesome things about living in the South is all the great food traditions. I don't just mean family recipes, I mean the sense of community expressed through food. There are always churches, hunt clubs or baseball teams selling delicious homemade Brunswick stew or sausage by the pound as a fundraiser. Real Farm to Table style, since you know the meat came from a farm nearby and the fundraiser has helped support that farmer as well as the organization selling the finished product. I just got 3 quarts of stew and 5 pounds of sausage from my mom and I could not be more excited. Not only because the food is so good, but because it is nostalgic for me. This was such a part of my childhood that I found it really odd when I met people who had only had Brunswick stew from a can they bought in a grocery store. Weird. I have vivid memories of going to hunt clubs when they were making and selling the stew, cooking it outside in a pot so big that it had to be stirred with an actual boat oar.

This is Brunswick Stew. Full of veggies and shredded chicken and goodness.

Today for breakfast I made drop biscuits and sausage patties from the ground sausage my mom brought me. So simple and so perfect. Drop biscuits are faster and easier than flaky biscuits because they don't require quite the same level of finesse. They are imperfect looking, more rustic, but still fluffy and a great vehicle for the sausage.

Drop Biscuit Recipe:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup melted butter

1 cup milk or buttermilk

*shredded cheddar cheese optional

Preheat oven to 450, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix all dry ingredients.

Let melted butter cool a few minutes, whisk into milk, then pour into dry ingredients, fold in with rubber spatula.

Add shredded cheese if desired.

Scoop onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden.

Brush with melted butter

What are your favorite regional food traditions?