Snow in the South

Today Birmingham is a abuzz about this snow thing.  Some of you not from the South may not know how we deal with it down here, so I am here to enlighten.

When we first hear talk of snow on the news a week out many people shrug it off and kinda dismiss it; it is a great way for people to watch the news at noon, 6 and 10pm.  But as it creeps up on the date and the forcast still predicts it people start going into panic mode.  Milk and bread fly off store shelves, I assume that milk sandwiches are a delicacy during power outages and during threats of snow.  Of course you must have milk for snow ice cream (Fresh, clean snow, and a bit of vanilla to taste and milk to thin it out into a slush) and you must have bread for sandwiches.

People panic to the point that even right now one school system has said they would be closed tomorrow and Friday, and the snow is at least 24 hours from even showing itself in Alabama.  Schools let out sometimes when the see snow, see snow stick and sometimes just because it is threating.  A few times my school was canceled because it was "too cold."  Of course some peopole aren't as concerned with the weather as much as the National Championship game with James Spann getting threats if he breaks in with weather info. 

Also, if a Southerner mentions a blizzard to you (especially the Blizzard of '93) please don't laugh.  A snow storm or any accumulation will often shut down a city. We just don't often have to deal with it so we don't have the equipment and knowledge we need when it does snow every 2 to 3 years.  One northern transplant said even he wouldn't get on the roads down here, even though he was used to it becuase of all the people who were driving crazy. 

So if it snows enjoy and if it doesn't stay warm, don't run generators indoors, make sure you have milk and bread, and make sure pets are warm and safe.  Oh, and don't forget to wear your toboggan.

Southern Word of the Week - Cut on and cut off

(v.) Cut that light on right quick so I can see what I'm doing.
(v.) Cut the fan off when you leave so you don't waste power.
(v.) Cut the heat down, I'm about to burn slap up in here!

To cut something on or off is to apply power to, or cut power off to an electric device such as a light, fan, or heating and cooling unit.

Some people argue cut would mean to stop something from happening, or to interrupt an action, but for whatever reason to us it means that if something is on, turn (cut) it off and if something is off, turn (cut) it on.

Happy New Year!!!

It's 2010!  Can you believe it?

In the South you have certain things you have to eat on New Year's day: black eyed peas and greens.  It is said if you do you'll have luck throughout the next year.  I usually soak my black eyed peas the night before because the quick soak which is boiling them fast for a while then letting them soak for an hour breaks them up too much and they aren't as good in my opinion.  After the soak drain and rinse them then recover them with water and add your pork (bacon, ham bone, fatback, jowl or any pork you have handy), bring to a boil and simmer until they're as tender as you'd like.

Eating greens is another Southern tradition and I'm told eating them will bring money in the new year.  My family never has eaten many greens, but we do eat something green with our peas.  I hardly ever see collard greens at the store in the produce section, but saw a boatload this past week because of this tradition. 

As you can see there is a new look for the site and now I own OkraCola.com!  My goal was to have it up by the new year and I'm amazed that I actually did.  If you have suggestions or comments please send them to drew [at] okracola.com.

Happy 2010 y'all!

Southern Word of the Week - Toboggan

(n.)It's cold outside boy, go put a toboggan on your head.

(n.)I just got a new John Deere toboggan to keep my ears and head warm.

A toboggan is a knit hat, usually covering the head and ears. A toboggan is not a sled, at least it isn't south of the Mason-Dixon (unless they're from Maryland). Those from the north will sometimes ask why you want to wear a sled on our head, but if they are in the South ignore them.

In.the rare case we go up to Maine, New York or the like, we'll call our toboggan a "winter hat." Otherwise a toboggan is a toboggan, and a sled is a sled. "correcting" us is like telling someone from the U.K. they should not call french fries chips.

So wear your toboggan with pride and don't let anyone make fun of you for calling it as such.

Merry Christmas! Happy (belated) Hanukkah! Happy New Year! Look out for changes and improvements to Okra Cola in 2010!

Barbecue - Part 2

So now that we know what barbecue actually is we have to go over the finer points of BBQ joints.  Everybody claims to know of or live near the "best" BBQ joint ever.  Now this place may not be somewhere you've heard of, do not fear; I have seldom had bad barbecue and seldom had good barbecue at a nice restaurant.  It's called a joint for a reason.

My favorite joint is up the road from me a bit and it is Leo and Susie's Famous Green Top Barbecue.  A place I've been eating since I've been able to eat solid food and walk.  Knowing how peoples allegiances lie in the barbecue world I refrain from saying it's the "best" but do recommend it to everyone I talk to.  I have had Top Hat in Hayden and enjoyed it and even had really good barbecue in HARLEM!  Yes Harlem and the bartender even fixed me some sweet tea.  It is good stuff, if you ever can get there Dinosaur Barbecue is it. 

I'm bound to get a "my joint is better than yours" in the comments, but I'd rather have suggestions.  Just give us a link or at least the name and city it is in or near.

Southern Word of the Week - Ill

(v.) Mama's ill so be careful what you say 'round her today.
(v.) Don't get ill with me, I'm just trying to help.
(n.) I would say take it to Mrs. Jones, but she's taken ill and ain't usually up for visitors.

Ill usually means sick, but it can also mean that someone is upset or having a bad day.  It can also be interchanged with the seldom used cross, as in "don't be cross with your brother."

Emphasis is often on the I of the word and could be heard as eel.

Southern Word of the Week - Hollar

(v.) Gimme a hollar  the next time you want to go huntin'.

(v.) I think they're gonna break up.  They hollar at each other all the time

(v.) I'll hollar at y'all to come inside when dinner's ready.

To hollar at someone means to "catch them later" or to get back in touch with them soon.  Also can be yelling at someone hatefully or getting the kids inside if there's a storm coming or if dinner is ready.

Sometimes people go down in the hollar for some reason and you can holler at them to come on out of it.

Barbecue - Part 1

If somebody tells me to come over for barbecue, or a barbecue, I expect slow cooked pork butt or ribs.  I have learned now to ask if it is a grill out with hamburgers, hot dogs or brats.  All too often the latter is what the gracious, yet somewhat misinformed host actually meant.

Barbecue or BBQ, in the South means to cook meat slowly in a smoker or via an indirect heat method outside.  Typically it is done in a pit or on a smoker usually with hickory in my neck of the woods.  If you are simply cooking burgers and dogs then that is a "cook out" or you are "grilling." 

Barbecue is barbecue and everybody thinks their recipe, or dad's or uncle's, is the best.  People take it seriously, very seriously.  If you don't belive me just check out the new TLC series starting tomorrow (12/03/2009) Barbecue Pitmasters. 

I really enjoy smoking.  I typically do ribs with my own secret rub but have not conquered sauce yet so to some racks I add Big Bob Gibson's Red Sauce to the ribs for the last 30 or so minutes on the smoker. 

So remember, if you are grilling out please use the appropriate term.  It ain't barbecue unless it's low and slow.

Southern Word of the Week - Hosepipe

Hosepipe
(n.) Hey son, go get me that hosepipe please.  These tomatoes look like they need some water.

A garden hose and a hosepipe are the same thing.  I thought everybody used the term hosepipe until my officemate brought it to my attention that it was a wierd term.  He saw it as a redundant statement, a hose which carries something through it, and a pipe that does the same thing.  I had never seen it that way, but I see it as saving a syllable. 

Plus I see a pipe as an inflexible tube that carries a great deal of substance through it and a hose as a flexible tube that carries a smaller amount through it but much more flexible.  So a hosepipe will send less substance through it than a pipe, but be more flexible like a hose.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

We start noshing on Wednesday evening with my Grandparents-in-law for a non-traditional meal, and then Thursday at lunch for a more traditional meal and Friday I'm cooking and having my folks over so this will probably be the last post of the week.

This is the first Thanksgiving I've ever done at my house but I'm not too worried.   I'm smoking a turkey (not grilling or BBQing it, more on those definitions later) and my wife is cooking the old standby of green bean casserole which I actually like since my family didn't cook it very often.  Mom and Dad are bringing seven layer salad, spinach dip and a pecan pie.

So since I have to work for a bit on Friday and can't start the fire until about 9:00am Mom and Dad are coming around noon to snack on spinach dip and Bloody Mary's.  I like Bloody Mary's especially before a cold football game and after having one at Pat O's in NOLA I like to fix mine like theirs.  It seems like they put every pickled veggie in there: olives, pickled okra, pickled green beans and maybe even a pickled onion.  I have also had them where they rimmed the glass in a spice mixture.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it and hanging out and watching what is shaping up to be a very interesting Iron Bowl. 

If you are going to fry a Turkey this week please read these safety tips!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  Make sure you give thanks for you have and sometimes we should give thanks for what we don't have.  I'm thankful for my wife and daughters, all of my family and in-laws, my music friends and all of y'all for reading the blog!

What are you serving or fixing for the holiday?  Do y'all have weird traditions or food for Thanksgiving?  What are you thankful for?  Share recipes and blessings in the comments.  Peace.

ADDITION (12/14/2009)
Stuffing is in the bird, dressing is made in a dish like a casserole.  Stove Top stuffing can be made into dressing, but please don't call it stuffing unless it is stuffed into something.  You can have Stove Top stuffing/dressing, cornbread stuffing/dressing and even oyster stuffing/dressing; there are many regional differences.  My family hardly made stuffing from scratch so that is probably why I didn't mention it to begin with or have strong feelings about it.  Thanks Tim (Martha) for the reminder!

Southern Word of the Week - Sweet Milk

Sweet Milk
(n.) Hey Jeanie, could you get me some more sweet milk at the store when you go out?

Butter milk is butter milk, goats milk is goats milk and sweet milk is, well . . . milk.  Plain old, run-of-the-mill, fresh-out-the-carton/jug whole, 1%, 2% or skim milk.  I do now people that call anything but whole milk, milk colored water, but either way as long as its plain milk you're talking about then it is also sweet milk.

By the way, if you need butter milk and all you have is sweet milk you can add one tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice to a one cup measure then add milk to the one cup line.  Stir and let stand for 5 minutes then use as you would butter milk.

Tomato Sandwiches

You can call them tomato sandwiches, 'mater sammiches, whatever; I'll just call them delicious. It is literally slices of tomato on bread and I think most people add mayo and a little bit of salt and pepper. I can't believe this a foreign concept to some folks!

I think the best tomato sandwich is one with homemade sourdough bread and a fresh tomato from your garden or patio that's still warm from the sun. Buying or planting tomatoes in the spring are one of my highlights for the year. I love being able to pull a few off for salads, sandwiches or just on a plate with a little salt.

This may be a little highfalutin' but sometimes I combine the humble tomato sandwich with a Tyler Florence recipe for a grilled cheese. Sourdough bread with pesto sauce (I buy mine, but have made it before with walnuts, easier to find and cheaper than pine nuts) and thick slices of mozzerella and tomato, on a panini press, or if you don't have a panini press, in a cast iron grill pan pressed with a foil covered brick. Yummy!!!

How do you like your 'mater sandwiches and which varieties of tomato do you like to use for sandwiches, salads, sauce etc.?  Let us know in the comments!

BACON!

Bacon is all the rage right now and you all know I prefer to do it in a cast iron skillet but our friend Alton Brown has another, very interesting idea for no turn, no shrink bacon.  Cooking our beloved cured pork belly in a waffle iron.

The link below is to the Lifehacker page that has embedded video that skips right to the hot bacony action.

link via Lifehacker.com

Southern Word of the Week - Buggy

After getting a write up at AlabamaBloggers.com I was inspired to define a new Southern Word.

Buggy

(n.) Hey mama, go get me a buggy; I can't carry both gallons of milk and this loaf of bread.

A buggy, to those outside the south, is a shopping cart.  In the U.K. they call it a trolly which is more like our term rather than the generic shopping cart.  The people that call it a shopping cart probably also call a Coke a soda, and a Kleenex a facial tissue.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, its just not how we do it. 

Bless your heart

Everybody in the South has at least heard this expresstion before; Bless your heart, bless their heart, bless his or her heart.  It's an expression that makes you sound less like your talking bad about someone.

"That Jimmie knows how to repair engine blocks, but he ain't got a lick of buisness sense, bless his heart."

It can also convey sympathy.

"You've just been through so much lately with your dad passing and your son's surgery . . . bless your heart."

It can be used multiple ways and you'll hear it anywhere from the grocery store, to the beauty shop to the tire store.