The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1895-03-14
THE SOUTHERN MENU.


Guine1 Squash, Corn Erltters, "Hoppipe.
john" ana Othor Conoootions.
The average northerner who at
tempts to compile menu to tickle the
southern palate usually makes a mess
Of It, Some of the bills Of fare from
northern sources that are from time to
time to be seen III southern pnblica
tions are we'll calculated--not designed.
,, ~ however, 1t Is to be hoped--to make
the southern housekeeper drop and ex.
Pire from that tired feeling" About
nine times IN ten tho alleged southern
dishes in the bills are pure fictions, and
almost without n single exception the
menu Is unsuitod to this latitude and
to the palates Of people who know bet
ter.
NO southcrncr in good health and In
his right mind ever eats "hominy with
milk and sugar" for breakfast, not
withstanding the dish is undoubtedly
SAFER than "salmon, with egg sauce"
Tor supper. Honiny in this part Of
the country is dresscd with butter or n
little OF meat gravy, and Is eaten with
n chop or bcefstcnk, or bacon and enrs
or broiled ham, etc. Homlny thus
served Is a standard breakfast dish in
tho south. and is fit for king. It needs
no sugar or cream Or nutmeg, and to
put either on 1t is to commit n crime
against gestronomy. The same OBJ.
servations apply to rice, which the
northern menu-maicrs toll us to serve
with cream and sugar
The cooking Of rico, by the way, is
IN art which has not yet been acq uircd
in tho north. Properly cooked, each
grain of rice stands firm, dry and
separate from its fellows, yet it is a,
soft as a dead-ripe fruit, and the whole
mass as whitc as snow. In tho nortl
they boil the grains into glutinous
mass, utterly destroying it's beauty
and Individuality, and then sweeten it.
Sometimes southern folks swcoten rice
for sick people or ailing children, and
call 1t rice pudding. Again. they
make q pilfau of rice and peas; this
they call "hopping-john," and it is n
food ht for all upright and healthy
men. Other pillaus, made Of rice and
chicken, or ekra and bacon, or birds
arc distinctively southern dishes, and
the person who sits down to either dish
with an appetite has reason to thank
Heaven for his good fortune. Rice is
also used in soups and gumbo. But
HouNcu TlCS QTeBScQ with cream and
sugar, for breakfast-bah! Out upon
the infldel who suggests 1t!
There are dozens and dozens Of real
southern dishes that delight the souls
OF those who eat them when prepared
propcrly-sugarcd sweet potatoes,
guinea squashcs. corn fritters, etc.
but the northcrn-built menus seldom
or never mention them. They tell us
to cat hominy with sugar for breakfast,
and salmon with egg sauce for support
One may we'll wonder how he would
get through the night and where he
would be tho next morning after fol
lowing such directions.
There are In the south. however, peo
pie who pretend to like the norther,
bills OF fare. 1t Is all prctense. The
affect oatmeal. The northcrners eat
merely because they do not know any
thing about hominy and rice properi,
cooked, and their southern mimics ca
it because they think It Is more toney
Such people. we feel constrained to sn v
sacrifice both their brains and thei,
stomachs to "stylc. "-Sayannnh News.