Cook the Book: 'The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook'
Posted by Ed Levine, July 23, 2007 at 1:00 PM
What do you get when two smart-as-hell Southerners write a cookbook that reflects their roots and their fierce intelligence? The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners. Apparently it's what a lot of folks have been waiting for, because Matt and Ted Lee's book has become a best-seller and has won just about every cookbook award there is, including the rare doubleheader "Cookbook of the Year" designation from both the James Beard Foundation and the IACP (International Association of Cookbook Professionals). And these guys don't just write. They sell quintessential southern foodstuffs, everything from moon pies to country ham, in their Boiled Peanuts Catalogue. Thanks to the good people at Norton, we're giving away ten (10) copies of the Lee Bros. book.
For a chance to win, let us know what your favorite Southern dish is in the comments section until 9 p.m. ET Friday. The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
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Comments are closed: 99 Comments:
Bbq baby back ribs and cornbread!
bobcatsteph3 at 1:19PM on 07/23/07
With out a doubt pulled pork. Smoked a shoulder week end before last. It was great on buns but was equally good on corn tortillas for a Colorado twist.
Colorado Jim at 1:22PM on 07/23/07
okra: fried, stewed with tomatoes, and pickled.
gravy: gravy.
intheyearofthepig at 1:34PM on 07/23/07
southern fried chicken, georgia peaches, and brunswick stew.
lekkercraft at 1:42PM on 07/23/07
Buttermilk fried chicken w/ hoppin' john on the side and bottle of Crytsal hot sauce on the table.
timjertson at 1:45PM on 07/23/07
It's more of a meal than a dish, but: Fluffy, tender-bellied hushpuppies that hemorrhage steam when you pull them apart, followed by juicy fried chicken with a golden, pepper-flecked crunchy crust and gravy-drenched mashed potatoes (if I can stop eating hushpuppies before I fill up, that is).
ienefra at 1:46PM on 07/23/07
Collard greens and cornbread, doused in spoonfuls of pot liquor and hot pepper sauce
kristah42 at 1:52PM on 07/23/07
Cornbread smothered with pinto beans cooked all day over low heat with a nice piece of salty hamhock.
wgsims at 1:53PM on 07/23/07
Growing up in Georgia introduced me to a lot of wonderful Southern foods, but my favorite has always been just regular ol' grits. Whether with butter, cheese, maple syrup, or anything else you want to add, grits will forever be my favorite comfort food.
thisblueyonder at 2:00PM on 07/23/07
Ribs. And pulled pork with a vinegary barbecue sauce. It's too hard to choose between the two.
dylinw at 2:06PM on 07/23/07
fried catfish
Koren at 2:30PM on 07/23/07
Pulled pork on a bun covered in coleslaw washed down with a cold beer, that's some fine eating.
jsd517 at 2:38PM on 07/23/07
To me, this is mostly more "country cooking" than Southern. Catfish, 'que, hush puppies, cornbread, all good. But they bow before a fine blackberry cobbler.
lemons at 2:53PM on 07/23/07
I'd enter but I suppossedly won a cookbook months ago and still haven't gotten it :-(
ceforrester at 3:04PM on 07/23/07
probably my bbq on on white bread with the following sides: mustard greens, lima beans, mac & cheese and pea salad. add some sweet tea and banana pudding and i am a happy carpetbagger! :)
carpetbagger at 3:33PM on 07/23/07
I'm going to have to go with a low-country creation at a place called Magnolia's in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a fried chicken gumbo with collard greens on a bed of creamy grits.
Good lord.
Dig423 at 3:45PM on 07/23/07
collard greens with cornbread muffins crumbled in it... make sure theres a smoked ham hock as the base to the greens
Kbear919 at 3:49PM on 07/23/07
sorry ceforrester...Guess it got lost in the mail...
Kbear919 at 3:50PM on 07/23/07
Fried chicken and fatback green beans..... drool.
clumsycook at 4:16PM on 07/23/07
Fried peach pies...mmmmmmm...
I take it back...anything fried :-)
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 4:25PM on 07/23/07
I'd have to go with fried pork chops, turnip greens, purple-hull peas, thickened potatoes and cornbread with a big glass of buttermilk in a frosty mug. Pear relish on the side for the peas and Crystal hot sauce for the pork chops. Peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert.
cornbreadandketchup at 4:29PM on 07/23/07
mmmm.....fried okra.
ki5ck at 4:34PM on 07/23/07
Pecan pie!
JEP at 5:41PM on 07/23/07
my mother cooked it every saturday morning..southern country ham with redeye gravy and stone ground grits. you have to have some buttermilk bisquits to soak up the extra gravy..eggs are optional!!
iguanablue at 5:57PM on 07/23/07
umm that question is entirely too difficult, at least for someone living in the south -- top 3, maybe?
-okra and tomatoes
-biscuits and tomatoes
-greens
aeschylus at 6:00PM on 07/23/07
Hmm - don't get a lot of good Southern food in this part of Canada, but everytime I go to the States I make sure to get pulled pork. More than once.
Peasantwench at 6:26PM on 07/23/07
Oh gosh--my staple at the old Brother's BBQ on Houston Street was a basket of hush puppies, N.C. pulled pork with a side of mashed with white gravy and some collard greens, and a big ol' lemonade. Six ways to heaven. I also love the smothered pork chops at the Pink Tea Cup in the West Village, and the fried chicken and the yams at Spoonbread up on 110th Street. Yeah, most of my southern food crushes are from NYC. Sue me. I did have pulled pork--nice and vinegary!--somewhere in eastern Tennessee a few years ago (I still have the restaurant's place mat some place, and I'm happy to say the word "pig" is somewhere in the name), and a plate of pulled pork, with a side of buttermilk biscuits, has to be as close to paradise as man was meant to come.
klg19 at 6:26PM on 07/23/07
Pulled pork! :-)
Jperezish at 6:41PM on 07/23/07
fried chicken, or pecan pie.
laura dot at 6:56PM on 07/23/07
Blackened catfish po'boy from the Gumbo Shop in NOLA...I'm salivating at the mere thought of it...
jpark107 at 7:47PM on 07/23/07
This is easy, hands down an oyster po boy and a paper bag full of crawdads.
shrimpsandrice at 7:52PM on 07/23/07
red beans and rice; cornbread!
Marilyn at 8:06PM on 07/23/07
Southern fried chicken is my choice.
cherierj at 8:55PM on 07/23/07
Jambalaya and skillet cornbread from the Lee Bros.
MMcCart at 9:31PM on 07/23/07
Green Tomatoes, Chicken and Pie - All Fried!!!
jaclynmck at 9:33PM on 07/23/07
Biscuits and gravy!
stuffedofu at 10:02PM on 07/23/07
fried chicken :-)
Josh Baugher at 10:46PM on 07/23/07
biscuits, skillet cornbread, shrimp and grits, collard greens with hamhock mmm
curiously ravenous at 11:59PM on 07/23/07
shrimp and grits
Danny Fox at 1:12AM on 07/24/07
Buttermilk fried chicken
Any veggies from a southern garden
Pulled pork bbq- Memphis style
Chocolate chess pie
Karo pie
Erinay77 at 2:40AM on 07/24/07
I love a good friend chicken, mashed potato, sweet corn, good biscuits and collards supper. I also love shrimp and grits. For dessert nothing better than the old fashioned coconut cake or banana puddin
I miss the south!
JerzeeTomato at 7:38AM on 07/24/07
Fried chicken
Lou at 7:54AM on 07/24/07
Collard greens. I never had them when I was growing up in Texas. My economics teacher in high school talked about them endlessly. When I moved to New York, I finally had collard greens at a barbeque joint. The meat was disappointing, but the collard greens were delicious! I'll have to try them when I visit Texas again.
lily314 at 9:03AM on 07/24/07
fried chicken
hedgehog at 9:16AM on 07/24/07
Ribs!
jenannschultz at 9:36AM on 07/24/07
A Moon pie and RC Cola is mighty fine - but I think my fav is "Beaufort Stew" and of course, Sweet Tea! Heaven's to Betsy!!
DebiGirl at 9:48AM on 07/24/07
fried okra and cornbread!
Littlebluesiren at 12:19PM on 07/24/07
Mmmm...I don't get the opportunity to have it very often, but I love me some fried okra. Pickled okra, too! once we friend pickled okra! It tasted like...hot pickled okra...
ironstef at 12:20PM on 07/24/07
flaky biscuits with homemade jams
pezbabypez at 1:07PM on 07/24/07
macaroni and cheese, biscuits, fried chicken, cheese grits, red velvet cake...
rebeccadiamond at 2:21PM on 07/24/07
Ham hocks and collard greens
omnivore at 2:22PM on 07/24/07
Oh no, there's no way I can limit it to one thing: hush puppies, biscuits, and barbeque in any format.
LizNYC at 2:35PM on 07/24/07
Biscuits with Virginia country ham.
bluebird at 2:37PM on 07/24/07
Turnip greens w/ hot sauce and a bowl of pintos w/ onion!
pageycooks at 2:50PM on 07/24/07
Sweet potatoe pie!
nbeagley at 3:08PM on 07/24/07
Homemade fried okra made with fresh, tiny pods.
Cheese grits.
Fried green tomatoes.
Library Lady at 3:32PM on 07/24/07
Sweet potato casserole. With some candied pecans on top. Heaven on a plate my friends...simply heaven.
apgood at 3:57PM on 07/24/07
I have a deep love of fried green tomatoes. Tart, crispy, and dreadfully sinful especially when you fry them in that morning's leftover bacon grease. ;)
feriorrenna at 4:39PM on 07/24/07
Chicken fried steak with cream gravy served with (and this is the clincher) Texas Toast—that beautifully buttered pan-toasted thick slice of white bread that's ready to soak up any dribbles of gravy. Add some mashed potatoes, stewed green beans, sweet ice tea and peach cobbler and you're set!
Second runner up: Frito pie—Tear open a small bag of fritos, add a large scoop of chili, toss in some chopped onion and shredded cheese. Frito pie is a great southern snack I miss from childhood.
San Luis Culinary Arts at 5:40PM on 07/24/07
fried green tomatoes, fried okra, mac & cheese, collards, yeller squash casserole, cobbler and some tea towashit all down with.
MeisKKbear at 6:52PM on 07/24/07
cheese grits, boiled peanuts, pulled pork
tbentonh at 8:05PM on 07/24/07
Oysters and beer.
oysters4me at 1:23AM on 07/25/07
Messy, saucy ribs and REAL mashed potatoes.
miso at 3:35AM on 07/25/07
fried chicken
kattebelletje at 5:43AM on 07/25/07
Chicken fried steak and gravy. Nothing better. Ever.
JimB at 7:40AM on 07/25/07
I loves me some Biscuits and Gravy.....mmmm!!!
jkiller5150 at 9:20AM on 07/25/07
At my wedding I had Buttermilk fried chicken and Candied Yams.
Pezdro at 9:50AM on 07/25/07
Pecan pie. It's hard to find a perfect pecan pie where the pecans are firm, the crust is flaky (preferably a Crisco crust) and the filling is buttery.
For some reason everyone thinks they can make a good pecan pie.
FreshPepper at 9:59AM on 07/25/07
I once had fried okra. These little poppers were so delectable, and yet seem so simple. I have been attempting to recreate the experience for years and can't do it like they do in N'arlean.
I also loved a good fried chicken. Is it wrong to have both my favorite food fried? Because a close third was fried chitlins. Oh well.... Can't wait to win Lee Bro's book, so I can fix my chicken and okra right!
Miso Soup at 12:48PM on 07/25/07
Jambalaya. We just made up a batch a few nights ago, in fact.
Habeas Brulee at 1:56PM on 07/25/07
Ham biscuits made with Rose's tiny, tender biscuits and paper-thin slices of real country ham. Rose is gone now, cooking only for those lucky angels, and telling them, when they rave about one of her delicious Southern dishes, what she used to tell us, "Oh, I don't know.. I reckon it didn't come out quite as good as last time."
cookbookchick at 3:05PM on 07/25/07
Hush puppies and fried okra.
dikaryon at 3:55PM on 07/25/07
Smothered chicken with onions and gravy, with sides of cheese grits and spicy smoky collard greens.
spanklin at 4:16PM on 07/25/07
It's not fair to ask for just one. So here's a list: my Mamma's Fried Chicken,(simply divine) her scraped corncob fried in butter corn, her fresh corn off the cob cornbread (no cornmeal), her chocolate pie,or butterscotch or cream'a'coconut, her fresh apple cake, her salt risin' bread(it stinks while it's workin'but it's worth it) her greenbeans(I'v watched her like a hawk &I still can't make em as good) her new potatoes par-boiled then fried. ok here's the non- mom list:baked mac&cheese drippin' in cheese with breadcrumbs on top,fried green tomatoes,fried yellow squash,crabcakes(I don't know if I could go on living if I couldn't have any of this stuff again.) Oh & fried okra&HAM&mashed potatoes&gravy&I have to stop now 'cause I am soooooo hungry......
peticook at 4:20PM on 07/25/07
Chicken fried steak, double portion of fried okra with an extra side of country gravy. And I always save a space under my ribcage for a heaping dish of banana pudding.
JWdude at 10:23PM on 07/25/07
pulled pork OR biscuits and gravy - it is too close to call...
aburke at 10:45PM on 07/25/07
collard greens, cornbread, fried chicken, fried catfish, macaroni and cheese, cheese grits, red beans and rice. I love all Southern foods!!! And especially the staple sweet tea that you must drink with them!!!!
erinbaugher at 7:35AM on 07/26/07
Cornbread of course, biscuits and gravy a must for Sunday mornings, fried okra, fried squash flowers (basically anything that you can find you can fry mentality), hush puppies ( a school regular), when I wasn't a veggie fried chicken livers and gizzards, white bread for bbq and sopping up any juice left on a plate, biscuits when you went for a posh dinner, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, three bean salad and deviled eggs for picnics, pecan pie, cobblers, sun tea, sweet tea, and blue bell icecream.
souldawg at 9:50AM on 07/26/07
Biscuits fresh out of the oven, crispy on top and kinda wet on the inside, with a big ol' dose of sausage gravy waiting in the wings. Also, greens with the perfect ratio of vinegar to pork. And speaking of pork: pulled pork. Oh good gosh, it's time for my midmorning snack.
Jenn at 10:29AM on 07/26/07
I love baby back ribs when done well. Recently, I went somewhere where the ribs were tough and clearly not smoked long enough. Boo... Their pulled pork sandwich was excellent however... mmmm... the magical animal.
markdangerchen at 10:31AM on 07/26/07
Jambalaya definitely, though pulled prok is great too
zekks at 10:32AM on 07/26/07
My favorite southern meal is Chicken Fried Steak with white cream gravy, mashed potatoes, homemade mac n cheese, collard greens and fluffy white yeast rolls. And a big helping of blackberry cobbler and ice cream for dessert! Yummy!
elderberry44 at 12:13PM on 07/26/07
Pulled pork, pulled pork, pulled pork!!!!! How can you go wrong with this ultimate Southern dish?
niabassett at 12:50PM on 07/26/07
Chicken Fried Steak with cream gravy!
mistvan at 4:19PM on 07/26/07
Lawd, this is a tough one. I do love some chocolate chip and bourbon pecan pie, but wouldn't turn my nose up at cornbread or dirty rice. No sir.
Stufsocker at 4:24PM on 07/26/07
Shrimp & Grits and Fried Green Tomatoes!! Yummy!! :)
soozycue520 at 4:27PM on 07/26/07
I love all southern foods. This said, my all time favorite had to be my Nanas fried chicken. I used to ask for it for my birthday and I would dream about it untill the day came. Nana just turned 90 the 22nd of July and still makes the best fryed chicken!
smokingina at 7:43PM on 07/26/07
fried chicken with sweet tea
birdlime at 11:51PM on 07/26/07
It's hard to narrow this down to any one dish, but, since it's still fresh on my mind from making it a few nights ago, I'm gonna have to go with fried squash. But not just any squash- fresh squash from the garden. Coated in egg thinned out with a little vinegar and Texas Pete, breaded in House Autry chicken breader, fried up in veggie oil.
aliguori at 9:21AM on 07/27/07
Pecan pie, without a doubt. And last Thanksgiving my mother made an excellent variation, pecan-pumpkin, that I think is a new tradition.
kmenick at 10:08AM on 07/27/07
Chocolate-pecan pie, biscuits & gravy, red beans & rice.
eatzealot at 12:28PM on 07/27/07
Sweet Tea and cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet.
chicago_essie at 2:39PM on 07/27/07
Ribs and chicken or chicken and ribs!
TP at 2:40PM on 07/27/07
fried green tomatoes!
linda at 2:43PM on 07/27/07
Fried pork chops, creamed corn, collards, and steaming peach coobler topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Carosone at 2:56PM on 07/27/07
Biscuits and cornbread with honey; iced tea on the side.
doglover at 3:55PM on 07/27/07
Country fried steak and eggs on a heping mound of crispy/moist hashbrowns slathered in cream pepper gravy
Markbb at 3:59PM on 07/27/07
A ring of biscuits with red eye gravy and country ham.
Fried chicken and waffles.
girlwithsquid at 4:36PM on 07/27/07
Butter milk fried chicken, collard greens and black-eyed peas
izzy's mama at 7:35PM on 07/27/07