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I am surprised that only @Divadog mentioned banana pudding - my, my, how well I remember my first taste in South Carolina - would love a real recipe - up here in Canada one can get banana cream pie, but it cannot touch southern banana pudding.

Also, hush puppies, not the mass produced ones, but the lovely crispy, fluffy ones produced in small restaurants - bliss.

Frogmore stew or Brunswick stew - I have seen it called both, but I have reproduced it in Canada to rave reviews - I had to buy my Old Bay seasoning stateside, though I believe if you shop around in specialty stores you can find it now.

Deep fried okra, biscuits, shrimp & grits - need I go on - our vacations in the South necessitate a great deal of restraint.

I have mentioned before how lucky people in the South are, to have both sweet and non sweet ice tea available at almost every restaurant you enter. There is absolutely nothing nicer than to walk in from the torpid heat and humidity and have a large, cold glass of tea!

i'm the only person i know who does this - if there is anyone else, please confess! i NEED my ice cream to be nice and soft and melty, but have no patience, so i always zap a cold bowl of it in the microwave for ten seconds to take off the chill. am i the only one?

This is probably an irrelevant post since you posted this recipe nearly a year ago but... I have arepas nearly every morning for breakfast with honey-roasted bananas and a little cheese. This is how I make mine. I make a large batch of the dough and keep it wrapped in the fridge and just break off a piece every morning.

I pour my Masarepa flour (PRE-COOKED cornmeal) in a bowl and add a pinch of salt...
I then stir in, with my hand, warm water until a wet dough forms (to wet to form into anything) and let it sit for 5 minutes to stiffen up. Meanwhile I preheat my oven to 350 f and I put my cast iron skillet on a medium-high heat. After the dough has set I break off about a 1/4 c. worth of the dough and form it into a ball and then pat it down to make a 1/2 inch thick patty. You then put the patty in the skillet and cook it for about 15 minutes flipping it periodically giving it a nice crust. Then transfer the patty to the oven along with one banana still in the skin and bake for 15 minutes more.
Take the banana and arepa out of the oven and being careful remove the peel from the banana and slice. Cut open the areapa, smear a little butter inside, put in the sliced bananas with a dash of cinnamon, a drizzle of honey, and a LIGHT sprinkling of white cheese (mozzarella would work fine.)

It is absolutely delicious

O M G

definitely jelly on top BECAUSE that way the PB doesn't stick to the roof of my mouth. This is from an anti-PBJ/peanutbutter in general person though.

Ok, so this Upstater has very little experience with southern food. I think I'd like real fried chicken, but I've never really had it- at least not the kind someone cooked in fat in a cast iron skillet. I guess I've tasted greens once or twice, and I prefer my mac and cheese creamy, not baked.

See, what I've been doing all along is making sure there's enough for all you guys (y'all???) to enjoy :)

At the top of my list has got to be biscuits. Nobody makes biscuits like the South. There's also sweet potato casserole, mac & cheese, cornbread, pecan pie, peach cobbler, red velvet cake, and fried pickles. And although I now live in Tennessee, I was born & raised in North Carolina, so Carolina barbecue of course!

As someone born and raised in Hawaii, in my travels, I have grown to love fried okra, fried dill pickles, collard greens, Brunswick stew (over rice :P), chow chow, fried green tomatoes, and fried chicken washed down with sweet tea. I love sweet potato and peach pies, red velvet cake, bread pudding, and eating warm pralines from a paper bag, which brings me to the slew of Cajun and Creole dishes I love.

One of these days, I have to try the southern version of oxtail soup, just to see how different it is from the oxtail soup from my neck of the woods.

I've got a jar of sorghum molasses I picked up on my last trip to TN this summer that is begging to be opened.

I always keep a box or two of this on my shelf for that Comfort Food rainy day. It's simple, thought-free and tastes good.

No...it's not as good as my favorite restaurant's and yes, I've made it at home and it's REALLY good, but sometimes you just need a quick comfort and this does it for me.

The brulee will always become wilted if you don't eat it right away, even if you make it fresh and use a blowtorch and such. Sugar is hydroscopic and will attract water and become wilty. You can't blame that on the product.

I rather enjoy the cooking out of the box articles on here. The comments get kind of annoying (or at least repetitive at best). Making it from scratch will taste better? No way...I can't believe that's true.

I think it's fine to use box mixes in a pinch (not necessarily wallet pinch) unless you're going to try to pass it off as homemade (like the aforementioned Aunt Shamdy).

You can do a savory version with butter (or oil) and dried herbs or a seasoning mix of your choice. Powdered cheese is also nice. Or, you can tuck a little nugget of cheese inside each doughball with the spices on the outside.

We have Dr. Oetker in Canada too! Yay.

I've made this product before and it was pretty good, and fair easy to make. While I've made creme brulee from scratch before, this mix is great in that it requires less technique and skill than scratch. With the scratch there's a greater risk of scorching and curdling, and then having to strain out any possible scrambled eggs.

I'd compare this to sushi you get out of a refrigerated case vs sushi made at a restaurant. To me one works in a pinch, when I can't get the other.

I love the description on the box - "With Carmelizing Sugar!" Um...as opposed to the NON carmelizing type of sugar, I suppose?

I've never had the real thing.. but it sounds sooo good right now.