Ingredients

• 1 cup ground, self-rising cornmeal
• 1¼ – ½ cups buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 – 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons fat (oil or shortening)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450°F. Grease iron skillet with fat and place in heating oven. Combine cornmeal, salt, soda and stir. Add egg and buttermilk and mix well. Pour batter into iron skillet and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown. Turn bread out onto a plate and cut into wedges. Traditionally, cornbread is served hot with butter.

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar together and mix with other ingredients in the order given. Drop with a teaspoon onto a well-greased cookie pan, far enough apart to allow spreading while baking. Bake in a 325°F oven for 7 – 10 minutes. (Yield: 7 dozen)

Instructions

Fry bacon, remove from pan. Sauté onions in grease. Add tomato paste, water, salt, sugar and pepper. Bring mixture to boil, then add rice and extra bacon grease (if desired). Bring to boil again, stir well, and then reduce heat to low. Do not open and stir again until rice is completely cooked (follow directions on rice package), stir in crumbled bacon and serve.

Adapted from Charleston Receipts Repeats

Instructions

Puree first 8 ingredients in food processor until almost smooth. Spoon into serving bowl and serve topped with pea tendrils. www.ourlocalfoods.com

Instructions (Chocolate Roll)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line one 15½ × 10½ inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper and grease and flour lightly. Separate the eggs. Beat the whites until stiff and gradually add 1/4 cup sugar. Cream ½ cup of sugar with egg yolks and stir in vanilla. Sift the cocoa, baking powder and flour together and add to egg yolk mixture. Carefully fold in beaten egg whites. Evenly spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, or until cake springs away from sides of pan. Let cake cool for 5 minutes. Turn cake onto a towel sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar, peel off parchment paper and roll cake up with the towel. Let cake cool completely. Unroll cake and spread with the whipped cream. Roll again, frost with chocolate frosting and sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Instructions (Frosting*)

Beat egg white until stiff. Boil sugar and water until reaches soft-ball stage (a drop will form a soft ball in a cup of cool water). Stir in cocoa, cool slightly and fold gradually into beaten egg white.

Mrs. Willie P. Gramling
Orangeburg’s Choice Recipes

* Mrs. McKay usually sprinkles with powdered sugar instead of using the frosting.

Instructions

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over very low heat. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove the chocolate from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks until blended. Immediately pour the mix­ture into a large bowl.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff. With a whisk, fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining whites into the chocolate mix­ture until smooth. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until set.

Prepare the crêpes. Allow the crêpes to cool completely. Once the mousse is set, you can fill the crêpes. Top with fresh fruit, ice cream, powdered sugar or fruit sauce as desired. Enjoy!

Carolina Gold Rice became a commercial staple grain in the coastal lands of Charles Towne in the Carolina Territory by 1685. Possessing superior flavor, aroma, texture and cooking qualities (and a beautiful golden hue in the fields), Carolina Gold rice brought fortunes to those who produced it and created an influential culture and cuisine in the city of Charleston.

Clemson University began growing Carolina Gold rice for sustainable farming research in 2001 for the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. Today there are 60 acres planted of this near extinct heirloom rice along the South Carolina Coast.

Find Carolina Gold Rice at Charleston Cooks!, Middleton Place Museum Shop and online at www.charlestonfavorites.com and www.carolinaplantationrice.com.

Instructions

1. Turn rice into medium bowl and cover with cold water. Soak 1 hour. Drain through fine mesh colander and rinse. Set aside.
2. Heat oven to 200°. Fill large bowl halfway with water and ice cubes and set aside.
3. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan. Add rice, stir once, cover and return to a boil. As soon as water boils uncover pot and reduce heat. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until rice is just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain through colander. Turn rice immediately into ice water and swirl with fingers to chill. Drain well.
4. Spread rice evenly over rimmed sheet pan. Dry in oven, turning gently from time to time, 10 minutes. Dot with butter and season with salt and pepper. Return to oven until butter has melted and rice is hot, about 5 minutes more. Serve immediately.

Makes 3 cups

Information courtesy of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. For more information, contact them at www.carolinagoldricefoundation.org or by calling 843-709-7399.

Ingredients

• 2 large bunches greens
• Lean ham or lean pork for seasoning
• 8 cups water
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions

Prepare water and seasoning, bringing to simmering boil. Remove any wilted leaves, cut off bottoms and wash greens leaf by leaf several times to remove any grit. Cut greens by slicing crosswise in strips. Add greens and any meat to water. Add sugar. Cover and cook on medium for about 1 hour.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, rinsed, spun dry and chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 6 slices of whole wheat bread
• 3-inch length of seedless cucumber cut into thin slices

Instructions

In a small bowl combine the mint, butter, and cream cheese and stir the mixture until it is combined well. Spread the bread slices with the butter mixture, top 3 of them with the cucumber, distributing the cucumber evenly and seasoning it with salt. Top the cucumber with the remaining bread slices. Cut off and discard the crusts and cut each sandwich diagonally into quarters. Recipe can be doubled or even tripled. If sandwiches will sit for any length of time, spread bread slices thinly with extra butter before adding filling to prevent bread from becoming soggy. Makes 12 sandwiches.

Frogmore Stew, also known as the Lowcountry Boil, originated in the 1960s on St. Helena Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina. In the 1980s, however, the postal service abolished the name Frogmore, because Frogmore is only one of several St. Helena Island communities, changing the name of the popular dish to Lowcountry Boil.

When serving Lowcountry Boil, be sure to have plenty of napkins and newspapers ready. This is a messy dish; you’ll need a whole handful of napkins. The suitable way to serve this dish is on newspapers, making this cleanup an easy task for everyone.

Instructions

Pour can of beer, fresh lemon, and bag of Old Bay Seafood seasoning into a stockpot with 5 quarts of water. Bring to a boil and add the small potatoes. Let boil for around 8 minutes. Then, add the ears of corn, and the Kielbasa sausage. Let that cook for approximately 3-4 minutes. Add the shrimp into the pot. As soon as the shrimp turns pink, drain the pot and dump the stew out onto the table covered in newspaper.

Recipe from Mary Lisa Grumman

Nathalie Dupree is the author of ten cookbooks, eight of which are hard backs, selling over half a million copies, and host of three hundred television shows, which have aired on PBS, The Learning Channel and The Food Network for over fifteen years. Find her cookbooks in most local bookstores or visit www.amazon.com.

Instructions

Bring the milk and water to a simmer in a heavy-bottomed non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add the grits and the garlic and bring just to a boil. Cook until soft and creamy, adding heavy cream as needed to make a loose, but not runny, mixture. Add as much butter and cheese as desired, stirring to make sure the cheese doesn’t stick. Add the shrimp and cook a few minutes more until pink. Fold in the washed and dried greens and remove from the heat. The greens will cook in the hot grits. Serve in a chafing dish for a party or individually for an appetizer or main course.

Variation: Add enough cream to the grits to make them the consistency of a dip. Chop the shrimp and the greens before adding to the hot grits and serve with crisp tortilla chips.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons margarine
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions

Melt margarine in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring until thick. Add salt, pepper, and cheese. Stir until cheese melts.

Instructions

Scald milk in a large 6 quart saucepan. In large bowl, beat together egg yolks and salt. Add 3 cups of the hot milk to the egg yolks slowly while stirring constantly. Return this mixture to the milk in the pan. Add sugar and keep stirring while cooking at medium heat. When mixture coats the spoon or just starts to boil, remove from heat. In most cases, the mix will be lumpy. Strain out the lumps as you pour into freezer canister; add chopped MoonPies and freeze.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried black-eyed peas or field peas
• ½ pound salt pork, cubed
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ pound cooked ham, cubed
• 1 ham bone or pig’s foot
• Black pepper, to taste
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Dash Tabasco sauce
• 2 cups rice

Instructions

Pick over peas for stones, rinse, and cover peas with cold water. Bring to a boil, boil 1 minute, remove, and cover pan. Let sit for 1 hour or overnight. Sauté salt pork until golden brown to release fat, add onion and garlic, and sauté until onion is somewhat softened. Add the pork and onion mixture to the peas, along with the ham, ham bone, and seasonings, adding enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer gently until peas are tender but not mushed, 1 to 2 hours. Taste for seasoning and adjust. Cook rice separately. Mound rice on a platter and surround with peas.

Instructions

Beat whole eggs in electric mixer or with a rotary beater until very frothy and lemon-colored. Add other ingredients in above order. Pour into two well-buttered baking pans about 8 x 12 inches. Bake in 325 degree oven about 45 minutes or until crusty and brown. To serve, scoop up with pancake turner (keeping crusty part on top), pile on large plate and cover with whipped cream and a sprinkling of the chopped nuts, or make 16 individual servings.

Mrs. Cornelius Huguenin
(Evelyn Anderson)

An African cook in Atlanta is said to have given the name hushpuppy to this food. When frying a batch of catfish and croquettes, a nearby puppy began to howl. To keep the puppy quiet, she gave it a plateful of the croquettes and said, “hush, puppy.” The name stuck.

Another story says that during the Civil War, Confederate soldiers would sit beside a campfire preparing their meals. If they detected Yankee soldiers approaching, they would toss their yapping dogs some of the fried cornmeal cakes with the command “Hush, puppies!”

Whatever the origins, hushpuppies have become a favorite Southern side dish. Stop by one of Charleston’s many seafood restaurants and enjoy a sizzling hot basket!

Instructions

Mix corn meal, flour, baking powder and salt. Break in egg and start beating. Slowly add milk and beat until it becomes a paste; stir in onions. Drop a gob from a spoon into deep, hot grease. Remove when golden brown.

Although the original recipe says three layers, it works best as a two-layer, plus one very large cupcake, cake. Two layers will not make a cake as ineffably high as the standard Lady Baltimore. On the other hand, the fillings in this recipe are so achingly sweet and rich—more like divinity fudge than frosting—that two layers are already overkill. Reserve this cake only for those with a real sweet tooth.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter two 8-inch layer cake pans and 2 medium muffin cups. To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar together until light. Beat the egg yolks until light, then beat them into the butter mixture. Sift the dry ingredients together three times. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, ending with the flour mixture. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold the whites into the batter. Spoon the batter into the cake and muffin cups and bake until they test done, about 25 minutes. Take out of the oven and let rest in the pans 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool on a wire rack. When cool, set the cupcakes aside for another use; fill and frost the cake layers as described below.

While the cakes are baking, make the fillings. For Filling I, put the sugar, walnuts, and water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat without stirring to the very soft ball stage (232°F on a candy thermometer) when a spoonful of syrup dropped into a cup of ice water forms thick threads. Remove from the heat and let cool to 110°F. Stir in the extracts, then beat until slightly thickened. Set aside until the cake layers are cool. Spread half of Filling I over each cake layer.

For Filling II, dissolve the sugar in the water in a heavy saucepan. Do not stir after this point. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover and boil for 3 minutes. Remove the cover and boil over medium-low heat until the mixture reaches the firm ball stage (246 degrees on a candy thermometer) when a spoonful of the syrup dropped into a cup of ice water forms a ball that holds its shape unless pressed with a finger. Pour the hot syrup slowly into the beaten egg whites, beating constantly. (Be sure to add slowly or you will end up with very nasty, sticky nuggets of cooked egg.) Continue beating until cool. Quickly add the extracts, raisins, nuts, and lemon juice. Set aside until the cake layers are cooled. Spread a little of Filling II over Filling I on each layer. Stack one layer on top of the other, filling sides up. Frost the sides with the rest of Filling II.

Taken from Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, by Sylvia Lovegren, available on www.amazon.com.

Instructions

Add potatoes to large pot, and then add 5 quarts water and seasoning. Cover pot and heat to a rolling boil; cook 5 minutes. Add sausage and corn, and return to a boil. Cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add shrimp to stockpot; cook 3 to 4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Drain well and dump pot onto a newspaper covered picnic table. This recipe can easily be adjusted to serve as many people as needed. Serves 12.

One of Charleston’s favorite ways to entertain in the cooler weather is with an oyster roast. Some gather their own mollusks in local creeks and marshes, but fresh local oysters are available at many Charleston area seafood markets. A bushel should feed 6-8 people.

Gather, or buy, your oysters on the day of the roast. Be sure the oysters are alive – if the shells are open this is a sign that they may be dead. Tap on the shell, and if it doesn’t close, toss it. Next, wash the oysters well. Many car washes have a special place in one of the bays for oyster washing, but your garden hose will do.

Get your fire ready. You’ll need a fire pit, a few large rocks or bricks and a large cooking grate. Start your fire and surround it with rocks to hold the grate. When the fire is hot, place the grate over the coals and pile the oysters on top. Be careful not to try to cook too many at a time. If you need to, you can cook them in batches as they cook quickly. When the shells pop open, your feast is ready!

Put the oysters in a large heatproof container and place on a newspaper-covered table with buckets available for the used shells. Your guests will need lots of paper towels, oyster knives for shucking and gloves or a heavy cloth to protect their hands. Serve the oysters with saltine crackers, hot sauce, ketchup and any other sauce you prefer, plus an abundant supply of your favorite beverage.

Enjoy!

“One of my best friend’s mother, Alice Marks, made the quintessential Pimiento Cheese. I have never seen her recipe, so this is about as close as I can get to duplicating her ‘Southern Caviar.’ I prefer to use the fresh roasted red pepper. It gives enough extra depth and flavor to be worth the 50 minute roasting and peeling process. If you prefer a spicy version, add 1 tablespoon of sautéed minced jalapeno pepper and a few dashes of hot sauce.”

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Season to taste with cayenne pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For more information or reservations for the Culinary Tours of Charleston, call 843-722-TOUR.