What DON'T We Fry In The South?

Being born and raised in the deep south, it's a wonder I didn't die of clogged arteries at the age of 12! I don't remember many meals where something wasn't fried. And I don't mean fried in Canola oil, or Olive Oil, I mean fried in shortening and lard. I can just hear the "OMG! LARD???" exclamations flying from your lips now.

Lard is OH SO bad for you. It's pure animal fat, the most saturated fat there is. Heck, it stays solid at room temperature, unless it's up in the upper 90's, then it's a semi-solid. But let me tell you, for taste, you cannot beat food fried in lard.

Our second choice of cooking oil is Corn Oil. No, it's not saturated, or at least not totally. It will at least stay liquid at room temperatures. Healthwise, it's better than Lard, but not by much. The thing is, if you want to talk healthy southern fried food that tastes good, corn oil is about as healthy as you're going to get.

Vegetable oils, soybean and such, and canola, safflower, sunflower, and olive oils just do not have the taste required for true southern fried food. No amount of seasoning can replace the taste of frying in the right oil.

The most popular fried food of all time is probably Southern Fried Chicken. I mean, Colonel Sanders, Bojangles, and Church's have made a killing on it, and Publix isn't doing too badly. Everyone has their own recipe for this, so I won't even throw mine into the mix. I will say that people who have tasted my fried chicken won't settle for store bought when they're eating at my place.

A friend the other day was telling me that her brother married a southern lady, and she went to her house and she was frying Pork Chops in about a half inch of oil. She was totally shocked! Well, I said, don't be, because that's how we do it. I asked how they tasted, and she said they were awesome. Um hmm....and crispy too, and juicy inside. Fried pork chops were a staple in our menu growing up. In fact, fried pork chops, sweet potatoes, rice and gravy, corn on the cob and homemade biscuits is probably my favorite meal ever.

And have you ever had fried ham for breakfast? No, you don't have to batter it, just cut it into pieces so it doesn't curl up on the edges, put a healthy measure of butter into an iron skillet, and go to town. It's done when the edges start to turn crispy. Nothing better with scrambled eggs and hash browns. Calories? Aw, c'mon, have a little fun!

But meat isn't the only thing we fried. In fact, anything that was served with the fried meat was likely to be fried as well, just so as not to waste the shortening (yes, or lard). In fact, the "grease" as we call it, was saved in a handy little thing called a Grease Canister and reused. That way, flavors of everything you'd cooked melded together, making everything taste special.

Vegetables other than potatoes were fried on a regular basis. My very favorite fried veggie is yellow squash. Most fried squash I've seen has been cut too thick, and battered too heavily. The way I fry squash is to slice them thin, dip them into a thin batter, fry them slowly and make them like little squash crispies. You just wouldn't believe how good they are cooked like this.

Of course, there is fried okra, either whole or chopped. Okra fritters aren't so bad either.

Pan fried sweet potatoes are yummy. Slice them, put them in a pan with some butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, and cook until the outsides start to get crispy with the cooked sugar.

Fried corn is something you'll never forget either. Drain a can of corn, or slice it right off the cob. Put butter and seasoning in an iron skillet on medium high heat, keep stirring every few minutes until the kernels are shriveled and look ruined. Yummy!

One thing my mother made that I just couldn't stomach was fried grits. She would cook a pot of grits and pour it into a loaf pan to cool and harden. Then she would slice it, dredge it in bread crumbs, and fry it. I didn't like grits too much anyway, so this wasn't going to make me eat them. Imagine, a southerner who didn't like grits! Actually, I like them now, but not as an everyday thing.

My grandmother made the best fried apple fritters, and fried fruit pies you've ever tasted. I never did get her recipe, and it was lost over time, but they were like nothing I've ever had before or since.

You know that fried dough that they make at the fair? Truth be told, I had never tasted it until I did so at a fair, and nobody I know in the south ever made it either. We did make fried dumplings, which were bits of dough fried in the skillet in the bacon grease, and topped with canned fruit and heavy cream. But fried dough, or elephant ears, I don't remember seeing outside of a carnival. The truth is, it's a dish from India called Puri or Poori. At the carnivals, they added brown sugar or confectioner's sugar on top, which makes it seem more American, I guess.

Of course, everyone knew that the only way to fry eggs was in the leftover bacon grease. Sometimes my mother actually made fried toast, which is like a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese. She would butter both sides of the bread, and fry it in the skillet instead of the toaster. Actually, we didn't have a toaster. She made toast by the half loaf in the oven.

When times were hard, sometimes we would have fried bologna for supper. Now and then, I still fix it as a snack, or just because I love the way it smells and the fact that it's o.k. to eat it with your fingers. In fact, that's what I love the most about fried meat...eating it with your fingers. The one exception that I know of is southern fried steak.

Southern fried steak is cubed steak, dredged in seasoned flour and fried. Then the dripping from the steak along with some butter and flour are used to make a "roux", which when mixed with milk becomes a gravy that is poured over the steaks. Now in Florida, somehow they have twisted this recipe around to where the gravy and steak are cooked together. That's just not how it's done in the true south. I mean, what would be the point of frying the steak, if it was just going to be soaked in gravy?

The same goes for liver and onions. I haven't had decent liver and onions one time in Florida. In the true south, the liver is cubed somewhat, just like steak, and then cooked in the same way. The only difference is that onions are cooked in the drippings, then gravy is made from the leavings of the onion cooking.

Every year, in Sally, SC, they have a Chittlin' Strut. In case you don't know, chittlins (or properly spelled "chitterlings") are hog intestines. Yes, they fry them. Well, first they boil them to tenderize them and get all the "bad" stuff out, then they chop them into pieces and fry them in deep fat. You can smell the Chittlin' Strut for five miles before you get to it. Ten, if the wind is blowing the right way. But if you can get past the smell, chittlins are really delicious. So if you're ever in Sally, SC in October, when they butcher the hogs, put a clothespin on your nose and have some chittlins. Don't eat the mountain oysters though...I won't tell you what they are.

Of course, we couldn't have a talk about fried southern food without mentioning fried pork rinds. Now those measly little things in the bags aren't true fried pork rinds. True fried pork rinds are as big as your hand, and taste about 10 times as good as those store bought ones. And they're cooked in the fat rendered from the hot after he's butchered. Yep, hog fat. Lard. Bad for you....tastes gooooooooooooooood!!!

I could go on and on about fried southern food, but I've given you a picture, and you can elaborate from there. If you get a chance, watch some Paula Dean shows. Now that is a real southern cook.

Like my mother used to say, "if it doesn't have too much butter, fat, sugar, or salt in it, we don't want it." And she was right. We might die early in the deep south, but we die well fed and happy!