Help, I'm new to Souther style foods need help

[pozopik]

Hello cook's
My name is Paul, I live in a small town in central florida and I just opened my 2nd restaurant and i really need everyones help.
The problem is the following, My style of cooking for many years has been a mix of Latin and French cuisine, In this restaurant that I just open up my clients are diffrent then my first restaurant, and they are more interested in southern cooking & caffetiria style foods, so you guy's can imagen what I'm going through. Please I need suggestions and titles of books you guy's may Know



Thank you

Paul Pozo CCC

[ShawtyCat]

Lesse....southern food. Oh. Comfort food.

Souther Fried Chicken
Corn Bread
Collard Greens
Buttery Grits for Breakfast
Baby Back Ribs
Banana Caramel Pudding with those Vanilla Wafers.


How about Sylvia's Soul Food Cookbook? or The New Southern Basics: Traditional Southern Food for Today?


Dont really know what else to tell you. I usually just cook but I grew up with that stuff.

[Pete]

Here are a few cookbooks you can use, encompassing all the themes of southern cooking from low-country to cajun

Anything by Paul Pruduomme
Anything by Natalie Dupree

both Commander's Palace cookbooks

Savoring Savannah

New Low-Country Cooking by marvin Woods

anything by Louis Osteen

Those are the ones I can think of now, but there are quite a few more. Any larger bookstore with a good selection of American Regional cookbooks will have numerous books
If you need anymore help, or would like some ideas about menu, please feel free to ask and I will elaborate.

[Suzanne]

Dori Sander's Country Cooking.

Have you tried asking a few customers what they'd like to have? That would be a good start. Then we can point you toward recipes, if you need that kind of help.

[shroomgirl]

Having lived in Arkansas, Memphis, DeRidder La., Baton RougeLa, and New Orleans....traveled and eaten extensively around the South....Florida south is different than Louisiana south or Georgia south or Arkansas south......where exactly are you in Florida?
Creole, Jambayla, greens, cornbread, biscuits, grits, fried catfish, hushpuppies, sweet potatoes, green beans boiled to death, new potatoes, crawfish...in Arkansas they are bait., bread pudding, banana pudding, pecan pie, buttermilk pie, chess pie, rice pudding, BBQ, slaw, potato salad, if your in southern Fla crab and lobster, always shrimp<fried, stewed, creole, boiled>,
These are coastal dishes....not Texas, but La on to western Fla.

[panini]

I suggest eating at everyplace with similar customers, question waitstaff on what is the best seller. Where are you in Florida? Its pretty regional there. If you are in an area where there are snowbirds you definately need an earlybird dinner. Near the coast, fried seafood. Going south it gets a little Latino, no?
Gather all the PTA cookbooks in the area.

[foodnfoto]

Here are a few more cookbook resources to check out. Most of these, I'm sure, can be found in your library.
A Gracious Plenty by John T. Edge. He is from the Center for study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi and chairman of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Very interesting reading.
Southern Cooking by Bill Neal. Great introduction--well worth the price of the whole cookbook! He also wrote a book called Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie specifically about baked goods. Bill died about 10 years ago, but what he did to elevate southern style cooking was a huge contribution to the culinary world.
Mama Dip's Kitchen by Mildred Council. Her restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC is famous for her terrific soulfood. Unfortunately, she did not include her recipe for catfish gumbo-a southern wonder in and of itself.
Also, check out your local used book stores for cast off cookbooks by various Junior League organizations. These ladies usually publish a cookbook or two as a fundraiser for their charity work. They are uniformly great cooks from southern society and know how to feed a crowd. Most times, the recipes are really good and will relate well to your clientele.
Good Luck!

[Suzanne]

Also: A Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis. She is really a "grande dame" of Southern food, been cooking for close to 50 years, I think. Brought the idea to a few really good places here up North that southern food could be exquisite.