People are mostly recommending what I'd consider intermediate level cooking.
Cheese grits are delicious and easy. Buy a bag of 5 minute grits (not instant, never buy instant grits) cook according to directions - make sure to salt the water. At the end when it's like bubbling lava, add shredded cheese of your choice and if you have it, nutritional yeast makes them better, but don't worry, it's good either way. Possible additions - jalapenos, smoked paprika. Serve with a fried egg on top.
As a New Englander that moved to the south. Tenderloin biscuits for breakfast. Cook you up a pork tenderloin , slice it thick and slap it on a biscuit hot. No idea how I lived without these so long. They do the same with very thick sliced fried bologna..... Which is novel but the tenderloin rocks. No idea why the south can't make a biscuit that won't throw crumbs 2 feet in every direction though.
I cook spicy breakfast sausage, scoop most of the meat out of the pan, add some butter to the sausage grease (i know 🤷) and stir in a couple of tablespoons of flour. Whisk it while it cooks to browned. Wisk in some milk, take it to just below boiling (tiny bubbles at the edge), and turn it down to thicken a bit. Mine is always a bit brown, never the bright white they have in restaurants, but my family likes it.
White gravy comes from making a plain roux from butter and flour, not browning it much, then using milk to finish the process. Maybe salt. Even my black pepper gravy is coloured and i only slightly brown the roux and the pepper goes into the butter before anything else.
Feel free to use different sausage for preference as well. I like mild Italian or breakfast style for most of my gravies, but we have a couple people in my family who have gastro issues with spice from any actual peppers, so that's a must for us lol.
Lot of grocery stores sell the white gravy mix packets in the baking/spices section. Add in some chopped breakfast sausage and you got yourself a pretty decent gravy for the biscuits.
More seriously, if you want to serve okra to someone who says they don't like it, I've had success with giving them dry-fried okra. Wash the okras and dry very thoroughly, they have to be dry for this to work. Slice them (throw out the stems). Saute in hot pan with a little oil and any spices you want (berebere is good) but - this is important - NO SALT until they are done.
This cooks them without the slime, I personally like the okra slime but also like them dry fried, the flavor is really good.
Boil hot dogs in four (4) cups of water, then remove the hot dogs and place them on a paper towel for 45 minutes to one hour. Add gelatin to the still boiling water, stir until completely dissolved. Add hot dogs and cocktail onions to the gelatin mix, and pour into your favorite shaped dish (try a Bundt pan for extra down home charm!). Chill until solid, then place the pan in the refrigerator to chill for four hours. Remove from refrigerator and flip pan upside down onto a serving platter. Serve at room temperature.
It’s very messy and dealing with large amounts of oil has to be done with care. Plus it’s difficult for a novice to know the correct doneness often leading to undercooked chicken.
It can be easier to do fried chicken tenders from scratch since you can shallow fry them in less oil.
35 replies
People are mostly recommending what I'd consider intermediate level cooking.
Cheese grits are delicious and easy. Buy a bag of 5 minute grits (not instant, never buy instant grits) cook according to directions - make sure to salt the water. At the end when it's like bubbling lava, add shredded cheese of your choice and if you have it, nutritional yeast makes them better, but don't worry, it's good either way. Possible additions - jalapenos, smoked paprika. Serve with a fried egg on top.
Freakishly delicious and so easy.
As a New Englander that moved to the south. Tenderloin biscuits for breakfast. Cook you up a pork tenderloin , slice it thick and slap it on a biscuit hot. No idea how I lived without these so long. They do the same with very thick sliced fried bologna..... Which is novel but the tenderloin rocks. No idea why the south can't make a biscuit that won't throw crumbs 2 feet in every direction though.
Biscuits and gravy. Shrimp and grits.
Not on the coast. But could never get gravy to turn out right. It's either too watery or too thick. There is a 3 bears reference in there somewhere.
Gravy's a process. Too think? Add a little more liquid. Too thin? Add a little more flour (or even a cornstarch slurry)
I cook spicy breakfast sausage, scoop most of the meat out of the pan, add some butter to the sausage grease (i know 🤷) and stir in a couple of tablespoons of flour. Whisk it while it cooks to browned. Wisk in some milk, take it to just below boiling (tiny bubbles at the edge), and turn it down to thicken a bit. Mine is always a bit brown, never the bright white they have in restaurants, but my family likes it.
Bright white gravy is probably garbage from a packet. A gravy made with quality, flavorful sausage will always add a bit of color.
White gravy comes from making a plain roux from butter and flour, not browning it much, then using milk to finish the process. Maybe salt. Even my black pepper gravy is coloured and i only slightly brown the roux and the pepper goes into the butter before anything else.
It’s not supposed to be white like the restaurant. Browni(ish) is best.
Feel free to use different sausage for preference as well. I like mild Italian or breakfast style for most of my gravies, but we have a couple people in my family who have gastro issues with spice from any actual peppers, so that's a must for us lol.
Here is the gravy formula for one serving.
Make the roux and add milk sausage eyt and constantly stir until desired thickness.
Lot of grocery stores sell the white gravy mix packets in the baking/spices section. Add in some chopped breakfast sausage and you got yourself a pretty decent gravy for the biscuits.
Hoppin John
https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/classic-hoppin-john-recipe
Don't let the number of ingredients scare you. It's basically just bacon or ham, black eyed peas, and veggies over rice.
This version says to strain the cooking liquid (step 4). Sometimes I like leaving it in and eating it as more of a stew with cornbread (no rice).
Gotta eat it on the new year! As the article says. I just make mine in the slow cooker though, so it's ready whenever I get up!
Making it with leftover Christmas ham is how I usually do it.
I've lived in the US south my entire life --- go for salmon croquettes and stretch that canned fish into something extra delicious!
https://sandrakitchen.com/alton-brown-salmon-croquettes/
Not very southern, but I like to make a garlic fake-oli with it: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/213608/garlic-aioli/
Red beans and rice
Fried chicken, southern gravy from the drippings, served with biscuits.
Boiled Okra Bonanza
Ingredients
Instructions
More seriously, if you want to serve okra to someone who says they don't like it, I've had success with giving them dry-fried okra. Wash the okras and dry very thoroughly, they have to be dry for this to work. Slice them (throw out the stems). Saute in hot pan with a little oil and any spices you want (berebere is good) but - this is important - NO SALT until they are done.
This cooks them without the slime, I personally like the okra slime but also like them dry fried, the flavor is really good.
Is this…real? It sounds disgusting
Don't say that in front of Meemaw!
HOT DOG SURPRISE!!?
You will need:
Boil hot dogs in four (4) cups of water, then remove the hot dogs and place them on a paper towel for 45 minutes to one hour. Add gelatin to the still boiling water, stir until completely dissolved. Add hot dogs and cocktail onions to the gelatin mix, and pour into your favorite shaped dish (try a Bundt pan for extra down home charm!). Chill until solid, then place the pan in the refrigerator to chill for four hours. Remove from refrigerator and flip pan upside down onto a serving platter. Serve at room temperature.
How do I unread this and where can I try it?
It doesn't get much easier than collards or baked beans.
ETA: or cornbread.
Pecan pie
Braised collard greens. Takes probably 45 minutes to simmer, but they're delicious, nutritious, and simple!
I dont know your definition of easy, but fried chicken is always a winner, or grilled shrimp.
Hell a grilled rack of ribs is no effort, for me.
I'd call fried chicken pretty "not easy" on the easy scale.
Really? What is the hard part?
It’s very messy and dealing with large amounts of oil has to be done with care. Plus it’s difficult for a novice to know the correct doneness often leading to undercooked chicken.
It can be easier to do fried chicken tenders from scratch since you can shallow fry them in less oil.
Deep frying is easy in theory. Nothing technically hard about it. But in practice it's a hassle to do and a big mess to clean up.
Plucking the feathers out of your teeth.
1 can pinto beans, 1 can mustard greens or collard greens. if there's bacon on hand, throw some of that in. add vinegar or texas pete. done.
Chicken yock is easy, if Virginia counts as deep south