Hi. I am Phillip Witzke. I hail from a small town in rural Oklahoma and grew up eating a lot of southern home cooking. My mother's family was from eastern Oklahoma where she learned to cook southern style cuisine and by proxy, then so did I.
Additionally, through my career in the military, I was exposed to a lot of other southern dishes and adopted some of them. I spent a good deal of time in Arkansas, Louisiana and other places and learned to cook a lot of the local fair. I like to cook and LOVE to eat and by picking up some of the local recipes, I can revisit some of my favorite places any time I want.
When we think of southern dishes, we can't just think one region. Southern cooking comes from all over the South and there is a great variance in the regional varieties. In Oklahoma, there is a lot of German influence. In Louisiana, a lot of French and Cajon influence. In the Carolinas, the use of sea food is huge; especially in Charleston!
What I hope to do with this blog is gather up some of my favorites from the different regions, show you how to prepare them in your own home through videos and recipes and perhaps even share a bit of the history associated with them. We'll learn to make some staple items that, when put together can provide you with a southern feast!
I learned the art of good food from my foody fathers knee. He was the one to introduce me to Indian, Thai, Sushi, Korean, and tons of other different types of food. But I have always had a soft spot for good old southern comfort food. Chili, Ribs, Cornbread, and Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes. I am after all a Texan born and raised.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Texas so I can definitely justify the fact that cornbread is a staple down there. You are definitely right in that in can literally go with any food at any time. There's lots of other signature southern food as well like Ribs, pulled pork, and the obvious steak.
ReplyDelete