Wikipedia

List of soul foods and dishes

This is a list of soul foods and dishes. Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans that originated in the Southern United States during the era of slavery.[1] It uses a variety of ingredients and cooking styles, some of which came from West African and Central African cuisine brought over by enslaved Africans while others originated in Europe. Some are indigenous to the Americas as well, borrowed from Native American cuisine.[1][2] Soul food dishes were created by enslaved Black Americans using minimal ingredients because slaveholders rarely fed their slaves. Historian John Blassingame's book published in 1972, The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South, was researched from a collection of slave narratives. According to Blassingame's research, some enslaved people received the bare minimum in food and had to supplement their diets by hunting, fishing, and foraging for food.[3][4]

Many of the meals prepared by enslaved people were later published in African-American cookbooks after the American Civil war. The dishes the enslaved and their descendants created influenced American southern cuisine. An article from the Alabama News Center explains: "In recent years, culinary historians and writers have credited Africans with introducing many new cooking techniques (for example, one-pot cooking, deep-fat frying and using smoked meats as seasoning) as well as dishes to the New World. They created gumbo, an adaptation of a traditional west African stew; stewed tomatoes and okra; corn cakes, grits and shrimp and grits; hoppin’ John, jambalaya, red rice and other rice-based dishes; collards and other greens; chow-chow and other pickled vegetables; boiled peanuts and peanut soup; and chitlins and cracklings, among other foods."[5]

Meat dishes

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Some meat soul foods and dishes include:

Name Image Description
Buffalo ribs   A dish consisting of the breaded and deep fried ribs of the buffalo fish. Pictured is a live buffalo fish.
Guinea fowl
 
 A bird indigenous to Africa and was brought to the Americas by way of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Guinea fowl became a source of meat for enslaved and free African Americans and eventually part of the subsistence culture of the whole region. On American plantations, the enslaved consumed the eggs of the guinea fowl, as well as cooking the meat with rice like their West-Central African forebears.[6][7]
Fatback   Fatty, cured, salted pork, especially the first layers of the back of the pig primarily used in slow-cooking as a seasoning. Pictured is breaded and fried fatback.
Fried chicken   A dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens that have been floured or battered and then pan-fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The seasoned breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior.

Chicken and waffles, in particular, is a soul food dish associated with special occasions.[8]

Fried fish[1]   Any of several varieties of fish, including catfish, whiting,[9] porgies, bluegill, sometimes battered in seasoned cornmeal. Adapted from method of frying chicken.
Ham hocks [10][11]   Typically smoked or boiled, ham hocks generally consist of much skin, tendons and ligaments, and require long cooking through stewing, smoking or braising to be made palatable. The cut of meat can be cooked with greens and other vegetables or in flavorful sauces.
Hog jowl   Cured and smoked cheeks of pork. It is not actually a form of bacon, but is associated with the cut due to the streaky nature of the meat and the similar flavor. Hog jowl is a staple of soul food,[12] but is also used outside the United States, for example in the Italian dish guanciale.[13][14]
Hog maw   The stomach lining of a pig; it is very muscular and contains no fat. As a soul food dish, hog maw has often been coupled with chitterlings, which are pig intestines. In the book Plantation Row Slave Cabin Cooking: The Roots of Soul Food hog maw is used in the Hog Maw Salad recipe.[15]
Chitlins   Cleaned and prepared intestines of pigs, slow cooked and also often eaten with a vinegar-based sauce or sometimes parboiled, then battered and fried. It is adapted from early European cuisine, or hog maws[1] (the muscular lining of the pig's stomach, sliced and often cooked with chitterlings).[1]
Oxtail[1]   The tail of cattle, oxtail is a bony, gelatin-rich meat, which is usually slow-cooked as a stew[16] or braised.
Pickled pigs' feet[10]   Slow cooked, sometimes pickled or often eaten with a vinegar based sauce.
Pigs' feet   The feet of pigs: the cuts are used in various dishes around the world, and their usage has increased in popularity since the late-2000s financial crisis.[17]
Pork   As a meat dish, such as ham and bacon, and for the flavoring of vegetables and legumes, gravies and sauces.
Pork ribs   The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then served. The method of barbecuing is of Native American and West African influence. The Hausa word for barbecue is babbake. West Africans brought their methods of barbecue and making barbecue sauce to North America. African Americans use Native American and West African techniques of barbecue.[18][19][20]
Poultry   Giblets, such as chicken liver and gizzards.[10][11] Pictured is a chicken gizzard dish.
Shit on a Shingle
 
 Chipped beef with a bechamel sauce, served on toast. Additional toppings, gravy, or beef stock may also be added.
Turkey   Neck bones

Vegetables and legumes

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Beans, greens and other vegetables are often cooked with ham or pork parts to add flavor.

Name Image Description
Black-eyed peas [10]   Black-eyed peas are native to Africa.[21] Often mixed into Hoppin' John or as a side dish.[1] Pictured are black-eyed peas with smoked hocks and corn bread.
Collard greens   A staple vegetable of Southern U.S. cuisine, they are often prepared with other similar green leaf vegetables, such as kale, turnip greens, spinach, and mustard greens in "mixed greens".[22] They are generally eaten year-round in the South, often with a pickled pepper vinegar sauce. Typical seasonings when cooking collards can consist of smoked and salted meats (ham hocks, smoked turkey drumsticks, pork neckbones, fatback or other fatty meat), diced onions and seasonings.
Hoppin' John[23]   A dish that originated in Gullah communities in the Low country region of South Carolina, but is now popular in many areas of the south,[24] consisting of black-eyed peas (or field peas) and rice, with chopped onion and sliced bacon, seasoned with a bit of salt.[25] Some people substitute ham hock, fatback, or country sausage for the conventional bacon; a few use green peppers or vinegar and spices.
Mustard greens   A species of mustard plant. Subvarieties include southern giant curled mustard, which resembles a headless cabbage such as kale, but with a distinct horseradish-mustard flavor. It is also known as green mustard cabbage.
Okra[26]   A vegetable that is native to West Africa, and is eaten fried or stewed and is a traditional ingredient of gumbo. It is sometimes cooked with tomatoes, corn, onions and hot peppers
Fried okra   Okra pods that have been sliced and dredged in cornmeal before frying.
Sweet potatoes   Often parboiled, sliced, then adorned with butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla or other spices, and baked; commonly called "candied sweets" or "candied yams"[10]
Turnip greens   Turnip leaves are sometimes eaten as "turnip greens", and they resemble mustard greens in flavor. Turnip greens are a common side dish in southeastern US cooking, primarily during late fall and winter. Smaller leaves are preferred; however, any bitter taste of larger leaves can be reduced by pouring off the water from initial boiling and replacing it with fresh water. Varieties specifically grown for the leaves resemble mustard greens more than those grown for the roots, with small or no storage roots.
Rice
 
 A species of rice was domesticated in Africa, so many people brought to the Americas during the slave trade preserved rice cooking techniques from West Africa. Rice is a staple side dish in the lowcountry region and in Louisiana. It is a main ingredient in dishes such as jambalaya and red beans and rice popular in Southern Louisiana.[27][28]

Breads and grains

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Name Image Description
Cornbread[29]   A quickbread often baked or made in a skillet, commonly made with buttermilk and seasoned with bacon fat; inspired by the great availability of corn in America. Cornbread is of Native American origin. Traditional southern cornbread is baked in European cake and bread baking style. Pictured is skillet cornbread.
Grits[30]   A cooked coarsely ground cornmeal of Native American origin.
Hoecake[1]   Also known as Johnnycake, a type of cornbread that is thin in texture, and fried in cooking oil in a skillet, whose name is derived from field hands' often cooking it on a shovel or hoe held to an open flame.
Hushpuppies[1]   Balls of deep-fried cornmeal, usually with salt and diced onions. Typical hushpuppy ingredients include cornmeal, wheat flour, eggs, salt, baking soda, milk or buttermilk, and water, and may include onion, spring onion (scallion), garlic, whole kernel corn, and peppers.

Desserts

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Name Image Description
Sweet potato pie[1][9]   Parboiled sweet potatoes, then pureed, spiced, and baked in a pie crust, similar in texture to pumpkin pie
Banana pudding[31]   Pudding made with vanilla custard, vanilla wafers, bananas, whipped cream and vanilla extract
Red velvet cake[32]   Red colored cake made with cocoa powder
Pecan pie[33]   Pie made with pecans

Regional Soul Food

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Authentic Gullah Hoppin' John - Hoppin' John is a traditional New Year's dish that originated among Gullah people in the lowcountry.[34]

These are more specific regional Soul food dishes.This includes dishes like Jambalaya, Gumbo, red rice and beans and other foods of the creole subgroup of the Black American ethnic group. It also includes the dishes of the Gullah Geeche sub group of the Black American peoples. See: Louisiana Creole cuisine and Gullah Geeche cuisine.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Opie, Frederick Douglass (2008). Hog and Hominy. Columbia University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0231146388. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  2. ^ Ferguson 1993
  3. ^ Blassingame, John (1972). The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South. Oxford University Press. pp. 39, 155–158. ISBN 9780195025637.
  4. ^ Brown, Shayla (2020). "Slavery, Soul Food and the Power of Black Women". North Jersey News. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  5. ^ Blalock, Bob (2019). "African-Americans have shaped Alabama's and America's cuisine". Alabama News Center. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  6. ^ Davis, Donald (2006). Southern United States: An Environmental History. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 130. ISBN 9781851097852.
  7. ^ Carney, Judith (2013). "Seeds of Memory: Botanical Legacies of the African Diaspora" (PDF). African Ethnobotany in the Americas: 15, 20. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Serving up chicken & waffles". Los Angeles Business Journal. September 22, 1997. p. 1.
  9. ^ a b Feeney, Kelly (May 8, 2009). "Soul Food With a Secret". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  10. ^ a b c d e Timothy Williams In Changing Harlem, Soul Food Struggles 5, 2008 New York Times
  11. ^ a b Mike Royko FOOD NAGS CAN KILL ANYONE'S APPETITE July 20, 1994 Page: 3 Chicago Tribune
  12. ^ Gillespie, Carmen (2009). Toni Morrison: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work. Infobase Publishing. p. 343. ISBN 9781438108575. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  13. ^ Fabricant, Florence (September 13, 2011). "Pork Jowl With a Backwoods Whiff". New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  14. ^ May, Tony (2005-06-01). Italian Cuisine: The New Essential Reference to the Riches of the Italian Table. Macmillan. p. 11. ISBN 9780312302801. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  15. ^ "Plantation Row Slave Cabin Cooking: The Roots of Soul Food". Retrieved 2007-10-08.
  16. ^ Blumenthal, Heston (14 November 2003). "The twist in the tail". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  17. ^ Carmichael, Sri (21 October 2009). "Pig's trotters fly off the shelves as customers seek cheap meat cuts". The Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 24 October 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  18. ^ Miller, Adrian (2021). "How the long history of black barbecue was erased". Independent. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  19. ^ Miller, Adrian (2021). Black Smoke African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 22–25, 39–49, 50–57. ISBN 9781469662817.
  20. ^ Béchard, Deni. "The Bard of Barbecue". Stanford Magazine. Stanford University. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Origins of Soul Food". Suny Schenectady County Community College. Begley Library. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  22. ^ Diana Rattray, About.com Guide (2012-04-10). "Mixed Greens - Recipe for Greens". Southernfood.about.com. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  23. ^ "On New Year's Day, it gets the full Southern treatment, which usually means Hoppin' John – a traditional Soul Food fixin' consisting of F peas cooked with ham hocks and spices, served over rice. In the South, eating field-peas on New Year's is thought to bring prosperity" Celebrate New Year's with Field- peas by Rachel Ellner December 31, 2008 Nashua Telegraph
  24. ^ Smith Miles, Suzannah (22 December 2014). "Hoppin' John". www.charlestonmag.com. Charleston Magazine. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  25. ^ Hoppin John What's cooking America.Another name for it is Stew Peas
  26. ^ Marcus, Jacqueline B. (2013). Culinary Nutrition: The Science and Practice of Healthy Cooking. Academic Press. Page 547. ISBN 0123918839
  27. ^ Jao, Carren. "A brief look at Black American history told through 10 food traditions". www.abqjournal.com. Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  28. ^ "Origins of Soul Food". Suny Schenectady County Community College. Begley Library. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  29. ^ St. John, Warren (October 6, 2004). "Greens in Black and White". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  30. ^ Ferguson 1993, pp. 25-26.
  31. ^ 7 Soul Food Dessert Recipes You Have To Try
  32. ^ Dessert
  33. ^ "Soul Food Dessert Recipes - Taste Like Grandma's".
  34. ^ Smith Miles, Suzannah (22 December 2014). "Hoppin' John". www.charlestonmag.com. Charleston Magazine. Retrieved 20 May 2024.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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