8 Southern Foods That Are Better Homemade Than At A Restaurant

Some meals are simply higher at a restaurant. Take, as an example, the precise delight of a dine-in cheeseburger, sliced in half with a serrated knife. Although I would attempt my hand at Smashburgers each every so often, there’s one thing a few burger I did not make myself—paired with sizzling, crisp french fries, in fact—that can not be replicated at dwelling. I’m happiest consuming out at a restaurant after I know I may by no means replicate the identical expertise at dwelling.

However in the case of different dishes, I do know higher than to even take into consideration ordering them. That is as a result of some Southern home-cooked favorites are higher left un-complicated, and even higher, made by Grandma herself.

Cornbread

Restaurant cornbread is often not made in a cast-iron skillet, and that is sensible—they have to make cornbread in bigger portions, for which a skillet merely does not make sense. Sadly, that is a giant no-no for Southerners throughout the board.

As a substitute, we might desire to make our personal at dwelling. Cornbread is a type of Southern meals gadgets for which everybody has their very own particular style and choice, anyway.

“I am not a candy cornbread particular person, and I additionally do not love the type with kernels in it. I am a skillet cornbread with an excellent crust and grit type of lady via and thru,” says Affiliate Properties Editor Cameron Beall, “and I do not assume I’ve ever had a restaurant cornbread I appreciated greater than my dad’s!”

Deviled Eggs

A very good deviled egg is a Southern host’s secret weapon: wherever you set the plate of deviled eggs is the place the folks will probably be. Gathering and chatting and going again for extra—that is an expertise that may’t be replicated in a restaurant, the place everyone seems to be seated and correct. Plus, one of the best deviled eggs are easy and particular, and all the time have one thing to supply concerning the host, their style (is there candy relish or tangy dill?) and what they prefer to share.

Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheeses from eating places danger considered one of two issues: sogginess if the bread is simply too mushy, or wreaking havoc in your exhausting palate if the bread is simply too crusty and exhausting. Enter the do-it-yourself grilled cheese, which by no means appears to disappoint.

Plus, Southern grilled cheese makers know that mayo works even higher than butter to attain a superbly golden exterior—and Grandma would possibly even throw in simply sufficient of one thing additional, like Worcestershire sauce, to make it sing.

Cobbler

A part of the allure of fruit cobbler is its rugged look and uncomplicated recipe. I’ve seen that many eating places attempt to fancify this comparatively uncomplicated recipe. Irrespective of how tasty it’s at a restaurant, the expertise of consuming a cobbler in a proper setting all the time falls quick to the candy reminiscence of creating one thing really easy to a grand consequence.

One of many first issues I discovered how you can bake was blackberry cobbler, as a result of it was really easy {that a} child may do it: I picked ripe blackberries from the vine that grew within the hedges of the backwoods, and my mother taught me how you can combine a batter of butter, milk, sugar, and self-rising flour to pour overtop. There are additionally loads of recipes with even simpler batter mixtures, like our Bisquick Blackberry Cobbler.

Mashed Potatoes

“Nothing like mashed potatoes once you’re feeling blue,” wrote Nora Ephron within the play, Heartburn. “Nothing like entering into mattress with a bowl of sizzling mashed potatoes already loaded with butter, and methodically including a skinny chilly slice of butter to each forkful.”

The rationale mashed potatoes are higher do-it-yourself is straightforward: You merely cannot be in two locations without delay, and he or she’s proper. The perfect place to eat mashed potatoes is in mattress.

Tomato Pie

Eating places might attempt to serve tomato pie, however the odds are stacked towards them for fulfillment. That is as a result of it is virtually not possible to serve enticing slices of tomato pie with out messing up the recipe. To protect the “slice” look, eating places usually sacrifice the ratios of substances—and due to this fact the flavors.

“I’ve but to have one at a restaurant that hits all of the ratios for me with crust, cheese kind and amount, onion, and tomato,” says Beall. “The onion is so vital for that slight crunch texture amidst all of the creamy and tacky tomato goodness, and I really feel it’s usually neglected.”

Banana Pudding

Whether or not it is made with Jell-O pudding combine or a standard custard base, the proper steadiness of jelly-like bounce and creaminess in a correct Southern Banana Pudding is hard to strike. The Nilla wafers ought to dissolve like tiramisu ladyfingers into the pudding, custard-like and clean. The chance of exhausting Nilla wafers or completely soggy ones is simply too nice to justify ordering it at any restaurant, willy nilly.

Pimiento Cheese

“Eating places cost an excessive amount of for pimiento cheese, and it’s horrible 99 % of the [restaurants] I’ve been,” says Affiliate Meals Editor Alana Al-Hatlani. “Catherine Jessee’s mother makes one of the best pimiento cheese within the South. It’s simply one of the best I’ve had. It’s as a result of it didn’t have an excessive amount of might. Not solely that, however an absurd quantity of cheese, which is the correct method to do it.”

I requested my mother about her recipe, and he or she stated it was, actually, a Southern Living recipe! The trick up our sleeve: a mixture of sharp Cheddar and extra-sharp Cheddar. The trick up my mother’s sleeve: grating the cheese on each the effective and enormous holes of the cheese grater. She admits that she provides somewhat extra of “this and that” to make it her personal, too. I might take it over restaurant pimiento cheese any day.