174 southern recipes

Reduced-sugar oatmeal cake with rolled oats, raisins, molasses, and warming cinnamon and nutmeg. Egg whites and a sugar substitute keep things lean. The lighter take on a Southern church-supper classic.

Three-layer carrot cake baked low and slow with grated carrots, chopped nuts, and cinnamon, topped with a thick cream cheese icing. A Southern-style classic that never goes out of style.

A tall, buttery Southern pound cake loaded with two cups of chopped pecans, enriched with sour cream, and lightened with folded egg whites. Baked in a tube pan until golden, this is the cake that anchors every church potluck and family reunion.

Black-eyed peas and barley: a healthy one-dish casserole with onions, celery, pearl barley, and bay-thyme-rosemary herbs. Vegetarian and high-fiber, Southern-inspired and ready in just over an hour.

Kentucky bourbon cake with raisins soaked in whiskey, toasted pecans, and a bourbon brush after baking. A make-ahead Southern Bundt that gets better as it ages, wrapped in a bourbon-soaked cheesecloth.

Kentucky pecan cake with applesauce, cinnamon, and a full cup of chopped pecans, lightened with whipped egg whites and baked in a tube pan. A dense, spiced Southern cake dusted with powdered sugar.

Southern jam cake with blackberry jam, buttermilk, raisins, and pecans baked low and slow in three spiced layers. Topped with a boiled cream frosting that drips down the sides just like it should.

Jezebel sauce is the Southern sweet-and-fiery condiment that stirs together fruit preserves, marmalade, dry mustard, and horseradish in 10 minutes flat. Pour it over cream cheese with crackers or serve it alongside baked ham.

Louisiana-style rice and oyster dressing with chicken livers, the Holy Trinity of onion, celery, and bell pepper, plus Worcestershire and cayenne. A Southern Thanksgiving dressing that goes beside the bird, not inside it.

Chocolate sheet cake (Texas sheet cake) with hot cocoa-buttermilk batter and a poured cocoa-buttermilk icing finished while the cake is still hot. The Southern church-supper crowd-feeder cut into 24 squares.

Linguine with seafood, a southern Italian classic with shrimp, scallops, and mussels in a chili-spiked tomato sauce brightened with white wine, lemon zest, and fresh basil. The pasta night that drinks like dinner out.

This is the basic recipe for cooking lentils or beans. Many southern and southwestern regional recipes call for cooked lentils or beans to be stirred gently into a dish near the end of cooking. Therefore, it may be a good idea ot make them a day ahead and have them ready when you begin the actual cooking.

Mississippi mud bars layer fudgy pecan-studded brownies under a glossy chocolate frosting and another shower of toasted pecans. Cut into small bars, they yield over four dozen from one 9x13 pan. Southern bake-sale royalty.

Hummingbird cake stacks three layers of banana-pineapple-pecan cake under tangy cream cheese frosting. Southern church-supper royalty, no mixer required, just stir and pour. The crumb stays moist for days thanks to fruit and oil.