The Memorial Day weekend is the symbolic start of summer. Liz Biro, our food writer, kicks off the season with a story about a staple of backyard barbecues, church reunions and fish fries.
Our Coast’s Food: Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry shortcake means different things to different people. A tender, split biscuit layered with sugar-macerated berries and fluffy whipped cream is recognized as the traditional version. But they come in many varieties.
Our Coast’s Food: Southern Workhorse
Our food writer Liz Biro takes a loving, personal look at the cast-iron frying pan, a mainstay of any Southern kitchen.
Our Coast’s Food: Cornmeal Dumplings
Cooks on the N.C. coast traditionally add cornmeal dumplings to collard greens but the tasty dollops can also be used to stretch seafood soups, stews and chowders, even when pinching pennies isn’t necessary.
Our Coast’s Food: Keeping It Local
Chef Kyle Lee McKnight helped launch a local foods movement in Wilmington and although he’s no longer working on the N.C. coast, the flavors, traditions and friends from this region still guide his choices.
Our Coast’s Food: Hoppin’ John
Tradition has it that eating black-eyed peas on Jan. 1 guarantees a prosperous new year but proper preparation is key with the dish known as “hoppin’ john.”
Our Coast’s Food: Lightning Rolls
Christmas is about five weeks away, but our food writer, Liz Biro, can already smell the yeast rolls, called “Loitin’ Rolls” along the Core Sound and the Outer Banks, baking in the oven.
Our Coast’s Food: Candied Yams
Candied yams is a favorite Southern dish but this noble, historically significant root deserves a more fitting crown than the familiar marshmallow goo.
Our Coast’s Food: Cornbread
Introduced to colonists by native Americans, cornbread, a simple staple that varies in preparation from region to region, continues to endure as it evolves.
Our Coast’s Food: Brunswick Stew
Recipes for this traditional, Southern coastal stew are sure to cause an argument. Is it chicken or pork, opossum or squirrel? Should it be thick or soupy?
Morehead City: A Little Taste of Heaven
The cookbook “A Little Piece of Heaven Since 1857” offers an engaging account of Morehead City’s history and culinary past.
Our Coast’s Food: Seafood Fritters
Various versions of Carolina seafood fritter recipes exist but the basic idea is an ages-old, delicious way to stretch portions and lure friends and family.
Our Coast’s Food: Layer Cakes
Our food writer Liz Biro pays homage to Linda Johnson, her culinary mentor, and to Miss Johnson’s signature dish: That delicious mound of gooey goodness known as the layer cake.
Our Coast’s Food: Collards
Snooty food encyclopedias may consider this Southern staple to be similar to kale. But Tar Heels know better. Stewed slowly with hamhocks and a dash or two of Tobasco…. well, “mmm, mmm, mmm,” as Bob Garner might say.
Our Coast’s Food: Fishermen’s Favorites
Tired of flounder and grilled mahi? Try the fish that fishermen and chefs prefer: bluefish, mackerel, sheepshead, mullet and croaker. We offer some recipes and cooking tips so you, too, can be an old salt.
Our Coast’s Food: Banana Pudding
Here’s a recipe for old-fashioned banana pudding. The soft, sweet custard full of banana flavor melts its typical Nilla Wafer crust as quickly as it does Southerners’ hearts.
