Our food writer Liz Biro takes a loving, personal look at the cast-iron frying pan, a mainstay of any Southern kitchen.
food
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: 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?
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: 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.
Our Coast’s Food: Classic Pimento Cheese
Or “pamena” cheese, as true Southerners might say. The recipe has gotten downright uppity at some restaurants, but this one is a true N.C. classic.
Our Coast’s Food: Muscadines
Clerks at snooty wine shops may turn up their noses at the notion, but our food writer celebrates North Carolina’s native grape.
Our Coast’s Food: Dining Over the Century
Dining culture at Wrightsville Beach wasn’t always flip flops and ice-cold white wine. Our food columnist tells how it’s changed over the last 100 years.
Our Coast’s Food: Southern Biscuits
A warm biscuit, golden buttery around a soft center, shaped by a loving cook’s hand, remains a much-desired serving of tenderhearted Southern hospitality.
Our Coast’s Food: We All Scream for … Oyster Ice Cream?
We like our oysters any way we can get them — steamed, fried, baked, in soups and stews or just pried open and dotted with Tabasco. But we were surprised to learn that an ice-cream maker in Wilmington turns our favorite bivalve into a creamy concoction. With sprinkles, we hope.
Our Coast’s Food: Chicken of the Sea
The spring arrival of northern puffers is the first sign of a new fishing season. Many throw the ugly “blow toads” back in the water. No, they’re not poisonous and, yes, they are delicious.