Southern Cooking with Chef Skylar Bush

Skylar Bush in the kitchen of our Southern Cooking Class in March.

“Preachin’ to the choir” is about the only colloquialism that comes to mind when you think of teaching a southern cooking class in… the south.  But, just as accents change dramatically across the region, so do cooking styles and techniques. I grew up in Alabama and we will always lay claim to the throne of the best cooking around (even if it’s not true). Though, no matter how you were taught to make a biscuit or braise some greens, all southern cooking has roots in three simple principles: use what you have, give honor to the process, and don’t serve anything your grandmother wouldn’t like.

Food in the south was historically cooked with intentional necessity. Long days in the field called for hearty meals and substantial flavors that replenished the body and rejuvenated the soul. One-pot dishes, stews, braises - all of these methods were the original representation of multi-tasking, allowing you to get something cooking in the morning, go back to work, and feed your family when the day was done. Pickling, canning, curing, and utilizing every ounce of a product wasn’t a lesson in carbon footprint per se, but more a practice in frugality and respecting what you put time and effort into.

True southern cooking also holds an air of mysticism. Zora Neale Hurston says that “Folklore is the boiled down juice, or pot likker of human living.” Southern cooking has always lived in the land of folklore for me. I have learned that no matter how hard I try, Grandma’s food is always better. It’s akin to a really good blues player. The lived experience bleeds onto the plate just as it pours out of the guitarist’s hands with conviction and power. I’ve watched her make biscuits at least 300 times and to this day, even with her handwritten recipe by my side, hers would undoubtedly come out better, rest her soul. 

Nevertheless, for our Southern Cooking Class this past spring, we tried to de-mystify the topic and focused on a simple country meal of chow chow, braised greens, pinto beans, and homemade biscuits (with two types of gravy). These dishes highlight techniques that haven’t changed in generations, yet many of us don’t know (or at least haven’t practiced). Food that is of the field and pantry, and humble, yet true and of the season. We hope you enjoy these recipes and share them with your family.