| Southern cooking is totally about how you add spices | | | | that" may not be enough spice for your dish, just |
| and seasonings to your food. When I say spices, I don't | | | | always remember to add spices according to your |
| mean hot and spicy, I simply mean how you use | | | | taste and what compliments the dish you're preparing. |
| cooking spices to bring out the traditional flavors in your | | | | Any one who makes southern and soul food know |
| dishes. This method of southern cooking really started | | | | that recipes are only a base for you to start with. The |
| when the African American slaves prepared their food | | | | amount of seasonings and cooking spices a recipe call |
| many years ago. They used terms such as "a dash of | | | | for, may be more or less to your taste. What's |
| this" and "a punch of that" in referring to cooking spices | | | | important about this method is that you control the |
| and seasonings for their food. | | | | amount of spice that you use. Only you can determine |
| Why were these terms used? | | | | the amount of seasonings to add for a particular |
| These terms were used because back then there | | | | recipe. |
| were no measuring devices, cookbooks, or cooking | | | | Because the base of southern cooking is spices, you |
| classes to learn from; they had to second guess their | | | | will find cooking terms, "a dash of this" and "a pinch of |
| measurements and they only had each other to rely | | | | that" throughout my new cookbook, Soul Food Lovers' |
| on to remember main ingredients. So they created | | | | . The recipes in the cookbook also allow you to use |
| terms that were easy for them to season their food. | | | | your judgment when adding spices to your food. |
| They also developed ways to know when their baked | | | | Today, many southerners still cook without a recipe, |
| food was done by saying " bake until golden brown." | | | | just by remembering main ingredients and adding |
| Today, this method of cooking is still popular in many | | | | seasonings to their taste. So, go ahead, add "a dash of |
| southern kitchens. | | | | this" and "a pinch of that" to bring out the true flavors |
| Sometimes adding "a dash of this" and "a pinch of | | | | of your southern recipes. |