Cooking Techniques
Deep fat frying was originally used to preserve chicken or beef (Holloway). Throughout the South, and particularly in South Carolina and Mississipi, the technique of frying food was observed. Dorothy Dickins, a nutrition advocate of the 20th century, pointed out in a 1928 study some of the traditions. Both black and white coastal farmers consumed pork in multiple forms. This included using the fat to cook ham, shoulder and side meat for salt pork and bacon. Fish accompanied greasy vegetables. Distinct to African Americans during the 1920’s were green beans boiled with fat pork, cabbage with fat, and hominy with fat meat gravy in both states (Opie). Fat came from animals and vegetables. "Deep-frying with vegetable oil is an ancient cooking tradition in West Africa that enslaved women likely introduced to plantation societies," (Carney). Hushpuppies are another dish in South Carolina that implemented deep-frying.
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A variety of vegetables played a major role from the beginnings of slavery and carried over into later generations in the South. Examples of vegetables, paired with a variety of textures and depth of flavors, included pickled beets, green tomatoes for relish, and pepper. A single meal could have staples such as fried okra, corn, butter beans, sweet potatoes, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, and coleslaw (Neal).
More specific than vegetables, it is important to single out the prevalence of greens, a “signature ingredient of the foldaways of Africa and the diaspora,” (Carney). From sub-Saharan Africa, greens such as mustard greens and leaves of African eggplant traveled across the Atlantic. Using what they knew from back home and what they could get their hands on in America, slaves used greens in salads, sides and one-pot dishes. These greens were essential for incorporating vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients into the diet. Traditions carried over, including using leaves of sesame, okra, and hibiscus as thickening agents, such as for stews (Carney).
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Another technique was assembling elaborate boxed lunches, originally known as shoe box lunches (Opie). At a time when many blacks in the South would be turned away from restaurants and refused service at establishments, mothers and wives would send their loved ones off with full home-prepared meals. They didn’t necessarily know the next time they could be served food, so shoe boxes were stuffed with “cold sandwiches”, bread and butter, oranges, maybe a piece of cake among other staples (Opie). Powell, who became a preacher in Harlem, at the turn of the century, said, “This tradition was present [before the 70’s and 80’s] for any travel, even if the train ride was only a few hours long,” (Opie). Necessity, once again became tradition, and many families continued to cook food to take on trips (Soul Food Junkies).
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