February 2016 Recipes

Recipe: Molded Cranberry Salad

We'll admit it: We wouldn't want to revisit many of the congealed salads we published in the sixties, but rediscovering this jewel of a recipe was like finding a timeless dress at a vintage store.

Recipe: Brennan's Bananas Foster

Flambéed desserts were a must-have tableside sensation both at restaurants and at home. This recipe we ran from Brennan's in New Orleans is just as delicious as it was when they invented it more than 60 years ago.

Recipe: Beef Burgundy Stew

The Vice President for the Southern division of Sears, Roebuck, and Co. sent us this recipe after a trip to France.

Recipe: Cheese Snappy Wafers

Southern hostesses have long relied on cheese wafers to keep their party guests satiated, and with just six ingredients, this is any hostesses dream appetizer to prepare. Held together by sharp cheddar cheese, rice cereal, butter, and flour, this recipe will be a crowd pleaser simply because of its simplicity and deliciously crunchy texture. This appetizer can be prepared in twenty minutes and baked in another fifteen, so little prep time and clean up are required. The measurements in the recipe also make nearly three-dozen wafers, which is plenty for guests if they want to enjoy seconds. We have a feeling that once this appetizer hits your table at your next party, guest will be asking for more in just a matter of seconds!

Recipe: Hummingbird Cake

Thanks to Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina, this pineapple-banana spice cake with cream cheese frosting became one of our most requested recipes. We still stand by Mrs. Wiggins' original, indulgent creation.

Recipe: Cocktail Meatballs

Cocktail meatballs hold a special place in the canon of Southern party appetizers, in part because they are a study in ground-beef perfection and simplicity. While we love the ones our mamas made with chili sauce and grape jelly, this recipe is the one we still pull out for company. This recipe mixes ground beef with the sweet, the tart, and the unexpected: brown sugar, lemon juice, and horseradish, to make a cocktail-fork temptation that should grace every Southern party table or tray.  So grab a bottle of wine—for the recipe—get ready to party, and enjoy making these delicious cocktail meatballs.

Recipe: Quiche Lorraine

Fast and fancy, a quiche was featured in nearly every issue of the seventies, but none was more popular than Quiche Lorraine. Our favorite version, of course, uses bacon.

Recipe: Chicken with Cashews

Our Test Kitchen staffers declared that this Chinese-inspired recipe from 1979 beats any take-out meal.

Recipe: Chicken-Spaghetti Casserole

Casseroles are where you can see Southern ingenuity at its best, and the eighties had no shortage of inventive ideas. This particular vintage Southern standard gives us all the warm and fuzzy memories we crave for family gatherings and neighborhood potlucks. This recipe has you preparing the whole chicken at home in a Dutch oven for versatility – its thick walls and tight-fitting lid can easily go between a hot stovetop to a broiling oven. After simmering the chicken in the Dutch oven, you’ll have tender meat and a healthy homemade chicken broth. Cooking the spaghetti in the chicken broth for even stronger, more savory flavor.

Recipe: Lean Lasagna

Our favorite recipe from the Cooking Light column, this lightened-up lasagna tastes every bit as flavorful as the traditional version.

Recipe: Freezer Coleslaw

Freezer coleslaws repeated throughout our eighties issues, and we can see why. This sweet and tangy slaw is perfect for pulled pork and hot dogs. Plus, it stays cold and crunchy longer.

Recipe: Chewy Peanut Bars

We weren't exactly excited to test our old microwave column recipes again, but these chocolate-peanut blondies truly surprised us. If you want even more peanut delight in your life, try our easy peanut butter cookies, too. 

Recipe: Tex-Mex Deviled Eggs

One of the South's most iconic appetizers fuses with the nineties' obsession with Tex-Mex to create a twist on this beloved party appetizer. Traditional ingredients such as mayonnaise and mustard still garnish the dish, but ingredients reminiscent of Tex-Mex such as cilantro, jalapeño, and chili powder infuse the dish with plenty of the Tex-Mex flavor that guests will immediately recognize. Guests will love this variation on the Southern classic, making it a new dinner party, picnic, tailgate, or cookout favorite. Many reviewers say this is a party hit and there are never any left, so be sure to make extra!

Recipe: Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Look no further for the perfect pound cake recipe. This traditional cake is extra-rich because of the cream cheese and always in style.

Recipe: Late-Night Pasta Chez Frank

Our Test Kitchen Director Robby Melvin still loves to prepare this fresh and easy pasta dish from his mentor, Birmingham chef Frank Stitt. 

Recipe: Tee's Corn Pudding 

Corn pudding may seem like a simple side dish, but you might be surprised to learn it is a reader favorite. This is a dish that we recommend you always have on your Thanksgiving table. We describe Tee’s Corn Pudding as our ultimate creamed corn: this in-demand recipe has run in our magazine more than 10 times after its debut in 1995. To run so often, and to seem so simple, it obviously is a recipe for corn pudding that is rich and delicious. If you’d like to dress the dish up a little, it is even more amazing with chopped fresh chives added on top.

Sweet tea has become an iconic Southern flavor for pound cakes, ice cream, and even fried chicken. In this recipe, we brined pieces of chicken in the elixir before grilling to impart subtle sweetness and moisture.

Recipe: Sweet Tea-Brined Chicken

Recipe: Ham-and-Greens Pot Pie with Cornbread Crust

From bacon to carnitas to BBQ, pork has hit prime time nationally. This recipe featuring ham and the Southern staples greens and cornbread continues to be a go-to dinner for our food editors.

Recipe: Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie

The new appreciation for whiskey goes beyond drinking and finds its way into sauces, braises, and especially desserts. Now bourbon and pecan pie fit togther like peanut butter and jelly or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. 

Recipe: Gulf Coast Seafood Stew

Hurricane Katrina and a subsequent oil spill off the coast of Louisiana renewed appreciation for our region's seafood. This stew shows off its incomparable flavors, colors, and beauty. 

Recipe: The Lane Cake

In March 1966, Southern Living featured a recipe for Lane Cake in its second issue. Our latest twist? Dried peaches (finely diced and ridiculously delicious) stand in for raisins, and the traditional meringue frosting gets a spirited makeover with a triple shot of peach schnapps.

Recipe: The Lemon Cheese Layer Cake

Expecting a twist on cheesecake? You're in for an even sweeter surprise. These layers are filled with a buttery rich lemon curd instead.

Recipe: The Red Velvet Cake

In 1989, an armadillo-shaped groom's cake in Steel Magnolias kicked off a cult following for red velvet. The craze has continued, fueled in part by the red velvet cakes that have graced the Southern Living Christmas cover three times.

Recipe: The Jam Cake

The origins of jam cake lie deep in Appalachia where store-bought sugar was once scarce. Cakes were often sweetened with homemade jams, filled with wild berries and mountain fruits. The payoff for the genius swap? Rich, dense cake layers with a depth of flavor sugar alone can't deliver.

Recipe: The Coconut Chiffon Cake

White as a Sunday glove, coconut is the doyenne of Southern layer cakes, a masterpiece of home cookery that has crowned dining room sideboards for more than a hundred years.

Of all the sweets Dolester Miles makes, this lemon dessert is her favorite. The marriage of a classic French tart and a Southern icebox pie, it showcases sweet and tangy lemon curd atop a cookie-like crust, all piled high with Swiss meringue.

Recipe: Lemon Meringue Tart

Recipe: Buttermilk Spoonbread with Spaghetti Squash

Inspired by her grandmother's cornbread dressing and her mother's resourcefulness, Christensen added spaghetti squash to cornbread to create this custardy side. "My mom could make a meal out of an empty pantry, and that inspires me to look at ingredients in new ways." 

This chicken dish, infused with the curry flavor of garam masala, coriander, and turmeric, originated in the port city of Savannah, the result of the spice trade and a naval captain's memories of India. Asha Gomez's Country Captain demonstrates the interconnectedness of southern India and Atlanta—her two Souths.

Recipe: Country Captain

Recipe: Refrigerator Soup

Sarah Gavigan learned this hearty soup from her Sicilian-born grandmother, who would often visit from Florida for a week at a time and who, Gavigan says, "filled the kitchen with magic." Nonna made use of whatever scraps were on hand in their middle Tennessee home, from collards and lima beans to a Parmesan rind, and insisted it was all "about the touch." Any winter greens work great, and you can use any type of bean.

Recipe: Blackberry-and-Bourbon Cobbler

Every weekend, especially during summer, the Fields family would make their version of cobbler, a cake-y mix of milk, sugar, and self-rising flour poured over fruit. Kelly says sometimes her mom would get "feisty" and add in amaretto. Here, Kelly plays to her own preferences with a bit of bourbon.