Southern Foods deserve good southern ingredients. here are a few to try:

Country Ham and Red-Eyed Gravy

Ingredients
1 (9-pound) Smoked, Cured Country Ham, from To-Table,  then slice
2 tablespoons fat from the ham
1/2 cup coffee
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 beef bouillon cube (optional)

Grits:
Follow Instructions for Stone Ground Grits in our Recipe Blog 

Directions
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fat from the ham and render. When the fat is rendered, add the ham steaks and pan-fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove the ham from the pan and set aside on a plate and keep warm. To the pan, add the coffee and water and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the butter and the bouillon cube and stir to incorporate. Serve the gravy over the ham steaks on grits.

BUTTERMILK FRIED QUAIL

Ingredients

• 8 to 16 To-Table Quail, cut in half
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning, or 1/3 cup of mixed chopped fresh herbs like oregano, thyme and parsley
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 cups vegetable oil

Directions

1. Mix the buttermilk with the all the spices (except the salt). Coat the quail with the mixture and set in a covered container for as little as an hour, and as much as 8 hours.
2. When you are ready to fry, pour the oil into a large pan — a big cast iron frying pan or Dutch oven is ideal — and heat over medium-high heat. You want the oil to almost submerge the quail halves.
3. Meanwhile, take the quail out of the buttermilk and let it drain in a colander. Don’t shake off the buttermilk or anything, just leave it there.
4. Let the oil heat until it is about 325°F; this is the point where a sprinkle of flour will immediately sizzle. Do not let the oil smoke! When the oil is hot, pour the flour and salt into a plastic bag and shake to combine. Put a few quail into the bag and shake to get it coated in flour. NOTE: If you want your quail “extra crispy,” let the battered birds sit on a rack until the flour absorbs the moisture of the buttermilk coating. Then give them a second shake in the flour bag. You’ll get a much thicker, crunchier crust that way.
5. Fry for about 4 to 5 minutes. Fry gently — you want a steady sizzle, but nothing raging, and you definitely don’t want the quail to just sit in oil. You might need to adjust the heat a bit. Turn the quail over and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes. You will probably need to fry in batches, so just leave the unfried quail in the colander until you are ready to flour them up and fry them. Don’t let the floured pieces sit.
6. When the quail are good and fried, let them rest on a rack set over a paper towel to drain away any excess oil. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Classic Southern Tomato Pie

Ingredients

• 1 (10 inch) deep dish pie crust, partially baked
• 3 medium sized tomatoes, sliced (about 18 slices)
• Kosher salt
• 2 slices of To-Table's Pork Jowl bacon, (Get some of Smoking Gooses Sausages from To-Table to grill while you are at it!) cooked and crumbled, divided
• 1 small Vidalia or other sweet onion, quartered and sliced thin (about 1 cup)
• 3 cups of shredded mozzarella, divided
• Pinch of granulated sugar, optional
• Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• Garlic powder, to taste
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil
• 1 cup of regular mayonnaise (do not substitute low fat or fat free)
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/8 cup of chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Place the uncooked pie crust in a glass, deep dish pie pan, turning the edges under and 1/2 inch over the top of the pie plate to crimp; dock crust with a fork in several places. Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust is dry looking and just beginning to lightly brown. Set aside to cool completely.

Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with two layers of paper towels. Slice the tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick and lay them out on the paper towels to drain. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and cover with another layer of paper towels. Let tomatoes rest for 30 minutes while you prepare the bacon and onions. Cook the bacon fairly crisp, remove, set aside and saute the onions in the bacon drippings until tender, but not browned.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add half a cup of the mozzarella cheese to the bottom of the cooled pie crust. Knock excess seeds off of tomato slices and top cheese with half of the tomatoes. Sprinkle lightly with sugar if using, then season to taste with the black pepper and garlic powder. Add half of the basil, top with half of the onions, and half of the bacon. Sprinkle a half cup of the cheese on top. Repeat layers, except omit the last layer of cheese.

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, hot sauce, parsley and the remaining 2 cups of cheese; spread evenly over the top. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until bubbly and light golden brown on top. Shield edges of pie crust if it is browning too quickly. Let pie cool to room temperature before slicing, using a serrated knife. Best served warm, but also very good cold. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Tomato pie can be served as a main dish with a garden salad and a side of seasonal fruit, or as a side on a veggie plate, or along with any main dish protein such as pork, beef, chicken or seafood.

Southern Red Rice with Shrimp and Bacon

Ingredients

• 5 slices of Pork Jowl Bacon, chopped
• 1/2 cup of chopped onion
• 1/2 cup of chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup of chopped celery
• 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (10 ounce) can of diced tomatoes with chilies (like Rotel), undrained
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 2 cups of Carolina Gold Aromatic Rice
• 1-1/2 cups of chicken broth
• 1/2 tablespoon of Zatarain's Big & Zesty (big flake) Original Creole seasoning, or your favorite Cajun/Creole seasoning, or to taste
• Couple dashes of hot pepper sauce
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or to taste, plus more for garnish
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil
• Old Bay seasoning, to taste
• 2 pounds of Royal Red Shrimp
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Lemon wedges for the table, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use kitchen shears to cut bacon directly into a large Dutch oven and cook over medium high heat until slightly crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. To the rendered fat, add the onion, bell pepper and celery. Cook over medium heat until tender; add the garlic and cook another minute.

Stir in the tomatoes, with their liquid, and the sugar; bring to a boil. Add the rice and the chicken broth, return to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add the Creole seasoning, hot sauce, thyme and parsley, and the cooked bacon; stir. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper to taste. Stir, cover and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Remove from oven and let stand covered. Heat canola in a skillet over high heat. Sprinkle the shrimp with Old Bay, add to the hot oil and stir fry quickly, stirring constantly, just until shrimp turn pink and are no longer translucent. Add butter and toss. Fluff rice with a fork and toss with shrimp, or simply spoon red rice onto the plate and top each serving with a serving of shrimp, including some of the pan juices from the shrimp. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired and serve with lemon wedges.