I think many of the recipes we consider "iconic" were adaptions from Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique and other West African or Caribbean Island countries and were brought here by the slaves. You find similar dishes throughout former slave holding states...especially SC, GA and LA. We have simply claimed them as our own, each with our own little twist.
I'm just glad stewed possum or fried squirrel never caught on.
Sorry, I specifically suggested mustard-based BBQ as our iconic dish, which is what she ended up choosing for the list. Actually, I suggested the sauce. Though not technically a "dish," the sauce (or I guess even lack thereof) is what tends to separate all barbecue in the end. No question that mustard-based BBQ is iconic to SC. And I, of course, was going to offer a BBQ option, given that that is the niche that I cover. So, it either was going to be hash and rice or mustard BBQ. That said, there are several other non-BBQ dishes worth considering. Shrimp and grits jumped to my mind, as did chicken bog/perlou.
Agreed. It has been a staple in my home since I was a kid growing up in Cheraw.
Don't see how this is iconic to SC. I love oysters, but...
Having grown up in the Pee Dee, I will always think of vinegar-based as the one true BBQ, but I don't think it is iconic to SC. NC, definitely, but not us. Without question, SC is known for mustard-based. For that same reason, I have also always called it chicken bog. I think perlou/perloo/purlieu/etc. is more of a G'town/Lowcounty name for what is essentially the same dish. Some argue that perlou is dryer than bog, which by name implies a wetter final product, but I don't see any real difference.
I know you would! Yeah, it would definitely have been a good choice. I guess I wonder how "Iconic" is defined. By how outsiders see what the state has contributed to the culinary scene or how natives feel about their local dishes? My original thinking was the former. By that logic, hash doesn't qualify as iconic because virtually no one has heard of it beyond our borders. Same could be argued for bog. Mustard BBQ sauce has a much more widespread awareness, I believe anyway.
I know someone who has Ray's hash and sauce recipes (or at least he claims to), but he hasn't (yet) offered to share it with me. I am currently putting together the second edition of my SC BBQ cookbook and would really like to preserve it there for posterity. Lever's is an important name in SC BBQ. Before Ray, a man named EB Lever built a reputation for his hash and BBQ. Ironically, I have his recipes which a very generous reader sent me.
As a native Sandlapper and a resident of Charleston since the mid-1980s, I am embarrassed to admit I had no idea she-crab soup was invented in Charleston. It was created by William Deas, butler to Mayor Rhett, for a visit from President Taft. That said, if it were the state's "Iconic" dish, wouldn't that be more widely known?
I prefer brisket, myself. There's a place in Monroe that has brisket tacos that are fabulous.
Not to mention beef ribs. Beef ribs blow any pork rib out the water.
Hominy is much bigger in your mountain communities of the Appalachian South...TN, VA, KY..being from Greer, we did not eat hominy....grits we did....they are not the same thing....
Both of my Grannies called it macaroni pie or cheese pie. Either way, it was delicious!
Grits and hominy are not the same thing. Being from Honea Path, I’ve eaten hominy in many a meal. I always liked it, but haven’t eaten any in quite a while.
I grew up in Laurens County a long time ago and I remember as well the catfish stew that the Pitts boys brewed in the black iron pot behind their Texaco service station. I think that they fortified it with goat.
I'll take my chicken stew, tomato no milk, over catfish anyday but thats just me.
www.thesmokepitonline.com
I'm with you on the shrimp and grits. I grew up in SC. Grandmother lived in Myrtle Beach and have eaten at Lee's Inlet Kitchen since about 1955 and never saw shrimp and grits until the 90's.
