Southern

A mild buttermilk tang offsets the sweetness of this caramel-colored custard pie.

Begin marinating the steaks a day ahead.

This combination of black and green olives, onion and garlic is a rendition of the relish served on the classic New Orleans sandwich called muffuletta from the Palladio restaurant in the Hyatt Regency in Rochester, New York.

This recipe was created to accompany Gumbo Z'herbes with Red Beans , Shrimp, Crab, and Oyster Gumbo , Chicken, Sausage, and Okra Gumbo , and Beef Filé Gumbo . Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A low-fat sausage will work here, though it will not produce as flavorful a gumbo.

At Clark's Outpost Barbecue in Tioga, Texas, Warren Clark uses St. Louis-style pork ribs (slabs of ribs that have been trimmed to uniform size) and prepares them in a smoker. To make this recipe easier, we call for the more readily available baby back ribs and suggest a combination of baking and grilling for equally delicious results.

Also try this with scrambled eggs, omelets or a big bowl of chili.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Although we call for canned black-eyed peas, you can use frozen peas or cook up a batch of dried ones.

An updated southern side dish.

These are based on the wonderful pecan pralines of noted cookbook author and columnist Marion Cunningham.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

All Southern cooks have their own ways of making gumbo. Our recipe contains neither okra nor filé powder, producing a thinner, lighter gumbo.

If you can't find one type of the greens for this recipe, you can either increase the other two kinds proportionally or substitute kale and/or chard.

Ambrosia is fruit dessert that is also a salad. We Southerners always add it to Thanksgiving and Christmas menus to allow us to have the illusion that we're not in too much trouble with our diets, because after all, "We only had ambrosia for dessert!" The better the oranges in it, the better it is. Splurge and get flavor-filled navel oranges if you can. In any case, seedless oranges are a must. If there are going to be children at the meal, you can add maraschino cherries—sans stems. My mother always did, perhaps because one of my treasured memories from childhood was when my father took me to the men's club and ordered me a Shirley Temple with a maraschino cherry. I ate nearly a whole bottle, thanks to the indulgent waiter.