A Southern Cook's Top
Pantry Staples by Allyson Mattingly
BBQ Sauce If there's one thing Kentuckians know, it's barbeque. A perfectly tangy BBQ sauce helps take your 'cue to the next level and leaves your guests with a finger-lickin' experience. You can purchase delicious BBQ sauces at local businesses around Lexington, like Red State BBQ, The Mousetrap, and J Render's Southern Table & Bar. If you would rather make your own BBQ sauce like a true southern belle, try making a traditional Western Kentucky mutton barbeque sauce. Being from Western Kentucky, mutton is a staple of barbeque. If you haven't tried it, I promise you're missing out.
Spices Though you don't need to stock your spice cabinet with every seasoning known to man, you do need a few basics to spice things up. We recommend going with what you like first and foremost - don't like cumin? Don't use it! Starting with the basics – garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper
flakes, dried herbs, chili powder – allows you to figure out what you like and how to use spices in different recipes. You can even make your own specialty mixture once you figure out what you like to use on poultry, seafood, or red meat.
Pecans Because you never know when you're going to have to whip up a pecan pie for unexpected guests! My family has a pecan pie (actually a few) at every holiday, as I'm sure most families in the south do. Pecans are sweet and buttery, making them a perfect option for desserts - yes, desserts is plural! From turtles to shortbread, brownies to Puppy Chow, pecans belong on your table all year long.
Buttermilk To call buttermilk an essential for southern cooking is an understatement. Use the carton that's been sitting in your fridge to make buttermilk waffles for the family, fried okra,
TOPSinLex.com | January 2022
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