By Tim A. Rutherford
Coastal Parent

Editor's Note: this is the first installment of a monthly column on Southern food, food people and food places.

First off, there's some 'splainin' to do.

"Bubba, Let's Eat," is gonna be about just that - eatin'.

And, as the name might suggest, it's gonna be about eatin' Southern style. Notice I said "Southern style." While that certainly includes the Southern staples, it also embraces the style - hearty quantities, good flavor and healthy doses of comfort foods.

As for the Bubba part, you might be a Bubba if you drive an hour out of your way for good barbecue. After all, that's how any good Bubba spells relief: B-A-R-B-Q.

Eatin' Bubbas are men or the ladies, New Yorkers or Georgians. Bubbas are generally NOT vegetarians.

It's a lifestyle choice. Resulting in Bubbas traditionally being scoffed at by the established "food press." We enjoy fried foods, we shun heavy sauces that disguise flavor and dodge anything that resembles haute cuisine. We usually don't follow diet programs, although that Atkins fella just about hit on the perfect Bubba diet - one rich in protein.

Now, as any Bubba will tell you, protein means meat - and that forms the foundation of the Bubba food pyramid. If you're not a Bubba and wanna get on board, read on, we'll tip you off to Bubba-friendly eateries and share recipes that'll expand your own Bubba repertoire.

Which brings us back to comfort foods. You know, like your grandma used to make.

For me, it was my Granny White's baking powder biscuits. She kept a wash pan filled with flour under the kitchen counter and every morning of her life, she rose early, started the coffee and set to work making biscuits.

She'd scoop out a couple cups of flour, hollow out the center of the pan full of flour, then sift together her flour, salt and baking powder back into the hollow. She'd dig her hand into that old lard tin and toss in a generous chunk, then attack it, squeezing the shortening down in little batches until the whole mess was cornmeal-like. This is what those TV cooks call "cutting in the flour."

Then she'd add the milk, right there in the wash pan. She'd stir it all together until the dough formed a ball, magically picking up just enough flour from the sides of the hollow to bring the flour to the right texture.

That ball would get lifted out, the wash pan stored and the dough ball kneaded on the flour-covered counter, then patted out and cut. She'd bake the biscuits to golden brown perfection. You gotta be careful - bake too long and these little biscuits will go puck on you.

These ARE NOT your cakey, fast food biscuits, these are rib-sticking, pack 'em-in-your-lunch-bucket-Bubba biscuits that are as good cold at bedtime as they are hot, slathered in butter and dripping clover honey.

Or, my favorite, swimming in a puddle of milk gravy - savory with drippings from smoky bacon and spiced up with a liberal shot of fresh ground black pepper.

Man, that's a Bubba breakfast.


Granny White's Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 450.

Grease an 8-inch square baking pan or small baking sheet.

Dump your flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the vegetable shortening (I use regular Crisco) and coat with the flour. Break the chunk into 5 or 6 smaller chunks and start rubbing the flour and shortening together with your fingers, letting the mixture fall back into the bowl. When the mixture looks like lumpy sawdust, you have mixed enough.

Add the milk all at once and stir to moisten all the flour and shortening. Dust a surface with flour, turn the dough onto the surface and knead the dough 10 times. Pat the dough into a circle about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut the biscuits with a two-inch cookie cutter (I use an old Pet Milk can top), place on the pan with a little space between the biscuits.

Bake 15-18 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.


Milk Gravy

Guests used to stand in the kitchen of my bed and breakfast (a previous life) and whine, "I can't make gravy." Sure they can, and you can too. Never stop stirring, don't get distracted and treat it gently. Here's all you need to know:

1/4 cup bacon drippings
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk

Over medium high heat, add the drippings (I don't use sausage, it sometimes causes a bitter flavor I simply don't like) to a pre-heated cast-iron skillet, bring it to temperature, then add the flour. Stir continually; I like to use a slotted spatula 'cause it keeps me in constant contact with the skillet bottom. I also use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. I can't vouch for your results with a non-stick surface, a very un-Bubba cookware choice. When this mixture has reached a light, nutty brown color, dump in your milk and never, ever stop stirring - that's the secret to good gravy. Slowly increase the heat while stirring and add salt to taste and plenty of black pepper. As the temperature rises, the lumps will start to dissolve - if you don't stop stirring. When the heat hits high, you're about done. Keep stirring until the texture is almost as thick as you want it. Quickly remove from heat, pour into a serving bowl and serve immediately over your baking powder biscuits.


Want a richer biscuit recipe? E-mail bubbaletseat@yahoo.com and ask for my cream biscuit recipe. I'm always looking for excellent barbecue, outstanding pie and Bubba-kinda eats for future columns, e-mail your ideas to bubbaletseat@yahoo.com