the cookout vs. the bbq

have you ever been to a cookout? if you don't live in the south you probably haven't because you have been going to barbeques (or bbqs) your whole life. if you live in the south most likely you have been to both. there is a big difference between the two, that many people outside of the south just don't get. see, a cookout is when you have your family or friends over and grill out burgers and other meats, but not a pig. when you have a bbq in the south, there is a huge grill/smoker with a big, fat, pig slowly cooking on it. this is the big difference. oh, and then there is also a bbq sandwich (pulled pork) which you can eat whenever you want, not necessarily at a bbq. i won't even get into the different between eastern and western nc bbq (even though i of course do know the difference and besides this is a veggie blog).

i was so confused a few times when i first moved to san francisco. i heard that the bottom of the hill has bbqs every sunday with bands. i thought "wow, they actually cook a whole pig in san francisco of all places." nope, i soon found out - they call what should be a cookout a bbq or barbeque. that is when i realized that most of the country just doesn't get the distinction that is made in the southeast. and actually i am not really sure if this distinction is made all over the southeast, i just know that from durham to southeastern nc, expect a pig to be the focal point if you are invited to a bbq and expect burgers, hot dogs, chicken, etc. if you are invited to a cookout. of course you can expect delicious sides at both events.

with all of this said, last sunday, geoffrey and i hosted a "cookout, not a bbq" for our friends. we had a good turn out and i tried really hard to make some good southern sides. i made some potato salad, the way my mom does, except i added some dill. i made some coleslaw almost exactly the way my dad makes it which is actually the kind of coleslaw you would usually eat with fried fish (catfish or flounder most likely), on hot dogs, or with bbq (the pulled pork plate or sandwich i mean). i also made some really good fried okra.

fresh fried okra
cut up a pound of okra into bit size pieces.
beat two eggs (and half a cup of buttermilk if you want to be extreme).
soak the okra in the egg mixture for 5-10 minutes. start heating up your oil while the okra is soaking. i recommend using a cast iron pot or a shallow wok to fry the okra.
use a spoon (with holes) to scoop up the okra and then place the okra in
a mixture of 1 cup corn meal and 1 cup flour. add salt and pepper liberally to this mixture.
after you add the okra to the mixture, stir it around to get it coated and then start adding the oil.
i usually put a test piece in to make sure my oil is hot enough. the okra should sizzle as soon at you put it in the oil. depending on how big your pot of oil is you may not be able to add all of the okra at once. just make sure you don't add so much that the temperature of your oil goes down.
once the okra is looking nice and golden brown, scoop out of the oil and put on a plate that has 4 or so paper towels on it (to soak up the oil).
salt again and serve hot. yummy.

i would give you the potato salad recipe but it's pretty long. i do recommend every vegetarian check out this amazing southern veggie cookbook: heart of home. it's my favorite cookbook of all time and the tofu fried chicken recipe is something i cook at least once a month. the potato salad recipe is similar to what i made but i left out some of the fancy extras (like poppyseeds). i also substituted celery salt for fresh celery because geoffrey doesn't like celery and i found out that's what my mom does.

mm, what else. besides the potato salad and coleslaw (by the way it's top secret) i tried to make these "city 'chicken' legs" that are in the heart of home cookbook but they really did not turn out. in defense of the book i have to say it's the first thing i have made from there that didn't turn out awesome. i did make the bbq sauce in there (a sweet/spicy red sauce) and it turned out amazing. it made a TON of sauce though that we will be eating for a very very long time. i made tons of veggies for kabobs which all turned out yummy even after i spilled a ton of them on the brick patio. i marinated everything in a tomato vinaigrette i threw together. it just had the gooey seedy parts of 4-6 tomatoes, some lemon olive oil, salt, pepper and some basil. i thought it was pretty good. for the veggies i had onions, tomatoes, squash, and also halloumi cheese. if you don't know halloumi cheese you should go straight to the grocery store and get some. it's great for grilling or pan frying. it doesn't get very melty and retains it's shape. it comes from cyprus. delicious.

i made some pineapple salsa also and it turned out really great. i was pretty surprised by this because sometimes when i make salsa i tend to put too much garlic or onions in it. i tried really hard though this time not to over do it and i think it paid off. i just made a basic salsa fresca with 6 tomatoes (no seeds), half a red onion, about a cup of cilantro, two garlic cloves, 2 jalapenos chopped fine, and about a cup of fresh chopped pineapple. the salsa gets pretty juicy from the tomatoes and pineapple so you have to drain some of the liquid off. i drained what i thought was a ton off and it just seemed to get juicy again, so my point is at least drain some of the juice off. i let this sit and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours before i served it. it allowed the flavors more time to mingle. i think the juice from half a lime would have been a great addition to this but i forgot. it still tasted amazing, not to brag or anything. i got this recipe from a friend who lives in hawaii.

for desert i made some brownies. i got the recipe from epicurious. this is a really easy recipe and the brownies turn out gooey and perfect if you cook them for 35-40 mintues. i recommend getting some nice chocolate to melt. i would like to try some recchiuti chocolate sometime but i used some semi-sweet ghirardelli chocolate which of course is pretty good chocolate. however, recchiuti is my favorite chocolate and i will definitely try the brownies with their bittersweet bar sometime.

and finally, last but not least, i made some banana pudding. all you do is layer vanilla wafers (aka nilla wafers), vanilla pudding, sliced bananas and then top with whipped cream. i decided to make my pudding fresh. it was easy, i got the recipe from allrecipes.com. i forgot to ask my parents how they make their banana pudding so i used a recipe from my trusty our state magazine. my grandmother has gotten me a subscription to this for christmas every year since i moved to san francisco. this was the first time i made one of their recipes. basically i made the pudding recipe - i think it made about five cups and then into it i folded half a cup of sour cream and half of the whipped topping. i made fresh whipped topping; i used a pint of cream (which i added half a cup of sugar to - yes intense but soooo good). then i just started out with the nilla wafters in the bottom of my dish, then bananas on top, then pudding. then i started over. i think i had three layers in total and then covered the top with the other half of my whipped cream. i let it sit overnight so it would get cold and the nilla wafers absorb some of the cream and take on a more chewy texture. by the way i must give a special thanks to geoffrey once again for cutting the bananas so expertly and also for eating the left over vanilla pudding for dinner on saturday night. waste not want not.

i think everything was pretty much eaten (except the not so good fake chicken legs i tried to make) which made me happy. it's fun to cook for everyone. i should mention also that my friends stephanie and tanner brought some excellent deviled eggs, deena brought her family's cole slaw recipe (which as noted by hao was sweet compared to my savory coleslaw and of course was delicious), and chantal and jamie brought some wonderful pasta salad. everything turned out great and i was glad i got to share our backyard on a sunny sunday, labor day weekend.