Algood - Sunday dinner in the South: recipes to keep them coming back for more

OTHER BOOKS BY TAMMY ALGOOD

Farm Fresh Southern Cooking

In a Snap!

The Southern Slow Cooker Bible

2015 by Tammy Algood Killgore a/k/a Tammy Algood and Bryan Curtis

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Photography by Mark Boughton

Food and prop styling by Teresa Blackburn

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Image on Shutterstock.com/Robyn Mackenzie

Image on Shutterstock.com/sarsmis

Image on photodisc

ISBN 978-1-4016-0540-7 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Algood, Tammy.

Sunday dinner in the South : recipes to keep them coming back for more / Tammy Algood, Tammy Algood.

pages cm

Includes index.

Summary: "Food personality Tammy Algood shares more than 180 recipes for Southern comfort food, combined with forty funny and heartwarming stories from preachers about Sunday dinners in the home of church members.Delving deep into the South's romance with dinnertime after church ;Sunday Dinner in the South serves up the recipes and stories of Southern pastors who have enjoyed the hospitality of parishioners for generations. Weaving together the South's two greatest traditions;cooking and storytelling;Algood brings readers to the Sunday table of Southern homes.;And while Sunday dinner is often the most indulgent meal of the week, Algood devotes a portion of the book to recipes for health-conscious readers. Dishes such as Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Greens, Fresh Corn Polenta with Cherry Tomatoes, and Roasted Brisket with Country Vegetables will inspire readers to preserve and continue the grand tradition of Southern Sunday dinner"--Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4016-0539-1 (hardback)

1. Cooking, AmericanSouthern style. 2. CookingReligious aspects. 3. Dinners and diningSouthern StatesAnecdotes. 4. Southern StatesSocial life and customs. I. Algood, Tammy. II. Title.

TX715.2.S68A394 2015

641.5975dc23

2014037713

15 16 17 18 19 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

With love and gratitude to my husband, George, who holds my heart and makes me laugh!

Contents

W hen is dinner? In the South, its the midday meal that some call lunch. Its not to be confused with the evening meal, which is called supper. I still have a hard time calling it anything else and love the revival of supper clubs that are keeping the word alive.

Unlike any other day of the week, an old-fashioned Sunday dinner is reserved for nothing less than feasting. You might make do the rest of the time, but on Sunday, cooks across the South will pull out all the stops. And thats especially true if the local preacher is going to be attending the meal served at your home after church. The acceptance of that invitation is a reason to really put on a show and have a dining table loaded with abundance.

The slightly chipped, well-loved serving bowls on this day are usually filled with items from the garden, and this is the case no matter what time of year it happens to be. Thats because Southern cooks have a long tradition of putting up food, and pantries are typically filled with jars of green beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, soups, jams, and everything else that was harvested during the growing season. But the centerpiece is usually a meat that requires the homes largest platter to present it well on the recently starched and ironed tablecloth.

Thats the traditional dinner for the local pastor, preacher, brother, rabbi, father, priest, or bishop. However, these days that meal might be very different from those served in the past. While the leader of your church is most concerned about spiritual health, physical health is certainly not a neglected part of ministry. So seasonal eating with lighter fare is very much appreciated by clergy of all ages and all denominations. That lends itself to serving economical soups, sandwiches, and salads to curb the appetites of hungry guests and family members while the main meal is being prepared in the kitchen or out on the grill, or to serve as the meal itself. With that in mind, youll find an entire chapter dedicated to these types of dishes that are designed to be easily prepared, easy on the budget, and quick to work off in the gym.

Today, dinner might be served buffet-style over family-style, depending on the size of the dinner table and the number of people seated there. The fact is, there is only one rule: no one lifts a fork until the preacher or patriarch of the family says the blessing, which is commonly referred to as returning thanks or saying grace in the South. The hungrier you are, the longer that prayer might seem, especially if the fried chicken is anywhere close to your seat at the table!

Even the conversation at Sunday dinner is different from any other mealtime talk. It mainly focuses on the food itself, with accolades and compliments galore. And of course the exchange will include many references to the fine sermon that morning. It would be downright rude to bring up anything controversial! Only joy and the music of silverware clanking against the treasured family china are allowed to be a part of this feast.

It always amazed me how my own mother could attend church with all of us in tow and somehow have an incredible dinner on the table after we returned home in practically no time flat. By the time we could get ourselves changed out of our Sunday go to meetin clothes and into our play clothes, she would have a much anticipated, incredible meal waiting for us to devour. I still dont know how she managed to do it. My very favorite meal was her exceptional Chicken Spaghetti (), which I still make to this day and think of her every time it is served.

This cookbook is a collection of memories just like thatwhere one dish stands out among the many offered on the most sacred of days and the most cherished of all weekly meals. It honors those who feed us spiritually from the pulpit and those who do the same for our physical needs from the kitchen. As long as there is a South, there will be a showcase of memorable culinary excellence on display each Sunday that is ready to be enjoyed as soon as Amen! is uttered! May your own family dinners be blessed by these heartwarming stories and these Sunday dinnerworthy recipes.