People like to say they come to the south for the weather and the beaches and sure, those things are nice, but what people really come to the south for is good ol’ southern cooking. This style of cooking comes along with the mindset that butter is a food group, which is perhaps why it is so good.
Christmas has come and gone, but cold weather makes for the perfect time to start breaking out the old recipes and fattening up for winter.
No matter what time of year it is, good recipes have a way of bringing family and friends together. The recipes in this blog are what my family likes to have over the holidays (and any other time we can convince mom to make them). They’re all super southern and tasty and no matter where you are as soon as you get a forkful into your mouth you’ll be transported right back here to Edisto Beach.
We’ll begin with Christmas (or anytime) ham.
One of the best things that my family always had on Christmas is a giant ham. Call me biased, but it’s the best ham ever made – just ask my dog who sneaked into the kitchen one year and devoured the entire thing in about two seconds while we were all at the front door greeting the grandparents who just pulled up.
That was years and years ago. Now that same dog, who had quite the belly ache after her feast, still goes nuts for the aroma mom’s ham gives off. She doesn’t seem to remember that she had to eat Pepto Bismol for the next couple of days after that 10-pound ham sat like a rock in her stomach. All she remembers is that it was good going down. (This Christmas she sat in the kitchen the entire time it cooked and got a few pieces on her dog food once it was finally ready).
This ham recipe calls for the following:
Large ham
Honey (fresh or store-bought)
¾ cup of brown sugar
½ teaspoon of ground cloves
Cooking bag
Pan large enough for the ham to sit in while it cooks
*If the ham was frozen, thaw before preparing and cooking
To begin with, place the ham in a cooking bag. Then drizzle honey all over the ham. Don’t be afraid to use a lot. There’s no such thing as too much honey. Then coat the honey-covered ham with the brown sugar and cloves. Tie the cooking bag so that the mixture doesn’t leak out, place in a pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 2.5 hours.
We always have our ham with a side of vegetables and Sweet Potato Crunch. Considering serving your ham with this vegetable recipe:
Fresh okra, chopped (about a pound)
2 sweet onions, chopped
Stewed tomatoes with green chilies, 1 or 2 cans, whatever your preference is
Pound of bacon
You’ll note that this recipe has bacon in it, but having two forms of pork in one meal never hurt anyone.
Fry the bacon in a pan until crisp. Remove the bacon and then cook the okra and onions in the grease until the onions are transparent and the okra is soft. Add in the tomatoes and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Crumble the bacon and add it back into the mixture. Serve over rice.
The last part of this meal is almost like dessert.
To make Sweet Potato Crunch you’ll need the following:
2 cans mashed sweet potatoes
3 eggs
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of melted margarine
½ cup ofmilk
2 teaspoons of vanilla
Mix all of those ingredients together in a 2 ½ qt. casserole dish. Top with one cup of brown sugar, ½ cup of flour, one cup of chopped pecans, and ½ cup of melted margarine (mix all of the topping ingredients together before covering the potato mixture).
Bake at 350 for an hour.
There you have it. A wintry Edisto meal that’s good no matter how far away from the beach that you are.
