Southern Soul Food Recipes, and How to Make Them

I looked at some menus at restaurants in the Memphis and Clarksdale areas where we had planned on eating during our Blues Road Trip to come up with these recipe ideas. I hope you enjoy these Southern Soul Food recipes. There were so many good foods I had to split these Southern recipes into two posts. Although we didn’t get to go on the trip I wrote about some of the places we wanted to visit in honor of Black History Month.

Southern Soul Food Recipes Staple: Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich with Collard Greens

Ingredients

• 2 pound boneless pork
• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• Cup beef broth
• Teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Finally chopped onion
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• Crusty rolls

Directions

1. Trim excess fat from meat and reserve for later. Then brown meat in a tablespoon of cooking oil in a large pot.
2. Once it is browned, place meat in a crock pot sprayed with cooking spray. Then sprinkle with cayenne pepper. After that top with onions, liquid smoke, and broth.
3. Continue cooking meat on low for about 8 hours or until meat easily pulls apart with a fork.
4. When the meat is done, drain, reserving liquid for another use or to add if the meat is too dry.
5. Mix BBQ sauce with meat.
6. Serve on toasted rolls. Feel free to add hot sauce if you want some extra spice.

Soul Food Recipe for Collard Greens

Ingredients

• pound of collard greens
• onion
• 3 slices of crisp bacon
• 2 cloves garlic
• cup beef broth
• teaspoon cider vinegar

Directions

1. Wash collard greens and remove stems. Then cut crosswise into strips.
2. Cook onions in cooking oil in a large skillet. When onions are tender stir in garlic, broth, and vinegar. Once the mixture boils add the collard greens. Lower heat and continue simmering for 1 hour. Stir in bacon to serve.

Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound andouille or other smoked sausage chopped
• 1 pound fresh pork sausage, casings removed (we used hot Italian sausage)
• large onion, chopped
• bell pepper, chopped
• celery stalk with leaves, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup brown rice
• teaspoon dried thyme
• teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 14 ounce can diced fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions

1. Begin by cooking the rice separately in chicken broth according to package directions, about 40 minutes. Then let sit covered for an additional 5 minutes.
2. While rice is cooking, heat a large pot over medium heat. Then break up pork sausage and cook with smoked sausage until browned. To clarify, the sausages usually have enough fat that you don’t need to add oil to the pan.
3. Once the sausage is browned, add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes.
4. After that, mix in the peppers and celery and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
5. Then stir in the thyme and cayenne pepper, garlic, and tomatoes. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Add cooked rice. If rice is not cooked by this point, turn off heat temporarily while rice continues to cook.
6. Once rice is cooked add to the pot. Then toss in shrimp. Turn off heat and cover. Let everything continue cooking in its own heat for about 10 minutes until shrimp is pink or opaque.
7. Fluff with fork and serve.

Traditionally the rice and broth are cooked together with the rest of the ingredients. However, I always find that some pieces of rice don’t cook when I do that. Therefore I cook it separately and add it later. We also found that this dish had so much flavor that no additional salt was needed.

Southern Soul Food Recipe for Blackened Fish Bites with Remoulade

Southern Soul Food Recipe Ingredients for Fish

• 1 pound of firm fish such as catfish or halibut
• 2 tablespoons blacken seasoning

Ingredients for Remoulade

• Tablespoon mustard
• Tablespoon Hot Paprika
• Teaspoon prepared horseradish
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• Teaspoon dried tarragon
• Teaspoon Worcestershire
• Tablespoon chopped parsley
• Teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Teaspoon salt cup chopped baby bell
• Cup chopped mini bell peppers
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup pickle relish

Directions

You can make the Remoulade sauce ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to use.

1. Begin the sauce by combining all ingredients in a food processor and mix. When the sauce is well mixed transfer it to a glass jar until ready to use.
2. For the fish, make sure fish is skinned and deboned. Then cut into one inch pieces and place in a Ziploc bag or a bowl with a lid.
3. Measure seasoning into the bag, seal, and shake to coat.
4. After that, spread the fish evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then cook at 350 F on the convection setting in the oven for 13-15 minutes. Make sure the internal temperature of your thickest piece of fish reaches 145F.
5. Serve with Remoulade sauce. The color of your sauce will vary depending on the color of your peppers.

Tip: To help the environment we reuse jars and containers. So on that note, we found that a plastic pickle relish squeeze bottle is great for this sauce. It has a wide enough hole in the cap for the chunky sauce to fit through.

Here is a sponsored link for the food processor I use. I have been using it faithfully several times a week for years:

Try this for a refreshing drink accompaniment:

Southern Soul Food Recipe for Bourbon Lemonade

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Bourbon
• 1/2 ounce orange liquor
• ounce sour mix
• sprite
• lemon wedge for garnish

Directions

1. Begin by mixing bourbon, orange liquor, and sour mix in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Then strain into ice filled cocktail glass. After that top with sprite. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

To make your own sour mix watch this video:

I hope you enjoy these Southern soul food recipes I have created. Please let me know if you improve upon them or if you create any new variations. Also if you get to visit the Clarksdale area check out the Ground Zero Blues Club owned by Morgan Freeman for Southern soul food and great music. Or when in Memphis try the food at The Soul Fish Cafe Inc.

Donna Emperador is a travel and food blogger and copywriter. Donna believes in learning about different cultures while sharing good food and cocktails. She has lived in South Florida for over 20 years and enjoys spending time exploring the road to find unique places to share with readers. She can be found on Facebook,  Instagram, and Pinterest.