Tybee Vacation Rentals Concierge and Tybee Information Site

You are in the South! If you have a wedding or special event, you serve Low Country Boil. This is just a big mess ‘o stuff cooked in one pot and served over rice or grits. There are as many recipes for this dish as there are for meatloaf or chili. There is a good chance you’ll like this dish as it has something for everybody–shrimp, meat, veggies and a great “gravy.” Here’s my favorite recipe.

Low Country Boil
Serves 30

10 lbs. pieces smoked sausage
2 doz. Shucked ears of corn
8 lbs. baby red potatoes
15 lbs. headed shrimp
1 C Old Bay seasoning
4 large onions, diced
4 C golden Sherry
10 bay leaves 

Fill a 20-gallon pot halfway with water. Bring to boil, add sausages, bay leaves, onions, Old Bay & Sherry.  Boil 10 min. Add potatoes, boil ‘til almost done. Add corn & cook til tender; add shrimp for 5 min.  Serve over rice.

The holidays just wouldn’t be the holidays without the wonderful pies. My favorite is Pecan Pie, and I have had, through the years, a myriad of recipes for them. Here is my favorite. It comes from a WONDERFUL cooking magazine called Cook’s Country. If you love to cook, and you like recipes that are easy, but well done, I highly recommend you get a subscription to this delectable cooking magazine.

Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie

1 -  C maple syrup
1 –  C packed light brown sugar
1/2  – C heavy cream
1 –  T molasses
4 – T unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 – t salt
6 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 1/2 – C pecans, toasted and chopped
1 – 9-inch unbaked pie shell, chilled in pie plate for 30 min.

Make Filling – Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat syrup, sugar, cream, and molasses in saucepan over med. heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, about 3 min. Remove from heat and let cool 5 min. Whisk butter and salt into syrup mix until combined. Whisk in egg yolks until incorporated.

Bake Pie – Scatter pecans in pie shell. Carefully pour filling over. Place pie in hot oven and immediately reduce oven temp. to 325 degrees. Bake until filling is set and center jiggles slightly when pie is gently shaken, 45 to 60 min. Cool pie on rack for 1 hour, then refrigerate until set, about 3 hours and up to 1 day. Bring to room temp. before serving.

In the movie, My Cousin Vinny, there’s a hilarious spot where Joe Pesci, a Yankee, goes into the small-town, southern diner to order breakfast. The clerk tells him that he’ll get grits with his breakfast. “What’s a grit?” he says. Hilarious!

I am a northerner, yes, a Yankee, as a matter of fact, a damn Yankee ’cause I came and stayed. I wasn’t that aware of grits when I came here, but, of course, it didn’t take long before I was introduced to them, and now, I LOVE ‘EM.

In a recent “round the world” e-mail, I saw that “grits are formed deep underground, under intense heat and pressure and it takes over 1,000 years to form a single grit! Most of the grit mines are in South Carolina and are guarded day and night by armed guards…Harvesting the grit is a dangerous occupation and many miners lose their lives each year so that grits can continue to be served morning after morning for breakfast….Yankees have attempted to create synthetic grits–they call it Cream of Wheat, but as far as we can tell, the key ingredients are Elmer’s Glue and shredded styrofoam. Many people feel that grits are made from Continue Reading »

You’re here and  you are having company off and on all weekend. What to do! Here’s a very quick and easy appetizer that you can have ready anytime, and it keeps for a month.

Jezebel Sauce

Mix the following together:

1 jar (18 oz.) Apple Jelly
1 jar (18 oz. ) Pineapple Preserves
1 small can dry mustard (I only do half)
Horseradish to taste (anywhere from 1/4 C to 1/2C depending on how hot you like it)
Pepper

Refrigerate and when ready to serve, pour over a brick of cream cheese.  Wallah! This mix also works well as a sauce for chicken or pork. Yum!

There are many meatball recipes, I know, but these are outstanding, easy and make 7 dozen. You can fix a batch up and have them on hand for the weekend. Enjoy.

Party Meatballs                                      Sauce

2 eggs, beten                                           2 Cups ketchup
1  12-oz. can evaporated milk                  1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats                        1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 t salt
2 t chili powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t pepper
3 lbs. ground beef

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients but the beef. Crumble beef over mix and mix well. Shape into 1″ balls and place in greased 13 x 9 in. baking dishes.  Make sauce and pour over meatballs. Bake, uncovered at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until meat is done. Makes about 7 dozen.