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1923

Mose Lischkoff and Frank Mosher turn a sack of potatoes into kettle-fried chips. The place: the basement of a Hill’s grocery in Birmingham, Alabama. The end result: Golden Flake Snack Foods, one of the South’s biggest and best.

With moonshining big business in the mountains of Virginia, Franklin County near Roanoke is nicknamed “the wettest place in the U.S.”

Chef Fred Schmidt creates the Hot Brown, an open-face turkey sandwich, at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ernest Woodruff’s son Robert is named president of Coca-Cola; he reigns for nearly 60 years and builds the company into a global conglomerate.

1924

Bob Melton builds a barbecue restaurant on a shady bank of the Tar River in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Today, Melton’s is synonymous with the best “East Carolina ’cue,” meaning a peppery, vinegary sauce. Some 30 years later, Life magazine crowns Bob Melton “The King of Southern Barbecue.”

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OKRA-TOMATO TART

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

What others call casseroles, Southerners often call tarts—this crumb-covered casserole, to name one. It teams three perennial favorites—okra, tomatoes, and bacon, in this case drippings—but adds a whiff of curry. Following the precedent set generations earlier by Country Captain? Perhaps. Beaufort, South Carolina, whence this recipe comes, is less than an hour north of Savannah, where Country Captain is said to have been introduced by a sea captain. The recipe here is adapted from one that appeared in a favorite community cookbook of mine, Full Moon, High Tide: Tastes and Traditions of the Lowcountry, published by the Beaufort Academy in 2001. I find it perfect with fried chicken, roast chicken or pork, and baked ham. It’s good, too, with boiled or broiled shrimp. Note: Frugal southern cooks save bacon drippings to use in recipes.

2 tablespoons bacon drippings or butter

6 large scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (include some green tops)

1 pound baby okra, trimmed and sliced about ¼ inch thick

Two 14.5-ounce cans diced or crushed tomatoes, with their liquid

1 tablespoon sugar

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon crumbled dried leaf marjoram

½ teaspoon crumbled dried leaf basil

¼ teaspoon curry powder

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce

Topping

1½ cups coarse soda cracker crumbs (you’ll need about 30 two-inch-square crackers)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Lightly spritz a shallow 2½-quart casserole with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Heat the bacon drippings in a large, heavy skillet over moderately high heat 1 minute, add the scallions, and cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until wilted.

3. Add the okra and cook and stir 5 to 7 minutes or just until crisp-tender. Mix in the tomatoes and their liquid, the sugar, and all seasonings, then cook and stir for about a minute or just until the mixture boils.

4. Pour into the baking dish, spreading to the edge. Quickly combine all the topping ingredients and scatter evenly over the tomato mixture.

5. Bake on the middle oven shelf for 18 to 20 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.

6. Serve at once as a side dish.

Only a Southerner knows that red-eye gravy is breakfast food and fried green tomatoes aren’t.

—ANONYMOUS

OKRA AND GREEN TOMATO FRITTERS

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

This is the recipe that made an okra convert of me. My niece Kim served it one Sunday and that was it. For extra flavor, substitute 1 to 2 tablespoons bacon drippings for the oil. Kim usually does.

¼ cup sifted all-purpose flour

¼ cup stone-ground cornmeal (preferably white)

1½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

4 baby okra (about 2 ounces), stemmed and thinly sliced (1/3 to ½ cup)

1 small green tomato (about 4 ounces), cored and coarsely chopped

4 large scallions, trimmed and coarsely chopped (include some green tops)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 to 4 tablespoons corn oil or 2 tablespoons corn oil and 1 to 2 tablespoons bacon drippings

1. Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Place