Southern Comfort Sides

By Food & Wine
Updated May 17, 2017
Credit: Frances Janisch
From three-cheese mac and cheese to creamy corn pudding, here are Southern comfort side dishes.
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Corn Pudding

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Like a soufflé but less temperamental, this pudding can be served either straight from the oven or at room temperature. Don’t worry if you can’t find fresh corn; frozen kernels work just fine.

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Creamed Collard Greens with Parmesan Crumbs

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
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Bake the greens in individual dishes for a more sophisticated presentation.

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Hush Puppies with Remoulade

Credit: © Squire Fox
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F&W’s Emily Kaiser Thelin created these crispy hush puppies—cornmeal dumplings—by adapting a recipe from chef Susan McCreight Lindeborg. Emily serves them with a version of the creamy French sauce remoulade, which she spikes with Tabasco and a little ketchup.

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Grits with Wild Mushrooms and Sherry Broth

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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Douglas Keane and his mother, Kathryn Douglas, occasionally hunt for mushrooms together on the Sonoma Coast in California. After one of their more successful foraging trips, she came up with this earthy recipe while cooking for Keane and his brother. Keane describes it as one of the most satisfying dishes he has ever eaten because the brilliant sherry broth adds a sophisticated twist to one of his favorite comfort foods, creamy grits.

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Three-Cheese Mac and Cheese

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Three different types of cheese, plus sour cream and egg yolks, make this recipe from chef Ben Vaughn in Memphis especially rich.

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Skillet Corn Bread with Corn Relish

Credit: Food & Wine
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Corn relish provides all the seasoning required for this slightly sweet corn bread. The relish also adds heft, making the corn bread substantial enough to serve as a vegetarian lunch with a green salad and some sliced tomatoes.

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Fried Okra with Sweet Chile Sauce

Credit: © Kirsten Strecker
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Howie Velie dips delicious young okra into a cornmeal batter, then fries it until it’s puffy, golden and crusty. Make sure to serve the okra right away since it can get soggy if it sits.

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Potato Salad with Radishes and Sweet Pickle Relish

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Brian Perrone adds diced radish and smoked paprika to this otherwise classic potato salad. It’s a minor innovation, but it greatly improves the standard recipe.

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Creamy Lima Bean Gratin

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This deliciously rich gratin is Robert Stehling’s take on the Southern casseroles he refers to as “church-supper dishes.”

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Creamless Creamed Corn with Mushrooms and Lemon

Credit: Frances Janisch
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“My granny taught me that when corn is very fresh, the juices are naturally creamy,” Kevin Gillespie says. “I took that as the gospel.” He grates half of the corn here to make a luxurious puree that thickens without cream.

Kevin’s Tip: Scraping corn cobs with the dull side of a knife removes the juices.

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