"southcarolina" news and stories

Boiled peanuts. Photo: flickr, jasonlam

Before new students at the University of South Carolina can tackle physics and philosophy, they first have to confront boiled peanuts.

Hundreds of out-of-state Gamecocks each year enroll in the school's optional workshop, "What's the Big Deal About Sweet Tea?", intended to ease the transition into Southern-style eating. Acknowledging that discomfort in the dining room might cause some northern-born USC'ers to consider transferring somewhere where eggs are served with hash browns instead of grits, the retention-minded university recently added the immersion seminar to its orientation-week schedule.

"We want to help people feel better about their new home," explains Angela Street, coordinator of Initiatives for Special Student Populations (i.e. Yankees).

Photo: jmurawski/Flickr

In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.

In the mid-1970s, when my mother put "Margaret's Hot Crab Dip" in our family cookbook, the recipe seemed exciting and somewhat exotic. After all, the simple combination of crab, scallion and cream cheese was basically a reverse engineering of the kind of appetizers that upscale restaurants were serving in Maryland and Washington, D.C. at the time, and its simple-yet-spicy flavor made it a hit at parties.

However, years later, when a girlfriend took me to meet her family in South Carolina, it took all of about 10 seconds to convert me to the wonders of chilled Carolina crab dip. This was lucky, as it seemed like every restaurant carried the stuff and passed it out with every meal. My girlfriend's mother's recipe changed depending upon the day, the amount of crab on hand, and whether or not I was taking notes. What follows is a pretty close approximation of her concoction.

Get the recipe for South Carolina-style crab dip after the jump.

Oh, man. So this squirrel was caught on film with its head stuck inside a Yoplait yogurt container.

The squirrel attempts to do all of its usual running, jumping, and generally squirrelish activities against the majestic backdrop of a white, elegant gazebo at South Carolina's Furman University -- all while wearing the container on its head. Apparently the videographer, a WYFF photographer, helped the squirrel remove his cap after filming this footage.

Click and come back to tell us:



[YouTube via Serious Eats]

A kettle of hash. Photo: Uptown Greenwood Development Corp.

Southern stew maven Stan Woodward will be rooting for the kettles at Greenwood, S.C.'s annual hash cook-off this week.

Carolina hash, an iconic Southern one-pot meal typically comprising chopped meat, potatoes and seasonings, is meant to be made in a black iron pot. But Woodward says apprehensive legislators and frantic health inspectors have conspired to endanger the open kettle tradition.

"I think it's sliding out from under view quietly," says Woodward, whose documentaries include "Brunswick Stew," "Burgoo," "Joe Gunn's Sheep Stew" and "Carolina Hash." "There used to be hash houses all over South Carolina."

Hash is one of the few dishes that seems to rigidly obey state boundaries: It's rarely found on menus over the South Carolina line. In the Palmetto State, though, the plantation-era concoction is a cherished barbecue accompaniment.

Whenever I  visit my boyfriend's parents in South Carolina, I 'm amazed by Southerners' allegiance to the Memphis-based grocery store, Piggly Wiggly. Known simply as "The Pig" by all (as in "We're out of milk and onions. Looks like I need to go to the Pig!"), Piggly Wiggly's status in the South cannot be overstated.

I mean, when you see adults wearing a tee-shirt that reads "I'm Big on the Pig," you know that it's more than just low prices and convenient parking that's bringing them in.

Leave it to the New York Times Magazine's food writers Matt and Ted Lee to bring us Piggly Wiggly -- no matter where we live -- via Boiled Peanuts, their Southern food products site.

• Magnets are 5 for $7.25.
• "I'm Big on the Pig" t-shirts are $19.50.
• "I'm Big on the Pig" bumper stickers are $2.

Free Memphis street cred with every purchase!