Enjoy the tastes of upstate South Carolina by trying one or more of these homegrown recipes.
July 2011
By Janet Groene, F47166
Kurt Wickiser remembers family parties in his childhood when his grandfather, who was in the meat business, served barbecue to 500 people or so. He never learned to think small. When I asked him for the Brunswick Stew recipe he serves at his Creekside Bar-Be-Que restaurant in Anderson, South Carolina, he drawled, “Well, it starts with 350 pounds of beef chuck and a bucket of ham hocks.”
RV travel in northwestern South Carolina is a feast for the eyes while driving corkscrew country roads lined with prim farms and neat apple orchards. In this region, visitors can hike steep trails that culminate at roaring waterfalls in the afternoon, and then stop at one of the local restaurants to feast on farm-fresh country food. At countless farms, small signs invite visitors to stop in for u-pick produce, fresh eggs, goat milk fudge, or strawberry yogurt made from rich, raw milk. Hometown restaurants feature stone-ground grits from nearby mills, wines made from local grapes, honey gathered by local bees, barbecue smoked over local hardwoods.
The Palmetto State is known for “low country” cuisine featuring coastal seafood and rice from the region’s rich plantations. However, in the highlands that locals call “the upstate,” hillside farms are better suited to growing berries and apples or raising goats and sheep, while cold creeks yield succulent trout. My trip covered Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties along South Carolina’s portions of the National Heritage Corridor.
My goal was to find recipes that are specific to the upstate; chic but simple enough for the RV galley; and a treat for the taste buds. Here’s what I discovered.
Creekside Bar-Be-Que Brunswick Stew
This soupy, fine-textured dish is different from the chunkier Brunswick Stew recipes I’ve encountered before in the South. Best of all for galley cooks, it has only five ingredients. Kurt Wickiser starts with beef chuck and ham hocks, which he cooks together for hours and then puts through a food grinder. With apologies, this is my shortcut version. For the real thing, visit his restaurant in Anderson.
2 pounds ground beef chuck
2 ham hocks
½ cup water
2 15-ounce cans cream-style corn
1 32-ounce can petite diced stewed tomatoes
In a roomy pot or pressure cooker, brown the ground chuck over high heat, breaking it up as it cooks. Reduce heat; add the ham hocks and water; cover; and cook over low heat until the ham hocks fall apart. When the ham is cool enough to handle, shred the meat. Combine the ham, beef, corn, and tomatoes and cook until the stew is thick and the flavors are blended. Season to taste “” Kurt uses only salt and pepper “” and ladle into bowls. This recipe makes eight servings.
South Carolina Field Peas
Sylvia Woods, “Queen of Soulfood” and founder of the iconic Sylvia’s restaurant in Harlem, grew up in South Carolina, where she learned to cook field peas. Many varieties are grown there, but one of the most authentic in local cuisine is a small, brown pea that looks like a black-eyed pea but without the eye. Sylvia’s canned field peas with snaps are sold in supermarkets and specialty shops. Here’s one way to prepare dried field peas from scratch.
1 pound dried South Carolina field peas
1 medium onion, diced
2 to 3 stalks celery, diced
1 ham hock or 2 ounces salt pork
Salt, freshly ground pepper to taste
Soak the dried peas in cold water overnight. Drain and rinse the peas before putting them into a cooking pot. Cover with water and cook with other ingredients until they are tender. This takes all day in a slow cooker, an hour or so in a saucepan, or 15 to 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. If you’re using a ham hock, remove it and let it cool enough to handle. Cut up the meat and stir in just before serving.
Peach Enchiladas
This dumpling-like recipe took first prize in the dessert division in a South Carolina Old 96 Campground Cookoff. It’s best made with fresh, ripe peaches picked from highlands orchards. The original recipe is very sweet, so you can reduce the sugar to 1/4-cup if you choose. Other versions are made with quartered apples. While Dutch oven cooking is the traditional way to make this dish, you also can bake it in a regular oven.
1 package crescent rolls
2 peaches, peeled and pitted
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries
½ stick butter
1 12-ounce can Mountain Dew brand soft drink
Roll a quarter of a peach in each crescent roll and place the rolls in a single layer in a Dutch oven. Sprinkle with the sugar and cherries and dot with butter pieces. Pour the Mountain Dew over the rolls. Cover; place eight hot coals on the Dutch oven lid; and cook for 30 to 35 minutes over a charcoal grill or nestled in red-hot campfire coals. If using a conventional oven, bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until toasty brown. Serve as is or with whipped topping and a cherry.
Upstate South Carolina Spoon Bread
Begin by stopping at Hagood Mill, located north of Pickens, South Carolina, for a bag of stone-ground cornmeal. The mill is open Wednesday through Saturday during the summer and fall. On the third Saturday of the month, there’s usually something going on, such as a festival, a costumed re-enactment, or a bluegrass jam session.
Many spoon bread recipes call for beating the egg whites separately, so this simpler one-bowl version is easier for the galley chef.
1 tablespoon softened butter
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons white, stone-ground cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Use the tablespoon of butter to grease a five-quart baking dish; sprinkle with the two tablespoons of cornmeal; and move the pan around to coat the interior with meal. Turn the baking dish over and shake out the excess meal. In a large bowl combine 1 1/4 cups cornmeal, flour, sugar, and salt. Make a depression in the middle and pour in the boiling water. Stir in the two tablespoons of butter. Let the cornmeal mixture cool for five minutes. Whisk the eggs, buttermilk, cream, soda, and pepper; stir into the cornmeal mixture; and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 375 degrees. It should be golden brown and the center almost set. Spoon the bread on plates and serve with barbecue and fried green tomatoes. This recipe makes six to eight servings.
Sweet Potato Pie
If local farmers are harvesting sweet potatoes during your visit, peel and mash enough to make two cups.
Pastry for a 9-inch pie
Canned or whole sweet potatoes to make 2 cups mashed
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon each cinnamon and nutmeg
2/3 cup whole milk, canned milk, or half-and-half
Line a pie pan with the pastry. Drain and mash the sweet potatoes and mix with the sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, spices, and milk. Pour the sweet potato mixture into the pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is set.
Upstate South Carolina Red Barbecue Sauce
According to the folks at DiscoverSouthCarolina.com, barbecue and pork are synonymous; what makes it different is the type of sauce used. Thin and peppery hot barbecue sauce is traditional in the Pee Dee region; tomato-based sauces in the upstate; and yellow mustard-based bastes in the midlands. All chefs have their own recipes, but here’s one from the hill country.
1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar
½ cup ketchup or more to taste
1 tablespoon (or more to taste) brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Stir everything well to dissolve the brown sugar and salt. This recipe makes 2 cups of sauce that can be prepared two to three days in advance and refrigerated. Partially cook pork, then baste it often with this sauce until the meat is well done. The pork can then be pulled, shredded, or cut and served with additional sauce for individual tastes.
More Tastes Of The Upstate
Chef Shaun Garcia of the Table 301 restaurants (The Lazy Goat, Soby’s, Devereaux’s) in Greenville, South Carolina, is on a local food crusade. On his own farm he grows okra and 20 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. Local farmers bring him cider, which he uses in the restaurant as a brine for pork chops. Just when he thought the local sorghum industry was all but gone, he found a farmer who can supply a restaurateur’s needs. He drizzles the syrup lightly over Southern fried chicken and incorporates it in a gastrique (a classic French sweet and sour sauce) that he serves on fish.
Taking a cue from Mr. Garcia, I made traditional fried green tomatoes and topped them with pimento cheese “” a Southern classic “” instead of cheddar. He also suggested making Risi Bisi (a rice and peas dish) with Carolina field peas. The result is much like Caribbean peas and rice. He also suggests folding pimento cheese into hollandaise sauce or cheese fondue.
Touring the area and stopping at such places as the Happy Cow Creamery (dairy products), Chattooga Belle Farm (fruits and vegetables), and Split Creek Farm (dairy goats), I stocked up on specialty products including herbed goat cheese, muscadine and scuppernong wines, toothsome speckled grits, and salad dressings and barbecue sauces made with local farm products. The u-pick season goes on all summer at farmsteads including The Happy Berry farm. Stone-ground grits are sold at such places as Timms Mill and Hagood Mill, both of them water-powered gristmills that produce grits with true Southern texture and taste.
When cruising around this area, keep an eye out, too, for products from Amish and Mennonite farms. They produce a cornucopia of tasty items, especially homemade cheeses and sausages.
Sweet tea is a Southern must-have. Purists make it with simple syrup, not stirred-in sugar. To make simple syrup, boil 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar until the mixture is clear. Add this syrup to cold, brewed tea to taste. Then try this: dissolve 1/3-cup salt in 1½ cups cold sweet tea. Marinate 2 pounds chicken parts in this brine in the refrigerator for at least four hours. Then discard the marinade and barbecue the chicken