Get some inspiration this season for the decor and iconic dishes that grace holiday tables in the South. Our Food History Editor, Suzanne Corbett provides a glimpse into what you might find on any Southern holiday table plus a few delectable recipes to bring it all home, wherever you live. We’d also like you to know you’re reading an award-winning article! Suzanne won an award from the Missouri Professional Communicators, the affiliate of National Federation of Press Women. 

Keep this article about Southern Holiday Tables for reference, on Pinterest. Photo courtesy Hermann-Grima Christmas. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com. 

Hungry for more? Read Suzanne’s article and recipes for Historic Cups of Cheer.

Experience Southern Holiday Foods and Yuletide Table Traditions

Throughout the American South, holiday celebrations culminate around family tables, reflecting the homes, locations, history, and diversity of those who surround them. They’re set for the season, supported by overflowing sideboards filled with savories and sweets spiced with memories and wrapped in tradition. It’s a taste of the past, via a yuletide time warp.

Southern holiday food and table traditions at Houmas House, Darrow, Louisiana 

Perched behind the river road levee and nestled among gigantic live oaks that predate what is known as Louisiana’s “Sugar Palace”, there stands the majestic Houmas House.

“History surrounds you when you’re at Houmas House,” said House Chef Jeremy Langlois. He oversees the site’s eateries, which includes Latil’s Restaurant. The 250-year-old building connects to the main mansion, preserving three rooms used for dining and a hearth kitchen within its brick creole walls.

“We reflect the history and tradition of both Cajun and Creole cuisines and feature our local ingredients such as crawfish, oysters, and cane sugar syrup,” Langlois said, happy to share his recipes. “During Christmas we take inspiration from the classics to create our menus. Our team of young chefs work together to create holiday menus that recall the French Creole celebration of Le Réveillon.”

Réveillion is the sumptuous feast traditionally held after midnight mass on Christmas Eve and stands as a source of inspiration for extraordinary holiday menus at Houmas House’s very own Latil’s and its sister restaurant, the Carriage House. Past menus have included such delicacies as Oyster Stew Vol-au-Vent (puff pastry shells), Praline Duck, and White Chocolate Bread Pudding, all plated on reproduction 1830 snowflake motif French Limoges china and served on tables bedecked with greenery, ribbons, flowers and fruits.

Houmas House draped in garland and ribbons signals the start of the holiday season in Louisiana’s plantation country. Photo courtesy of Houmas House.

Southern traditions at the holiday table in Anchuca, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Anchuca, a Choctaw word for ‘happy home’, has seen its share of unhappiness. A rare antebellum townhouse located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, it was once owned by Joseph Emory Davis, brother to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and survived 17 cannon hits during General Grant’s 1863 siege, subsequently suffering through weathered financial downturns and neglect. Anchuca stands proud today after a magnificent restoration by its current owner, sixth generation Mississippian Tom Pharr, who believes the house shines a little brighter during Christmas, especially at the table.

Anchuca’s table mirrors the elegance that once defined Christmas dining: an occasion that demands the use of grandmother’s best china and silver. “We set the table with Baccarat crystal, Italian silver, vintage Old Paris china and fine linens just as it would have been when the Davis family lived here,” said Pharr. “The bronze gasolier (gas lite chandelier) that lights the table makes the room glow.”

When guests tour the townhouse, Pharr encourages them to take their time. Tours are self-guided and all-access, allowing them to fully absorb the ambiance. After exploring the splendor and history surrounding them, guests are welcome to indulge in white tablecloth dining at the adjacent Anchuca’s Café.

The Café’s holiday menu is a testament to the South’s affection for sweets. Counted among the more unusual desserts are Plantation Trifle as well as Bonzo Cake, a flourless chocolate cake layered with ganache and mocha cheesecake. All the desserts are impossible to resist, especially when they’re accompanied by a cup of Varina Davis’s punch – a recipe that includes Burgundy, sherry, brandy, and rum.

The portrait of Joseph Davis, Anchcua’s most famous owner, hangs over the fireplace mantle in the parlor overseeing the parlor decorations. A favorite gathering place before or after dinner for families to take photos and selfies around the Christmas tree. Photo courtesy of Tom Pharr .

Hungry for more? Learn about Missouri ‘Cue.

Southern holiday foods at the Hermann-Grima Historic House – New Orleans, Louisiana 

Oyster Gumbo, Roast Goose, soufflés, and Coconut Cake are the foods that likely graced the holiday table of Samuel and Emerante Hermann during the 1840s. Located in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, the Hermann-Grima House draws seasonal inspiration for its foodways from the Creole French and African enslaved cooks who once labored in the House’s courtyard kitchen.

“There’s always a pretty good spread in the kitchen around Christmas,” said Alyse Mouledoux, HGH Director of Giving and Community Relations. “It’s a special time. Holiday decorations throughout the house is a mélange of both French and German, including a Christmas tree made from a wax myrtle tree (easier had in New Orleans than an evergreen). The table’s centerpiece is a Croquembouche pyramid held together with spun sugar. Around it are trays of fruit tarts, ribbon candy, and a Buche de Noel (yule log cake). The King Cake doesn’t come out until after Christmas.”

Every Thursday (October-May), volunteer cooks use the courtyard kitchen’s original open hearth, beehive oven, and potager to recreate period dishes for the Christmas table from vintage recipes found in the 1885 edition of Creole Cookery. The book is a recipe collection compiled by the Christian Woman’s Exchange, a group of women who later bought the house in the 1960s with the mission to preserve Hermann-Grima as a museum house. Reprints of the original cookbook are sold in the gift shop, their dedication page stating the book’s goal: “… to interpret the lifestyle of New Orleans Golden Age.”

Symmetrically set with pastries, fruits, cookies and sweets, the Hermann-Grima Christmas table is an excellent example of the abundance the wealthy served their guests via the holiday menu. Photo courtesy of Hermann-Grima Historic House.

Hungry for more? Learn which restaurants to visit in Vicksburg.

Southern Recipes for the Holiday Table

Houmas House Cane Syrup Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks salted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup Steen’s cane syrup*
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
2TBS baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
Extra white sugar for coating

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, combine softened butter & brown & white sugars until light and fluffy. Pour in the cane syrup and continue beating until completely combined, then add the egg and beat until mixture is smooth. In a separate bowl combine the spices, flour, and baking soda together in a separate bowl. Stir flour/spice mixture into the butter/sugar mixture to make a soft dough. Divide dough into two on separate pieces of plastic wrap; cover the dough with wrap and flatten into a smooth-sided square 1-inch thick. Chill for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, cut the dough into 1-inch squares. Roll each dough square into a ball, then roll in white sugar. Place cookie balls about 2-3 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Flatten the balls into 1/4″ thick rounds using a smooth-bottomed glass dipped in the reserved sugar. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on whether you’d like a softer or crispier cookie. Makes 12 cookies

*Steen’s Cane Sugar is the chef’s preferred brand. Steen’s Cane Sugar has a dark color similar to molasses. Cane syrups can range in color from dark to amber.

Cane Syrup Cookies, a specialty based on Houmas House’s historic cash crop, sugar cane. Photo by Jim Corbett

Anchuca – Mrs. Davis’ Gingersnaps

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups shortening
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup molasses
6 cups flour
4 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
Raw sugar

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then add the molasses. Sift flour together with the baking soda and ginger, and mix into shortening sugar mixture. Form dough in ¼-inch balls. Roll each ball in raw sugar.

Place 2 inches apart on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees 15-20 minutes until bottoms of cookies have lightly browned. Makes 16 dozen cookies.

Pralines – Creole Cookery’s 1885 Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
¾ cup whole milk
1 pinch baking soda
1/3 stick butter
2 cups pecan halves
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix sugar and milk in a very large pot. In a small iron skillet, caramelize one heaping kitchen-spoon of sugar. While this is caramelizing, begin to heat the sugar and milk mixture. When this begins to boil, add a pinch of baking soda. After the mixture comes to a boil again, add the liquid caramelized sugar. Cook for seven minutes. Test a sample of the mixture: when it makes a soft ball in cold water, add vanilla, butter, and pecans. Remove from fire and beat mixture until begins to harden. Drop by tablespoons onto wax paper.

Creole Pecan Pralines Photo courtesy of Hermann-Grima Historic House.

— Article by Suzanne Corbett

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