25 Classic Southern Recipes Every Home Cook Should Know By Heart

While there is always room for experimentation in the kitchen, there are some recipes you should know by heart. No cookbook can tell you how much buttermilk to add like your grandmother could. For Southerners, it's like learning the alphabet, starting with "A" for ambrosia all the way to "Z" for zesty lemon pie.

From buttermilk biscuits to skillet cornbread, gumbo to dumplings, these Southern dishes are the basis from which family dinners and holiday feasts alike are built in the South—and we'll be darned if we ever saw Mama look at a recipe card while making them. We rounded up our favorite Southern recipes that should be memorized and mastered, singling out those that can be easily remembered and tailored on the fly. Below, find the recipes every Southerner should know how to make.