For some, it\u2019s Floribbean \u2014 the place cooks use tropical components from the Bahamas and Caribbean islands. To others, it\u2019s Cajun and Creole, the seafood-heavy dishes that hail from Louisiana\u2019s wealthy tapestry. And nonetheless, there\u2019s low-country and soul meals, providing a large swath of dishes we frequently consult with as \u201ccomfort\u201d meals, from cornbread and fried hen to biscuits and gravy.<\/p>\n
For South Beach Wine & Food Festival visitor chef and Texas native Tiffany Derry, Southern meals goes deeper than its American roots. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes back to Africa, the Haitians, the Caribbean, all those flavors influence my menu. These are also the people who make up the South,” she tells New Times<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Growing up, Derry understood Southern cuisine most intimately, spending countless hours in her grandmother\u2019s kitchen just over the Texas border in Louisiana. On the family farm, her grandmother would turn fresh-picked fruits and vegetables into hearty meals, be it a from-scratch pie or a pot of gumbo.<\/p>\n
Today, Derry\u2019s creative approach to Southern cooking landed her here, cooking for the 2023 South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF).<\/p>\n
For those that don’t know her, the Beaumont, Texas, native has several accolades to her name. She is a judge on The Great American Recipe<\/i> on PBS and a 2022 James Beard Award finalist for \u201cBest Chef: Texas\u201d and \u201cBest New Restaurant.\u201d Derry is considered one of Bobby Flay\u2019s culinary titans on Bobby\u2019s Triple Threat<\/i> on the Food Network and a \u201cfan favorite\u201d on Bravo\u2019s Top Chef Season Seven,<\/i>\u00a0the place she completed within the prime 4. <\/p>\n
In Texas, nonetheless, Derry\u2019s followers know her because the queen of duck-fat fried \u201ceverything.\u201d It\u2019s additionally the ethos behind Roots Chicken Shak<\/a>, the restaurant she opened in 2017 and has since expanded to 3 places, the place even the bread crumbs on the kale Caesar salad are cooked and crisped in duck fats.<\/p>\n When she opened her formal restaurant, Roots Southern Table<\/a>, in 2021, Derry\u2019s purpose was to do greater than cook dinner Southern consolation meals\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It was additionally to push its boundaries.<\/p>\n Chef Tiffany Derry’s well-known gumbo <\/p>\n Photo by Alyssa Vincent <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Derry’s purpose is to raise Southern meals in an exploratory method, concurrently honoring the previous whereas pushing the boundaries that at present outline it. At her Dallas restaurant, she attracts inspiration from the worldwide cultures that present a historic and trendy context for Southern delicacies, spiking recipes with hints of the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n “I would like individuals to grasp that Southern meals is not simply what chances are you’ll understand it to be,” she explains. “Our meals has a historical past, and it is evolving. It’s not one-dimensional, and it isn’t one-sided.”<\/p>\n During the 2023 version of SOBEWFF, Derry will share that mission with Miami when she cooks her favourite dishes alongside cooks who current their meals historical past to company.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/media2.miaminewtimes.com\/mia\/imager\/u\/blog\/16352113\/rst_gumbo_alyssa_vincent.jpg?cb=1677242834\")
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