In case cooking lacks religion-Some's got it and some ain't, And rules don't no more make a cook Than sermons make a saint.   Before we talk food, I have to mention Southern Hospitality.  I read what is a pretty good description of Southern Hospitality, and it stated  that we here in the South really are known our  'Southern Hospitality', and often we as Southerners aren't  even aware of this is a wonderful inborn tradition which is much admired by visitors.  It will invaribly lead to  some form of entertaining with food.  So when we talk Southern cookery, we must not forget the main ingredient for any Southern recipe which is "Southern Hospitality".     People think of the South as a place where the sun shines brighter, the breezes are gentler, the birds sing sweeter and the flowers are fairer.  Different sections of the sunny South play an important part in Dixie cookery. The  "Creole Dish" of New Orleans has nothing to do with with racial origin but rather indicates the use of red and green peppers, onions and garlic. Oranges, grapefruits and avacados play an important part in Florida cookery.  One thinks of Virginia, its hot breads and its sugar cured hams. Kentucky is known for its corn 'likker' and its flannel cakes. Only one thing is universally true: Every corner of the South is famous for its fine cooking. The very mention of Southern cooking makes your mouth water.   The principal meat produced and the favorite in use is, of course,  pork in all its forms. Game birds are still plentiful. The South grows almost any fruit that can be grown in any other part of the country and many are produced all winter long. As I was growing up, many ladies in our community weren't  educated, but you put them in front of a stove and they created something grand, even if they couldn't explain to you just how they did it.  So many recipes were never written down, but were handed down from generation to generation. All your life you have heard of the traditionally famous dishes of the South. No names appear so frequently on hotel menus as Dixie names. No cooking seems more famous or synoymous with quality and deliciousness than Southern cooking.  Examples are 'Kentucky Burgoo' and the celebrated 'Pot Likker' reipes. Kentucky Burgoo literally means  a soup made up of many vegetables and meats, which in the early days were fused together in an enormous caldron.   An early handwritten recipe describes a big event that took place during the cooking of burgoo. At an exact moment during cooking, someone would wave a rabbit's foot, hanging from a string,  over the caldron for a good omen. This was said to have fortified the burgoo.   Pot Likker was made famous by Huey P . Long. Pot Likker is a dish that consists of water in which any vegetable has been cooked with a piece of salt pork or soup meat. However, in the South  it is most frequently the water in which turnip greens have been cooked.     Vegetable Bouillon is reported to General Lee's favorite soup.     We have all heard of Chitterlings (Chit'lings). This is the smaller intestines of swine. Today these are still availble here in town at the local grocery store. Southern culinary specialties are vast, but those best remembered are the celebrated burgoos, fried chicken, 'possum, and 'taters, terrapin stew, Brunswick Stew, Hoppin John, candied yams, fried okra, corn pudding,candied yams, sweet potato pudding and sweet potato casserole, beaten biscuits, corn pone, corn bread, sweet potato pone, short'nin bread, crackling bread,  and spoon bread. We must not forget deviled eggs, and  pickled pigs feet, tea cakes, Lady Baltimore cake, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, Ambrosia, peach pie, jelly pie, jam cake and funnel cakes and hoe cakes.  Then there is always syllabub, mint tea, hot buttered rum, blackberry cordial, Southern eggnogs, and sweet iced tea. There are fried apples, fried pies, pickled peaches, corn pudding, watermelon, and watermelon rind pickles.      Meal sizes are not taken lightly down here in the South. The best  way to describe them is with just one word,  "big".   Some Southern homes made quite an event of the "Guest Breakfast" which frequently consisted of fruit, chicken hash, hot cakes, sausage, corn bread, pie and coffee.