Southern Thanksgiving sides explained, and where to eat them in Panama City

The sides on a Southern Thanksgiving table are baked mac and cheese, collard greens, green beans, field peas and cornbread dressing, plus whatever your family adds. Big Mama's on the Bayou, 620 W Beach Dr, Panama City, serves baked mac and cheese and green beans every weekday and collard greens on Wednesday. Call (850) 784-6009 to confirm hours.

What makes a side "Southern" at Thanksgiving?

A Southern side is built to sit next to meat and gravy. It is not a garnish. At a Thanksgiving table the sides take up more of the plate than the turkey does, and people argue about them more.

Food writers who cover the region keep coming back to the same few. The Post and Courier's Free Times describes cornbread dressing as a regional tradition in South Carolina and its neighbors, where much of the country serves stuffing, and notes that mac and cheese has always been a side in Southern cooking, served beside fried chicken, barbecue or pork chops. That is the useful rule of thumb: if it would sit next to a fried chicken leg on a Sunday, it belongs on the Thanksgiving table.

The sides most Southern tables have

Here is each side in plain terms, with where it shows up on our weekday lunch plate.

• Baked mac and cheese. Macaroni baked with cheese. It is on our lunch plate every weekday.
• Collard greens. Leafy greens cooked down until tender. They are on our Wednesday lunch.
• Green beans. On every weekday.
• Field peas and snaps. Field peas cooked with snap beans. Tuesday and Thursday.
• Butter peas, lima beans, English peas. The rotating peas and beans. Butter peas are on Friday, lima beans on Monday and English peas on Wednesday.
• Mashed potatoes and gravy, and rice and gravy. Both are on every weekday, because gravy is the point.
• Buttered corn. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
• Cole slaw and tossed salad. The cold, sharp side that cuts through the rest. Every weekday.
• Cornbread dressing. The one we do not list as a side. On Thursday our lunch has baked chicken and dressing as a meat, and that is a separate plate.

How does a meat-and-two turn into a holiday plate?

A plate lunch is already built like a Thanksgiving plate: one meat, a couple of sides, and more gravy than you planned on. Meat and two sides is $13.99. A third side is $1.99 more.

If you want the sides without the meat, the veggie plate is four sides, and any dessert may be used as one. Plan it like a holiday plate: mac and cheese, collards on a Wednesday, green beans, and a pea or bean of the day. That is a full meal, and it is the closest thing to a Southern Thanksgiving table you can get on a Tuesday at lunch.

Fried chicken and country fried steak are on every day, so the meat is rarely the question. The sides decide the day. They rotate on a printed schedule, so ask the counter or call what is cooked before you drive over.

What about Thanksgiving Day itself?

We are not going to guess. We have no Thanksgiving hours or holiday menu to share, and hours can change around holidays. Call (850) 784-6009 before you plan a Thanksgiving Day meal around us.

If you are feeding a table at home, call about catering. Give us the date and headcount and we will say what we can do. The lunch menu travels well, and the catering menu includes sides like baked mac and cheese, green beans, lima beans, steamed cabbage and cornbread. We do not post catering prices, because every order is different.

How to pick

For mac and cheese and green beans, come any weekday. For collards, come on a Wednesday, when chicken and dumplings is also on. For peas, come on a Tuesday or Thursday for field peas and snaps. For dressing, Thursday is baked chicken and dressing day.

Order ahead on Toast if you are on a short break, or see the full lunch menu for the week. For a crowd, our catering page tells you how to book. Big Mama's on the Bayou in Panama City is at 620 W Beach Dr, and a call to (850) 784-6009 confirms hours and today's sides.