Real American Food

[Moby]

What is real American food?

I'm taking my Ukrainian mother-in-law to try American Chili at Hard Times Cafe (http://www.hardtimes.com/) tonight. They serve a Texas chili made with meat and spices and nothing else as the original recipes once were. They have 3 other versions which are all good but I'm afraid will all be too spicy for Tanya. I'll order he a grilled chicken sandwich.

I went this place over 30 years ago with my father and it's the only place left that I enjoyed with him so it has a special place in my heart.

It got me thinking what is Real American food?

The hamburger and frankfurter both came from Germany and of course we serve them with french fries (that actually came from Belgium).

There is BBQ but the beef version originated Argentina and worked its way north until it became a Texas tradition. Of course BBQ pig is another story as I think it became popular in the south and it is wonderful.

When you think of Real American Food, what images and memories appear?

[Smurf-Herder]

Apple pie

Steak and Baked Potatoes

Fried Chicken

Fresh seafood, like deep-fried Scallops and Flounder

[Moby]

I see that you like fried food :) The top 3 always come to my mind as well but they have origins from else where :( When I think of sea food I usually prefer it broiled or grilled :)

Apples came from Europe and so did Apple Pie. Sure the best apples in the world now grow in America but but they didn't originally. I did find this bit interesting.

Apple Pie a la Mode – In the United States, pie a la mode refers to pie (usually apple pie) served with a scoop of ice cream (usually vanilla) on top.

1890s - According to the historians of the Cambridge Hotel in Washington County New York, Professor Charles Watson Townsend, dined regularly at the Cambridge Hotel during the mid 1890's. He often ordered ice cream with his apple pie. Mrs. Berry Hall, a diner seated next to him, asked what it was called. He said it didn’t have a name, and she promptly dubbed it Pie a la mode. Townsend liked the name so much he asked for it each day by that name. When Townsend visited the famous Delmonico Restaurant in New York City, he asked for pie a la mode. When the waiter proclaimed he never heard of it, Townsend chastised him and the manager, and was quoted as saying; "Do you mean to tell me that so famous an eating place as Delmonico's has never heard of Pie a la Mode, when the Hotel Cambridge, up in the village of Cambridge, NY serves it every day? Call the manager at once, I demand as good serve here as I get in Cambridge." The following day it became a regular at Delmonico and a resulting story in the New York Sun (a reporter was listening to the whole conversation) made it a country favorite with the publicity that ensued.

Steak and baked potatoes probably originated in South America since that's where they both originated separately. But there is something to be said for a good old fashion America Steak House. I do love a rib-eye.

Asians were frying chicken before we were but probably not in the same manner, not soaking it in buttermilk or using my grand ma's cast iron skillet. I'm calling that truly American.

[doctordog]

If you ever get to Memphis check out this place:

http://www.hogsfly.com/

It is Charlie Vergos Rendevous Ribs!

[MintJulep]

Well, let's see.

Chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, butter beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, biscuits, cornbread, potato salad, peach cobbler, pee-can pie, sweet tea, boiled peanuts, GRITS....

to name a few. :D

[Bill Cosby]

I thout fries were invented in New York, @ some resort..???? ( I guess they was ly'N back during the day of freedumb fries??? lol

Some real home cookin there Minty..............

I would add turkey??? giblets, cranberry, red beans N' rice...

[MarkMiller]

Well, let's see.

Chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, butter beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, biscuits, cornbread, potato salad, peach cobbler, pee-can pie, sweet tea, boiled peanuts, GRITS....

to name a few. :D
Chicken and dumplings.....one of my favorites and fortunately one I can make blindfolded. Biscuits....cornbread...mmmmmmmmm....bioled peanuts? Ack! My Dad loves those!

[MarkMiller]

I thout fries were invented in New York, @ some resort..???? ( I guess they was ly'N back during the day of freedumb fries??? lol

Some real home cookin there Minty..............

I would add turkey??? giblets, cranberry, red beans N' rice...
Pommes frites; The Belgian journalist Jo Gérard recounts that potatoes were fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium. The poor inhabitants of this region allegedly had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish, but when the river was frozen and they were unable to fish, they cut potatoes lengthwise and fried them in oil to accompany their meals."

Wikipedia

Damn.....now I have to make fries.....

Bill...next time you're downtown Sacramento check out the Tower Cafe. They serve an excellent Pommes Frites with a maynaise dip of some kind.....fantastic and not expensive.

[MintJulep]

Chicken and dumplings.....one of my favorites and fortunately one I can make blindfolded. Biscuits....cornbread...mmmmmmmmm....bioled peanuts? Ack! My Dad loves those! I'm impressed. Rolling that dough out is a bitch.

A lot of people don't like boiled peanuts. It's a Southern thing. People from up North say they taste like beans.

[Moby]

If you ever get to Memphis check out this place:

http://www.hogsfly.com/

It is Charlie Vergos Rendevous Ribs!
I've been there before and I do believe that Memphis makes my favorite BBQ because I prefer dry ribs. :)

[Moby]

A lot of people don't like boiled peanuts. It's a Southern thing. People from up North say they taste like beans.
That's because they are beans and not actually nuts.

Boiled peanuts are all over South Carolina but I always preferred dry roasted.

You know I guess peanut butter is an American staple if you're not allergic to it.

[Moby]

Well, let's see.

Chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, butter beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, biscuits, cornbread, potato salad, peach cobbler, pee-can pie, sweet tea, boiled peanuts, GRITS....

to name a few. :D
When's dinner? I do prefer kale over turnip greens but I've never turned down any variety of hearty greens. Never!

I do like peach cobbler but blueberry cobbler is what I order on my birthday :)

The very first time my mother met my soon to be wife, I insisted that she teach her to make mom's potato salad. I can make a meal of that potato salad and a stack of saltine crackers :thumbsup:

[Moby]

Chicken and dumplings.....one of my favorites and fortunately one I can make blindfolded. Biscuits....cornbread...mmmmmmmmm....bioled peanuts? Ack! My Dad loves those!
My parents from southern Virginia made drop dumplings. I didn't have slick dumplings until I was living on the Easter Shore.

[MarkMiller]

My parents from southern Virginia made drop dumplings. I didn't have slick dumplings until I was living on the Easter Shore.
Well....I make drop dumplings....but, I the way I make them is in a pot that I can then place in the oven for 10 minutes. It browns the tops.

I make a very simple version using bisquick. We have it after we have had a roast chicken. I boil the left overs untill it falls off the bones along with a couple of chicken breasts. I add chicken broth to that stock and then boil on Med high as I drop the dumplings in. They cook covered for 10 minutes. Uncovered for 10 minutes and in the oven untill brown.

[Bill Cosby]

Pommes frites; The Belgian journalist Jo Gérard recounts that potatoes were fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium. The poor inhabitants of this region allegedly had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish, but when the river was frozen and they were unable to fish, they cut potatoes lengthwise and fried them in oil to accompany their meals."

Wikipedia

Damn.....now I have to make fries.....

Bill...next time you're downtown Sacramento check out the Tower Cafe. They serve an excellent Pommes Frites with a maynaise dip of some kind.....fantastic and not expensive.

Funny thing is I have a friend earlier today tell me she is taking her mom there this evening (prob there now) for her birthday......lol

I have never been there..........

I saw that on wicki but I am pretty sure I hear a program on NPR about it a while back & they were claiming some one made them up in the catskills for some smartassed customer complaining about the potatoes or something.......

Oh well............

[Bill Cosby]

I'm impressed. Rolling that dough out is a bitch.

A lot of people don't like boiled peanuts. It's a Southern thing. People from up North say they taste like beans.

I ate them when I lived in New Orleans but I was not fond of them....... I think I got them free.......lol Tasted just like a soggy peanut.... I prefer them well roasted & very lightly salted or no salt...........

Fried cat fish, fried okra???