Lasagna soup anyone? American recipes that just never sound quite right...

[MaryIsA]

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/lasagna-soup-2268968

Partly its all the low sodium chicken broth, half and half, sticks of butter - but very often its the actual recipes. Just a bit off?

The Kentucky Derby is run in May, I think.

I always thought that meatloaf sounded rather suspect. Then my sister-in-law made one , with chunks of mozzarella inside and streaky bacon over the top, and it was heaven!

Hello all by tye way. Im new!

@OldRailer

Oooh.. when's the Kentucky Durrby on then? I could celebrate!

If it's in May, you've just about got time for a few practice attempts.

Okay we will still be locked down. I will try that!

Here you go, OldRailer

www.southernliving.com/recipes/kentucky-bourbon-pie

Note the recipe calls for refrigerated pie crust, but of course you can make your own. I use refrigerated; with all that chocolate, butter, pecans, sugar, and Bourbon, the pie crust is the least of the experience.

@FormulaMartini I have never really liked the thought of meatloaf either. Maybe I need to broaden my horizons. 👋

I'd have to go to a different local authority area to pick up a premade pie crust within a few miles of us. And that is against the rules!

So homemade will have to do!

Also: That's very kind to link a recipe!

on that note: does someone have a recipe for a good corn bread? the kind boston market serves with meatloaf?
it's sort of halfway between cake and polenta.

@StanfordPines

What gets me is all the cheese in a spray can stuff and then people have a go at us for having bland food! That said, you might enjoy these recipe cards from Sainsbury’s in the 70s. www.sainsburyarchive.org.uk/catalogue/search/sapub1361-recipe-cards

The link didn’t take me to the recipe so I can’t comment on that.

Thank you for these! My mum used to have some of them and not I can try them again

I havent read the whole thread, maybe someone has addressed this already but Biscuits.

I had them once in the states and they were chewy dense, dry and served with a white sauce. dry savoury scones, awful.

But them we went to new orleans and had biscuits that were gorgeous. flakey, buttery, warm and I couldnt eat enough of them! We had them with eggs benedict, fried chicken etc. So I do think these things are very dependant on what part of the country you get them in, as well as who makes them.

I adore a lot of american food, chicken fried steak too can be fab, again depending on where you get it from!

I do find a lot of american cakes and shop bought desserts to just be full of sugar with no depth to them, but then theres home made pe shops that have divine desserts so 6 and 1/2 a dozen!

@MaryIsA Its SO good! If you search youtube for italian meatloaf (usually combining minced beef and italian sausages) I promise you wont be disappointed!

I think I may have only had bad biscuits - I really couldn't see the love. But they were from a buffet in Las Vegas I now recall, which we fell upon with a kind of madness from seeing all this food laid out.

We left the table about 30 minutes later feeling, sick, a bit sticky, and craving salad for the next few days. Had to skirt a couple of very drunk brides in the queue too - in full wedding dress.

We really enjoyed corndogs which my American sister in law introduced us to. Also really loved the Chicago style hotdogs. She introduced us to the hoagy too which was amazing.

I've not liked the Salisbury Steak though. She didn't introduce it to us, I'd just heard about it and wanted to try it. Very underwhelmed. I think it had the ubiquitous can of cream of mushroom soup in it too 😆

I love Chicago style hot dogs. Pretty much any hot dog actually. The traditional topping for hot dogs in the South is cole slaw. That's my favorite.

You need to look for "polpettone" recipes for Italian meatloaf.

Are corndogs those deep fried hotdogs on a stick?

I associate them with county fairs. Even though I've never eaten one nor been to a county fair

But they were from a buffet in Las Vegas I now recall

Mass catering is never a good venue to assess food, I agree.

I remember taking our 2 DDs to Disneyland in Florida many years ago.
There was a burger place that offered children's meals of a burger, a drink and fries or an apple.

We decided to order fries with one meal and an apple with the other so they could share both.

It was like nobody had ever ordered the apple choice before!
We had to go to another queue and wait there...
I swear someone had had to nip out to buy an apple.

But then, you go to Alton Towers and you wish you were back in Disneyland; at least Disney produced an apple eventually.

I think I thought corndogs only existed in the Simpsons...not a real thing. But then I thought Turkish delight was a made up thing too.

Re grits. I am a part-owner of a company that distributes grains direct from a farm. We label it 'grits' when we're selling to the south, and 'polenta' when selling to the north. We sell far far far more in the south.

I live in the northeast and have never seen grits on the menu other than in restaurants that are aimed at tourists from the south.

This thread has so many classic examples of how people from the UK come to the US, eat something in a restaurant, then draw inaccurate conclusions about the country as a whole.

I remember someone on MN years ago saying you can't buy good fruit in US grocery stores. She then insisted that you can't get good fruit specifically in Florida. You can imagine how confused us Americans were.

Turned out she'd been trying to find good fruit in a shitty Walmart.

the world would be a better place if Turkish Delight existed only in people's imagination.

Some foods done far better in the US than the UK IME...

Coleslaw
Scotch Eggs (I know... bizarre, but they're so good here)
Baked beans - I much prefer the US version especially the ones done fresh at bean bakes
Meatloaf with cheddar in the middle and bacon on the outside
Seafood - I've eaten so much amazing seafood in the US. Last night I had linguine with shrimp and lobster in a key lime sauce
Lobster - you can buy it freshly steamed at the supermarket really cheap
BBQ... oh my... DD and I got the 3-meat option the other night, with pulled pork, St Louis style ribs, and brisket. Also burnt ends.
Tacos especially fish tacos
Breakfast burritos
Cheesecake
Key Lime anything

Biscuit making is very simple, but surprisingly easy to screw up. My grandmother made the best biscuits in the world with three ingredients: White Lily self-rising flour (a soft winter wheat flour), lard, and buttermilk. One of the most important things in biscuit making is not to overwork the dough.

RubysArms

the world would be a better place if Turkish Delight existed only in people's imagination.

But it would still be Winter and never Christmas