It is, admittedly, poor man’s food. It’s usually a tenderized hunk of round steak (usually sold as “cube steak” because it’s run through the butcher’s cubing machine), dredged in flour, salt and pepper, then fried in fat. The drippings are used to make a basic brown or cream gravy. It’s actually quite tasty.
Sloppy Joes could be my last meal and I would die a very happy man. It’s invariably what I would ask for on my birthday when my mom would let me choose dinner, and also our traditional meal on Halloween. Other than its deliberate messiness, I don’t see how it’s all that different than international loose-meat dishes like tacos or peroshki.
Biscuits and gravy I discovered later in life. I’d heard of it and seen it on menus and gave it a shot. It looks ugly but damn I love it. It’s pretty much replaced pancakes in my breakfast repertoire.
When I read “Frito pie,” I heard Homer Simpson in my head.
“Mmmmm. Frito pie.” ~(_8^(1)
Seriously, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Chili and cheese over a layer of Fritos is heaven. Jalapeños optional.
Moved MPSIMS --> Cafe Society.
I categorise them thus:
Know what they are, seem perfectly normal
Hot dogs
Jello - we call it “jelly”, confusingly
White sandwich bread
Peanut butter
Know what they are, but you wouldn’t see them here
Pumpkin Pie
Biscuits and gravy - I think, in British terms, this is something like scones in white sauce. I guess if you like it, that’s the main thing.
Velveeta
Cheese Whiz
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie - at least I am guessing that I know what it is
Don’t know what they are
Rootbeer Floats - something to do with ice-cream floating in that abomination known as root beer?
Sloppy Joes - some kind of pizza? We do have Sloppy Giuseppe pizza
Frito pies
Grits - I did know this, but can’t remember what it is
Corn dog - possibly a hotdog variant?
Chicken fried steak - chicken, and steak, in the same thing?
Red velvet cake
Oh, and duh, there’s also the Latin America milanesa preparations, too. A breaded beef cutlet is not exactly a US novelty.
Rootbeer Floats - love them. Get them from A&W and also make them myself
Sloppy Joes - pretty good, but only if you make from scratch and not from a can
Velveeta - good for melting on things. Wouldn’t eat it by itself, but my dog loves it. It is the way we hide her pills
Hot dogs - okay, but better in Germany, and I prefer real sausage.
Cheese Whiz - Far inferior to Velveeta
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie - Ick.Don’t like rhubarb.
Pumpkin Pie - Ick. hate pumpkin
Frito pies - Ick - don’t like Fritos
Grits - Had when I lived in the south. Okay but not a favorite.
Corn dog - way to ruin a hot dog
Jello - Our non-US dopers misunderstand this. It is not jelly, it is flavored gelatine. Ate it when I grew up, but that was in the '50s. Don’t eat it now because I’m not a Mormon.
Chicken fried steak - way to ruin a steak.
Red velvet cake - Bleah.
White sandwich bread Fine if good quality and not Wonder Bread
Peanut butter - Don’t like, but I’m in the minority
Biscuits and gravy - prefer good biscuits with butter.
Hilaire Belloc would have thought differently – but he strikes me as very much an “I know what I like, and don’t try to persuade me otherwise” kind of chap. Quoting from memory:
In Massachusetts all the way
From Boston down to Buzzards Bay,
They feed you till you want to die
On rhubarb pie and pumpkin pie
And horrible huckleberry pie;
And when in your despair you cry,
‘What else is there that I can try?’ –
They stare at you in mild surprise
And bring you other kinds of pies.
But that is what we call flavoured gelatin - “jelly”. Fruit preserves in jars are usually called “jam”, although the term “jelly” is sometimes used for them also. I think there is some technical difference, possibly involving pips vs. no pips. No doubt a non-American jelly expert will be along shortly to clarify.
Slightly related:
Here’s a youtube page with videos of people, mostly Americans, trying snacks from countries not their own.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=americans+try+japanese+snacks
I was told that in America jelly is made from the juice of a fruit and jam is made from the fruit.
[QUOTE=GrumpyBunny]
And cheese grits is a first cousin to polenta.
[/QUOTE]
Some brands actually say both GRITS and POLENTA on the package now.
Not even close.
Bolding mine.
What the fuck does that mean? Where do get the idea it is a “Mormon food” (whatever that means)? Jell-o is for everybody! I made Jell-o for Thanksgiving. There’s always room for Jell-o!
Yes: Jelly, jam, and preserves are all in the same food category, but jelly is made from the juice, not the solid fruit; jam is made with pureed fruit; and preverses includes lumps of fruit. And then there’s marmalade (most commonly orange), made with bits of rind. All are used in more or less the same way: you can spread them on bread or rolls or biscuits, or make a PBJ (peanut butter and jelly) sandwich with them.
Jell-O is actually a brand name, for the dominant brand of fruit-flavored gelatin dessert, but it’s become somewhat genericized, like “kleenex” or “band-aid.”
Pffft. Why would one bother with store bought ingredients when one could easily deep fry their own corn chips, throw some chili together, and culture their own cheese. It so much better when you make it at home…
So many people who don’t know what chicken fried steak is? Okay…how about chicken fried chicken?
Oh. So it’s minced beef in a bun. I cannot imagine why it has not caught on here.
[QUOTE=Dale Sams]
So many people who don’t know what chicken fried steak is? Okay…how about chicken fried chicken?
[/QUOTE]
Obviously one could Google these things, but that’s no fun. So, the problem with the name “chicken fried chicken” is, how is it different from fried chicken? What, in other words, is the purpose of the word “chicken” before the word “fried”?
Frito pie is not too dissimilar to a taco salad, especially the heavy tomato kind. Heck, I’ve seen taco salads with a chili dressing.
In a tomato sauce, but yeah.
I know what the fried steak is, but what’s “chicken fried chicken”? Why do you need the chicken in there twice?
I’m sure you mean well, but pumpkin pie has an actual flour crust, just like an apple pie has (except with no top crust).