Costanza? Is that you?
Either that or Amish Cheese…
You decide… these both have substantial tradition and superior quality. Personally, I’m in favor of the Amischkäserei. True artisinal.
I honestly think that, no matter what part of America in which you were raised, you grew up on grilled cheese and tomato soup. The accoutrements may vary, but the basic idea is there.
I’ve never, EVER heard an American say that he or she doesn’t like grilled cheese. Individuals my PREFER other food, or they may choose to eschew American cheese for gruyere and add sliced pear to the mix. But, for my money - and despite the many, MANY noble attempts in this thread - grilled cheese and tomato soup may well be the classic American comfort food.
Yeah, you may be onto something. I can take or leave the tomato soup (I prefer having some salsa that I can dip my sandwich into), but the grilled cheese is fantastic comfort food: warm, not all that complicated flavorwise, fatty, and salty.
Daniel
Not when I’m done cooking it it isn’t.
Violet Beauregarde’s last meal before juicing is quintessentially American.
All the baked potato fixings include Sweet Butter, Sour Cream, and Chives. {Salt and Pepper}
… or does “all the fixings” mean roast beef, gravy, horseradish, a baked potato with butter, sour cream and chives, along with a veg such as peas or corn, with bread/roll and butter?
Well I have to be honest and admit it’s not MY recipe but I will be willing to share as long as you agree to never call it ‘goat curry’ again and only refer to it using it’s proper name ‘curry goat’. Trust me, Jamaicans get really annoyed if you don’t!
Recipe link: Lifestyle | Stream free on Channel 4
I followed the recipe almost to the letter but also added spring onions/scallions (about 5) to the marinade and also added a tablespoon of sugar to the oil when browning the curry powder. This recipe produced the best curry goat I’ve ever had and I’ve eaten a lot! For excellent rice an’ peas I followed this recipe:
I use the first recipe but substitute the kidney beans for gungo peas (tinned). To be honest this doesn’t make the rice an’ pea you usually get with Jamaican food but I think it’s nicer particularly with this curry goat recipe.
Irie.
Thanks for all the responses guys! You have made my life really difficult though as it’s going to be really hard to choose what to cook. Here is my sample menu; do you reckon it’s authentic enough?
Breakfast:
Sausages and Pancakes with maple syrup.
I am going to use some all pork chipolatas and make homemade pancakes. I also have some really good quality maple syrup to go with it as well, served with black coffee and freshly squeezed OJ.
Lunch:
Tomato soup with grilled cheese.
Do you think I should make homemade soup or would Heinz be more authentic? For the grilled cheese, cheddar on standard white bread?
Dinner:
Starter: I haven’t really got a starter; I was going to do the tomato soup that I’m now doing for lunch - any ideas?
Main course: Chicken fried steak, baked potato, gravy and green beans with some corn on the cob on the side.
Dessert: Milk and cookies
Drinks: I’m going to look for Sam Adams as I think they sell it in Tesco, failing that I have an awesome beer emporium just out of town that should definitely stock something American that isn’t Shitweiser (I apologise but my hatred of Budweiser is almost overwhelming at times!) and we are going to drink Woodford Creek, Makers Mark and bottled coke (not necessarily mixed) as well.
So, whaddya reckon?
I know the milk and cookies thing is a bit of a cop out as far as making dessert goes but I think it’s really American and I’m not that big on puds so we are going to roll with that. I did toy with the idea of making some kind of prototype peanut butter and jelly ice cream in my new ice cream maker but it’s not really a ‘classic’ is it?
Martha Stewart’s grilled cheese sandwich.
Pretty timid. 
Man, shot down!
Well the lunch was really an afterthought and wasn’t part of the plan - what if I make the tomato soup the starter?
Ok, Walloon have you got an alternative suggestion?
Excellent! I recommend making buttermilk pancakes. They’re superior.
Make your own damn soup; with homemade soup, this is great. Canned tomato soup is gross.
Okay, this one I have some problems with. I don’t eat chicken-fried steak, so others may need to correct me here, but I think it’s a breakfast food, not a dinner food (on looking over the thread, I’m seeing it mentioned for both breakfast and dinner). The combination of things on this menu looks weird to me: are you planning on putting gravy on a baked potato? That ain’t done, even if it’d be delicious: gravy goes on mashed potatoes, not baked. Bake spuds get sour cream, chives, bacon, butter, salt, pepper, some combination of that stuff. And I’d get rid of the corn on the cob: it’s delicious but very starchy, and you’ve got the starch covered with the potato.
For drinks, Sam Adams would work, but there are much better American beers. I’d go by that emporium and tell the beer person what you’re making and get their advice on a good American beer that they stock. And DO NOT mix your Woodford Reserve or Maker’s Mark with Coke! They’re sippin bourbons, and priced accordingly. If you want to mix something with Coke, buy something cheaper.
Finally, milk and cookies is a traditional after-school snack in the US. Serving it to an adult for after-dinner dessert would be pretty weird, unless you were self-consciously regressing to childhood. It’d be much more common to forego dessert entirely; if you want to do one, I’d recommend a fruit pie, such as lemon meringue or apple.
Daniel
Ok, I will make my own soup; I am pretty good at making soup but want to get it just right should it basically be a homemade version of Heinz Cream of Tomato? If I make homemade tomato soup it tends to lean towards having fresh basil and olive oil or crème fraiche or something, surely not very authentic?
Ok, so the main course is a bit screwy - let’s re-think it. I could do the Boston bean thing which I think sounds amazing, can anyone recommend a starter that would fit with it?
I will check with my beer guy, I expect he’ll have something decent in. I won’t mix it with coke but my guests might as I’m not sure they like straight bourbon - I can get my booze wholesale so it is actually not that expensive (a bottle of Maker’s Mark wholesale is slightly cheaper than a bottle of Jack from the supermarket) so I will allow them to ruin it with coke if they so wish!
The milk and cookies thing is kind of ironic, none of the people coming over are big dessert fiends plus we may well indulge in some kind of ‘jazz cigarette’ at the end of the meal and surely the greatest accompaniment to that is milk and really nice cookies? I could possibly stretch to warm chocolate brownies and ice cream though.
No, God no! I mean yes on the standard white bread, but the cheese must be American. Kraft makes two kinds of authentic American cheese. Check the packaging carefully. Do NOT buy “cheese food” or “cheese product” or cheese anything other than just plain cheese.
(I would slather mine with mayo, and top the finished product with a couple of dill pickle slices.)
ETA: The reason you need American cheese is to get the right melt (and taste).
I’m not sure if I can find American cheese other than the highly processed slices you get, like the ones you get in burgers, is this what you mean? I was under the impression that most of the cheese in America was just the kind of generic, mild cheddar style. Is this wrong?
Since it’s just past the new year, how about Hoppin John ? Great name, American as apple pie, tastes fabulous…mmmmm.
This is what I had for dinner last night minus the Ritz.
I told my BF that whoever was the first person to dunk a grilled cheese into tomato soup deserves some type of God-like status for passing the ritual on to others.
Right you are - my apologies. **Cluricaun **- Cap’n Crunch? Seriously?! Gross.
Yes, like the ones in burgers. Read this article on American cheese, and this article on grilled cheese sandwich, which states “Cheddar is most commonly used whilst in the US, traditionally American cheese is used”. So if you want traditional American food, that’s the way to go.