# The humble saltine cracker
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 28, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712 "2018-02-28T00:47:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/1 "2018-02-28T00:47:36Z")
Where does it fit into your culinary repertoire (if at all)?
I like them with peanut butter, butter, cheddar cheese slices, and crumbled into soup or chili. I would like to learn some new ways to love them.
Do you have a preferred brand? I don’t, except that I want the original salted-- not salt-free, fat free, herb-flavored, or any other twisted iteration that someone can invent.
For those of you who remember the Generic packaging craze of the early 80s where things came in packages/cans/bottles with a plain black and white label, the generic saltines were great. They were a little browner and toastier than the brand-name crackers.
Are there saltines in other countries (I never go anywhere)?
Saltines have near cousins: the pilot biscuit and those little crackers that are supposed to go in chowder. (Those guys can be made into a compelling snack by tossing a whole bag first with a bit of olive oil to make them sticky and then with ranch dressing powder. Yum.)
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/2 "2018-02-28T00:49:52Z")
As crazy as this may sound, I love them with chili. Dipped in butter, then dipped in chili.
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### Author:  [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/3 "2018-02-28T01:22:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Where does it fit into your culinary repertoire (if at all)?
>
> Saltines have near cousins: the pilot biscuit and those little crackers that are supposed to go in chowder. (Those guys can be made into a compelling snack by tossing a whole bag first with a bit of olive oil to make them sticky and then with ranch dressing powder. Yum.)
I love them with the oil (but not olive, just a little corn or canola, for minimal added flavor) and ranch! Have to make them every year around Christmas.
As for plain saltines, I always forget about them but they are great with cheddar cheese slices or spread, or with butter.
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### Author:  [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/4 "2018-02-28T01:24:16Z")
Oyster crackers for Chili and Chowder. All other soups get crushed saltines. Any spread, cheese, summer sausage, etc. gets a “fancy” cracker like a Ritz. Occasionally I’ll put Chicken Salad on a Saltine because it reminds me of my childhood.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/5 "2018-02-28T01:26:05Z")
They used to serve saltines at my daughter’s after school program. Except they served the unsalted ones. So she called them “tines” (teens), since they had no salt. Always thought that was clever.
I’ve discovered the round ones. For some reason I like those best
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### Author:  [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/6 "2018-02-28T01:59:25Z")
I eat them only with tuna salad. Townhouse crackers are used for my other cracker needs (with cheese slices, cheese ball, or camp stew).
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/7 "2018-02-28T02:10:33Z")
We used to eat them plain, out of the wax paper sleeve. My brother used put catsup on them. He’s a weenie-head, though.
That reminds me Vienna sausages are good with saltines.
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### Author:  [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/8 "2018-02-28T02:17:10Z")
I like them with butter as a stand alone snack. No soup needed.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/9 "2018-02-28T02:23:03Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#):
>
> As crazy as this may sound, I love them with chili. Dipped in butter, then dipped in chili.
Chili is my favorite dip, preferably as spicy as possible…with tortilla chips, Triscuits, Wheat Thins, Ritz, whatever.
I prefer any of the above to plain crackers myself, although I do like oyster crackers in my clam chowder. 🙂
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### Author:  [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/10 "2018-02-28T03:15:33Z")
That reminds me, I need to restock my pantry. I like to have them around for the occasional munchie attack and/or stomach ailments.
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/11 "2018-02-28T03:16:53Z")
For a long time, I thought “saltine” was a brand name. I only realized it was a common name a few years ago.
Anyway, I like them with soup. I don’t much care for them with cheese or peanut butter.
Nutella on a saltine is lovely. Well, Nutella on almost anything is lovely. But the sweet and salty combination of Nutella and saltines is so good.
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### Author:  [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/12 "2018-02-28T03:21:36Z")
I like them with chili, although cornbread is my first choice there. I make peanut butter crackers with them sometimes, They sometimes hit the spot if I don’t feel very well but want a little something. I crush them up and use them as the binder to make salmon patties.
I remember seeing recipes for toffee candy made with them. I have never done it but this might interest you since you’re looking in to new uses. Google “toffee recipe crackers” if this interests you.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/13 "2018-02-28T03:50:04Z")
I don’t have anything exciting to add. I could eat an entire sleeve with peanut butter and a big glass of milk. Every day. For eternity (as long as there’s always milk).
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/14 "2018-02-28T03:50:38Z")
Saltines are okay–not in my cracker top 10 list, but they’re perfectly fine with just about any topping. I seem to remember them being offered up as a digestive aid for upset stomachs when I was a kid.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/15 "2018-02-28T03:59:49Z")
> [@blondebear](#):
>
> Saltines are okay–not in my cracker top 10 list, but they’re perfectly fine with just about any topping. I seem to remember them being offered up as a digestive aid for upset stomachs when I was a kid.
And a glass of 7-Up. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/16 "2018-02-28T04:14:11Z")
I like them with butter, but you have to stack them three high when you eat them: cracker, butter, cracker, butter, cracker (hey, them’s the rules; I don’t make 'em up). I also like them with both butter and peanut butter at the same time.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/17 "2018-02-28T04:19:08Z")
I do like saltines, but I almost never have them around. If I have crackers, it’s usually a Ritz-type cracker I have but 90% of the time, you’re not going to find crackers in my house. We’re just not really cracker eaters around here. But either of those with a smear of liverwurst on them. Yumm!!!
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/18 "2018-02-28T04:38:56Z")
I miss the four attached crackers making one giant saltine like they had when I was little.
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/19 "2018-02-28T04:52:01Z")
My father taught me to eat them with vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce. If the ice cream is soft, use the saltines as a scoop. Otherwise, spoon it onto the cracker.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-humble-saltine-cracker/809712/20 "2018-02-28T05:31:35Z")
Heard tell of using them for meatloaf filler, but have never tried it.
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