Yaaaaas. Nothing takes me back to an old-fashioned sick day like plain saltines, 7-Up, and bad daytime TV.
A saltine with cheddar cheese on top is good. A saltine with melted cheddar cheese on top is better. A Triscuit with melted cheddar, pepper jack or brie on top is the best.
Use your microwave oven, people! It’s a lousy appliance for most types of cooking, but it’s an excellent cheese-melter. It’ll turn your boring cracker/cheese combo into a gooey snack of beauty in just 7 seconds.
BTW: Keebler Buttercrisp and Club crackers make good melted cheese delivery systems, too.
Buttered matzo crackers were a favorite childhood (and adult) snack of mine. I never thought to butter a saltine cracker, however. Somehow that seems blasphemous.
And, you’ve got to commit to one type of butter for each snacking session: cow butter, or peanut butter—never the twain shall meet. They each make great toppers for crackers, bread and whatnot, but you can’t mix them together…it’s just not allowed…I’m pretty sure that was specifically prohibited in the long lost 11th Commandment.
saltines with cheddar, sliced up sweet pickles, and pepsi, that’s comfort food for me, takes me right back to being a little kid and those infrequent occasions of being allowed to stay up to watch The Late Show with Johnny Carson with my mom. On very rare occasions I’ll take a can of sardines (packed in oil or water only) mash them up in a bowl with a bit of finely chopped onion and a couple of dashes of vinegar or horseradish sauce and put that on a saltine, learned that from Grandpa as a kid also. From the exwife, I learned to mix crushed saltines with egg and tuna to make fried tuna patties.
Crumbled up in soup or chili. Especially soup – I usually put a ton of them in, so it’s nice and thick.
Campbell’s tomato soup.
Campbell’s tomato soup.
Campbell’s tomato soup.
And…oh, did I already mention… Campbell’s tomato soup?
And the saltine crackers MUST never, never, never be crumbled. You hold a whole cracker in one hand, and take a bite of it between spoonfuls of soup.
This was heaven to 8 year old me…and remains so, a half century later.
Other types of soup are also allowed, but only after you pause and pray to the saltine god for forgiveness, and promise not to forsake the One True Soup.
I’m very curious to try such a thing, though I have my suspicions that I’ll be disappointed. 40 years and no saltines…I’ve no history with them, none of my life invested in them, no Proustian madeleine connection, so I imagine I’ll just think “Oh, it’s a plain, salty cracker.”
Is there any nuance I should be seeking out?!
Here’s a raspberry 
for all the people who think they discovered the salty chocolate/caramel connection. I worked with a woman years ago who used to bring a butter pecan ice cream pie to office celebrations. The crust was crushed saltines mixed with butter and sugar, baked, and cooled. The butterscotch-y ice cream filling was perfect with the salty cracker crust.
Ah, the matzo, the saltine’s Jewish cousin. One time I buttered a couple of matzot, sprinkled on cinnamon sugar, and laid them in the toaster oven.* I didn’t keep an eye on them and they burst into flames. I unplugged the toaster oven and ran out with it onto the patio, smoke pouring out. One of the guys working in our garage was an ordained minister, and when I told him these were burning matzo crackers, asked if I was making a burnt offering. Ha. Ha. At least I’m sure it was a sweet and pleasing smoke.
It’s probably too late for the Proustian effect, but you might learn to love them as an adult.
- If you don’t mess this up, it’s delicious! Toasting a matzo in a regular vertical toaster works well, too, then slathered with butter… yum. (But keep an eye on the toaster!)
It sounds wrong, but it tastes so right: Saltines spread with a bit of mayonnaise. Salty, greasy, tangy, delicious.
One of you guys try it and back me up!
Ever make saltine cookies? This recipe is very good:https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/trisha-yearwood/sweet-and-saltines-recipe-2107651
Basically place saltines in a single layer on a baking sheet. Melt brown sugar and butter together and boil until it looks dark and caramelized. Pour over crackers. Bake at 425F for a few minutes and remove from oven. Cover with chocolate chips and spread until the chips melt. Sprinkle with chopped nuts or sea salt. Let cool and separate into individual crackers or large pieces.
Love saltines! Zesta is the best by far.
I love them…
with butter
with peanut butter
with American cheese
I put butter on them and then dip them in my soup. I like to dip them in soup without butter too.
I also will eat them plain in a pinch when I’m craving something salty and I have no potato chips.
I too remember them when they came in a block of 4. Then they went to a block of 2. I miss having them like that.
It took skill to butter them without them breaking apart.
I use them as a binder (along with eggs) when I make salmon cakes.
Yes it did!
Oh, I just remebered. I learned this from someone on the Dope, but crushed saltines are great as the breading in a schnitzel. (Works well with fish, too.) I like it better than the traditional breading.
Whipped butter is good for that- matzah too
When I visited my friend at John’s Hopkins in the mid-seventies, he insisted I try “coddies”, a deep-fried potato and cod cake served between a pair of saltine crackers with yellow mustard—a Baltimore comfort food since the 1920’s.I’ve got to admit, they were pretty danged good!
I like them as a base for ceviche. My favorite seafood place gives tostadas and saltines alongside and I switch it up.
There are indeed saltines from other regions. The Philippines have a few brands of which SkyFlakes are the most common. They package them various ways including the classic 4 x 4 in a plastic tub. Any decent Asian market should have them. I see Walmart has them listed, probably in the Import aisle as I have not noticed them with the regular saltines.
They are just as passionate about them as Americans are about Nabisco. I recall seeing a discussion on some forum complaining the ones in the US are not the same as the original versions.
Dennis
Just because, Johns Hopkins. No apostrophe.
Carry on.
Yes, yes, yes! My local grocery store sometimes has them. I love the way they’re individually wrapped so they don’t go stale. They’re good to keep in your bedroom for those times what you want a snack late at night but are too lazy (or comfy) to trek to the kitchen. And the tubs they come in are adorable! Very good for storage.