Southern food eat-out with a Southern Girl
When it comes to dine in a foreign place and order something seems alien to you, it’s better to have someone local showing the way. Today I am fortunate enough to have the pretty, lovely Kristen, eating out together at a Southern Food restaurant Cracker Barrel.
Choices are many, ranging from breakfast to lunch set. For fear that it will be the last time of dining here, I choose a sampling plate—Country Dinner Plates, including any choice of meat, two country vegetables, homemade biscuits or corn muffins, hoping that could crave my curiosity for Southern Cooking.
We ordered two plates in total. Main courses are Grilled catfish filet and half pound hamburger steak. Sides include breaded fried okra, dumplins, corn, and macaroni n’Cheese. To me, American food means greasy, salty, and big portions. Surprisingly, only the first characteristics is proven right—even Kristen has to use a napkin to soak up the excessive oil. The hand-length tasteless catfish can be enlivened only a bit with the mixed white sauce. Half-bound burger steak (huh yes, huge) impresses its eaters with its size, barely.
As for the sides, everything is served either in small bowls or in small plates, with the most important ingredient for Southern cooking—sauce: yellow cheese, white chicken broth gravy, and brown beef gravy. The yellowish works pretty well on the Marcaroni n’Cheese with the real cheesy aroma and texture. But obviously, the white one fails to save the Private Ryan this time. Wonton-skin sized, the dumplins (i.e. mini cooked pasties) layered and glued hard in the white sauce. Monotonously white and invariably taste flat, both dumplins and sauce sink to the bottom of my choice. I have only saved the top one layer out of courtesy.
I have to confess that I am not a big fan of fried stuff. So I am not qualified to say much about the fried okra. But I am certainly someone who after good biscuits, back to the glorious days of KFC. The mini-version of corn muffins and biscuits are the only thing I keep digging in. I experience what it calls “genuine authenticity” when I eat the cutie corn muffins; Kristen keeps buttering the little yellow cake for me in my hand! When I try the jam, she even yells! She frowns and forbids me from layering the blue berry jam on the muffins!
The best part is always the cutie personality the southern people possess.
Choices are many, ranging from breakfast to lunch set. For fear that it will be the last time of dining here, I choose a sampling plate—Country Dinner Plates, including any choice of meat, two country vegetables, homemade biscuits or corn muffins, hoping that could crave my curiosity for Southern Cooking.
We ordered two plates in total. Main courses are Grilled catfish filet and half pound hamburger steak. Sides include breaded fried okra, dumplins, corn, and macaroni n’Cheese. To me, American food means greasy, salty, and big portions. Surprisingly, only the first characteristics is proven right—even Kristen has to use a napkin to soak up the excessive oil. The hand-length tasteless catfish can be enlivened only a bit with the mixed white sauce. Half-bound burger steak (huh yes, huge) impresses its eaters with its size, barely.
As for the sides, everything is served either in small bowls or in small plates, with the most important ingredient for Southern cooking—sauce: yellow cheese, white chicken broth gravy, and brown beef gravy. The yellowish works pretty well on the Marcaroni n’Cheese with the real cheesy aroma and texture. But obviously, the white one fails to save the Private Ryan this time. Wonton-skin sized, the dumplins (i.e. mini cooked pasties) layered and glued hard in the white sauce. Monotonously white and invariably taste flat, both dumplins and sauce sink to the bottom of my choice. I have only saved the top one layer out of courtesy.
I have to confess that I am not a big fan of fried stuff. So I am not qualified to say much about the fried okra. But I am certainly someone who after good biscuits, back to the glorious days of KFC. The mini-version of corn muffins and biscuits are the only thing I keep digging in. I experience what it calls “genuine authenticity” when I eat the cutie corn muffins; Kristen keeps buttering the little yellow cake for me in my hand! When I try the jam, she even yells! She frowns and forbids me from layering the blue berry jam on the muffins!
The best part is always the cutie personality the southern people possess.
posted by 金水 at
6:29 PM
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