If it’s “That’s Pat’s” out of Chicago, it’ isn’t bad. I paid $6/lb last time I bought it. I’ll make na’an at home and tzatziki , red onions and tomato and you’re there. It’s not as lamby as I’d like, so I’ll nuke some, then quick brown it in some lamb fat I have saved. This is why I save fats.
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Me too
I loved lunch counter lunches. It was a treat! I even sometimes went by myself, even though I hated to eat alone!
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I legit like scrapple. never had the scrapple cracklins you make with the busted off pieces. Good idea, and roux that leftover flour for gravy. Chick a la King. One of my mom’s signature dishes. I’d beg her to make chicken Tet, and I got a la King. Still, when I saw a can of Swanson’s a la King, I bought that sucker and had it for lunch at work one day. Brought back the “King.” I have never made chicken a la King. The one thing my mom would put our ancient nutmeg on.
KFC spicy/crispy, back in the 80’s was a homerun for me. Now, thee Popeye’s chicken sandwich is heaven. Popeye’s chicken, though I like it, can be hit or miss. If the chicken doesn’t keep moving out, you get heat lamp chicken, like you would any other chicken place.
Nothing wrong with eating supper at a supermarket or dept. store. We have a furniture store with a great pub and grub inside. Where I hang out when “I” furniture shop. I’ve noticed that just about every lunch place serves a good fish sammich. I also love to, once a year, have an open face roast beef, smashed taters and gravy.
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Mmmm. Might get some to feed my chest freezer then. Thanks.
I am sitting here at my fire breathing gamer desk top sipping on a very non craft cocktail, planning on just smoozing for a bit before I eat dinner but noooo Now I am really hungry thanks to you. We need to talk about scrapple though. To be blunt if you have scrapple cracklings you are doing scrapple wrong. Still resting up from my fried tomato post but I will return to this troubling issue. Love that you save lamb fat. I have never made liver and onions at home but my SOs grandmother used to make it. We still have diners hereabouts. I can get liver and onions with gravy and real mashed potatoes here and they give you a lot of liver. Yum. I like to keep dried beef in the fridge for an emergency SOS. Handy tasty and good. Love chicken and dumplings. Big pot, large chicken, always carrots and if I have chicken broth I like to use that instead of water, I tried making my dumplings from scratch but I got addicted to the bisquick ones. I always add time to the uncovered and covered stages because I can’t resist doubling the batch. Extra dumplings will keep til the next day and I like how they naturally thicken the broth so I don’t have to make gravy. You didn’t think I added scrapple to my fried tomatoes did you? I was typing about the thickness of the tomatoes. Chicken ala King was insanely popular back in the day. Served on puff pastry. Old school is to add slices of hard boiled eggs because it was considered “cute”. A nope for me. Oo Ihad an open faced roast beef sandwich last winter with of course mashed potatoes and gravy. And borscht and chicken noodle soup. From Pumperniks Deli. Now that warmed me up. I like cheeseburgers but fried fish stays hotter longer.
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Scrapple and tomatoes? No I didn’t think that. I thought you ran pieces of scrapple though the flour to make scrapplettes, like cracklins. Maybe not as well done as cracklins.
Nothing wrong with Bisquick dumplings. Love chicken n dumplings.
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I’ve never fried a well grown, fresh, tomato. Sounds good.
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Are Wisconsinites team drop dumpling or flat rolled dumpling for chicken and dumplings?
As I recall, on Road food we split pretty evenly by geography with flat predominating in the south, drop in the north.
We were drop in Kansas City.
No one seems to make chicken and dumplings out west.
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Well when tomatoes come in here in Penna near Philly I tend to run the Tomato Gauntlet. Just heh “just” a plate of sliced tomatoes, then every thing that tomatoes make even better. The list is long. My childhood favorite was a lettuce and tomato sandwich on white (pepperidge farm if possible) with a little mayo. Lovingly and carefully made by my uncle george was the peak experience. So it takes me awhile to get to the fried tomatoes with milk gravy. Thickness is key and I prefer thin. At least one slice will fall apart and enrich the gravy.
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No no no. Step away from the flour yo. Somehow I manage to have a little time today so: get yourself a brick of scrapple. In these parts habberset’s is preferred. You can slice off as much as you want of that greasy slab and store the rest in the fridge. Slices should be thin and for ease make them all the same thickness. Your end game is crispy on the outside creamy on the inside. Scrapple cannot be rushed. Thicker slices are tasty too but if you are short on time thin for the win. Fry in a cast iron skillet and only flip once. The grease from the scrapple should be enough but I have been known to add a little butter. Each side should be dark brown. The mennonites here must have their scrapple with apple butter but scrapple is one of the few foods I add a bit of catsup to myself. The scrapple is so flavorful that if pressed for time I will make a scrapple sandwich on white with catsup. Great on a cold winter day and fortifying.
Their loss. Drop for me.
Will watch this later but I am burning good daylight now.
Chicken and dumplings was not cooked by any of my family of origin. Had it in Egg Harbor NJ at my SOs aunt’s house. The scales fell from my eyes. I just like the taste of the bisquick dumplings. Proudest moment was when I served my mom chicken and dumplings for dinner. The next day she stopped by and I can still see her in my mind’s eye opening my fridge door and asking if there were any dumplings leftover. There were! omg gotta do some chores now but what a fun conversation.
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The tomato parade continues until the first frost. One year there was a miracle. The first frost was coming and we had plenty of our own tomatoes in rows in the back yard. We picked them all. Green fried tomatoes taste different and it is fun to watch them turn red in the pan. But even I cannot eat that many fried tomatoes. So I just chopped them into quarters mostly and simmered them all. Skins included. It was such a careless quick fix. My dad still had his bar so after hours I showed up and only his business partner Joe was there as I thought he would be. I grabbed that pot of sauce and a large box of spaghetti and a pot to boil the noodles. My SO, Joe, and I had a simple spaghetti dinner. Joe was like a second father to me. As Joe dug into the pasta his face transformed. It sounds overused to say he lit up like a christmas tree. I let the moment pass as I did not want to interrupt his bliss. When he was ready he told me “little girl” this is what he always called me, this sauce is just like my mother used to make for us at the end of the season. I didn’t frame it that way then but I had accidentally gifted him a proust memory.
Love your posts. Lots to reply to. Our dearly departed KFC was hit or miss. We had another KFC further away with a stuart’s root beer there too. Loved to get a root beer float and a coupla chili cheese dogs from there. When Stuart left the building cdc got addicted to their potato wedges. They were tasty. My local popeyes is very popular which mostly keeps it fresh. If I don’t see a decent line at the drive thru I keep going. Worth the wait for hot and fresh. That pub sounds awesome.
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Most I know here are droppers, many are speatzlers; but I was surprised to see flatties at a potluck we had at school in March. Must be a southerner amongst us. His name’s Tom. Nice guy. Ate the hell otta his C&D; and you KNOW dat dude never had Polish chop suey. I don’t think he’d ever tasted sauerkraut, so this was a nice way to ease him into it. Wait 'til he has a brat with the full sour atop. baby steps.
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I would eat flatties. My family discovered this tiny Hungarian restaurant in Trenton.Sauerbraten, red cabbage, gravy spaetzel and this amazing potato dumpling. The place was always empty and that I did not understand. Cannot imagine never having kraut. Hot dogs and kraut were offered everywhere, auctions, giant flea markets etc. Hot dogs waiting to be placed on rolls kept warm in the kraut and water. I took mine with mustard.
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I’m a mustard on hot dog guy, too. I only kraut brats. I also like to cook onions in the beer I used to marinade the brats. Beeronions and kraut on that brat. Beeronions and mustard on the dog. Natural casing, please.
I’m cool with flatties. Better flatties than the big floating blob dumpling. Quarter pound and it still almost floats. You take the bad with the good.
I think sauerbraten is sublime. I see two of my favorite old German places are no longer. Sauerbraten is just one of those things you’re less likely to make at home.
Oh, and the mustard for the hot dog. My uncle calls the yellow stuff “babyshit” mustard. If you’ve ever changed a diaper on a teething baby… Awright, I better stop. I like Chinese mustard, Silver Spring Beer N Brat mustard works for me. Mr. Mustard hot is one I loved, but can’t find anymore. Well, I can find it , for $13 a jar. Used to be $1.50. Killed that habit quick.
There’s a Hungarian sausage that was popular on the soutside of M’waukee that was my favorite grilling sausage. We just called them hot Hungarians (clever). I think there’s only a single butcher who makes them now. Kind of like a hot Italian, but with some warm paprika in there. Miss those. It’s interesting how the Austria-Hungarian empire still lives on in shared food. Some of the best goulash I’ve had in German places.
It seems many of those flavors are lost on the younger folks.
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