American food!

I've been a bit curious about the term myself and finally looked it up. It's because the bar that they were nominally first served at was in Buffalo New York. See:
Buffalo wing - Wikipedia
A Brief History of Buffalo Wings

 

If there is a quintessential American (and possibly Aussie and Canadian) food, it's a steak - probably medium slathered with catsup, and fries on the side. With the opening of the west and the disappearance of the buffalo, there was suddenly sixty three bazillion (an estimate) acres of free grazing land for cattle, along with railroads to take the aforementioned cows to every city on the continent where they could be rendered into (relatively) cheap steaks. You couldn't do that in Europe where cattle were a fairly expensive animal to raise and feed on small plots of land. A steak in Paris, in 1880, was only for pretty well-off people, but in New York or Baltimore with an endless supply of cheap grass-fed western beef, it was dinner for the working class.

If I was getting hung tomorrow morning and had my choice of a last dinner, no doubt I'd want a thick rib-eye, burned on the outside, bloody in the middle.

 

Otto brought Vegemite to work one day and offered me sample. That was the first and last time I will ever eat Vegemite. I looks better than it tastes and it looks like shit.

 

Does this mean then in the olden days that hunters used AA guns to kill the buffalo and then cut off their wings?

Must admit the thought of a flock of buffalo (thousands of them) going over head, makes me think of a sort of manure from the air scenario


Is is a flock of buffalo or is their another avian phrase for them? - always willing to learn
TD

 

I can see why those in USA in latter days could enjoy a steak so cheaply with extensive prairies to use as grazing. Unfortunately the vast majority of your beef cattle are now in mile upon mile of dusty feedlots feeding on troughs of corn and pumped full of antibiotics and hormones. Steak in the UK is more expensive because it is mainly grass pasture fed.

 

Actually, there are still millions of acres of grass-fed beef around. I live in the middle of an endless expanse of Arizona trust land filled with hundreds of thousands of free-range beeves. The problem (if it's a problem) is that the American palate has become more sophisticated, and grass-fed beef is lean, tough and even a bit gamey. So, these free-range beeves are now mostly marketed for hamburger, sausage, whatever, while choice steaks now come from those feedlots you mention where the food is various rich grains and agricultural by-products like beet residue (after the sugar is extracted) and similar tops/roots/silage that would otherwise be discarded.

 

I do envy your availability of fresh buttermilk for making pancakes and waffles. It was used extensively in Scotland and Ireland for drinking and baking up until the 60's then seemed to disappear. I now have to search for it and it only comes in a very expensive small carton. We still produce butter so I can only presume that the leftover milk goes for animal feed. I am now waiting for it to be labelled a superfood (my interpretation of superfood is something that my grandmother and generations before her knew was good and nutritious. It is now 'discovered' by pretentious chefs who then promote it at a premium price )

 

I have to laugh at the response from talk. Very British stiff upper lip and no acknowledgement or thanks for the tons of Spam you supplied that saved us from starvation in WW2.

 

Personally, I'm OK with the British not being overly grateful for all that Spam. The bonus was that the tins could be hammered into Sten guns, which were a great aid to the war effort.

 

To tell you the truth, I really expected those sort of responses, or a lack of responses altogether. And I really like Spam myself too. Thin fried on a sammich or with eggs isn't too bad tasting.

 

Dude, catchup on a steak, really? A little Bold and Spicy A1 maybe, but catchup?

 

Best breakfast I ever had in the military was the western omelettes at the 29 Palms chow hall; that includes the food served aboard the USS Manitowoc that had received an award for having the best food in the navy. They had racks and racks of white porcelain bowls with three fresh eggs in each, add salt and pepper, they'd wisk it real quick then spread it on the griddle, then added chopped ham, bell pepper, sweet onions (Vidalia are the best), shredded cheddar cheese, then top with a little bit of salsa, and fresh sliced jalapenos were optional, before folding it over. Being a born pepper belly I always had the jalapenos. Man those things were about 3" thick, filled with goodness. That was back in the day when we had Marine cooks, now they're civilian contractors and could care less about the food quality. (according to the sons)

Speaking of wings, I ate at Champy's a couple weeks ago and posted this picture to facebook; biggest chicken wing ever. Bobby commented and told me it was from a Pterodactyl, Brad claimed it was a cat.



That place had the best baked beans I've ever had also. A true all-American meal. I'd already done in a couple of the wings, the bones are on the napkin above the plate.

 

Ketchup in Australia is called sauce...or tomato sauce...or "dead horse"...
Plenty of beef product in Australia, especially in the Territory...we feed Indonesia and China the best beef they've seen...so much so that they've now bouight half our cattle stations and imported our breeding cattle so they don't have to buy it off us anymore....umm....that sucks!
But we do lamb, we know lamb (as do the Kiwis - know them a little too well!) Ah New Zealand, where men are men and sheep are nervous.
As for vegemite...would it help to call it a concentrate? If you swigged a cordial bottle, you'd reel back and say ewww what a sickly sweet syrupy piece of crap! Not knowing that you have to water it down by 95% its always going to taste crap...so if you dip a finger into the jar, get a tea spoon full...its gunna taste full on and burn....but if spread thinly on a piece of toast one might actually "get" Vegemite...

 

I was thinking the same thing. I've eaten lots of things on steak but ketchup is way down on the list, below even just plain salt and pepper. A1, Heinz, or a good salsa ....

 

Never thought to use pepper sauce on lima beans. When I was growing up only like them with mashed potatoes for some reason. Loved the pepper sauce on greens, green beans, navy beans, black-eyed peas, ... Used to be able to find it anywhere can't find it up here in Michigan at all anymore. Need to start making my own again.

 

Vegemite is/was a by-product of making beer...I think the first use for it they tried was as axle grease...but on toast and bread it's at its best. Goes well with cheese...they even tried a vegimite flavoured cheese thinking it was an obvious step...everyone tried it, almost everyone hated it.

 

Just looked at the definitions on urban dictionary ... Some attempts at humor are much more successful than others.
I'll try some vegemite if you try some "strawberry surprise"