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| Bacon & Egg
Breakfast sandwiches are ubiquitous, and it's rare to find one that's really bad. The combination of buttery eggs with bacon or sausage and perhaps cheese can't go wrong. Some of the best breakfast sandwiches you will eat anywhere are in New York, at a street cart called Tony's, which parks at Nassau and Wall starting about four am, Monday through Friday.
The difference between Tony's sandwich and most others is that it's bigger and the bread is better than an ordinary hard roll. A hard roll can be relatively fluffy; but the nature of a New York-style long-roll sandwich depends on a tubular length of bread that has real muscle: less a matter of crust than of chew. That kind of character is needed to absorb all the juiciness of this luscious breakfast.
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| Buckwheat Cakes
The Courtesy Coffee Shop of Winchester, Indiana, is long gone, but when we came across it in our travels back in the 1980s, we managed to secure its recipe for buckwheat cakes. The ladies of Winchester like them broad and elegant-textured. If you like them thicker, simoply reduce the amount of buttermilk you add. (Note: buckwheat flour is available at most organic or natural grocery stores.)
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| Butter Burgers
Milwaukee's great flavors include wursts and sausages of every kind, dreamy custard, fish fries, and wondrous German, Czech, Polish, and Serbian dishes found in few other cities in America. Milwaukee also happens to be hamburger heaven, its unique specialty the butter burger. This recipe calls for 6-8 tablespoons, but as the accompanying picture (of a butter burger -- with cheese -- from Solly's Grille) shows, there is no such thing as too much butter on a Milwaukee butter burger.
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| Buttermilk Pancakes
Blessed with smoke houses, artisan bakeries, and excellent maple syrup, Vermont is a fine place to eat breakfast. The Dorset Inn is especially great. These are chef Sissy Hicks' simple and perfect buttermilk pancakes.
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| Cheddar Corn Pancakes
Cheddar corn pancakes are a delicious legacy of Gail's Station House of West Redding and Ridgefield, Connecticut. They are sweet and savory and even more delicious when blanketed with warm maple syrup.
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| Chicken Fried Steak
Our chicken fried steak recipe is based on a meal served to us at the home of the all-time greatest rodeo champ, Jim Shoulders, and his wife Sharon. They're in the cattle business, touting the health benefits of their extra-lean Salorn cattle. However, even the leanest cut of cow is not going to transform this gravy-topped luxury dish into a meal that is virtuously Spartan.
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| Chivito
The chivito is a flabbergasting hot Dagwood that combines the triple joy of a BLT, a cheese steak, and a ham and cheese sandwich all on one bun! Fernando Peryera, who was inspired to offer this sandwich at his restaurant, The Olive Market, in Georgetown, Connecticut, recommends serving the monumental creation with French fries; but chips are perfectly appropriate.
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| Cincinnati Chili
Bearing no resemblance to any Southwestern-style “bowl of red,” Cincinnati chili often is called five-way because there are five separate layers in its full configuration. No Cincinnati chili cook will give out his recipe, but this one comes pretty close to the superlative five-way served at our favorite Queen City chili parlor, Camp Washington.
Oyster crackers are the traditional garnish, and the proper companion beverage is a milk shake or sweet soda pop.
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| Clam Cakes
Clam cakes make any seafood meal sing. Serve them alongside fisherman's stews such as cioppino or bouillabaisse, or along with grilled salmon or swordfish or halibut. For a less ambitious meal, you hardly need a main course. Simply serve clam cakes and chowder or lobster stew, with strawberry shortcake or wild blueberry pie for dessert. There you have a genuine summertime Downeast feast!
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| Clam Hash
We've not seen clam hash on a menu other than at Pat's Kountry Kitchen, but it has deep roots in Yankee cookery. Founder Pat Brink told us that her recipe was developed when her kids accidentally threw away the broth retrieved from a batch of clams that were destined to become clam chowder. Without the broth, there could be no chowder; and so Pat improvised and created hash. This recipe is not hers, but comes pretty close.
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| Country Cornbread
Other than buttermilk biscuits and red-eye gravy, country ham's best companion is a corn cake. Known throughout the mid-south as cornbread, it is a batter-based circle of steamy starchiness that is griddle-cooked just like a morning pancake. It comes on the side of many meat-and-three meals and serves as a wonderful sop for pushing through gravy of any kind. Most Southern cooks use White Lily self-rising flour and self-rising corn meal; but if you can't get them, it's almost as easy to use baking powder and soda, as follows. This recipe makes 8-10 cakes.
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| Country Ham Biscuit
Vandyland was a counter-and-booth sweet shop near Vanderbilt University in Nashville; a staff member once told us that its name came about when the owners bought what was then called Candyland and wanted to change signs with minimal expense. It was the ham biscuit that first won our hearts to this place, which finally closed its doors in 2006: classic buttermilk biscuits sandwiching sizzled pieces of quarter-inch thick country ham, each slice rimmed with amber fat.
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| Crab Cakes
The secret of great crab cakes is to use the most amount of crab and as little binder as you can get away with to hold the cake together. Of course, the quality of the crab meat crucial. Fresh-picked Chesapeake Bay crab or Dungeness crab is best.
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| Croque Monsieur
Food historians believe the croque monsieur originally was served early in the 20th century in a Paris cafe. Since that time it has became a favorite quick, inexpensive hot meal for students, travelers on a budget, and goopy cheese lovers.
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| French Toast
The Dorset Inn serves three meals a day, but we like breakfast best. It's such a cozy, friendly place to start the day. Chef Sissy Hicks' French toast is unusual in that it is made with baguette bread that is lightly browned in a pan but then baked, resulting in a nice crunch to the outside and creamy character within.
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| Fried Bologna
There us balogna, then there is balogna. At G&R Tavern in Waldo, Ohio, the house-made lunch meat is sliced thick and is seriously flavorful stuff, a pork and beef blend that is garlic-scented and fatty enough that when it sizzles in a skillet, it develops a wickedly savory crust enveloping the moist meat within. G & R loads it into a sandwich with sweet pickles and onion (a great condiment combo), or your choice of mustard, mayonnaise, or tomato. Fitting side dishes include a variety of deep fried vegetables and curly fries.
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| Fried Chicken Bon Ton
There is no printed menu at the Bon Ton Mini Mart because everyone comes to eat one thing: chicken. Located in a former convenience store / truck stop, this out-of-the-way treasure is an unlikely place indeed to find fine food; but in fact this chicken is some of the best you ever will eat: salty, spicy, moist and bursting with flavor.
The spice mix used for Bon-Ton chicken is a closely-guarded secret, but cook Donna King shared with us its fundamental ingredients as well as the basic principle of a long marinade – at least twenty-four hours. During that time, she explained, blood seems to be drawn from the meat, allowing a briefer frying time, resulting in the juiciest possible chicken with flavor insinuated into every fiber. She also told us that the pieces must rest five or ten minutes and "get doughy" after being dredged in spiced flour, and that pure vegetable shortening will insure it is grease-free.
Remember: Begin marinating the chicken the day before you plan to cook it!
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| Fritos Pie
The Five and Dime General Store, on the Plaza in Santa Fe, is the only place we know that still serves Fritos pie in a Fritos bag. You'll find this inspired mix of chips, chili, and cheese throughout the Southwest, and legend says that it was invented on the Plaza, when this place used to be the old Woolworth's. You don't want to use a sophisticated or overly hot chili in this dish. It is lunch-counter fare, and should be accessible to all taste buds.
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| Green Tomato BLT
Of all the variations on the classic theme of the BLT, the Loveless Cafe's version, layered with crisp fried green tomatoes, is one of the most beguiling. The tang of the tomatoes and their brittle crunch provides extraordinary balance for the savor of bacon and gentle notes of mayo and lettuce.
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| Grilled Ham & Cheese
At the S&S Dugout, ham and beef are sliced to order for every sandwich, and they are available either cold or hot. We definitely recommend the latter. A key element in making a ham sandwich the S&S way is to slice the meat ultra-thin and mix it up well. Reminiscent of the chip-chopped ham of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the pale pink leaves must not be layered flat, but should be clumped together like the petals of a rose.
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| Haystack Potatoes
We first heard hash browns called haystack potatoes at a great steak dinner in a tavern/restaurant called The Gardens in Walnut, Iowa. You can make these as crisp and crusty or soft as you wish.
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| Hoosier Tenderloin
Nick's Kitchen lists its tenderloin on the menu with a challenge that's ironic considering its culinary history: "Bet You Need Both Hands". Two hands are barely adequate for hoisting the colossal sandwich, which is built around a wavy disk of audibly crunchy pork that extends a good two to three inches beyond the circumference of a five-inch bun, virtually eclipsing its plate.
Please note that prep time is only ten minutes, but that the tenderloins should marinate in the refrigerator overnight before preparation.
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| Hoppel Poppel
If you are looking for a really big breakfast in Wisconsin or Iowa, find a place that serves hoppel poppel. At Benji's deli in Milwaukee it is part of a large menu that includes such traditional Jewish fare as corned beef and fried kreplach. It is listed as a Benjy's special, and customers have their choice of regular hoppel poppel, which is browned potatoes, salami, and scrambled eggs, or super hoppel poppel, which added green peppers, mushrooms, and melted cheese to the formula. This recipe makes 4 very large servings or 6 modest ones.
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| Hot Bacon Dressing
Dandelion greens topped with hot bacon dressing is a true Pennsylvania Dutch specialty. When the dandelion greens are not in season, a nice tossed salad will do. Many people like this salad before a hearty serving of Turkey Pot Pie.
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| Matzoh Brie
In case you aren't familiar with Old Testament cuisine, matzoh is the unleavened bread made by Jews when they beat a fast retreat from Egypt and had no time to wait for yeast to work. You'll find fried matzoh, aka matzoh brie, in many Jewish delis and breakfast restaurants from coast to coast. It ranges from scrambled eggs with a few bits of matzoh to matzohs barely bound with a bit of egg. Our version is dry enough to eat pieces of it with your fingers, but also perfectly suitable as fork food. You can adjust the number of eggs and amount of sour cream to vary its moistness.
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| Meaty Chili and Cheddar Sandwich
Clementine is a neighborhood bakery-cafe in the Westwood/Century City part of Los Angeles that celebrates Grilled Cheese Month (April) with a festival that features a different grilled cheese sandwich every day. Chef Annie Milar's favorite is meaty chili and cheddar, variations of which sometimes include a hot dog and go by the name of Coney Island Grilled Cheese. She describes the sandwich as "gooey, sloppy, and delicious." She also noted, "This recipe makes enough chili for about 6 sandwiches, so that is what I have made the rest of the recipe for, but you could make fewer sandwiches and just freeze the leftover chili for future use."
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| Migas
Migas is a Tex Mex breakfast dish in which eggs are scrambled with tortillas and usually some breakfast meat and cheese. The tortillas soften when they cook with the eggs, creating a wonderful texture to the dish. Be creative and add whatever ingredients you might think of putting in an omelet. This recipe makes one serving. Double or quadruple it for more.
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| Mighty Ity
As its name suggests, Super Duper Weenie is primarily a hot dog place. But it is also a great source for cheese steaks as well as for a superb Mighty Ity Italian sausage sandwich. When chef Gary Zemola gave us the recipe for that one, he said that he felt the key to making it great – beyond using excellent ingredients – is time. "Don't rush anything when making a Mighty Ity," he said. "Let the flavors meld."
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| Monte Cristo
The Monte Cristo sandwich arrived in America from France considerably some time in the 1930s. Most historians agree that it was based on the croque monsieur, a French sandwich made of Gruyere cheese and ham and fried in butter. It first appeared on menus and in cookbooks as the "French sandwich," and it is believed that it got its name, Monte Cristo, some time in the 1960s in Southern California.
This recipe is from Bakers Cafe, in Charleston.
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| New Joe Special
I won't get into the complete genealogy of the New Joe Special (because I cannot; it's too confusing), but the most credible tale of its origin is that it was invented late one night at San Francisco's New Joe's Restaurant to feed a hungry musician who ordered a spinach omelet but asked the chef if he could add anything to make his eggs more substantial. The chef said he had some hamburger meat left over from dinner hour. Now, all around the Bay Area, you will find menus that list Original Joes, New Joes, Baby Joes, and just plain Joes, all of which are a variation of the skillet meal that includes ground beef, spinach, and eggs. We like it at Original Joe's in San Jose (since 1956), where it is called the Joe's Special and the menu alerts customers, "We are not associated with any other 'Joe's' restaurants."
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| Sautéed Fresh Calf Liver
Many otherwise adventurous eaters put calf liver on their short list of inedible dishes. But for those of us who love it, there's none better than served at the Dorset Inn of Dorset, Vermont. Chef Sissy Hicks explained its popularity on the menu by saying, "No two people in a family like calf liver, so it is rarely cooked at home." Thus, when liver-lovers dine at the Inn, it is their opportunity to indulge.
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| Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup
The silk-smooth texture of cannelini sings excellent harmony with rugged sausage in this recipe from Chicago's Harry Caray's
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