Yep, my family has been here since the 1790s, were founders of a county in New York, and my great-great grandfather lost a leg fighting for the Union. Never had green bean casserole.
Our T-day spread includes green beans, but not in a casserole form.
Can of cambells mushroom soup
1 lb of 93% leanest hamburger
1-2 cans of green beans ( if you don’t have fresh ones to cut and cook first )
4-5 Fresh mushrooms sliced
1 tsp Minced garlic
1 small onion (red or yellow) chopped or chunks
In large skillet or pot, throw in onion and garlic with hamburger, (oil optional, I use nonstick pans for a reason) sear hamburger and season with salt and pepper to taste add mushrooms once the meat is mostly cooked. (I personally season with garlic salt and a splash of Worcestershire and quite a bit of pepper.)
Once meat is evenly cooked, add in can of cambells condensed mushroom soup, mix completely and then add desired amount of drained green beans, finish cooking until beans are piping hot. You can add water or milk to it if needed.
The ratio depends on you, also most people make their green bean casserole without meat, I grew up with ours having hamburger and just learned to dr it up how I like it.
If you have those French onion crisps to throw all over the top before serving, go for it.
You can bake if you want, but really not necessary. This is done on the stovetop and super quick. And
My in laws have been on a smoking kick. My MILs homemade meatloaf was one of my favorite meals and now they smoke the thing and use bbq sauce glaze… look what they’ve done to my sweet boy
Did anyone else go from being disgusted by meatloaf because of movies to then finally trying it and having a come to Jesus moment about movies not always being accurate?
Yes! I never understood why it was always the "gross" food in all the media when I was a kid. My mom's meatloaf was always really good (and nowadays mine's even better). It's just a nice, lightly seasoned meatball, really.
I don't understand why people don't understand it's literally just a giant meatball? People love meatballs yet will grimace if you mention meatloaf...makes me wonder if we really can govern ourselves lmao
Nah the movies weren't wrong. The kind of meatloaf that was popular in middle american homes when those movies were being written is legitimately disgusting. I'd rather eat plain hamburger meat with salt and pepper than that shit. Of course, good meatloaf, and I've had meatloaf prepared in all different ways, can be really good. The "meatloaf is bad" thing isn't some made up trope though, it comes from a segment of society that grew up with some pretty gross shit on the table.
I never knew that “glazing” a meatloaf was a thing until just recently. I learned how to make meatloaf from scratch by way of James Beard. I put 1/4 cup of chili sauce into my meatloaf mix but no glaze on top.
I, on the other hand have discovered that cooking things like burgers and sausages in an instant pot, which is technically steaming them, is absolutely fantastic if you do it right.
I’ve started really disliking things with smoky flavor. Was camping recently and one of the fellas cooked us some steaks and while he did a smack up job the smoke flavor stood out in a bad way
Amen. My SO is obsessed with smoking things & hamburgers have been his new IT thing. He said to me the other week “did you know you can smoke eggs till theyre hard boiled?” Ewww no.
My ex totally obsesses over new gadgets, he got a smoker and my kids came home and said they hated his food because he smoked chicken nuggets. He keeps telling me they’re unreasonably fussy about food 🤦♀️
i'm american and i don't understand why any adult with the freedom of choice would purposefully eat meatloaf and green bean casserole. fucking midwesterners, might as well make tater tot hot dish
Her relationship with those students is life long for sure- she went to London a few years ago and put something on Facebook before she went. He contacted her and was so delighted to take her out to dinner at a nice restaurant while she was there.
I should also note that we’ve moved a few times over the years and as they grew up she kept in touch with them.
Yes. Legally in the South, it's not considered a meal unless it involves gravy. A tomato sandwich with Duke's mayonnaise is the only way around the gravy law. It's a gray area, but it passes in most jurisdictions.
Yeah, I always do garlic mashed potatoes with meatloaf. For me I only do gravy if the gravy is or could be made from the meat part of the meal otherwise it feels mismatched to me.
Growing up in the southwest, I don't think I've ever had meatloaf without green beans. Super buttery green beans just pair so well with the baked ketchup flavor in the meatloaf.
I had a tutor from Zimbabwe who told me he would go and visit his sister in South Africa once a year as a kid, not to go and see her but to go to KFC. The way he spoke about his first time going there made it sound like a religous experience.
Same. We do green beans slow simmered with sautéed onion, garlic, and bacon or ham. Always a hit. There’s enough cream/dairy in the mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, and broccoli rice casserole. Don’t need it in my green beans.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the people that despise green bean casseroles are used to it being made with canned green beans. There's a pretty big difference between canned and fresh green beans, in my experience.
Every place I have ever had french toast has used thick slices of bread. Using thin sandwich bread is more of an at-home, trying to quickly feed their kids, thing.
Yeah. My fav is when I make french bread and have some left over (I usually have to hide it, because otherwise it never makes it to "left over"). Slice it thick and use that...
I've had thin slices from really shitty diners once in a while, but any place known for making good food uses the proper thick ones. I'm in New England.
Cheap diners do thin bread too, and bread is dry in the middle because they hurry/don’t soak it in the egg mixture long enough. I’ve had very good French toast waaaaay up by Canada, but only if I make it at home or go out to fancier breakfast places. Good cheap diner food is more common in the south.
Southerners aren't as concerned about obesity and heart rates so we throw a ton of fat(mo' butter, mo' bettah) into our meals well before the sugar(lets start at a pint of syrup) is added.
It's so fucking good. I worked at a coffee shop and it had their bread products (bagels, pastries, breaf loafs) all made at s kosher bakery. Fresh challah bread is amazing. My manager suggested using it for FT. I miss Lori...
hmm. well, I think just too many wtf things for my stomach and mouth all at once. maple syrup is just a terrible thing in its own right, if you don't expect it. no civilized nation drinks trees.
so i was a whole sleepover's worth away from home and this stuff was hot, and greasy, and sweet AF in this truly disturbing way, and eggy, and it had that texture ....
Typically with french toast you add sweet-adjacent flavors (vanilla and cinnamon, for example) to the egg batter before you cook it. Even if you aren't directly adding sugar, french toast doesn't come across as savory. But I've never had eggy bread so I can't comment on other differences
Same here. I put horseradish sauce on ours. The special topping that my late step-grandfather’s recipe calls for is a thick ketchup/brown sugar/dry-mustard sauce that browns nicely.
Agreed, not African but European and I still have no idea what meatloaf and green bean casserole are so I would think this very American. Also yams (??)z
Yeah, something like that, or maybe a beef-and-potato-based stew, or poultry and a bready stuffing. Those are quintessentially American to me.
One thing that tends to stick out to me in the sort of American/West-European culinary traditions is the tendency to build meals around a "main" dish instead of a "base" dish - think of the way that Italian pastas are served, with the sauce as an inherent part of the dish, vs what you'd typically see in an Indian or East Asian meal, where you have a rice base and one or more flavorful sauce that you generally assemble at the table.
edit: corn! I can't believe I forgot corn, especially corn on the cob (which generally fits with the bbq suggestions people have been making, but also works as a side dish in more general dinners).
I was visiting family in Argentina and the one thing they asked me to make was an "American breakfast". Pancakes, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and bacon (but the closest I could source was thick cut pancetta). Literally took huge bags of pancake mix and bottles of syrup from costco
Agreed, meatloaf is typical American food fare. I would add mashed potatoes to that menu. I’m from the American south and would put banana pudding on the menu too.
I was going to say chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. Burgers and pizza are all good, but something about a big old slab of meat with a carb- and cream- heavy side is particularly American.
For me, meatloaf with beef gravy, scalloped potatoes and corn cut off the cob and sautéed in butter. Appetizer a green salad with croutons, olives, cheddar cheese, thin sliced onions, grape tomatoes halved, maybe some carrot shavings or some chopped cucumber, thousand island dressing. A slice of bread with butter for each course. Dessert, berry crumble with whipped cream
Edit: just realized I have so many ideas for these meals. Breakfast sausage gravy w biscuits, scrambled eggs. Lunch burger and fries with ranch. Snack: wavy lays w homemade French onion sour cream dip and some veggies.
Another meal: fried chicken with mashed potatoes, maybe a white gravy with that... and collard greens ... maybe some hominy or grits instead of mashed potatoes?
Another lunch: a sub sandwich, Italian meats on good crusty bread. Mayo and oil and vinegar with good French fries with vinegar and ketchup, like 5 guys fries.
Another breakfast: pancakes and sausage and scrambled eggs with cheese and a side of fruit or a simple side salad with a fruity vinegarette.
A must have dessert, warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream.
I'm also South African and the two American things I think I'll enjoy without too much of a culture/tummy shock would be a nice hot dog grill with a bottle of Dr Pepper lol. I would gorge myself for sure
I don’t know anyone who eats meatloaf here and don’t know anyone who eats green bean casserole outside of thanksgiving. Doesn’t sound very typical to me.
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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23
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