American food!! I can’t stop thinking about it having just come back from the U.S. I love this lavish, comfort food. The thought of American diners just gets the mouth watering. Southern fried chicken, hot dogs, fries with melted cheese, clam chowders and you can’t forget hamburgers. When I was in Washington I had some of the finest Buffalo Wings in a little typical American diner which was almost 60 years old. I swear I could have just sat there and ate those little morsels all night and don’t get me started on the pork ribs, bloody amazing!
The one thing I will definately go back to the U.S. for would be some Southern food, to taste things like gumbo, jambalaya and generally Creole food. I love the spices, the intense, bold, huge flavours that this type of food has. There’s very little refinement in the food, just huge flavours which are so indulgent that you can’t help but come back for more. This is type of food and cooking is one I so enjoy cooking and eating. It’s honest cooking, with so much history behind it. Cooking is changing so much these days and I think sometimes it is very important to just enjoy the simple things, there are so many benefits from doing so, for one it’s easy to understand, easy to cook and damn easy to eat! No use of gels and foams here!
This recipe is great for BBQ’s or as Americans would call it – “cook outs”. Simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl and rub it into ribs, meats for grilling or even fish. Great for things like gumbo as the spice mix as well as for a spice mix for Southern fried chicken. Mix this spice mix with flour then you marinate your chicken in butter milk over night, douse it in egg wash then into the Cajun spice mix, shallow fried in vegetable oil and serve collard greens and grits. Man oh man what a meal!
Start with this recipe, I will blog about all the other dishes I have mentioned at a later time to see if a Filipino-Australian can cook American food!
Cajun Spice Mix
¼ cup salt
2 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. freshly ground white pepper
1 Tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. chilli powder
¼ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp ground mustard
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Method
Place all ingredients in a container and mix well.