Food in the United States

Food in the United States: You should not go to the United States to taste the “Haute Cuisine”. People usually eat very high-calorie and fatty. Even though most dishes originate from South America or Europe, Americans still have their own recognizable food culture. Let me list their specialties.

The breakfast

Cereals

Breakfast cereals are extremely popular in the US. There are literally dozens of varieties available in every supermarket. The best known is definitely Cheerios, which look a bit like mini donuts. The manufacturer is General Mills. It’s been around since 1941 and the “Honey Nut” variation of the classic “O” is almost as popular and outsells the number two, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.

Pancakes

Americans eat pancakes for breakfast several times a week. This delicacy is also called hotcakes, griddlecakes or flapjacks. Although you can easily make the batter yourself (eggs, flour and flour), the “batter” is usually bought prepackaged. Pancakes-in-a-can, as it were. The pancakes are usually only made with a maximum diameter of 10 cm and about 1 cm thick. Sometimes things are added to the batter, such as bananas, chocolate, apples, cheese or bacon. After baking, syrup, jam, honey or peanut butter are added.

Toast

The American bread is white, spongy, salted and fairly tasteless and is sold in plastic bags in every supermarket. So don’t expect any hot or cold bakers in the US. You can also find dark bread in the diet section, but this is not particularly popular in the US. The bread is usually eaten in two different ways. The first way is to make sandwiches with it. Two slices of bread with vegetables, meat or cheese in between and seasoned with a dressing. Scrambled eggs are also often used as a topping. You can also buy prepared sandwiches. The most famous chain for this is “Subway” with no less than 28000 restaurants / shops. A second option is to toast the bread and eat it with jam, peanut butter or butter. A special very popular toast is the french toast.

Eggs

Most Americans often eat egg dishes for breakfast. Americans are not satisfied with a simple boiled egg. Either they want a fried egg (sunny side up), but usually they want a scrambled egg (scrambled eggs). You can also mix the egg before putting it in the pan and baking a pancake with it. “over easy” is a lightly baked item. A well-baked copy is called “over done”. Mushrooms, bacon, cheese or salami or pieces of potato are also often fried with the eggs.

Donuts

There are more types of donuts than you think. There are two major groups of donuts: the yeast leavened donuts and the cake donuts. We especially know the cake donut. The ready-made donut batter that you can buy in American stores should simply not be fried for more than a few seconds in the right form and you’re done. Yeast risen donuts must first be allowed to rise for an hour, but are also more tender and richer in taste. Although one can purchase ready-made donut dough, one usually buys the donuts already prepared in the supermarket or donut shop, which usually sells coffee and hot drinks in addition to numerous pastries. “Dunkin Donut” and “Starbucks” are the most famous chains in the US. The donuts are of course also processed in all kinds of ways. You have the “frosted” and “glazed” ones with sugar. But also the deco donuts with chocolate and lots of colorants. You also have filled donuts with pudding (custard cream) or jam or chocolate spread. Not all donuts are round and have a hole in the middle! They really exist in all shapes and can just as easily be square or elongated. It should also be noted that the donut hole is usually also sold individually as a ball.

Lunch or dinner

Pizza

Americans eat a lot of pizza. Often more than once a week. You can buy the ready-made pizza dough (pizza dow) and put it yourself and bake it in the oven or you can order it over the phone, after which it will be delivered at home. A pizza looks largely the same as ours, but they are ordered completely differently. A pizza consists of a series of “slices” (pre-cut triangles). The more slices you want, the bigger the pizza. If you are four and you all like to eat 2 pieces, you should order a pizza with 8 slices. Often the sizes of the pizza are also indicated in inches. The base of the pizza contains tomato sauce, herbs and cheese. So you have to choose 1, 2 or more “toppings” on top of this. Toppings are, for example, salami (salami, sausage or peperoni, depending on the type of sausage used), anchovies, mushrooms or peppers. You can also order extra cheese or tomatoes. Each topping or extra will of course result in an additional cost.

Onion Rings

Onion rings is a typical American snack that is also served with main meals as a “side dish”. It is simple to make by mixing milk, egg and flour and dipping the onion rings in it before frying them until golden brown. You can eat them with any sauce like ketchup or barbecue sauce.

Chicken Nuggets

Chicken is also fried in the same way as the onion rings. Pieces of breast are then called “nuggets”, pieces with bone on are called “wings”. To give the nuggets or wings extra flavor, you need to season the dough extra. You can also solve this simply by rolling the chicken pieces after dipping them in the dough, and then also roll them through finely ground paprika or other chips and then fry them. In America there is really a huge range of chips available. You can of course also compose your own spice mix and mix it with breadcrumbs or breadcrumbs. Numerous restaurant chains supply or serve their own chicken specialties. The best known is definitely “Kentucky Fried Chicken”.

Meatloaf

This is still a quintessential American meat dish that has been pushed into the background by the fast food culture, but remains an ideal holiday meal, just like the stuffed turkey at Christmas. Like most American dishes, the recipe is simple yet effective. One or more types of minced meat are mixed with other ingredients such as eggs and breadcrumbs soaked in milk, but also onion and possibly celery, mushrooms, cheese and of course herbs such as garlic and pepper. Sometimes pieces of potato are also mixed in. The meatloaf is then baked at 180 degrees for 40 minutes and served with tomato sauce or ketchup.

Hotdogs

Make no mistake; in America the Hot Dog is a staple meal. Just like in Europe, it is no more than a bun cut in half with a sausage warmed up in water with some onion and ketchup or possibly mustard. The sausages are sometimes grilled on the barbecue and the choice of sausage is diverse.

Barbecue

Weather permitting, the American will quickly switch to barbecuing. It is, as it were, a national sport. Every Sunday men show off their perfectly grilled ribs and their burgers bordering on perfection. The barbecue sauce is also an important part of barbecuing. You can buy the sauce ready-made in jars or make it yourself by gently boiling ketchup, brown sugar, onion and various spices for a while. Since it’s a men’s shop, it wouldn’t hurt to mix in some peppers and beer either. You can also marinate meat dishes in this sauce. Seafood such as scampi, lobster and salmon are also allowed on the barbecue. And also potatoes in their skins and by preheating a few bricks on the barbecue, you can even bake pizza on them, just like in a brick oven.

Potatoes

Potato salad, “fries” (fries) and “mashed patatoes” (mashed potatoes) are just as popular in Europe. Only the ordinary boiled potatoes are rarely eaten there. The chips are usually cut very thick and often even the skin is left on the potato before frying or frying them in oil. In a meat dish, pieces of potato are sometimes also cooked in the oven with the meat.

Hamburgers

A hamburger is the most important American national dish. The base is a round bun (hamburger bun) cut in half with a slice of fried ground beef in between. Usually supplemented with some finely chopped iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato, a little onion and pickle and a shell of cheddar cheese. And of course the dressing is very important. This is often ketchup or barbecue sauce, but a real hamburger dressing is what I call the “big mac sauce”: mayonnaise with a generous spoonful of sugar, mustard, vinegar and finely chopped onion. Variations on the traditional hamburger are hamburgers with chicken meat, bacon or breaded fish fillet. Mc Donalds remains by far the largest hamburger chain. But the competition is fierce, just think of Burger King, Arby’s,

Wendy’s, In-N-Out and many others

Popcorn

like chips and candy bars, popcorn is very popular in America. You can buy it in bags that you have to put in the microwave for a few minutes or just pop them quickly yourself. It is best to use special corn for popcorn. You should heat a layer of oil in a pot and stir in the corn. Do put a lid on the pot! After a few minutes, the corn will begin to pop. When the popping is almost done, remove your pot from the heat and mix sugar or salt into the popcorn. You can also mix in warm caramel sauce or peanut sauce, according to taste.