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"Quintessential American Breakfast" for visiting Swedish couple: SUGGESTIONS???

post #1 of 25
2/23/05 at 9:43pm
Thread Starter 
In June we will host a Swedish couple who are attending Rotary's one-hundredth anniversary International Convention in Chicago. We will put them up for five days and nights and be responsible just for feeding them breakfast, since lunch and dinner will be part of the festivities downtown.

I'd like to put on the dog a little and make some really representative American breakfasts...

Like, Missouri country ham with red-eye gravy and grits. (I'll get the ham from Esicar's Smokehouse in Cape Girardeau, as I do each Christmas.)

Maybe corned beef hash, like they serve at the Colonial Inn in Concord, Mass. (It doesn't come out of a can.)

Probably huevos rancheros. (Certainly qualified as Southwest American.)

How about a Cajun breakfast?

A Down-east breakfast?

I would be grateful for some menu suggestions to round this out, including other items to go with the main themes I've suggested above.

I will appreciate your advice.

Mike
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post #2 of 25
2/23/05 at 11:00pm
How about a Joe's special from San Francisco or a Hangtown fry?
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post #3 of 25
2/24/05 at 6:02am
If you feed them the kind of big American breakfast we mythologize, they'll never need lunch, and may even sleep through the morning activities! :D That said:

Buttermilk or buckwheat pancakes, or waffles, with real maple syrup and sauteed apple slices.

Blueberry pancakes or muffins, or better yet, a blueberry grunt or slump (stove-top cooked berries with baking-powder dumplings steamed on top), cobbler (baked with the dough plopped in close dollops), crisp (the usual crumbly crumb/oatmeal topping baked on, or buttered bread crumbs), or buckle (cakelike with lots of berries mixed through), all with lots of cream poured over at serving.

Bagels, lox, cream cheese, smoked whitefish (chubs), or a lox-and-onion omelet with bagels on the side. (Warning: seek out REAL chewy bagels, not the "round roll with a hole" that seem to have taken over. :eek: )

For Cajun, pain perdu (French toast) or bread pudding with pralinee pecans.

Applewood-smoked bacon, sage sausage patties to go with almost anything. Buttermilk biscuits. Hash brown potatoes.


And then there's the quintessential urban American breakfast: cold pizza and warm Coke. :lips:
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post #4 of 25
2/24/05 at 9:30am
Now this is all you need for 7 days! :D :lips: (Or all I need)
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post #5 of 25
2/24/05 at 6:53pm
I spent five weeks in Sweden one summer. Although it's been some years, I'd argue against the lox; too much like gravlaks, I think. They do eat a lot of pork in Sweden (when they're not eating fish), but our lively sausage flavorings are unlike theirs, in my experience. That might be better. For many Europeans eggs are a lunch or supper item, so serving them at breakfast would be more unusual. Pancakes and waffles are not so unusual (Swedish pancakes, remember?).

Products like wild rice, pecans, cranberries and pumpkin are native to North America.

That said, I'd vote for eggs, patty sausage and biscuits with something like pumpkin butter (a New World product). Don't forget the large glass of orange juice; I remember that being very costly in Sweden. Keep it simple!
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post #6 of 25
2/24/05 at 7:25pm
Here are a few suggestions:

Red Flannel Hash (from the leftovers of a New England Boiled dinner)
Buttermilk Biscuits served with Apple Butter
Buttermilk Pancakes
Pecan Waffles
Eggs Benedict
Homemade Egg McMuffins
Smoothies (a great way to start the day especially in summer)


Either warm Coke or warm beer, depending on whether I have to go to work or not!!!!! :p
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post #7 of 25
2/25/05 at 9:49am
A few more suggestions:

Start with a fruit parfait: granola topped with yogurt, covered with fresh cut berries, pineapple, melon served in a martini glass (topped with a fresh mint sprig)

cheese grits (maybe with jalapeno and cilantro?)

cinnamon pecan pancakes

french toast stuffed with creamcheese/cranberry mixture

build your eggs benedict with real ham, grilled tomatoes slices and some sauteed fresh spinach. Or a crabcake benedict.

for your huevos rancheros, start with a corn waffle covered with a black bean/cilantro/sausage chili, grated cheeses, poached egg, mango salsa.


henry
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post #8 of 25
2/27/05 at 3:40am
Thread Starter 
Really great responses, and I appreciate them all.

I've got three months to work on this, so keep 'em coming!

Thanks again.

Mike :chef:
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post #9 of 25
3/2/05 at 7:29pm

Biscuits and Gravy

You mentioned down east and I've got to say that biscuit and sausage gravy are a classic. They can be a bit of an acquired taste. And many people have had a bad experience with it. But, it is a keeper in my book. Make good biscuits. Split them open. And cover them in thick, white sausage gravy with little bits of sausage.
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post #10 of 25
3/3/05 at 8:24am
Man, I can't believe I forgot Biscuits and Gravy. Good choice Salthouse!!!! ;)
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post #11 of 25
5/31/06 at 10:35pm

Breakfast

Johnny Cakes "Journey Cakes"

Cheesey Grits Bake

And if I might add... Sugared Blueberry Cornbread or something from
Paula Deen's area such as this recipe from Ballstone Inn.

Southern Pecan Cornbread
A Ballastone Inn exclusive--
Best of Savannah Georgia Bed and Breakfasts

2/3 cup ground pecans
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs

1. Mix dry ingredients together.

2. Mix liquid ingredients together and add all at once to dry ingredients. Batter will be thick.

3. Pour into a buttered 10 inch pie plate.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes
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post #12 of 25
6/1/06 at 5:21pm
Would you consider revisiting the roots of the Mayflower, not that they ate so well. But an English breakfast is a fine thing. Our hotel in Japan had an English, Continental, and Japanese buffet. All Separate. Stunning presentations, all of them.

It might make a gorgeous little buffet for your people, for their breaky. Soft scrambled eggs with parsley and chives, or Poached the night before and reheated in hot water, this works well. Tomatoes, from a buttery pan, (homemade) hash browns or rosti, mushrooms in light cream sauce, the very best bacon, or fried ham, I wouldn't bother with sausages, they are too heavy. At least I find them so.

Maybe good old oat porridge would go down well, with cream and brown sugar. And eggs simmered, and served with soliders of toast. 4 mins big egg. A good nob of butter and large pinch of salt on the plate, to add as unnecessary. But jolly good. A daily made fruit conserve or an orange and or grapefuit segment starter. NZ or Danish butter to make a fuss of a good bread toast. And tea. A good English Breakfast tea. Thick in the ankle of taste and very bracing. A little milk or light cream and no sugar added. Really, it is just endless, isn't it.
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post #13 of 25
6/1/06 at 6:57pm
Hmmm didn't realize them down east folks ate real food like biscuits and gravy:lol: Now Texas folks eat the heck out of it. This pass for a largish weekend breakfast at my house:

Fried sausage or bacon
Fried tates
Fried eggs
Biscuits
Pet Milk Gravy
Ranch Style Beans (that be a brand of chili beans not found some places guess a person could sub some other off brand for the real thing)

Let folks eat it like they want. Some prefers the gravy on the biscuits and some like it on the tates or eggs. Sometimes it even winds up in the beans. Pass the grape jam..hotsauce and ketchup on the side.

bigwheel
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post #14 of 25
6/1/06 at 7:34pm
Breakfast my favorite......

biscuits, maple bacon, scrambled eggs and hash browns

eggs sardou or a version similar

Greek yogurt with granola, fruit, honey

blintzes with summer fruit compote

omelets

Hi my name is Julie and I'm a grit eater......it's considered just plain weird over the Mason Dixon line but it's required for a true southern breakfast.

Good steel cut oatmeal with accompanying goo

Frittatas are easy for a group, roulades too.

Cinnamon rolls, Pecan rolls, beignets, doughnuts......the "good" shtuff that is a pain to make but OH so special.
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post #15 of 25
6/5/06 at 9:06am
Grits is also considered weird in vast expanses of geography South of the Mason Dixon line. Seems like most of the grit eaters is concentrated North and East of Dallas.

bigwheel
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post #16 of 25
6/5/06 at 2:21pm
memphis, little rock, louisiana, missippi, alabama.....all grit eaters, or at least you have them on your plate at breakfast. many times along with a biscuit, hashbrowns, eggs meat.....carbs are us.
And in southern Louisiana spicy cheese grits are deirguer on a breakfast/brunch buffet.
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post #17 of 25
6/6/06 at 2:10pm
Biscuits and gravy! The heartburn just SCREAMS welcome to america! :lips:
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post #18 of 25
6/7/06 at 3:44am
South of the Mason Dixon and east of east of Dallas. I know Texas was part of the confederacy but do folks in the Dallas Fort Worth area generally consider themselves southerners? I learned to love grits as a teen during an ill spent year in central Fla. 40 yrs. ago.

On behalf of some old friends in Allentown, I'll nominate scrapple as a truly regional breakfast dish.

Regarding previously mentioned Huevos Rancheros; I learned to love it with a layer of fresh chorizo which I rarely see included now.
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post #19 of 25
6/7/06 at 1:55pm

Old guy Newbie

The concern is interesting, but experience tells me don't try to over concern yourself by creating something out of the ordinary to you. When I travel in the US or Europe, I usually eat what the locals eat. Have you ever had a German fix you Italian food? (KISS) keep it simple!

In the US, I find a lot of people try to duplicate Southern dishes and have never been south of the Mason-Dixon.

Serve what's comfortable for you. If you want Southern food. Add a little smoked meat to the menu or if you want to cook coastal, add Oysters or seafood to it.

Ham and eggs in the south is Scrapple and eggs in Maryland!

Pasteries are a big win, try some southern pastery dishes. Pecan Sticky rolls!! MMM!

Greg
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post #20 of 25
6/7/06 at 8:51pm
Thread Starter 
Well- hey

I always appreciate the advice I get here, even though the Swedes were here a year ago. The Missouri ham went over quite well, as did grits and several other of your suggestions.

I'm still trying to persuade Shroomgirl to marry me. We could cook beautiful things together. But I'm worried my wife will find out about this idea. :roll:

Oh, well.

Mike
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post #21 of 25
6/9/06 at 4:52pm
Hilarious mate. Shows we should check dates on posts. OK now, I want fried tomatoes on fried bread, with 2 eggs. A bubble and squeak pattie, mushrooms, bacon and a sausage, precooked, halved and refried crisp. All must be prepared in butter and/or ghee. And make it snappy mate, I need to get back to the future before I starve to death. ;Þ
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post #22 of 25
6/10/06 at 1:51pm
Well we got a funny situation here. We consider everybody who aint from Texas to be yankees..including other Southerners. Now we do make a few exceptions for cajuns...Okies and folks from Tennesse. Hope that clarifies things.

bigwheel
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post #23 of 25
6/10/06 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
Diane-

We could probably work something out, breakfastwise.

We entertained a very nice couple from Tasmania just a month or so after the Swedes were here. They were members of a Rotary fellowship devoted to travelling; they were on a round-the-world jaunt that lasted several months, usually staying a few days with fellow Rotarians as they went. The deal is, of course, that their hospitality is available to other members whenever they're in the neighborhood.

But how many wind up in the neighborhood of Tasmania? :confused:

Chicago, on the other hand, is pretty much at the center of things.

Mike :smiles:
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post #24 of 25
6/10/06 at 5:36pm
Thats great Mike. I think the Rotarian idea is great too. Tassie for us is just across the 'ditch'. It can get very cold there, we are further North, and it is warmer.
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post #25 of 25
6/10/06 at 7:55pm
Thread Starter 
Diane-
How cold is "very cold?" I thought down your way was at least semi-tropical, but I'm probably not very geographically well-informed. In Chicago, "very cold" can be 27 degrees below zero. That would be Farenheit. I'll let you do the conversion to Celsius, but probably around -55C.

Actually, that has happened only once in the thirty or so years I've lived here. It was enough.

Our Rotary District entertained a group of really nice New Zealanders about eight years ago as part of a program called Group Study Exchange, in which six or eight young professionals in various fields are brought from one country to another to spend about eight weeks touring a particular Rotary District and meeting their local professional counterparts to compare professional notes, and some general sightseeing and visiting with the local Rotary clubs. The local clubs cover all their expenses. (The only restriction is that those chosen can't be Rotary members, since it's not a self-serving program.)

I was on the committee that hosted and made the arrangements for the NZ group, and I had a lot of fun with them.

But boy, were they hard to understand! :lol:

Mike
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