Southern breakfast - any suggestions?

[aliantha]

To be clear, I don't seek them out. Magickmaker and I got hungry while driving back from Roanoke and Cracker Barrel was the most likely option at the exit where we got off.

Trying to remember whether I've ever bought anything from their gift shop. Probably not. I have a rocking chair that's similar to the rush-seated ones they sell, but I didn't buy it there -- I bought it at a furniture store in Brown County, Indiana, years before I ever saw a Cracker Barrell.

[Zarathustra]

I don't like my grits gussied up -- a little butter is just fine.

If it doesn't have at least cheese, I won't even bother. Damelon's impression that they're bland is justified if it doesn't have cheese and hot sauce. I look at grits as a blank canvas, more a texture than a taste.

[Vraith]

I look at grits as a blank canvas, more a texture than a taste.

Yep, just like plain rice, oatmeal, mush, pasta and tofu.
the so-called "purists" who think the sauces/added stuff are just to "enhance" the base are confused. the base things are there so you get filled up so you're not starving so not consuming all the tastier/rarer/more expensive/hard to store/preserve/transport stuff that is really worth eating.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

Deep fried cheese grits are pretty tasty. Not exactly good for you, though.

[DoctorGamgee]

Brown County Indiana! Now there's a name I have always heard from my parents who lived there before I was born.

And, I'm glad that I was not alone in missing the grits...LOL!

[lorin]

bagels, lox and a smear of cream cheese

[sgt.null]

If I want breakfast at a restaurant, I usually just go to Waffle House.

Waffle House is awesome. when we moved down here we took about a week to do it, stopping in Cooperstown, Cincy and Nashville along the way.

when i saw a Waffle House when we hit the south - we had to eat there every morning.

i am not advocating it - i quit - but a cigarette after each Waffle House meal seemed to fit somehow. likely because my dad (a truck driver) did it like that.

and speaking of my dad - you will be having coffee correct? it is a necessity. i could go for one right now.

[Vader]

bagels, lox and a smear of cream cheese

That sounds more like New Yoaak :p.

[sgt.null]

i was shocked, shocked to find out upon moving to Texas that breakfast did not incled corned beef hash and boston baked beans.

and for dinner it was nigh impossible to find brown bread.

and moxie, need to check the post box for the moxie george sent me. :):)

[Shuram Gudatetris]

Speaking of grits.... I found a Quaker Oat variety pack of grits that was awesome. Bacon; Butter; Cheddar; Plain. Throw out the plain and mix the other three flavors and you got quite a treat!

I hated the cracker barrell the one time I went. Mediocre food is one thing, but those chairs were so hard and uncomfortable, that I will never go back. Unless I want to pretend I am a wild west cowboy.

Stack of flapjacks.

[Menolly]

I don't like my grits gussied up -- a little butter is just fine.

If it doesn't have at least cheese, I won't even bother. Damelon's impression that they're bland is justified if it doesn't have cheese and hot sauce. I look at grits as a blank canvas, more a texture than a taste.

So Beorn adding ketchup to his grits is not that strange?

*shudder*

[Savor Dam]

Not conventional. Not to your taste. Still, if Beorn prefers them that way, just avert your eyes. As long as he lives in the south, grits are a fact of his life. Let him eat them as he wants...until he chooses to leave the south. Then it will no longer be an issue.

[Menolly]

I do so.

But I love grits with butter and/or cheese grits.

For a young man who loves cheesy items the way he does, I wish I could get him to eat cheese grits...

[Savor Dam]

Heh. Were Dam-et not a Northwesterner...

He too is an avid consumer of all things cheese. Grits are an unknown to him, though.

[Menolly]

Well...
At least they both love my pastina.

[aliantha]

Brown County Indiana! Now there's a name I have always heard from my parents who lived there before I was born.

I attended IU in Bloomington (I intended to major in music, but I got over it ). Brown County was a popular place for a fall road trip.

Not too many years ago, I lived across the alley from a guy who'd brought his mom to live with him. Turned out she was from Beanblossom, Indiana. What are the odds of that?

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

I've heard that southern Indiana is culturally contiguous with the SE US / Appalachia. It makes sense if you consider the self-annointed 'hick from French Lick' was from there.

BTW, and sorry to repeat myself, but I really can't overstate the goodness of the combination hot, freshly made buttermilk biscuits, freshly churned butter that has melted and soaked into the biscuits, and unrefined cane syrup. It's an early breakfast for a field hand. Or at least that's what my uncle gave me and my cousins before we were sent to pick beans for a couple of hours.

[aliantha]

I've heard that southern Indiana is culturally contiguous with the SE US / Appalachia. It makes sense if you consider the self-annointed 'hick from French Lick' was from there.

That's not too far off the mark. Except for IU.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Bloodguard Bob makes cheesy polenta which is a reasonable substitute for cheesy grits. For approximately six servings add a half cup of grated cheddar and if you can't get four slices of american cheese (cheese! not "cheese food") then muenster makes a great substitute and melt it in just before serving. Add a little extra liquid to the polenta so it's a bit more gooey than polenta is normally and I also recommend either milk or a milk/water combo to make it creamier. There is also "chicken fried steak" smothered in sausage gravy.

[Obi-Wan Nihilo]

There is also "chicken fried steak" smothered in sausage gravy.

I'll build a monument to you for this.