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Monday is President’s Day and Americans will celebrate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Our first president was a gentleman/general from Virginia. Although born in Kentucky, Lincoln made his name in Illinois.
Culinary wise, these states could not be more disparate. The Commonwealth of Virginia is steeped in a reverence for Southern cuisine with strong British and French influences. Thomas Jefferson had a lot to do with it. Our third president was a writer, fiddler, diplomat and farmer. Tour Monticello and you will see how dedicated he was to agriculture. Illinois, “City of the Big Shoulders,” was famous early on for its meat packing. In modern times, there is nothing better than a Chicago hot dog.
Let’s celebrate American foods on President’s Day, specifically tasty dishes from Virginia and Illinois. All recipes are from “It’s All American Food” by David Rosengarten.
The Chicago Hot Dog
Ingredients:
4 hot dogs
4 hot dog buns
Prepared yellow mustard
Bright green sweet relish
Tomato, thinly sliced
Green pickled peppers
Onion, chopped
4 long thin cucumber spears, peeled
4 long thin slices of dill pickle
Celery salt
Directions:
Steam or grill the hot dogs. Steam the buns. Place the dogs on the buns and slather with the mustard.
Top the dogs with the relish, tomatoes, peppers, onion, cucumbers and pickle. Some ingredients fit best alongside the dog. Serve immediately.
Serves four.
Note: Rosengarten writes “the two trickiest ingredients to reproduce at home are the buns and the peppers. The proper bun is a standard hot dog bun, but it has poppy seeds on the outside. You can make a facsimile at home by steaming the bun and, while it is still warm, sprinkling poppy seeds on the exterior. The peppers are known in Chicago as sport peppers. They are dark green, pickled and quite hot — all qualities easy to find in a bottled pepper. But they are also short and narrow, which means that in Chicago you can toss a few of them on your bun. It won’t be exactly the same, but in a pinch, you could put strips of pickled jalapeno on your Chicago hot dog.”
Baked Southern Cheese Grits
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon of onion, finely minced
1/2 stick of butter
2 cups of water
2 cups of milk
1 cup of yellow stone-ground grits (not instant)
4 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups of cheddar, grated
3 tablespoons of fresh chives, chopped
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
In a large saucepan over medium heat sweat the garlic and onion with 3 tablespoons of the butter for two minutes (make sure they don’t brown or burn). Add the water, milk and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderate so the liquid comes down to a simmer.
Pour in the grits by the handful in a thin stream very slowly, stirring constantly with a whisk to prevent lumps. Keep the mixture at a bare simmer and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Cook the grits stirring constantly. The grits will thicken considerably while cooking.
Remove from the heat and add the cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the cheddar and 2 tablespoons of the chives. Season to taste with the salt and pepper.
Smear the remaining butter evenly into a small baking dish that just holds the grits. Place the grits in the dish and top with the remaining cheddar. Place the grits on the center rack of the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with the remaining chives.
Serves six.
Bourbon Sauce
Ingredients:
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 cup of bourbon
Directions:
Melt the butter with the sugar in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly. Cook and stir until the mixture turns a rich golden caramel.
Heat the cream in another saucepan until small bubbles appear around the edges. Slowly whisk the cream into the butter/sugar mixture. If the mixture hardens, continue to whisk until it becomes smooth again.
Remove from the heat and add the bourbon. Stir well.
Makes 3 cups.
Note from Phyllis: Bourbon sauce is delicious on bread pudding, ice cream or pound cake. It reheats well in the microwave after it has been refrigerated. SPR
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