How Do You Match Side Dishes To A Main Entree?

karadekoolaid said:
Definitely a cultural thing, because a (US) biscuit is not very far away from a scone - but a Brit would think (a) scones go with strawberry jam (or cheddar cheese) and (b) a biscuit is a cookie, but hard - no eggs - to be consumed with tea or coffee!
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Yes - 'biscuits and gravy' are very specific to the US. Not seen anywhere else in the world really.
 
caseydog said:
As for certain foods that I must have with certain beverages, I must have a good beer with pizza. I like Peroni from Italy for that. No dark beers or heavy ales with pizza, for me. I don't always drink beer... but when I do, I prefer DosEquis with Mexican/TexMex food (no Corona!). Stay thirsty my friends. :cheers:

CD
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Mmm, Peroni is okay. I had my fill of it at the Italian place I worked in college. When I am in Mexico I just drink whatever is cold. I like Dos Equis (I like both the dark and the light), I like Tecate (with salt and lime), I like Pacifico, whatever. It all tastes good on a hot day in the sun with some good Mexican grub. I will even drink Corona, just not that much of a beer snob anymore. If I am at a BBQ here in the US and what they have in the cooler is Pabst Blue Ribbon or Busch, I will probably drink one and then switch to water. My only absolute no-way-am-I-drinking-that is Miller/Miller Lite beer. Yuck. I will just say I have to drive or find some other excuse to not drink one.

When I was in my early 20s I worked at a restaurant that had an international beer club where if you drank 50 beers from different countries you got a plaque on the wall (they had over 100 different types of beers--I realize now you can find places that have more than that, but this was 1982). At the end of every shift I was allowed a free shift drink, so I would always choose a beer from the list. I had 4 plaques and had started on the 5th when I quit.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Definitely a cultural thing, because a (US) biscuit is not very far away from a scone - but a Brit would think (a) scones go with strawberry jam (or cheddar cheese) and (b) a biscuit is a cookie, but hard - no eggs - to be consumed with tea or coffee!
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I like cheddar biscuits! I just put shredded cheese in the biscuit mix. Quite good. If I do that, I don't want gravy, of course, as cheddar biscuits would be for dinner. I do that about once a year. We Yanks don't always put gravy on biscuits for sure, as CD mentioned, just butter is nice. Jam is not my thing, not often anyway. I make a pretty great breakfast sausage gravy, my husband makes sausage once a year with his cousins and brings home 10 pounds for us to freeze, so I make biscuits and gravy once every couple of months. Mine has chunks of tender sausage in it and is very sausage forward, plus thyme and pepper. I will served it with scrambled or over-medium eggs (don't need them too runny since there is gravy to soak into the biscuits).
 
Morning Glory said:
Same thing - biscuits aren't heard of here except for the sort that you call cookies.
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Hmmm, I guess I figured with an international chain like KFC, American biscuits may have made it to Europe. But, I've seen fish and chips on lots of menus in the US, but never with mushy peas. I guess some sides don't travel far.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Hmmm, I guess I figured with an international chain like KFC, American biscuits may have made it to Europe. But, I've seen fish and chips on lots of menus in the US, but never with mushy peas. I guess some sides don't travel far.

CD
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Often "fish and chips" are on the menu in British-themed pubs over here. Otherwise it's "beer battered cod with fries" or some other fried fish offering, at least in my experience. Oh, up here in NE Ohio they serve in some restaurants what is called "frips", so basically thinly sliced potatoes fried crispy. I like 'em. They go great with a Philly cheesesteak and Dortmunder on tap.
 
I only have brekky if we are on holiday in Nelson at xmas. 7 to 10 days. I treat myself.
Coffee
Toast with marmalade
Corn flakes with 50/50 'and fruit salad.

I never have that combination at any other time.

Btw all this talk about biscuits I'm gunna have to make scones to go with jam and cream. Next week.

Russ
 
As to the question at hand, I'm of the same mind-set as others.
It all depends on so many factors as to what I'll make to accompany a main dish that I'm serving, no matter the meal.
1) What do I have on hand
2) What sounds good
3) What cultural style of cooking am I doing
4) What does my family like/love/want to eat
5) How much energy do I really want to put into all of this
6) How hungry are we? Do we want to eat just the main with nothing else?

I try to get as much fruit & veg on the table with EACH meal, including breakfast, as I can them to eat.
Health professionals today recommend that half of your plate should be veg & fruit, 1/4 protein and 1/4 whole grains.
 
Yorky said:
The only "health professional" around when I was a kid was my mum. And I ate whatever she put on my plate (as did the rest of the family).
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Our home as a kid growing up was not a democracy. It was a dictatorship. We might get to pick the dinner meal on our birthdays, but the rest of the time, the only person who could make special requests for what my mom cooked was my dad.

As for health, it was "Eat your spinach, it is good for you." Well, it may have been good for us before it was canned, and before it was dumped in a pan of water and cooked for WAY too long. My dad loved overcooked food, just like his mom used to make.

CD
 
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