SOME AMERICAN FOODS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 83, 8 April 1938, Page 12

SOME AMERICAN FOODS

American food is apt to seem mixed to the benighted foreigner, and the multiplicity of what is called salad does nothing to sort out the mixture, writes "H" in the "Manchester Guardian." Hot bread is often another snag, and the visitor goes away without realising how delicious American food can be. There is, for instance, terrapin, usually associated only with Uncle Remus; it is a real delicacy, so much so that it is made a special dish in the clubs and hotels. Prickly pear makes the foundation of a large number of good salads, and it can be stuffed with cream cheese, and is itself a cream addition to many a salad. One of the most delicious dishes is oyster crab cooked Newburg fashion. The oyster crab is tiny and delicate and is eaten shell and all, so that it is almost like crunching an easy kind of biscuit. It is eked out. with cockles, some sherry is added, and it is served on toast, which prevents any of the delicious sauce from being lost.

Wild duck is beautifully cooked in the United States. Another delectable dish is Virginian ham, which is often served with sweet potatoes. Never to have tasted this is never to have tasted ham, and that in spite of the excellent versions elsewhere. Sausage may not be indigenous, but it tastes as though it were when it is served with hot creamed potatoes and slices of pear. Turkey and cranberry sauce is an excellent, dish for those who are enthusiastic about turkey, and sweet potatoes usually accompany this. Some of the pies are. excellent, though pumpkin pie is perhaps overrated—it is certainly overfilling. Lobster Newburg, oyster sandwich, and broiled chicken, with at least three kinds of vegetable, are dishes which can vie with those of any country. And there is always ice cream.