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Feature article
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Sampler platter: scallops, soda and Bar-B-Dogs
By Fred Sauceman
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| Wallace News on Broad Street in Kingsport |
I’ve written about The Chop House before, but the last time we ate at the Kingsport location, back in the winter, I noticed a new appetizer on the menu, and it spoke to me.
Scallops Rockefeller is a variation on the classic Oysters Rockefeller. Scallops are served in their symmetrical shells, creamed spinach and diced tomatoes are spooned over the scallops, Ritz cracker crumbs are scattered on top, and the whole thing’s baked and served on a bed of rock salt.
The dish brings together some of my favorite food products, and I thought it was one of the best, most attractively presented restaurant appetizers I’ve encountered in a long time. One of the things I like best about The Chop House family of restaurants is the use of Ritz cracker crumbs. Fellow fans of the seven-ounce baked schrod know what I’m talking about.
In Search of Grape Crush
The soft drink Orange Crush in a can is to be had. Orange Crush in a bottle’s elusive. Grape Crush in a can is a rarity. Grape Crush in a bottle is nigh onto impossible to find. Kingsport’s Wallace News, on Broad Street, conservator of several other nearly extinct products, stocks both flavors. And they’re both in glass bottles. Readers who have followed this column know my devotion to the frozen Pepsi at Wallace News. Now it has a rival: Grape Crush.
Ski
Driving through Western Kentucky last weekend, I searched soft drink sections at convenience markets for Ale-8-One, the caffeinated ginger drink made in Winchester, in the eastern part of the state, for over 80 years.
Like our own Dr. Enuf, Ale-8’s pretty limited in its distribution, so I was probably too far west to find it.
What I did locate is Ski, a carbonated beverage made with real lemon and orange juices by the Double-Cola people in Chattanooga since 1956. Double-Cola itself dates to 1933, and it’s still made by the original formula, which, the company says, creates a cola that isn’t too sweet.
Bar-B-Dogdom
If you think all the menus at the 20 locations of Pal’s Sudden Service are the same, drive down to Greeneville. Located in the Greeneville Commons shopping center, which is actually a set of two parallel strip malls, this Pal’s is walk-in, not drive-through.
It’s the only Pal’s location that serves the Bar-B-Dog. It’s not an edible doll but rather a hot dog bun stuffed with pork barbecue.
Food Court Diversity
Attending the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament in Atlanta last month, we noticed some additions to the offerings in the food court at Peachtree Center. Near the Dairy Queen stall, a Caribbean eatery was doing a healthy business in curried goat and oxtail stew.
I went for the oxtail dish, since the ratio of meat to bone was higher.
Banana “Croquettes”
At last weekend’s Southern Kentucky Bookfest in Bowling Green, I learned about banana “croquettes,” which, I’m told, is a staple church supper dish in central Kentucky.
Unlike, say, a salmon croquette, the banana version isn’t cooked. According to a retired librarian from Bowling Green, bananas are cut in half, coated with homemade mayonnaise, and then rolled in crushed peanuts. The best way to crush the peanuts, she said, is to use a Foley Food Mill, one of the greatest, non-electronic, hand-cranked kitchen gadgets ever invented, in my opinion.
Another lady we met described the very same banana dish but said her family just called it “salad.” I’d appreciate hearing from any readers who can contribute banana “croquette” stories.
--------GoTriCities--------
Food writer Fred Sauceman, author of the book “The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South — from Bright Hope to Frog Level,” is senior writer and executive assistant to the president for public affairs at East Tennessee State University. E-mail him at sauceman@etsu.edu.
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