American-themed starter

November 11, 2008 9:18 AM

Need an American-themed starter (as in United States of America) to take to a friend's.

I'm having an American-themed meal with friends and I need to take a starter. I know this is a bit of a naive question and that there are many different "American" cuisines, but I'm having difficulty coming up with anything, despite Googling and recipe-booking.

Factors involved:

- the main course is meaty I think, with cornbread
- the pudding is chocolatey
- I will probably have to take the food to work in the morning before going to my friend's house, so it needs to be transportable (not liquid)
- only needs to be enough for four
- I can either take it ready prepared/cooked or finish it there, but I don't want to be doing too much preparation there. Cooking or heating would be fine, but not chopping for instance

Thanks for your help.

posted by paduasoy to food & drink (19 comments total)

Fries covered in nacho cheese (from a can), sour cream and bacon sounds American to me.

Chips and salsa

Fried mozzarella sticks
posted by aetg at 9:27 AM on November 11, 2008

Buffalo wings
Slider-style hamburgers
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 9:32 AM on November 11, 2008

Fried okra or crookneck squash.
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:34 AM on November 11, 2008

Meatloaf
American-style pizza
Texas-style chili (as in ground meat with beans and chili powder)
posted by pravit at 9:36 AM on November 11, 2008

Anything which can be dipped in Ranch dressing (wings, chicken fingers, carrot sticks) or a salad with Ranch dressing.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 9:40 AM on November 11, 2008

2nding fried okra. Also, hush puppies would go well with the okra or to replace it if you can't find okra. Another alternative is some sort of vegetable based casserole like squash or asparagus baked with cheese and bread crumbs. Really, anything you bring should be fried or cheesy or both.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 9:44 AM on November 11, 2008

In American English, it's an appetizer, not a starter. That might help your searches.

Buffalo wings have my vote. Sainsbury's sells appropriate pre-cooked wings that are pretty good if you want to do something really easy. You just have to add cut celery and blue cheese dressing.

Here are a few more quintessentially American appetizers:

queso and chips (fun to eat)
seven-layer dip and chips
crab cakes
cocktail weenies (won't be appetizing to everyone, but it definitely evokes something American)
posted by grouse at 9:45 AM on November 11, 2008

What about pigs in blankets?
posted by Lycaste at 10:02 AM on November 11, 2008

California or Hawaii styled pizza! It's easy to deal with and should go well on the side. If they ask what it is, the names of those U.S. states will roll off your tongue.

Dammit, now I'm hungry after reading this page.
posted by crapmatic at 10:10 AM on November 11, 2008

Buffalo wings and ranch...with blue cheese.

*dies of ecstasy*
posted by mdonley at 10:18 AM on November 11, 2008

-fried chicken! you can prep the night before and just deep fry it when you arrive.
-basically anything fried (french fries, onion rings, shrimp)
-miniature grilled cheese sandwiches could be cute (add bacon if you please), as would mini reubens, mini hamburgers, tuna melts...
-anything with BBQ sauce (chicken, ribs/riblets...)
-stuffed mushrooms
-artichoke dip
-oysters rockafeller


if you have vegetarian/pescetarians like me, you can do veggie versions of alot of these (sans things-with-bbq-sauce, unless you feel like doing tofu--which is not very american)
to sub for chicken, Quorn makes pretty good chicken-like products.
posted by slograffiti at 10:25 AM on November 11, 2008

I vote for some kind of chips/dip. We Americans love our dip!

The easiest would be tortilla chips, and serve a couple different dips: black bean, queso (warm cheezy dip), salsa and guacamole. You'd have to heat the queso (and black bean dip?) at your friends house. I suppose technically this is "Mexican" food but I would argue that we eat so much of this stuff that it's pretty damn American.

Also spinach & artichoke dip is very popular, especially here in New Orleans. You could make this ahead of time and heat before serving. I've seen it served with a variety of things, including tortilla chips, pita, pita chips, etc.

How about a salad bar? We piggy Americans love our buffets (or "boo-fays" as we say here). Set out bowls of iceburg and/or romaine lettuce, tomatoes (use cherry tomatoes or slice big ones), sliced cucumbers, shredded cheese, black olives, crumbled bacon, shredded carrots, sliced mushrooms, and a few types of dressing such as ranch and Italian.
posted by radioamy at 11:02 AM on November 11, 2008

Collard greens should complement that meal.
posted by amtho at 11:18 AM on November 11, 2008

Fried ravioli! Greasy, meaty, works with marinara or ranch dressing.

Like a guided missile headed straight for your aorta.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:24 AM on November 11, 2008

(pulls up chair and sits down)

There are a couple different ways you could go here. You could pick one of the different regional cuisines and run with it, or you could go for something stereotypically "U.S.A."

Different regions do suggest different ideas for starters -- one that would probably be easily transportable would be shrimp remoulade, a Cajun starter that is not unlike prawn salad. It's served cold -- you can make up the sauce and cook the shrimp/prawns ahead of time, pack it in something that will keep it all cold, and then just serve a few shrimp and a dollop of sauce on a bed of lettuce. Voila. An even simpler one would be some kind of clam or shellfish starter -- either hardshell clams shucked and served raw with some kind of sauce, or baked with some other kind of sauce. "Clams casino" is a good starting point for seeing how this would work. Or, there's always "oysters rockefeller," which is the same principle -- shellfish on the half-shell, topped and baked -- just using oysters instead of clams. Oysters Rockefeller was another New Orleans invention.

You say that the main dish will involve cornbread -- fried green tomatoes may also work alongside (just like what it sounds like -- unripe tomatoes, sliced, dipped into beaten egg and then into cornmeal, and then fried). Both fried green tomatoes and cornbread are associated with the Southern U.S..

Or you could make it a soup course -- some kind of cream soup or bisque rather than something that's all chunky. Maybe a Vermont cheddar cheese soup, or MAYBE a clam chowder. (Note: I'm originally from New England, so when I say "clam chowder" I'm referring to a white, cream-based soup involving clams. There's another soup calling itself "Manhattan clam chowder," which uses a broth-and-tomato base, but the name chowder is a misnomer -- and a travesty, in my opinion. Mind, your friends wouldn't know this, probably, nor would you care, but this is one of those strange quirks that sometimes just comes up between regions. Your mileage may vary.) Or a corn bisque or a tomato soup would be nice -- corn and tomatoes were both originally from the Americas, so you could sort of make that distinction that way.

Certain kinds of salads also work -- but I'm thinking mainly of the kind of "salads" that you'd find at old-fashioned picnics, which aren't like "tossed green" kinds of salads but are instead more conglomerations of ingredients bound together with mayonaise or gelatin. A "macaroni salad" is a U.S. picnic staple -- usually it's some kind of cooked chunky-shape pasta, mixed with different chopped-up raw vegetables, and with the lot bound together with a couple good-sized dollops of mayonnaise and served cold. There are also salads that use unflavored gelatin -- or sometimes even flavored gelatin -- one that my mother made now and again involved shredded carrot and apple stirred into orange Jell-o and laced with a little orange juice.

Finally, you could also go with a kitschy option -- maybe miniature "hamburgers", or tiny sausages in buns as miniature "hot dogs." Instead of fried chicken -- which to my mind is more of a main course -- go with Buffalo wings (these are often served with crudites and a dip on the side, so a couple of wings with the crudites and dip makes a nice sized starter). A lot of "all-American" stuff is fried -- fried potatoes, fried cheese, even fried potato skins.

Enjoy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:05 PM on November 11, 2008

American Pasta Salad
1 lb pasta (spirals, bowtie, whatever you like)
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 small onion
1 lb pepperoni
pepper jack cheese
sharp cheddar cheese
sliced black olives
salt and pepper
Italian dressing
Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions.
Chop peppers, onions, pepperoni and cheeses into bite size pieces.
Drain pasta, rinse with cold water, transfer to a large serving bowl.
Add onions, peppers, pepperoni, olives and cheese to the pasta. Season to taste. Toss in a small amount of Italian dressing. Add more to taste.
Refrigerate overnight for best flavor.
posted by toastedbeagle at 1:00 PM on November 11, 2008

The least-common-denominator starter that an American in your position might take would be some kind of chip and dip. This might run the gamut from potato chips (crisps) and French onion sour cream or bacon-horseradish dip to tortilla chips and salsa, guacamole, or fakey semi-liquid "Nacho cheese" sauce.

A "nacho plate" consisting of a layer of tortilla chips, a layer of refried pinto beans, and a smattering of jalapeno peppers, black olive bits, mild cheese, and sour cream (heat everything except for the sour cream under a broiler until melty and toasty) is also very popular. (recipe)

As others have mentioned, Buffalo hot chicken wings with blue cheese dressing dip and celery sticks on the side is another middle-American classic, but might be a mess to make and transport to another person's house. A recent trend has been to substitute ranch dressing for the blue cheese dressing but imho that's an abomination. (recipe)

EmpressCallipygos has good ideas, and kind of alludes to a slightly pathetic but fairly ubiquitous middle-American appetizer, the shrimp cocktail, which is a cocktail glass or small bowl for each person with some iceberg lettuce in the bottom, a large dollop of sauce made from 1/2-1/2 ketchup and horseradish ("cocktail sauce") and a half-dozen cooked shrimp for each diner stuck in around the perimeter of the sauce. (recipe)

When they're trying to be healthier and have access to good fresh vegetables, you also might see folks bring a tray of "crudités" -- sticks of carrot, celery, cucumber, zucchini, florets of broccoli and cauliflower, and small cherry tomatoes, served with a bowl of some creamy salad dressing/dip -- typically but not always "ranch" dressing.

(Of course, a lot of Americans go to non-American foods in an attempt to be original or interesting, so in a typical party I would go to you might see people bringing any of the following as shared appetizers: Chinese egg rolls, sushi / sashimi, hummous and babaganouj, Indian samosas and chutney, Pad Thai or grilled sate strips, good Italian bread to dip in high quality olive oil and served with good olives, or Mexican quesadillas. American cuisine pretty much assimilates aspects of all other cuisines, simplifies them and makes them fattier and less nutritious, and calls them its own.)
posted by aught at 1:09 PM on November 11, 2008

Pumpernickel bread dip. If you want to go for maximum simplicity (and terror), swap out everything except the bread and sour cream for powdered soup mix.
posted by gnomeloaf at 1:20 PM on November 11, 2008

As Michael Pollan would suggest, a typical U.S. appetizer would consist of about 70% corn.

Nachos, while technically invented in Mexico, were created to sate the demands of the wives of U.S. military personnel just across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas during World War II.

Corn dogs, which you can just heat up in a microwave when you get to the kitchen, combine deep frying, corn batter and hot dogs, and you can accompany them with catchup and mustard.

Corn chowder might be your healthiest option, and would make a better appetizer than succotash.
posted by billtron at 1:36 PM on November 11, 2008