Nothing More American, Even When It's Foreign


In honor of the Australians who took in Tex's immigrants, I added fried eggs to the cheeseburgers. But of course the hamburger is already a food highly symbolic of the American melding of ideas borne by immigrants from all over the world, and merchants to all of it.

Next time, though, I want one of these. Now you want to talk about improvements that immigrants have brought to America, that looks fantastic.

9 comments:

douglas said...

It looks good, but a Mexican restaurant in Finland? I had 'Mexican' food in Switzerland once, because we were months from home and jonesing for some good Mexican food. They just didn't have the proper ingredients, much less the know how- to make good Mexican food. Next time I'll wait till I get home.

If you like spicy- this stuff is really good on almost anything-
Jenkin's Jellies Hellfire Pepper Jelly.

Texan99 said...

I've had some hilarious Mexican food in Tennessee. It was as if they had heard about it third-hand. There was a big old steak in the middle of the plate, and some kind of side-dish that was vaguely reminiscent of something Mexican. Post-modern, I guess.

Grim said...

There used to be a place like that not too far from where I grew up, the first 'Mexican' restaurant in the county. It was what you'd get if you tried to assemble Mexican food from traditional Appalachian culinary ingredients. Don't know how to make 'tortillas,' whatever they are, but we can make some good cornbread; don't know how to 're-fry' a bean, but we've got some good pinto beans to go with the cornbread!

DL Sly said...

Our burgers this year were stuffed with bacon bits and onion, accompanied by grilled potatoes with bacon and ham, baked beans flavored with bacon and ham, BBQ chicken w/homemade BBQ sauce finished off with apple cobbler and ice cream to watch the Battle of the Fireworks. There were so many private displays (ours included) going on that we never did figure out where the "official" ones were.
Hope y'all had a great Fourth. Ours was filled with a plethora of family, fun, food, fireworks and beer.

Grim said...

No bacon on the ice cream? I'm surprised at you. :)

We did our own fireworks this year, too. That's one way liberty has increased since I was a boy -- those used to be illegal in Georgia. I can think of several things at the state level that are better and more free than they were. Red state governments have been doing good work these last few decades.

DL Sly said...

This was the first year we got to have fireworks that actually launched something!!! Needless to say, we launched a lot. Our fireworks alone lasted about 45 minutes -- we even had a 25 shot finale' called "Folds of Honor" from which 1/3 of the $30 purchase price goes towards the Folds of Honor charity for military families.

And, no, no bacon on the ice cream....it was all used up in the meal. Well, that and the, um, *occasional* pinch of a piece or seven(ty) by the cook. Hey, ya gotta taste the food while you're cooking!
TMSAISTI.
heh
0>;~}

Anonymous said...

I see your Finnish Mexican food, Douglas, and raise you Austrian, from the [redacted] in Salzburg. It was mild, to say the least, and when I put my fork into the pinto beans, one shot off the plate into the hidden depths of the dining room, they were so hard. The waiter asked what we thought and my father, the diplomat, said it was unusual but not bad, but did allow that the beans were firmer than those usually served. The cook had boiled them for forty-five minutes, as it turns out, and we assured the waiter that they usually required four hours at a simmer, after soaking overnight. I've always wondered if the cook changed how he cooked beans, or if they just avoided serving them to Americans after that.

No fireworks here, because of the drought and burn ban.

LittleRed1

E Hines said...

There was, when I was in Germany, a Mexican restaurant out the back gate of Bitburg AB. It was owned by an Austrian, and the head cook was Indian.

For all that, the food they served was as good as any midwestern American diner version of Mexican food.

Eric Hines

Gringo said...

My experience of "Mexican" food in Massachusetts has been horrendous. Unseasoned and unsalted black beans, food drowning in melted Velveeta. My sister has finally gotten the message: TX residents do NOT like what passes for "Mexican" food in Massachusetts, so she has stopped suggesting we eat Mexican when I am in town.