Road Trip

Nile · Road Trip

My wife and I went with a friend to Nashville, Tennessee. Quite an experience. My friend is African-American and his family is all as well. Went to the 'hood and visited all the family. Great humor flying all over the place. Great time. On Saturday a feast was laid out. Cornpone, collared greens, ribs, chitlin's, ham, mac & cheese, yams, sweet potato pie, caramel cake, cocoanut cake, pecan pie. Food to die for. I have always wanted to sample some of this homemade stuff but it would require me to go into the Chicago 'hood and not too safe for Caucasians. Then, the retail food in Nashville is also great stuff. Lots of barbecue. I mean, real wood smoked barbecue. Little trailers and small vendors everywhere. Nashville is dubbed Music City U.S.A. with the Grand Ole Opry. Then on to the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg where they make the best sippin' whiskey this side of the planet. Took a tour, then because I am a Tennessee Squire, they treated us to a special reception in a "closed to the public" room. We were presented a special Jack Daniels stein made only for the Squires and issued only to people that visit the distilery. Quite a trip. I don't know why I am bragging on here about the trip, but I just got to tell somebody. A high point in our lives. The barbecue is awesome, truly awesome.

Corgi kid

Brag away Nile, Thats sounds like one hell of a good time you had there. Please post a pic of the JD Stein if you can. I have been to a couple of good barbies in Canada and they make English ones just not worth bothering about.

keesie25

Nile, reading your experience, it is a real mouthwatering story! You must have had a great time! Was there anyone there who you could talk to about.....your hobby? Maybe not because you must have had something to eat all the time. Thanks for sharing the story, pity you did not leave anything for me.....

Mark G

Sounds fabulous Nile, glad you had a great time!

Steven David

Nile · Road Trip

I got out the "stein" from unpacking today and it should be more properly described as a mug. More precisely a coffee mug. The U,S, has its morning coffee and U.K. has morning tea. I don't even care for coffee. I would much rather have tea. It came in a box and quite an prolific statement on the box. Here it is.....

Here is the mug.........

Here is the box.......

It is a quality mug, well done and all that until I turned it over to look at the bottom. You guessed it, "Made In China". So, junk. Amazing Tennessee Squires......................Made In China. Sad

orinocowomble

Nile- What is a 'Tennessee Squire' please?

Nile · Road Trip

Tennessee Squire in my opinion is a distinction given to imbibers of fine American Whiskey with a high character that gives care and concern for the simple pleasures in life. A Tennessee Squire is bestowed upon by Jack Daniels. If a person appreciates the taste of a fine American Whiskey and takes the time truly enjoy it, he is eligible. A person must be nominated only by another Squire. A Squire receives a deed to a plot of land given to him with a specific assigned plot. The area of this plot of land is 1 square inch. When I went to the Jack Daniels operation for the first time in Lynchburg, Tennessee I saw the land set aside for "landholders". It is really physically there and is approximately 15 acres. This club is primarilly for fun and is a lighthearted group of people and the primary reason is to promote Jack Daniels Whiskey. There are over 2,000,000 members worldwide. At various times a member will receive various mailings throughout the year of a humorous nature. For instance one day a letter might arrive from the Squire organization purporting to come from some official that "Jake Muckinbrater (or some other Redneck sounding name) wants to do some coon huntin' and he wants to hunt on your land but needs your permission to trespass". So I respond with an equally assinine letter to grant him permission. This bantering adds something in your mailbox other than bills, taxes, and other bad news. It's kind of like the Turtle Club, or same kind of organizations. It's not so serious as the Masonic Lodge which I am also a member of. Or the K of C, or the Moose Lodge, Elks club etc. I received a letter the other day from the Squire Association from the constable (supposed constable) that Dean Sawbuster's pigs got loose and they were seen on my property. If I wanted to keep them, I could but he would really like them returned.

As to the epicurean foods I had in Nashville.

Ribs-usually pork and usually back ribs because they have more meat, more tender, more lean. Other times spare ribs, or even beef ribs. Beef ribs are larger but not as much taste.

Collared Greens- Are slightly bitter green large leaf plants that are similar to kale, lettuce, and spinach. They are rinsed thoroughly, soaked, and cooked to make them tender. They are popular in Africa, Portugal, Brazil, and the Southern U.S. often by the black segment of the U.S. population.

Yams are a large variety of the sweet potato with less sugary taste consequently you must add sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Usually eaten as a side vegtable with the main vegetable and also eaten in pies. Usually "soul" food fixed in the black communities and Southern U.S.

Chitlins- are pork intestines, cleaned well (of course), and fried until crispy.

Cracklins- are chewy and salty and are the skin of the pig.

I don't know if you have salt pork there but to me it is the ultimate for breakfast with eggs. It is like bacon but saltier and will last for six months or more. I regularly get pig jowl, hog maws, and pig back. These are all cuts of the pig that are fried. These cuts have a lot of fat in them and they are only good pan fried.

Hope this is informative.

Andrew

Thanks for that Nile - all those foods tend to be just words on the telly - now I know what they are talking about!

One one of my trips to the US I was presented with a biscuit - as in 'biscuits and gravy' and it turned out to be a sort of scone, not actually to my taste I have to say, if I'm eating scones I like them with jam and cream and a cup of tea on the side (don't get me going on the dearth of a good cup of tea in America)

American hotel breakfasts though - wow, I also stayed in a sort of gentleman's club place in Philadelphia and they really knew how to do breakfast! - except for the tea of course

Corgi kid

Thanks for posting the pictures of the mug. Its really smart and looks like it holds a fair amount of JD....

Nile · Road Trip

Yes..... American Tea. I am used to American Tea but I rather like English Tea. One thing that we do have is Iced Tea. My wife and I totally like Iced Tea. First you brew it then put it in the refrigerator. When you are ready to pour a glass put ice in the glass (not a teacup) and drink, drink, drink. We drink Iced Iea in the Winter even. Of course, there is nothing like a hot steaming cup of tea in the Winter. I was in England a few years ago and I asked for iced tea and would not even serve it. When the waiter came back a second time I said to him, "Can you bring me a cup of ice and some tea?" (I was going to make my own cup of Iced Tea) He said, "Are you going to pour the tea onto the ice? I said yes. He would not even bring it to me that way. He said, "I am not going to let you disgrace our tea by pouring it on ice!!" Lesson learned. Ever heard of Sun Tea?

I will say that when the "Beverly Hillbillies" starring Grannie mentions possum innards that is going over the top, although I would assume some deep hill people hae done that. I have had coon, bear, ostrich, and alligator. Some people here eat pigeon.

Corgi kid

Pigeon is eaten here in England by the upper classes. I prefare chicken myself. Maybe thats why am not posh. I do enjoy Darjeeling tea though. No sugar and just a splash of milk. Very British..........

Darjeeling Tea is widely and universally acknowledged to be the finest tea, because its flavour is so unique that it cannot be replicated. Connoisseurs will assert that without Darjeeling, Tea would be like Wine without the prestige of Champagne.

Guzzi Gadgy

Nile the whiskey club sounds a lot of fun.

Cogi "pigeon posh" I've shot and ate it since I was knee high to a rabbit.

Chicken was posh to us, only had it at

. My kids grew up thinking they had chicken every week

, they were teenagers before they found out it had been rabbit.

Ian

Corgi kid

You wicked man........

Nile · Road Trip

How does Red Rose Tea stack up as far as drinkability? Lipton's, Nestea, Celestial Seasonings, Sleepytime, Tetley, Bigelow, Twinings are some our teas.

Andrew

Had pigeon pie in the pub for lunch on Thursday - but we are in rural Oxfordshire and very posh as a result....

Tea - the very worst I had was in a Starbucks on 5th Avenue in New York, it was foul. However the problem is not necessarily the tea - it is what American hotels do with it and I have to say this silly behaviour is creeping over the pond into UK hotels now. Instead of putting the tea in the pot and adding boiling water you are brought a pot of hot water and a tea bag (or a choice of teabags). By the time you get it the water is cooling and does not brew the tea properly. Making tea is not hard, but hotels put a lot of effort into getting it wrong.

The very best tea is always from those vans in laybys where the wagons stop, they know that if they get it wrong they won't have any business! They also do the best bacon sandwiches on earth.

sandie seward

"Yorkshire" Tea is now my favourite, followed by Brooke Bond "P.G. Tips".

Wherever you go in Yorkshire, there it is, a lovely steaming mug of Yorkshire Tea. I also have it at home, and so consequently I am used to it's rather "strong" flavour.

Regarding roadside vans! Certainly agree with you. I stopped at one on the A1 on my way home on Friday, and had the biggest sandwich (tuna and mayo), and wonderful mug of tea....all for £2.60.

james_autos

American hotels - they do absolutely fantastic breakfasts. We stayed in one in Santa Monica and they did one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten. Whoever thought that eggs, potatoes and bacon could taste so nice? If you wanted orange juice, they gave you what appeared to be a gallon sized glass and filled it to the top, and when you'd finished, they top it right back up again, and when the bill came they never charged you for it!

They served 'hot tea' which was as close to english tea as you could get, and it was awful. It came in a small pot with one of those Lipton's tea bags in it, and even after letting it mash for about 10 minutes, it was still too weak. But with free gallons of the best orange juice, I never bothered having it again.