More recipe ideas needed this time American foods

Me again, Chinese and Indian nights have been a success, July's night is going to be American food, using the (gas) bbq. I need ideas, we have very limited budget and limited access to shops. what can I serve that isn't burger or hotdogs as those are very common things here and wouldn't be special?

I'm thinking one or two meat dishes and 3 sides? Chicken, pork  and mince (beef or pork) are the cheapest meats


Things that are out. Chicken wings/ribs, can't get them unflavored.

Dessert is cheescake

Grilled fish is pretty popular here, but I'm not sure what the expense factor is where you live. Grilled summer squash is also tasty.

How I grill squash is to cut it lengthwise, into pieces about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Grill for a few minutes on each side, to get a good char mark, but not mushy. Brush with oil as needed. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese.

Americans often enjoy coleslaw and/or baked beans as side dishes too.

have you looked into southern cuisine? A lot of the cuisine of the south was invented by poor black folks and poor white folks due to limited resources and or slavery. You had to make do with what you had. This lead to good tasting but cheap to make food

Examples of southern cuisine

"A traditional Southern meal is pan-fried chicken, field peas (such as black-eyed peas), greens (such as collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, or poke sallet), mashed potatoes, cornbread or corn pone, sweet tea, and dessert—typically a pie (sweet potato, chess, shoofly, pecan, and peach are the most common)"

there's also soul food which includes more spices haha

Grits can be made with spinach, cheese, grilled onions etc. with a saucy meat. love some shrimp and  grits.

Then of course you have louisiana/ missisipi basin cuisine. Also very good.

What about pulled pork sandwiches, grilled corn on the cob and potato salad?

It can be served with or without Barbeque sauce. Or just have the sauce available to those that want it.

https://permies.com/t/150973/kitchen/Cook-Boston-Butt-Pulled-Pork

It can also be cooked with milder spices than this recipe.

Cornbread and baked beans sounds like a pair of good ideas, IF I can find dried beans, not sure the two shops we are limited to carry them. We're stuck using the bbq this time so not really possible to do fried chicken I don't think they would like me putting the frying pans on the grill! Chicken is cheap this week so maybe something with that? I do also have turnips so I could do some form of green with the tops. There isn't any pork on offer or pulled pork would be excelent, I will look to see if there's any corn around yet, that would be really easy and while not cheap at least not expensive.

Sweet corn grills well, if you can get it in Denmark at this time of year.  Lots of different ways people do it, I think it's simplest to grill it in the husk until outer layers are charred.  If you don't have room for it on the grill, then shuck it and boil it.  Serve with lots of butter!

Or maybe Danes would like a crab boil?  In Maryland in the summer they boil up a big pot of blue crabs with potatoes and corn.  Of course accompanied by Old Bay seasoning.

https://www.domino.com/content/maryland-crab-boil/

A sort of chili bake was always a hit when I entertained down south. Ground beef, kidney/pinto beans, loads of peppers of varying heat and onions, cook down quite well and smother in the tomato product of your choosing and all the spices you can handle. Simmer for a couple hours and put in a greased casserole. Make a sweeter cornbread batter with creamed corn in it, layer on top of the chili at least 1.5 inches thick or so. Bake until golden brown and set in the middle.
Enjoy!

One of our favorite summer dishes is shrimp shish kebabs.  grill shrimp, onions, cherry tomatoes, peppers, summer squash and mushrooms on skewers.  When veggies are finished, mix them with a good vinaigrette.   Serve over herbed couscous.  Walla!!

That crab boil reminded me about the Trash Can Dinner that is a big hit at Pot Lucks.

I found this one in this newspaper article.  This recipe could be reduced to a smaller amount so it can be cooked in a large stew pot.

It would be easy to change the meats to chicken rather than ham and whatever kind of sausages are available where you are.

Garbage-Can Dinner

6 dozen ears of corn

70 red potatoes, whole

70 carrots, whole or halved, peeled

12 heads of cabbage, quartered

Old Bay seasoning (optional)

6 yellow onions, whole

22 to 25 pounds of quality boneless ham, quartered

76 sausages (such as brats, smoked, Polish)

Place a grate over three bricks in a clean, large metal garbage can. Put a little water (to about 3/4 the height of the bricks) in the bottom of the can.

Remove silk from corn and put husk back on. Place corn vertically, with tips up, on grate. Place other ingredients, in order, over corn. Cover can securely with lid. Cook over an open fire for about 3 hours without lifting the lid. When done, slice items, if necessary, and serve each food in its own pan.

Makes 70-80 servings in 2 cans.

https://www.sj-r.com/article/20120919/NEWS/309199892

How about a meatloaf using ground beef (minced beef?)?  I don't know if meatloaf is "American" but I think it's a common and simple thing to cook here.

I make a stuffed meatloaf.  Basically mix the meat with some ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder (or diced onions if you like them), an egg or two and some plain oatmeal until it's mixed through.

Then, I use my hands to mash the meat up against my largest mixing bowl along the bottom and sides to create a sort of meat bowl.

I usually add  broccoli and sharp cheddar cheese to the center of the meat bowl (but any veggies and/or cheese that you like will work.

Then I bring the open edges of the meat together to form an enclosed loaf that looks like a football.  

Place the seam side down in a baking dish and cut some slits in the top and bake until it's done. (approximately 350-400 degrees for about 45-60 minutes)

I like Dijon mustard so I also spread some on the top of the loaf and let it bake another 5 minutes but ketchup works great too.

OOPS!  I'm so sorry, I didn't realize this was a meal that you want to cook on a BBQ!  

In that case, you could make the meatloaf mixture and form it into meatballs, skewer with veggies like onion, sliced carrot, broccoli, grape tomatoes, peppers (red, orange, yellow, green).

I mean, I still don't know if that's "American" but it would be a variation on the meatloaf.  

Hi,  you didn't say for how many people you are cooking for or if it is a special occasion or a get together for the x night.

 Chicken kabob on a skewer spreads out the meat per serving. add lots of veggies on the skewer.  I would pre bake the chicken in tinfoil with butter on the BBQ, then chunk the chicken.  To make it more fun, give your guests chicken chunks on a paper plate,  have the veggies in bowels , and have your guests skewer them. Then bbq it to get that chared smokey blackened taste.
You can also bake a potato, turnip, etc on the grill.
Serve with a salad (I like spinach),

If there are young children they want hot dogs. no fancy stuff for meeeeeeeee. And ketsup tooooo!

My favorite is chicken and dumplings...

Two or three pounds of chicken, boneless with skin is best, but whatever you have.
Throw the chicken in a big pot and cover with chicken broth. Throw in some parsley, oregano and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and set aside.
Chop up a large onion into chucks. Chop up some carrots and celery equal amounts with onion. Bring to a boil. Debone the chicken if you need to. Open two cans of premade biscuits, flatten and quarter each one in some flour to keep them from sticking. Throw them in with the chicken. Then simmer until veggies are done and the dumplings are good and fat. Just before you're ready to take it off the heat throw in a can of peas and finish cooking.
This is a stand alone dish but I like rice with mine.

This may sound obvious, but what about dressing up the burgers to make them very American? Classic summer BBQ food for a crowd. Serve with a ton of condiments - mustard, ketchup, sweet dill pickles (you can make these from regular Dills by opening the bottle 2-3 days in advance and adding a cup of sugar), mayonnaise, relish, onions, cheese, hot sauce, sauerkraut, etc for people to chose from. A nice spread of condiments gets Canadians excited about burgers and they are pretty common here too.

Plus sides - potato salad, egg salad, and coleslaw (made ahead), and maybe a tossed salad, brocolli salad,  fruit plate, whatever.  Usually buffet style. So lean on burgers for simplicity, but make the side dishes make it 'American'. I've found with my European relatives even when they eat 'North American' food, they don't branch out from their typical regional side dishes or use the same condiments we do. The last Danes we had visit enjoyed trying our summer barbeque side dishes and condiments.

If you are dead set against burgers, but still need to use the grill, Chicken breasts grill well, as do pork chops, both cooked with BBQ sauce on top of marinated a day in advance. Yes, fresh corn, but zucchini grills well, so does pineapple. Serve with some of the condiments/side dishes above.  Pork on a bun and chicken on a bun are common festival or street foods.

Any chance of a deep fryer or portable camping stove burner with a big pot?

Michael wrote:My favorite is chicken and dumplings...

Made myself hungry so I made a batch🙂

Skandi Rogers wrote:


Things that are out. Chicken wings/ribs, can't get them unflavored.

What does that mean? Even if the come with a dry rub on it, it's not usually enough to be good. At least around here...

Bbq chicken is pretty popular and marinading something for a few hours gives it a good flavor :)

Chicken wings only come frozen with sauce already on them. I did once manage to get some frozen plain ones but that was direct from the slaughter house which wasn't a choice this time as we could only shop at 2 shops that the center has accounts with.


In the end we did Mac N cheese, Baked beans, chicken, pineapple, and peppers on skewers with bbq sauce, corn and the boss did manage to get some ribs with petty cash. This month they've decided on Romanian food, BUT it suddenly got easier, we now have a dedicated budget which means we can buy from anywhere giving massively more choice and lower prices than the two small convenience stores in a small town we were stuck with before.  and the numbers are going up, last time was up to 22 people the budget will stretch to 30 I think...