I mourn the dulling down of Breakfast....

It's been almost 40 years since I recall seeing salt mackerel on a Breakfast menu, the last I remember at the old Menger Hotel in San Antonio. I recall a couple of Gulf Coast hotels which often prepared fried fillets of Speckled Trout for breakfast buffets.

About the most enjoyable moments of most US-based tourist cruises involve the breakfast plates of smoked salmon, admittedly not very good SS, but any SS (or even Gravlax) raises my spirits early in the day.

Grown accustomed to by naval service and only seen once in recent years one morning at the J. W. Marriott in DC, chipped beef in cream sauce, the legendary "Foreskins on Toast".

First experienced a teen, a Sunday morning breakfast in the patio of Club #8, Cd. Acuna, Mexico, dining with the "entertainers", Huevos co Chorizo, the fresh highly seasoned "mostly parts" sausage - vinegar dosed - of Mexico (unlike Spanish chorizo of the Portuguese style of similar name) sauteed and scrambled with eggs. These days, available at Taquerias, in convenient guise, stuffed in a tortilla (for purists, "de mais" not "de harina") with a few chunks of potato.....

"Beaten" biscuits with "real" Country Ham (not the insipid rose-tinted stuff sold as ham these days). A good baguette with ham from places like Parma or Bayona serves well.

Bacon, in many styles and from a variety of cultures, but best of all, thick sliced and crisp, maybe pepper cured, and with plenty of "seconds". With soft airy biscuits, sweet butter and tart plum jam or jelly. Fresh "Country sausage" patties, well seasoned and cooked brown, can be substituted for bacon.

"Cheese Toast" - a healthy slice of sourdough, partly toasted, then buttered lightly and covered with a layer of Sharp melting Cheese, then run under the broiler until bubbling and browned in spots.

"Cheese Grits" - a casserole of cooked grits, beaten eggs, sour cream, sharp cheese, & red or green hot sauce, baked until semi-firm.

Losers.....

Pancakes lathered with cornstarch-thickened fruit fillings, especially when slathered in whipped cream, fake or real. I continue to be of mixed emotions toward some Dutch pancakes, remaining a member of the "Not Ready for Fried Egg" Club

Most waffles, over-rated, over-sweetened and over-here.

Most Eggs Benedict, Sardou, and similar. Only in New Orleans and furrin imitations never quite make the grade.

Most hotel buffet omelets. Ambition outweighs quality.

Any scrambled eggs prepared more than 3 eggs at a time, or held for more than 60 seconds after coming from the pan. I want scrambled. If I wanted them vulcanized, I'd have ordered "Rubber Eggs".

Corn Flakes - Even Eve's Apple would not make them edible, the same flavor which would come from frying chips of the heavy paper covering sheet rock/gypsum board..
Grape Nuts & Raisin Bran are the "Breakfasts of Avatars"

Oh great. Now I'm starving. Thanks a lot.

I <3 cream chipped beef.

I also love sausage gravy-n-biscuits, which I haven't had in years.

Hmm, I wonder why Americans are morbidly obese ?

The three best breakfast places in America, in my personal experience:

Lou Mitchell's in Chicago--great atmosphere and cinnamon rolls the size of a dinner plate. Great coffee, too.

Moody's Diner, Waldoboro, Maine--Go in the fall; you can't beat autumn in New England. Had breakfast there one morning (pancakes, I'm fairly sure) and came back a couple days later for lopstah chowdah. The Downeast pronunciation of my first name, when shouted over a roomful of waiting patrons, is hysterical.

Loveless Cafe, Nashville--the best country ham and biscuits anywhere, and it's right around the corner from where I used to live; people would travel hundreds of miles to have their photos taken in front of the sign, and it was my neighborhood restaurant. I miss it.

I just want a decent omelet. I can't find any breakfast place in NYC that I truly enjoy--the diner omelets are all too big, greasy, and tasteless. I also miss "skillets" which I could get in the midwest but can't find here.

Well, I seriously doubt it was from the breakfasts described. 40 years ago, people ate very differently. Note that TMOliver's list is protein heavy, and mostly savory not sweet. Compare that with all the empty, sweet carb we consume today. On a hot summer day, an 8-oz bottle of Coke (made with real sugar) was a rare treat, now the 44-oz, corn syrup sweetened drink is the norm, and folks consume them all day, every day. People mostly ate at home, imbibing smaller portions and recycling leftovers till they were gone. Even for upper middle class families it would be rare if they ate meat at every meal. Now the only meal not getting a heavy dose of meat is breakfast, where we like our sweetened cereals and high-fat granola bars for their convenience.

What TMOliver is describing is not everyday eating, but eating in better hotels or on planes of yesteryear. A special treat, because the cost of travel was so high.

I love creamed chipped beef aka SOS. I used to get it homemade as a kid, and while I think Stouffer's makes a decent rendition, it's just not the same.

While we allow a significant amount of latitude as to the subject matter of OMNI threads, we also like to promote the use of other threads on FlyerTalk.

And this thread sounds ideally suited for our popular DiningBuzz! forum.

So please prepare to chow down and follow the thread at it's new home.

Thanks.


___________________

Cholula
OMNI Co-Moderator

What were the beaten biscuits like?

I used to read recipes for beaten biscuits and think, someday. . . . But it always sounded like too much work.

I haven't done it in years, but it's not hard to make. You need to find the jar of Armour chipped beef at the grocery store, which I cannot. Then, a white sauce, seasoned as you like (maybe black pepper, paprika, salt). I love the stuff, have only eaten it at home other than what was served at summer camp in the 60's. I admit to succumbing to the convenience of Stouffers and won't complain about the quality or taste, but I do grind a lot of pepper over it or add Cholula.

At 69, 6'2" and a hair over 200 with acceptable BP and blood sugar levels, I suspect I may be healthier than you (or relatively so as a matter of age). I am a little creaky, but 7 decades will do that to you.

Living in Southern California may be worse for your health than sausage....

i miss rascal house in miami....

To those with sea time, "SOS" is something else, almost like "Sloppy Joes",served over toast for breakfast. Chipped Beef, now available in vacuum packets instead of jars, was used for "Foreskins on Toast" in the wardrooms in which I dined.

Then there was the classic Saturday breakfast when "Captain's Inspection" was scheduled forthe ship's spaces before Liberty Call. Baked beans and hard-boiled eggs. Followed by an afternoon/evening on the beach drinking beer, the local level of flatulence exceeded allowable levels.

Same with freshly cooked bacon. I don't bother ordering it in NYC anymore.

I think most NYC diners have a rule that bacon should be partially cooked yesterday and then barely reheated before serving