American Gourmand

Angelo’s has been family run since 1958 and has a reputation for two things, Barbecued Beef Brisket and ice cold beer served up in a frozen schooner, although I went for a long neck of Shiner Bock on my visit.

The fireboxes for Angelo’s two pits are located outside of the restaurant for all to see, fueled with hickory logs that flavor the meat encased inside.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated with wood paneling and mounts from the owners extensive kills and catches.

You order at the counter and grab a seat in the dining room to enjoy some of the best Texas has to offer!

I went for the sliced beef and hot link sandwiches, and was happy to see that Angelo’s sells Louisiana’s own Zapp’s Chips, my favorite being the Hotter ‘n Hot Jalapeno.

I fell in love with the Texas combination of brisket, mustard, onion, and pickles on a bun! I had three squares of this Sliced beef sandwich yesterday, breakfast, lunch, and dinner at three different restaurants around Fort Worth. Absolutely love it!

Angelo’s beef was my favorite. Not overly smoky, well seasoned, and tender as all get out.

The Hot Link sandwich was delicious as well, spicy and slightly smoky, served with the same accompaniments as the sliced beef sandwich.

I highly recommend Angelo’s, my first taste of real Texas Brisket, certainly not the last. I’m sold.

As always when posting about Barbecue, I will end the post with a picture of the establishments wood pile, in this case, Hickory.

Next up, Railhead Barbecue, Fort Worth Texas!

Be sure and check out the sister website to this one, Nola Cuisine!

Posted in Restaurants | Tagged american gourmand, american gourmande, angelo george, angelo's bar-b-que, angelo's barbecue, angelo's bbq, beef brisket, best brisket in texas, fort worth, fort worth barbecue, fort worth dining, fort worth stockyard, ice cold beer, nola cuisine, schooner, shiner beer, shiner bock, stockyards, taxidermy, texas, texas barbecue, texas bbq, texas hot links, texas sliced beef, white settlement, zapp's chips | Leave a comment

Nashville Farmer’s Market – Nashville, TN

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Danno

I love farmer’s markets and whenever I’m on vacation I always seek out the ones in the area that I’m staying in. On my latest trip, Nashville, my wife and I stopped by the Nashville Farmer’s Market to check out their wares on a Saturday morning. Keep in mind it was early spring but there was still a lot of great stuff available. The smoked pork was in great abundance here! Here are some pics. Afterall, a picture is worth a thousand words:

All manner of smoked pork available, for greens, or beans or what have you:

Farm fresh eggs:

Noble Springs Dairy Goat Cheese:

I loved the photos on the counter with their goats, including their wedding photo:

Spring Valley Farms Preserves:

Fresh Okra:

More pork. Sausages:

Homemade Pies:

Onions:

Beautiful Tomatoes:

Something I’ve never seen before. Mushroom logs!

Oyster Mushroom logs:

Shitake Mushroom Logs:

Flash Infusion method recipe for Hot Chicken

Finally, I stopped by this gentleman’s stand, selling Music City Hot Chicken Seasoning (Jerk). I got to asking the friendly guy about how he made Nashville Hot Chicken and he gave me some good pointers which are described here:

He was a friendly gentleman and very informative, so I bought some of his product to check it out. Man, great flavor…hot, but more than hot, full flavored with depth.

Crescent City Farmer’s Market
Loveless Cafe – Nashville, Tennessee
Martin’s Barbecue Joint
Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack – Nashville, Tennessee

Posted in Restaurants | Tagged farm fresh eggs, goat cheese, homemade goat cheese, homemade pies nashville, mushroom logs, music city hot chicken contest, music city hot chicken festival, music city hot chicken shake jerk, nashille hot chicken, nashville farmers market, noble springs dairy goat cheese, oyster mushroom logs, shiitake mushrooms, shitske mushroom logs, smoked pork, spring valley farms | Leave a comment

My Boudin Recipe at Nola Cuisine

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Danno

From Homemade Boudin

Nola Cuisine is the sister site to American Gourmand, as well as its predecessor and a labor of love for me! I use the same theme for both sites so that I can link between them, hopefully seamlessly, so one will compliment the other as I share content between the two.

I certainly don’t want my long faithful readers of Nola Cuisine to think I’m leaving it behind, quite the contrary, I want to merge the two sites as much as possible!

Which leads me to my latest post at Nola Cuisine! My most recent Boudin Recipe!

From Homemade Boudin

For those unfamiliar with Boudin, it is a sausage found extensively in South Louisiana, made from cooked pork & pork liver, bound with rice, heavily seasoned, finished heavily with parsley & green onions. A national institution in South Louisiana, found everywhere. A way of life really.

My Boudin Recipe

I live in Michigan, I love Boudin, I make my own…hell yeah! It is a theme you will come to know on American Gourmand, as readers of Nola Cuisine already do. If I can’t get it…I will make it my damned self!

Be sure to visit my other website Nola Cuisine as well as My Recipe Page and My Creole & Cajun Recipe Page!

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged american gourmand, boudin, boudin recipe, charcuterie recipes, nola cuisine | Leave a comment

Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack – Nashville, Tennessee

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Danno

Of all of the restaurant destinations in Nashville that I had lined up, Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack was the #1 that I could not miss! As I heard the former Mayor Bill Purcell say in an online interview of Nashville’s Hot Chicken (the Mayor who under his watch founded the Music City Hot Chicken Festival), “It’s our most indigenous food.”

From Robert's Western World – Fried Bologna Sandwich

We almost missed Prince’s too, we went early one day, mislead by a bogus online posting, so we bumped up Martin’s Barbecue Joint on the schedule, then found out Prince’s didn’t open until 2 the next day, and was closed on Sunday! Holy Lord, need to make this happen! We did make it happen, even though we had eaten a big breakfast/lunch and were quite full. “I just need a taste,” I told myself.

As we walked in, I noticed an older gentleman sitting in the corner booth who looked familiar, sporting a generous plate of Hot Chicken.

We made our way to the ordering window, spotting and giving a big “Go Wings” to jersyed Detroiters at a booth on the way. “That’s what’s up!” one of them sputtered through the snot running down his nose as he sweated over a plate of hot chicken. (The Detroit Red Wings were playing the Nashville Predators on the Saturday we were in town.)

We made it to the window, and I’m ashamed to say that I ordered it mild, extra pickles please (I love pickles). I’m going to make some excuses here:

*All of the hype turned me into a big sniveling ninny.
*I drank about 20 Yazoo Pale Ales at Robert’s Western World the night/morning before, complete with a nightcap Fried Bologna Sandwich:

*We ate at Wendell Smith an hour before coming to Prince’s, I was so full it was intolerable
*I don’t know what came over me, I’m a big jackass

I know. No excuses count. I should have ordered it as God intended it to be…HOT! Next time.

As we waited for our Hot Chicken I glanced again at the corner booth, and realized that the older gentleman sitting there was none other than Bill Purcell, whom I mentioned above. The guy obviously loves his Hot Chicken, but not just any Hot Chicken, Prince’s. I got a cool picture of him in the shadow of the famous Prince’s window painting when I snapped a few pics outside.

Our order came up and as we were not lucky enough to find a booth inside that wasn’t occupied, we went to the car. Hey, I’m not proud!

Like I said, I ordered it mild (I know, I know, I know), and was expecting the hype to totally let me down. No way. This was the most full flavored, amazing Fried Chicken I have had in my entire life. No lie. Not just heat either, ordering it mild let me taste all of the nuances without thinking about the scoville rating. Amazing, full flavored chicken from the crust, all the way down to the bone, with just enough heat to appreciate. The chicken is nestled on top of white bread that catches all of the glorious, hot drippings and seasonings. I dare say that I enjoyed the flavor saturated, red bread as much as the chicken. Please bare in mind, when we ordered I was already uncomfortably full from the meat and three we had for lunch, but after biting into this amazing Nashville invention, I kept muttering, “Jeez, I wish I had ordered more!”

The chicken is fried in lard in huge cast iron pans in the back. The mystery, or secret recipe is in the finish that goes on after the chicken comes out of the fryer, although I suspect that there may be some Cayenne in the frying lard as well. I also picked up on a finishing seasoning that can be seen in the photo. I saw flecks of what I thought was chili powder.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe

Recreating Nashville Hot Chicken for a recipe is my number one priority here on American Gourmand at the moment! As soon as I get it right, you know I will share!

Posted in Restaurants, Uncategorized | Tagged 400 degrees, best fried chicken in the south, bill purcell, bolton's spicy chicken & fish, buttermilk fried chicken, buttermilk fried chicken recipe, fried chicken, fried chicken recipe, gus's fried chicken recipe, hot chicken recipe, martin's barbecue joint, music city, music city hot chicken festival, nashville hot chicken, nashville hot chicken recipe, nashville recipes, prince's hot chicken, prince's hot chicken recipe, robert's western world, thomaas keller prince's, thomas keller fried chicken recipe | 1 Comment

Martin’s BAR-B-QUE Joint – Nolensville, Tennessee

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Danno

Good Barbecue is hard to come by in the north, (unless you come to my house, that is) so when I venture south, I’m always on the prowl for some well sweated swine. I’ve heard many a good thing about Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint when researching places to eat during our recent visit to Nashville, it was actually one of the places that I promised myself not to miss!

Martin’s BAR-B-QUE Joint
7238 Nolensville, Rd.
Nolensville, TN 37135
(615)776-1856 • fax (615)776-5770

We visited Martin’s on our second day in Nashville. It’s about 30 minutes outside of the city in Nolensville, TN, in a corner of a strip mall parking lot and nestled behind a Sonic, you know that place, the one that fills you with self loathing after you eat it, and ask yourself the simple question “Why did I just eat that??” Maybe it’s just me.

I lumbered past the Sonic, haunted by the ghosts of bad, late night meals past, and pulled into Martin’s, the smell of smoke and rendering pork fat immediately warmed my spirits and filled me with excitement for the meal to come.

The interior of Martin’s is fun with a lot of chotchkies, signs with goofy sayings, albums, concert posters, and on the day we visited…a dead pig.

Martin’s cooks a whole hog every Friday for Saturday service, the whole hog pit is right in the dining room! We visited on a Friday so I had the pleasure of photographing the gentleman prepping the hog for the following days Pig Roast.

We went up to the window and placed our orders, the service staff is young, smiling and extremely friendly.

The menu:

At the ordering window is a small fridge filled with beer, my eyes lit up when I spied a bottle of Dixie Beer, which is sadly no longer brewed in New Orleans, another casualty of Hurricane Katrina. Dixie is now brewed in Wisconsin, but I’m still a sentimental fool for an ice cold Dixie when I see one, although I drink it with a tear in my eye.

We sat down and waited for our orders to arrive, listening to the sound of the gentleman in my photos go to work on the hog with a hatchet and hammer. My wife wasn’t a big fan of being so close to the macabre business of butterflying a whole hog before and during eating lunch, but I sure enjoyed it!

Clunk! Clunk! Clunk!

Our food arrived, I could hardly wait to dig in!

I couldn’t resist ordering the house specialty, the Redneck Taco. Pulled Pork, slaw, sauce served on a hoecake, which is basically a cornbread batter cooked like a pancake on a hot griddle. Martin’s hoecake has great flavor, with a lot of black pepper.

My wife went for the straight up pulled pork sandwich which is offered on a bun or open faced on Texas Toast. Martin’s boasts of smoking their pulled pork for 22 hours, the time pays off, as their pulled pork is succulent, delicious.

Clunk! Clunk!

I also ordered a brisket sandwich for us to share, also juicy and delicious!

Ordering a few different choices allowed us to try a variety of sides. I ordered the brisket with Cornbread which is the hoecake as described above:

The pit beans, were very good, with shreds of pulled pork throughout.

My favorite sides that I tasted though were the Pinto Beans, served in a flavorful chicken broth slightly spicy with green chilis:

…and the potato salad, which was down home goodness. Large chunks of Redskin Potatoes, bound with a mustard and mayonnaise based sauce. Nothing ground breaking, just a well made potato salad, a perfect accompaniment to some well made Barbecue!

After lunch I had to do my outdoor inspection of the barbecue joint. It’s kind of an obsession of mine, photographing woodpiles, trying to get a glimpse of the pit through the back door. Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint is using an Old Hickory Pit, a great piece of equipment! This trailer unit is proudly on display in front of the restaurant. Old hickory for sure on the front end.

The old hickory on the outdoor unit, love the skull and crossbones!

The other side of the unit, I’m assuming for competitions where the old hickory unit can’t be used except to ignite the fire. Or maybe just for volume:

Martin’s also has a drive thru!

Things we know for certainty!

I truly enjoyed my visit to Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, a family run joint with good food and a good vibe! Check out their list of:

I will end this post the way I will end posts about all Barbecue Joints, smokehouses and the like! With photos of their woodpile(s).

Loveless Cafe – Nashville, Tennessee

Be sure and check out my ever growing Recipe Page, a work in progress! Also check out my other website dedicated to Creole & Cajun cooking called Nola Cuisine!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bbq turkey, big south pork, bon appetit magazine, brisket, cape girardeau, cornbread, dan auerbach, digging hoecakes, doc holliday, gourmet magazine, hoecake, hoecake recipe, john t. edge, little jimmy dickens hot dog, loveless cafe, martin's bar-b-que joint, martin's barbecue joint, martin's barbecue restaurant, martin's bbq joint, martins bbq, memphis barbecue, mike mills, momma martin's coconut cake, nashville restaurants, nolensville restaurants, old hickory pits, patrick martin, pig roast, pinto beans, pit beans, porter wagoner, potato salad, prince's hot chicken, pulled pork, redneck spaghetti, redneck taco, tennessee barbecue, the black keys, the notorious redneck taco, things we know for certainty, waylon jennings, whole hog, wild bill | Leave a comment

Loveless Cafe – Nashville, Tennnessee

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Danno

Greetings from Nashville! Yesterday was our first day in Nashville, with a flight so early it required a 4:00 a.m. wake up. Upon arriving in Nashville at 8:15 a.m., all that my wife and I could dream of was a good, sturdy Southern breakfast. We jumped into our rental, and I dug into Google maps on my phone, alight with stars brighter than the night sky, each one a reminder that there is no way I could ever manage to make it to all of these restaurants, dives, and meat and three’s, even if I lived here. I focused in on the legendary Loveless Cafe, turned on the navigation and allowed the Speak N Spell guys girlfriend to direct us to breakfast. Loveless cafe is about 35 minutes from Nashville International Airport.

View Larger Map

Loveless Cafe
8400 Tennessee 100 Nashville, TN 37221
(615) 646-9700

The neon sign for the Loveless, which at one time was a motel, makes one think of the kind you would see along Route 66 during the 1950′s, or along any highway during the 50′s for that matter. This sign is permanently held in “no vacancy” mode, as the motel portion of the establishment closed for good in 1985, the original motel buildings now house retail shops, one of which being an outpost for the cafe’s hams & jams retail outlet, along with t-shirts, cookbooks, bumper stickers, keychains, you name it.

Upon entering the cafe, with warm smiles and “Good morning”s all around, you are surrounded with signed photos of the celebrities who have visited. On a side note, I’ve always wondered about how the owners of restaurants go about the approach of asking said celebrities for these photos? Do they ask them to send one out? Does the celebrity in question know enough to carry an envelope full of smiling photos of him or herself if they want to go out to eat? Has a celebrity ever been asked for one of these autographs in the middle of a mouth full of food? I digress.

Upon being seated I tell my wife I kind of regret coming for breakfast as I hear Loveless has some wonderful Fried Chicken. Actually, Fried Chicken is how the business came to be known back in 1951 when it was owned by Lon and Anne Loveless. Fried Chicken was the only thing served, on picnic tables on the couples front porch to weary travelers. I can’t miss the Fried Chicken! We are seated in a cozy small dining room, I don’t realize until later that there is an almost obscenely large dining room right next door; we got lucky.

Our waiter greets us with menus, and promises to be back in a moment with some of the famous biscuits straight from the oven, along with housemade preserves.

I quickly check out the breakfast menu and am pleased to find a half order of Fried Chicken as an a la carte item, just below, in a stroke of my good fortune, waffles. Big warm smile. While ordering I can’t help but notice an a la carte order of Barbecue Pulled Pork on a Loveless biscuit for $2.95. Why not? Lets kick this trip off right!

Our friendly waiter arrives promptly with the biscuits and preserves as promised.

The aroma of butter permeates the air and draws us into the plate of steaming biscuits immediately, the preserves can wait. The biscuits at Loveless are far beyond my expectation, so far in fact that I don’t think I will ever bite into another biscuit without comparing it to the ones I had at Loveless; or at least until I find it’s equal or superior, if ever. Angel light texture, the flavor of real butter dominating. Pure heaven.

The preserves are exceptional as well, the selection being strawberry, blackberry and peach. The blackberry is the standout in my mind, although all were delicious.

The food arrives moments later.

My wife ordered a traditional egg and bacon breakfast, the only thing out of the ordinary being a hash brown casserole. Cheesy hash browns? How could you go wrong?

My wonderfully crispy Fried Chicken with Waffles:

I love spearing together a forkful of fried chicken and a hunk of waffle, and dipping the whole mess into maple syrup. The crisp, the savory, the sweet. A wonderfully American concoction. While I’m enjoying the whole experience, I feel like I’m neglecting my little buddy to my right:

The combination of the slight smokiness of the pork, coupled with the buttery biscuit and the tomato-vinegar sauce is something I won’t soon forget. The biscuit brings the pulled pork to a new level of deliciousness. The Pulled pork is smoked in a Barbecue shack next to the restaurant which also sells Barbecue take out:

We pay our bill and head out so that I can snap some pictures of the neon sign. The weather is a bust, a torrential down pour which turns out to be the theme of the whole day. Our waiter was kind enough to run out into the pouring rain to give me my credit card, which I foolishly left in the check presenter, apparently I was in a hazy state of good southern food. It makes me forgetful.

The sad part about taking my food trips is that I only have one stomach. I sadly didn’t get to sample more of the barbecue at Loveless as the ginormity of my breakfast ruined me for most of the day. I did however get some pics of their woodpiles. For some reason, I can hardly resist taking picture of woodpiles and barbecue pits when I see them, it must be the cave man in me.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe
Places I have visited!

More to come on our trip to Nashville!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged american gourmand, american gourmande, bellevue, biscuit recipe, biscuits, buttermilk biscuit recipe, Carol Fay Ellison, chicken and waffles, fried chicken, hams & jams, hams and jams, hash brown casserole, homemade preserves, loveless barn, loveless cafe, loveless cafe - hams & jams online store, loveless cafe biscuit recipe, loveless cafe fried chicken recipe, loveless ham, loveless motel, meat and three, nashville, nashville hot chicken, nola cuisine, prince's hot chicken, southern recipes, tennessee, the buscuit lady, waffles | 1 Comment

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Danno

What better place to start a website entitled American Gourmand than with an oversized plate of Buttermilk Fried Chicken, fried in home rendered lard no less!

I take Fried Chicken seriously, but not seriously enough to make myself not enjoy it. Just seriously enough to appreciate the finer points of a good batch. Here are, what in my humble opinion, are some of those finer points, along with what helps to achieve them:

1.) A crispy crust is a must, but not so crisp that it shatters and falls back on the plate, or even worse falls off in sheets onto the plate. It should come off with the meat so that you can enjoy the crust to flesh ratio.

2.) Seasoning. As my Mom always says, “Fried Chicken needs Salt!” There’s nothing that ruins a good crust quicker than biting into bland, flavorless meat with no seasoning.

3.) The fat is where it’s at, and Lard is the best, with peanut oil being a close second. Sometimes I use peanut oil with a few spoons of lard added. Sometimes I add bacon drippings to the lard or peanut oil. Sometimes I even throw in a few strips of good bacon to fry alongside the chicken, which adds a slight smoky flavor to the finished product. If you’re using lard it has to be homemade rendered lard, not the junk they sell in the grocery store. Here is my recipe for making it at home:

Homemade Rendered Lard Recipe

4.) Cast Iron is the only way to go. No pan creates a better crust, or maintains frying temperature better than cast iron. Period. I use one that my Mom passed on to me that she received on her wedding day in 1966.

Here is the recipe:

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe

The seasoning mix:

From American Gourmand

3 Tbsp Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
1 Tbsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Cayenne
1/2 tsp White Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder

Combine the seasoning mix.

1 smallish Chicken (3 to 4 pounds) or a combination of Legs and Thighs. I’m a leg and thigh man!
1 Cup Whole Buttermilk (it must be whole, not the low fat stuff)
3 Cups All Purpose Flour (Seasoned with about 1 Tbsp of the seasoning mix)
Home Rendered Lard or Peanut Oil for frying.

Season the chicken very liberally with some of the seasoning mix, I use a spice shaker. Toss to coat evenly. You will have seasoning mix leftover. Cover the chicken with plastic and refrigerate overnight to allow the seasonings to penetrate the meat.

From Fried Chicken

The next day remove the chicken from the refrigerator, toss in the buttermilk, then dredge very well in the seasoned flour. When the chicken is well coated, shake off any excess, then set on a platter to let sit for about 1 to 2 hours. Flouring ahead like this will make for a crisper crust. Letting the chicken sit out will keep your fat temperature from dropping too much when you add the chicken to the pan. Putting it in right out of the fridge is like dropping in a handfull of ice cubes.

From Fried Chicken

Add enough of whichever fat you choose from to come about half way up the sides of a large cast iron skillet. Heat the fat until a sprinkle of flour sizzles, or when the temperature reaches about 350 degrees F on an instant read thermometer. Fry the chicken in batches, DO NOT overcrowd the pan or your chicken will not be crisp. Fry equal size pieces in batches together so that they will be done at roughly the same time.

From Fried Chicken

Turn the chicken often for even browning, maintaining a good sizzle in the pan, with a target frying temperature of about 300 degrees F.

The chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Let cool for a bit to let the juices settle in. I personally like my Fried Chicken a little warmer than room temperature.

Enjoy!

Be sure and check out the sister site to American Gourmand, Nola Cuisine!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged allrecipes, austin leslie, better than best fried chicken recipe, buttermilk fried chicken, buttermilk fried chicken recipe, crispy fried chicken recipe, danno, edna lewis fried chicken recipe, eula mae's scotch house, fred chicken an american story, fried chicken recipe, home rendered lard, homemade rendered lard, john t. edge, lard, martha stewart fried chicken recipe, nola cuisine, paula deen fried chicken recipe, peanut oil, prince's hot chicken, scott peacock, southern fried chicken, southern recipes, thomas keller fried chicken recipe | 2 Comments

Welcome to American Gourmand!

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Danno

My name is Dan Leyten, a.k.a Danno. You may know me from my other food blog Nola Cuisine where I’ve shared recipes, restaurant experiences, and food photography surrounding the cuisine of New Orleans, Louisiana since 2005. That site has been so much fun for me and has continued to amaze me through the years, both by the traffic it has generated and the wide array of wonderful people it has put me in contact with.

I’ve been planning for a long time to start a new food blog with a broader scope that will allow me to explore and share other types of cuisine that make up our tremendously vast melting pot here in The United States. The possibilities are endless, right?! Memphis Barbecue, El Salvadoran Pupusas, my endless quest for the BEST Fried Chicken, taquerias, food trucks, street food, and on and on and on. I intend to keep the same format as Nola Cuisine, authentic recipes with photos that I hope will make your mouth water and your stomach rumble! Think of this as a sister site to my labor of love Nola Cuisine.

I am headed to Nashville in a couple of weeks and hope to bring back a bevy of Southern goodness to share, recreate, and salivate over. Barbecue, Meat & Three’s, Hot Chicken. I can hardly wait!

For my first real post though, I’m going to start with a recipe that is near and dear to my heart, and has evolved over the years, and continues to evolve. A recipe that makes me think of Mom’s kitchen, and a home that is not the one I live in now, but more of a state of mind, a comforting memory…a simpler time. After all, that’s what good cooking does right? It takes you someplace. Maybe back home, or in some cases to someplace you’ve never been before.

First stop…my Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe.