Anthony’s Appetite #4

I HEAR BANJO MUSIC!!

Yours truly jammin' on the flat 5!

Where do you go to see a grown man in a suit playing a toy (but playable) banjo?  The Cracker Barrel, of course.

By now you know how I feel about this place.  I love the atmosphere.  I love the coffee.  I love playing checkers by a real, wood-burning fireplace.  I also love a particular, Southern dish: beans and greens.

What are beans and greens?  Well, let’s start with the bean part.  If there is one bean that you just have to include in Southern cooking, it’s the pinto bean.  I am not an expert in how to make them, though.  What I do know is that there is an art to it.  Cracker Barrel knows how to do ’em right.  I have been to some restaurants than may have well just opened a can off the shelf.  These have been slow-cooked with pork (not an Adventist dish) and can stand alone as a dish unto themselves.

Next, you’ve got the greens.  What are the greens?  We’re talking turnip greens, slow-cooked with pork ( yet another vegetable ruined by the anti-Kosher, anti-Pharisaical folks) until they are tender, meaty, and savory.  For the unlearned, these are not collard greens, nor spinach.

Beans and Greens

Along with the beans and the greens come a side of chow-chow relish and a slice of onion.  I put both in my beans, along with the cornbread.  Of course, you get more than one piece of cornbread, so you can save one to eat with just butter.

Goooooooood stuff.