The Southern Road: How To Eat A Boiled Peanut

by Micheline Maynard on

Boiled peanuts are one of those delicacies where you either love them, or you don’t. You can find them all over the south. They’re boiled because they are cooked in salted water, and are then kept warm in their juices in an electric casserole or crock pot.

I first encountered them in a gas station between Birmingham and Montgomery, and dipped up a cupful to try in private. I wound up with a mouthful of hull, which I spit out, and peanut, which I liked. But until I got to Georgiana, Alabama, I didn’t know I was doing it wrong.

I spotted the signs first: “boiled green peanuts.” Then I spotted The Peanut Hut. Venturing inside, I was offered a sample of boiled green peanuts – green, because they’ve just come out of the ground, where other boiled peanuts are made from dried peanuts. Green, I was assured, are superior.

I also received instructions. You don’t bite a peanut in the middle, and peel it, as I was doing. You take a peanut, and place it horizontally between your top front and bottom teeth. Give it a gentle bite. The hull ought to break open the long way, in two, revealing the peanuts inside.

Here’s a recipe for boiled peanuts and a little more history. They are an acquired taste. But now you know the right way to eat them.

The Southern Road: The Perks Of Gas Station Food

by Micheline Maynard on

The South has its highways, but in order to get to some places, you have to take four-lane or two-lane roads. That’s where you’ll find gas stations. And in many gas stations, you’ll find food.

Up north, hardly anybody I know eats food from a gas station, unless they’re starving and it has a Subway attached. Down south, gas station food is its own form of cuisine. If you’re fortunate, you can score breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in a good gas station, which may also have its own booths and dining tables.

At bare minimum, a gas station worth its salt (or fat) will serve breakfast – primarily a biscuit. This is usually a chicken, country ham or sausage biscuit. It is as far from Grape-Nuts as breakfast can get. I had resisted the biscuit breakfast until I was on the road from Birmingham, Alabama, to West Point, Georgia.

I passed a gas station that offered “Hot Biscuits & Full Breakfast, Live Bait, Hunting and Fishing Supplies.” Inside, I bought plain biscuits. They were fine, and flaky, and filled my mid-morning needs. But I knew there was more out there.

I found gas stations that featured barbecue, gas stations with fried catfish (many proudly displaying a “raised in the USA sign”) and gas stations with fried chicken. I found gas stations with a head-spinning, rainbow variety of frozen drinks that actually scared me.

I really struck gold at the Dodge’s Chicken Store in Lexington, Tennessee. It isn’t technically a gas station, but a restaurant with an adjacent gas station. The signs offered the trinity: chicken, barbecue and catfish.

Inside, people were jostling each other to get up to the counter. The variety was enormous and the prices divine: $2.99 for a pulled pork sandwich, $5.99 a pound for barbecue, $2.59 for a slab of catfish. There was corn on the cob, fried corn on the cob, hush puppies, mac and cheese. And, there were fried hand pies, a little bigger than a McDonald’s pie.

Since I knew I’d be eating a big lunch, I asked for a small piece of catfish and a sweet potato pie. The counter girl looked disappointed: “Aren’t you going to have any sides?” she asked. It was a perfect snack, and a terrific example of gas station food.

Photo Of The Day: Delhi Spice Market

by Meg Nesterov on


You can probably tell without any caption that this photo was taken in India, in Old Delhi‘s Khari Baoli spice market. The combination of bright colors and southeast Asian architecture is uniquely Indian, just hinting at the history and bustle contained within the walls, as the market is the largest in Asia and has been in operation since the 17th century. Flickr user The Delhi Way gives us a “taste” of what’s inside, even without showing any food or spices, and beautifully frames the scene.

Share your favorite travel photos for a future Photo Of The Day by adding them to the Gadling Flickr pool.

McDonald’s To Open Vegetarian-Only Restaurant

by Jessica Festa on

When people talk about greasy fries and bad-for-you burgers, the conversation inevitably always leads to McDonald’s. No matter what initiatives the chain seems to implement, they’re always touted as the most unhealthy restaurant on the planet. This may soon change, as the eatery plans to open its first vegetarian-only restaurant in northern India‘s Amritsar early next year.

The marketing plan is to take local Indian favorites and put a “McDonald’s twist” on them.

Apparently, some of their international cuisine is pretty tasty. In fact, around-the world traveler “Dancing Matt” Harding told USA Today the McArabia – a seasoned and pita-wrapped lamb kebab he ate in Marrakesh, Morocco, and Dubai, U.A.E. – was “the best thing I’ve ever eaten at McDonald’s. If it were offered in my homeland, I might actually eat at McDonald’s.”

The initiative isn’t too different from McDonald’s usual approach, although they’ve never gone completely vegetarian. However, in many countries around the world they do try to incorporate local flavors. For example, in Japan they offer “Ume Nuggets,” Chicken McNuggets with sour plum sauce and fries with seaweed, barbecue or Italian basil seasoning. Additionally, in France you can order an “M Burger,” which comes with Emmenthal cheese on a ciabatta-style roll that is baked in a stone over.

What do you think of McDonald’s plan for a vegetarian-only eatery?

[Image via stock.xchng]

The Southern Road: In Praise Of Zax Sauce

by Micheline Maynard on

I am in love with Zax Sauce. So in love that I brought seven packets back from the South. If Zaxby’s bottled their sauce, I would order a case.

Zaxby’s is a franchised chicken chain that’s had enormous growth across the South the past 20 years. The first one opened in Statesboro, Georgia, in 1990, and there are now 500, stretching across the South. There are only two things you need to know about Zaxby’s: chicken fingers and Zax Sauce.

The chicken fingers are better than any tenders you will find on any fast food menu. They’re white meat, lightly breaded and fried, and they go perfectly with Zax Sauce. This is supposedly a recipe for it. I don’t think it’s quite accurate, because these ingredients don’t match what my taste buds tell me.

To me, Zax Sauce is remoulade – the pink, tangy dressing you find all over New Orleans. You’ll see it most often with shrimp. There’s a pink (or red) remoulade, and white remoulade. Zax’s sauce is a lot like original remoulade, only adapted for its environment. It is just the right consistency – not too thick, not too thin – and coats that chicken in a perfect marriage of smoothness and bite.

It is also good on Zaxby’s fries, and I found out you can substitute celery sticks for fries, and dip them in Zax Sauce. I actually think you can dip just about anything in Zax Sauce, and you’d be happy. I tried eating it straight, which is only for diehards, but I wouldn’t stop you.

Think of it as the Nutella of the South. Except it’s not Nutella. It’s Zax Sauce. My happiest day will come when Zaxby’s makes it to Michigan. Until then, if you want to impress me, don’t send flowers. Send me some Zax Sauce.