Typical 'white' Americans of ATOT, what do you eat at home every night?

[BurnItDwn]

In the first post you claim you are American. So what are you?

He lives in America and participates in society. He is American.

He is from Korea, or maybe his folks were from Korea. He is Korean.


A person can be more than one thing, sorry for blowing your mind.

 

[Artdeco]

I really try to vary my diet, use All Recipes near daily.

 

[radhak]

#1
I'm Korean, so Korean meals at home. So white rice is always present. You just add side dishes + protein of choice. But in my mind it's diverse because most Korean meals have a soup/stew to accompany it + there are so many different side dishes than American peas & potatoes. You can have varying combinations of:

* So many Korean side dishes with rice. You make 2-3 at home and rotate them out of hundreds.

* Also add meat of choice. Korean BBQ, or

* Any soups or stews from light to heavy. You got miso-style complimenting ones. And you got delicious heavy hitters like Budae Jigae or Soon Dubu that are the main even of the dish.

* Anything stirfried is another level of wholly different food. Also making fried rice is unlimited with different leftover ingredients.

* Also throw in eating American food on top. Therefore I perceive stuff I eat are more varied than someone who just eats 'American' fare + occasional Chinese/Indian takeout (which I do as well).

#2
No, I said I couldn't imagine eating 'American' dinners in rotation because, TO ME, they seem to lack variety. It's just SEEMS meatloaf/chili/pasta and repeat. (hence me starting this thread).

Very pertinent thread for me, because I have wondered about this a lot myself.

I am from India, so I think our cuisine is very much in parallel to the OP's.

Most evenings we have either rice or 'roti' (close to Pita bread) as main dish. The side dishes are generally one vegetables' dish, another lentil dish, and sometimes as a treat, yet another yogurt-based dish. If you have eaten Indian, you have seen some of that in restaurants, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of real variety that can be made at home. I am a utilitarian cook and can manage a meal, while wife is a wizard in terms of speed and ingenuity. Total cooking time (from scratch) is around 90 minutes for me, and half that for wife. Any average Indian cook should take something between that.

For the sake of our two teenagers, we take a break maybe once a week, and take home Chipotle / Subway / Taco bell/ Burgers. As we are vegetarian, our options at all those are rather limited, so our home-cooked meals turn out to be more elaborate than the eat-outs.

I do remember that when a work colleague of mine (white, American for many generations) came in for dinner once, she was shocked that we make roti at home instead of picking up at the frozen section. But we can't get past the health aspect of that.

And of course, when hosting, there are more dishes!

 

[SP33Demon]

Very pertinent thread for me, because I have wondered about this a lot myself.

I am from India, so I think our cuisine is very much in parallel to the OP's.

Most evenings we have either rice or 'roti' (close to Pita bread) as main dish. The side dishes are generally one vegetables' dish, another lentil dish, and sometimes as a treat, yet another yogurt-based dish. If you have eaten Indian, you have seen some of that in restaurants, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of real variety that can be made at home. I am a utilitarian cook and can manage a meal, while wife is a wizard in terms of speed and ingenuity. Total cooking time (from scratch) is around 90 minutes for me, and half that for wife. Any average Indian cook should take something between that.

For the sake of our two teenagers, we take a break maybe once a week, and take home Chipotle / Subway / Taco bell/ Burgers. As we are vegetarian, our options at all those are rather limited, so our home-cooked meals turn out to be more elaborate than the eat-outs.

I do remember that when a work colleague of mine (white, American for many generations) came in for dinner once, she was shocked that we make roti at home instead of picking up at the frozen section. But we can't get past the health aspect of that.

And of course, when hosting, there are more dishes!

90 minutes?? Check out the Instant Pot, should help cut down your time by 1/3 or more.

 

[ponyo]

I'm picky when it comes to leftovers. I don't generally eat the main dish more than twice in a row. Most of the time I only eat it once. I can't imagine eating the same meal for couple of days.

 

[ponyo]

How do you do your pork chops? Those are like my Achilles heel, never made them come out very good.

Sous vide to about 140 degrees and then finish on the stove or the grill.

 

[Matthiasa]

Yeah, it is best to never go above the current recommended temperature of 145F. For optimal taste even 145F is on the high side. Just 1 minute at 140 kills trichinosis while 30 minutes at 130F will do the same. (trichinosis being the main reason for the early majorly overcooked guidelines)
Other bacteria react similarly with more or less time required at those temperatures.

 

[yh125d]

I usually buy thicker loin chops or pork ribeyes, add some kosher salt and grind some pepper on them then pan sear (I'll usually use nonstick for this with a little olive oil) to nearly medium and rest a few minutes before eating. Surprisingly, pork actually DOES have juices. My mom was of the generation that only knew to bread them lightly in flour and pan fry them about twice as long as they need to be.

When I do steaks they're on cast iron and no oil, but pork is too lean for it. The steaks I'll usually let them come up to room temperature first, but pork I'll leave cold, otherwise they'll be overcooked by the time I get the browning I'm after

 

[IEC]

I'm white as white can be as well.

My dinners could be summarized in two categories...

What do I want to eat?
What will my kids actually eat?

What I *want* to eat is....
1 night Mediterranean food
1 night sushi
1 night indian
1 night chinese
1 night some kind of yummy seafood
Leftovers in between....

What ends up happening is:
Pizza out of a box
mac and cheese out of box
chicken strips
fish sticks
spaghetti and meatballs
more pizza
oh and fuck it...why not pizza three nights in a row

Kids have absolutely murdered any creativity and interest I have in cooking.

And apparently, any nutritional value.

 

[IEC]

Sous vide to about 140 degrees and then finish on the stove or the grill.

FTW

 

[sao123]

option 1:

Meat Choice + Starch Choice + Vegetable choice


option 2:
Pasta + Garlic Bread + Tossed Salad


option 3
Grilled Chicken/Steak/Chef Salad with FrenchFries & HardBoiled Egg


option 4a
Sandwich

Option 4b
Pizza

Option 5
Soup + Bread

Option 6
Americanized Chinese

 

[MongGrel]

As far as pork goes, most of the time the wife and her sister go halfsies on buying a pork tenderloin and we cut it up various ways.

I like chops thick and stuffed and baked to about 145 internal myself, with scalloped potatoes and a veggie.

We usually get about 8 big chops and a couple pork roasts each out of one and split it up.

 

[bbhaag]

This is a genuine curiosity. I'm an Asian-American, so 60-70% of meals I eat at home are Asian in nature. Other 30%, I make 'American' fare like steak/baked fish/pasta/chili and etc. I can't picture eating that in rotation 100% of the time.

I'm NOT asking about below:
* Breakfast & brunch we eat same thing (typical English breakfast fare)
* Eating out is same, therefore most of lunch as well.

I'm asking about:
* What have you eaten in the last 7 days that you made at home?

My dumb brain gets a hard stop after pasta & generic fish/meat with peas/mashed potatoes.

What do you eat day after day at home, that's homemade?

I'll be honest. This is probably the dumbest post I've ever read on Anandtech.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Black eyes peas and Chitterlings !!

 

[skyking]

This week:
Rib steak, cauliflower, big salad
Papa Murphy's take and bake pizza
Meatloaf, twice baked potatoes, salad
Spaghetti, salad
Soft tacos, and you guessed it, salad

I need to break up that salad thing. Get some variety, maybe a warm spinach next week some time.

We get Thai at least once every other week.

 

[MongGrel]

This week:
Rib steak, cauliflower, big salad
Papa Murphy's take and bake pizza
Meatloaf, twice baked potatoes, salad
Spaghetti, salad
Soft tacos, and you guessed it, salad

I need to break up that salad thing. Get some variety, maybe a warm spinach next week some time.

We get Thai at least once every other week.

Sounds a lot like what we do, tend to eat salad on the side a bit with Pasta things or in general, but too much salad can get a little tedious.

Thai I love myself now and then, have a good place not far off.

The wife makes a pretty mean meatloaf, might have to prod her, has been awhile

Have a couple steaks for Sunday.

 

[Jeff7]

Toasted white bread with a side of white rice and white sweet corn. Sometimes I'll catch lake whitefish from Lake Erie and panfry them, served with some fresh white sauce.
Dessert: Get some Whitesnake playing in the background, and enjoy a few pieces of white chocolate.

 

[OverVolt]

Toasted white bread with a side of white rice and white sweet corn. Sometimes I'll get some lake whitefish from Lake Erie with some fresh white sauce.
Dessert: Get some Whitesnake playing in the background, and enjoy a few pieces of white chocolate.

And a turkey sandwhich with mayo and provolone cheese amirite.

 

[Nograts]

Monday: Tuna sandwich x2
Tuesday: Protein shake + 2 apples + 2 bananas
Wednesday: Baked chicken + Rice
Thursday: Tuna sandwich x2
Friday: Left over chicken + 2 apples
Today: Bang bang shrimp from Bonefish Grill

 

[MongGrel]

Toasted white bread with a side of white rice and white sweet corn. Sometimes I'll catch lake whitefish from Lake Erie and panfry them, served with some fresh white sauce.
Dessert: Get some Whitesnake playing in the background, and enjoy a few pieces of white chocolate.

I'm a bit surprised the whole "white" thing in the thread title wasn't dinged as being a bit racist myself, but WTH I guess.

I'm not particularly worried about it.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I'm a vanilla white homeboy, and a Southerner to boot, but prefer Asian cuisines and make everything from Thai to Korean to Vietnamese to Japanese. Did a pho from scratch on Sunday. Made Tom Kha Gai a few days before that (even managed to find fresh galangal which the local Asian market calls "sand ginger"). I whip up some Bibimbap Dol Sot a couple times a month. Sometimes there's a stir fry but, honestly, Chinese is one of least favorite Asian cuisines.

Not a big fan of "'murican" food. I did make sliders this week (with pimento cheese and red pepper jelly) but that doesn't happen often. Did southern tonight with shrimp and grits.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Refried beans, mustard sandwiches (bread + mustard), hamburgers.

 

[SP33Demon]

Monday: Tuna sandwich x2
Tuesday: Protein shake + 2 apples + 2 bananas
Wednesday: Baked chicken + Rice
Thursday: Tuna sandwich x2
Friday: Left over chicken + 2 apples
Today: Bang bang shrimp from Bonefish Grill

Wow, how much do you weigh? Bang bang shrimp is an appetizer at BG, not an entree. I could eat 5 in one sitting easily and I'm only 200lbs.

 

[pete6032]

hamburgers.

 

[slag]

Sunday - Corned Beef and potatoes/cabbage.
Tuesday - pizza rolls (5 or 6), plus coffee/water
Wednesday - Papa Murphy's pizza or open
Thursday - chicken of some sort
Friday - open -- might go out and grab a burger or whatever.

Usually at least one night a week I try a new recipe. That will probably be friday. Wednesday is going to be a long day for me but I want to try ribs in the pressure cooker. Going to smoke them for an hour or so to get the flavor in the meat, then toss them in the pressure cooker, cut into 2 bone sections, and put a little bbq sauce on them for about 45 minutes to an hour. Will serve with fresh steamed cauliflower and broccoli.

Left monday open because its hectic.. might be just a turkey wrap made at home or ramen or something quick and easy.