The Ultimate Chilehead Comfort Food Showdown
I hear people refer to their go to comfort foods all the time. To each and every person, comfort food can just about be anything that pleases their lil’ ol’ taste buds and tummies. Growing up in NY with a Mom who burned quite a bit of meals, (I Still luv u Ma!), I found comfort in eating outside the house. NY style pizza and juicy Diner burgers were what I often yearned for the most. For lunch at school I played it safe and often had a simple bologna sammich with spicy brown mustard on rye or a Goobers PB & J on white. Somewhere along the way I opened up the door to food that I shut out thinking what I had in my house was the norm. It certainly wasn’t.
Meet non-canned tomato soup and grilled cheese without American cheese. I did love my Mom’s non-blackened version with cheddar on rye bread, but found a new appreciation for all the other great combinations of cheese and how they went so well melted together in a grilled cheese sammich. The tomato soup, I just had no clue what a complex flavor could be had with some cream and basil added to it. All I knew was Campbell’s growing up. Boy, did that shut me out until just a few years ago when I had a free sample at a local grocery store. It rocked my world. Then I found the combination of grilled cheese and tomato soup being served regularly in restaurants in Virginia. I never noticed it in NY, or never thought of looking at the menu for it. I don’t think it would ever stand out for me even if it was listed.
Growing up meatloaf was the scariest of all table meals. I swear I saw it move a few times. My Dad put on the best of faces every time my Mom decided to grace our dinner with the meaty experiment. I chose to share the dog bowl with my dearest Lucky who always hid in my room anytime my Mom loafed us. Normally he would beg for table scraps with his sad feed me eyes. To this day, I can not fathom how meatloaf is supposed to taste. I tried it a few times since, but wasn’t impressed or too scared of the memory to think it wasn’t eating it’s way out of my stomach walls. When I hear meatloaf mentioned as comfort food, I just can’t wrap my mind around it.
There are so many other types of comfortable food ideals, but what is actually the most common? Fried chicken to chicken fried steak. Meatballs and spaghetti to crab cakes. How about the all American favorite, the hot dog? I can go on and on, but what truthfully is the the most popular? Will our ethnic background change the perspective of what comfort is? Is Hungarian goulash, Shepherd’s pie, the burrito or Egg Drop Soup comfort food too? Another important factor, what has changed in you over the years as you became more and more a heat seeking lover of spicy food? Has your choice of comfort food changed too?
I am going to list some popular comfort foods, then with some add-ons by you, I am going to setup a March Madness style playoff grid where we will pit 1 comfort food against another. Then round by round we will eliminate 1 comfort food after another until their is only 1 left, the Ultimate Chilehead Comfort Food. I will need your help in coming up with your ultimate comfort food, and then to help with the voting. If you feel that anything that I listed is far from comfortable to you, then feel free to voice your concern.
You can select up to 20 of your favorite or worthy comfort foods. There is no particular order, and this is not the Showdown. It is just to decide who will be in the showdown. I have also created a temporary bracket of what the showdown will potentially look like. Please give me your input to make it the best showdown it can be.
Shall we begin? Let us do it…
UCCFS Bracket
Round 1: #2 Tacos vs #15 Fish & Chips
- # 2 Tacos (67%, 22 Votes)
- #15 Fish & Chips (33%, 11 Votes)
Total Voters: 33
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Can you add turkey with stuffing and gravy? Or just go for the gusto and add “Thanksgiving Dinner” !!
Meatloaf is a whole other thing in the cafeteria where I work. The story goes that one night someone broke in and stole half a meatloaf. But by morning it had grown back…
I was talking with a people of that very addition. I have never been a huge turkey guy, so I didn’t know how to add on just a turkey sandwich or turkey and fixins. I will do it now, as soon as I see the results after a few days, I will drop something unpopular out and add the turkey in.
I am having flashbacks. Did your meatloaf ever pull the knife out of your hand and point it back at you? 😐
one of my favs, green chile chicken enchiladas, wasnt on the list but I voted anyway. I had an aunt that did horrid things to meatloaf and when I started to learn to cook, I swore I would never make a bad one. My wife hated meatloaf with a passion until she ate mine. I dont know what the problem with other peoples loaves are, because I never make mine the same way twice.
Make a spicy meatloaf recipe video and I will post it. Nothing with green chile will be on the list, but I might be able to oblige with the enchilada (nothing specific like the taco). I have a few with no votes, I will remove a couple and add the turkey with stuffing and gravy and your enchilada. Thanks for the suggestion.
I would add biscuits and gravy.
BTW, I wonder what oddball voted for sushi above. Total opposite of what I would consider to be “comfort food”. 😛
I love me sushi, but it wouldn’t be in my top 20 comfort foods. We are all raised differently so I wouldn’t consider anything in the mainstream foodwise to be an odd choice for comfort consideration.
Biscuits and gravy will be added as well.
dont eat fish
Any particular reason?
I still don’t see it added.
All new ones will be added to the bracket once the week is loup. I want to jettison the lowest votes. The based on these votes, I will re-seed and put the new ones where I believe would be a good round.
just dont like it. It tastes fishy
:fishing:
Chicken parm…mmmm
I just ate a Veal Parm. Yum Yum. :hungry:
Yeah, that too
Okay Zero Votes for the following:
Paella
Fried Rice
Lobster Roll
Shrimp ‘n Grits (a surprise for me)
These will be replaced by:
Turkey w/ stuffing & gravy
Enchiladas
Biscuits & Gravy
Hashbrown Scramble
and I will also remove Pudding for Chicken Parmigiana.
From what I see if the numbers hold up the Number 1 Seeds will be:
1- Pizza
2- Chicken Wings
3- Fried Chicken
4- French Fries
There are a bunch of ties at 12, so chicken wings could fall out and mashed potatoes, tacos, nachos and possibly burgers could slip in.
I will adjust the brackets in the next day or two, and start the Ultimate Chilehead Comfort Food Showdown thereafter. Then you can vote for your favorites and thusly eliminate the not so comforting foods. :chef: