It has been famous for its fried chicken since residents began serving it to train passengers traveling through town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Speaking of Gordonsville, the small town is another reason Orange County should be a must-visit for any foodie. While the trail ended in May, some of the eateries continue to serve Lewis’s dishes, like The Vintage Restaurant near Orange, where her sticky ribs are featured on the lunch menu, and The Barbeque Exchange in Gordonsville, which still serves the chef's Brunswick stew. The trail, which aimed to celebrate several of the chef's signature dishes, gave diners the chance to try some of Lewis’s most popular recipes while dining at restaurants throughout the county. Residents would serve it to train passengers in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Gordonsville, Virginia has been known for its fried chicken for centuries. While Lewis, who was even referred to as “the South’s answer to Julia Childs," passed away in 2006, her recipes live on at some restaurants in Orange County through the Edna Lewis Menu Trail. Here's one from Plain Chicken that includes cream cheese and sausage.ĭelish has a few variations if you'd to experiment a bit.īoiled peanuts are amazing and I stand by thatĬhef Edna Lewis grew up in Orange County's Freetown before going on to have a successful career at New York City restaurants and writing four popular cookbooks, including "The Taste of Country Cooking," filled with dishes inspired by life in the South. Most of us have a family recipe we love, but if you want to shake it up, here you go: With that in mind, I looked up some other recipes. Some people throw hamburger meat in there, some throw sausage in it, others like pepperjack cheese. Go to a couple of tailgates and you can tell that even though Rotel is beloved, people make it differently. Like I said, it's one of the few things I can think of to bring rival teams together (minus maybe booze). It's also so simple to make and if you put it in a slow cooker, it has longevity for when you're waiting for a game to start. No matter how you cook it (and I'll get to the differences soon), it's wonderful. Is it too easy to just say it's delicious? Because it is. Things Southerners Say at a Tailgate A couple recipes for you + why we love it Now, Rotel is a top-selling canned food nationwide. Ro-Tel was on the national stage.Īnd, according to Eater: "In 2005, Rotel and Velveeta, that other essential queso ingredient, became partners, allowing Rotel to reach the Northeast and Midwest." According to Eater, Second Lady Lady Bird Johnson (who was a Texan, of course) included the canned veggies in her recipe for chili that she shared. Ro-Tel might have remained a regional hit - but instead, in the 1960s it got a lot more attention. In the middle of the decade, the duo made its way to both Arkansas and Oklahoma. The veggies (tomatoes and green chilies, to be exact) were shipped out to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, but they never made it out of the Lonestar State until the 1950s. Ro-Tel was just a Texas thing for a while. (If you're not from the Lonestar State - like me - and are interested in where exactly that's at, it's in one of the southernmost counties.) He feared "Roettele" would be too much for some Texans to pronounce, so he went with "Ro-Tel" instead, (And we are so, so thankful for that.)Īnd we can thank Texas for that (along with a number of other things, of course.) According to Rotel's website, in 1943 Carl Roettele and his wife decided to open a veggie-canning plant in the small town of Elsa, Texas. No longer do we have to guess the number of tomatoes, peppers and spices we need to mix with our cheese. Of course, chile con queso has been a thing forever, but Rotel (or RO-TEL, as the brand is known) made all of our gamedays infinitely easier. , where you'll find the latest videos, stories and merchandise. Get the latest from It's a Southern Thing by subscribing to our newsletter, where you'll find the latest videos, stories and merchandise. How did that happen? Let's take a journey, shall we? Recently, I started thinking about Rotel Dip and how it's a staple in the South. It's the one thing that brings all fanbases together. Not just because I think Rotel dip is a top 5 Southern food, but also because it's the unofficial tailgate snack of the South - you can't go anywhere in the fall without coming across a Crockpot of Velveeta Rotel Dip. Instead, it was because every time my husband started to cook it, I'd feel morning sickness (or, more accurately, mid-day sickness) coming on. It wasn't because I was trying to be more health-conscious because of the pregnancy. Something truly heinous happened when I was pregnant: I couldn't eat Rotel dip anymore.
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