The United States of America is made up of 50 states, covering 3.8 million square miles with 9 time zones and a population of over 324 million people. It is home to the world’s largest immigration population at 46.6 million. The UK is 5th with 8.5 million.
Some interesting facts about America:
The current 50-star US flag was designed by a 17-year-old as a school project in 1958
The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge and arrived at least 15,000 years ago
The US purchased Alaska from Russia for just US$7.2 million in 1867
The average US employee stays at each of their jobs for 4.4 years
Christmas was illegal in the US until 1836 as it was considered an ancient Pagan Holiday
The first Friday of June is National Donut Day in the US
GPS is owned and controlled by the U.S. Government. It can be ‘switched off’ at any time
The US uses less water now than it did in 1970
It takes a single one-page form and about 4 minutes to apply to become an official presidential candidate in the US
By law, only dead people can appear on US currency
Nine of the world’s most visited tourist attractions are in the US. The Las Vegas Strip tops the charts with 40 million visitors each year. It is a 4.2 mile stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada known for it’s casinos and hotels. Fourteen of the world’s 25 largest hotels by room count are on the Strip, with a total of over 62,000 rooms. Times Square is the world’s second most visited tourist attraction, drawing an estimated 39 million visitors each year. It was formerly known as Longacre Square, but was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building.
One of my favourite films is Julie and Julia which, if you haven’t seen it, is about Julia Child, an American chef, author and tv personality and Julie Powell, who wrote a blog about her challenge to cook all 524 recipes in Child’s cookbook in 365 days. Julia Child is recognised for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’. In the present day 21st century, the modern cuisine of the United States is very much regional in nature. Some popular dishes include Cobb salad, New England clam chowder, Buffalo wings, Cheeseburger, Gumbo (meat or shellfish stew), Sloppy joe sandwich (ground beef with ketchup in a burger bun), Barbequed ribs, Pecan pie, Mississippi mud pie and Persimmon pudding (steamed pudding with crème anglaise). I decided to cook one of my all time favourites – Southern fried chicken. It was finger licking good!
Rating: 7/10
Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 minutes + 8 hours marinating
Cook time: 12 minutes
300ml buttermilk
1 tsp salt
6 pieces of chicken (I used a mixture of breast qtrs and thighs on the bone)
150g plain flour
2 tsps salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
Vegetable oil, for frying
Combine the buttermilk and salt in a sealable bag, add the meat and mix it so the meat is fully coated
Cover and refrigerate for about 8 hours, allowing it to return to room temperature before cooking
Put the flour, salt and spices in a large, flat dish and whisk briefly to combine
Put 1.5cm of vegetable oil into a wide, straight-sided pan with a lid and heat until very hot: a cube of bread should brown almost immediately (about 170C)
Wipe as much buttermilk off the chicken pieces as possible then roll them in the seasoned flour until thoroughly coated
Put the chicken in one layer in the pan (you may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of the pan) and cover
Turn the heat right down and simmer for 6 minutes, then turn the chicken pieces over, cover again and cook for another 6 minutes
Prepare a rack to drain the chicken
Turn the heat up and fry the chicken until it’s a deep golden colour on all sides
Transfer to the rack and blot with kitchen paper
Allow to cool slightly before serving
A Year Cooking the World 