Tinkering with tradition

When you start to fiddle with a recipe that is associated with a particular region or group, people take affront. I can’t tell you how many times I have witnessed Twitter or Facebook comment fights about subjects like adding beans to Texas chili, putting cream in pasta alla carbonara, whether you should salt white rice when you cook it, or if you should add ketchup to a hot dog.

My take on these and similar debates is that the farther away from the group or region you are, the less likely you are to get locked into a rigid stance on whether you can change anything about the dish. I have friends from Chicago who might slap a hot dog out of my hand if I attempted to put ketchup on it, although just one state away most people do that without reservation. Beans in chili might be anathema in Texas, but in most northern states they are de rigueur.

That is one reason I like to follow food-focused social media accounts from far-away places. The distance means that the writers will often adapt recipes without feeling obligated to hew closely to tradition. A recent example involves chicken and waffles, a dish associated with the American South. If you thumb through a southern cookbook, most recipes for the chicken, waffles, and the sauce (usually a version of pancake syrup) that is served with the dish are similar: battered, deep-fried chicken pieces, a plain waffle, and the sweet but potentially cloying topping.

As you move away from the South, different flavors start finding their way into the dish. The one that recently caught my attention is from Australian Gourmet Traveller that incorporated Southeast Asian flavors into both the seasoning of the chicken and the sweet glaze that is drizzled over the top. Perusing the EYB Library I also noticed recipes that switched up the waffle portion. Food52 has a version with a jalapeño bacon cheddar waffle.

It’s not that traditional chicken and waffles are bad. To the contrary, the dish is glorious (I served appetizer-sized versions of the customary recipe for my birthday this year). But while the original may be wonderful, it can also be delightful to tinker with the dish and create new flavors that honor the spirit of the dish, if not the letter of it.

I must note that I have come to this conclusion after years of arguing to the contrary about a few subjects, the most adamant one being about what constitutes a martini. As much as I believe that the only spirits that belong in the drink are gin and vermouth (and more than a whisper of the latter), I have stopped quarreling with people who order a vodka martini. And I am very eager to try Southeast Asian flavors in my favorite Southern American dish. Vive la différence.

Photo of Fried chicken and waffles from Martha Stewart Living Magazine