Festival Food Worth Making at Home

It's now summer, so it's a great time to relive Summercamp and dream about other festival food I will eat this summer. Festival food has evolved into its own subculture, such as Crawfish Monica at Jazzfest.   

Every Memorial Day weekend for the past 15 years, 20,000 music fans arrive in one massive wave on Thursday and camp out for three days at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, IL (just north of Peoria), 3 hours from Chicago. The festival attracts major acts including Janes Addiction, Willie Nelson, and the Steve Miller Band, and ultimately, the three-day weekend is filled with sets from everyone from .moe to Umphrees McGee.

Imagine Summercamp as not only a music festival, but also the most interesting carnival you will ever see. Summercamp is in some ways similar to Riot Fest and Lollapalooza. And with any type of carnival environment, there has to be eats.

The range and different cuisines instantly available to you varies from pizza to Pad Thai bowls. Other eats included chorizo bread (it was delicious), soup and healthy options including smoothies and juices. All diets, from meat lovers to vegetarians to vegans, as well as appetites were satisfied.  

There are literally tents beyond count.  However, being in the heart of Illinois, I kept coming back for the biscuits and gravy, serious comfort food, that you can make in your own home.

Homemade Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put the dry ingredients in your favorite food processor, and pulse it until it is corase and crumbly.
3. Once you have the consistency of pea shapes, add half of your milk. We don’t want to over add liquid.  It’s easier to add more than take away. Plus, with humidity, it could also effect in the flour where it doesn’t need as much moisture as listed in the recipe.
4. Pulse until it comes together.
5. Using a large portion scooper, scoop out 6 even balls of biscuit dough on a parchment lined sheet pan and put it in your pre-heated 400 degree oven for ten minutes.
6. After ten minutes, rotate your pan so the biscuits get evenly cooked.  Bake for another 10 minutes or until they are golden brown.

While it’s not in the recipe, I love to glaze my biscuits with some melted butter and honey.  It’s totally worth trying.  In this case, use salted butter for any glazing.

Now that you are armed with a little taste of the South, it's time to break away from the usual piece of toast with your coffee in the morning while listening to some great tunes.

If you are interested in learning how to make some of the more ethnic food options I've seen at festivals, The Chopping Block's Street Food hands-on cooking class coming up in July at Lincoln Square will certainly tempt you. You'll learn how to make Cuban Sandwiches, Lumpia (Crispy Pork-Filled Egg Rolls), Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Chipotle Mayonnaise, and Beef Kofta Kababs (Grilled Ground Beef Skewers) with Dill Yogurt Sauce. That's a menu worth jamming to!