Jim Clark - The All-American Truck Stop Cookbook

The
All
American
Truck Stop
Cookbook The
All
American
Truck Stop
CookbookKen Beck
Jim Clark &
Les Kerr RUTLEDGE HILL PRESS
Nashville, Tennessee
A Division of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.
www.ThomasNelson.com Copyright 2002 by Ken Beck, Jim Clark, and Les Kerr All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews and articles. The Did you know? facts are courtesy of American Trucking Trends 2000, American Trucking Associations. courtesy of the McLean County Historical Society. Published by Rutledge Hill Press, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P.O. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beck, Ken, 1951
The all-American truck-stop cookbook / Ken Beck, Jim Clark & Les Kerr.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-55853-966-2 (comb-bound)
1. cm.
ISBN 1-55853-966-2 (comb-bound)
1.

Cookery, American. 2. Truck stopsUnited States.
3. TruckingUnited States. I. Clark, Jim, 1960 II.

Kerr, Les, 1956 III. Title.
TX715 .B385 2002
641.5973--dc21 2002006034 Printed in China
04 05 06 076 5 4 3 To Americas hard working truck drivers of yesteryear, today, and tomorrowand to all of the people who keep them filled up and rolling and to everyone waiting for them at the end of the run. Contents Starters
One Essential Beverage and Many Soups Hot Rods in a Bowl
Dishes so Cool Theyre Chili Good for Dipping
Appetizers and Dips Something Salad
Salads Rollin in the Dough
Breads Breakfast Served Anytime
Eggs and Extras Side Roads
Vegetables and Other Sides Highway High-Test
Mainly Spicy Main Dishes The Main Road
More Main Dishes The Mother Load
Lots of Meat Loaf and then... Even More Meat Loaf Home Sweets Home
The Perfect Ending after a Long Haul In our effort to cover as many locations, miles, and years of trucking lore as we possibly could with this book, we needed a large convoy of good people to help us bring the load safely to its destination. Attributions are given with each recipe throughout the book, as are the credits for photos and for a few special essays not written by the books authors. But a nimble fleet of other generous people also pitched in to help make this book a reality.

Golden Steering Wheel honors go to Beth Fusakio and Aimee Cirucci at NATSO, Inc., and also to Pamela Hayes at AMBEST. Likewise, we salute Charlie Bosselman, David McClure, and Stig Hansen for their wonderful assistance and photos and recipes. Similar thanks go to Guy Kudlemyer, Jessica Rowcroft, and Pete Silver Fox Rigney, three writers who are especially knowledgeable about the truck stops of America. We also thank Marty Stuart for his magnificent essay on a golden-age Mississippi truck stop and Marc Smirnoff of The Oxford American for allowing us to share it here. And we thank Fred Goodwin for the use of photographs and album covers from his extensive collection. Behind the scenes, Scotty Lambert and Peggy Evans were vital cogs who kept the wheels of this project turning at all times.

We also give three friendly blasts of the truck horn to Uncle Pete Norman for his enthusiastic advice and generosity with his time. We likewise received invaluable assistance from Ellen Voie of Trucker Buddy International and Andrea Hayes at the Tennessee Trucking Association. Were grateful to Marie and Dave Dudley, Kay Adams, Red Simpson, and Bill Fries for creating great country music that keeps the truck drivers making good and safe time. Others giving special help were Bill Hudgins at Road King magazine, Jared Rainer for his Red Hot Truck Stop photo, Bill Yenne for Sid Doans Guns of Elvis photo, John Baeder for sharing of his knowledge, Robert Smith of Advertising of Yesteryear for the use of nostalgic trucking magazine advertisements, Don Angus and Brian Holmes for the photographs and story on Canadas Cannonball, and Glenda Washam, Jonathan Dees, and the American Trucking Associations for valuable research and background information.And we thank Stop Watch magazine and Scott Loftis and The Trucker magazine for helping spread advance word about our work on this book to the trucking industry. A crisp golden, country-fried steak with all the trimmings goes to the following folks offering indispensable help: Lou Alley, Joanne Bailey, Mindy Baker, Gary Barlow, Bart Boatwright, Jason Boockoff, Sherry Burns, Terry Campbell, Kyle Cantrell, Kathy and Jim Chronister, Brenda Colladay, Carl Cornelius, Dina Costello, Heather DeBaillie, Pat Deck, Bev Dinning, Marcie Doan, Sid Doan, Beth Dupont, Wanda Eddy, Jim DieselEllis, Mary Estrada, Julya Franco, Louise Friend, Brenda Galligan, Jeff Gipe, George Good, Tom Gotauco, Kathie Greer, David Griffis, David Hall, Eric Harley, Jan and Bill Harsh, Mary Dysart Hartt, Tom Hawks, Jane Hayward, Doris High, Stephen Holding, Vicki and Joey Holiday, Robert Hopkins, Bill Hudson, Dennis Hunter, Joe Hunter, Cheryl Irvin, Frank Jakubik, Britt Jones, George Jones, Barbara Lemasters, Sandra LoPresti, Kevin Lott, Troy Martin, Susan McAneny, Tammy Melton, Diane Miers, Sherry Morris, Dave Mortensen, Allan Moses, Elizabeth Nemec, Dave Nemo, Peggy Norris, Cindy Northey, Debbie Oliver, Pat Paden, Julie Pointer, Robert Rabine, Sherry Richards, Patsy Ritter, Belinda Rives, Gerry Rogers, Louis F.Ruffner, David Silverman, Marcia Simmers, Sherry Smith, Linda Stanford, Jane Starks, Lavonne Stephens, William Still, Brent Stoker, Tom Taylor, Tom Teague, Jeremy Tepper at Diesel Only, William Toomey, Terri Verhagen, Bill Vollenweider, Paul Walker, Randy Walker, Jerry Walton, Scott Weidner, Todd White, Jessica Willard, and Christy Williams. Were also indebted to the high-octane team at Rutledge Hill Press and Thomas Nelson Publishers for giving us everything we needed to make this trip a successful adventure.

Our particular gratitude goes to Chief Dispatcher and Publisher Larry Stone for mapping a safe route and supplying the necessary fuel; Chief Mechanic Geoff Stone for making sure that the engine hit on all cylinders and that any flats were repaired with prompt roadside assistance; Patsy Caldwell and Laurin Stamm, who manned the fuel desk and made sure that the recipes always were the right grade; the Body Shop Team of Brad Talbott and Lori Lynch for making sure our rig has an appearance inside and out that will continue to shine on down the road; Trooper Tracey Menges for not pulling us over either for speeding or for going to slow; and Loading Dock Foreman Bryan Curtis, who is now overseeing the handling of the delivered load through sales and marketing.Ken also wishes to thank his wife, Wendy, daughter Kylie, and son Cole for riding shotgun during this books trip down its many roads and interesting detours. Jim thanks his wife, Mary, for her support, thoughtful input, and open-mindedness about the magic of meat loaf. And Les thanks his wife, Gail, for being there at the end of every run. Our thanks go out to all of these Good Samaritans who helped us on this road. And remember, if youre reading this, at least one driver and one truck have, at some point, had a part in getting it into your hands. So a special thanks to all of Americas truckers! Remember the simpler days when there was no such thing as a fast-food restaurantbefore there were interstates? Maybe youd been driving along the two-lane highways all day long.

It was time for a bite of supper, and you had to pick a place to eat. Remember what Mama would say? Look for a place where all the trucks are stopped! Well, the trucks stop right here in