Thinking of parties again. These are called party crackers, but many of us grew up with these simply known as buttered saltines. My Nanny made these very occasionally as snacks, but they’re just as fine dressed up (or not) for a platter with accompaniment.
A couple favorite restaurants include these among their appetizers —
Odette in Florence, on their snack platter:
Old Town Stock House in Guntersville, on their southern nosh plate:
Making these couldn’t be easier. It’s just:
melted butter + saltines + seasoning in a 300* oven for :20 or so
Only a quick flip of both sides in melted butter, then place the crackers on a parchment-covered baking sheet. While wet, liberally season. Check on them around :15, then right around :20, they should be golden brown terrific.
Seasoning ideas include:
Italian seasoning mix // lemon pepper // steak seasoning mix // dry bbq rib mix // crushed red pepper flakes // garlic powder // Ranch dressing mix // blackening seasoning // Old Bay // Everything mix // etc etc etc
Here, I’ve done a few different options. From the top: Everything but the Bagel seasoning (whomever was the first to name this “Jewish glitter” is a genius. I put this in egg salad to chopped liver and even scrambled eggs). Everything mix is my fave party cracker among these.
Next: BBQ 3000 from Penzey’s (very good); Pilleteri’s Mr French Fry seasoning (Lawd, too salty); Rex’s Blackened seasoning; Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (they boys’ favorite — they like a sprinkle of HVR mix on popcorn, too).
There are ten thousand things these can be served with, but I like them especially with Jezebel sauce. They’re great with anything — much will depend on what you’ve seasoned with, but I like them plain with hot pepper jelly or strawberry jam or preserves, chopped liver, egg salad or olive salad or egg & olive salad, pimento cheese, vidalia dip, chopped liver…
If there’s any left (how, possibly?) crumble, place atop a casserole, and voila, one of the world’s great covered-dish crunchy toppings ever. xoxo!