I always heard that the Fool's Gold Loaf (a hollowed out loaf of white bread filled with a jar each of PB and J, plus a pound of cooked bacon) was supposed to be deep-fried, not baked.

I'm not even sure how you would deep-fry it (get out the turkey fryer?) but it sounds more Elvis that way, I think.

The link you post suggests that, rather than being a food Elvis loved to eat, the Fool's Gold Loaf was a novelty item, probably brought up by his visitor from Colorado, that appealed to Elvis, a man with a genuinely sharp sense of humor (as well as a big old wad of cash).

I've seen this sandwich mentioned several times as Elvis' "favorite." Wrong. PBB.

Somehow, through my drug-addled memory, I recall staying up late one evening & watching the David Letterman show, where an alleged Presley cook/chef prepared the departed king's fav food & while yes it was a pb & banana sandwich, it was not toasted, but deep fried, which is what led to the king's blotto figure. Any (further) inside dope to this?

Were they Krispy Kremes? These were another part of the King's diet and are often featured in eating contests on his birthday.

I gave you a hard time about Nader in the other story ... but this time I was thinking the same thing as you. Obviously Elvis was a huge eater early on, and stayed skinny, but it all caught up to him on the inside ...

When he was young he could eat and eat and eat, and never gain a pound. And so he did, probably building up a much greater amount of plaque in his arteries at a much earlier age than other men. When he started gaining weight, and taking so many drugs, it was the fatal push for his cardio-vascular system.

This is just typical southern cooking. And it's not a "toasted" PB& banana sandwich. You have to grease the skillet with butter (although my grandmother never used an entire stick, yikes!), and you do fry it, as another LW stated. It's divine, and Paula Deen has a recipe for it as well, but you have to have a huge glass of milk with it to achieve lunchtime perfection.

Bacon, fried PB & Banana sandwiches, corn bread dipped in buttermilk (a particular favorite of my father, one I never tried personally), this is all my grandmother's cooking. I couldn't eat that way every day (or even every week), but I really do miss her food.

Several years ago a loudmouth Chicago-area disk jockey did a hack-job "comical" tribute to Elvis on a local TV station. Like your author, he apparently didn't know much about the culture of Southern cooking, because he thought it the height of wit to do a "Cooking with Elvis" skit involving salad made with Co-Cola (as they often say in Dixie). Little did he know-or care- that Coke, 7-Up and other soft drinks have been staples of middle-American cookery over the last century.

Evidently we still have a long way to go regarding knowledge of "regional" American cuisines.

Last Christmas we had an Elvis themed Holiday and based our family dinner on Fit for a King the Elvis Presley Cookbook. Not everything was a hit. For instance the Cheese Grits called for 1 6-ounce roll garlic cheese which I had never heard of but easily found at our local grocery store. They were OK but not worth repeating. My hands down favorite which I will serve over and over and is the perfect color combo for Christmas is the Strawberry and Asparagus Salad. That alone was worth the price of the cookbook. It calls for strawberries, asparagus, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sugar, salt and pepper to taste. If this is something Elvis actually ate, he had better more eclectic taste in food than he is credited with.

I'm surprised the author didn't include what to me is probably the most horrifying thing that Elvis apparently loved to eat: the Fool's Gold Loaf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool's_Gold_Loaf

Granted, sweet and savory flavors do often go together well, but GOOD GOD!

A friend of mine recently visited Graceland and brought back a refrigerator magnet with the recipe for the Peanut Butter and Banana, and it is definitely not "toasted," as you describe it in the third paragraph. The recipe calls for you to melt a stick of butter (a STICK of butter!) in a skillet and fry it. I don't know how the Big Mac stacks up when that step is considered, but it should be clear that this is a fried sandwich, not toasted.

Sietsema is woefully ignorant of both Southern culture and food science. Not only does he seem stunned at the idea of cole slaw on a BBQ sandwich, which is indigenous to several areas, but he refers to "canned frozen biscuits," an item that does not, and never did, exist. There are refrigerated canned biscuits, and frozen biscuits, but the hybrid he claims Elvis ate would not be feasible.

What a waste of electronic space.

Cheap shot cheap shot cheap shot. Plus, this kind of writing (in regard to Elvis) was popular about twenty years ago.

This sentence gives me pause:

"But drugs weren't Elvis' only vice; what has he been pigging out on to make him so bloated?"

Is the errant "has" only a typo, or evidence that the writer believes that ELVIS LIVES?

doesn't know that cole slaw goes on top of the barbeque in a sandwich in both Memphis-style and North Carolina-style BBQ cuisine, he's not much of a food writer, is he?

Uh, by any chance, was that line composed by somebody who regularly eats sushi? You know, raw fish -- worm eggs and all.

Remember, your high-toned dining experience may well be something that I would call a "culinary disaster."

We do that so so well. Right now I'm blasting Amy Winehouse. One of you call the Calvinist Hippy police force! Save me!

I dont know much about Elvis but from reading this article, this guy was clearly depressed....all that gorging...but I guess I can relate...