Cracker Barrel List (Unofficial)

[GreenEyedMonster]

I've been a manager for Cracker Barrel for going on 11 years now. As far as what is gluten free, I can give you a short list, since I've been reading recipies, labels and calling the quality control department over the years checking on what has and doesn't have gluten for my own benefit.

Someone had posted a small list on another board, I think that's a great idea but a couple of things that were listed I have always questioned and have never been able to eat without a reaction. I recall another question about cornbread being safe or not in another forum and our cornbread comes in from the manufacturer as a blend w/flour already added. I also saw breakfast sausage on a list somewhere, but I haven't had the chance to get back to the freezer and read the label yet. It comes from a company out of Tennessee named Purnell Sausage if someone wanted to find out before I get back to work next week.


Here is my tried and true list of things I know for a fact don't have gluten in them. Trial and error can be a huge pain, and waiting till 2006 for a list from the home office is just insane.

Meats:
Steak 10oz. Ribeye and Sirloin (You'll need to request that these steaks (and any other meats) are not cooked on the "pancake/Bun/Sourdough Bread area of the grill". Sometimes the cooks just don't know what the meat only grill is for.
Hamburger and Kids Burgers (Minus the bun)
Sugar Cured Ham
Country Ham
Bacon
Grilled Chicken Tenders Unmarinated (If you can catch them thawing)
Grilled Catfish (Minus the seasoning)
Grilled Trout (Minus the seasoning)
Pork Chops (Grilled only)
Turkey (Request it be grilled. The dinner cut is baked in gravy when prepared for dinners, but it can be cut fresh from the breast and grilled.)

Veggies:
Corn
Carrots
Green Beans
Turnip Greens
Mashed Potatoes
Boiled Cabbage (Sunday offering)
Boiled Red-skinned Potatoes (Tuesday offering)
Sweet Potato Casserole (Thursday offering)
Baby Lima Beans (Saturday offering)
Applesauce
Baked Potato (prepped in the same area as croutons, could be risky.)
Fried Apples (I steer away from these since they sit on the steamtable right in front of the hashbrown casserole that contains gluten in the soup base. Cooks have been known to drop bits of the hashbrown into the apples in the process of serving up plates.)

Seasoned Rice (Saturday offering minus the baked chicken that it is served with, just tell them you want the rice as a veggie.

Breakfast:
Grits
Eggs

Salads:
We use T. Mazetti dressings for most of our salad dressings and I'm not sure of the gluten content of these. I'll check next week when I'm back to work if anyone is interested. Our fat free dressings (FF Italian, FF Ranch, FF Honey Mustard, FF Thousand Island) are also from T. Mazetti, and come served to your table in a packet, so you could just read the label if in doubt about those.

Sirloin Salad (No croutons, *talk to a manager and have them prepare them)
Un-Marinated Grilled Chicken Salad (No croutons, *talk to a manager and have them prepare them)
Turkey Salad (No croutons, *talk to a manager and have them prepare them)
Chef Salad (No croutons, *talk to a manager and have them prepare them)
House Salad (No croutons, *talk to a manager and have them prepare them)
Tossed Salad (No croutons, *talk to a manager and have them prepare them)

* I have both documented and have had strong conversations with more than one prep cook or server who just tosses croutons off a salad that isn't supposed to have any.

Desserts:
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

** The beef consumee used in making brown rice (Friday offering) has wheat listed on the can. The brown rice is NOT safe.

Not an all conclusive list by any means. Some things I've never been too sure about, or couldn't get confirmation about, or just never wanted to eat anyway, so I didn't list them. Our marinated chicken tenders are marinated in lite italian dressing, so I've always stayed away from them. Coleslaw has vinegar in the dressing as well and I just don't trust distilled vinegar.

I stay away from using the fryers. Fryers always have breaded items cooked in them, period. Occasionally after boiling out a fryer, and refilling with fresh oil, one of the cooks will hunt me down in the building to ask if I brought any soy or rice flour with me to work that day so they can fry something up for me before they use the oil. (They have all been made aware of my allergies over the years, and more so now since the diagnosis will make it a mandatory lifestyle change.)

If anyone has any questions about any specific items not listed, just PM or email me and I'll do some back of the house, kitchen detective work for you. As long as I have a recipe, a product label, and the extension number to my friend in the purchasing department, I'm good to go. I'll add onto this list as I research more of the things I'm not sure about.

Cross contamination is always an issue in any restaurant. Placement of some of the products next to products that contain gluten are worth questioning a manager about. If they can't tell you, I can. Just ask.

[SueznRN]

Thank you so much for this information! I love the Cracker Barrel and was hoping to find items that are GF. Hopefully more restaraunts will provide an "official" GF menu.

[Jeannine1]

I just wanted to say that I love to eat at Cracker barrell & have never had a problem there. I hear they will have a GF menu out summer of 2006 !!!!