It should take you places – and that’s exactly what Caroline McCowan’s Kentucky feast achieves.

A classic, hearty American meal featuring quick and easy American barbecue ribs (Allen McCowan’s own recipe), broccoli salad and Caroline’s tuscan herb potatoes, it’s often brought out for the Albury-Wodonga Bandits’ international players.

“I like to keep it simple – I wouldn’t say I’m the best of cooks,” she said.

“It’s a meal that’s always been affiliated with big sporting occasions like the Superbowl, World Series Baseball, the AFL grand final.” 

All of those are massive, but for the McCowan family, sporting triumphs don’t come much better than the Kentucky Wildcats appearing in the NCAA college basketball finals.

“We’ve kept that tradition going,” Ms McCowan said.

“We’ve opened the house to the Americans when they come out here, that's something Al started doing in 2004.

“It's been good, I've made a lot of friends through that.”

As with most American food, it's all in the preparation – the actual cooking process is simple.

“You absolutely have to make sure you get the American-style cut ribs from the butcher, they have a bit more meat on them that way,” Ms McCowan said.

“The ribs themselves are pretty easy to make, and they just fall apart at the end.”

Sides make up a big part of this dish too, and they don't come much more American than the broccoli salad.

The McCowans picked up the recipe when they took a group of aspiring basketballers to Kentucky back in 2011.

“They played a high school team from a small town called Elkton, a couple of hours out of the city,” she said.

“There would have been about 20 shops in the town square, we were there in the middle of the week and only half of the would have been open.

“They actually called the owner of one of the shops so the kids could buy some icecream.

“The parents of the school did some fundraising before we got there for a famous chef from Elkton to come and cook for us.

“I can't quite remember what the chef's name was, but that's where the broccoli salad recipe has come from.”

Unfortunately, even among the visiting imports, the side dish staple doesn't always go down as well as you might expect.

“To be honest, some like the broccoli salad and some just don't eat salad at all,” she said.

“But they all love Al's ribs.”