American Regional favorites?
I have a cooking club coming up, and the theme is American Regional favorites? For example, New York style cheesecake, New England clam chowder, Key West Key Lime pie, Southern Fried Chicken, Maryland Crab cakes, Texas BBQ, Philadelphia Cheese Steak, and so on.
What I am asking is if you can list more regional favorites. I would like to look over the list then pick what I will make. I know I cannot think of all of them. So what do you know is a regional favorite?
-
-
mamaciita
Apr 11, 2008 12:05 PM
I moved to Louisville in 1996 from Evansville, IN, and I had never before heard of Benedictine, but it's the local food addiction that no one else has ever heard of--most people immediately associate Louisville with Hot Browns. Let me see if I can find a link to a good recipe. . .
Never mind. Here's mine. All of the others I found use mayo (yech) and a food processor (makes a watery mess out of the cucumbers).
Benedictine
1 medium cucumber
1/4 medium onion
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp salt
juice from 1 lemon
1 drop green food coloringPeel, seed, and grate cucumber. Combine grated cucumber and salt in a colander and drain 10-15 minutes. Grate onion and reserve. Beat cream cheese to a smooth consistency, then beat in lemon juice. Squeeze moisture out of cucumber and add to cream cheese mixture. Pour off any liquid that has seeped out of the onions and add onions to cream cheese mixture. Blend well. Add 1 drop green food color and stir to incorporate. Add salt to taste.
The classic preparation is finger sandwiches or Benedictine and bacon sandwiches. I love it on smoked turkey sandwiches or by itself on hot, crusty French bread.
-
-
-
-
EastRocker
Apr 9, 2008 02:11 PM
steamed cheeseburgers (central CT)
White Clam Pizza (New Haven, CT)
Maple Creemees (VT)
dynamites (RI)
coffee milk (RI) -
brunswick stew, burgoo, gumbo, booya
chicken&biscuits, biscuits&gravy, red beans& rice, shrimp&grits, cornbread, spoonbread
boston cream pie, chess pie, key lime pie, lady baltimore, king cake, shortcake
chitlins, snoots, hot brown
hot dish, hoe cake, johnny cake, boston beans, rotel dip, layered salad, waldorf salad, po boy
sf sourdough, plank salmon, poi, poke (hawaii), poke (salad), pigsfoot& greens, fried chicken, crab cake, flapjack, chili, etouffee, praline, maque choux
poetry. i'll think of some more for you tomorrow.
-
Paul Weller
Apr 7, 2008 06:52 PM
Hangtown fry was really popular when I lived in coastal northern california years ago. It's sort of like corned beef hash with oysters instead of corned beef.
›5 Replies-
re: Paul Weller
and don't forget eggs. the reason it was called hangtown fry was because oysters and fresh eggs were both very hard (& expensive) to obtain in gold-rush sf. sf area outlaws sentenced to death could extend their lifespan by several days by requesting "hangtown fry" as their last meal-- if their wishes were respected, it would take a few days to obtain the ingredients, staying their execution.
-
re: soupkitten
BobB
Apr 11, 2008 06:58 AM
Good story, but incorrect. Hangtown was an early name of Placerville, CA, where the dish originated. According to nearly all accounts from the time, the dish originated when a lucky miner, his pockets full of gold, showed up at what is now the Cary House Hotel (it was the El Dorado at the time) and demanded the most expensive dish they could create. Thus the Hangtown Fry was born.
It is also not similar to a hash, but rather an omelet made with bacon and oysters. There are no potatoes or onions in the recipes I've seen.
-
re: BobB
incorrect? well-- there are 2 stories about the *origin* of the dish, one which you relate (unnamed miner who struck it rich), and one that credits it to a condemned prisoner (again unnamed, funny huh?), but regardless of the origin, i was talking about the history of the dish, and relating how it came to be named-- subsequently becoming (in)famous as the frequently requested last meal of prisoners in "hangtown"
"
During the gold rush, Placerville, California was known as "Hangtown," for obvious reasons. As legend has it, a miner who had just struck it rich, walked into a restaurant and demanded the most expensive breakfast possible. The cook fried together the three most expensive ingredients at the time; bacon, eggs and oysters. This delicious and decadent breakfast became known as the Hangtown fry.
...
By the way, it was reported that this dish was a popular "last meal" request among those unfortunate souls awaiting their walk to the gallows. Since it often took a few days to procure all three ingredients for the Hangtown fry, the condemned man could stall his inevitable fate.
"
from http://americanfood.about.com/-
re: soupkitten
BobB
Apr 11, 2008 10:02 AM
I understand that prisoners may have requested it for a last meal as a delaying tactic, but even the (second) story you quote here does not imply that this is how the dish got its name, which is what I thought you were claiming above. But upon re-reading I see that I misparsed you. My apologies.
-
-
-
-
-
MsMaryMc
Apr 7, 2008 02:17 PM
In the Pacific Northwest, you've got salmon in its various forms and preparations (smoked, grilled on a cedar plank, etc.), Penn Cove mussels, Dungeness and Alaskan king crab, Olympia oysters, and other glorious seafood.
Heading south, can't forget San Francsico sourdough bread and Mission-style burritos. In central California there's Santa Maria Tri Tip barbecue.
-
-
steinpilz
Apr 6, 2008 07:30 AM
Upstate NY red hots, white hots
Buffalo beef on weck
NM green chili stew
Birch beer (Philly area I think)
Taylor ham (NJ)
Big belly fried clams (MA)
Connecticut style lobster roll (butter not mayo)
Steamed soft shell clams
NY clam chowder
MD soft shell crabs
SC She-crab soup
Peanut soup
Ohio Amish baby swiss cheese
Scrapple (PA)
NC pulled pork BBQ
NC bay scallops
Hoppin' John
Florida grouper
California abalone
(I guess I'm getting a bit general here now)›4 Replies-
-
-
re: KevinB
Catskillgirl
Apr 10, 2008 11:20 AM
I made one for dinner last night! My bakers, bless their little hearts, made me a couple. I hadn't had a beef on weck in at least 20 years, and it was so, so, so good! I even cheated and used bottled (Heinz) au jus gravy and it was still divine.
-
-
-
-
-
-
