Super Bowl menu?

[The Librarian]

The person who's hosting the SB party we're going to likes to serve food from the city where the game's being played. What foods are popular in and unique to Indianapolis? I've never been there and live near San Francisco so I'm totally clueless. Any thoughts? If I can't come up with anything, I'm thinking pigs in blankets and deviled eggs, but I thought I'd check with the experts first!

[silvergirl]

thought of another one - chili with spaghetti noodles in it.

[FoodPopulist]

It's not unique to Indianapolis, but one food associated with the city is strawberry shortcake.

Milk is the traditional beverage of the Indianapolis 500, so you can try to do something with that.

Hoosier pie, persimmon pudding, and fried brain (yes, actual cow brain) sandwiches are also associated with Indiana. (The brain sandwich is associated with the southern part of the state, but also with nearby places such as Kentucky and St. Louis.)

[John E.]

Haven't they been forced to switch to pig brains because of the mad cow thing?

[FoodPopulist]

As far as I can tell, some places have, but it's not illegal to serve cow brains.

[silvergirl]

Pork tenderloin sandwiches (they're basically schnitzel - a lot of Germans settled here), sugar cream pie and orville reddenbacher popcorn. Beer (the German thing again).

[danionavenue]

whenever we have hosted we did some appetizers and then ordered in a few pizzas for half time and got beer and other drinks. I made and decorated cupcakes with the teams' colors who were playing. San Fran has the fisherman's wharf so I would do a crab dip or crab cakes. Indianapolis... you could do mini pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw...

[laliz]

I have a friend who lives in Indianapolis, pork burgers.

[othervoice]

I say the easiest thing to do is to root for the Patriots and serve Lobsters and Clam Chowder!!!

[nami54]

No! The Niners, Dungeness crab, and Ghriardelli chocolate!

[steve h.]

Very cool. A different food spin could be a hangtown fry as a nod to San francisco and a boiled/steamed lobster as homage to New England.

Ravens/Giants, on the other hand, presents a whole different set of culinary challenges.

Honor the teams, not the host city.

[John E.]

Well, apparently the OP's friend is choosing to honor the host city and not the teams, nothing wrong with that. If honoring the teams, and it's the Ravens (unlikely) and Giants(more likely) then pit beef and thin crust flabby-so-you-can-fold-it pizza would work.

[steve h.]

Baltimore and crabs is an easy connection. New Jersey and deep-fried hot dogs (think Rutt's Hut in Clifton) works for me.

[John E.]

I thought crabs were too obvious for Baltimore. I should have thought of the digs since both the Giants and the Jets really are New Jersey teams.

[katecm]

You can always go the sweet route for Bmore with Bergers cookies: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe...

[John E.]

Until your post I had never heard of Baltimore's Berger cookies. They seem quite easy to make. Sometimes these 'cultural icons' are complicated to make.

[nami54]

I have family who have lived in Indianapolis all my life. I've been going there to visit since 1971 and I've never encountered a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. A shame really, since they sound really good! I've had a lot of wonderful food in Indpls over the years, but nothing I could reasonably call a local specialty.

My aunt used to refer to Indpls (my uncle dubbed it "India-no-place" in the 1950's and it stuck) as "we live in a cornfield with lights, you know": Corn chowder, fritters, pudding, anything corny.

White Castle didn't start out in Indpls, but they've been there since the 1920's. Sliders?

There is also a growing community in Indy from India, so my second generation of cousins, raised on 60's midwestern fare have adopted several Indian dishes as their own.

There is a historic farm settlement outside of Indpls, Connor Prairie Farm (now affiliated with the Smithsonian). They do a lot with apples in the fall, but I can't say whether the apples are grown locally.

In the southern half of the state, Brown County is known for fried biscuits with apple butter. These are yeast biscuits, deep fried, served warm, with apple butter. I haven't had any since the 1970's and I still remember how good they were. http://www.examiner.com/chef-recipes-...

[ChiliDude]

www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq4.html

[John E.]

Apparently Indianapolis is the place to go for breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. The meat should extend outside the perimeter of the bun. A quick WWW search will give you recipes and other Indy food. I did a quick search and discovered that Hurst's Beans is headquartered in Indianapolis, you know, the 15 Bean Soup people? I don't know if that means they eat a lot of that soup there, but that's where they package the beans.

[katecm]

Funny, I was just reading a thread on the porn sandwich and remembered The Librarian's query, so came over to share it: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/333590

Sounds like perfect football food!

[ChiliDude]

Gee, katecm, your sandwich must be quite erotic! Never heard of that one in the 70+ years I've been on this planet.

[katecm]

PORK! PORK! PORK SANDWICH! (the third time, it doesn't sound much better than what I originally mistyped).

[Terrie H.]

Too funny!!!!!

[MandalayVA]

I don't care, that was officially awesome. Too bad it's a 'hound thread, this would have been perfect for the Damn You Autocorrect site.

/still giggling

[katecm]

I'm waiting until I get reported....

[perk]

This probably isn't much help, but a few years ago I did some research on the history of the state for a documentary. When I was in Indianapolis, and went to the Indy 500 museum, they had lots of signs for turkey drumsticks at the track. I guess it's somewhat of a tradition. But....I doubt that many people would even make the connection....