What are some local dishes in your area?

[Lisa!]

Hum...

I don't know if the thread's purpose is not clear. I'm trying to discover cuisines that are unique to certain regions of the world, or food that originated and are uniquely associated to certain places. I thought maybe this is a version of dolmades that is unique to certain places.

Zz.

Well I guess that is because the vegetables we use as the filling are rarely found in other places!

 

[gfd43tg]

I wish we have more participants from France, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, countries in South East Asia, etc. There is such a diverse and amazing culinary culture in those regions where there are very unique foods from various regions in each of those countries.

And hey, how about people from the Gulf Coast of the US? Where are you?

Zz.

Alright fine, I am not a native to china but I live in Hong Kong at the moment. Here is a picture I took at the market of Hong Kong style barbecue duck. I am not entirely sure, but the uniqueness is in the sauce used. I have traveled around many parts of China and had my fair share of peking duck, but this sauce is different (albeit not hugely different) from other parts of China, and in my opinion better tasting. But it has lots of carcinogens. I think the other parts of China emulate the Hong Kong style barbecue.

 

[JorisL]

Hum...

I don't know if the thread's purpose is not clear. I'm trying to discover cuisines that are unique to certain regions of the world, or food that originated and are uniquely associated to certain places. I thought maybe this is a version of dolmades that is unique to certain places.

Zz.

Hmm I wonder, over here(Belgium) a lot of supermarkets sell "blood sausage" which I myself eat reasonably often. I don't know if that's a regional thing.
Maybe eating it with pan fried apples or apple sauce makes it a regional thing?

Thing is I don't really know if some seemingly local customs are truly local. That's why I didn't post anything until now (maybe I'm too cautious?).

One thing I'm quite certain about are buckwheat pancakes.
The local recipe uses sparkly water instead of regular water. They also add 2 half-inch slices of bacon to the pan before adding the pancake mixture.
Fun thing is that a carnival organisation has a "pancake day" to raise funds, they use Buckwheat flour ground at an original windmill in our town.

Once you had those with some apple butter(also nice on some rye bread) you will never want plain flour "pancakes".

 

[ZapperZ]

Hmm I wonder, over here(Belgium) a lot of supermarkets sell "blood sausage" which I myself eat reasonably often. I don't know if that's a regional thing.
Maybe eating it with pan fried apples or apple sauce makes it a regional thing?

Thing is I don't really know if some seemingly local customs are truly local. That's why I didn't post anything until now (maybe I'm too cautious?).

One thing I'm quite certain about are buckwheat pancakes.
The local recipe uses sparkly water instead of regular water. They also add 2 half-inch slices of bacon to the pan before adding the pancake mixture.
Fun thing is that a carnival organisation has a "pancake day" to raise funds, they use Buckwheat flour ground at an original windmill in our town.

Once you had those with some apple butter(also nice on some rye bread) you will never want plain flour "pancakes".

Oooh! We need pictures if you have them on those pancakes.

While blood sausage is common in many cultures, I find that each one can be quite different, so it is definitely possible that the blood sausage that you are familiar with is different and unique from others.

Zz.

 

[gleem]

While blood sausage is common in many cultures, I find that each one can be quite different, so it is definitely possible that the blood sausage that you are familiar with is different and unique from others.

I'm of Slovenian descent and from Chicago and Blood Sausage was served at our table. But I also found out that it is common in England. Also I am familiar with the Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich which I miss being raised in Melrose Park with mucho Italians.

 

[Raghav Gupta]

I think @Chef Hoovisan would be of great help in this thread.
By the way he's a chef.

 

[ZapperZ]

Here's another purely Chicago invention. I might even call it a bastardization of the Mexican Tamale. It is called Tom Tom Tamale.

http://www.buddysspecialevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/image_chicago.jpg

It often comes in a plastic wrapper like this:

http://www.tomtomtamales.com/images/index_16.gif

If you pour your standard chilli on top of it, it is then called the Mother-In-Law.

Whatever you call it, be prepared for some serious case of indigestion!

Zz.

 

[StatGuy2000]

Kansas city is the beef capital of the US, but you will be hard pressed to find a decent steak house here. Also, Kansas City is supposed to be famous for BBQ, again, having grown up in Houston, TX, I'm spoiled, we had the best steakhouses, we had the best BBQ, we also had great seafood, you could go and buy your seafood right off the boats when they came in. No seafood here.

One of the supposedly most famous BBQ places in KC has been closed down before due to unsanitary conditions and many people avoid it.

It sounds to me that Kansas City (like St. Louis, at least based on my limited experience visiting relatives there) is bereft of good restaurants.

At any rate, I'm from Toronto, which is widely known for its highly diverse, multicultural population , and one can easily find a wide variety of high quality restaurants at various price ranges with cuisines from across the globe. Among the more popular cuisines include Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Italian, Greek, and Portuguese, and a friend of mine told me of her experiences at an Ethiopian restaurant. The only type of cuisine that is hard to find is Mexican, which isn't surprising as there really isn't a particularly large Mexican community here.

 

[Dr Transport]

St Louis has a distinct lack of good restaurants. The local pizza is horrible, only a few Italian worth going to and find a good steak house isn't happening. Anyting more exotic doesn't stay open long.

 

[Evo]

St Louis has a distinct lack of good restaurants. The local pizza is horrible, only a few Italian worth going to and find a good steak house isn't happening. Anyting more exotic doesn't stay open long.

Kansas City is much worse. Ethnic foods just don't make it here. Even steak and BBQ don't make it here, the restaurants are all pretty bad.

 

[Dr Transport]

I long to move back to Philly...didn't eat at any bad restaurants

 

[StatGuy2000]

Kansas City is much worse. Ethnic foods just don't make it here. Even steak and BBQ don't make it here, the restaurants are all pretty bad.

Maybe this reveals my biases, but could I conclude above that Missourans (and Midwestern Americans in general) have poor taste in food?

BTW, I used to joke that within North America, the greater the proportion of the population that is of British, Irish, German or Scandinavian descent in a given location, the worse the quality of the food in that location.

 

[ZapperZ]

I did not intend on saying anything about this, hoping that the thread will self-correct. But it appears that that is not going to happen.

I am highly disappointed that this thread has turned into cuisine-bashing. The intent and spirit of this topic was a CELEBRATION of the different and varied local foods from different regions and parts of the world. It is the exact opposite of what is going on right now with this thread. Instead of highlighting the uniqueness of the food from various regions, this has turned into the bashing of the food quality and availability. It is the antithesis of what this thread is all about!

We should have highlighted the truly unique BBQ style that came out of St. Louis and Kansas City, whether we like it or not (after all, I don't care much for the Tom Tom Tamale that is unique to Chicago). Even St. Louis is famous for their flatbread-like pizza that is truly unique to that area. These are what we should be celebrating in this thread, not bashing how awful the food is there or in the "Midwestern Americans".

Go to the "Food" thread, or start your own thread, if you can't appreciate the intent of this topic.

Zz.

 

[JorisL]

We have some of the best beef stew here in Belgium, we call it Stoofvlees which is "stewmeat" if we literally translate it. Carbonade Flamande gives various almost good results in my opinion.
Google using either "Carbonade Flamande" or "Flemish beef stew".

The way I make it is simple, brown beef and onions (you can add some garlic or other veggies) in some real butter.
Dust with flour (use enough, instant thickener can always fix mistakes when you don't use enough the first times you make it)
Pour in a cold dark beer, go with what you like. I usually use Grimbergen because its a little sweet but still rich.

Let it stew until the meat is tender, a tip (according to my mom) if you add just a little vinegar, the meat becomes tender but holds its form.
At the end you can add some mustard, beware of dijon mustard however as it can easily overpower the other ingredients.

Serve with fries like the ones on the picture, crispy on the outside while still soft on the inside. Together with a dollop of real mayonaise.
There is are other variations with dried prunes and raisins or ginger bread.
The latter is next on my list (with adjustments probably).I can't help playing the devils advocate, please remove if it is too much,

BTW, I used to joke that within North America, the greater the proportion of the population that is of British, Irish, German or Scandinavian descent in a given location, the worse the quality of the food in that location.

If those nationalities weren't Caucasian it would be called racist. At least that's the trend I see around here w.r.t. (social) media.

 

[ZapperZ]

We have some of the best beef stew here. Carbonade Flamande gives various almost good results in my opinion.
The way I make it is simple, brown beef and onions (you can add some garlic or other veggies) in some real butter.
Dust with flour (use enough, instant thickener can always fix mistakes when you don't use enough the first times you make it)
Pour in a cold dark beer, go with what you like. I usually use Grimbergen because its a little sweet but still rich.

Let it stew until the meat is tender, a tip (according to my mom) if you add just a little vinegar, the meat becomes tender but holds its form.
At the end you can add some mustard, beware of dijon mustard however as it can easily overpower the other ingredients.

Serve with fries like the ones on the picture, crispy on the outside while still soft on the inside. Together with a dollop of real mayonaise.
There is are other variations with dried prunes and raisins or ginger bread.
The latter is next on my list (with adjustments probably).

Excuse my ignorance, JorisL, but which location/part of the world did this food comes from? It certainly looks unique, especially serving it with fries. I can actually go for that.

Actually, if you pour it over the fries, some Canadians on here might want to call it poutine! :)

Zz.

 

[JorisL]

Oops its from Belgium, most results come up when searching "Flemish beef stew" although I'm certain its eating in the French part, Wallonia, as well.
Its a typical dish for a Sunday. And can be often found at diner "parties" thrown as fund raisers by local sports clubs or youth movements.

The recipe I linked actually mentions another very (apparently) very local dessert on the blog, "Smurfentaart" have a look.

Consider my previous post edited.

 

[StatGuy2000]

I did not intend on saying anything about this, hoping that the thread will self-correct. But it appears that that is not going to happen.

I am highly disappointed that this thread has turned into cuisine-bashing. The intent and spirit of this topic was a CELEBRATION of the different and varied local foods from different regions and parts of the world. It is the exact opposite of what is going on right now with this thread. Instead of highlighting the uniqueness of the food from various regions, this has turned into the bashing of the food quality and availability. It is the antithesis of what this thread is all about!

We should have highlighted the truly unique BBQ style that came out of St. Louis and Kansas City, whether we like it or not (after all, I don't care much for the Tom Tom Tamale that is unique to Chicago). Even St. Louis is famous for their flatbread-like pizza that is truly unique to that area. These are what we should be celebrating in this thread, not bashing how awful the food is there or in the "Midwestern Americans".

Go to the "Food" thread, or start your own thread, if you can't appreciate the intent of this topic.

Zz.

Hi ZapperZ. I'm wondering if this comment was directed specifically to my post, but I certainly didn't intend to turn this thread into bashing of the food quality or availability. As a matter of fact, I had posted in this thread largely in jest, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but perhaps that didn't come through.

I am certainly all for celebrating the different and varied local foods available. The only reason I didn't post anything about local food because I find it really hard to identify what could be consider "local" to Toronto -- I can literally go anywhere in the city and find great food from cuisines from around the world without breaking my bank.

 

[StatGuy2000]

If those nationalities weren't Caucasian it would be called racist. At least that's the trend I see around here w.r.t. (social) media.

As I stated in my response to ZapperZ, I had intended my post to be tongue-in-cheek and in jest. I didn't intend it to provoke people, and frankly didn't expect it would arouse such sentiments.

 

[Evo]

Hi ZapperZ. I'm wondering if this comment was directed specifically to my post,

No, this is my fault, I started with my post about the lack of good food in KC. I've lived in a number of cities around the country and they all had at least a few really great restaurants. Zz, do you want me to delete my posts and the responses?

 

[ZapperZ]

Some time, what makes something unique to a particular area is not the ingredients or the food, but rather how it is served or put together. This is definitely true about the humongous sandwiches served at Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh, PA.

Individually, there's nothing out of the ordinary, but put together the meat, fries, vinegar-based cole slaw, and tomatoes in between the two thick white bread, and you have a Pittsburgh classic. The sandwich was invented quite a while back for truckers so that they could eat it everything with just one hand while driving (obviously, this was before they needed to text-message or talk on cell phones while driving).

Zz.

 

[dragoneyes001]

probably the most famous item from where i grew up would be:

the Montreal Smoke meat sandwich

 

[ZapperZ]

probably the most famous item from where i grew up would be:

the Montreal Smoke meat sandwich

I saw an episode of "Bizarre Foods" when Andrew Zimmern went to Montreal. Isn't your "smoked meat" equivalent to what we in the US call "pastrami"?

Zz.

 

[dragoneyes001]

I saw an episode of "Bizarre Foods" when Andrew Zimmern went to Montreal. Isn't your "smoked meat" equivalent to what we in the US call "pastrami"?

Zz.

yes and no. pastrami is similar yes but the way Montreal smoked meat is made is famous for a reason. the results are like night and day.

and if you want to complete the clogged artery add a poutine with it

 

[ZapperZ]

yes and no. pastrami is similar yes but the way Montreal smoked meat is made is famous for a reason. the results are like night and day.

and if you want to complete the clogged artery add a poutine with it

I definitely have to make sure I try this if I get the chance to visit Montreal... and definitely with poutine. I want to try the duck gravy with my poutine.

Zz.

 

[dragoneyes001]

here i found an article which compares the two:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/...ami-smoked-meat-katzs-schwartzs-mile-end.htmlif you do visit Montreal another thing to try is St-Hubert BBQ chicken

 

[dlgoff]

Wanting to keep the topic "Local Cuisine", but just have to say after seeing these:

You have to be one of the luckiest guys on the planet. Just sayin'

 

[ZapperZ]

Wanting to keep the topic "Local Cuisine", but just have to say after seeing these:

You have to be one of the luckiest guys on the planet. Just sayin'

I'm half lucky. I've had the waffle sandwich, but haven't had the Primanti Bros sandwich yet.

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

Some time, what makes something unique to a particular area is not the ingredients or the food, but rather how it is served or put together. This is definitely true about the humongous sandwiches served at Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh, PA.

Individually, there's nothing out of the ordinary, but put together the meat, fries, vinegar-based cole slaw, and tomatoes in between the two thick white bread, and you have a Pittsburgh classic. The sandwich was invented quite a while back for truckers so that they could eat it everything with just one hand while driving (obviously, this was before they needed to text-message or talk on cell phones while driving).

Zz.

Now that is a true Combo meal - except for the drink.

What kind of meat? Corned beef, pastrami, turkey, or just any meat will do? There seems to be a layer between the pinkish meat and fries. Is that, chicken or sliced cheese? Can the coleslaw be substituted with sauerkraut?

The sandwich looks kind of like a Reuben.

I'd like it on rye.

 

[Evo]

When I grew up In Houston, TX, a small mom and pop grocery store had a counter in the back where they sold they best barbecued beef sandwich in the Universe. I can still taste it even now. I wish I knew their secret, I heard the store no longer exists. You could just lose yourself in one of those.

 

[Astronuc]

When I grew up In Houston, TX, a small mom and pop grocery store had a counter in the back where they sold they best barbecued beef sandwich in the Universe. I can still taste it even now. I wish I knew their secret, I heard the store no longer exists. You could just lose yourself in one of those.

I knew stores like that too. Unfortunately, some children don't continue what their parents or grandparents started or kept going.

 

[Evo]

I knew stores like that too. Unfortunately, some children don't continue what their parents or grandparents started or kept going.

I guess I can't blame them if running a tiny store wasn't what they wanted, maybe they wanted to be a scientist, an artist, a stay at home mom. The store was destroyed and paved over. So sad. I'd do anything for that recipe, just the right balance of everything, it was locally famous.

When I lived in upstate NY, there was a quaint restaurant called the Canterbury Inn. Yes, it was like an old Inn, huge center fireplace. They served a coconut bread that was to die for.

 

[dragoneyes001]

There was a store in Vermont on the way to Stowe. A gas station general store that made fantastic sandwiches (was probably 35 years ago-ish so doubt it'll be the same) simply to die for all the ingredients were great and together amazing.

 

[Evo]

When I lived in upstate NY, ther was a quaint restaurant called the Canterbury Inn. Yes, it was like an old Inn, huge center fireplace. They served a coconut bread that was to die for.

OMG, I found it! Zz, I love you!

http://adirondackbaker.blogspot.com/2010/06/canterbury-restaurants-coconut-bread.html

CANTERBURY COCONUT BREAD
thanks to Diane Hinckley Loviza

1 cup toasted coconut (spread coconut on sheet pan, toast in 350 oven 15 minutes stirring often)

1 TBS baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg well beaten
3/4 cup sugar

Mix wet ingredients with dry, stir well. Spoon into a greased/floured 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan

Bake 1 hour @ 350 or until cake tester comes out clean.

They served a coconut bread that was to die for.

 

[ZapperZ]

Now that is a true Combo meal - except for the drink.

What kind of meat? Corned beef, pastrami, turkey, or just any meat will do? There seems to be a layer between the pinkish meat and fries. Is that, chicken or sliced cheese? Can the coleslaw be substituted with sauerkraut?

The sandwich looks kind of like a Reuben.

I'd like it on rye.

I think you have several choices of meat. But you got to have it the way it is, or else you'll get yelled at and someone will tell you that any other way and it is not a Primanti Bros. sandwich! It is as big of a sin as putting ketchup on hot dogs in Chicago. :)

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

OMG, I found it! Zz, I love you!

Er.. what did I do to receive such affection?

:)

Zz.