Sitting here eating lunch and I got to thinking... Last night I was making quesadillas with green chiles that I had bought roasted from a local grocery store. Dh told me to enjoy them as a special treat given to us because of how close we are to the Mexico border. So, for us, Mexican food is kind of our local food specialty. It also reminded me of a time when a new family joined our homeschool group from South Carolina and the mom was telling me about her dinner time rush trying to find pimento cheese for sandwiches. I had only learned about that after marrying dh (who's dad is from the south). I have only found it at walmart. Other grocery stores will carry the tiniest jar of the stuff sold for spreading on crackers or something, but not really a sandwich spread. So, what do you consider a regional food specialty where you live? This also leads to the question of how hot dogs are served in your area? I know different places have different ways to eat them. Here, it is the Sonoran dog. A nice soft bun, hot dog wrapped in bacon then grilled, and loaded with your choice of pinto beans, tomatoes, onions, avocado sauce, mayo (I had never had mayo on a hot dog before moving closer to the border, but it is good), mustard, a jalepeno sauce (if you are brave enough), maybe a drizzle of cheese sauce. Of course, there is some variety depending on where you go, but you get the idea. Oh, and no ketchup. Now, ds prefers to get his plain (bacon wrapped dog) and then put on ketchup, mustard, and relish, but that is so not the way to do it.
Here's a couple for you: When we lived in Springfield, we were introduced to The Horseshoe Sandwich. the story is that this sandwich was created in Springfield at a hotel in the late 1920s. It is a thickly sliced toasted bread topped with a hamburger patty, piled with french fries, and covered with a Welsh cheese sauce. When I lived in Texas, I worked at a restaurant called Goodson's Cafe for about 3 years, a locally owned "down home southern cooking" place. Their claim to fame is their chicken fried steak. It's so huge it falls off all sides of the plate! It's been named "the best chicken fried steak in Texas" by many. Including being listed #62 on the Travel Channel's America's 101 Tastiest Chowdowns and a show called Deep Fried Paradise. a series, The United States of Food, on a new channel branched from the Discovery Channel family (Destination America) will be profiling Goodson's later this summer. Here's the infamous Chicken Fried Steak:
Growing up, my regional foods included chipped ham, sandwiches with sauerkraut and fries (with meaning on, not next to), hoagies (not the same as "subs" no matter what "they" say), and the ONLY ketchup was Heinz. And the best cookies came with a smile. Moving to Missouri, well, everything got a little more southern, but fairly typical American fare. Except they put mayo on burgers! Mayo! On burgers! How crazy is that? And now I live in Arkansas, so it's mostly Southern. The fact that I won't eat catfish means I could easily starve at any given church function. I've never had a bacon-wrapped hot dog (never even heard of it). But holy cow does that sound tasty! Hot dogs (for me) were served on a normal hot dog bun with ketchup (Heinz, of course), mustard (Heinz, of course), and dill relish (Heinz, of course). The afore mentioned all-inclusive sandwich:
We are in western Illinois, along the Mississippi River. Catfish and carp are weekly specials at most restaurants here. We are also in the middle of hog country, so ginormous pork tenderloin sandwiches are on everyone's menu.
Here in south Louisiana, people come for many reasons, but they stay for the food! And SouthWEST Louisiana Cajun is different from SouthEAST Louisiana Creole. Gumbo, fried catfish or catfish courtboullion (say koo-be-yon with the French nasal n), crawfish (never craYfish!) ... boiled, bisque, etouffee, or even fried..., andouille (on-doo-ee) sausage, jambalaya, shrimp (ever see Forest Gump? yeah, shrimp THAT many ways!), sauce piquante (pi-kawnt) made with whatever you got, boudin, cracklin's, cochon d'lait (roast suckling pig), frog (fried or in a sauce), alligator any way you want it... I can't go on, I'm making myself hungry! Food isn't just something to eat, it's an EVENT! It is no accident that south Louisiana has the greatest incidence of obesity and heart pathology in the US. Well, that's arguable, I guess, but I'm sure we're a big contender! Hot dogs are best done on the grill, served on a soft white bun, with your choice of toppings: mayo and/or mustard and/or ketchup, or barbecue sauce, relish or not, chopped onions or not, pepper sauce or not, chili and cheese... however you want it is okay around here!
The big thing around here are garbage plates They may look bad but oh do they taste good. It is home fries, mac salad, 2 hots (hot dogs) or 2 burgers loaded with mustard, onions and their own hot sauce (which has meat in it). They are great at 2am especially. The other thing that is big of course is buffalo wings. Can't be in WNY with out those.
Here is the general idea. I promise, the bacon wrapped dog is hiding in there topped with pinto beans. We usually get them to go from a place that packages them just like this, the spicy pepper to tempt you to take a bite if you dare. And, we always go with grilled onions, not raw.
wow!! Dont have anything to add, but man, there are some crazy foods out there!! Everything sounds soooo good
lol, since we moved here to Arkansas, we have had the same experience with the catfish! Hot dogs are served with mustard or ketchup (or both), sweet pickle relish, and chopped onions. A regional specialty from my hometown of San Francisco would be the unbeatable sourdough bread. Around here, I've fallen in love with chocolate gravy. I had never heard of that until we came to AR.
You can tell I've never traveled, and have always lived in Texas, because I never even considered that you wouldn't put chili on your hot dog! Pinto beans? bacon? Never. But chili, oh.my.goodness. With spicy brown mustard,sharp cheddar and dill relish. But that's what you make for the kids when you cook out on the grill if they won't eat our main Texas meat, brisket,which smokes on the wood grill for 15-20 hours. Dh's brisket gets requested pretty frequently and is so tender it can be eaten with a spoon. The bbq dipping sauce is homemade, and served warm. So good with dill pickles and potato salad!! ooohh, my mouth is watering!
Mkel - I can't believe you worked at Goodsons Cafe! I went to beauty school in Tomball in the mid 90's and used to eat there all the time. Their rolls are to die for! I only live about an hour away from there and now that I am hungry for some Goodson's I'm thinking of making the drive to eat out! I too have never heard of a bacon wrapped hotdog. I hate hotdogs but here people eat them with mustard, chili and cheese or if you're like my dd9 plain with ketchup. Mexican food is real big here and I won't eat it north of the Texas border. I'm a mexican food snob! lol! In the spring everyone eats crawfish. I like spicy with melted butter and can eat my weight in some mud bugs! Also boudin! Chicken fried steak apparently is a texas thing and really you can chicken fry just about anything. We also have what is called a chili size. It is basically a big plate sized hamburger steak smoothered in chili and cheese and sprinkled with chopped green onion. And Texas BBQ. Everything is cooked low and slow. Also BBQ stuffed baked potatoes! YUM! My bff used to own a bbq place. Leissa is right on the money with her description on the brisket!
childhood food While I've not had a Sonoran dog..... my husband recently has at work, they had the guys come in for a special lunch..... where I'm from we have Vienna Beef hot dogs (Chicago dogs) which even though I don't eat they way you'd find {{dragged through the garden}} with diced onion, wedge of piclke and tomatoes and mustard NO KETCHUP a sprinkle of celery salt and litle sports peppers. BUT WAIT........ my very favorite growing up was PORTILLOS Italian beef, which is a sloppy sandwich, consisting of very thinly sliced beef on a crusty roll (about 6 inches long) and optional sweet peppers, sliced pepperchini peppers and gardineria. (pickled vegetables)... and then the whole sandwich may or may be dunked in a "juice"..... beef aju. after me talking about it and seeing it on the food network my husband was inticed to mail order it...... (we also got the chicago hotdogs) (and the deep dish pizza which nobody cared for too much)...... but now I have made my own recipe for that famous Italian beef and let me tell you it smells so good cooking and we actually bought a meet slicer so we could cut the beef roasts thin. I can't say there is anything In Tucson I like with ONE exception, the Chimi changa at Maccyo's Mexican resturant (hold the sour cream and cheese)
Anybody ever eat fried pickles? I'd never heard of them until I started working in Ville Platte, LA (mulbledy mumble) years ago. Hamburger dills, dredged in seasoned flour mixture, and deep fried. YUM!
We just moved to California from Pittsburgh...the kids miss Eat N Park. My MIL promised to send us some Smiley cookies and also Frownies from Kings, when football season rolls around. (Big Steeler fans!) My kids put fries on every hot sandwich they eat. In restaurants people give them the funniest looks and my daughter usually explains, "It's Pittsburgh style!" DH is originally from Pittsburgh, but being a military family we have lived all over the place and we find the biggest regional differences are found in pizza. I am originally from the central coast of California, and I had never heard of Chipchopped ham until I met DH....tried to order that at a Deli and got funny looks...now I just shave my own ham and I have a case of Isleys in my pantry...we brought it with us when we moved. One Pittsburgh thing it took me a while to understand was city chicken...I kept looking for it in the poultry section of the meat counter. LOL Silly me!
Here in little Rhode Island we have coffee milk, Del's lemonade and quohogs. Weiners are a local thing- think short hot dog with mustard, celery salt, diced onion and a ground beef mixture. On regular hot dogs though it's the standard mustard, relish, and ketchup. Um... we are also obsessed with iced coffee. A lot of seafood as well since we are the ocean state. Oh and vinegar on french fries.
We tried fried pickles at a restaurant on a vacation in CA a few years ago. Yummy! Then, we just ordered some this week at a chicken and waffles (southern food) restaurant. The southern twist was that they had cornmeal in the batter. I didn't like them as much, but dh liked them better with the cornmeal. Speaking of chicken and waffles, dh asked at the restaurant about the proper way to eat the specialty dish (chicken and waffles) and was told to put your butter and syrup on the waffle, top it with the fried chicken and then a few dashes of hot sauce. Still sounds odd to me. I eat the waffle seperate from the chicken.
I don't think I had ever eaten a Sonoran dog until we moved to Nogales (literally minutes from the Mexico border). And, only started then because dh would go out to lunch with the locals and learned how delicious they were. As for Mexican food, we love it. Tamales and Mexican rice are my favorites. We mostly eat at El Charro because it is the closest, and by the way, it is where the chimichanga originated (well, at one in Tucson). I do have to admit when grilling hot dogs at home, we go traditional mustard/ketchup/relish. We have tried recreating the sonoran dog, and it is just not as good.
Thanks for sharing, it is fun to hear about what is eaten in different areas. All of the bbq talk is up dh's alley, but I am not as big into bbq. I will eat it and enjoy it, but am not really drawn to it. I also find many sauces too spicy for me. And, in a way that is diferent from green chile or jalepeno spicy. I also know that there are regional differences in sauces.
