Regional/Local Foods

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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:49 pm

@RC
Black pud ( from Bury market natch) is nice whether eaten hot or raw mmmmm!! Very Happy

Here in Brum its got to be a balti!! For our american colleagues its a curry served in a steel bowl. No rice, the balti is scooped up with either chappattis or a naan bread.

Heres a pic of a balti as well Very Happy

http://blogs.sundaymercury.net/final-word/balti_bc.png

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:38 pm

Hushpuppies, another thing that is either awful, or bland, but occasionally superior. (hard to find good ones, that are delicious enough to eat by itself, instead of some afterthought formed of a litlte cornmeal and thrown on a plate with BBQ, fish, or whatever.)

ONION RINGS,....real ones, not flaked and formed crap. Razz

I miss the 'grouper fingers' I used to get at a small cafe in the Tampa area....fresh breaded, meaty, sweet.

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:50 pm

This area here has been mainly famous for :

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:43 pm

^^^Frumpy, we are having some of that for our dinner: Very Happy

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm155/eater_photos/100_0878.jpg

Front left, scallop potatoes! On the right, sausage sauted with onion, green pepper and we will have sliced tomatoes with that. Back right is a beef and veg stew that I am throwing together for the next few days. I need to add tomatoes, V-8 juice and seasonings. Wink

Btw, I have 2 of those angels and she needs to go outside with her sister. Laughing

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:20 pm

I like your taste! No doubt about that!

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:32 pm

My military son flew in for an extended weekend so his girlfriend came over to cook for us. She made a bacon and spinach quiche, Chicken Provencal, leeks in drawn butter, canapes, and Boulangere Potatoes. Maybe it was the Cabernet that I am no longer used to drinking but I had an honest Ratatouille moment when I mouthed a bite of quiche that had soaked up some butter. I had a flashback to my childhood when I first had quiche, made by a friend of my fathers. I remembered the summer day when I was 8 years old when he served us lunch. He was the executive chef for a series of restaurants, 5 star hotels and even the White House. I heard later that he had a terrible temper and could not keep a job but he could cook. The flavors, textures and emotions were so intense I had to close my eyes.

Food from around here? They have this spiced up version of scrapple called chorizo. They mix it with eggs and wrap a tortilla around it in the morning. Another thing popping up all over is Pho. Its like the Saimen served in McDonalds in Hawaii but in huge bowls.

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:45 pm

Yes, I love black pudding also.

Not a local dish, but I've developed a taste for fresh scallops shallow fried with chorizo sausage.

Well, the local butcher makes his own chorizo, so you could say it's a local dish. Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:26 pm

Around here we have the beer boiled (Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss makes a wick good brat!) bratwurst served on a brat bun with sauerkraut and mustard. Some butcher shops have more than 50 varieties of bratwurst!

Another regional dish is booyah, a "Belgian" chicken soup (using a brown stock, possibly beef), usually cooked at large church functions in 50 gallon wood fired kettles.

We also have the random trout boil which can vary from community to community on which day it occurs.

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:40 pm

Stepan Fetchit wrote:

Hushpuppies, another thing that is either awful, or bland, but occasionally superior.

Eating shoes, that IS gross!

Hush Puppies

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:52 pm

I had a brat for lunch. I remember buying brats on the street in Germany ages ago, speared through the center of a hard roll.

RC, some 'hushpuppies' probably don't taste as good as shoes.

The story behind 'hushpuppies' is they originated from fried pieces of dough or cornmeal cooked in hunting camps, and thrown to the dogs to keep them quiet. Today they would probably be called 'STFU puppies.'

I did have once an excellent version, but gentrified, and called 'corn fritters', ....fresh kernels of sweetcorn added in, seasoned perfectly.

Oh lord, I just remembered the cinnamon bread at the old Mercury Cafe in Denver, the old one, on capitol hill.

Wish the wife would come home, I'm ready for dinner.

Confused

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:08 am

Along with the acursed crabs,you would drink National Beer(much better than the crabs) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3gJgnsQYEM .Sit through the intro,the commercials are worth it.

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:00 am

I am surprised that no one has mentioned putrid shark yet

wikipedia wrote:

Hákarl is traditionally prepared by gutting and beheading a Greenland or basking shark and placing it in a shallow hole dug in gravelly-sand, with the now-cleaned cavity resting on a slight hill. The shark is then covered with sand and gravel, and stones are then placed on top of the sand in order to press the shark. The fluids from the shark are in this way pressed out of the body. The shark ferments for 6-12 weeks depending on the season in this fashion. Following this curing period, the shark is then cut into strips and hung to dry for several months. During this drying period a brown crust will develop, which is removed prior to cutting the shark into small pieces and serving.

Chef Anthony Bourdain ... has described shark þorramatur as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he has ever eaten.

Chef Gordon Ramsay ... vomited after eating hákarl

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 02 Dec 2008 Posts: 518

I think most people, when thinking of foods from my country (Norway), think of our christmas foods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A5rik%C3%A5l
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinnekj%C3%B8tt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutefisk

Many find them wierd, but they are actually quite delicious.

If you should find yourself in Norway and are feeling brave, you should also try smalahove. Laughing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalahove

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:55 pm

I don't think this cake is specific to any region, but since this is a food thread I wanted to share it. Someone brought it to a cookout and it has to be one of the best cakes I've eaten.....ever Very Happy

Pineapple/Walnut Cake with Buttercream Icing:

2 c. sugar
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. whole walnuts
2 eggs
1 tsp (real) Vanilla
1 (20oz. can unsweetened pineapple with juice

Frosting:

1 (8oz.) cream cheese, softened (I used 1-1/4 block)
1 (8oz.) stick butter softened (sweet cream/salted) don't use margarine
1-1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Mix the dry & wet ingredidents separately. Combine & add the walnuts.
Spread in a sprayed 9 x 13 pan & bake @ 350 degrees for 35 - 40 mins. (check at 35) Make the frosting, reserving the chopped walnuts. Spread on to hot cake. Sprinkle with the nuts. De-Licious Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:51 pm

^^^I have made that one and it is the best. jump_4_joy

Lovey was going thru our pics and he says, "Honey, are you taking pics of our food now?" I said, "Yes, for my eater friends!" Laughing

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:32 pm

For a small state, NJ has a bit of a food culture all of its own. One of the most commonly mentioned is Taylor ham or "pork roll".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_roll

We also grow some of the best tomatoes and corn. http://www.state.nj.us/jerseyfresh/

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:27 pm

^^The 'Garden State' license plate Very Happy

Master Baiter Joined: 27 Jun 2009 Posts: 172

Must admit, from england here, the midlands area.

i adore Mince beef casserole (full of spices, herbs and veg)

Yorkshire pudding and mash pots

Also my fav everyone forgets is .........

Mr Brains Faggots in a west country sauce, mash pots and mushy peas, it's awesome

And yes the Faggots are reals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:25 pm

Madhatter wrote:

Mr Brains Faggots in a west country sauce, mash pots and mushy peas, it's awesome

I've had that, and it is good.
Also from Warwickshire, is plum jerkum or jercum, a cider made from plums. My Mum makes a plum cider, a plum liquor and a plum beer using honey and the fruit of the prunus ume. My brother and I were served the plum honey beer for Christmas and he properly identified it as a variant of the locally made prison product called pruno.

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:32 pm

"Prairie Oysters", seasonal, but a delicacy where we live. Wink