Best regional food dishes in your area

[shootingstar]

It would be food dishes that people do come/drive specifically to get or eat. I didn't know until I lived in my region of Alberta it really are these things:

• high grade beef cuts --Alberta ....exports to Japan. They love our meat. Walk into chain store and lots of quality cuts at good prices.
• Bison  - animal thrives on rangeland in our region.
• Sasktoonberries - not all provinces grow this
• Red beets --sheesh I had never seen so much of this until I moved here.  Province grows beets very easily because of our climate/soil.
• perogies  --especially from a particular market that has small local business pumping them out.  They don't leak when you boil them and stuffed well with cheese and potato. (I'm not keen on bacon and onion filling, etc.)  All other perogies are too skimpy on filling or dough is way too thick/gummy.  Many Ukrainians settled in province at turn of last century and farmed.  There are historic Ukranian churches all over province.
• It ticks me off to see trays of sushi often served with spritzed mayonnaise.  To me, it's Westernized palate tackiness to appease people who may not like raw seafood.  But then a lot of seafood in Calgary has been frozen.  More rare spritzing in Vancouver and Toronto. 

Toronto

• peameal bacon sandwiches..with lots of mustard.  It's difficult to find peameal bacon sandwiches on the menu, in Vancouver and Calgary (!).  It's the only type of pork sandwich that I enjoy a lot.  
• bagels..... must be a hangover of the Jewish population in certain pockets in city
• Carribbean food  --massive diversity in rotis and great choice.  I make sure I have one whenever I visit Toronto. Jerk chicken is easier to find in big T.O.
• Quality Korean and huge choice cuisine here.
• Ok don't get me started on Chinese cuisine since I haven't visited enough restaurants but huge choice.  But yea, dim sum choice and quality far better than Calgary.  For some reason dim sum in Calgary is huger, sometimes deep fried in puzzling ways. (I really hate bastardization of good dishes by throwing stuff in deep fryer thinking more people will buy anything deep fried.)

Vancouver

• Sea asparagus
• salmon, spotted prawns, oysters, clams and scallops. I eat my fill of  fresh stuff when in town. My idea of elegant yet comfort food from this part of Canada.) 
• raspberries...British Columbia is Canada's biggest producer
• blackberries -of course it's a wild curse but upside nothing like sun-kissed warm blackberry. You never see blackberry bushes in Alberta.
• Dim sum is incredible in choice and wide range of quality. Same for Asian cuisine ..all those countries that you can think of.  

 

[jsharr ★]

Chili - Texas Red, the real stuff made from beef and spices with no beans 

BBQ - Texas style pit bbq, smoked wet, mopped with sauce, served with simple sides like potato salad, cole slaw, white bread, cheddar cheese and onions

Chicken fried steak - Round steak, pounded flat to tenderize, dreged in buttermilk and flour and spices and fried to a golden brown, served with mashed potatoes, kernel corn and cream gravy

Tex Mex food  - usually consists of beef enchiladas, pork tamales and ground beef tacos served with chili con carne on enchilada and tamales, refrieded beans, Mexican rice, tortilla chips and salsa

Steaks are a given in Texas and you can find steak houses to fit any budget.  Steak is usually grilled and served with traditional sides like baked potatos loaded with all fixins, glazed carrots, asparagus and a nice salad.

Iced tea is the drink of choice if one is not having alcohol.

[Tizeye]

FLorida--

Fresh seafood, not frozen

Fresh water catfish

BBQ

Gator tail

Cuban (The Cloumbia is the oldest restaurant in the Florida, opened by Cuban immigrants by the cigar factories in Ybor City (Tampa area) where the original still operates)

[ChrisL]

SoCal is such a melting pot of cultures I can't really say we have a regional specialty....  Maybe In & Out Burger as all the out of town folks seem to love it and although they are branching out is a SoCal chain.

[Wilbur ★]

International cuisine.  Ontario has that in spades.  Also, apples.  Apple pie, apple dumplings, apple cider..

[BuffJim]

Chicken Wings with blue cheese dressing and celery

Beef on Weck Sandwiches  With Beef jus and horseradish 

Milk Chocolate Sponge candy. 

[groupw]

Nebraska-

Runza - ground beef, cabbage and spices wrapped in dough and baked. Very tasty comfort food! Runza restaurants are a NE chain. They also make some of the best fast food burgers and fries! 

Chili and cinnamon rolls. While we make no claim to inventing either, eating them together is a thing around here. I prefer a grilled cheese with chili, but the cinnamon roll is better than you would think. 

Lots of Latino immigrants have Mexican food places here that are pretty great!

 

[Dchiefransom]

Clam chowder using sourdough bread as the bowl.

[Wilbur ★]

Beavertails.

[sheep_herder ★]

7 hours ago, groupw said:

Nebraska-

Runza - ground beef, cabbage and spices wrapped in dough and baked. Very tasty comfort food! Runza restaurants are a NE chain. They also make some of the best fast food burgers and fries! 

 

Thanks, I wondered about these on my last trip through, and now I'll have to try some next time I visit your fine state.

[maddmaxx ★]

CT-

Italian.  Pizza houses abound.  Italian bakeries

Seafood but much of it is of the fried variety.  Clams, Shrimp, Fish and chips.

There are Chinese restaurants everywhere but they do not serve real Chinese food.  Instead they serve what passes for it in most of the US.

[Page Turner]

14 hours ago, shootingstar said:

(I really hate bastardization of good dishes by throwing stuff in deep fryer thinking more people will buy anything deep fried.)

...you should visit the California State Fair.

 

Quote

“Classy” and “healthy” are not words oft associated with fair food, but the fare at the California State Fair isn’t completely divorced from those adjectives. Here, you’ll find meat-free choices like veggie dogs on a stick, eggplant Parmesan sandwiches, and steamed artichokes. Upscale options like lobster fries and wine flights with a side of cheese and fruit also set the menu of this Sacramento-based event apart. 
Read more at http://www.craveonline.com/culture/1011201-outrageous-state-fair-foods#KrjvaAVOJ44BcsKp.99

[shootingstar]

Uh, yeah.  For annual Calgary Stampede, they like offering a lot of deep fried weird foods. Deep fried pickles and whatever else. I've actually never been to the Calgary Stampede (in July) which is only for 2 wks.  I go to some free pancake breakfasts all over the city.  The feeling is better there at these community based events  (with sometimes local band plunking away some country 'n western music)...and not seeing so much deep fried food offerings.  

[Wilbur ★]

3 minutes ago, Page Turner said:

...you should visit the California State Fair.

God bless America.  

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, shootingstar said:

Uh, yeah.  For annual Calgary Stampede, they like offering a lot of deep fried weird foods. Deep fried pickles and whatever else. I've actually never been to the Calgary Stampede (in July) which is only for 2 wks.  I go to some free pancake breakfasts all over the city.  The feeling is better there at these community based events  (with sometimes local band plunking away some country 'n western music)...and not seeing so much deep fried food offerings.  

Geez, even I've been to the Stampede.  Of course it was in the 50's

[Page Turner]

 

1 hour ago, shootingstar said:

 I go to some free pancake breakfasts all over the city.  The feeling is better there at these community based events  (with sometimes local band plunking away some country 'n western music)...and not seeing so much deep fried food offerings.  

 

...PANCAKE FRIED BACON!

 

 

 

[Ralphie ★]

Cheese steaks,  hoagies, pork or snausage wit' broccoli raab.

[ChrisL]

18 hours ago, shootingstar said:

 

• blackberries -of course it's a wild curse but upside nothing like sun-kissed warm blackberry. You never see blackberry bushes in Alberta.

 

Years ago I was fishing in WA near the Canadian border.  I was in the river with my waders and had to pee so went to the bank, rested my flyrod on some bushes and then realized it was a giant blackberry bush 10'  high maybe 20 yards wide! 

After going I started munching on berries and my cousin saw me at the bank and figured I had to go but when I was facing the bank for so long came over to see if i needed help. Duuuuuude look at the berries!!!

Yeah we were done fishing that morning.

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

Crabcakes. The Chesapeake Bay nearby is famous for it's blue crabs. They were once famous for their oysters but those were over-harvested. They are making a comeback and are very good when I have them but not everyone likes the oyster. We have a good availability of cuisines in the DC area. There are very good Chinese and dim sum restaurants. Korean, Spanish, German, Thai, Vietnamese, Tex-Mex, and Barbeque are all here and good quality.

[MickinMD ★]

Most everyone outside Maryland thinks that Steamed Crabs and Crabcakes are the local "specialties." But having been born in Baltimore and raised and living in the suburbs of Crabtown, USA, I know that the reputations of Baltimore Area restaurants are won or destroyed by the quality of their Crab Imperial!

The "wild cousin of the crabcake" is more expensive though it has no ingredients more expensive: each restaurant has it's secret recipe for each one. Even the commercial, frozen "Phillips" crabcakes are awful and nothing close to the great ones you get from inside a Phillips Restaurant. It follows Miss Shirley Phillips great and semi-secret recipe (I'm old enough to have been personally served by Miss Shirley in her Ocean City restaurant when I was young), which was inadvertently leaked on PBS by local chef John Shields and I list in full below.

Crab Imperial is a version of crab cake and hundreds of different recipes exist in Maryland, passed down through the generations.  The mixture is usually looser than a crab cake and doesn't hold itself in a ball like crabcakes do. It was traditionally served "on the half-shell," in the crab's cleaned top shell or on the cleaned shells of other seafood, but it's most often served in ramekins (like the crab-shaped ones in the picture below that are about 1/4 the amount of what you get in a restaurant) or similar baking bowls today - all done to help hold it together.

It is usually made with top-grade jumbo-lump crabmeat, though at home it's passable with canned crab meat or better, and with a special sauce primarily based on mayonaise.  Many of the recipes online call for 1/2 to 1 cup of mayo per pound of crabmeat, but that's more like Crab Thermidor.  The BEST Crab Imperial is not overwhelmed with mayo: the recipe link below calls for 2 tablespoons (1/8 cup) though an extra 2 tablespoons (1/4 cup of mayo total per pound of crabmeat) is ok, especially if you're not using jumbo lump crabmeat.  It also typically has butter, a little mustard, a little Worchestershire sauce, a dash of lemon juice, flour or 2 slices of torn bread or the equivalent in bread crumbs per pound of crabmeat.

The "classic" collection of crab recipes in Maryland is Whitey Schmidt's, The Crab Cookbook c.1990.  Soon after it came out, I bought an autographed "To Mickey" copy from Whitey himself at a local festival.  His book's recipe for Mobjack Imperial Crab is excellent!

A selection of several recipes from Whitey's book, including Mobjack Imperial Crab is here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/maryland-crabs/bs-fo-crab-recipes-0529-20130528-story.html

A slide show for making it is here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/maryland-crabs/bal-making-mobjack-imperial-crab-pictures-20130528-photogallery.html

Crab Cakes are a less expensive, close alternative in restaurants, and one of the best recipes was developed and raved about for the Phillips seafood restaurants by original owner Shirley Phillips. The frozen "Phillips" brand crabcakes in the stores are AWFUL and do NOT resemble those served in Phillips' restaurants, whose very secret recipe was inadvertently leaked on local PBS.  It was originally leaked in local restaurateur John Phillips Coastal Cooking on PBS but if you see the episode now, it's been carefully edited to hide the Phillips name (the recipe is also listed in the companion book to the series "Phillips" is also absent).  Here is the very excellent, semi-secret recipe that I cut-and-pasted from some website a decade ago:

Miss Shirley's Eastern Shore Crab Cakes

 

Shirley Phillips was raised on Hooper Island, Maryland, in Chesapeake Bay, and grew up surrounded by the finest seafood imaginable. Given her upbringing, it's not surprising that she married a waterman, Brice Phillips. The couple made their way to Ocean City, Maryland, and opened a crab shack, selling "jimmies" — heavy, fat, perfectly seasoned crabs — to tourists and locals alike.

Almost fifty years later, that roadside crab shack has evolved into one of the largest seafood operations in America, Phillips Foods. Miss Shirley is still a part of the daily operation of her signature Ocean City restaurant, which serves thousands of crab cakes every season. According to Shirley, the secret to a good crab cake is good crab, lots of lumps, and simple seasoning.

Yield

Serves 6 (Mickey’s note: serves more like 4: make into 8 or even 4 balls instead of 12).

Ingredients

 

1. 

 

1. 2 eggs

2. 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3. 2 teaspoons lemon juice

4. 2 teaspoons crab seasoning, such as Phillips' seafood seasoning (Mickey's note: Old Bay seafood seasoning works great)

5. 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

6. 2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise

7. 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

8. 2 pounds jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over

9. 4 slices white bread, crumbled (Mick’s Note: torn or cut into small 1/2"- 3/4" pieces)

10. Vegetable oil, for frying (Mick’s Note: most prefer broiled, where a little oil is usually brushed-on)

11. Soda crackers for serving

 

 

2. 

1. Tasty Tartar Sauce: Mickey’s Note: from a food store or the additional John Shield’s recipe for Tartar Sauce at the bottom of this recipe file.

Preparation

 

1. 

1. In a medium-size bowl, thoroughly combine the eggs, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice crab seasoning, parsley, mayonnaise and mustards.

2. Place the crabmeat in a large bowl gently fold in the breadcrumbs and the egg mixture so as not to break up the lumps. Shape into 12 slightly flattened balls and chill for at least 1 hour.

2. To fry the crab cakes:

1. Pour oil into the skillet to a depth of about 1 1/2 inches. Heat the oil to 370째 and fry the crab cakes, a couple at a time, until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Remove with a slotted spatula to paper towels to drain.

3. To broil:

1. Place crab cakes under a preheated broiler, turning to cook evenly, until nicely browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

2. Serve with soda crackers and tartar sauce.

 

Tartar Sauce Recipe

 

Ingredients

 

1. 

1. 1 cup mayonnaise

2. 1 tablespoon minced shallots

3. 1/2 cup minced sour pickles, such as dill or cornichon

4. 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, drained

5. 1 teaspoon capers in vinegar, drained and chopped

6. Dash of lemon juice

7. 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh or bottled horseradish, or to taste

Preparation

 

1. 

1. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Chill before serving.

 

[Dirtyhip]

49 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

Most everyone outside Maryland thinks that Steamed Crabs and Crabcakes are the local "specialties." But having been born in Baltimore and raised and living in the suburbs of Crabtown, USA, I know that the reputations of Baltimore Area restaurants are won or destroyed by the quality of their Crab Imperial!

The "wild cousin of the crabcake" is more expensive though it has no ingredients more expensive: each restaurant has it's secret recipe for each one. Even the commercial, frozen "Phillips" crabcakes are awful and nothing close to the great ones you get from inside a Phillips Restaurant. It follows Miss Shirley Phillips great and semi-secret recipe (I'm old enough to have been personally served by Miss Shirley in her Ocean City restaurant when I was young), which was inadvertently leaked on PBS by local chef John Shields and I list in full below.

Crab Imperial is a version of crab cake and hundreds of different recipes exist in Maryland, passed down through the generations.  The mixture is usually looser than a crab cake and doesn't hold itself in a ball like crabcakes do. It was traditionally served "on the half-shell," in the crab's cleaned top shell or on the cleaned shells of other seafood, but it's most often served in ramekins (like the crab-shaped ones in the picture below that are about 1/4 the amount of what you get in a restaurant) or similar baking bowls today - all done to help hold it together.

It is usually made with top-grade jumbo-lump crabmeat, though at home it's passable with canned crab meat or better, and with a special sauce primarily based on mayonaise.  Many of the recipes online call for 1/2 to 1 cup of mayo per pound of crabmeat, but that's more like Crab Thermidor.  The BEST Crab Imperial is not overwhelmed with mayo: the recipe link below calls for 2 tablespoons (1/8 cup) though an extra 2 tablespoons (1/4 cup of mayo total per pound of crabmeat) is ok, especially if you're not using jumbo lump crabmeat.  It also typically has butter, a little mustard, a little Worchestershire sauce, a dash of lemon juice, flour or 2 slices of torn bread or the equivalent in bread crumbs per pound of crabmeat.

The "classic" collection of crab recipes in Maryland is Whitey Schmidt's, The Crab Cookbook c.1990.  Soon after it came out, I bought an autographed "To Mickey" copy from Whitey himself at a local festival.  His book's recipe for Mobjack Imperial Crab is excellent!

A selection of several recipes from Whitey's book, including Mobjack Imperial Crab is here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/maryland-crabs/bs-fo-crab-recipes-0529-20130528-story.html

A slide show for making it is here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/maryland-crabs/bal-making-mobjack-imperial-crab-pictures-20130528-photogallery.html

Crab Cakes are a less expensive, close alternative in restaurants, and one of the best recipes was developed and raved about for the Phillips seafood restaurants by original owner Shirley Phillips. The frozen "Phillips" brand crabcakes in the stores are AWFUL and do NOT resemble those served in Phillips' restaurants, whose very secret recipe was inadvertently leaked on local PBS.  It was originally leaked in local restaurateur John Phillips Coastal Cooking on PBS but if you see the episode now, it's been carefully edited to hide the Phillips name (the recipe is also listed in the companion book to the series "Phillips" is also absent).  Here is the very excellent, semi-secret recipe that I cut-and-pasted from some website a decade ago:

Miss Shirley's Eastern Shore Crab Cakes

 

Shirley Phillips was raised on Hooper Island, Maryland, in Chesapeake Bay, and grew up surrounded by the finest seafood imaginable. Given her upbringing, it's not surprising that she married a waterman, Brice Phillips. The couple made their way to Ocean City, Maryland, and opened a crab shack, selling "jimmies" — heavy, fat, perfectly seasoned crabs — to tourists and locals alike.

Almost fifty years later, that roadside crab shack has evolved into one of the largest seafood operations in America, Phillips Foods. Miss Shirley is still a part of the daily operation of her signature Ocean City restaurant, which serves thousands of crab cakes every season. According to Shirley, the secret to a good crab cake is good crab, lots of lumps, and simple seasoning.

Yield

Serves 6 (Mickey’s note: serves more like 4: make into 8 or even 4 balls instead of 12).

Ingredients

 

1. 

 

1. 2 eggs

2. 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3. 2 teaspoons lemon juice

4. 2 teaspoons crab seasoning, such as Phillips' seafood seasoning (Mickey's note: Old Bay seafood seasoning works great)

5. 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

6. 2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise

7. 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

8. 2 pounds jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over

9. 4 slices white bread, crumbled (Mick’s Note: torn or cut into small 1/2"- 3/4" pieces)

10. Vegetable oil, for frying (Mick’s Note: most prefer broiled, where a little oil is usually brushed-on)

11. Soda crackers for serving

 

 

2. 

1. Tasty Tartar Sauce: Mickey’s Note: from a food store or the additional John Shield’s recipe for Tartar Sauce at the bottom of this recipe file.

Preparation

 

1. 

1. In a medium-size bowl, thoroughly combine the eggs, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice crab seasoning, parsley, mayonnaise and mustards.

2. Place the crabmeat in a large bowl gently fold in the breadcrumbs and the egg mixture so as not to break up the lumps. Shape into 12 slightly flattened balls and chill for at least 1 hour.

2. To fry the crab cakes:

1. Pour oil into the skillet to a depth of about 1 1/2 inches. Heat the oil to 370째 and fry the crab cakes, a couple at a time, until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Remove with a slotted spatula to paper towels to drain.

3. To broil:

1. Place crab cakes under a preheated broiler, turning to cook evenly, until nicely browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

2. Serve with soda crackers and tartar sauce.

 

Tartar Sauce Recipe

 

Ingredients

 

1. 

1. 1 cup mayonnaise

2. 1 tablespoon minced shallots

3. 1/2 cup minced sour pickles, such as dill or cornichon

4. 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, drained

5. 1 teaspoon capers in vinegar, drained and chopped

6. Dash of lemon juice

7. 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh or bottled horseradish, or to taste

Preparation

 

1. 

1. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Chill before serving.

 

Thank you for sharing this recipe. 

[Dirtyhip]

21 hours ago, shootingstar said:

It would be food dishes that people do come/drive specifically to get or eat. I didn't know until I lived in my region of Alberta it really are these things:

• high grade beef cuts --Alberta ....exports to Japan. They love our meat. Walk into chain store and lots of quality cuts at good prices.
• Bison  - animal thrives on rangeland in our region.
• Sasktoonberries - not all provinces grow this
• Red beets --sheesh I had never seen so much of this until I moved here.  Province grows beets very easily because of our climate/soil.
• perogies  --especially from a particular market that has small local business pumping them out.  They don't leak when you boil them and stuffed well with cheese and potato. (I'm not keen on bacon and onion filling, etc.)  All other perogies are too skimpy on filling or dough is way too thick/gummy.  Many Ukrainians settled in province at turn of last century and farmed.  There are historic Ukranian churches all over province.
• It ticks me off to see trays of sushi often served with spritzed mayonnaise.  To me, it's Westernized palate tackiness to appease people who may not like raw seafood.  But then a lot of seafood in Calgary has been frozen.  More rare spritzing in Vancouver and Toronto. 

Toronto

• peameal bacon sandwiches..with lots of mustard.  It's difficult to find peameal bacon sandwiches on the menu, in Vancouver and Calgary (!).  It's the only type of pork sandwich that I enjoy a lot.  
• bagels..... must be a hangover of the Jewish population in certain pockets in city
• Carribbean food  --massive diversity in rotis and great choice.  I make sure I have one whenever I visit Toronto. Jerk chicken is easier to find in big T.O.
• Quality Korean and huge choice cuisine here.
• Ok don't get me started on Chinese cuisine since I haven't visited enough restaurants but huge choice.  But yea, dim sum choice and quality far better than Calgary.  For some reason dim sum in Calgary is huger, sometimes deep fried in puzzling ways. (I really hate bastardization of good dishes by throwing stuff in deep fryer thinking more people will buy anything deep fried.)

Vancouver

• Sea asparagus
• salmon, spotted prawns, oysters, clams and scallops. I eat my fill of  fresh stuff when in town. My idea of elegant yet comfort food from this part of Canada.) 
• raspberries...British Columbia is Canada's biggest producer
• blackberries -of course it's a wild curse but upside nothing like sun-kissed warm blackberry. You never see blackberry bushes in Alberta.
• Dim sum is incredible in choice and wide range of quality. Same for Asian cuisine ..all those countries that you can think of.  

 

Why does it tick you off, when a dish is served a certain way that doesn't appeal to you?  Most of the time, a sushi place will serve you whatever you like or ask for.  Fusion cuisine is created from all sorts of places.  Why call it Western tackiness?  Seems rather harsh, wouldn't you say? 

Personally, I avoid raw fish these days.  There are so many dangerous foods that are not prepared correctly or safely.  I don't want to get sick from bad fish.  Fish is getting close to not even being on my plate, with all the ocean contaminants of late.  I'm looking forward to learning how to fish the rivers in my new mtn zone.  I am pretty sure the trout is pretty safe and the rivers here seem relatively clean.   

I'm trying to think of regional things that are unique to us.  Of course, a ranch community will provide you a nice steak.  We also grow potatoes, which will pair nicely with the steak.  The local tribes make a thing called fry bread.  It's really delicious, if you are lucky enough learn this recipe from one of them.   Locally, I don't love going out to eat.  We tend to make beautiful meals at home, and that is our preferred meal.  Our current area is not really known as a place where the dining is unique or whatever.  My old home, San Francisco, is a place where the dining is phenomenal.  I attribute this to the many cultures and their adaptation of food from all cultures.  

[shootingstar]

23 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Why does it tick you off, when a dish is served a certain way that doesn't appeal to you?  Most of the time, a sushi place will serve you whatever you like or ask for.  Fusion cuisine is created from all sorts of places.  Why call it Western tackiness?  Seems rather harsh, wouldn't you say? 

Personally, I avoid raw fish these days.  There are so many dangerous foods that are not prepared correctly or safely.  I don't want to get sick from bad fish.  Fish is getting close to not even being on my plate, with all the ocean contaminants of late.  I'm looking forward to learning how to fish the rivers in my new mtn zone.  I am pretty sure the trout is pretty safe and the rivers here seem relatively clean.    

I  like fusion dishes and I prepare some of them...since after all, I never grew up China.  I take whatever heritage dishes either it is authentic when I prepare it (my mother's recipes which are incredibly easy, no written recipe. It's like first mother language. It is part of person's memory/identity.) or I put my own twist that's European/ingredients locally. 

In fairness to those who have first generation immigrant parents, some knowledge of authentic dishes is a cultural benchmark for us...and personal ways to assess fusion interpretations. To us, it's personal valuable knowledge along with techniques.

Like raw bok choy: no thx for me. Whereas raw Chinese cabbage works better if want to try fusion raw cooking.  Whereas there are many great fusion stir fry interpretations and fusion sushi that doesn't use mayonnaise.  One has to understand the inherently certain produce how far fusion will make it taste good. Could one mix gai lan with bacon bits/proscutto? Sounds good.  Could one eat gai lan raw? Ugh, don't know what flavour value it provides any type of cuisine.

Mayonnaise to me doesn't add anything to taste of sushi.  I appreciate reasons avoiding raw seafood from certain areas of the world. That's a tough one. It would be disconcerting to eat raw in Japan if still Fukishima nuclear plant radioactive water was still leaking out....which I believe it is.  I personally don't buy fresh seafood where I know it's from Asia where environmental protection is more lax.

There is also Asian tackiness for European based desserts...too fluffy egg cakes with basically just whipping cream that's coloured....to meet those who were raised on Asian cuisine which doesn't have much sugar.

[Dirtyhip]

4 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I  like fusion dishes and I prepare some of them...since after all, I never grew up China.  I take whatever heritage dishes either it is authentic when I prepare it (my mother's recipes which are incredibly easy, no written recipe. It's like first mother language. It is part of person's memory/identity.) or I put my own twist that's European/ingredients locally. 

Mayonnaise to me doesn't add anything to taste of sushi.  I appreciate reasons avoiding raw seafood from certain areas of the world. That's a tough one. It would be disconcerting to eat raw in Japan if still Fukishima nuclear plant radioactive water was still leaking out....which I believe it is.  I personally don't buy fresh seafood where I know it's from Asia where environmental protection is more lax.

There is also Asian tackiness for European based desserts...too fluffy egg cakes with basically just whipping cream that's coloured....to meet those who were raised on Asian cuisine which doesn't have much sugar.

The amount of radioactive waste that has poured out is truly scary.  The ocean is growing so polluted it makes me cry.  Aside from the radioactive waste, now shellfish seems to be unsafe as well due to the micro plastics.  It is so sad.  Fish just seems unsafe and generally unsustainable to eat.  I feel pretty good about the hatchery fish, if I am lucky enough to catch one.

In regards to mayo, I wouldn't say that great sushi has that in it.  Some people enjoy the spicy mayo.  However, I wouldn't call their way of eating tacky, just cause I don't prefer it.  It's a form of fusion in my opinion.  

Peace.

 

[ChrisL]

23 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I  like fusion dishes and I prepare some of them...since after all, I never grew up China.  I take whatever heritage dishes either it is authentic when I prepare it (my mother's recipes which are incredibly easy, no written recipe. It's like first mother language. It is part of person's memory/identity.) or I put my own twist that's European/ingredients locally. 

In fairness to those who have first generation immigrant parents, some knowledge of authentic dishes is a cultural benchmark for us...and personal ways to assess fusion interpretations. To us, it's personal valuable knowledge along with techniques.

Like raw bok choy: no thx for me. Whereas raw Chinese cabbage works better if want to try fusion raw cooking.  Whereas there are many great fusion stir fry interpretations and fusion sushi that doesn't use mayonnaise.  One has to understand the inherently certain produce how far fusion will make it taste good. Could one mix gai lan with bacon bits/proscutto? Sounds good.  Could one eat gai lan raw? Ugh, don't know what flavour value it provides any type of cuisine.

Mayonnaise to me doesn't add anything to taste of sushi.  I appreciate reasons avoiding raw seafood from certain areas of the world. That's a tough one. It would be disconcerting to eat raw in Japan if still Fukishima nuclear plant radioactive water was still leaking out....which I believe it is.  I personally don't buy fresh seafood where I know it's from Asia where environmental protection is more lax.

There is also Asian tackiness for European based desserts...too fluffy egg cakes with basically just whipping cream that's coloured....to meet those who were raised on Asian cuisine which doesn't have much sugar.

MY parents immigrated from Holland via Indonesia and are of mixed heritage. Our home cuisine is a fusion of those two cultures.  Some dishes are truly Indonesian, some are truly Dutch and there are some weird fusions like pea soup with rice.  Who does that?!?!  I grew up on the stuff! 

Mayo on sushi may be more of a mask for poor quality than a fusion but I'm all about mixing of cultures.  Im also really picky about where i get sushi.  I rarely get it on travel unless somebody I trust will vouch for the quality.

[BR46]

When we head south to our son's house we always have to bring him two dozen Sheboygan Hard Rolls and Gibbsville cheese and then stop in Racine for a Racine Kringle.

 

[Further]

Pittsburgh's contribution to world cuisine is putting french fries on the sandwich 

[Ralphie ★]

7 minutes ago, Further said:

Pittsburgh's contribution to world cuisine is putting french fries on the sandwich 

Chips on a sandwich or hoagie make a LOT more sense.

 

[roadiejorge]

12 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

CT-

Italian.  Pizza houses abound.  Italian bakeries

Seafood but much of it is of the fried variety.  Clams, Shrimp, Fish and chips.

There are Chinese restaurants everywhere but they do not serve real Chinese food.  Instead they serve what passes for it in most of the US.

Frank Pepe!

[Page Turner]

...just in case I have turned you off to Sacramento's cuisine scene with all the fried stuff, there's a regional "Farm to Fork" locus here that has awakened a lot of my fellow citizens to the local farm markets for produce that I have been eating by courtesy of for the past 20 years. There's a year round growing season, and the Central VAlley has always been one of the big fruit and vegetable producers for the entire country because of it.

It just took people a while to figure out there were better ways to use it than making Campbell's tomato soup and canning peaches and pears.

 

It's been a pretty warm year, so I think the next big seasonal event will probably be the arrival of fresh asparagus.  I can eat  a lot of asparagus.

 

There's also a pretty vibrant Vietnamese restaurant contingent, due to the Vietnamese immigrant community here, which is large.  And There are some pretty good Japanese eateries as well.

I ate supper last Tuesday at this place, Tako's.  It's run by a very business like Korean woman with a small staff in what was once an old gas station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wilbur ★]

 

4 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

I'm trying to think of regional things that are unique to us. 

I ate a lot of bugs cycling around K Falls!