Regional Cooking

Sometimes when you’re entering an American city by car it looks all too familiar. The green freeway signs, the tall symbols beckoning you to buy the same brands of gas, stay in the same motels and eat at the golden arches or one of the other well-known franchises. If you had kids in the car, experiencing the city for the first time and they happened to look up from their comic books long enough to glance about, they wouldn’t likely find any distinguishing features to tell them where they are.

The airports are also all the same. A well-seasoned business traveler might be hard put to tell one city from another if he only changed planes at the airport.

And yet, our American cities still have their personalities, their distinctions, their individuality, their regionalism. Especially when it comes to food. Ask almost anyone what region he thinks of when he thinks of clam chowder, boiled dinner, and clam bake. Ask about roast pork, mashed potatoes and apple pie. See how he responds when you mention Tex-Mex, avocados and…you see? When it comes to food at least, we are still distinctive.

The Time-Life series of books, Foods of the World has a general volume named American Cooking; it then has several volumes of the various regions. In American Cooking 12 gastronomic regions are listed: Alaska; Hawaii; Washington-Oregon; California; Mountain States; Arizona, New Mexico, Texas; Plains States; Midwest; New England; Mid-Atlantic; The South; Florida.

The plains States include North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma while the Midwest category is comprised of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. But I think they have it wrong. It should be divided into upper and lower Midwest. Our great Scandinavian heritage is given to the plains states and Polish and Southern cooking to the Midwest?

Nevertheless, here are some of the most well-known regional American dishes. It’s easy enough to tell what basic region these are from—and here are a few recipes to try for a regional flavor.

New England: Boiled dinner, Red-Flannel Hash, Boston Baked Beans, Pennsylvania Dutch Fried Tomatoes

South and Southwest: Pecan Pie, Key Lime Pie, Grits and Cheddar Cheese Casserole, Southern Fried Chicken with Cream Gravy, Jambalaya.

Pacific Coast: Cioppino, Avocado-Tomato Cocktail, Palace Court Salad, Dungeness crab Salad.

Midwest: Stuffed pork chops, fried Smelts with butter, clover leaf rolls, strawberry shortcake.


New England boiled dinner

4 pounds corned beef
2 pounds green cabbage, cored and quartered
12 to 16 new potatoes, about 1 ½ inches in diameter, peeled
6 small carrots, scraped
12 small white onions, about 1 inch in diameter, peeled and trimmed
6 medium-sized beets
2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley.

Place the corned beef in a 5 or 6 quart pot and cover it with enough cold water to rise at least 2 inches above the top of the meat. Bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. Half cover the pot, turn the heat to low and cook the beef from 4 to 6 hours or until tender. Cook the cabbage separately in boiling salted water for about 15 minutes. The potatoes, carrots and onions may be cooked together in a pot of salted boiling water of their own. The beets, however, require different treatment. Scrub them thoroughly, then cut off their tops, leaving 1 inch of stem. Cover them with boiling water and bring to a boil. Simmer the beets from ½ to 1 ½ hours, or until they are tender. Let them cool a bit, then slip off their skins.
To serve: Slice the corned beef and arrange it along the center of a large heated platter. Surround the meat with the vegetables and sprinkle the vegetables with chopped parsley. Horseradish, mustard and a variety of pickles make excellent accompaniments to this hearty meal.

Grits and Cheddar Cheese Casserole (serves 4-6)

2 Tbsp butter
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 cups water
½ tsp salt
½ cup quick grits
1 tsp. Tabasco
Freshly ground pepper
1 ¾ cups grated Cheddar cheese
3 Tbsp soft butter
2 egg whites

In small skillet, melt 2 Tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add ¼ cup onion and cook for 4 or 5 minutes. Meanwhile bring the 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the salt and pour in the grits slowly without allowing the water to stop boiling. Boil for about a minute, stirring constantly, then reduce heat to medium and cook for another 2 minutes. Add to grits the onions, the Tabasco, black pepper and 1 ½ cups of the cheese combined with soft butter.
Butter a 1-quart casserole or soufflé dish and preheat oven to 400. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Thoroughly fold the egg whites into the grits mixture. Pour into the casserole and sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes or until mixture has puffed and browned. Serve at once.