Down Home Cooking

[HungarianGypsy]

Today is Wednesday. In my house that means American History is our History/Geography topic. We are also learning about the individual states. The best way to learn is always through hands-on experience. Since we can't travel to each state at this time, I hoped all the good Freepers could bring their states to us. What recipes do you have that are specific to your area and can rarely be found anywhere else?

[peggybac]

Kansas (KC) - the best steak in the world, baked potato, veggies and apple pie - or - barbecue.

[ozaukeemom]

Seems like your kind of thread!

[HungarianGypsy]

That Garbage plate scares me. It looks disgusting and appealing all at once.

[rochester_veteran]

Here's a write-up about Nick Tahou's famous garbage plate:

Founder Nick Tahou died in 1997 after more than fifty years running Rochester’s premier hot dog joint (actually two joints – on West Main and at 2260 Lyell). His culinary legacy remains the amazing dish known as a garbage plate. It is up to each customer to choose the foundation of his or her garbage plate. It can be based on Texas hot wieners, hamburgers (with or without cheese), Italian sausage, or steak. The meatstuff of your choice is plated with piles of baked beans and home-fried potatoes, a scoop of cool macaroni salad, a dollop of spicy chili sauce, a squirt of two of mustard, and a sprinkle of chopped raw onions. It comes with plastic fork and knife, a bottle of Ketchup, some hot sauce, and white bread with butter.

It is a wild, ridiculous, and delicious mess! Especially noteworthy is the sauce, a fine-grained, Greek-accented brew that is also available on such lesser variants of frankfurter cookery as Nick Tahou's peppery pork hots and the basic garlic-packed Texas hots, as well as on grilled hamburgers.

Burgers are OK, but upper New York State is hot dog country. Nick Tahou’s are exemplary, if not epicurean. They are called Texas hots, and they are split and fried, which gives them a nice, chewy exterior and hash house raunch that boiled or even charcoal-grilled weenies do not offer.

As befits its menu, Nick Tahou is an unruly dog house, with chairs and tables scattered around and plenty of noise as customers call out for red hots and white hots with the works. Of course Nick Tahou is open all night. You never know when the craving for a garbage plate will strike.

- Michael Stern, 10/3/2000

[arizonarachel]

From my home state, Wisconsin, my parents make this fantastic dish called "Bratwurst Casserole." It's so easy...

1 package of Johnsonville Brats (LOL)
1 package of 'crispy crown' tater tots
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 container of sour cream
1 8oz package of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
heat oven to 350.
In a pan on the stove, cook brats until no longer pink. (Squeeze them out of the casing) Drain off grease. Add cream of mushroom soup, mix. Spread brat/soup mix in bottom of a 9x13 dish. Cover with crispy crowns. Cover with sour cream. Cover with cheese. Bake 20 minutes(?) or until everything is heated!

Enjoy your heart stopping casserole with a Miller! LOL. I swear this stuff has so much fat and calories I heard my arteries clogging the first time I ate it!

[HungarianGypsy]

Really want to hear more about this Poor Dad Casserole. We all have those weeks when we need a recipe like that.

[Bahbah]

St. Louis, Missouri has a large Italian community. Originally, they settled largely in an area known as The Hill. There are still many great Italian restaurants there. This is easy and tasty:

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND ARTICHOKE SOUP

1 pound Italian pork sausage links
1 large red onion, chopped
1 14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped, or 1 9 oz. package frozen art hearts, thawed and chopped
1 28 oz can plum tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp fennel seeds
¼ pound penne pasta
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove sausage from casings and crumble. Brown the sausage, stirring often, with the chopped onions in a stockpot over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes until the sausage is cooked through and the onions are translucent. Add the hearts and tomatoes with their juice and pour the stock over the sausage and vegetables. Stir in the herbs. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Add the pasta and simmer for 15 minutes until the pasta is done. Add salt and pepper.

[HungarianGypsy]

Yay! A Wisconsin recipe. My dad was from Wisconsin and said he thought the Arizona sun made people from back east forget how to cook. Last time he was back in '83 he brought back so many cheeses, sausage, and white soda. I always bypass a lot of summer sausage when it isn't garlic summer sausage. His favorite. Of course, this was a guy who also liked to try unusual foods. His New Year's tradition was limburger cheese and herring on Rtiz crackers.

[dirtboy]

What recipes do you have that are specific to your area and can rarely be found anywhere else?

That's an easy one. The Philly Cheesesteak. The reason it never tastes the same outside of Philly is that other regions attempt to make it using real food.

[Just another Joe]

OK,
You take 1 package of little smokie sausages, 2 cans of green beans, two cans of cream of mushroom soup.

in a baking dish of 9"X13" put a layer of sausages, a layer of green beans and a layer of soup (with no water added), pepper to taste (no salt is needed), repeat layering, cover with aluminum foil, cook in a 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
Serve hot.

The name came from my wife. She was working evenings so I was always cooking dinner for myself and the two daughters.
One night we had those ingredients left in the house and I was too tired to go shopping.
When she came home she said, "Poor Dad". And there it was, Poor Dad casserole.
LOL

[Sax]

Yeah, I grew up in near the same area and my wife's from Tarpon.

I like making my Cuban's with thinly sliced ham, roast pork, and Swiss cheese - (I know some Tampa Cuban sandwiches use salami, I prefer it w/o.) Mix mayo & mustard, slather on fresh Cuban bread, add pickle chips. Then butter both sides of the outside of the bread and if you don't have a press, use a skillet and a heavy deep dish fry pan, or other weighted down pan to press cook them from both sides in an oven on Bake.

[HungarianGypsy]

So, what's the secret then? What fake food? ;-)

[dirtboy]

So, what's the secret then? What fake food? ;-)

Cheese Whiz and boeff.

[Dust in the Wind]

bump for later

western Kansas smoked beef shoulder or pork butt with the fixens.

[The KG9 Kid]

Here's my old "KG9's Bachelor Casserole":

Ingredients:

1 16oz can of Progresso® Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup of long grain white rice, uncooked
2 large skinless chicken breasts, uncooked
1 squirt of lemon juice (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

Pour rice into medium casserole dish, pour Cream of Mushroom Soup over dry rice, mix well with lemon juice. Place chicken breasts on top of rice/soup mix, season with salt and pepper. Cook on 'High' in microwave for 15 minutes. Serve.

[Grammy]

Tennesseans like RC cola and moon pies. Or Goo Goo Clusters.

[DarthVader]

All too good and that time of the year is coming soon.

[arizonarachel]

I love going back home - I swear it's the only place to get good cheese. I miss frozen custard, too.

I laughed so hard when my mom told me about this food. It is so Wisconsin!

[stylecouncilor]

ping to self

[HungarianGypsy]

If you ever go back and know of any place that ships, please let me know. I tried to ask an aunt on my grandma's side. Instead of giving me the name of a good deli, she \just went on and on about how much shipping would probably cost. I would be paying for it, not her. LOL!