American food

[Cookwithlove]

Hi,

What are some of those authentic American food and the latest addition or creation

from this great land of opportunity?

[rooftop1000]

None of this is the Lastest and greatest but why dont we start with foods native to the Americas.

Blueberries

Corn

Concord Grapes

Turkeys

Sugar Maples for Syrup

Cranberries

American food for the most part is regional and depends on what immigrants settled in a place.

The Upper Midwest was settled by many Northern Europeans

The Northeast had waves of Italians, Irish and Eastern European Jews.

In cities like NY and Boston also Chinese came in large numbers, but the largest Chinese influence was on the West Coast.

As each group of immigrants came they changed the food scene with their needs and restaurants.

Authentic depends on where you are and who made the food of their ancestors with what is available here.

tracey

[SheenaGreena]

I really really like indian pudding. I had it once it in my lifetime and that was 2 years ago for thanksgiving dinner.

If it didn't take so long to make, I'd definitely make it myself. However, maybe one of these days I will get along to making it myself and serving it along side some good vanilla icecream

mmmmmmmmmm I don't know if its a native american dish or a new england colonist invention

[s_sevilla]

you forgot potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, salmon, chocolate, avocados, beans, squashes, quinoa/amaranth, and a whole lotta other stuff.

Thinking about it, many dishes that we consider thoroughly European in nature, are in fact impossible to produce without the use of New World derived plants. Its a shame that the US food culture is rife with mono-culture, mass production, and GMO, when we should be able to grow all the heirloom breeds of this produce.

Some dishes:

fry bread

succotash

cornbread

[jumanggy]

Oh, I LOVE cornbread and Boston baked beans. Those two are next on my list to make (after a cherry clafoutis).

[prasantrin]

Popcorn. Yum!!

[MarketStEl]

you forgot potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, salmon, chocolate, avocados, beans, squashes, quinoa/amaranth, and a whole lotta other stuff.

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In that vein:

Perhaps the greatest and simplest indigenous American dish is this:

Take one large, ripe tomato. Some of the best in the country are grown in New Jersey, and they're coming into season right now.

Slice it.

Shake some salt on the slices.

Enjoy.

I'm also quite fond of pumpkin pie and its close cousin (in taste, not origin), sweet potato pie.

Of course, the hot dog is also an all-American treat.

Barbecue as we know it ditto -- even though cooking over wood fire is as old as cooking itself, most food historians trace the origins of American barbecue to the cooking practices of Native American tribes in what is now Florida. (Not to mention that really, true barbecue is cooking with smoke, not fire.)

[JanMcBaker]

I really really like indian pudding.  I had it once it in my lifetime and that was 2 years ago for thanksgiving dinner.

If it didn't take so long to make, I'd definitely make it myself.  However, maybe one of these days I will get along to making it myself and serving it along side some good vanilla icecream

mmmmmmmmmm  I don't know if its a native american dish or a new england colonist invention

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FYI, Sheena-- Lora Brody has an Indian pudding recipe in her 'Slow Cooker Cooking' cookbook. It would still take a long time, but at least you wouldn't have to be standing over it the whole time. I haven't tried it, but she's pretty thorough with her recipes so I'd imagine it's pretty good.

[kpzachary]

you forgot potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, salmon, chocolate, avocados, beans, squashes, quinoa/amaranth, and a whole lotta other stuff.

Thinking about it, many dishes that we consider thoroughly European in nature, are in fact impossible to produce without the use of New World derived plants.  Its a shame that the US food culture is rife with mono-culture, mass production, and GMO, when we should be able to grow all the heirloom breeds of  this produce.

Some dishes:

fry bread

succotash

cornbread

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Most of the things you mentioned come from Latin America, not the US, which I believe is still the "land of opportunity". Or is it?

[Rebecca263]

Key Lime Pie.

[srhcb]

What are some of those authentic American food

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How about wild rice?

[FistFullaRoux]

I'll add my vote for popcorn. It was also used as a cold cereal in the early days as well. Delicious and a multitasker. Gotta love it.

[kpzachary]

"Among the dishes destined to make world debuts on Delmonico's tables were lobster Newberg, a dish of Caribbean origin cooked tableside with rum, cream, and cayenne in a chafing dish; Baked Alaska, to mark the snow lathered outpost's reclassification as an official U.S. territory; a cut of boneless rib eye proprietarily designated "Delmonico steak"; mellow potatoes Delmonico, layered in a gratin with cream, cheese, and scraped nutmeg; chicken à la king; eggs Benedict; and, reputedly, the first ground beef patty borne to table as a sandwich, possibly fingering the Delmonicos as the parental burger kings."

*Taken from the July 2007 issue of Food Arts written by Michael Batterberry on the restoration of the Hotel Fauchère in Milford, Pennsylvania. Its founder was Louis Fauchère, a former Chef at the Delmonico.

Just as a side note, I don't care if most of the world considers the Hamburger(i perfer them with cheese) junk food, or doesn't consider it a real contribution to cuisine. They sure do eat a lot of them over here in Europe. A let me tell you, they sure know how to f*#k them up!

[jgarner53]

Long-simmered collard greens

Macaroni & cheese

Fried chicken

Most dessert pies

Hard cider (which was very popular during colonial times, and while not perhaps originally American, did we not have Johnny Appleseed?)

Kentucky Bourbon

things like Tex-Mex dishes, tamale pie, the infamous tuna noodle casserole - not haute cuisine, but definitely true American creations (okay, bastardizations) of imported favorites

by some accounts, the burrito

While we do have some definitely native things others have already mentioned, isn't American food really a microcosm for what we are as a country - a nation of immigrants? You could even call pizza an American food, because even though it has an Italian cousin, the pies that most of us savor (especially those thick crust deep dish pies) are nothing but American. No Italian would even consider putting on the pounds of cheese or buffalo wings or whatever else we happily throw onto our pies.

Let us also not forget ice cream! Again, perhaps not an American invention, but Thomas Jefferson enjoyed the stuff, and we created things like the ice cream sundae, the cone, and all those lovely things like milkshakes and fizzes and egg creams and sodas and floats. Who would put gelato in a root beer float?

Oh wait, add root beer, Coke, Dr. Pepper and all the other big soft drinks to that list, along with fast food (sadly).

[MarketStEl]

Just as a side note, I don't care if most of the world considers the Hamburger(i perfer them with cheese) junk food, or doesn't consider it a real contribution to cuisine.  They sure do eat a lot of them over here in Europe.  A let me tell you, they sure know how to f*#k them up!

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There's no doubt that the hamburger as we now know it is an American original, but its name comes from a German city and its culinary DNA can probably be traced to that city as well.

[hummingbirdkiss]

do you mean "American" or US foods...I am assuming US so I will go with that

1. dungeness crab, a fantastic Pacific Northwest Microbrew and bbq potato chips spread it out on a newspaper a view of the Puget Sound ...pure "American"

2. Navajo Tacos ..Indian frybread topped with mutton and fresh roasted green chiles ..sitting on a mesa outside Santa Fe...soooo "American"

3. quahogs ...yup the big ones...cracked with a rock and sucked out of the shells on a beach in Rhode Island ....completely "American"

there are so many more it is all about the moment you know

Fried chicken dipped in spiced flour and fried crammed into a deep iron skillet and about 2 inches of oil ...eaten first one out of the oil by the stove over paper towels crispy juicy... at my mother in laws house in Oklahoma .. wonderfully "American"

Malasadas ..seaweed salad and Poke in Hawaii ..how lucky to call this "American"

giant gulf shrimp grilled on Skewers on the beach in South Padre Island with fresh picodillo and a plate of fresh papaya and mango that were locally grown..

I have to stop being so patriotic now I have tears in my eyes!!!

I love our countries food ..you can literally eat your way around the world in one place as well as enjoy the most brilliant simple and wonderful food that is just plain local!

Edited July 17, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[dividend]

The phrase "American food" conjures for me the comfort food of my midwestern childhood. Meatloaf with macaroni and cheese, tuna noodle casserole, pot roast, roast chicken with mashed potatoes, big pots of chili, pork chops, chicken pot pie. It's all sort of meat and potatoes, stick to your ribs type fare.

There's probably a spot of egocentrism in my opinion on this, firmly rooted as I am in the heartland. There's a huge distinction between "American food" and "foods of the US". There are many places I've visited in the US where I've eaten wonderful regional dishes that I wouldn't classify as the former.

[hummingbirdkiss]

I think of food as "American" when its origin encompasses all of North America... Canadian foods ...Mexican Foods .. regions of the Caribbean ..all part of the "American" food experience ..in my mind anyway...

When I think of US food I think of things that are indigenous creations from just the 50 United States ...

am I wrong or right in this? I just always thought this way but am not sure what most people think now?

Edited July 21, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[saucée]

The phrase "American food" conjures for me the comfort food of my midwestern childhood.  Meatloaf with macaroni and cheese, tuna noodle casserole, pot roast, roast chicken with mashed potatoes, big pots of chili, pork chops, chicken pot pie.  It's all sort of meat and potatoes, stick to your ribs type fare. 

There's probably a spot of egocentrism in my opinion on this, firmly rooted as I am in the heartland.  There's a huge distinction between "American food" and "foods of the US".  There are many places I've visited in the US where I've eaten wonderful regional dishes that I wouldn't classify as the former.

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I think of  food as "American" when its origin encompasses  all of North America... Canadian foods ...Mexican Foods .. regions of the Caribbean ..all part of the "American" food experience ..in my mind  anyway...

When I think of US food I think of things that are indigenous creations from just the 50 United States ...

am I wrong or right in this? I just always thought this way but am not sure what most people think now?

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This is a rather difficult distinction to sort out I think. I'm not sure one would talk about "European" food usually, though one does speak of "continental" food. When I think of "American" food, I think mainly of the kind of regional fare that I enjoyed as a kid and which I constantly return to such as fried chicken, cucumber and tomato salad, cornbread, crab feasts, etc. There are a lot of "American" foods in this respect and each person probably has their idea of local "American," from the bottom of South America to the nothernmost marches of Canada.

I would suggest then that American can be both local and continental in that way, similar to European food.

[hummingbirdkiss]

[jackal10]

The true American food is a Big Mac with Coca Cola.

Otherwise there is very little that is indigenous to the US, and what there is tends, like most cultures, to be food of poverty - southern food in particular, such as cornbread or BBQ or even Sourdough. The Puritan tradition hasn't helped either.

Few Presidents, or other equivalents of aristocracy have been bon viveurs or gourmets, so there has never been a tradition of court food to draw on. Instead commercial interests, such as big beef and big corn/corn syrup have dominated and still do, hence hamburger and coke..

[Carrot Top]

Here is a topic on American food that offers some thoughts.

[maggiethecat]

I know that the ancient Romans (and others) made cheesecake, but I think the USA really made it its own.

[jsmeeker]

I guess you mean the American continent(s) and not the areas that became and are the United States of America..

So, with that, I will submit BBQ as America's great contribution to the food world.

[sazji]

Yes, I'll second that one, a good BBQ is hard to beat! Also pumpkin pie, cranberries, American-style pancakes with maple syrup, hash browns, southern pork sausage (the kind that you form into patties and fry), grits, a good bread stuffing, chocolate chip cookies, corn dogs, really fresh sweet corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, brownies. And a really good hamburger is nothing to sneeze at either. I finally backed up my claim that McDonalds did *not* represent all that a hamburger could be by inviting some friends over and making real hamburgers on the grill, a bit thick, a little bit pink in the middle, with thin sliced fresh onion, lettuce, tomato, sorry no cheddar cheese available here. They were duly impressed; I hope I've ruined their taste for MickyDee's now!