TDG: Midwestern Cuisine?

[Dave the Cook]

When last we heard from Daily Gullet contributor Ruth Dondanville, she was south of the Mason-Dixon line. For her new piece, she returns to her roots, and wonders: where is the heart of Heartland cooking?

A regional cooking style must come . . . not from recipes created last Thursday. Today, home orchards, home gardens, and the family farm itself are becoming increasingly scarce. The farm wife is often a working commuter who buys her meat and groceries at the supermarket.

Reminisce with Ruth . . .

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[Betts]

What a great, pithy and dead-on-the-money essay. I grew up in Southern Ontario and Ruth could be speaking for me. What I recall most was the idea that " plain food " was a virtue and thus any creativity was seen as less than desirable since it was surely only trying to cover something up.

[Behemoth]

What I recall most was the idea that " plain food " was a virtue and thus any creativity was seen as less than desirable since it was surely only trying to cover something up.

Yeah, what is that? I moved to the midwest a year ago and I have to say I was unprepared for that culture. I figured it would be hard to get certain things, like seafood etc, but judging from the supermarkets I really think people just don't cook, period. It's all convenience foods, meat counter is all pre-seasonned pre-prepped, really sad produce. I don't mind "plain" food but given what's in the average processed cheese slice I wouln't consider that particularly simple.

You'd think with all the farms people would have at least figured out vegetables...interesting point to tie it in to canning...

The other thing that surprised me is how much locals complain about developement and farms getting bought up but don't seem to tie those huge ADM trucks going back & forth on I-74 to what they buy in the supermarket. I think your "covering up" statement is true, but not in reference to the food so much as the person. Maybe it is a religion thing -- not wanting to look like you're trying to be "fancy"? Too bad it has gotten to the point that buying your vegetables from farmers is considered fancy. Sorry about the rant, this is a sore spot.

Some things I do like though -- big skies, farms, I've met really nice farmers, crazy wildlife all over the place, cheap rents and also I like cows.

[jsolomon]

Some things I do like though -- big skies, farms, I've met really nice farmers, crazy wildlife all over the place, cheap rents and also I like cows.

If you like cows, you haven't been close enough to them I've had too many bruises, cuts, burns, sprains, pulled muscles, and property damage to have much "like" for them

But, gosh, they taste good

[srhcb]

You have somehow neglected to mention the one item that literally defines Midwestern cusine; hotdish, (or casserole to the rest of you)!

The eternal staple of every church basement dinner ever held, hotdish consists of a combination of nearly any two or more items baked in Campbells Cream of "X" soup, or as it's sometimes known, Cream of Luthern.

[Jay-bob]

What a great, if complicated topic. I grew up in the midwest (Toledo) and southern Ontario (Toronto) during the sixties and early seventies and can relate to the sentiment that things were different, we treated food differently. A big treat was a steak and potato dinner, or chili mac, or a Lake Erie fish fry. Tuna noodle casserole and oven baked chicken were weekly staples.

Food was more functional than discretionary, access to the exotic did not exist. Perhaps there is a midwestern cultural expectation surrounding food that is different than the dominating and prevailing food cultures of the east and west and south. Maybe an agrarian food ethic that values the simple access to ingredients over the differentness of ingredients?

I clearly don't know what I am talking about, what a train wreck of a post.

[kjente2]

Growing up in Duluth, Minnesota, we had a garden that covered a city block, my great-grandparents were farmers and my mother could cook. She did can cherries, tomatoes, green beans, and we had a huge chest freezer. Duluth doesn't have a long growing season, but we made the best of it. Raspberries we grew, but blueberries came from hunts in the woods, I don't remember strawberries. We grew apples, pears, cherries, and plums.

I now live in northern California. I grow vegetables (tomatoes will never be as good as at home), lemons. We are fortunate to have a yard. There are some thing you have to have shipped as its just not as good as at home. Apples, for one. Anything that needs a number of cold days in the dormant period to have high flavor.

Great article! Made we want to go home.

[Behemoth]

Campbells Cream of "X" soup, or as it's sometimes known, Cream of Luthern.

Can I use that?

I have actually been invited to dinners where the appetizer, main and dessert were all some form of casserol.

[Mayhaw Man]

Ruth,

I really enjoyed your piece in the Gullet. My wife's family are all Iowans (some of them moved to the Delta in the 30's for cheaper and more land) and they have continued to travel back and forth regularly to Ames. When my wife's grandmother died I ended up with all of her cookbooks (which I treasure as the are FULL of very interesting and often funny notations-she notated every recipe that she ever used often including the event, mostly church related it seems, that she cooked them for) and one of the most interesting one's was a book called "Iowa Cooks". It is a collection put together by a social group of some sort and when looked at in context it is fascinating. I do not believe that the word garlic appears in it.

There are, however, about 15 meatloaf resipes and a whole section for corn. Lots of jello for desserts and appetizers and some really funny recipes involving weenies as apps. When I go home today I will go through it and pull some of the finer examples of the cuisine of the midwest. It really is an interesting slice of midwestern life.

Brooks

[Behemoth]

If you like cows, you haven't been close enough to them I've had too many bruises, cuts, burns, sprains, pulled muscles, and property damage to have much "like" for them

But, gosh, they taste good

Presumably because you're a rancher...? Or is this some form of wierd Nebraskan hobby?

I just have this mental image of you wrestling a beast to the ground and taking a giant bite out of it, al la Homer Simpson daydream.

[mnebergall]

If you like cows, you haven't been close enough to them   I've had too many bruises, cuts, burns, sprains, pulled muscles, and property damage to have much "like" for them

But, gosh, they taste good

Presumably because you're a rancher...? Or is this some form of wierd Nebraskan hobby?

I just have this mental image of you wrestling a beast to the ground and taking a giant bite out of it, al la Homer Simpson daydream.

You need to be careful of cows.

[Venreth]

As a midwestern native I must admit that I'm still baffled at what exactly is "Midwester Cooking?"

My mom raise my brother and I to be culinarily adventuresome. Mom was obsessed with the notion of never doing a recipe twice, unless it really was a family favorite. She also dragged my brother and I (and my dad too) to all sorts of interesting restaurants, diners, aquaintence homes...etc just so we could sample cuisine from all over.

Strangly enough, my dad who is Southern Ontario raised, worked for a Chicago television station which was truly the melting pot of cultures. This added to our families adventures in food. Hmmm...maybe I'm just in the wrong thread....

:)

[ruthcooks]

In my neck of the woods it was neither called a "hot dish" nor a "casserole" but a "covered dish." I never did figure out the origin of that term, given that it could be applied to a pie, a salad, or something hot like fried chicken or baked beans. I used to think the name referred to keeping the flies off, since many pot lucks were held outdoors.

When my father died, three years ago, the ladies of the Methodist church prepared a dinner for the funeral goers. (Its one of their fund raising activities.) The food consisted of an equal number of casseroles, jello salads and desserts which were definitely not up to the standards of yesterday. Had Dad, a foodie in his time, been able to eat with us, he would have described the food in his favorite term for unacceptable--"pretty poor." And the foods brought to the home, after this and another recent funeral I attended there, have degenerated also. Mostly cold cuts and supermarket pies, instead of homemade goodies.

Some Midwesterners remember how foods off the tree and from the garden used to taste: my mother, 86 this month, still reserves her order of Southern Illinois peaches each summer and drives each fall to get her bushel of Jonathan apples at a local orchard. She, too, is discouraged by the produce in the local markets.

Thanks for the kind words, Brooks. My first exposure to garlic was at age 19, when my future mother-in-law put garlic powder on steak. Yuk. It took me years more to learn about the real thing.

Edited May 4, 2004 by ruthcooks (log)

[sparrowgrass]

I lived in northern Minnesota for five years, and my overwhelming impression of that food was BLAND with a capital bluh.

Not even salt and pepper, and heaven forbid you should toss a chile in something. Ketchup was a little too spicy for most.

[Anna N]

A wonderfully evocative piece. Even though I am not a Mid-Westerner just reading this makes me regret the oversight! Thank you.

[jsolomon]

Presumably because you're a rancher...? Or is this some form of wierd Nebraskan hobby?

I just have this mental image of you wrestling a beast to the ground and taking a giant bite out of it, al la Homer Simpson daydream.

Grew up a rancher, now I'm a chemist. We don't exactly just take a bite out of the cow after we wrestle it to the ground, though. We break out the chainsaw to cut around the gamey bits

But, considering how much money Nebraskans lose raising cattle, it may be simply a weird hobby.

[kiliki]

Timely topic for me. I've taken a number of trips recently to Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin to visit my boyfriend's relatives, and each time I feel as if I've been transported back to the 1970s-jello, cassroles, squishy white bread, crock pot cookery, glasses of milk, few fresh veggies and salt and pepper as the only seasonings. I'd never even heard of hot dishes or fish fries (apparently, frying is the only way they know how to do fish, which is shocking to this Seattlite), which they found amazing.

[srhcb]

Growing up in Duluth, Minnesota ....  Made we want to go home.

Maybe you've been gone too long? Temps are still in the low 20's overnight! Better wait at least a few more weeks.

No garden planting until after Memorial Day around here.

[srhcb]

I lived in northern Minnesota for five years, and my overwhelming impression of that food was BLAND with a capital bluh.

Not even salt and pepper, and heaven forbid you should toss a chile in something.  Ketchup was a little too spicy for most.

You must have been hanging around with the "Wrong Crowd", ie: Scandinavians?

Here on Northern Minnesota's Iron Range immigrants from Italy and the Eastern European countries brought some pretty interesting cusine with them.

Chiles, however, are still pretty rare. You certainly don't want to order anything called "Chili" in a local restaurant.

[srhcb]

Timely topic for me. I've taken a number of trips recently to Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin to visit my boyfriend's relatives, and each time I feel as if I've been transported back to the 1970s-jello, cassroles, squishy white bread, crock pot cookery, glasses of milk, few fresh veggies and salt and pepper as the only seasonings. I'd never even heard of hot dishes or fish fries (apparently, frying is the only way they know how to do fish, which is shocking to this Seattlite), which they found amazing.

RE: "Back to the 70's"

Sometimes I feel like I'm tryimg to drag the local populace kicking and screaming into the 70's!

And not just food-wise either!

[lala]

While we ate quite well in Ann Arbor (an oasis of urbanity in the Midwest), we were subjected to more typical Midwestern food when we visited relatives in Minnesota. One grandma made a specialty of serving a variety of pickled vegetables and burnt meat. The other, on a farm, served foods picked/killed that day (horrible memories of being handed the ax when I was six and being told to go out and get the chicken for dinner!). There was, of course the basement pantry full of preserves.

The meal that I really remember was when I visited my Grandpa for his birthday about 5 years ago. His friends made dinner for us - jello salad, steak with corn pudding, and store bought chocolate cake. Being fancy, the coffee was served with 'whipped cream' on top, which was really Cool Whip. Those chemicals just don't melt. These were fantastic people, and this was just the way they ate.

[Big Bunny]

I'm from Northern Illinois. The grade school band parents' (read "Mothers'") meetings were always "pot luck."

Tuna, noodles, yellow cheese toppings, canned soup, canned corn, lots of Jell-o.

The scary thing is that some people could ruin a tuna casserole.

BB

[srhcb]

These were fantastic people, and this was just the way they ate.

amen

We often forget that many of these people are within a generation or two of just having come to this Counrty, and/or grew during the Depression and WWII. To them, having enough to eat qualifys as luxury.

[cdh]

All of this farm cuisine is not just typical of the midwest. I got doses of just this sort of cookery on the family farm in Princeton, NJ. Granted it was really something of a family time warp, but the farm on which my grandmother and her 7 brothers and sisters were born ( 1899 to 1912) and raised stayed in the family until this year, and my great aunt and uncle (my grandmother's youngest brother and sister who never left home) farmed the place until the mid 80s, when they were in their 70s.

Their cuisine sounds just like this "midwestern cuisine" that everybody here is talking about. Absolute simplicity, overcooked vegetables, and beef (farm raised) cooked beyond well done to fully stringy. Garlic was anathema, largely because "it is smelly", and was not ever allowed into the house or the cuisine. The condiment for just picked Jersey tomatoes was apple cider vinegar and pepper, and they were served in a dish, not a plate. Stewed onions, in a flour thickened sauce were another staple. Succotash (lima beans and corn, both fresh grown) was another.

All of this reminiscing makes me wonder how much the place matters to this cuisine, as it is the time warp aspect of it that seems more consistent.

[SpiceUpSales]

In my neck of the woods it was neither called a "hot dish" nor a "casserole" but a "covered dish." I never did figure out the origin of that term, given that it could be applied to a pie, a salad, or something hot like fried chicken or baked beans. I used to think the name referred to keeping the flies off, since many pot lucks were held outdoors.

When my father died, three years ago, the ladies of the Methodist church prepared a dinner for the funeral goers. (Its one of their fund raising activities.) The food consisted of an equal number of casseroles, jello salads and desserts which were definitely not up to the standards of yesterday. Had Dad, a foodie in his time, been able to eat with us, he would have described the food in his favorite term for unacceptable--"pretty poor." And the foods brought to the home, after this and another recent funeral I attended there, have degenerated also. Mostly cold cuts and supermarket pies, instead of homemade goodies.

Some Midwesterners remember how foods off the tree and from the garden used to taste: my mother, 86 this month, still reserves her order of Southern Illinois peaches each summer and drives each fall to get her bushel of Jonathan apples at a local orchard. She, too, is discouraged by the produce in the local markets.

Thanks for the kind words, Brooks. My first exposure to garlic was at age 19, when my future mother-in-law put garlic powder on steak. Yuk. It took me years more to learn about the real thing.

"My first exposure to garlic was at age 19, when my future mother-in-law put garlic powder on steak.  Yuk.  It took me years more to learn about the real thing."

This is a fascinating thread, having grown up in Iowa (last time I checked with the Farm Bureau Federation it was still the only state in the union with more pigs than people) and now owning a cooking school in Des Moines, it is a challenge to determine what locals want to learn more of relative to cooking. On a personal note to the quote- I’ll never forget being out of college and on the left coast when someone else ordered a spinach salad. When they were served I wanted to know what that beautiful, green, leafy stuff was. When I was told it was fresh spinach, I was dumbfounded. I knew that spinach was dark green slimy stuff that came from a can… and then Mom put vinegar on it to boot! What an enlightening moment.

Rex