Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Signature Indiana (or Indianapolis) dishes


Recommended Posts

This is the third board the subject of Superbowl food came up representative of the teams.

My suggestion is mini breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches served more as finger food or appetizers instead of making full fledged sandwiches. What I would do is take the tenderloin and cross slice it about 1/4" thick and pound to about no more than a 3" patty. Bread it and fry it and serve with those mini heat and serve dinner rolls. The idea first came to me last month when I went to a new restaurant in Excelsior, MN, Jake O'Connor's Irish Pub. They served a platter of beef tenderloins sliced thin and served on mini buns. My first thought was why not do this with pork tenderloins.

Yeah, I might do it myself.  :raz:  :biggrin:

Now THAT I might try! I just thought that a dinner-plate-sized slab of breaded pork might be overwhelming on first exposure.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A favorite dish in Kansas is creamed corn on a stick.”

-Jeff Harms, actor, comedian.

>Enjoying every bite, because I don't know any better...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am committing myself to making the mini breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. It is kind of a challenge to follow through with the idea. I made one by default over the holidays for my 3-1/2 year old granddaughter but she didn't eat it. One of the adults gobbled it up. :biggrin:

I since found others have done it. The 5th owner of Nick's Kitchen in Huntington, IN where the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich was started in 1908, prepared them in the past as appetizers for gatherings.

Davydd

It is just an Anglicized Welsh spelling for David to celebrate my English/Welsh ancestry. The Welsh have no "v" in their alphabet or it would be spelled Dafydd.

I must warn you. My passion is the Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Now blogging: Pork Tenderloin Sandwich Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are fried sauerkraut balls a dish in parts of Indiana as well?

I'd never heard of them until someone mentioned them in another Heartland thread. Googling revealed that sauerkraut balls have apparently made an appearance at the Indiana State Fair...

In any case, while I like sauerkraut, I'm not sure I can picture how these would taste!

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are fried sauerkraut balls a dish in parts of Indiana as well? 

I'd never heard of them until someone mentioned them in another Heartland thread.  Googling revealed that sauerkraut balls have apparently made an appearance at the Indiana State Fair...

In any case, while I like sauerkraut, I'm not sure I can picture how these would taste!

I guess they must be fairly well-known because googling them I found a recipe for them on the Crisco site:

http://www.crisco.com/scripts/display_reci...ecipe_nbr=22770

...however, I'd never heard of them before your post.

They sound good though in an odd, deep-fried'n'greasy sort of way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are fried sauerkraut balls a dish in parts of Indiana as well?

I guess they must be fairly well-known because googling them I found a recipe for them on the Crisco site:

http://www.crisco.com/scripts/display_reci...ecipe_nbr=22770

What a food company promotes isn't necessarily representative -- they'll publicize anything that features their product. The U.S. Dry Bean Council once promoted a recipe like this one as "Old Chicago Bean Pie":

Bean Pie

2 15-ounce cans pinto or navy beans, or 2 cups cooked dry beans, drained and mashed

1/4 pound butter, melted

1 14-ounce can evaporated milk

4 eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

2 9-inch pie crusts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In electric blender, blend beans, butter, milk, eggs, spices and baking powder about 2 minutes on medium speed.

Pour into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in sugar and vanilla till well blended. Fold in coconut.

Pour into pie shells. Bake for 1 hour. Makes 2 pies.

I searched -- really hard -- for someone, anyone, in Chicago who had heard of it. After talking to dozens of Chicago chefs, foodies and old Chicagoans, I finally discovered that the pie was served at gatherings of the Black Muslim community. Now, the Nation of Islam is certainly based in Chicago, but there's no way anyone could call bean pie a popular or well-known Chicago food (although I notice that a New Jersey bakery that sells bean pie calls itself Chicago Pies).

LAZ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I searched -- really hard -- for someone, anyone, in Chicago who had heard of it. After talking to dozens of Chicago chefs, foodies and old Chicagoans, I finally discovered that the pie was served at gatherings of the Black Muslim community. Now, the Nation of Islam is certainly based in Chicago, but there's no way anyone could call bean pie a popular or well-known Chicago food (although I notice that a New Jersey bakery that sells bean pie calls itself Chicago Pies).

Very interesting! I always assumed that the pies NOI members were selling were sweet potato; never would have thought of bean.

... and lo and behold, there's already a thread on bean pie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made my definitive stand on the signature dish of Indianapolis particularly for the Super Bowl. You can find it here on eGullet...

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...4entry1349444

Davydd

It is just an Anglicized Welsh spelling for David to celebrate my English/Welsh ancestry. The Welsh have no "v" in their alphabet or it would be spelled Dafydd.

I must warn you. My passion is the Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Now blogging: Pork Tenderloin Sandwich Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

In addition to the pork tenderloin, another ubiquitous sandwich at Indiana fairs and festivals is the Hoosier ribeye. Simply a thin grilled ribeye steak on a bun, sometimes with cheese and/or other condiments by request. It's more of an outdoor walking-around kind of sandwich.

I like to use the eye of the ribeye and reserve the cap/calotte - since I've come to view the cap as a superior cut for pan searing - too good to cover with bread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

After re-reading this thread, and upon reflection, I think there might also be other answers known only true locals (I'm a transplant from Michigan). Given that the vast majority of corn grown in the state is for pork production, I'd be willing to bet that there are some pretty epic pork roasts going on in the countryside.

As I was imagining what might be going on there, I was reminded of a chance experience. Not about pork, but oddly enough, fish....

I'm driving back to Indy from Louisville on a snowy Thursday night when the ominous odors of burning electronics start reaching my nose. It soon ends with me stranded on the side of the highway somewhere in southern Indiana. So I walk a mile or two to the next exit, find a service station with a tow truck and get towed there. By then it's late and there's no one there who can fix it, but they give a ride to a fleabag motel - which was by then somewhat of a blessing.

So I show up at the garage the next morning and they're already there investigating the problem. I get a brief rundown on the problem (the air conditioning compressor burned out and seized up and there's not a replacement anywhere near) and settle in while the mechanic gets to work. I notice there are a bunch of other people hanging out in the garage - including some old guys (owners? retired mechanics?) with a small kitchen fryer breading and frying up locally caught fish right there in the garage bay.

I'm offered a fish sandwich which was surprisingly good (although to say my expectations were somewhat tempered would be an understatement). After about an hour, the mechanic had freed up the idler pulley on the air compressor, put a new belt on and had me on my way, sans air conditioning (but I could care less about that with 6" of snow on the ground).

Bill? Tow, ride to a motel, fish sandwich and repair/belt - $40. That's Hoosier Hospitality. I imagine that only God and the locals know what they do if/when they have a whole hog on hand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fried Morels (just coated in flour and fried in oil and/or butter)

Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches (Grilled and Fried)

Fried Catfish

Bread and Butter Sweet Corn

Corn Dogs and Elephant Ears at the state fair

Tomatoes (the BEST tomatoes come from Indiana!)

Sugar Cream Pie

Frozen Custard

Edited by kpzachary (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...