# Regional dishes and cooking methods



## srb08 (Sep 27, 2016)

What regional dishes are popular where you live, or have lived.
Some conversations in the What's for dinner thread got me thinking.
Presently I live West of St. Louis and have discovered a few dishes here, that I hadn't encountered before.
Here's a few:

Toasted Ravioli- Beef Ravioli that's dipped in an Egg wash, rolled in Italian bread crumbs and deep fried. 
It's served with Marinara for dipping and is generally eaten as an appetizer.

Provel Cheese- a blend of Provelone, white Cheddar and Swiss cheeses. It's generally used on Pizza and in 
Salads. It's used exclusively in St. Louis style Pizza (extremely thin and crispy crust and cut 
into squares, instead of Pie shaped slices).

Gooey Butter cake- not really a cake. Closer to a butter flavored sweet brownie. I'm not sure how it's made.
It's too rich for my taste and I don't care for it but it's very popular around St. Louis.

I've also been to local BBQ's where smoked sausage and thinly sliced Pork steaks were cooked on the grill, then dumped in a big roaster full of a locally produced and cheap BBQ sauce called Maulls and beer, then the roaster is put back on the grill to simmer, till the meat falls apart. I don't use this method but it's pretty popular in the St. Louis area.

So...........what regional dishes and cooking methods do you guys have, that others have probably never heard of?


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## svk (Sep 27, 2016)

Porketta: Rolled/tied or bagged pork roast seasoned with many spices with fennel as a main flavoring. Excellent. 







Pasty: non sweetened pie crust outer stuffed with a combination of beef or burger, cubed veggies usually including carrot, rutabaga, potato, and sometimes turnip. 






Potato sausage/blood sausage: Ring sausage. Potato sausage primarily came from Scandinavia and blood sausage from Croatia. Blood was added to utilize all parts of a butchered animal. Both are very good. 


Wild rice brats/porketta brats/pasty brats: non smoked brats including ingredients from their respective names.


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## svk (Sep 27, 2016)

Antipasto. Most Italians consider antipasto to be an appetizer plate of vegetables. Those from the Tyrolean region make a delicious concoction of tuna, tomatoes, peppers, pearl onions, olives and mushrooms cooked together and then canned. 

I asked my 100% Italian friend from New York if he had heard of this and he never had.


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## srb08 (Sep 27, 2016)

svk said:


> Porketta: Rolled/tied or bagged pork roast seasoned with many spices with fennel as a main flavoring. Excellent.
> 
> View attachment 528028
> 
> ...


Outstanding!

Porketta really sounds good. Do you fillet, season, roll and tie, or is the seasoning only on the outside?
I really like pork seasoned with Fennel.

The Pastry looks good as well. Pot pie, without the pot.

I used to duck hunt in Louisiana. The locals made a sausage with Pork and Duck, utilizing Duck blood. It was an acquired taste.


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## svk (Sep 27, 2016)

srb08 said:


> Outstanding!
> 
> Porketta really sounds good. Do you fillet, season, roll and tie, or is the seasoning only on the outside?
> I really like pork seasoned with Fennel.
> ...


The meat is seasoned then rolled. 

Pasty is so much better than pot pie. No gravy in there just meat and vegetable. I butter the crust and put ketchup on the stuffing.


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## yooper (Oct 3, 2016)

svk said:


> Porketta: Rolled/tied or bagged pork roast seasoned with many spices with fennel as a main flavoring. Excellent.
> 
> View attachment 528028
> 
> ...


Where the hell do you live? That's yooper food


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## yooper (Oct 3, 2016)

svk said:


> The meat is seasoned then rolled.
> 
> Pasty is so much better than pot pie. No gravy in there just meat and vegetable. I butter the crust and put ketchup on the stuffing.


Butter instead of lard makes a much better crust. And dont forget them onions in there


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## svk (Oct 3, 2016)

yooper said:


> Where the hell do you live? That's yooper food


Minnesota. I think you took them from us lol


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## yooper (Oct 3, 2016)

svk said:


> Minnesota. I think you took them from us lol


Iron range


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## svk (Oct 3, 2016)

yooper said:


> Iron range


Yes originally


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## benp (Oct 23, 2016)

I love pastys. We used to have a pasty shop right down the road. 

I recently tried pickled northern pike. Holy crap. 

Incredible. I was handed a quart jar of it. I handed an empty jar back a little while later. [emoji15]

I have noticed some unique quirks with some food up here that others take as the norm because they don't know any different. 

The main one is square cut pizza. Pizza is not sliced but squared. Yep.....squared. 

First time that I encountered it as an adult I was like what.....the .......hell.......is.......this. 

Two days prior I was having a slice from Luigi at the sub shop down the road from where I lived in delaware. So I was taken back a bit.

When I lived here as a child I may have encountered square pizza but no recollection of it. 

I call it Norwegian pizza.


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## mark2496 (Nov 1, 2016)

I haven't had a pasty since I was a kid, damn I miss those!

ETA: It isn't really regional but when I was a kid we had macaroni and tomatoes once a week. Just mac and a can of tomatoes, usually from the garden, with salt and pepper. Simple and tasty.


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## ironman_gq (Nov 2, 2016)

svk said:


> Yes originally



I'm in Hibbing! Got friends all over the place and none of them know what a Porketta is. We grew up on them, best place is to just get them from Frabonis along with the pasties.


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## svk (Nov 2, 2016)

ironman_gq said:


> I'm in Hibbing! Got friends all over the place and none of them know what a Porketta is. We grew up on them, best place is to just get them from Frabonis along with the pasties.


Excellent. I grew up in Virginia.


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## srb08 (Nov 2, 2016)

benp said:


> The main one is square cut pizza. Pizza is not sliced but squared. Yep.....squared.
> 
> First time that I encountered it as an adult I was like what.....the .......hell.......is.......this.
> 
> ...


Square cut Pizza is the norm in St. Louis. The national chains serve pie shaped slices, but any local Pizzeria will serve the pie square cut. 
Finding a deep dish Pizza at a local pizzeria can be difficult as well.


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## benp (Nov 2, 2016)

srb08 said:


> Square cut Pizza is the norm in St. Louis. The national chains serve pie shaped slices, but any local Pizzeria will serve the pie square cut.
> Finding a deep dish Pizza at a local pizzeria can be difficult as well.



Nice.

So the Norwegians don't have the market cornered on that. lol

I absolutely would of never guessed that anywhere other than here served square non-Sicilian pizza.


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## srb08 (Nov 2, 2016)

benp said:


> Nice.
> 
> So the Norwegians don't have the market cornered on that. lol
> 
> I absolutely would of never guessed that anywhere other than here served square non-Sicilian pizza.


We have a pretty large Italian presence. There's a section of St. Louis that's strictly Italian and has been for a number of years. Most homes are sold by word of mouth and only to those deemed acceptable in the community. 
Lots of great little Delicatessens, bakeries and meat shops. Some outstanding restaurants as well.
I always thought square cut Pizza originated here.


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## benp (Nov 3, 2016)

srb08 said:


> We have a pretty large Italian presence. There's a section of St. Louis that's strictly Italian and has been for a number of years. Most homes are sold by word of mouth and only to those deemed acceptable in the community.
> Lots of great little Delicatessens, bakeries and meat shops. Some outstanding restaurants as well.
> I always thought square cut Pizza originated here.



Oh man I bet there is some really good eating there. Dang. 

That's interesting about the realtors.


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## Groundman One (Dec 4, 2016)

Just made some ghee (clarified butter) for my climber. It's his birthday and he loves to cook.

Takes about half an hour, and you have to pay attention to what you're doing, but it's very simple and well worth the effort. Lasts forever in the fridge, gets better with age, and you can throw it in a red hot pan and it doesn't burn.

And if you're making curry, ya gotta have ghee.


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## Jed1124 (Dec 4, 2016)

Grew up in in Jersey so pork roll, egg and cheese on a hard roll for breakfast. 
Sullina was a special treat during cook out. Also referred to as greasy bread. Basically smoked pork fat backs that you roast over an open flame. Once it starts dripping good it gets pressed onto a good slice of rye bread. Load it up with raw onions and peppers. Good stuff.


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## Groundman One (Dec 14, 2016)

Absolutely positively making this soon. But might have to do it outside, I'll be in deep doo-doo if the house to smells like an Indian restaurant for three-days.

Spiced ghee for curries.


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## Groundman One (Jan 14, 2017)

*Moose Vindaloo Curry.*

I have to admit, it smells pretty weird. That moose meat has quite the wild aroma.

Homemade curry powder and the moose meat after 24 hours sitting in the Vindaloo paste.





Dented from my head. 




Add the moose.




Had to shift to a pot so a lid would fit. One hour to go. And this is not a dish for the fragile; the Vindaloo paste marinade had plenty of dried chillies and some small killer fresh Thai chillies were added to the onions. My buddy like his food *Hot*!


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## svk (Jan 14, 2017)

Groundman One said:


> *Moose Vindaloo Curry.*
> 
> I have to admit, it smells pretty weird. That moose meat has quite the wild aroma.
> 
> ...


That looks awesome. I thought you were a vegetarian though?


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## Groundman One (Jan 14, 2017)

svk said:


> That looks awesome. I thought you were a vegetarian though?



I am, but my buddy asked me to make the Vindaloo for him. He's a terrible cook.

I still cook meat for the kids sometimes when I have to feed them - lest the wife take the scissors to me while I'm sleeping - but it's understood I will not cook beef.


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## motor head (Jan 14, 2017)

Crab Shalaw,Tampa Florida


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## svk (Jan 14, 2017)

motor head said:


> View attachment 550844
> Crab Shalaw,Tampa Florida


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## svk (Jan 14, 2017)

Groundman One said:


> I am, but my buddy asked me to make the Vindaloo for him. He's a terrible cook.
> 
> I still cook meat for the kids sometimes when I have to feed them - lest the wife take the scissors to me while I'm sleeping - but it's understood I will not cook beef.


Well it looks fantastic.


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## Groundman One (Jan 14, 2017)

svk said:


> Well it looks fantastic.



Thanks. 

I thought I was making Butter Chicken for the womenfolk tonight, but they want something else. I just got some fresh raw cashews to make a paste with and that gets added to the sauce for the Butter Chicken, but since they don't want it, I'll make Butter Veggies for me tomorrow night with the cashew paste.


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## benp (Jan 25, 2017)

motor head said:


> View attachment 550844
> Crab Shalaw,Tampa Florida



Oh HELL YEAH!!!!!!

When I lived in Delaware there was a seafood place a mile from us that you could buy steamed crabs by the bushel. 

Absolutely outstanding. They came in a paper grocery bag. My family ate a lot of them. 

You have to eat 40 of them to get filled but oh well. You were usually too hammered by the end to notice. 

When I lived at Dewey Beach we would go to all you can eat crab nights. Picnic tables with a sheet of plastic over them and pitchers were non stop. 

I'm glad I got to experience that because I highly doubt it is the same now.


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## cheato6565 (Sep 25, 2017)

svk said:


> Excellent. I grew up in Virginia.


I have been lurking forever, but when you mentioned porketta, pasties and the Iron Range you got me hooked. (and then I looked at the date of the thread - 2009) Well 8 years late, I still remember growing up in Virginia, MN and all the good food and wonderful hard working people. Good memories!


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## ChoppyChoppy (Sep 25, 2017)

Poutines, ployes, boudain, chicken stew, beef stew, pate Chinois, etc.


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## svk (Sep 26, 2017)

cheato6565 said:


> I have been lurking forever, but when you mentioned porketta, pasties and the Iron Range you got me hooked. (and then I looked at the date of the thread - 2009) Well 8 years late, I still remember growing up in Virginia, MN and all the good food and wonderful hard working people. Good memories!


Welcome to the site! What years were you in Virginia? Perhaps we know each other.


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## svk (Oct 15, 2017)

Here's an old world treat that I can say I've tried. 

Can't say I'll buy it again but it wasn't terrible either.


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## Oldengr (Apr 16, 2018)

For anyone who has been to Pennsylvania Dutch area Shoo Fly Pie. You need a 9 inch pie pan and crust.
3/4 cup Dark Molasses. 1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup boiling water 1/4 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup brown sugar
Dissolve soda in boiling water and add molasses. Combine sugar and flour then cut in shortening to form crumbs. Pour 1/3 of liquid into pie crust then add 1/3 crumbs. Alternate layers finishing with crumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. You will get a nice gooey bottom Shoo Fly pie.


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