What is the best US food?
What is the best US food?
What's one US food invention you wouldn't want to live without? Hot dogs? Hamburgers? Something less basic?
What is the best US food?
What's one US food invention you wouldn't want to live without? Hot dogs? Hamburgers? Something less basic?
I gotta preface this with the fact that pretty much all American food is based on layers of blending of multiple sources. It's a lot less distinct than some national or regional cuisines elsewhere in the world, and many expressions of things can be American without having originated inside america.
So, with that in mind, I gotta say pit smoked southern pork BBQ. The history of it is very much american, despite it being a fairly universal cooking method. People have been smoking meats in a contained way for thousands of years all over the world. But the particular expression of it that arose in the south is incredible.
For one thing, it's delicious. Hot, tender, smoky pork. How can that go wrong?
There's regional sauces for it too. Mustard based, vinegar based, tomato based, coke/cola based, plus more; and blends of those. I favor a vinegar based sauce personally, but don't turn my nose up at any of them.
But it can serve as a unifier as well. Even BBQ joints tend to have become a sort of neutral ground that can bridge communities that otherwise don't interact much. But when someone goes whole hog on their own, that's a big undertaking, and it takes help to achieve. That help, and the nature of cooking an entire pig, also mean that communities will gather. You don't pit smoke 200 pounds of meat just for a handful of people. It's an event.
And that's what really makes it something indispensable for me. It's a cultural hallmark shared across religious lines, across neighborhood lines, and even racial lines. That kind of BBQ is a southern thang, and it's a thang we tend to let go of the bullshit that divides a community at least long enough to fill bellies.
You go to a whole hog party, and you'll see Methodists and baptists agreeing that, damn this pig is good. You'll see that old black guy and the old white guy swapping BBQ lore. You can end up with family rifts and neighbor disputes settled, or at least set aside for a night because ain't nobody got time to fuss until after they've had some Q, and after they've had it, they ain't got no energy to argue because the itis done crept up on em.
Long as you keep an eyeball on the beer supply, won't be fights or much of anything other than bulging bellies and folks wondering how much they can carry home.
I ain't saying a good smoked pig will fix the world's ills. I'm just saying that it shifts the bullshit down the priority list for a while.
And holy hell, it is yummy.
Texas does a lot of things wrong, but what it does the least wrong is Brisket.
The answer is Mexican Street Tacos though.
Cheesesteak
In a similar spirit, the Juicy Lucy was invented in MN, though two different bars claim to be the ones that invented it.
A Jucy Lucy (or Juicy Lucy) is a stuffed cheeseburger with the cheese inside of the meat instead of on top, resulting in a melted core of cheese. It is a popular, regional cuisine in Minnesota, particularly in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Two bars in Minneapolis claim to have invented the burger, while other local bars and restaurants have created their own interpretations of the style.
Cheesesteak, salt water taffy, apple pie, pumpkin pie, I'm sure there's others but I like these. I know cheesecake is older, but the type with Philly cream cheese is like slightly more modern??
Perfectly prepared BBQ ribs
And throw in a side of pork belly.
New Mexican green chile
What makes it special? Is there a particular dish/sauce that's made with it that you like?
It's special because it's a unique to new Mexico. Other states try and copy it but they just fuck it up..(looking at colorado) cough cough, I will say I have seen hatch green Chile roasting at a Krogers in Richmond Virginia so I guess it's spreading.
In New Mexico we put it on everything, stuffed sopapillas, fry bread, enchiladas, we make salsa with it. Green Chile cheeseburgers are a common dish, i am vegetarian so i skip that. But green chile cheese fries are fantastic. It is on our pizza, in our ranch, on our breakfast burritos. It is even half of our state question. (Red or green?)
Proper crab cakes. Unfortunately 99.9% of the country doesn't do it right, so you basically have to travel to very specific parts of Maryland to actually understand the hype.
Pizza is pretty good... invented in NYC by Italian immigrants iirc, so technically American, although I gather there is controversy surrounding that take (flatbread was invented in Italy, even with cheese topping, but the whole tomato sauce thing that we recognize today was invented here; this orc entirely ignoring the debate about whether flatbread is "better" or "worse" than American style pizza).
One of the few places I'm proud to represent my home state: Pepperoni rolls.
Leave one out for Mothman.
It wasn't invented in West Virginia, but I feel like the thing that I most enjoyed in West Virginia that I don't find nationwide is apple butter.
I had one not too long ago in Harper’s Ferry, not bad!
Haven't been to Harper's Ferry in forever. It's beautiful. I should probably take a day trip up this fall.
I've had similar food before, but never exactly that, looks good! The history is interesting, being invented for coal miners is a very WV.
There's good ones, and there's the ones you can buy at the gas station, lol. If you're ever in the area, I can recommend some good ones.
A couple weeks ago a bunch of friends from college came in for a semi-annual get together. The ones from out of state were all craving pepperoni rolls. I begged them not to buy anything from a gas station / convenience store and to let me hook them up.
I showed up the next day with $100 worth of these super bougie artisanal rolls from a local place. They were a hit.
Thai restaurants.
Texmex
jambalaya
Imagine ordering a food and the lady pulls your order out of her forehead. I would have doubts, if I would eat it or not.
"Eat this if you want to live."
BEC SPK, NY represent. That's a bacon egg and cheese on a roll with salt pepper ketchup, for the uninitiated.
That looks like the perfect hangover food lol
It's perfect for a retaively mess free, easy to eat, high protein breakfast. And really does help after a hangover, yes lol
Nobody is saying anything about that completely cursed gif??
I can't decide if the pun is a play on the phrase "food for thought" or a pun on "brain food"... or a secret third thing....
Clever but it was "Hot dogs in my head"