Regional Food Specialties

[CanoeStream]

Let's have some fun sharing our locale or travel experience. Why don't you list a food item a traveler could pick up and turn into a unique camp experience. Multiple entries for an item are cool -- that will help our members find it closest to their travels.

Please list location, the ingredient or food item, then how or where to obtain it. Of course a little personal comment makes it Real! How do you use it?

Here's a start from my life:

Texas pecans Pecan orchards most anywhere -- ask around or try the phone book. Prime crop in October; may be available shelled later in month?

Gulf Coast Shrimp Texas coastal towns -- convenience stores, bait shops, try little stores near where you see shrimpers docked. Ask a shrimper. Boil 'em, peel and eat by a campfire -- it's so simple and nothing is better!

Kolaches (Czech sweet pastries). The town of West, Texas, between Dallas and Waco -- go into town, don't just stop at the freeway exit. In town may be tougher towing a big rig. Kolaches also figure prominently in New Prague, MN.

Pasties Meat pie turnovers with potatoes, carrots; most authentic if also has rutabagas. This was a miner's lunch. Find in town cafes in Minnesota Iron Range and Upper Peninsula of N. Michigan. Usually can get take-out; reheat in oven or put in foil over edge of fire.

Hobo dinner Lake Superior area. Buy a whole fresh whitefish or small lake trout, place lemon wedges in body cavity, seal in foil. Also make foil packets with any combination of sliced potato, onion, carrot; add pat or two of butter, salt & pepper. Start the potatoes first on a grate over campfire; when potatoes almost done put fish on for 5 minutes, flip once for a few more minutes until steaming nicely.

Let's hear from you!

[flyfisher]

Bob -

Lancaster County, PA - Amish Country -

Stop at any of the 100's of Amish farms or road side stands and get fresh fruits, vegetables, etc., or some canned "Chow-Chow", a fresh baked pie ("Shoo-Fly" is a speciliaty), some canned jelly or freshly baked bread.

If you prefer to buy everything at one stop, consider Shady Maple grocery just outside the small town of Blue Ball, PA, where you find one of the largest selections of groceries and fresh produce in the US, as well as one of the largest smorgasboards (if you don't want to cook youself).

For desert, visit the Amish "Lapp's Farm and Dairy" where you can get ice cream made right on the farm in a freshly made sugar cone.

Park your Airstream at one of the campgrounds in the area, rated by Good Sams among the Best 100 places to stay, but try not to drive like a tourist when your on the highway, 'cause I might be driving behind 'ya.

John

[Navigator]

I would like to second flyfisher's recomendation on Amish country tasties. Been there, done that.
Dick

[Moonshot]

Here's one to get the juices flowing...

Chicago deep dish pizza from Giordano's. Mostly, Giordano's is in the Chicago area, but they have two locations in Florida near Disney and this is where I got mine. You can order one online too from http://www.giordanos.com.

I used to go to Chicago and New York about once every 2 - 3 months on business and though I tried I never found better deep dish pizza.

There's other pizza varieties I can comment on, New York style, Boston, etc... but for pure unbridled gluttony ya can't beat real Chicago deep dish pizza!

Scott

[norbert]

Stone soup...ill bring the stones...
norby

[Pahaska]

Originally posted by Canoe stream
Kolaches (Czech sweet pastries). The town of West, Texas, between Dallas and Waco -- go into town, don't just stop at the freeway exit. In town may be tougher towing a big rig.

When going north, I usually leave about 5 am to get through Austin before work traffic and Dallas before noon traffic. This gets me to West at about 8 or 8:30. I go into town about 2 blocks and buy about 5 or 6 sausage kolaches (can't remember the name of the place, but it is on the right). I eat 2 kolaches for breakfast and, about each 100 miles thereafter, I dig out another kolache. They're as good cold as hot.

I hate going north on I-35 with a passion, but my stop at West is always a bright spot in an otherwise dismal morning.

[Pahaska]

Originally posted by flyfisher
Lancaster County, PA - Amish Country -

And please don't pronounce it in the British fashion ("lan-caster"), for those of us who were raised in the area, it comes out more like "lank-iss-ter".

My grandmother spoke Pennsylvania German in the home until she was married and sang in German all her life. My great-grandfather and grandfather ran a grist mill and farmed on Stony Creek. Each week, they had a stall at the farmer's market in Harrisburg. I was raised with apple pie for breakfast and pot pie for dinner.

I'll be visiting my brothers in PA right before the Airstream Homecoming next spring.

[norbert]

persimmons- Sept. persimmon festival-Mitchell, Indiana

b.b.q.mutton-Moon barbeque- Owensboro, Ky.

Lebanon bologna- lank-iss-ter, Pa.

Horseshoe sandwich-Springfield,Ill.

norby

[norbert]

john,
i'll bet you put stickin sauce on your brisket.....
norby

[kposey]

Although seafood is not regional in Tennessee, we always take Snow Crab Legs. You just can't beat cracking and eating them by the fire! My dogs also love them and race each other to the Airstream to make sure that they get to go camping!

[j54mark]

I had a daughter at school in Waco for four years, and came to an excellent understanding of Kolaches. The important thing to know is not to eat an entire bag in a single setting.

Just up the road from West is Hillsboro, Tx. There is (was?) a very good Czech restaurant on the north side of the square downtown.

If you are coming up I-44 near the Mo./Okla. line, it is worth the detour - and it is significant - up to Cookies in Golden City, Mo. Great country cooking, but the real attraction is the twenty or so pies in the display just as you come in the door. The drill is to order the pie first to avoid disappointment after dinner when your favorite is sold out. The woman who cooks a couple dozen pies every day can't last forever.

Down in south and southwest La. you can sometimes find fresh boudin. It must be fresh, hot, and the skin must be crackling crisp.

Here in Springfield we feature "cashew chicken". It is unlike cashew chicken served in most chinese places. In fact, "Springfield Cashew Chicken" now appears on menus as far away as Kansas City and St. Louis. It is served everywhere here - even in grocery stores - but is seldom done well.

Mark

[nds]

Kentucky Burgoo (sort of a stew)

The history of this dish goes back to the pioneers of Kentucky (Boone, Harrod, etc). When the forts back then would replenish the meat storage, they would empty out everything they had stored up to that time, as not to waste anything. Burgoo back then would contain rabbit, squirrel, venison, wild boar, bear, elk, buffalo, whatever meat they hunted, along with the veggies they had on hand. Now, most recipes call for just beef, chicken, lamb, etc. But, several people still put venison, rabbit, etc in it (those that hunt). This is just one recipe that I found on the internet when I did a search on Kentucky Burgoo on Google. Keeneland Race Track in Lexington has a very good burgoo they sell during the racing meets there.

Kentucky Burgoo

This would be a good meal to share one night among several that plan a rally together.

[norbert]

Stone soup....now thats rally food!.....

wheres our south carolina unit?......you should herald Brunswick Stew......
norby

[nds]

Originally posted by norbert
persimmons- Sept. persimmon festival-Mitchell, Indiana

b.b.q.mutton-Moon barbeque- Owensboro, Ky.

Lebanon bologna- lank-iss-ter, Pa.

Horseshoe sandwich-Springfield,Ill.

norby

That's Moonlight Bar B Q Inn in Owensboro. And, watch your teeth on those stones.

[norbert]

i stand corrected....without light they could serve spanish pony instead..

[nds]

My sister lived in Springfield, Il for several years and talked about the Horseshoe sandwichs. what were those again?

And, what was the loose meat sandwiches that they used to talk about on Roseanne Barr's show all the time? Was there such a thing in Illinois?

[norbert]

a horse shoe is usually 2 hamburger patties with cheese(rarebit) sauce on toast, surrrounded by american fries.......dont know about the other..loose meat? italian beef? sloppy joe?......
norby

[trumpwer]

My wife and her family are Norwegian, they ruin every Holiday with Lutefisk. Its a white fish soaked in Lye, then rinsed and boiled.

But I do enjoy the lefsa, as bad as the preparation sounds. You take mashed potatoes, add flour. Then you roll it thin and cook it like a tortilla. Spread on a little butter and sprinkle on some sugar and roll it up. Those are hard to pass up, even if it does make you wonder which is the food and which is the napkin.

[norbert]

lutefisk is dried salt cod which is usually stored on the porch and then marked by the family dog....... b4 being reconstituted in a lye solution.....rinsed and baked....served in a cream sauce...
norby

[dinoburb]

How about:

Hoagies or is that ... Po'boys or is that ... Grinders or is that ... Subs (submarines) or is that ... Wedges or . . .

I'm sure there are more names for the above mentioned sandwich.

Take care,