Local Favorites

Trail Mix: Senator Larry Craig's Super Tuber

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Jan 21st 2008 @ 12:53PM

(Editor's note: Sometimes this stuff just writes itself.)

The Honorable Larry Craig - United States Senator, Idaho
Specialty Recipe Favorite Breakfast "Super Tuber"

"Super Tuber is a great snack that uses one of my favorite vegetables: The Idaho Potato. Of course, I suppose any type of potato could be used, but I cannot guarantee that a Super Tuber made with anything but a true Idaho potato would taste as good. Sincerely, Larry E. Craig, United States Senator"

"Wash and dry potato. Rub with shortening or butter. With an apple corer or small knife, core out the potato center (end to end). Push hot dog through the center. Bake until potato is cooked through."

GET THE RECIPE: Idaho Senator Larry Craig shares his recipe for Super Tuber

PREVIOUSLY: Huckabee's Squirrel Poppers

Stay tuned for more on the road eats with our new Presidential campaign food coverage -- Trail Mix.

RSS Feed: http://www.slashfood.com/category/trail-mix/rss.xml

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites, Trail Mix

Trail Mix: Brains & Eggs

COMMENTS 0

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Jan 21st 2008 @ 12:41PM

(Editor's note: The odd thing about my life these days is that this is the second brains & eggs recipe I've run across today -- and I wasn't even searching for one.)

The Honorable Howard Coble - United States Congressman North Carolina
Specialty Recipe Favorite Breakfast "Brains N' Eggs"

"When I was a youngster, my mom used to prepare Brains N' Eggs for breakfast. It was a fairly regular breakfast, not at all unusual. So that's when I started eating them. I've enjoyed them ever since, but I can't find any on Capitol Hill. I'll admit the name of the dish is not the most appetizing, but try 'em, you might like 'em!"

GET THE RECIPE: The Honorable Howard Coble shares his Mom's recipe for Brains & Eggs

PREVIOUSLY: Huckabee's Squirrel Poppers

Stay tuned for more on the road eats with our new Presidential campaign food coverage -- Trail Mix.

RSS Feed: http://www.slashfood.com/category/trail-mix/rss.xml

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites, Trail Mix

Macoun Apples

COMMENTS 4

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Oct 12th 2007 @ 6:41PM

Special to AOL from Sean Redlitz

When tallying the symbolic and metaphoric content found in the produce aisle, the apple ranks high, perhaps second only to the cherry. The garden of Eden, an apple for the teacher, an apple a day. Apple records. The Apple iPhone.

But for me, when I think "apple" the first thing that comes to mind is the unmistakable taste of a ripe Macoun. Cut one and notice how its purple-red skin contrasts beautifully with its snow white flesh. Bite one and discover a crisp, toothsome snap followed by a juicy rush of deep, almost wine-like sweetness.

Part of the magic of Macouns is that your opportunity to eat one is constrained geographically and temporally. They're only grown in the Northeast U.S., and they're only in season through October and November. Unlike some of its better-known kin, the Macoun is not bred to be a sturdy traveler; they bruise easily and don't last long on the shelf. Thus, you'll seldom come across one more than few hundred miles from where it's been picked.

If you find yourself in the Northeast in the next few weeks, make a beeline to the nearest greengrocer or farmers' market and taste what I and many other devotees consider to be the pinnacle of apple-snacking. Then mark your calendar for October 2008, and treasure the memory until then.

Editor's note: Mr. Redlitz lives in Los Angeles, where Macouns are hard to come by. I bought 12 Macouns at a farmer's market in Manhattan today and threatened to let them rot on my desk unless he wrote this piece. He'll be receiving an express mail package at his office within the next few days.

Make some Apple Bread Pudding tonight.

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites

State Fair Fare

COMMENTS 0

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Oct 12th 2007 @ 5:42PM

From AOL Body's Jennifer Fields

Every October, my family used to make annual trips from Oklahoma to Dallas the weekend of the big OU/Texas game. I hate football, so while my dad and brother cheered Big Red, the game provided ample opportunity for mom and me to sample the culinary delight that is the Texas State Fair.

This is the birthplace of the corny dog. That's a not a typo. Its proper name is corny dog and Fletcher's is the original and the best. It's the quintessential fair food and used to be my favorite thing until I became a vegetarian. Fortunately, here you can get anything fried on a stick, like the cheese dog. It's a bit of a misnomer because there's no dog. It's just mounds of cheese that are rolled in cornmeal and fried. It tastes best when dipped in honey mustard and washed down with an extra-sweet lemonade.

Next on my must-have list is Frito Pie at The Dock. If you're not familiar, it's chili, cheese and sour cream on a bed of Fritos. It's crunchy, salty, spicy and downright delicious. And of course, you can also find it fried.

The fair isn't complete without a little slice of heaven in the form of a mini sweet potato pie from Vern's. Some pie places use sweet potato filling, but this is the real deal – not overly smooth and with hints of cinnamon and cardamom. It's the perfect way to end a gastronomic tour of the fair. And yes, they serve it fried.

Take the State Fair Fare Quiz

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites

The Ladies' Luncheon Room, The Local Cafeteria, and My Grandmother

COMMENTS 21

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Oct 1st 2007 @ 3:53PM

Special to AOL from Eric Diesel

"Mehepyew?" If you need to have that translated, you're not from the South.

Technically, I'm not either. I grew up in Arkansas, at the hands of defectors from the glittering lights of Tulsa, which means we were as much boots and saddles as we were hoop skirts and string ties. My folks were refugees from (counting backwards) young adulthood in the fabulous fifties, teenage-hood during the second world war, and childhood during the Great Depression. I'm not kidding – in photographs from the era that look like stills from a William Wyler film, my father wore a buzz cut and a letterman's sweater, my mother was a genuine bobbysoxer. And my grandmother, my blessed saint of a grandmother, was half Caucasian and half Osage Indian, a situation that informed her entire existence, as she did everything by halves and wholes: she was half-sophisticated and half-raunchy, half a genteel southern lady and half a rambunctious rodeo queen, half charming and half cantankerous. And we were half rich and half poor. And that's how, in a moment, we will get back to "Mehepyew."

If you know anything about Osage history, you know that during the Oklahoma land rush, many of these Native Americans wound up in the area surrounding what would become Tulsa, and that that selfsame land wound up being oil-rich. There are depression-era documentary photos of Osage women cooking on fire pits with Mercedes Benzes parked nearby. My grandmother was not one of the wealthy Osage, but she still felt the effects of being half traditional Indian and half city lady: like many of her contemporaries, being exposed to Tulsa gentility left its mark on her. One thing that she remembered vividly, even nostalgically was the ladies' luncheon room.

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites

Liver Pudding, Livermush, Goetta or Scrapple

COMMENTS 124

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Sep 13th 2007 @ 1:52PM

I'll explain more later, but for right now, those of you who know what the heck I'm talking about -- wanna take a poll?

As always -- hash it out in the comments below.

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites

McRegional

COMMENTS 326

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Sep 11th 2007 @ 5:39PM

While I'm generally icked and irked by the omnipresence of McDonalds' franchises spilling over the globe like love handles on an airplane seat divider, I have always been delighted by their regional offerings. In Baltimore, we'd brave the Howard Street branch with the cracked glass and the permanently-lodged wall bullet to get our limited-time fix of the McCrabcakes. They were pretty darned passable, and at $2.99 or so, infinitely more student budget friendly than those at the Charles St. crabeterias that would have taken one look at our paint-splattered clothes and sent us off with our claws cracked.

I've sampled McLobster Rolls in Maine, have heard tell of McPoi in Hawaii, and know y'all have McSweet Tea in some points South, so I'm assuming that individual franchisees are allowed a small bit of leeway with the local fare. Might y'all be so kind as to share what regional food items you've seen Ronald offer up? Serve it up in the comments section below.

(UPDATE: I just remembered that in the Orly airport as I was leaving Paris, I saw that the McD offered a choice of a sweet or salty breakfast. I call that win-win.)

(Photo snapped by my pal Craig on a train in Japan. It doesn't say what's been done to the pork, or how it's formatted, so I'm gonna go with "Porkburger".)

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Fast Food Review, Local Favorites

Primanti Bros. Sandwiches

COMMENTS 4

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Sep 8th 2007 @ 2:52PM

The Sporting News recently declared Pittsburgh's PNC Park to have some of the finest eats of any ballpark in the US, citing their Primanti Bros. sandwiches. We had never heard of such a thing, and our appetites were whetted. So, we turned a Pittsburgh native for enlightenment. She hit it out outta the park.

Special to AOL Food from Mazie Speakman

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a place with fierce pride and rich local tradition. We brew an eponymous beer, turn gorgeous old churches into dance clubs, bleed black and gold, and we take advantage of industrial spaces turned lofts or music venues. We also put coleslaw and French fries on our sandwiches.

No visit to the Steel City is complete without a visit to an "Almost Famous" Primanti Bros. restaurant.

Open 24 hours and boasting 7 locations around the city (including Heinz Field and PNC Park), Primanti Bros. is something of a finish line to a long night out on the town. Each location basically is a bar. The bartenders and servers themselves are like fixtures; true blue and usually tattooed locals who take the recipe seriously.

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites

Milk Chocolate Sponge Candy

COMMENTS 19

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Aug 27th 2007 @ 5:07PM

A box of Fowler's Milk Chocolate Sponge Candies just landed on my desk, a gift from our now-departed summer intern, Jean. Jean's the Buffalo native who wrote for us about another of her hometown's great contributions to humanity: Buffalo wings. I had never before heard of sponge candy, but I will now never forget these insanely addictive treats. They're sort of like little square malt balls, only not quite as dense as the kind you usually find at the candy store. They really are spongey, though not squishy -- more airy with a wee bit of crunch kinda spongey.

In any case, I can't stop eating them. And I'm finding myself being an uncharacteristically poor sharer (mine, all mine!) ... Get yer own box.

I'm thinking a trip to Buffalo is in order. I'll go for the food while everyone else's at the football game.

And since we like knowing what y'all are eating, tell us about some of your local specialties.

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites

Delicious Debate - Regional Food Names

COMMENTS 429

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Aug 21st 2007 @ 5:49PM

If you haven't already tossed your two cents into the stew pot, take our Delicious Debate Poll and then come back and share your thoughts in the comments.

Personally, I go with:

1: Dinner
2: Jimmies
3: Sub
4: Soda
5: Casserole
6: Grocery store
7: Basket (and sometimes shopping cart)
8: Bags
9: Drinking fountain

But I've heard friends and strangers say just about everything else listed in the poll. I've lived in Teaneck, NJ (though I was too young to talk), Ft. Thomas, KY, Baltimore, MD, Philadelphia, PA, New Paltz, NY, and Brooklyn, NY, and I know that moving around has changed a few of the terms I use -- especially for sandwiches and cola.

Since this is the Food section, in the poll, we stuck with food-related terminology, but since this regional language topic is something so many of us seem to savor, feel free to let us know what you have to say vis-a-vis:

*Tennis shoes vs gym shoes vs sneakers
*In line vs on line
*Couch vs sofa vs davenport
*Kitty-corner vs cater-corner vs diagonal vs catawumpus

Debate away, fellow foodies! Use the comments link below.

Filed under: Guilty Pleasures, Local Favorites