Pennsylvania Cuisine

I would like to know what fellow Pennsylvanians consider OUR food. I'll start it w/ Scrapple, Chicken Corn Soup, and Primanti's. However, I would love to know what other Keystoner's think of as our "cuisine". I also know that PA is regionally diverse so please mention what part of the Commonwealth you are from.

Unique Pretzels.

(I used to live in Bucks County and while I know pretzels=PA, there is nothing as unique as Unique.)

Sweet and ring bologna from Weaver's in Lancaster; Shoo-fly pies; dewey buns; pepper cabbage.

Chicken or Beef Pot Pie, not a crusted pie, but more of a stew, with flat slippery noodles and potatoes.

Chicken and waffles...roasted chicken with gravy, and mashed potatoes.

Lebanon Bologna

I am originally from Centre County, State College area.

quote:

Originally posted by Oneiron339

Sweet and ring bologna from Weaver's in Lancaster; Shoo-fly pies; dewey buns; pepper cabbage.

Pepper cabbage is a good choice, but what are dewey buns?

I would be remiss if I didn't list cheesesteaks as a Pennsylvania food...from Southeastern PA.

quote:

Originally posted by NYNM

quote:

Originally posted by Oneiron339

Sweet and ring bologna from Weaver's in Lancaster; Shoo-fly pies; dewey buns; pepper cabbage.

Pepper cabbage is a good choice, but what are dewey buns?

Dewey Buns recipe is at: http://www.geocities.com/napavalley/2267/amish.html (click on "Dewey Buns")

Uh... Philadelphia Sticky Buns?! *lol* Because I swear, there is -nowhere- that you can find them quite like they're made in the Philadelphia area (okay, in Wilmington DE environs, yes--please not the proximity to PA though!)

Tastycakes and Iron City beer.

As a native of the Ephrata (Home of Miss America 1954) and Lancaster area of Pennsylvania a couple of items I consider pretty local and difficult to find elsewhere are,
1. Cup Cheese 2.Pickled Tripe 3. Real Dried Beef

quote:

Originally posted by CheeseWit

I would be remiss if I didn't list cheesesteaks as a Pennsylvania food...from Southeastern PA.

Shoot. You'd feel you were being remiss if you didn't list cheesesteaks in a conversation about gathering hops to make beer.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

quote:

Originally posted by CheeseWit

I would be remiss if I didn't list cheesesteaks as a Pennsylvania food...from Southeastern PA.

Shoot. You'd feel you were being remiss if you didn't list cheesesteaks in a conversation about gathering hops to make beer.

It's the sort of food that rolls its sleeves up and feeds you until you are full.
The Bear

I'm from St Marys, PA. We're famous for being the home of Straubs Beer and Christmas Sausage. Christmas sausage is made by individuals and several grocery stores. The individuals make it with Venison , beef and a little pork and it's heavily seasoned and smoked primarily using Applewood. The markets exclude the Venison. It's usually made from October to Febuary and is unique to the town.
Straub Beer is a family business and is made with no perservatives. They've been in business for 175 years, making them one of the oldest continous famly operated breweries in America. They are famous for their Eternal Tap. Visit their web site http://www.straubbeer.com/history.htm

Two of my sisters have the same MIL, and she is from Pennsylvania. Her cooking is the worst I have ever tasted. I'm really sorry to say that, but she overcooks the devil out of ANY meat, and the rest of her dishes seem to be invariably bland and boring. Her dumplings are tasteless, and even the sauerkraut seems to have any flavor cooked or boiled out of it.

The only thing I've ever liked of her cooking are the apple dumplings.

Oh, she also makes something called "copes corn." She always wants to bring it to Thanksgiving, and I'm afraid only she and her sons will eat it. None of the rest of us can stomach it.

And I'm not trying to be obnoxious or rude! It really does seem very bland and tasteless to the rest of us.

quote:

Originally posted by Pwingsx

Oh, she also makes something called "copes corn." She always wants to bring it to Thanksgiving, and I'm afraid only she and her sons will eat it. None of the rest of us can stomach it.

And I'm not trying to be obnoxious or rude! It really does seem very bland and tasteless to the rest of us.

Copes corn is a Lancaster County product made by the John Cope Company of Rheems Pa.

It is dried corn (either yellow or white) either canned or frozen.

I love it, but in my experience it is somewhat of an aquired taste for those who did not grow up eating it. To me it has sort of a nutlike flavor.

There are a lot of prepackaged foods that are indigenous to PA, but would they qualify as "cuisine"? I dunno. Maybe as a group the pretzels and potato chips of the Lancaster area might.

I'd say maybe homemade kielbasa/kolbasi; I've seen it in grocery stores from SW PA to NE PA.

Venison chili, maybe? But that's more of a rural cuisine anywhere, not just PA.

After that, I really doubt that there is anything that is so uniquely Pennsylvanian that I would call it a Pennsylvanian cuisine. Anything PA Dutch can also be found in Dutch settlements in Indiana or New York, for example. And regional examples don't scale well to the entire state; Primanti's is meaningless in Scranton, cheesesteaks mean nothing in Erie. Old Forge pizza is not applicable in Harrisburg.

Maybe someone can change my mind on this?

quote:

Originally posted by Mosca

There are a lot of prepackaged foods that are indigenous to PA, but would they qualify as "cuisine"? I dunno. Maybe as a group the pretzels and potato chips of the Lancaster area might.

I'd say maybe homemade kielbasa/kolbasi; I've seen it in grocery stores from SW PA to NE PA.

Venison chili, maybe? But that's more of a rural cuisine anywhere, not just PA.

After that, I really doubt that there is anything that is so uniquely Pennsylvanian that I would call it a Pennsylvanian cuisine. Anything PA Dutch can also be found in Dutch settlements in Indiana or New York, for example. And regional examples don't scale well to the entire state; Primanti's is meaningless in Scranton, cheesesteaks mean nothing in Erie. Old Forge pizza is not applicable in Harrisburg.

Maybe someone can change my mind on this?

Mosca: I thought about what you said, but I have to disagree with many of your premises.

First of all, much "regional" food can be found throughout the US (SW tacos, burritos, sold all over, NE clam chowder, etc.) but the ORIGIN of the food is local. Second, many states are geographically and historically diverse (upstate NY is vastly different from NYC).

"States" are basically political entities that may or may not reflect local realties or boundaries. What about concepts like "tri-state regions", Wash-MD-Va, Delmarva, etc? Many states also developed from different migratory routes (Eastern PA=Europe, esp. Germany, Northern PA=upstate NY, Southwest PA= Appalachia), similar in MD and VA (Eastern shore vs. Weestern mountains), also Indiana, Ohio (North vs. South)

Sometimes I find the nicest surprises around state line boundaries rather than in the center(I have also found this around county boundaries!), esp. with architecture - more "older" away from the center.

So, once I got further, and looser in definitions, I enjoy the "PA" cuisine idea - maybe would like to hear other states, too.

PS. Pretzels are "food" to me!

While most items can be found "somewhere else", porketta and Old Forge Pizza are more than likely "special treats" to those visiting the Northeast corner of the state.

Mosca, actually, a friend in Hershey told me that an "Old Forge Pizza" place has opened. Another once told me about a restaurant that featured OFP in Marin County, California!?!! It was "pretty good", he said, "for California Pizza".

OK, here's the thing I'm getting at. You can definitely say that a burrito is southwestern cuisine, and kielbasa or noodles and cabbage are a northeastern cuisine. But can you also attach them to a state? Would burritos be New Mexican or Arizonan? Is noodles and cabbage Pennsylvanian or New Yorkian (knickerbocker Dutch)? New Mexico and Arizona were both parts of the Mexican territory taken in the 1840s. Many Dutch settlements that didn't spread from PA but rather were directly from Europe. If they'd spread from PA I could see that as an exported PA cuisine, but New York Knickerbockers and PA Dutch have equal immigrant status.

Is Old Forge Pizza signifigantly different enough from pizza to qualify not as a regional food, but as a "cuisine"?

I'm open to having my mind changed, but I'll need reasons. Regional cuisines I can accept. But state? I have a hard time with that.

Stan, I was trying to find your old posts about the Anthracite. We've gone there the last two Wednesdays, with mixed opinions. I liked the flavor of the stuffed pork tenderloin but it was dry, and the gravy reduction was way too salty. I thought the pulled pork was "eh", OK enough but nothing mind blowing. MJ liked the crab cakes and the langostinos. We liked the banana cake but thought the chocolate cake was way over the top, too sweet. I'd love to go on Tuesday, but my day off shifted.


Tom

First, I would like to give a shout out to St. Mary's and Straub Beer! Been there many many times and I love both the place and the product. I have never heard of the sausage, but I want to try it.

As for the cuisine discussion, I hope that nobody takes this too seriously. I am not only a sheetzaholic, but a Pennsylvaniac. Therefore, I just want to know what fellow Keystoners (new comers too...) think of us as distinctly Pennsylvanian. I do have to say that many of our Dutch traditions have traveled with expatriots and that's fine, but I am interested in what people think of as "our" foods...so maybe I should strike the cuisine part??? Anyway, if you like it and you think it is unique to the Commonwealth. I'm interested. PS - I love Cope's Corn + stock up on it whenever I'm in Harrisburg...

quote:

Originally posted by Sheetzaholic

First, I would like to give a shout out to St. Mary's and Straub Beer! Been there many many times and I love both the place and the product. I have never heard of the sausage, but I want to try it.

As for the cuisine discussion, I hope that nobody takes this too seriously. I am not only a sheetzaholic, but a Pennsylvaniac. Therefore, I just want to know what fellow Keystoners (new comers too...) think of us as distinctly Pennsylvanian. I do have to say that many of our Dutch traditions have traveled with expatriots and that's fine, but I am interested in what people think of as "our" foods...so maybe I should strike the cuisine part??? Anyway, if you like it and you think it is unique to the Commonwealth. I'm interested. PS - I love Cope's Corn + stock up on it whenever I'm in Harrisburg...

Dear Pennsylvaniac:

When my niece was young, she used to talk about the great state of Pennsyltucky!

I used to have a weekend house in New Hope, PA and would love to go foodhunting, esp. in Lancaster county. The foods were different from NYC. Cheese were different, and local German butchers, esp. near Rt. 78. I loved to ride around and discover little hamlets, esp. in Berks county.

My favorite were the supermarkets that had ROWS of pretzels. Like an entire row just of PA twists,cheese pretzels, etc. so many varities that potato chips, corn chips, etc. were on an entirely different row. (sort of like tortilla chips, nachos, Doritos, etc. in NM). What about Lititz, PA, the "Pretzel Capital" (They have a pretzel musuem there, I think)

quote:

Originally posted by Sheetzaholic

First, I would like to give a shout out to St. Mary's and Straub Beer! Been there many many times and I love both the place and the product. I have never heard of the sausage, but I want to try it.

As for the cuisine discussion, I hope that nobody takes this too seriously. I am not only a sheetzaholic, but a Pennsylvaniac. Therefore, I just want to know what fellow Keystoners (new comers too...) think of us as distinctly Pennsylvanian. I do have to say that many of our Dutch traditions have traveled with expatriots and that's fine, but I am interested in what people think of as "our" foods...so maybe I should strike the cuisine part??? Anyway, if you like it and you think it is unique to the Commonwealth. I'm interested. PS - I love Cope's Corn + stock up on it whenever I'm in Harrisburg...

You can order St Mary's Christmas Sausage and get it shipped to you. Here's a Market that does a pretty good job with it. Give them a call and they will ship it to you;

Pfaff's Market
contact: John Fox Owner
address: 137 Atlantic Street
city, state, zip St. Marys PA 15857
phone: 814-834-2061

P.S I always get a pretty large order every year about this time and put it in Ziplocs, suck the air out (Source of second hand smoke!) and freeze it. It will keep for a longtime.

Here's one that I think of as PA-specific; chow-chow. You know, corn relish.

Under the looser definition,

cheesesteaks
pierogies (I know the Twardziks of Mr T's fame!)
noodles and cabbage
kolbasi
apple dumplings
stuffed cabbage
sausage w/peppers and onions
pagach (potato pizza)
german potato salad
Hazleton and Old Forge style pizza
Primanti style sandwiches (as an aside, "Pittsburgh style" fast food means putting the fries on the burger)
game meat & fish, specifically venison, wild turkey, and trout

To me, those are the foods that define our state.


Tom

quote:

Originally posted by Pwingsx

Two of my sisters have the same MIL, and she is from Pennsylvania. Her cooking is the worst I have ever tasted. I'm really sorry to say that, but she overcooks the devil out of ANY meat, and the rest of her dishes seem to be invariably bland and boring. Her dumplings are tasteless, and even the sauerkraut seems to have any flavor cooked or boiled out of it.

The only thing I've ever liked of her cooking are the apple dumplings.

Pwingsx ,
Please forward your sisters email addresses. I'd like to send this little Expose' to them!!!!!!!!!

My mom's from Altoona, about 40 miles from State College. I moved her to the Seattle area a few years back. She really likes pizzelles, which aren't exactly flying off shelves here. I don't know if they're Italian or Dutch in origin but I never liked them because I associated them with anise. Anyway, I bought her a bunch from Petrone's Pizzelles last Christmas and she loved them.

I worked at a Sheetz in Altoona during the Not-so-Great Depression of 1981-82 and became quite fond of Gobs. You ask for a Gob at a Tacoma bakery and people will think you're tweaking.

summer sausage (aka Lebanon bologna)
ring bologna
pretzels, especially soft pretzels, with mustard
cheese steaks
snapper soup
german potato salad
hot dogs with chopped raw onions
shoofly pie
raised doughnuts
raisin pie
Tastykakes
hoagies

As you can see, for this native Pennsylvanian, it's a mix of Pennsylvania German and Philadelphian cuisine

pepper pot soup