American cuisine?

Well, a great deal depends on WHERE in the U.S. you'll be traveling. Food is very regional here. But a few things to check out might be:


Barbeque (also called BBQ). There are two very distinct schools - Eastern and Western. Western is also called "Kansas City" barbeque, and features a thick, tomato-based sauce. Eastern is thin with a vinegar-based sauce. Usually, what you'll find in barbeque places are pork or beef ribs that have been smoked using a variety of woods until cooked (the meat often remains pink, but is fully cooked) and the sauce is either brushed on the outside before serving or baked onto it. Often, there will be a side of sauce to dip individual ribs into before eating. Caution: Don't wear clothing that can be ruined easily! The sauce stains.

Mexican or Tex-Mex. This can be found anywhere, and features beef, chicken and seafood that is cooked with strong peppers, tomatoes and onions in a salsa. There are tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tamales, along with a variety of other menu selections. If you find a good Mexican restaurant, a couple of terrific desserts to seek out are sopapillas (fried puffy bread served with honey), flan (a cooked custard that's similar to creme' caramel), and baked ice cream (a scoop of ice cream that's breaded with crumbs and quickly deep fried so the outer crumbs toast but the ice cream remains solid.

Fresh water fish. These can include trout, walleye, bass, catfish along with some others. The meat is very delicate and flavorful, and are cooked in a variety of methods.

Those are just a few to start. I'm sure other people will suggest more things! Enjoy your visit!

Fried chicken and mashed potatos - very American, isn't it? Or Salisbury steak (aka hamburger meat) with a dark mushroom gravy -- or Meatloaf and mashed potatos - can't get more American that that! Yumm... Asparagus with cheese sauce? Oh....macarroni and cheese - or grilled cheese sandwich. LOL

Hmm, American cuisine is such a blend of other countries'... If you look at what I cooked this month, my American cooking consisted of Hawiian food (ham and pineapples), Mexican food (cheesy chili dip with tortilla chips), Polish food (potato-cheddar pierogies boiled then fried in butter with onions), Italian food (spaghetti with meat sauce), French food (bagels and cream cheese)... hmm, chicken salad sandwiches? Are those European, or actually American?

I've got a blog about the restaurants in my local town, which has a few comments on the nature of American cuisine.

If you are passing through Georgia, may I recommend the Blue Willow Inn? It is in a small town, off the beaten path, but it draws people from all over the state and beyond. On a Sunday afternoon, it's common to see the gravel parking lot packed with expensive luxury cars. It may be one of the best examples of traditional cooking in the rural Southeast. Exactly what they are serving on any given day depends on the season and the whims of the owners, but you can often find fried green tomatoes (what put the restaurant on the map was when the movie Fried Green Tomatoes came out, syndicated writer Lewis Grizzard stated that they were one of the last places to make them correctly), fried chicken, and a wide variety of Southern vegetables.

Southern cooking has a heavy emphasis on locally grown vegetables, often flavored with bits of meat. Many of the meats, and a few of the vegetables, are battered and deep fried, similar to Japanese tempura. The most common beverage to go with this is sweet tea.

Chain restaurants that serve food like this include Folks (originally known as Po Folks, which is still how I think of it) and Cracker Barrel. But I highly recommend the Blue Willow Inn if you want a prime example of Southern cooking.

Louisiana has a style of cooking all its own. Actually, it has two similar styles, Creole and Cajun. Both use a lot of spices and, as with other sorts of Southern cooking, local ingredients. However, Southern cooking elsewhere is influenced by English cooking, while in Louisiana the primary influence is French.

If you are in Cleveland, Ohio (your Japanese tourists might find the state's name amusing, as it sounds like Japanese for "Good morning"), see if you can find a panini sandwich. There is a bar called Panini's in the Coventry area which makes good ones. This oddity has meat, cheese, French fries, and coleslaw served on French bread. Yes, the fries and coleslaw are in the sandwich. I've heard the name "panini" elsewhere, but the version I am talking about is one I have never seen outside of Ohio.

Fast Food

Practically, any fast food that was invented.

The waffle sandwich with eggs, bacon and cheese.

Stuffed-crust pizza and jalepeno poppers.

If you make a burger, make it a BLT-BACON LETTUCE TOMATO.

Corn dog or hot dog (though making them homemade consists of grinding down all animal parts and molding them together-wouldn't recommend this).

Perhaps, it is simply best to pull out the chemistry kit and start making artificial flavors and sweeteners. Just kidding, so much of the American diet is filled with junk food and fast food.

....

No, really, the best homemade food is probably Southern-style cooking. Steak or country fried steak, mashed potatoes with brown or white gravy, green beans (my grammy made it with a little sliced cheese and a dash of hot sauce), buttermilk biscuits and we can't forget PIE in all flavors: apple, pecan, strawberry, pumpkin, sweet potato, etc. Oh, and where I'm from in the South, we make SUN tea. You set the tea out in the sun to add more flavor and boy does it taste good.

Here is a SUN tea recipe:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001287sun_tea.php

Also, grits is popular in the South for breakfast along with a sausage patty. It consists of malt-o-meal with slabs of butter. They have instant grits at any grocery store, but to make it thick, you add milk or less water.

Cornbread is easy to make and yummy with red beans and rice.

Chicken and dumplings, beef stew, and catfish with hush puppies are also a favorite.

Here is a starting point:
http://southernfood.about.com/library/weekly/topicsub3.htm

Your Japanese friends will surely have full tummies after eating Southern food :O)

MadScientistMatt said:

Louisiana has a style of cooking all its own. Actually, it has two similar styles, Creole and Cajun. Both use a lot of spices and, as with other sorts of Southern cooking, local ingredients. However, Southern cooking elsewhere is influenced by English cooking, while in Louisiana the primary influence is French.
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Actually Lousiana cooking is influenced by African and Spanish influences as well as French. Cajun cooking came out of poverty, i.e. turning basic foods into delicious, hearty foods with a few spices and cooking talent.

Cathy C said:

Well, a great deal depends on WHERE in the U.S. you'll be traveling. Food is very regional here. But a few things to check out might be:


Barbeque (also called BBQ). There are two very distinct schools - Eastern and Western. Western is also called "Kansas City" barbeque, and features a thick, tomato-based sauce. Eastern is thin with a vinegar-based sauce. Usually, what you'll find in barbeque places are pork or beef ribs that have been smoked using a variety of woods until cooked (the meat often remains pink, but is fully cooked) and the sauce is either brushed on the outside before serving or baked onto it. Often, there will be a side of sauce to dip individual ribs into before eating. Caution: Don't wear clothing that can be ruined easily! The sauce stains.

Mexican or Tex-Mex. This can be found anywhere, and features beef, chicken and seafood that is cooked with strong peppers, tomatoes and onions in a salsa. There are tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tamales, along with a variety of other menu selections. If you find a good Mexican restaurant, a couple of terrific desserts to seek out are sopapillas (fried puffy bread served with honey), flan (a cooked custard that's similar to creme' caramel), and baked ice cream (a scoop of ice cream that's breaded with crumbs and quickly deep fried so the outer crumbs toast but the ice cream remains solid.

Fresh water fish. These can include trout, walleye, bass, catfish along with some others. The meat is very delicate and flavorful, and are cooked in a variety of methods.

Those are just a few to start. I'm sure other people will suggest more things! Enjoy your visit!

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Barbecue comes in several styles - Texas, North Carolina, Memphis, and Kansas City.

Freshwater fish are also eaten in other parts of the world including Europe. Trout, carp (a fish I grew up eating despite its' "trash fish" reputation), and other freshwater fish are eaten through Europe.

True Mexican cooking has little resemblance to Tex-Mex or the fast food take on "Mexican". American style chili - with ground beef and beans together - is one truly American dish but it's based on Mexican chili which originally was chunks of seasoned beef with beans on the side.

Potato chips - originally called "Saratoga Chips" are an American invention and were introduced at the once fashionable summer resorts of Saratoga Springs.

Popcorn, a hand-me-down from Native American cultures, is a truly American food along with pumpkin pie. Hamburgers were invented at one of the World's Fair and ice cream CONES (previously served only in dishes) were invented out of need and inspiration at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

Cashew chicken, served in many Chinese restaurants, is a American invention first served here in Missouri when an American cook combined converted pan fried chicken into fried breast meat chunks with a rich semi-Oriental sauce and cashews. Springfield, Missouri claims to be the spot where the dish was invented.

Oh, wow. You guys are making me hungry. And I'm trying to cut a little weight for Saturday's qualifier. Rats.

I'll second the sweet tea suggestion thing -- that's a Southern peculiarity -- I can't even get it up here in NYC unless we make it ourselves.

For the freshwater fish, I'd recommend catfish, channel cat in particular. Attempts have been made to export to Europe, but I gather they haven't been too successful -- the fish don't grow as well over there.

BBQ is great, especially good ribs.

Hotdogs make sense.

Steak is a must, though I gather it's pretty fashionable (though expensive) in Japan now.

Cherry pie, pumpkin pie, etc., seem like winners.

Incidentally, pizza here is different from what the Italians ever intended, I think. Maybe pick up some Papa John's. Ditto to the "Tex-Mex."

The fried stuff is a Southern tradition also -- fried chicken, fried fish, country fried steak; you name it, they fry it.

If you make it through NYC, they've gotta get a deli sandwich, and try something, anything, from a street vendor (maybe that's the place to get the hotdog.) Let's not forget the Philly Cheese Steak, if passing through Philadelphia.

And my favorite suggestion is the Cajun. Shrimp etoufe (pronounced Eh-two-FAY; I have no idea how to spell it properly), or one of a hundred kinds of jambalaya, or Bourbon Chicken. For Cajun style food, I heartily recommend Copelands if you're down south (they have locations in several cities now), or Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for the big coastal cities (I think there's one in Chicago now too.) Oh, so many good things.
I've got to quit before I go stuff my face.

For the most part, the British were the first in the colonies--thank God we later immigrants could cook. In a large sense, there's no such thing as American cooking. It's more varied than any other country. I'm NYC raised; it's a melting pot of folks and food.

Here in the North East (Massachusetts and Maine in particular) the traditional cuisine is for the most part seafood-based such as lobster, crabs, shrimp, fish and chips, fried or baked cod, flounder and haddock, and of course chowder, both white and red. There are also clams in the form of batter dipped and fried, with or without bellies, steamers, as well as crab and clam cakes.

Now please excuse me while I go ruin my diet.

Fried Okra

Chicken fried steak

I forget what its called, but the fried onion thing that you dip in sauce.

Fried catfish

chicken n' dumplings

Japanese steak sounds like a good ribeye. Yum. I think I'd like a Japanese style steak now. Red meat is good for building muscle, so I can still eat that while cutting weight, right?


And you're right about the seafood a la New Orleans. Last church I was at had potlucks all the time, and there was a lot of convergence between what the Japanese lady brought and some of what the Cajun ladies brought. The difference was mostly in the seasoning, rather than the ingredients.

One of my first jobs was working in an airport cafeteria that saw a large number of japanese tourists.

You're right. The food was often a culture shock. So, I gathered, was the cafeteria itself, which was rather basic and served, frankly, slop.

However, two things that DID seem to go over well with the tourists were:

1. Tamales -- however, if they're making them in Japan, they may have difficulty obtaining masa -- dunno if they have something comparable. If they eat tamales HERE make sure they understand to take the corn husks off first ... I saw the Japanese tourists MANY times try to take a bite out of a wrapped tamale! I suspect the problem is that there's a bit of a visual similarity between the corn husk wrappers on tamales and nori wrapped around sushi. In other words, they may assume the wrappers are to be eaten! Yech.

Tamales are a pain in the butt to make, but all things considered, they're no more of a pain in the butt than a number of japanese dishes I can think of.

2. Albondigas soup -- mexican meatball soup -- it's spicy, it's got good veggies in it with pretty colors -- carrots, bell peppers, spinach -- and yummy meatballs. Easy to make. I would steer the tourists of all nationalities towards this when I worked in the cafeteria and the tourists generally took to it, but it was one of the few things the cafeteria did right.

Leva

Corn on the cob is quintessentially American. Wild rice. Turkey; stuffing; cranberry sauce. Grilled cheese sandwiches. Watermelon. Jell-O. Brownies.

pdr said:

I think I can safely get them to cook and enjoy fruit pies, an Idaho style baked potato with sour cream and chives and bacon bits, and some kind of fish/shellfish dish New Orleans style. That should be sufficiently different to interest them yet is within the range of their understanding of what food is.

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Ah, yes, culture shock. Some of my Japanese coworkers bring back various treats from Japan on occasion. I've sometimes asked what the foods are, and gotten responses that were not particularly useful at helping me guess how the things would taste. So I've gotten into the habbit of eating those things without asking what's in them.

Only that's had its problems, too. I once bit into a round cracker-like object only to find that it tasted like seafood past its prime. My boss then walked by and asked, "So, Matt, how do you like the octopus cookies?"

Here in Maryland, crabs are very popular. Eating them actually becomes a bit of a ritual; they are bought by the basket and all of the tables are covered with paper due to the mess. The crab shell opens like a pop-top soda can, and then you have to be careful to eat the good stuff inside, and avoid the parts that taste, well, extremely nasty. The legs you break open with a hammer, then dip the meat in a butter sauce. Old Bay Seasoning is also used liberally in the process.

Kielbasa and Brats are also popular, though heavy, hot dog or sausage-like meats.

Farther north, the Pizzelle is very popular as a Christmas and Easter cookie.

Pierogies, a sort of dumpling, are also very popular in the US and Canada.

Maybe it would be a good idea to look at what Japanese foods both Americans and Japanese like, and then try to think of American foods which are similar? For example the Japanese foods kimchi (kimchee?) and futo maki are somewhat like sour kraut, cole slaw, salad with vinagrette dressing, and salt and vinegar fries/chips. I've had excellent buns filled with sweet bean paste or custard, they're similar to cream puffs, lady locks aka cream horns, muffins with fudge or carmel in the center, and filled doughnuts. Also custard pie and perhaps cheesecake.

If your ladies really want to get adventurous and try something from the western side of the continent, how about Prairie Oysters? You would probably need to find an accomodating rancher to supply the raw ingredients.

For those unfamiliar with the term, prairie oysters are not seafood. They're what's left over when a bull is turned into a steer.

sunandshadow said:

For example the Japanese foods kimchi (kimchee?)

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Kimchee is a Korean staple.


Since you've knocked out beef, there goes the idea of pot roast and potatoes.

There's a very regional sandwich called a horseshoe where I live. It's served open-faced on two pieces of texas toast, the original had hamburger as the next layer, though several different types of meat are used nowadays, piled with french fries, and covered with a seasoned cheese sauce. The cheese sauce varies from restaurant to restaurant and is what truly makes the sandwich.

I guess a Philly cheesesteak is out of the question, too!

How about something with beans? A chili, even a vegetarian chili, maybe. It also varies regionally.

rich said:

In a large sense, there's no such thing as American cooking. It's more varied than any other country. I'm NYC raised; it's a melting pot of folks and food.

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With the possible exception of Canada. Yeah, I know, they've got a small population, but cheese whiz, every country and culture in the world is represented in Canada, and the largest cultural festival in the world takes place in Edmonton, Alberta every first weekend in August - top years had over 600k people attending last time I checked.

[/nitpick]

So ... how about ... clam chowder with mini-corn muffins, grilled tuna-burgers, very rare ... with candied yams and sauteed mustard greens or collard greens on the side? The tuna can be accompanied by familiar Japanese dipping sauces and wedges of lemon.

For dessert ... I would go for American Diner-style Rice Pudding with assorted melon and crunchy chocolate chip cookies.