Thought I’d ask this because I want to discover more foods from across the world
(Also I shouldn’t have to say this to americans, please state where you are from and state where you are from without acronyms or shortened names because I’ve seen US Defaultism on lemmy and not all of us are going to know your acronyms considering we’re global users)
I’m Belgian so only one answer is allowed
Belgian fries with mayonnaise and Flemish stew
Weirdly the replies to your comment won’t load on the lemmy instance I’m on, don’t know about other instances
They do seem to load on your instance so I’m thinking it’s some sort of federation issue
Anyways here’s a screenshot for anyone else who can’t see the replies
I pick vol au vent. 😁
Allez, een Américain Frites alsteblief !
Very admirable, it’s a good choice
If you take it with fries, of course 😁
This interaction is basically me at a restaurant
As neighbor Dutchy, I can agree! Delicious.
A few kg of meat, traditionally (in the rhine-area) from horse, nowadays more beef, marinated for 1+ month in a few litres of wine and vinegar, with some vegetables. Slowly cooked so it disintegrates on your fork.
The sauce you get from Sauerbraten is sooooo good, too - goes well with any veggies and/or pasta to eat alongside it.
Yep, we always save a lot of sauce for later in the year, as we (my family) only makes it one time a year, for christmas (on the 25th and 26th). With dumplings on the 25th and noodles on the 26th.
Northwest US: smoked salmon with a side of berries. Sockeye with little or no sugar added is the best IMO. The berries should be native varieties if you want to try for authenticity, though the invasive blackberries are really tasty, too.
From Bulgaria, banitsa, it’s a bit difficult to describe, but it’s sorta like layered dough with cheese and eggs, though this description really doesn’t do it justice…
Looks a lot like the moldovian Vertuta. I bet they taste similar.
My wife spent 18 months in Bulgaria. When she talks about the food banitsa invariably comes up as something she desperately misses.
German here. I don’t know if its reaally local, but mine would be a family dish called “Holzfällerpfanne”, the “lumberjack skillet”. It’s made out of fried potatoes, slices of apple, Champignons, fried onion, fried cabanossi and cheese on top (a lot of it).
So you basically slice all ingredients, fry the raw (and peeled) potatoes for a few minutes, add in the champignons, wait a few more minutes, add the apples next, and after another few minutes add the onions and cabanossi. When everything is slightly browned, spread a good amount of cheese on top, cover the pan with a lid and wait until the cheese is fully melted. Tadaa!
Deciding when to add which ingredient so everything is perfect at the same time is kind of key here, so it may help to fry the onions und cabanossi in a seperate pan to not overdo them.
Germany (Rhineland Region) I would go with “Mettbrötchen” even though it’s so plain it’s so unique in its style
Finland: only had it a couple of times 'cause it’s expensive, and takes long and is tedious to make, but loimulohi (fire salmon). It’s salmon nailed to a plank and then heated up by an open fire. Very tasty.
Pretty much any big enough fish can be made like that, but I’ve only had salmon.
I imagine there is something like this in a lot of languages, but it’s always amused me that Bulgogi (Korean BBQ beef/pork) translates literally to “fire meat”
I’m happy to learn Finns have a similar word!
In Japan, we usually trade that for skewers and have them staked in the sand around a fire, rotating them every now and again
That sounds amazing
here in the PNW (Pacific North West) of North America, we have lots of different kinds of salmon but wood fired salmon on a cedar plank (like a roofing shingle) is food fit for the gods
the natives have done it for ions and it is something you have to try if you like that fire salmon
also natives make salmon candy, which is dried salmon belly, dude its the best jerky ever made
From Almeirim in Portugal, there’s “sopa da pedra”, translates to “soup of the rock”. It has several kinds of meat, beans, potato, and it’s usually eaten with bread (some say even a specific local bread type, but I’m not picky on that). It used to come with a stone in it traditionally, but for higiene reasons restaurants are not allowed to anymore. Some people at home still do it, I believe.
With it there is an old tale:
There was once a poor friar that was traveling. Once it came time to rest, he knocked on someone’s door and asked for their hospitality in exchange for a soup. His hosts let him in and they see the friar pulling an old smooth stone from his pocket and putting it in a pot, along with water.
“Some seasoning would make this soup better… Do you happen to have any chouriço?” [best translation I’ve got is “meat”, or maybe “sausage”] asks the friar. And so his hosts find him some chouriço that they throw in the pan.
“It’s looking great! Now this soup would really improve if we could thicken it up a little. Do you happen to have some potatoes or beans leftover from yesterday?” And some potatoes and beans have indeed been leftover from yesterday. The friar adds it to the soup.
The friar asks for a few more spices, olive oil, and soon there is a delicious smell coming from the pot. What a nice soup!
They eat and once the soup is finished the friar fishes out the stone, washes it and puts it back in his pocket. Tomorrow he’ll knock on someone else’s door along the way ;)
chouriço reminds me of “chorizo”
Wonder if there’s some related etymology there
Chorizo is the Spanish variant, our neighbors. Chorizo and chouriço are not quite the same, but similar. AFAIK they have different seasonings.
Ha! We have a very similar folk tale in Hungary about a soldier returning from war with a rock, asking an old lady to cook the “stone soup”, asking for more and more legit ingredients.
Out of curiosity, is the soup similar?
Just re-read the tale, it’s actually a bit similar, it has sausages (kolbász, much closer to chorizo than the english type), potatoes and rice.
That’s so interesting! I wonder if some immigrant took it from one country to the other, along with the story
All I could find was that the version I know comes from Székelys of Bukovina. Maybe it’s convergent evolution of resourceful people🤷♂️
merjimek chorbasy - is a lentil soup, I think it’s originally turkish. nohutli et - lamb stew with chickpeas. yantyq - pie with minced lamb fried in a pan without fat. I’m originally from Crimea, Ukraine.
With potatoes and mettwurst! Yum!!! Now I need to make Grünkohl before it’s too warm outside to eat kale.
in Guatemala, the spicy rice tamales are probably my favorite thing here.
but today I’m getting the chipilin tamales, which have little leaves mixed into the dough and are also real good.
From approximately the french Alps: Ravioles du Dauphiné or Tartiflette
Norwegian, here. Lutefisk is incredible if done right, but it’s easy to fuck up severely. So if someone were to try and cook something based on my recommendation, I’d suggest Fårikål or Pinnekjøtt instead, as they’re both incredibly easy to make and quite tasty.
Now I’m curious to try “good” lutefisk. I grew up hearing about how exceptionally awful it is.
Same. Didn’t try it until I was in my 30’s and it was kinda meh at best… until I tried a well made one later.
The difference between “meh” and “great” is in the quality. The difference between those and “get it away from me” is definitely in the eater.
My ex’s mum would make this at Christmas and it was horrifying.
Visited my norwegian family over the new year, and got to try pinnekjøtt. Very tasty, if a bit annoying to get the meat off of the bones.
In my opinion, that means it’s not done yet. Since it’s mostly a steaming process, you can leave it in as long as you want to. I usually put it on in the morning, and just add a little water in the kettle throughout the day to make sure it does not dry out. Then 20 minutes in the oven before serving.
That way it usually falls off the bone easily.
I’ve lived all over the U.S., so here are some of my favorites:
Texas:
- Beef barbecue. The classic is beef brisket, but a lot of places have great beef rib, too.
- Tex Mex: fajitas hit the spot every time.
- Breakfast tacos, especially with leftover smoked brisket from the day before, or some other smoked meat like smoked sausage. Undeniably Texas, undeniably delicious.
Louisiana:
- Boiled crawfish, with red potatoes and corn and andouille sausage. Some people overcook their potatoes and corn, but even then there’s still a charm to it. But the whole experience of a crawfish boil is everything great about food culture: socializing around a big table, making a big mess, teaching kids and newbies how do engage in that task of peeling crawfish. The Vietnamese riffs on these traditions are also great, and Viet-Cajun is a great genre of food in general, too.
The American South in general:
- American Southern style fried chicken. It’s just great.
- Pecan pie. Easily my favorite American dessert.
Southern California:
- Burritos. Something about the fresh made flour tortillas in Southern California are just better than everywhere else in the U.S. So a good burrito provides flavor from the fillings, and also flavor from the wrap itself, in a way that all the parts just complement each other.
- Ensenada style fish tacos (yes, I know this originates south of the border but it is “local” to the general region). There’s just something refreshing about fish tacos with a crunchy cabbage slaw, fresh lime juice, a crema-based sauce, eaten outdoors. Can’t beat it.
New York:
- Bodega style breakfast sandwich. The basic concept is universal across the U.S. (egg, a breakfast meat like sausage or bacon, and cheese on some kind of roll, bun, or even bagel, griddled with generous amounts of butter), but something about the New York bodegas just make these taste better when you’re on the go.
Chicago:
- Deep dish pizza. Looks kinda dumb, but it’s delicious.
- Chicago style, “dragged through the garden” hot dogs. Every component makes this ensemble great.
- Italian beef sandwiches. I don’t know why these aren’t more popular outside of Chicago. Get it dipped, get a little messy with it.
I’d go Chicago tavern style pizza over deep dish. Great list though
Pecan pie. Easily my favorite American dessert.
I love a well done pecan pie but I find myself avoiding it because you never know when some Karo jelly with a few pecans thrown on top horror is going to be what is served you.
Do you mean local like within my own city or regionally/by country?
Countrywide: Hotdogs are the first thing I think of when I think “American food.”
Statewide (California): The sour dough bread bowls at the San Francisco wharf are amazing as fuck.
In my city: The best thing here are taco trucks. There’s even a whole dedicated parking area for a bunch of them to gather downtown called “Grub Hubs.”
I almost mentioned the sourdough bread bowls because SF is known for their sourdough and those are tasty.
It’s really tourist food though. The local soup is Cioppino but I never see it served in a bread bowl.
There’s not a lot of things I’m envious about when it comes to the US
But good and cheap tacos are one of them
Stamppot. I’m from the Netherlands and I really love stamppot.
It’s basically boiled veggies (usually a type of kale, but it can also be made with endive or carrots (but then it’s called hutspot) and potatoes mashed together. Add a smoked sausage and some gravy over it. delicious!
But it’s best when it’s winter and it’s really cold outside and when you make it, the windows steam up. Then it’s really gezellig
Also dutch and I can’t stand the texture of stamppot, and the flavour is pretty meh as well. I’d rather skip dinner than eat stamppot.
Now, zoute haring, that’s a true Dutch delicacy!
I’m german, but my families traditional recipe was influenced by my uncle from the netherlands. It is basically uienstamppot with bratwurst and applesauce as a variation on “Himmel un Ääd” and it’s sooooo tasty. I can never eat normal mashed potatoes when uienstamppot is so much better!
