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Ethnic/Regional Foods

So the dinner thread has me thinking about food and I started thinking about all the things I'd like to eat right now. My mom is Greek so I was raised on Greek cooking (usually cooked by my american dad interestingly enough.)

Greek Cuisine

An entire page of delicious. Greek cooking is generally very simple. Olive oil + lemons + oregano + X. X can be anything, but common things are pork, chicken, lamb, rice, potatoes, etc.

Anyway this got me thinking about what sort of ethnic or regional foods you take a lot of pleasure in.

For me:
1. The cheesesteak (Philadelphia, and I've heard you can get one in Pittsburgh)
2. Greek chicken and potatos - Olive oil + lemons + oregano + X where X is chicken and potatos
3. Greek Souvlaki - Olive oil + lemons + oregano + X where X is grilled pork on a stick
4. Greek Lamb Giouvetsi - read for yourself, I'm making it this week, it's full of yum
5. German Schnitzel - breaded pork chops fried, and I'm working on awesome mashed potatoes to accompany these.
6. Grilled Cheeseburger - gotta give a shout out to ground beef on two pieces of bread covered in fat.

Comments

  • Despite having grown up here, I really can't stand most of the food associated with the Carolinas. Sweet tea, grits, boiled peanuts, okra, and chitlins are some of the most unappealing foods I've come across. However, almost all of that is made up for by Carolinian BBQ, which kicks all kinds of ass.
  • I lived in Maryland for a long time. Crab cakes are awesome. Crabs are awesome.
  • I've recently discovered the joys of Mongolian food, where everything you pick is raw (meats & vegetables) you douse it in some sauce, and then watch a little mongolian man cook it and mix it with a stick on a big grill. Mongolian-style burgers are also very cool, although they don't offer them anywhere near here (I'd recommend anyone near Boston look up Fire and Ice for some high quality mongolian cookin').

    And I have to give a shout out to kielbasa, one of the best perks to being Polish.
  • I've recently discovered the joys of Mongolian food, where everything you pick is raw (meats & vegetables) you douse it in some sauce, and then watch a little mongolian man cook it and mix it with a stick on a big grill. Mongolian-style burgers are also very cool, although they don't offer them anywhere near here (I'd recommend anyone near Boston look up Fire and Ice for some high quality mongolian cookin').
    There's this place in DC's Chinatown that has Mongolian. I don't know the name though. T_T Yet, I remember how to get there.
  • You know that's not mongolian right?

    I think I already posted something on a similar topic, but here is the rundown:

    1-Gallo Pinto (black or red beans, rice, cilantro, onions and lizano sauce, all fried together, almost always served for breakfast, with fried fresh cheese, fried plantains, sour cream, scrambled eggs and a tortilla or some bacon)
    2-Rice n Beans (same as above, only with the addition of coconut milk and habanero peppers, served with fried plantains and some curry chicken)
    3-Black Bean Soup (bean liquor, poached eggs, small chopped green plantains (boiled aside, rinsed and then added when cooked) rice, onions, cilantro, bell peppers)
    4-Caramelized ripe plantain (with cinnamon, cloves and honey)
    5-Baked ripe plantains (with fresh cheese or curds and sour cream)
    6-Patacones (double fried green plantains, you fry it once, smash it, then fry it again until golden crisp and delicious, with either refried beans, guacamole, pico de gallo (tomato, cilantro, onions, lemon) or sour cream (we love that stuff down here, we even eat it with toast)
    7-Tamales (usually only prepared for x-mas, made from masa (kinda like corn flour), stuffed with rice, vegetables, pork, chicken, capers, and lots of stuff, all wrapped inside a plantain leaf and boiled, served with a bit of Lizano sauce)
    8-Bigoron (chicharrones (deep fried pork skin), cabagge, tomatoes and boiled cassava and lemon, served inside a plantain leaf)
    9-Ceviche (raw fish, cilantro, onions, and a ton of lemon or lime juice)
    10-Cassava chips, green plantain chips and ripe plantain chips are quite popular down here, dunno if you have them over there
    11-All kinds of picadillos (to my experience most US citizens dislike them and kinda look down upon them as poor peoples food)

    well, you get the general idea...
  • I really don't think there is anything special in regards to regional food in the Pacific Northwest, however my mother is Filipino and my father is Guamanian & Japanese so I've been raised on ethnic food.

    Filipino:
    Adobo: My favorite Filipino dish. Basically slow cook chicken in a marinade of soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic, black pepper, bay leaves, and onion. Served with rice. It's best when you put some of the marinade on the rice.
    Pancit: My best way to describe it as a Filipino version of chow-mein. There are many different ways too cook this. My favorite is bihon style with clear rice noodles, cabbage, pork, carrots, celery, and chinese sausage cooked with patis. If you add fresh squeezed lemon on pancit, it enhances the flavor tremendously.
    Lumpia: Filipino egg rolls. There are also many ways to make the filling. I prefer ground pork, carrots, & green beans.
    Longanisa. Tasty red sausage links. Great for breakfast with rice and over easy eggs.
    Sinigang: A soupy dish eaten with rice. My favorite version is when it's cooked with ox tail or beef soup bone along with bak choy, onion, and tamarind.

    Guamanian:
    Kelaguen: a side dish of a meat served cold. It's great served as tacos. My favorite version is with chicken.
    Guamanian BBQ: Take any meat and soak it in a marinade of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, pepper, onion, lemon slices for at least 24 hours then grill.
    Red rice: white riced cooked with achote seeds, onions, and oil.
    Finadene: All purpose sauce to add to whatever. Guamanian equivalent to ketchup.
  • I miss having souvlaki from a real depaneur, like you can get in Montreal. There's no need to bring up poutine again.
  • edited July 2008
    I should stay away from this thread. I almost drooled on the carpet while reading.

    My mom always cooked a lot of Indian food when I was young, and we'd have a lot of curries and biryani. I was raised in a household that was adventurous as far as food was concerned. I'd be surprised when my friends would come over and would be like "I've never had Tofu/Indian food/Japanese food/etc.etc...I've eaten a good variety of good stuff.

    Lately my big thing has been Bento. If I had more time, I'd like to make nice little lunch boxes every day.
    Post edited by gomidog on
  • Longanisa.
    My roommates parents would cook this. Yum!
  • edited July 2008
    Down here adobo has another meaning, its like a rub, just dry spices to flavor and tenderize meats, but the one you are talking about sounds and looks amazing.
    Here, longaniza is just plain old chorizo, so its probably the same.
    I miss having souvlaki from a real depaneur, like you can get in Montreal. There's no need to bring up poutine again.
    I finally had poutine at a Canadian/Irish pub they opened down here not so long ago, as soon as I saw it in the menu, I remembered Anthony Bourdain and the other food thread in the forum and instantly ordered 2 types... it was soo good...
    Post edited by MrRoboto on
  • edited July 2008
    Down here adobo has another meaning, its like a rub, just dry spices to flavor and tenderize meats, but the one you are talking about sounds and looks amazing.
    Yeah, I noticed other elasticities having adobo, but it was not the same as the Filipino version. Man, talking about this makes me miss home cooking. I could cook it, but I do not have the ingredients. You can pretty much cook it with any meat, but chicken in the best, especially chicken wings. The key that make it so yummy is that you slow cook it to the point that the meat just falls off the bone and is full of marinade flavor.

    I could add Filipino & Guamanian desserts, but I need to make dinner now.
    I should stay away from this thread. I almost drooled on the carpet while reading.
    Warning: This thread should not be read on an empty stomach.:P
    Post edited by Rochelle on
  • When I visited the US Greek food saved my life. I was in Arizona and I have no idea if I was eating the wring things but it seemed like all the food was really sweet and really fattening. To try and eat something that tasted slightly more like the food I was used to I had to keep going to Big Big Fat Greek Restaurant. It wasn't the best but it was closer to what I would normally eat at my parents. Whilst I love the rainbow of flavours other cuisines provide, it is hard to pass up on the simpler flavours of olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper, and a BBQ.

    The one meal I have been loving lately and is pretty much a must at any bbq my Croatian parents have, chicken thigh with a sprinkle of Vegeta (not the dragonball z character but the seasoning). Do some of them on the BBQ and you'll be surprised at how many people will comment on the tastiness of the chicken. From wikipedia "Vegeta was conceived in 1958 in Podravka's laboratories. Professor Zlata Bartl was head of the team that invented it, and the company later established a Foundation for graduate and postgraduate students named after her in 2001." It almost sounds like an attempt at biological warfare turned into a tasty seasoning. I think it is all the MSG and salt but it works on just about any meat perfectly, if you can find it, give it a shot.
  • So the dinner thread has me thinking about food and I started thinking about all the things I'd like to eat right now. My mom is Greek so I was raised on Greek cooking (usually cooked by my american dad interestingly enough.)

    Greek Cuisine

    An entire page of delicious. Greek cooking is generally very simple. Olive oil + lemons + oregano + X. X can be anything, but common things are pork, chicken, lamb, rice, potatoes, etc.

    Anyway this got me thinking about what sort of ethnic or regional foods you take a lot of pleasure in.

    For me:
    1. The cheesesteak (Philadelphia, and I've heard you can get one in Pittsburgh)
    2. Greek chicken and potatos - Olive oil + lemons + oregano + X where X is chicken and potatos
    3. Greek Souvlaki - Olive oil + lemons + oregano + X where X is grilled pork on a stick
    4. Greek Lamb Giouvetsi -readfor yourself, I'm making it this week, it's full of yum
    5. German Schnitzel - breaded pork chops fried, and I'm working on awesome mashed potatoes to accompany these.
    6. Grilled Cheeseburger - gotta give a shout out to ground beef on two pieces of bread covered in fat.
    Screw you, now I need some gyros. Fortunately, I've got a good Greek place right around the corner.

    My mother is Italian, and my father was Norwegian, so I've had some interesting cuisines growing up. My mom is probably the best goddamn cook on the face of the planet (and this has been verified by other people), so growing up on her Italian food was great; I had all the staples, prepared in a somewhat more traditional fashion, though she did like to use a lot of sauce.

    She'd also make a lot of more traditional Norwegian dishes: fiskepudding and Norwegian meatballs top the list as being the best. I've experimented with making gravlaks myself, and I must say, it turned out quite nicely. Norwegian pancakes are also awesomely tasty. I have a cookbook from Andreas Viestad, and I've taken to making a lot of stuff from it.

    I've also tried some more adventurous foods, namely head cheese, blood-and-tongue, and a locally produced black pudding. The black pudding was actually pretty tasty, when cooked with some tomatoes. My general rule is that I'll try pretty much any food once, and if I like it, I'll go back for more.
  • Mmmm, I love me some Indian food something fierce.
  • I am proud to report that this thread cost me money. I was forced to hunt high and low for somewhere that sells souvlaki -- and lo, t'was found not two blocks from my house. I'll be sending the bill for $10.56 to Gedavids.
  • Mmmm, I love me some Indian food something fierce.
    I had it for the first time not too long ago. YUM! My boyfriend is a big cooker and food lover so he introduced me to many different foods. When he cooked lamb......wow...
  • I think this thread should be called "Foods That You Like". On the internet, all foods are Ethnic/Regional foods, after all. :)
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