Local Foods You Love

we’ve got people from all over here so what’s the local food you love? give a recipe if possible. here’s the recipe for shrimp and grits I use but it varies from cook to cook.

Shrimp and Grits

prep time around 15 minutes if you know what you’re doing with the shrimp. if not and it’s fresh with head on around 30 minutes
cooking time about 1 hr

ingredients

1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp(30-40 count lb.), peeled, halved lengthwise, and deveined
Juice of 1 lemon
Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt or more to taste
1 1/2 cups stone-ground grits are what you really want, but instant or quick-cooking will work in a pinch, follow the directions on the package
6 thick slices bacon, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock(use any good supermarket brand or make your own shrimp stock by placing the shells in about 1 1/4 cups water and boiling about 8-10 minutes, making sure you strain them well )
1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup (about 1/4 pound) grated medium to sharp Cheddar cheese

Preparation
Combine the shrimp with the lemon juice and a couple of generous splashes of hot pepper sauce. Let sit while you begin the grits and gravy.

Make the grits in a large heavy saucepan, first bringing 6 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of the salt to a boil. Whisk in the grits a few handfuls at a time. (They will bubble up initially.) When you have added all the grits, reduce the heat to a very low simmer and cook over low heat for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally at first and more frequently toward the end.

While the grits simmer, get the gravy under way. Fry the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat until brown but still limp. Stir in the onion, green pepper, and garlic and continue cooking until the onion and pepper are limp, about 5 minutes. Add the scallions, sprinkle the flour over the mixture, and continue sautéing for 5 minutes longer. Stir in the stock and remaining salt and cook for 5 minutes longer. Remove from the heat while you finish the grits.
When the grits are thick and creamy, stir in as much of the butter as you wish, followed by the cheese. Add a splash of hot pepper sauce and additional salt if you like. Cover the grits while you finish the gravy.

Return the gravy to medium heat and stir in the shrimp. Cook until the shrimp are opaque throughout, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately, mounding the grits in large shallow bowls or on plates and covering them with shrimp and gravy.

they say it serves 4 but that’s for people that have never had them before. if there are more than 3 that like it I double the recipe

hope you try it. good eatin’

cheesesteaks

ingredients: ???

preparation: H, you’ll need it.

Oh Silver I just found a local restaurant here in Seattle that serves shrimp and grits at brunch on Sundays. The only time I ever ate it was in NC and the chef here has it pegged. Heavenly. I would never attempt to make it though. I’m terrible at cooking anything with seafood :frowning:

There’s this lovely cemetery around the block.

Its to die for

muhuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

MAHAHAHAHAHAH

Okay guys, just to show how much I love all you T-Nationer’s I’m going to give you all my secret recipe for my multi-award-winning chili. I’ve won six chili cook-offs with this stuff and I’ve beaten the head chefs from several well-known hotels and restaurants from the Bay Area with it, including the head chef from the Hilton in downtown San Jose (twice) and the head chef at the Marriott in Santa Clara. It’s a long recipe/process but trust me, it’s the best chili you’ll ever try.

Ingredients: tbsp=tablespoon, tsp=teaspoon for those not in the know

2.5 tbsp paprika, 4.5tbsp cumin, 1tbsp oregano, 4tbsp cayenne, 1tbsp dried chiles, 1tsp white pepper, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp brown sugar, 1/2tsp thyme, 1/2tsp salt, 1tsp garlic salt
5-6lbs. tri-tip, 1 yellow onion, 1 red onion, 1/4cup sweet onion, 2lbs bacon (not hickory-smoked, just plain bacon)
4 pasilla chiles, 2 anaheim chiles, 6 jalapenos, 6 habaneros, 6 cerranos, 2 poblanos, 3 shallots, 6 cloves garlic, 8 tomatillos, 8 tomatoes, 40oz. stewed tomatoes (I stew my own, but store-bought should be fine), 24oz. tomato paste, 24oz. Foster’s beer (any light-colored beer will work as long as it isn’t an ale and get two 12oz bottles since one will be added several hours after the first one), 1/2bar of milk chocolate, large sprig of cilantro, 16oz. tomato sauce, 4 additional chiles of your choice

Prepare chili powder (mix everything from paprika to garlic salt listed above in glass bowl)

Rub tri-tip lightly with the powder (save about 2/3 of the powder) and set aside at room temp.

Simmer the rest of the powder with 6-8oz of the beer until it thickens; refrigerate covered

Parch, peel, and de-seed all chiles (turn stove on broil and let the chiles sit on cookie sheet at about 450 degrees, rotate continuously until the skin is browned and begin to bubble up, remove from oven and wrap in damp paper towels, put in frig for up to 15 min then remove and peel skin off, pull stem out from top and slice open, scrape all seeds and rinds out

cut all onions into long strips and lightly grill for 5 minutes; set aside

dice the shallots, garlic and cilantro

cook all bacon until well-done, set bacon aside to dry and save all bacon lard in the pan

using bacon lard, sautee all the onions, garlic, shallots and cilantro; season lightly with salt and pepper

dice all the tomatillos and combine in heavy pot with the tomato paste and tomate sauce

add the onion mixture to pot

lightly sautee the chiles after they have been parched, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into 1/2" pieces

sear the tri-tip on grill and then smoke on very low heat for 10 min per side; dice into 1/2" cubes (the meat should still be bloody on the inside)

add everything to the heavy pot now (add the rest of the first bottle/can of beer as well), including all the bacon and bacon lard (crush the dried bacon into tiny pieces) and the milk chocolate-break the chocolate up into tiny pieces first

turn heat to high and add the refrigerated mixture of beer and chili powder

cut all the whole tomatoes into sem-large chunks (like you would for very chunky salsa or salad)

if needed in order to get a kind of watery consistency, add more whole tomatoes and tomato sauce

cook on high heat in heavy pot for 10-15 minutes, then at medium for 30 minutes, then simmer for 6-8 hrs (never cover the pot at all)

refrigerate for 8-10 hrs, remove from frig and simmer on low for 1 hr. Add as much of the other beer as needed if the chili is way too thick and add tomato paste and some mesa harina flour if too watery

after adjusting as needed, simmer for 1-2 more hours and serve

This shit takes forever to make and should be started about 24 hours before it will be served. I have the whole thing committed to memory so there might be a mistake in the steps that I wouldn’t have noticed until I was actually cooking it.

The parching/peeling of the chiles is probably the most important step. Removing the rinds will remove most of the heat from each chile, but with thirty total chiles there is still plenty of heat left and there will also be so many chiles that they add a great flavor without making it unbearably hot. Without scraping the rinds out, you could never get thirty chiles in there w/o ruining the flavor with too much heat.

Do not add beans. The beans only take away from the flavor of the other ingredients. True chili has no beans and has a shitload of chiles.

If anyone here makes this stuff, PM me and let me know how it went. I’m always open to suggestions and ideas.

There’s nuthin’ here in Joizy.
Nuthin’ I tell ya!

Gotta’ be Frites, of which you have a faint echo in the States as “French Fries”.

Recipe:

  1. Know which stand to go to. (They have to be doing the double fry in beef fat)
  2. Buy a cone and eat, with mayo or with samourai sauce.
  3. Sleep.

Optional:
2a) Drink a dark Chimay (red or blue)

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
There’s nuthin’ here in Joizy.
Nuthin’ I tell ya![/quote]

Come on now. Texas Weiners? Please tell me you knew these were a Jersey creation?

Hot Grill? Rutt’s Hutt?

For those that don’t know, its a deep fried hot dog with chili and raw onions. Started in Paterson in the 1920’s. Rutt’s Hut was featured on the Food Channel but Hot Grill makes them the best.

It’s not completely local, but there ain’t nothin like a proper French Canadian Poutine.

Parisa. Basically its cured ground beef.

Ground beef
Shredded cheese
Onion
Salt and Pepper
Jalapenos
Lemon Juice

I use 2.5 lbs beef. Mix it in a mixing bowl with the cheese(amount is by taste), onion(diced), salt and pepper(to taste), Jalapenos(optional), and lemon juice(1/4 cup). Refrigerate for 30 mins. Done.

Usually served on crackers but I’ve seen people eat it as a sammich.

Stuffed Jalapenos FTW!!!

Take large Jalapeno
Make a cut along the side
Remove the seeds
Stuff with cream chease
Wrap bacon around Jalapeno to keep the pepper closed
Insert toothpicks to hold bacon in place
Throw on grill til bacon is cooked.

Eat and enjoy…

I’ve made these for many different people and they ALWAYS love them, the only exception is people that don’t like spicey food. They’re easy to make and are always party favorites.

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
Okay guys, just to show how much I love all you T-Nationer’s I’m going to give you all my secret recipe for my multi-award-winning chili. I’ve won six chili cook-offs with this stuff and I’ve beaten the head chefs from several well-known hotels and restaurants from the Bay Area with it, including the head chef from the Hilton in downtown San Jose (twice) and the head chef at the Marriott in Santa Clara. It’s a long recipe/process but trust me, it’s the best chili you’ll ever try.

Ingredients: tbsp=tablespoon, tsp=teaspoon for those not in the know

2.5 tbsp paprika, 4.5tbsp cumin, 1tbsp oregano, 4tbsp cayenne, 1tbsp dried chiles, 1tsp white pepper, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp brown sugar, 1/2tsp thyme, 1/2tsp salt, 1tsp garlic salt
5-6lbs. tri-tip, 1 yellow onion, 1 red onion, 1/4cup sweet onion, 2lbs bacon (not hickory-smoked, just plain bacon)
4 pasilla chiles, 2 anaheim chiles, 6 jalapenos, 6 habaneros, 6 cerranos, 2 poblanos, 3 shallots, 6 cloves garlic, 8 tomatillos, 8 tomatoes, 40oz. stewed tomatoes (I stew my own, but store-bought should be fine), 24oz. tomato paste, 24oz. Foster’s beer (any light-colored beer will work as long as it isn’t an ale and get two 12oz bottles since one will be added several hours after the first one), 1/2bar of milk chocolate, large sprig of cilantro, 16oz. tomato sauce, 4 additional chiles of your choice

Prepare chili powder (mix everything from paprika to garlic salt listed above in glass bowl)

Rub tri-tip lightly with the powder (save about 2/3 of the powder) and set aside at room temp.

Simmer the rest of the powder with 6-8oz of the beer until it thickens; refrigerate covered

Parch, peel, and de-seed all chiles (turn stove on broil and let the chiles sit on cookie sheet at about 450 degrees, rotate continuously until the skin is browned and begin to bubble up, remove from oven and wrap in damp paper towels, put in frig for up to 15 min then remove and peel skin off, pull stem out from top and slice open, scrape all seeds and rinds out

cut all onions into long strips and lightly grill for 5 minutes; set aside

dice the shallots, garlic and cilantro

cook all bacon until well-done, set bacon aside to dry and save all bacon lard in the pan

using bacon lard, sautee all the onions, garlic, shallots and cilantro; season lightly with salt and pepper

dice all the tomatillos and combine in heavy pot with the tomato paste and tomate sauce

add the onion mixture to pot

lightly sautee the chiles after they have been parched, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into 1/2" pieces

sear the tri-tip on grill and then smoke on very low heat for 10 min per side; dice into 1/2" cubes (the meat should still be bloody on the inside)

add everything to the heavy pot now (add the rest of the first bottle/can of beer as well), including all the bacon and bacon lard (crush the dried bacon into tiny pieces) and the milk chocolate-break the chocolate up into tiny pieces first

turn heat to high and add the refrigerated mixture of beer and chili powder

cut all the whole tomatoes into sem-large chunks (like you would for very chunky salsa or salad)

if needed in order to get a kind of watery consistency, add more whole tomatoes and tomato sauce

cook on high heat in heavy pot for 10-15 minutes, then at medium for 30 minutes, then simmer for 6-8 hrs (never cover the pot at all)

refrigerate for 8-10 hrs, remove from frig and simmer on low for 1 hr. Add as much of the other beer as needed if the chili is way too thick and add tomato paste and some mesa harina flour if too watery

after adjusting as needed, simmer for 1-2 more hours and serve

This shit takes forever to make and should be started about 24 hours before it will be served. I have the whole thing committed to memory so there might be a mistake in the steps that I wouldn’t have noticed until I was actually cooking it.

The parching/peeling of the chiles is probably the most important step. Removing the rinds will remove most of the heat from each chile, but with thirty total chiles there is still plenty of heat left and there will also be so many chiles that they add a great flavor without making it unbearably hot. Without scraping the rinds out, you could never get thirty chiles in there w/o ruining the flavor with too much heat.

Do not add beans. The beans only take away from the flavor of the other ingredients. True chili has no beans and has a shitload of chiles.

If anyone here makes this stuff, PM me and let me know how it went. I’m always open to suggestions and ideas. [/quote]
I’m glad I’m not the only one that makes chili without beans and uses chunks of meat. when the weather cools down into the 70’s or even low 80’s during the day I’m going to try this and I think I’ll make some using venison. have you tried this using venison or other wild game? we’ve got a few emu farms around here so maybe…

[quote]silverblood wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
Okay guys, just to show how much I love all you T-Nationer’s I’m going to give you all my secret recipe for my multi-award-winning chili. I’ve won six chili cook-offs with this stuff and I’ve beaten the head chefs from several well-known hotels and restaurants from the Bay Area with it, including the head chef from the Hilton in downtown San Jose (twice) and the head chef at the Marriott in Santa Clara. It’s a long recipe/process but trust me, it’s the best chili you’ll ever try.

Ingredients: tbsp=tablespoon, tsp=teaspoon for those not in the know

2.5 tbsp paprika, 4.5tbsp cumin, 1tbsp oregano, 4tbsp cayenne, 1tbsp dried chiles, 1tsp white pepper, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp brown sugar, 1/2tsp thyme, 1/2tsp salt, 1tsp garlic salt
5-6lbs. tri-tip, 1 yellow onion, 1 red onion, 1/4cup sweet onion, 2lbs bacon (not hickory-smoked, just plain bacon)
4 pasilla chiles, 2 anaheim chiles, 6 jalapenos, 6 habaneros, 6 cerranos, 2 poblanos, 3 shallots, 6 cloves garlic, 8 tomatillos, 8 tomatoes, 40oz. stewed tomatoes (I stew my own, but store-bought should be fine), 24oz. tomato paste, 24oz. Foster’s beer (any light-colored beer will work as long as it isn’t an ale and get two 12oz bottles since one will be added several hours after the first one), 1/2bar of milk chocolate, large sprig of cilantro, 16oz. tomato sauce, 4 additional chiles of your choice

Prepare chili powder (mix everything from paprika to garlic salt listed above in glass bowl)

Rub tri-tip lightly with the powder (save about 2/3 of the powder) and set aside at room temp.

Simmer the rest of the powder with 6-8oz of the beer until it thickens; refrigerate covered

Parch, peel, and de-seed all chiles (turn stove on broil and let the chiles sit on cookie sheet at about 450 degrees, rotate continuously until the skin is browned and begin to bubble up, remove from oven and wrap in damp paper towels, put in frig for up to 15 min then remove and peel skin off, pull stem out from top and slice open, scrape all seeds and rinds out

cut all onions into long strips and lightly grill for 5 minutes; set aside

dice the shallots, garlic and cilantro

cook all bacon until well-done, set bacon aside to dry and save all bacon lard in the pan

using bacon lard, sautee all the onions, garlic, shallots and cilantro; season lightly with salt and pepper

dice all the tomatillos and combine in heavy pot with the tomato paste and tomate sauce

add the onion mixture to pot

lightly sautee the chiles after they have been parched, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into 1/2" pieces

sear the tri-tip on grill and then smoke on very low heat for 10 min per side; dice into 1/2" cubes (the meat should still be bloody on the inside)

add everything to the heavy pot now (add the rest of the first bottle/can of beer as well), including all the bacon and bacon lard (crush the dried bacon into tiny pieces) and the milk chocolate-break the chocolate up into tiny pieces first

turn heat to high and add the refrigerated mixture of beer and chili powder

cut all the whole tomatoes into sem-large chunks (like you would for very chunky salsa or salad)

if needed in order to get a kind of watery consistency, add more whole tomatoes and tomato sauce

cook on high heat in heavy pot for 10-15 minutes, then at medium for 30 minutes, then simmer for 6-8 hrs (never cover the pot at all)

refrigerate for 8-10 hrs, remove from frig and simmer on low for 1 hr. Add as much of the other beer as needed if the chili is way too thick and add tomato paste and some mesa harina flour if too watery

after adjusting as needed, simmer for 1-2 more hours and serve

This shit takes forever to make and should be started about 24 hours before it will be served. I have the whole thing committed to memory so there might be a mistake in the steps that I wouldn’t have noticed until I was actually cooking it.

The parching/peeling of the chiles is probably the most important step. Removing the rinds will remove most of the heat from each chile, but with thirty total chiles there is still plenty of heat left and there will also be so many chiles that they add a great flavor without making it unbearably hot. Without scraping the rinds out, you could never get thirty chiles in there w/o ruining the flavor with too much heat.

Do not add beans. The beans only take away from the flavor of the other ingredients. True chili has no beans and has a shitload of chiles.

If anyone here makes this stuff, PM me and let me know how it went. I’m always open to suggestions and ideas. [/quote]
I’m glad I’m not the only one that makes chili without beans and uses chunks of meat. when the weather cools down into the 70’s or even low 80’s during the day I’m going to try this and I think I’ll make some using venison. have you tried this using venison or other wild game? we’ve got a few emu farms around here so maybe… [/quote]

I’ve made chili with bear meat (decent), venison (pretty good), rattlesnake meat (excellent), pork (turned out bad but I think I used the wrong type of pork), chicken (pretty good), duck (I used some mallard and pheasant after hunting; not good. great meat but not for chili) and coarse ground beef. I’ve only used the tri-tip for this particular recipe. It’s not real chili if the meat comes from anything other than a cow, as far as I’m concerned. Although if you can find yourself some rattlesnake meat at a decent price I’d recommend this if you want something other than beef. It’s really good and it’ll blow everyone’s mind when you tell 'em they’re eating rattlesnake meat. I’ve heard alligator meat is good too.

If you try my recipe I recommend just using the tri-tip. It takes so long to make it would fucking blow if you used something else and ended up with an inferior product after all that hard work. I use tri-tip because it’s an excellent cut, can usually be found on sale somewhere, and it’s actually a very lean cut as well.

Some people recommend scraping all the lard off the top of the chili when it rises up after refrigerating but that’s for fags. Just use a lean cut like tri-tip that still has a great flavor in and of itself. If you do use venison, you might want to cook it by itself and then add it to the chili after you reheat it post-refrigeration. It tends to get pretty gamey once it gets beyond medium-rare.

Sear it (after rubbing it up with more of the chili powder mixture) right before you pull the chili out of the fridge, dice it and then add it in. Rubbing it will give it some chili flavor and since it’ll be raw on the inside, the juices will mix with the chili once you dice it up and add it in, but since you’re only adding it an hour or two before serving, it will only get to med-rare texture in the chili and won’t get gamey.

[quote]attydeb2005 wrote:
Oh Silver I just found a local restaurant here in Seattle that serves shrimp and grits at brunch on Sundays. The only time I ever ate it was in NC and the chef here has it pegged. Heavenly. I would never attempt to make it though. I’m terrible at cooking anything with seafood :([/quote]

I’m glad you found the shrimp and grits. Ask the restaurant if they know how to do Frogmore Stew. this is a recipe that’s just about how I do it. These amounts are measured. When I do it I just throw it together the way I’ve always done it, by feel and taste. You can do this!!!

Frogmore Stew also called Lowcountry Boil
named after the town of Frogmore

you and the people you invite should wear clothes you don’t mind getting a little messy

depending on the number of people 1 or more big pots. the one’s you fry turkeys in will work great.

Stagger the addition of the ingredients and don’t overcook the shrimp

ingredients

2 tablespoons crab boil(I prefer Old Bay)seasoning per gallon water or more to taste
several lemon cut in half if you want to add them them
redskin potatoes and depending on size, 3 or more per person. I prefer the ones about the size of a meatball so I add about 6 per person
your favorite spicy smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch slices about 1/4 to 1/2 pound per person
fresh corn, broken into halves or thirds about 1 1/2 ears per person
at least 1/2 pound per person of unpeeled shrimp, with or without heads.

these are considered optional by some but I always add them in
1 to 2 medium sweet onions(I like real vidalia’s) per person
2 to 3 blue crabs or whatever crab you prefer per person

melted butter
cocktail sauce
sour cream
ketchup
your favorite hot sauce and whatever condiments you like

preparation
cover the table you’re going to eat off of with layers of butchers paper or newspapers. this will make clean up so much easier. if the table isn’t very big put a few empty buckets around. lots of paper towels.

fill the pot(s) halfway with water. Add crab-boil seasoning. you can add several lemons if you want

when the seasoned water comes to a boil, add redskin potatoes and boil for 20 minutes, then add the slices of spicy smoked sausage and boil for 5-10 minutes. Add the corn and onions and boil another 5-8 minutes. begin timing immediately. do not wait for it to boil again when adding these last ingredients. add the crabs and cook for 3 minutes. they should be starting to change color. then add the shrimp. Cook for 3 minutes, should be pink in color, drain, and pile on the table.

it’s a great time with friends, a real hand to mouth meal. just stand or sit around the table and dig in. you can use silverware or plates if you want. most people only need crackers for the crab and knives to cut the onions or maybe the potatoes if they’re kinda big. pile the discards on one end of the table or in the buckets. when you’ve eaten everything dump the buckets back on the table, ball up the paper and toss it.

Serve with lots of your favorite beverages, plus melted butter for the corn, cocktail sauce or hot sauce for the shrimp and crab, and sour cream, ketchup, or whatever for the potatoes. a good sweet onion can be eaten without adding anything.

it makes for a great time

[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
Stuffed Jalapenos FTW!!!

Take large Jalapeno
Make a cut along the side
Remove the seeds
Stuff with cream chease
Wrap bacon around Jalapeno to keep the pepper closed
Insert toothpicks to hold bacon in place
Throw on grill til bacon is cooked.

Eat and enjoy…

I’ve made these for many different people and they ALWAYS love them, the only exception is people that don’t like spicey food. They’re easy to make and are always party favorites.[/quote]

My neighbour made these a couple of weeks ago, but added old cheddar in the cream cheese. They were awesome. She baked them and the cheese melted and crusted to a golden brown all around the Jalapeno and bacon.
A local thing that I like from around here is Beef on Weck and real Buffalo chicken wings. We go across the border once in a while when we need a fix.