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Topic 67 of 88: Ethinic Food of America

Fri, Jun 9, 2000 (20:09) | Marcia (MarciaH)
Here is the place for your Native American recipes and comments as well as regional favorites.
49 responses total.

 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 1 of 49: Autumn   (autumn) * Sun, Jun 11, 2000 (15:43) * 1 lines 
 
Ahh! What a great topic, Marcia!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 2 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sun, Jun 11, 2000 (16:22) * 1 lines 
 
Thanks for saying so. I'm waiting for Maggie to post the Navajo bread recipe. I'd like to try it.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 3 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sun, Jun 11, 2000 (16:26) * 1 lines 
 
Oh, and I know I spelt this wrong - it was a very bad week but a good idea so I left it. I can see my mentor shaking his head in dismay. Two messed-up conference topics in HIS conferences the same week...Sorry!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 4 of 49: Maggie  (sociolingo) * Mon, Jun 12, 2000 (05:17) * 15 lines 
 
OK, sorry for the wait!! Here it is:

Navajo Fry Bread

sift together
4 1/2 cups flour (plain)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Stir in
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk

Knead, and cut into circles 5 inches in diameter. Make a small hole in the centre of each. Fry in several inches of hot oil. dough will puff and bubble. turn when goldne brown. Drain and serve hot plain or with sauce or syrup.



 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 5 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Jun 12, 2000 (21:36) * 1 lines 
 
Does the turn out to be pliable enough to wrap into something resembling a tube into which you can stuff good things like they do with Mexican food?


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 6 of 49: Maggie  (sociolingo) * Tue, Jun 13, 2000 (06:23) * 3 lines 
 
I guess you could, never thought of it. I think the hole is necessary because of how it puffs. You should'nt make them too thick either or they don't cook properly all through.

We lived on this as our main bread during a stay in a village in Cameroon.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 7 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Wed, Oct 17, 2001 (00:47) * 4 lines 
 
I wonder if there is truly ethnic food in America. Or is it like Chop Suey? People from other places have made what was available into their own cuisine.
I was thinking of Greek food, actually. I imagined everything wrapped in grape leaves, but they only do that after they prune the grape vines in the fall. Or a I mistaken about that too? I also did not realize how much rice was eaten in Europe. I make it and eat it with just about every meal. On the mainland of the USA, not as much rice is eaten.

Here (Hawaii) Taro leaves serve as our wrappers and they are available all year Is there any other cuisine which uses leaves? Cabbage leaves! Suddenly I am hungry for Greek Hungarian Hawaiian food.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 8 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Dec 22, 2003 (20:14) * 1 lines 
 
Gadzooks! I have had the much anticipated fried okra. Bleah!!! It was almost raw and rather nastily slippery. Is it supposed to be?


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 9 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Dec 22, 2003 (20:17) * 3 lines 
 
What exactly makes food ethnic to America since we are all from elsewhere - including the "Native Americans."

Now, I need to know what Pone is and is it like grits?


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 10 of 49: Autumn   (autumn) * Tue, Dec 23, 2003 (13:26) * 3 lines 
 
The few times I have had okra it is always slimy. Very unappetizing IMHO.

I've heard of corn pone, but have never actually seen/tasted this culinary legend.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 11 of 49: wer  (wer) * Tue, Dec 23, 2003 (14:24) * 3 lines 
 
Pone is cornbread, more or less, depending on your definition of cornbread.

And, no, fried okra shouldn't be slippery/slimy. It sounds like it may not have been fried long enough.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 12 of 49: wer  (wer) * Tue, Dec 23, 2003 (14:34) * 1 lines 
 
I'll get back to what makes food ethnic in America when my thoughts are more coherent.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 13 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Tue, Dec 23, 2003 (22:59) * 5 lines 
 
Thanks! I am sure this stuff was quickly deep-fried but the locals were devouring it. The chicken is best. I'll be generous and let them have the okra.(It is good well cooked in vegetable soups, though!)

If pone is corn bread it is similar to hush puppies? I know they are deep fried rather than baked like the bread. I guess that is the only difference. Both are better with a little sugar added. It is pretty bleak otherwise, as is (are?) grits.




 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 14 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Tue, Dec 23, 2003 (23:02) * 1 lines 
 
Can you tell me why they make hominy so it tastes like they added lye (lime) to the mix? It is horrible that way.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 15 of 49: wer  (wer) * Sat, Jan 10, 2004 (13:37) * 3 lines 
 
That's what makes hominy hominy (or posole). And hominy is ground to make grits.

The dried corn is soaked in lime. Don't know why it was originally done that way, but it has since been learned that processing it that way makes a vitamin or a protein (sorry, doing this from memory so I don't remember all the details) available for utilization that otherwise wouldn't be processed, thus avoiding some defeciency.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 16 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Fri, Jan 23, 2004 (20:12) * 3 lines 
 
Thanks for edifying this trying-to-be Southern lady. I thought perhaps it was instead of parching to keep ddried corn from germinating. No one has said why, so you are in good company. Does ANYONE like the taste of hominy? My dinner companion insisted it was good, but he smokes so much I think he cannot taste much at all.

Really, wer, thanks for telling me. I still wonder why they do it. I think I will stick to the fresh stuff and oatmeal.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 17 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Fri, Jan 23, 2004 (20:13) * 1 lines 
 
posole?! Now I need to hunt up a new word. Perhaps the source of it may shed more light on chemicals in food way before we thought they were in there!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 18 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Fri, Jan 23, 2004 (20:14) * 1 lines 
 
Speaking of ethnic food, I wonder if the Amerindians invented hominy or if it came from "the old country."


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 19 of 49: wer  (wer) * Fri, Jan 23, 2004 (22:08) * 1 lines 
 
hominy [Algonquian], hulled corn with the germ removed and served either ground or whole. The pioneers in North America prepared it by soaking the kernels in weak wood lye until the hulls floated to the top. Hominy is boiled until tender and served as a vegetable. Hominy grits (hominy ground into small grains) are boiled and served as a vegetable or as a cereal, or they may be shaped into patties and fried; they are especially popular in the S United States. Samp is a type of coarse hominy.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 20 of 49: wer  (wer) * Fri, Jan 23, 2004 (22:09) * 8 lines 
 
I also found this...

Hominy is dried corn (maize) kernels, reconstituted by soaking in lye-water. Its chief uses are as animal feed and the source of grits and in various recipes or as a side dish.

Some recipes using hominy include menudo, a tripe and hominy stew; hominy bread, hominy chili, casseroles and fried dishes.





 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 21 of 49: wer  (wer) * Fri, Jan 23, 2004 (22:13) * 9 lines 
 
And this on posole, which around here is what the corn is called also, thus posole is hominy, just with a different ethnic origin...

Pozole (also spelled posole) is a Mexican soup. The soup is made with a special type of corn which has been slaked (soaked) in a solution of lime (cal). The traditional corn that is used is called maiz blanco or "cacahuazintle" [kaw-kaw-WAH-SEEN-til]. This is a very large-kerneled white corn grown in Mexico.

The soaking softens the corn and additionally makes the product more digestible and thus more nutritious.






 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 22 of 49: wer  (wer) * Fri, Jan 23, 2004 (22:21) * 10 lines 
 
And in the interest of overkill...

Hominy: Definition: One of the first food gifts the American Indians gave to the colonists, hominy is dried white or yellow corn kernels from which the hull and germ have been removed. This process is done either mechanically or chemically by soaking the corn in slaked lime or lye. Hominy is sold canned, ready-to-eat or dried (which must be reconstituted before using). It's commonly served as a side dish or as part of a casserole. When dried hominy is broken or very coarsely ground it's called samp. When ground, it's called hominy grits--or simply grits--and usually comes in three grinds--fine, medium and coarse. Hominy grits are generally simmered with water or milk until very thick. The mixture can be served in this mushlike form or chilled, cut into squares and fried. In the South, grits are served as a side dish for breakfast or dinner.

Posole: Definition: [poh-SOH-leh] A thick, hearty soup usually eaten as a main course. It consists of pork (sometimes chicken) meat and broth, hominy, onion, garlic, dried chiles and cilantro. It's usually served with chopped lettuce, radishes, onions, cheese and cilantro, which diners can add to the soup as they please. Posole originated in Jalisco, in the middle of Mexico's Pacific Coast region, and is traditionally served at Christmastime.

Corn: Definition: Throughout Europe, "corn" has always been the generic name for any of the cereal grains; Europeans call corn maize, a derivative of the early American Indian word mahiz. In fact, before settlers came to the New World Europeans had never seen this food--called Indian corn by colonists. What a wonderfully versatile and useful gift the Indians gave the world. Everything on the corn plant can be used: the husks for tamales, the silk for medicinal tea, the kernels for food and the stalks for fodder. Corn is not only a popular food, but the foundation of many by-products including bourbon, corn flour, cornmeal, corn oil, cornstarch, corn syrup, corn whiskey and laundry starch. The multicolored Indian corn--used today mainly for decoration--has red, blue, brown and purple kernels. Horticulturists developed the two most popular varieties today--white (Country Gentleman) and yellow (Golden Bantam) corn. Yellow corn has larger, fuller-flavored kernels; white corn kernels are smaller and sweeter. The
hybrid butter and sugar corn produces ears of yellow and white kernels. The peak season for fresh corn is May through September. As soon as it's picked, the corn's sugar immediately begins its gradual conversion to starch which, in turn, lessens the corn's natural sweetness. Therefore, it's important to buy corn as soon after it's picked as possible. Look for ears with bright green, snugly fitting husks and golden brown silk. The kernels should be plump and milky, and come all the way to the ear's tip; the rows should be tightly spaced. Fresh corn should be cooked and served the day it's purchased, but it can be refrigerated up to a day. Strip off the husks and silk just before cooking. Corn can also be purchased canned or frozen. Tiny baby corn, particularly popular with Thai and Chinese cooks, can be purchased in cans or jars. Unfortunately, its flavor bears little resemblance to the fresh (or even frozen) vegetable. hominy is specially processed kernels of corn.

--Copyright (c) 1995 by Barron's Educational Series, from The New Food Lover's Companion, Second Edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 23 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (21:39) * 1 lines 
 
This is fantastic!!! I KNEW you would turn on the information if you found same. I am delighted. Wow! We are eating Mayan food, perhaps. Aztec? Hmmm. Archaeology on the plate! Interesting. BTW, I love long answers, and I really appreciate your taking the time to do so. Now, I know why I am not so fond of grits either. Greens is (are?) goodbut they need a touch of vinegar and a liberal dosing with pea-sized cream cheese "nuggets". I also like the lima beans here, but why do they cook stringbeans 24/7/365?


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 24 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (21:53) * 3 lines 
 
That soup sounds like that we called in Hawaii, Portuguese bean soup. Good!!!

I still get kidded for eating fried chicken with knife and fork. Oh well...


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 25 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (21:55) * 1 lines 
 
BTW, I had the ooportunity of watching the Food Channel for a few years and found it amazinly riveting. Now, I not only know what a chiffonade is, I know how to make one!!!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 26 of 49: wer  (WERoland) * Sat, Aug 27, 2005 (21:32) * 12 lines 
 
in re response 12...this is one of the best definitions, if you will, of American cuisine:

Excerpted from http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/996web/tastesml.html

In the essay "Cuisine: High, Low, and Not at All," Sidney W. Mintz agrees with Jean-Francois Revel, author of Culture and Cuisine, that there's no such thing as a genuine national cuisine, in any country. "Cuisines," Mintz writes, "when seen from the perspective of people who care about the foods, are never the foods of a country, but the foods of a place." A genuine cuisine, he says, has deep social roots in a specific region--Bavaria, for example, or New Orleans. It uses locally grown or gathered ingredients that are eaten by a culturally cohesive population that knows how those ingredients should be cooked, has pronounced views on how the finished dish should taste, and makes food part of the social discourse that helps them to define themselves.

"Cuisine has to derive its meaning from locality," Mintz says. "I think all 'national' cuisines are constructs for some other purpose." "French" cuisine, he argues, is an artifice based on the various regional foods of people who live inside a political system. It's an artifice that sells cookbooks and brings tourists to France and customers to "French" restaurants in America, but has little to do with the real social importance of cooking that varies significantly from one part of France to the next. Some things, like bread, may be said to have a French national identity, but bouillabaisse is not French cuisine, in Mintz's argument--it's the cuisine of Marseille. "In France, people in the north don't copy people in the south," he says. "You want bouillabaisse? You go to Marseille."

There's even less reason to speak of "American" cuisine, says Mintz: "What makes the U.S. different from Italy or France is that our society was built up rapidly by the sequential additions of people from many lands, who were encouraged to become Americans by changing how they ate. Out of this emerged a few popular foods, but nothing I would consider a cuisine." Hamburgers? Hot dogs? Apple pie? Definitely American, says Mintz, but not the subject of any sort of national social discourse on how they are prepared properly, or what it means to eat them.

The U.S. does have several regional cuisines, he says, including those of New Orleans, the Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest. But those cuisines--like the regional cuisines of China, Mexico, and other countries--have become adulterated as they've been commercialized for wider distribution. Commercial food manufacturers substitute ingredients to create products that can be shipped and stored on shelves. They change cooking methods so the dish can be prepared "easily and in minutes!" Cooks don't learn how to prepare the recipe from people who have been doing it for years, and no one outside the region knows for sure how the dish is supposed to taste. "In a country as commercially driven as ours," says Mintz, "there's a tendency for local and ethnic cuisines to become diluted."
--Dale Keiger


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 27 of 49: wer  (WERoland) * Sat, Aug 27, 2005 (21:33) * 1 lines 
 
also check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cuisine


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 28 of 49: wer  (WERoland) * Sat, Aug 27, 2005 (21:35) * 3 lines 
 
this is a good article, too

http://www.preparedfoods.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,1231,114429,00.html


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 29 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sat, Oct  1, 2005 (19:44) * 3 lines 
 
Great resources. Thanks.

Just open a can of pineapple and you are eating Hawaiian food - or so it seems to outsiders. Real Hawaiian food (raw limpets and raw sea urchins and poi for a few) would not be commercially viable. It isn't even in Hawaii where you can get a Hawaiian meal once a week with sweet potato, rice (NOT Hawaiian) poi, lomilomi salmon, laulau, and haupia for desert. Nothing raw.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 30 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sat, Oct  1, 2005 (19:46) * 1 lines 
 
You can get Kentucky fried chicken at just about anywhere and for three meals a day in Louisville. It is very good !!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 31 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Sat, Oct  1, 2005 (22:31) * 1 lines 
 
pineapples and macadamia nuts make me think of hawaii....


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 32 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Sun, Oct  2, 2005 (17:54) * 1 lines 
 
Do you know, Hawaii produced (just a few miles from my house there) Macadamia nuts are more expensive in Hilo than everywhere in California? Talk about captive audiences. Poor Hawaii - they steal from one another !!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 33 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Sun, Oct  2, 2005 (21:42) * 1 lines 
 
that makes no sense.....what about kona coffee? that more expensive there too? (i did a whole report on kona coffee for my operational management class)....


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 34 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (13:52) * 1 lines 
 
Kona coffee is ground gold there. Nothing is inepensive there even for the residents. I am not sorry to be away, but it was an interesting journey there. Where else could I have a drive-in live volcano and orchids in my trees?! I don't miss the mildew either.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 35 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (13:53) * 1 lines 
 
AE, how many recipes do you have for 'possum? I'm not kidding, people eat them here !!!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 36 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (20:14) * 3 lines 
 
why they got possum soup, possum kabobs, possum lasagna, possum sandwiches, yeah, i guess that's just about all y'kin do with possum *giggle*

people scrape possum off the road and eat it or *gasp* hunt it? well, i guess if'n yer hungry 'nuff....


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 37 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (20:27) * 1 lines 
 
Geez. We passed all those only slightly dented possoms napping by the interstate and missed out on a snack?! I did tell you about the UPS pilot who reported a "dog-sized rat" on the runway? I heard him on my scanner and laughed for days.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 38 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (20:30) * 1 lines 
 
*LAUGH* could've been a nutria too!!!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 39 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (20:36) * 1 lines 
 
Yup but the ground crew dashed out to remove it and declared it Possum. The tower switched from cool to county and claimed it for his midnight snack. YUM. Has anyone actually tasted this beast who might tell me what it tastes like? (Don't say chicken!)


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 40 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (21:34) * 1 lines 
 
not me and i've seen plenty of dead possums!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 41 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Mon, Oct  3, 2005 (23:54) * 1 lines 
 
you can see plenty of dead possums any given morning that isn't the dead of winter if you get up early enough. The line the wooded sections of the interstate along with deer and a few porcupines. All you need is a big kettle and a bunch of wild veggies...


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 42 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Tue, Oct  4, 2005 (21:54) * 1 lines 
 
i can just see someone doing that too!


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 43 of 49: wer  (WERoland) * Wed, Oct  5, 2005 (17:10) * 3 lines 
 
re item 35, quote "how many recipes do you have for 'possum? I'm not kidding, people eat them here !!!"

I probably have close to a dozen.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 44 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Wed, Oct  5, 2005 (19:30) * 1 lines 
 
*ROTFLMAO*


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 45 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Thu, Oct  6, 2005 (17:42) * 3 lines 
 
OK.. Now comes the question. What is it like? And please, don't tell me it is like squirrel. Ihave eaten just about no critters out of the ordinary including rabbits. I guess my dad was conservative, and the men I have cooked for were too.

Lots of tomatoes and garlic and onions would be where I'd start.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 46 of 49: Wolf  (wolf) * Thu, Oct  6, 2005 (19:23) * 1 lines 
 
i had squirrel chili but didn't get any of the squirrel on my spoon (am not a chili fan either but the AM insisted i try). i also saw all the mess he made on the carport. also saw the rabbit mess he made too (bless his heart, he tried to save pelts for me).....


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 47 of 49: Food Walrus (terry) * Fri, Oct  7, 2005 (10:29) * 5 lines 
 
Hey, I could have possum a la carte any night of the week. pogo always stops by our side porch for a drink from the cats bowl and a snack if there any leftovers in the cat's food bowl.

I try to feed the cat no more than it will eat at one time.

Boy, does pogo ever dirty up the water.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 48 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Fri, Oct  7, 2005 (16:32) * 3 lines 
 
Raccoons are just as bad about dirtying up the water. Yup, Pogo was much wiser than any possum I've ever seen. They look most unpromising.

*laugh* Wolfie. Home tanning is not an easy job. It is very messy and smells even worse.


 Topic 67 of 88 [food]: Ethinic Food of America
 Response 49 of 49: Marcia  (MarciaH) * Fri, Oct  7, 2005 (16:33) * 1 lines 
 
Speaking of such, did you see that one of the Nobel Prize winners is from Possum Trot, KY ?! I kid you not !!

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