Food up north has gotten better, but decades back I'd walk in to a diner up there and the only spices they had were salt and pepper. "Do you have any Tabasco?" I'd ask hopefully. "Any what? Tomatoes? Yeah we got tomatoes. What, you want a tomato or not? Come on, I got udder customers." (They believe in straight talk up north.) The menus included words like smorgasbord, casserole, carrot mash, hash, "beans" (just "beans") and noodle salad. Rice, but no gravy. Specials like boiled chicken "supreme" and "turkey surprise." Yikes! I'd order and eat half and the waitress, seeing my plate, would say something like "You don't like turkey?" Or "Why you order duh turkey if you don't like turkey?" And "Take your ticket and pay da cashier." I would cry for Dixie!
In the north, tea is unsweetend, in the south it is sweetened. Always enjoy that first time a yankee orders "tea", takes a big drink, and then looks like someone shat in their mouth because it is so full of sugar. LOL. "Oh, I should have warned you that you have to ask for unsweetened tea. Sorry. Not Sorry."
Oh good gawt, southern cuisine beats everything. Of course I'm a little biased.... - - - Updated - - - Hahaha.... We drink A LOT of sweet tea.
One could ask why you can't find much good Italian bread down South, or a good Italian restaurant, Italian deli, and so forth down South. I've been to Florida, and wasn't impressed with the food, it's clearly much better in New York.
Oh, NYC is an outlier and I concede it has the best food in the world, and I mean better than what we have down here as well. By "up north" I was including places like Ohio and Indiana that are "up north" to me, but are really just the upper midwest and the mid-Atlantic. Anyway the best diners of old are disappearing from the south anyway, displaced by Starbucks, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Fridays. - - - Updated - - - No, tell me about them. Seriously, I want to know.
Most of our Italian restaurants in town are owned by New York transplants. As for the deli, it is the price-point. We have had several and they always go under because importing New York meats and such puts their end products priced out of the market because the cost of living is lower and prices lower in the South than NYC. Why pay $8 for a sandwich you can get for less than $5 at a competitor; or $14/lb for meat when you can get it elsewhere at $6/lb? People are more price conscious than quality/flavor conscious....
They are potatoes boiled in super saturated salt water, and then smothered in enough butter to make the old Paula Deen smile.
They're tiny potatoes boiled in salt water and then served with extra salt. It's a great way to spike your cholesterol but with some corn they're amazing. They're a CNY specialty.
Speaking of Yankee food that I do like, sincerely, can someone explain the difference between an "Italian roast beef" sandwich and a "Philly cheesesteak" sandwich. And I know that "one of them has cheese."
Okay, thanks, I see them on my cooking site now. Why would they spike your cholesterol? There is something similar whose name I can't remember where they do that, but before serving, they set them in a skillet and slightly press -- not mash -- them, then fry them in butter with the skins still on. Anyway I'll try it. I'm just having fun here -- we have some pretty terrible dishes down here too.
Well it's more of an expression, but it's what CNY is famous for. There's also glazier hotdogs but I don't like them and the trash plate. Oh and Dinosaur BBQ!
HEY! Cincinnati chili, cheese coneys metts, brats, potato pancakes, pizza, Italian, Greek, and, OMG...Reubens, corned beef on rye, bagels... I love my southern cooking (although grits was never a thing for me) but there's more than enough good "northern" food to go around. and besides... A big spoon of bacon fat makes EVERYTHING taste great!
A philly cheesesteak, from Philadelphia uses, and I swear this is true, CHEESE WHIZ. I was excited to get a sandwich from the tow places claiming to be the "home of the cheesesteak" and damn was I disappointed when I ate them. i don't know what an "italian roast beef" is but outside Philadelphia most places use swiss instead of the canned stuff.
New York does pizza better, and the Reuben are divine, but otherwise, their food just seems like over-priced over salted nothingness.
Personally I love German restaurants. Im a meat and potato guy and love lots of gravy. There are lots off German restaurants up north http://www.expatica.com/de/about/Top-10-German-foods-with-recipes_106759.html
I love crowder peas, purple hull peas, grits with butter and salt, and boiled peanuts. I also like Yankee cornbread over southern cornbread. It seems the hotter the climate the more spice in the food. I am a Yankee living in Alabama. I like good food....and I love Chinese food. I love Italian food. I love German food. I love French food. I love Asian food....I love food. I love a tomato picked fresh off the vine. I love fresh sweet corn.
May I brag a bit? My daughter took culinary in trade school. She and her team won State in culinary and culinary management. She won a full ride scholarship and starts college soon. We are proud.
Southern food us more greasy, fatty, sweater, starcher, and has more carbs. I will say that the fried chicken down South does best any fried up here.
Italian RoatvBeef is virtually always from the deli and it is coated with some garlick, Ieper, and other spices.
Back cuing the last Ice Age I was stationed all over the South ( even South Vietnam) so I had to endure not being able to get: Good pizza rye bread Kielbasa Sure taut Any decent Italian food When I went to WritePatterson AFB. TDY after a long spell in the South I had my first Kielbasa and sure taut sandwich in almost two years. But when I was stationed near NewOrleans I had a 'Cajun" friend and had a chance to visit and have some real Cajun food. New Orleans is South but not.
I miss corn pudding from the South, and Indian pudding from the North. I miss good berry pies from anywhere...only a very few bakeries seem able to produce a true, flaky crust any more. New England boiled dinners, steamers, lobsters, and fish chowders are also noteworthy, as of course were Boston baked beans. You can't find too many places that really bake beans any more, but there is a taste difference. I have found it difficult to locate places that cook spaghetti properly outside of New England. No one elsewhere seems to undestand "al dente" properly--the standard is soggy, overcooked noodles.
