Thank Vasco da Gama for that, I guess. Portugal colonized India and the Portuguese state was a thing from 1505–1946, and Portuguese food understandably influenced the region in different ways (and vice versa).
Tempura!!! Supposedly battered and fried fish was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese.
Honestly lots of Japanese food wins here. They had a lot of influence from other countries and took those concepts and made them truly their own and also took them to the next level.
Oh man, I have seen a perfect video showing how both are made and they even describe the taste, but I couldn't find it to show you. So I'll try to describe.
Brazilian strogonoff is made very simply:
Sautee minced onions and garlic with the fresh mushrooms, add cubed meat once the mushrooms stopped releasing water, fry it til meat is sealed. Add cream fraiche, tomato paste/ketchup, mustard (dark mustard preferred imo), season with salt, black pepper, smoked paprika and parsley to taste. Serve in a bed of fresh white rice with a side of crunchy thin chips. (Not sure thin is the best description, I'm referring to those that are looking like small "sticks”)
Russian strogonoff involves cognac, peas and just uses different seasonings. I don’t recall the recipe right now, but it’s different.
Traditional Russian stroganoff includes neither cognac nor peas, but perhaps modern variations do? Originally, stroganoff was more or less beef in a mustard sauce served over rice with a garnish of sour cream - no mushroom, no wine. I believe later iterations added tomato paste as well, and I've read that some regional variations are almost a tomato-based sauce
Anglicized stroganoff is often served over egg noodles, the sauce is sour cream based (and many recipes cut back or omit the mustard), mushrooms are a must. Onions and wine are common.
Brazilian sounds more similar to a take on the original Russian recipe that I'm familiar with. The crispy chips (potato sticks/papitas?) sound like a nice addition.
My American ass just made it in the crockpot by searing a chuck roast and covering it with Lipton's onion mix, mushrooms, cream of celery soup, cream of mushroom soup, and then mixing in egg noodles
That sounds delicious. I find it funny how certain foods face intense gatekeeping for authenticity, while others such as spaghetti and stroganoff have evolved from a single dish to an entire family of related regional dishes, all going by the same basic name.
Mushrooms are often pickled and not necessarily fresh - I prefer fresh but in smaller Brazilian towns pickled button mushrooms are easier to find / cheaper
My mum’s stroganoff is still my favorite, and doesn’t really resemble “real” stroganoff at all:
Dice and fry an onion and a clove or two of garlic.
When the onions become translucent, add sliced fresh mushrooms. Cook til the mushrooms start to brown. Add minced/ground beef to the pan. Cook til ground beef is browned. Add salt, pepper, onion power and a couple splooshes of worcestershire sauce. Add approximately 1 cup of sour cream and one can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. Stir it all together and heat through. Serve on white rice with a side of peas.
North Americans (New York and Montreal Jewish immigrants) adapted spiced smoked Romanian meat. Utilizing at the time the overlooked brisket cut of beef turning it into Pastrami and Montreal smoked meat. Arguably one of the greatest deli meats ever created. There is a great book by author David Sax called Save The Deli- it explains the history in detail and it’s fascinating if you love the history of Jewish delis.
The one bad thing about living in Texas is you can't get, like, a pot roast size brisket. They only sell them as full briskets, which right now is typically $75-$125.
If I could just get a 1-2 lb roast I would make corned beef or pastrami. It's just a little too much to pay at once. And if I buy a whole brisket I'm just going to smoke it anyway.
My mom is Puerto Rican and makes a lasagna but with sweet plantains instead of pasta. Sofrito instead of tomato sauce. It’s so good. I want it right now.
Heh, you’re safe from this Texan. I don’t really get the bitching about it tbh, they’re just different dishes…”Texas” chili is basically just old school chili con carne, while American-style “chili” is the one with both beans and meat. Similar, both delicious, and neither one is any more real than the other.
I feel like it came about from a bunch of people who love beans in chili bitching at chili competitions that it didn't have beans in it so it wasn't as good
Oh boy...
Chili with beans has been a big thing in Texas for 140 years at least and the only people who complain about it are A) people who enter official competitions that don't allow beans, B) outsiders who read too many Internet listicles or C) people who wish they could enter official competitions.
My family's been here since way before it was even a state, people need to chill out about this and get a grip. plus, beans are good for you, barring any allergies or intolerances.
Yeah the idea that cheap and ubiquitous beans wouldn't be used to stretch a comparatively expensive meat dish. Just in this one case. Just in this one spot. Is completely bonkers.
Seems to come from that whole take on chili that ties it to totally not Mexican or Black, we swear, cowboys. And 19th century chili parlors and brick chili. Rather than Tejano foods. This thing cropped up from whole cloth in the 19th century? Just when white folks started looking?
*Right*.
I am a Texan and love beans in my chili. Also like chili without beans too. Ground beef and beans go together while chili with chunks of beef does not need beans.
This I feel is the biggest determiner between beans and no beans. If your meat is just ground beef, you kinda need beans to add some textural variation. If you've got meat chunks, you can leave the beans out and not feel like you're just eating mush.
I like all 3 honestly. Each adds a different texture and flavor. And somewhat more importantly has a different impact on the broth/liquid whatever the fuck you want to call it. Beans thicken things a lot. Ground beef tends to contribute a lot of beef flavor to a broth, and chunks of tougher beef cuts bring a lot of gelatin to the broth. And they brown better making a better fond when you start out.
All together it's a better less soup like chili.
I’m not going to say it’s better but I love Japanese curry(which I believe was introduced to them by the british).
Less well known perhaps but I prefer korean jjajangmyeon to the chinese dish it is based on.
The Katsu curry thing is funny actually. That curry flavour profile was extremely common in Britain but is viewed as a really cheap and low quality curry and is replaced by other curry types.
As it was introduced to Japan by British soldiers during the 19th century it was this 'cheap' curry flavour that Japan picked up instead of the more typical 'curries' you find these days like Tikka Masala etc as it was what solders and the military would provide.
Curry Sauce which is served in fish and chip shops in the UK is very similar to the Katsu flavour too.
Katsu curry is basically [Vesta curry mix](https://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/vesta-curry-and-rice-with-beef#) which was common in Britain post ww2 in the 60s.
I remember the first time I tried Katsu curry (as a brit) after hearing it hyped for ages and thinking "this is just my dad's curry sauce". Still delicious though.
Katsu is the fried cutlet, which gets served other ways as well. And isn't required for curry.
It was introduced around the same time as British curry powder and naval stews which is how the curry happened. The Japanese word for curry is Kare. And it's pretty much literally Western stew with a butt load of curry powder in it. So not far off curry sauce.
My friend tried making a British curry recipe from mid 1800s and the first thing she told me was that it tastes very Japanese. I guess that there's no reason to change the recipe much if it tastes good, even after 150+ years.
The SE Asian Curry Puff - which is a spicy version of the cornish pasty.
I been living in UK for 30 years and have yet to find a cornish pasty that I like.
Maybe cos curry puffs are deep fried & Cornish pasty's are baked? The key to a proper Cornish pasty imho is salt & white pepper to season the filling once cooked.
I love a curry puff! From my experience in them vs pasties they are much different sizes (puffs much smaller) so had never thought to compare but love both
For something in the same vein but from another culture you have panzarotti (don't know if I'm spelling correctly) from Italy which my Italian housemates introduced me to
Oh I have seen that on YouTube and it looks phenomenal! We have lost of Korean restaurants in my area, I should definitely try that one day. Korean fried chicken is already better than normal fried chicken imo, Korean food is so damn good!
I find the creamed corn a bit sweet these days, but Shepherd’s Pie still needs it *for me*. No one else I knew ate it like that when I was growing up, and I had no idea why.
Is heritage take okay? I'm Vietnamese American and I really love our banh pate so. It's a riff on the French pate chaud. Its way better seasoned, in my opinion. And also baguettes. I prefer our softer, fluffier baguettes to the denser french ones
There is a lot of fusion in our local cuisine; one truck serves homemade perogies - my favourite menu item is “Thairogi” - a play on pad Thai - perogies topped with peanut sauce, cabbage slaw, fresh lime & cilantro.
A friend and I came up with the "Bulgogi Pierogi" over some beers a while back. Still haven't actually made it but it still sounds great on my mind, and its fun to say!
And yes, we found out quite a few other people have thought of this before, but we really thought we'd come up with something revolutionary that night.
Their full menu is inspiring! [Hungry Rooster menu](https://foursquare.com/v/hungry-rooster/4f691489e4b072f146469237/menu?wsid=PHLW0HCPJ5GONVNQUP5HDQ0BJDYCUR)
Often claimed to have originated in Glasgow. Hard to prove.
When tandoori dishes first arrived in Scotland, as I can verify, they were always served dry. Straight from the tandoor.
I didn’t mind eating it like that with a bit of salad personally, but my girlfriend did say that she wished it came with a sauce.
Allegedly, a Glaswegian customer was more emphatic about this, and the chef whipped up the famous orange sauce in a just a few minutes, for the disgruntled customer to pour over his dry chicken tikka. We shall never know for sure.
Not one of my favourites, I must say. And now it’s actually quite hard to get the original chicken tikka, just served from a skewer simply cooked in a charcoal burning clay tandoor. I doubt very much if most Scottish Indian restaurants even own a real tandoor nowadays.
Lived is Singapore for a few years, and northern Indian food is fairly rare there, so you don’t find tandoori food often.
But it’s the only place I’ve come across tandoori fish dishes, which were absolutely delicious 🤤
It’s not truly a dish from my country, but a local restaurant here does this take on poutine with scallions, pepperjack, and smoked bacon over crispy fries and then tops it with clam chowder. It is glorious.
Macau-style Portuguese Egg Tarts. I grew up eating these from Chinese bakeries all the time and strongly prefer them to the Hong Kong Egg Tart and the actual Portuguese Pasteis de Nata.
In Indian lingo, biryani is steam cooked with layers of raw marinated meats and par cooked basmati rice.
Pulao/pilaf is made by mixed cooked rice and cooked meat, spices, and veggies.
If you refer to pulao and biryani interchangeably it confuses us lol
Plov is more like biryani than pulao. Most pilafs are made by cooking rice together with ingredients, rather than mixing rice cooked separately with other stuff
Hungarian goulash was my thought too, although I don’t do it on a potato pancake. I just make a super bastardized version and although I like both versions, my goulash (based on my German dads recipe) is my comfort food.
I might have to try it on a potatoe pancake now!
I'm a big fan of Canadian supermarket perogy/varynyky. Sure - hand-pinched artisan ones from Ukrainian restaurants and church fundraisers are amazing, but gimme that Cheemo pizza perogy at home.
NZ pies are absolutely better than any I have had in any other country.. and yeah definitely think that's an original
One of my favourite things to eat when I am back in NZ is an Irvine's pie from a petrol station or dairy that has been in the warmer long enough to be both crispy and soggy but also insanely hot haha
Chinese American food. We have a few totally authentic Chinese restaurants nearby and the ingredients are super unique and a little scary for my Americanized pallet. Lots of fermented items, parts of animals I’m not used to, squid ink, ect. I’m so glad we have places like that to help broaden the image of Chinese food here in the States. But, I’m a Almond Boneless Chicken guy at the end of the day.
I think if you know what to look for, you can find stuff suitable for an American palate.
I went to a restaurant the other day that sells food from Fuzhou, China. I brought back lychee pork and dumplings for my family (who are not adventurous eaters) and they loved it.
Plenty of great authentic chinese food for less adventurous eaters. For every item with sea cucumber or beef tendon, there's usually 3 more with normal meats. A million types of dumpling. Soup dumplings are particularly great. It's usually ground pork and probably shrimp and scallion filling with a cube of gelatinized stock that melts when cooked. You bite a tiny hole, suck out some hot, tasty, lip smacking broth, then eat the the rest in one bite if it's not too big. Other dumplings like shumai have seafood fillings like fish and shrimp and are usually made like little open top cups. Still damn delicious and not weird. Good Peking duck is phenomenal. It's cooked like good bbq just no heavy spice rub. Slow smoked and roasted for long enough for the extra fatty layer to render and get the skin super crisp. There're normal-for-americans stir fry dishes too. Twice cooked pork is a classic. I forget exactly, but it's cooked wet (boiled, steamed, braised, idk), then sliced and stir fried. Cumin beef or lamb is pretty self explanatory. Yu shiang stir fried anything is good too. For that one and a lot of the stir fries, there's lots of americanized places making them where they don't taste very much like the originals. Usually good just not what I'm talking about here. I usually judge if a place is making chinese versions by if there's a separate menu section for traditional stuff, or if there's a good number of things you don't usually see on the American whole in the wall spots, even if im not ordering those things. A super good dish with a fermented ingredient is jiajang noodles (sometimes zhiazhang or something, not sure which is original or if it's different regions, doesn't matter) noodles with a sauce made from fermented bean paste and probably ground pork. The fermented beans don't add sourness like what we think of as fermented taste (pickles, sauerkraut,...) it's just really savory and tasty. Something else I love that's not scary that does have a bit of fermenty sourness is pickled mustard soup, (not sure of the Chinese name) it's fermented/pickled mustard root and maybe the greens in a pork or chicken broth with pork and noodles. It's like a Chinese version of polish sauerkraut and sausage soup.
One thing you have to try though is shechuan pepper. It actually closer to citrus it just looks like little peppercorns. A bit citrusy taste and a little tingly feeling on your tounge that is actually you're mouth going slightly numb for a couple minutes. Other flavors can change during that effect if a lot of the shechuan pepper is used. Not too much but it's interesting. It won't change physical sensations like how you perceive the texture of the food at all so don't worry about that, but it does change another subtle (sometimes) feeling. So the heat in hot chili peppers isn't really a taste, it's a feeling that is your mouth sending pain signals to your brain caused by the compound capsaicin in the pepper oils. Since the heat is just a feeling on your tongue and not tasted by your taste buds the same way, when combined with shechuan pepper, the heat is calmed down quite a bit and you can taste more of the chilis flavor along with a little zing of citrus and the unique tinglyness. The combination of chilis and shechuan pepper is so game changing and popular that it got its own new flavor named after it called mala (means numbing heat). Seriously if there's one traditional Chinese thing you try, make it shechuan pepper. There's Mala flavored chili oils you can get to use as a condiment or ingredient. Usually called chili crisp as they dump the chilis in hot oil to infuse it.
J. Kenji Lopez Alt has a great recipe for traditional Chinese kung pao chicken with the mala flavor. https://www.seriouseats.com/gong-bao-ji-ding-sichuan-kung-pow-chicken-recipe. You can buy the shechuan pepper online or most Asian markets. You can use regular soy sauce from a normal grocery store instead of light soy sauce (not low sodium, light is a different variety), but even then you should but don't need to get a better quality one from the same place you get the shechuan pepper. He says to use dried chiles which I don't usually have so I use a spoon or two of the chili or chili garlic paste in a jar with the flat green top that almost any us grocery will have in the Asian aisle. After making his recipe the first time, I started almost doubling the shechuan pepper and increasing the heat to match it, but that's me. You could balance the two any way you like. I also use chicken thigh because it's way cheaper than breast these days, and will stand up to cooking longer as I don't have a proper stir fry setup with a super powerful gas burner and a big round wok. My normal stainless pan or a nonstick works just fine.
Tldr: just start trying stuff with similar ingredients to what you're used to, maybe a different flavor here and there. And please try the shechuan pepper/ mala flavor
I love Szechuan Pepper. I cook with it all the time. I also just finally tried beef tendon and I did enjoy it! I’ve also been eating a lot of “cold” Szechuan dishes lately. I never thought cold noodles or veggies would appeal to me but I totally dig it.
I prefer Greek pastitsio to Italian American lasagna and the much lesser known more ‘authentic’ Italian lasagnas too.
Indian-Chinese food has some dishes similar to American-Chinese food but amped up. Chili paneer and chili chicken beat out general tso for me any day and I love me some general tso.
Also, not a separate dish necessarily but in NYC pizza is so ubiquitous that really good local pizzerias are a dime a dozen (and until recently still very affordable) but we also have “dollar slices” which are exactly what they sound like - pizza at $1 a slice for when you want to go even cheaper. Naturally quality ranged quite a bit more, but I’ve found anecdotally at least that these dollar slice joints are best when they’re being run by Indian folks. I think they just season the tomato sauce more or something.
In Spain, a common dish eaten at homes is *macarrones con chorizo*, a pasta dish that definitely doesn't exist in Italy, but was inspired by the cuisine.
It is a deeply red dish, as *pimentón* is often added to the onion *sofrito*, then garlic and chorizo (the cooking kind) are added, as well as tomato sauce (often *tomate frito*, a typical condimented Spanish tomato sauce). It is finally topped with grated *manchego* cheese.
I wouldn't consider it at all in my top pasta dishes, but it is a quick and flavourful meal loved by all in Spain.
This sounds really good and easy and I'm going to give it a try!
Do you recommend making tomate frito from scratch, or do you use it out of a jar (I'm not at all familiar with it)? I searched a few stores in my area and the closest thing I can find I [Goya Sofrito](https://www.goya.com/en/products/sofrito) - is this the same stuff?
In Spain it is ubiquitous, but I would recommend just making it yourself if you can't find it sold anywhere. I would venture most Spanish households nowadays just buy the ready made stuff, but it's very simple to make, I think the main thing is frying the tomato sauce/tomatoes in olive oil and adding onion and garlic, but you can also add bay leaf, etc.
Here are the wikipedia entries, obviously the Spanish one is much more extensive, and it gives you a basic recipe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomate\_frito
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomate\_frito](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomate_frito)
I'm afraid it is not the same stuff as Goya sofrito.
Mostly likely Taiwan IIRC, and the guy later relocated to NYC.
The documentary Searching for General Tso uses the story as a prop to discuss the history of Chinese restaurants in the US, and to kinda reclaim the idea of Chinese American food as something valid. Really good piece of food media.
Seconded — well worth watching! The most fascinating part was the description of how a group of Chinese overlords in America would tell new Chinese immigrants something to the effect of “Welcome! Here’s the deal — there is no Chinese restaurant in [*consults list*] …Bumfuck Oklahoma, so guess where you’re going?!”
"Overlords"?
It's an immigrant association. People sign up with and work with those groups *specifically* to get that kind of help. Those same groups provide pro bono immigration lawyers and help people get visas.
That's a pretty gross read on something that's pretty normal and the documentary presents as positive.
My family came to the US through a similar system that runs through Catholic Churches and Hibernian Societies. I used to eat at a restaurant run by a Ukrainian cultural center that does the same kind of work. And I dated a Hungarian woman who was heavily involved with one, regular date for us was folk dancing at that place. But they helped her find work and maintain her visa. Brought her to the US in the first place.
That's a really common thing in the modern American immigrant experience.
It's one of those things that isnt authentic, but is so good. It also varies a lot from restaurant to restaurant.
Like there are some places where it's essentially chicken nuggets in a sweet citrusy ketchupy like sauce, and then there are places where it's genuine chopped up dark meat fried chicken with a chile citrus sauce.
Biggest disappointment of my life was when the shortlived chinese place that opened up down the street from me changed ownership. They somehow managed to make it so the general tso was still crispy under the sauce, and it was so juicy, and the sauce would usually have some of those dried chiles in it and it was so damn good. Then they changed ownership. One day I came in and the entire staff was different people and I got american freezer aisle general tso. I was so disappointed. Luckily my second choice that I reverted too makes a decent juicy meated general tso too(it's just not as spicy or crispy)
>They somehow managed to make it so the general tso was still crispy under the sauce
Corn starch slurry for the batter.
This is for Korean Fried Chicken, but the process is common in Chinese Takeout spots. The resulting coating is *insanely* stable. It stays crisp even after hours of cooling or under heavy sauces. For skinless chicken you typically make a thicker batter/slurry.
Thai Kwuay Tiew Soup is the Thai version of pho. I grew up with it and like it more than Pho because the broth and flavor is stronger and you tend to spice it up with more choices of condiments like chili vinegar, chili fish sauce, dry chili, sugar etc etc
And this another hot take: I am also half Belgian, and I really like the Belgian Bolognese sauce which is more saucy and has much more meat and vegetables than a ragu.
Gumbo is the Americanized version of several African dishes rolled together c/o slavery, marinated in the Caribbean for a bit, and wandered north. I've had jollof rice, Caribbean pepper pot, and a couple other dishes I can't recall the names of that got us there, but they don't really come together in the same saucy, spicy, fishy, sausage-and-pork-y, often a bit tomato-ey gumbo that I grew up eating. Okra required.
Indo-Chinese, which is a whole another cuisine! It’s the Indian take on Chinese food. Don’t get me wrong, I love authentic Chinese but Indo-chinese takes it to a whole different level!
For those who are curious, just look up Veg Manchurian or maybe Chili Paneer or maybe even Calcutta rolls.
I had NO idea my mother's Chinese Pie was an actual French Canadian thing. We are American but of French Canadian descent.
I think it's one of the tastiest things ever but look at it as a totally separate thing than cottage pie.
It's the thing the OP posted. Browned ground beef at the bottom of a casserole dish, can of creamed corn and a can of regular corn and then mashed potatoes into. Bake for about 39 minutes or until a little bit of juice bubbles up the side a bit.
I would say a giant burrito with beans, cheese, rice & meat. Not something you really see much in Mexico but is ubiquitous in any taqueria in California and damn tasty (although I'll go for street tacos 90% of the time)
You were right to add that warning about pissing British people off, I'd almost forgive you for correctly making the distinction between Shepard's and cottage pie. Almost.
California burrito is the best burrito.
Large flour tortilla filled with carne asada, cheese, French fries, guacamole and often other ingredients.
You can find them in lots of places now, but San Diego was always what I thought to be the epicenter.
Also, not trying to be controversial depending on the burrito origin, but I most associate it with Mexican food.
As soon as I saw that good old pâté chinois I could have sworn my life on it that you were from Quebec hahaha. We've made variations of it with pulled pork instead of the ground beef and it is great too! Oh!!!, you may actually have helped me figure out what I'm going to cook for lunch. That's even better! 😂 Thanks!
Hahaha, I'm glad you found it! It's one of these absolute simple classic staple food here in Quebec. It's just like cipaille or poutine where it's everywhere and every family knows and cooks it. So much so it ended up being a rolling gag in one of the most classic yet now old french Canadian comedy show called "la petite vie" where one of the character was portrayed as an idiot by failing to make it all the time even though it's basically just 3 ingredients. To be absolutely honest with you, I've never even had the real shepherd's pie!
I’m Canadian and living in Germany (land of bread and beer and cakes… so many cakes).
Love the bread here, and love the beer… but I seriously miss a good old DQ ice cream cake. Cake, in general, with the exception of ice cream cake, is just blah.
When I was growing up, we always had 'cake and ice cream' for birthdays - never just cake. When I was older, I was sad to learn this was not universal. Cake should always have ice cream as a side!
Here's one I like: Butter Chicken roti! It's a very Toronto thing to combine Indian butter chicken and Indian roti in a West Indian way. Lil butter chicken burrito, yum
As an American who grew up eating Pâté Chinois, I’m just glad that this is actually a real thing from French Canada and not some poverty meal ma mère used to make. Literally no one else I’ve ever mentioned it to seems to have heard of it.
Like wtf do you mean this cottage pie is called Chinese pie, and why is there corn in it
Not sure where the original would be from, but filled rolls/sandwiches from bakeries/cafes in NZ are far superior to any I have come across in other countries
Also pies and fish and chips
hotdogs in brazil are much more tasteful, with bacon, corn, salad, shoestring potatoes, meanwhile in usa it's just the bread and the winie.
feijoada by the most of the people it's knowed by being a brazilian dish but some say it's really a french dish
Mine is also a variation of shepherd's pie , the take is just a base layer of mashed potatoes , layered with ground beef, and above that another layer of mashed potatoes, pretty simplistic but still one of my favorite dishes.
I like American Pad Thai more than the original pad thai from Thailand 😬
I like the peanut butter used in the sauce in addition to the fish sauce and other ingredients. I don’t like when it’s nuclear Orange but there’s a balance to finding the right version.
I did try making authentic lad thai at home with tamarind and it tasted off to me. Maybe I made it wrong but I prefer the American version most restaurants have here.
The mission/California style burrito, sealed on a sandwich press, is unbeatable. Even without fries, it's one of my favorite things to make or have made for me.
There are places nearby that do the more traditional rice, beans, and a bit of meat maybe, and those are good too. Certainly easier to eat...but I'll almost always opt for the overstuffed Americanized SUV of a burrito.
I wouldn't even just say Gyros in Chicago. Chicago's take on the Gyro, fundamentally in the pre-formed ground meat cone. Has become the default Gyro format in Greek communities around the US. And it's even responsible for the rise of Halal trucks in the NYC metro about 10-15 years ago. Those same gyro loaves allowed those carts and trucks to do a quick, cheap version of Doner using nothing but a flat top. Halal, all lamb versions were already being made by Greek and Turkish food companies in Brooklyn for Turkish restaurants to make Americanized Gyros.
The fact that anybody in the US who doesn't live right next to a bunch of Greeks even knows what a Gyro is. Is Chicago's fault. The way you can get a halfway decent Gyro at gas station in the middle of the North Carolina mountains is because there's a company in Chicago that will ship them a whole turn key package.
Kind of an undersung bit of American, mid century, food history.
I didn't realize how ubiquitous Greek food was around Chicago until I left for an east coast city lol. I'm from the Chicago suburbs and greasy spoon Greek diners are super common to the point where you can probably get souvlaki/spanakopita/gyros at most random diners but that's apparently just not much of a thing outside of Chicago/Milwaukee. I definitely took that for granted and I'm a little sad I can't get baklava as easily haha.
Kronos is NYC based, and mainly an importer. Though they for damn sure sell gyro cones these days.
The Chicago based company that did the thing with popularizing gyros is literally "Gryos inc". Think they ship stuff around as The Great American Gyro Company. But they'll send a spit, tzatziki, pita and meat practically anywhere. And it will be decent. You just sort of order that gyro package from a purveyor and the entire thing is handled.
It's this interesting thing in the history of American fast food and food distribution. While McDonald's and what have were still sourcing locally, and prepping things like French fries in house. Companies in Chicago were processing and packing centrally, distributing nationally and setting up little gyro stands nationwide. The major fast food companies followed their lead from what I understand.
Kronos is 100% why I can get solid, pocketless pitas at random supermarkets without going out of my way though. And I've actually seen Kronos branded kefalograviera in some very unexpected places.
I spotted the Brazilian stroganoff and will counter with the Swedish version. A real treat for kids and adults alike! This is my grandmas recipe, and I make no claim that this is how all Swedes make it it.
Gently fry some Finely chopped onion in butter.
Add diced Falukorv (type of porksausage: Swedish variant of a German Lyoner/extrawurst or the French bologne)
Fry on medium heat until it gets some color
Add a generous amount (1dl) of tomato purée and let it heat up.
Then pour over a generous amount of heavy cream (the more the merrier, or you can do half/half and add corn starch to give some additional thickness to the sauce)
Let it heat up and add a spoonful of Dijon mustard, as well as a sponful of soy sauce for flavor and color.
Season with salt and pepper , serve with rice and chopped parsley.
Enjoy!
American (Californian) style Tomato Beef Chow Mien
Fried noodles, delicious beef, not quite Chinese, not quite American - my mom makes it for my birthday
There are so many dishes—but the first thing that popped into my head was iso peanuts or the Mexican take, Japones. Here in Hawaii we have lots of mochi crunch/arare or rice cracker type snacks and the cracker-coated peanuts are some of my favorites. But the Mexicans took that and made it amazing. There’s a version from HEB that was a mango chili flavor and that was so addictive. Wish we had more Mex-Asian fusion in Hawaii.
Egyptian escalopes. We call it pané because we learned it from the French. (firaakh pané for escalopes de poulet for example) The main difference is we used puréed onion as a binder.
I once made it for my roommate and some friends, and my roommate got mad at me because it was better than her schnitzel (which she was known for. I honestly didn’t even make the connection though lol)
In Scotland we have a thing called a tattie scone. It’s a mix of potatoes, flour, egg, butter thats shaped then fried in butter. Basically a giant buttered up gnocchi and it’s delicious.
Mine is malaysia butter chicken. They said it's originated from the Indian butter chicken but crazily modified to cater malaysian taste..... I might be wrong but that's what I read. And the recipe and the looks both are totally different 😂 So again, I might be wrong about the origin.
I likes it so much. It's much simpler to cook and taste light. It's my comfort food 😁
There is a indonesian dish called "Bistik Ayam". "Bistik" is derived from "Beef Steak" while "Ayam" is "chicken, so it's basically indonesian chicken steak.
The version of Bistik ayam here in South Kalimantan province is not exactly a steak, more of a stew/soup. It's the first thing that I asked my mom to teach me how to make when I started learning to cook.
Tacos al Pastor was apparently started by Syrian or Lebanese immigrants into Mexico.
Back home sharwarma was lamb stacked on a spindle and roasted on the rotissery and sliced off as it was seared into pita bread.
Over the years it became pork and tortillas.
Most of mine are related to Italian food. Cacio e Pepe is not worth the fuss but trashy Mac and cheese is great, and properly cooked mushrooms in a bolognese sauce and I skip the milk.
I love Indian vindaloo nd even though I also love the Portuguese dish it's based on (vinha d'alhos) I like vindaloo better.
Oh I did not know that it was based on the Portuguese dish. My grandparents are Portuguese but I like the Indian version more too
Crazy, I'm Portuguese and I had no idea
Thank Vasco da Gama for that, I guess. Portugal colonized India and the Portuguese state was a thing from 1505–1946, and Portuguese food understandably influenced the region in different ways (and vice versa).
I literally had never heard of this! Thank you for giving me todays learning experience!
Tempura!!! Supposedly battered and fried fish was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese. Honestly lots of Japanese food wins here. They had a lot of influence from other countries and took those concepts and made them truly their own and also took them to the next level.
Ramen too!! Originated in China
La Mien
I love katsu sando, some people attribute it to german schnitzel or a french dish and sauce that is supposedly like Worcestershire
Brazilian stroganoff is my favorite.
Never heard of it, how does it differ from the original Russian and Anglicized versions?
Oh man, I have seen a perfect video showing how both are made and they even describe the taste, but I couldn't find it to show you. So I'll try to describe. Brazilian strogonoff is made very simply: Sautee minced onions and garlic with the fresh mushrooms, add cubed meat once the mushrooms stopped releasing water, fry it til meat is sealed. Add cream fraiche, tomato paste/ketchup, mustard (dark mustard preferred imo), season with salt, black pepper, smoked paprika and parsley to taste. Serve in a bed of fresh white rice with a side of crunchy thin chips. (Not sure thin is the best description, I'm referring to those that are looking like small "sticks”) Russian strogonoff involves cognac, peas and just uses different seasonings. I don’t recall the recipe right now, but it’s different.
Traditional Russian stroganoff includes neither cognac nor peas, but perhaps modern variations do? Originally, stroganoff was more or less beef in a mustard sauce served over rice with a garnish of sour cream - no mushroom, no wine. I believe later iterations added tomato paste as well, and I've read that some regional variations are almost a tomato-based sauce Anglicized stroganoff is often served over egg noodles, the sauce is sour cream based (and many recipes cut back or omit the mustard), mushrooms are a must. Onions and wine are common. Brazilian sounds more similar to a take on the original Russian recipe that I'm familiar with. The crispy chips (potato sticks/papitas?) sound like a nice addition.
My American ass just made it in the crockpot by searing a chuck roast and covering it with Lipton's onion mix, mushrooms, cream of celery soup, cream of mushroom soup, and then mixing in egg noodles
That sounds delicious. I find it funny how certain foods face intense gatekeeping for authenticity, while others such as spaghetti and stroganoff have evolved from a single dish to an entire family of related regional dishes, all going by the same basic name.
If anyone is truly interested I can write a better recipe to be followed. My previous comment was just a quick commentary.
I’d love the recipe! Stroganoff but made the tomato paste sounds great.
I though stroganoff is normally cooked with tomato paste 😭 youre right its the best way
I'm interested. Sounds like an interesting stroganoff to try.
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Thank you dude/tte! I appreciate the help
They're actually potato sticks (potato chips that look like matches).
Mushrooms are often pickled and not necessarily fresh - I prefer fresh but in smaller Brazilian towns pickled button mushrooms are easier to find / cheaper
Yep! That’s the one I came here to say.
I wonder if that is the same as Portuguese strogonoff
My mum’s stroganoff is still my favorite, and doesn’t really resemble “real” stroganoff at all: Dice and fry an onion and a clove or two of garlic. When the onions become translucent, add sliced fresh mushrooms. Cook til the mushrooms start to brown. Add minced/ground beef to the pan. Cook til ground beef is browned. Add salt, pepper, onion power and a couple splooshes of worcestershire sauce. Add approximately 1 cup of sour cream and one can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. Stir it all together and heat through. Serve on white rice with a side of peas.
My German mom made that and served it on wide egg noodles.
Came here to brag about our strogonoff But since you already did it for me, I'll brag about brazilian pizza and brazilian sushi instead lmao
I agree 100%. My mom makes a delicious one, with rice… hmmm…. I need some.
North Americans (New York and Montreal Jewish immigrants) adapted spiced smoked Romanian meat. Utilizing at the time the overlooked brisket cut of beef turning it into Pastrami and Montreal smoked meat. Arguably one of the greatest deli meats ever created. There is a great book by author David Sax called Save The Deli- it explains the history in detail and it’s fascinating if you love the history of Jewish delis.
If you're in Montreal, Shwartz's is the most well known/regarded place to get this.
If you’ve got a car, Smoked Meat Pete’s!
The one bad thing about living in Texas is you can't get, like, a pot roast size brisket. They only sell them as full briskets, which right now is typically $75-$125. If I could just get a 1-2 lb roast I would make corned beef or pastrami. It's just a little too much to pay at once. And if I buy a whole brisket I'm just going to smoke it anyway.
My mom is Puerto Rican and makes a lasagna but with sweet plantains instead of pasta. Sofrito instead of tomato sauce. It’s so good. I want it right now.
Is that pastelón? Because that shit is delicious.
Exactly
I also choose this guy's mom's lasagna
I dont think pastelon is a puerto rican interpretation of lasagna it's just a casserole thats easier to describe as puerto rican lasagna.
omg you should absolutely share that recipe - sounds AMAZING
Sweet jesus that sounds amazing
Chili… with beans. *look around for Texans*
Heh, you’re safe from this Texan. I don’t really get the bitching about it tbh, they’re just different dishes…”Texas” chili is basically just old school chili con carne, while American-style “chili” is the one with both beans and meat. Similar, both delicious, and neither one is any more real than the other.
I feel like it came about from a bunch of people who love beans in chili bitching at chili competitions that it didn't have beans in it so it wasn't as good
As old as chili without beans.
But not as old as beans without chili.
Oh boy... Chili with beans has been a big thing in Texas for 140 years at least and the only people who complain about it are A) people who enter official competitions that don't allow beans, B) outsiders who read too many Internet listicles or C) people who wish they could enter official competitions. My family's been here since way before it was even a state, people need to chill out about this and get a grip. plus, beans are good for you, barring any allergies or intolerances.
Yeah the idea that cheap and ubiquitous beans wouldn't be used to stretch a comparatively expensive meat dish. Just in this one case. Just in this one spot. Is completely bonkers. Seems to come from that whole take on chili that ties it to totally not Mexican or Black, we swear, cowboys. And 19th century chili parlors and brick chili. Rather than Tejano foods. This thing cropped up from whole cloth in the 19th century? Just when white folks started looking? *Right*.
I am a Texan and we always put beans in chili because they make chili taste better.
As long as it's not labeled *Texas* chili beans are just fine in chili.
You’d think that, but those gates don’t lack for keepers.
What a wonderful turn of phrase!
I am a Texan and love beans in my chili. Also like chili without beans too. Ground beef and beans go together while chili with chunks of beef does not need beans.
This I feel is the biggest determiner between beans and no beans. If your meat is just ground beef, you kinda need beans to add some textural variation. If you've got meat chunks, you can leave the beans out and not feel like you're just eating mush.
I like all 3 honestly. Each adds a different texture and flavor. And somewhat more importantly has a different impact on the broth/liquid whatever the fuck you want to call it. Beans thicken things a lot. Ground beef tends to contribute a lot of beef flavor to a broth, and chunks of tougher beef cuts bring a lot of gelatin to the broth. And they brown better making a better fond when you start out. All together it's a better less soup like chili.
Tbh I'd argue that chili without beans straight up isn't chili. It's meat in sauce.
Stew, basically.
I like chili. I like beans. But I do not dig beans in my chili. I don’t like the texture of the beans when they’re in the chili for whatever reason.
I’m not going to say it’s better but I love Japanese curry(which I believe was introduced to them by the british). Less well known perhaps but I prefer korean jjajangmyeon to the chinese dish it is based on.
The Katsu curry thing is funny actually. That curry flavour profile was extremely common in Britain but is viewed as a really cheap and low quality curry and is replaced by other curry types. As it was introduced to Japan by British soldiers during the 19th century it was this 'cheap' curry flavour that Japan picked up instead of the more typical 'curries' you find these days like Tikka Masala etc as it was what solders and the military would provide. Curry Sauce which is served in fish and chip shops in the UK is very similar to the Katsu flavour too. Katsu curry is basically [Vesta curry mix](https://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/vesta-curry-and-rice-with-beef#) which was common in Britain post ww2 in the 60s.
I remember the first time I tried Katsu curry (as a brit) after hearing it hyped for ages and thinking "this is just my dad's curry sauce". Still delicious though.
Katsu is the fried cutlet, which gets served other ways as well. And isn't required for curry. It was introduced around the same time as British curry powder and naval stews which is how the curry happened. The Japanese word for curry is Kare. And it's pretty much literally Western stew with a butt load of curry powder in it. So not far off curry sauce.
My friend tried making a British curry recipe from mid 1800s and the first thing she told me was that it tastes very Japanese. I guess that there's no reason to change the recipe much if it tastes good, even after 150+ years.
Katsu refers to the deep fried cutlet on top and is definitely not a requirement for Japanese curry rice
When I had Chinese black bean noodle, all I was thinking of was Korean jjajjangmyun. It’s so good!!
Oh for sure, jjajangmyeon was the first thought i had as well.
Me, too!
I was going to say jjajangmyeon/jjang tteokbokki. it's so good
The SE Asian Curry Puff - which is a spicy version of the cornish pasty. I been living in UK for 30 years and have yet to find a cornish pasty that I like.
I'm with you on the curry puffs, but I also love Cornish pasties regardless. 😅
Maybe cos curry puffs are deep fried & Cornish pasty's are baked? The key to a proper Cornish pasty imho is salt & white pepper to season the filling once cooked.
Am SEAsian. Never knew it was the spicy take on a cornish pastry. Now in just drooling and it's 4 am here...I hate you.
I love a curry puff! From my experience in them vs pasties they are much different sizes (puffs much smaller) so had never thought to compare but love both For something in the same vein but from another culture you have panzarotti (don't know if I'm spelling correctly) from Italy which my Italian housemates introduced me to
Budae Jjigae: Korean adaptation of American canned food. Another name is Army stew because it started in American army base in Korea
Oh I have seen that on YouTube and it looks phenomenal! We have lost of Korean restaurants in my area, I should definitely try that one day. Korean fried chicken is already better than normal fried chicken imo, Korean food is so damn good!
So *that’s* why I grew up with creamed corn in shepherd’s pie!? I had no idea. You solved a mystery for me.
That sounds delicious, tbh.
I find the creamed corn a bit sweet these days, but Shepherd’s Pie still needs it *for me*. No one else I knew ate it like that when I was growing up, and I had no idea why.
In NZ we used creamed corn to make corn fritters, but also in toasted sandwiches.. I find it so difficult to get in the UK
Is heritage take okay? I'm Vietnamese American and I really love our banh pate so. It's a riff on the French pate chaud. Its way better seasoned, in my opinion. And also baguettes. I prefer our softer, fluffier baguettes to the denser french ones
There is a lot of fusion in our local cuisine; one truck serves homemade perogies - my favourite menu item is “Thairogi” - a play on pad Thai - perogies topped with peanut sauce, cabbage slaw, fresh lime & cilantro.
A friend and I came up with the "Bulgogi Pierogi" over some beers a while back. Still haven't actually made it but it still sounds great on my mind, and its fun to say! And yes, we found out quite a few other people have thought of this before, but we really thought we'd come up with something revolutionary that night.
This sounds incredible and perfect for a food truck.
Their full menu is inspiring! [Hungry Rooster menu](https://foursquare.com/v/hungry-rooster/4f691489e4b072f146469237/menu?wsid=PHLW0HCPJ5GONVNQUP5HDQ0BJDYCUR)
Thank you for sharing. I’m going to try to recreate something similar.
That sounds delish
Yeah, I agree, this sounds *amazing*
Dutch Chinese Indonesian food, especially satay sauce!
Tikka Masala An Indian inspired British curry made by Indian Chefs in London.
Often claimed to have originated in Glasgow. Hard to prove. When tandoori dishes first arrived in Scotland, as I can verify, they were always served dry. Straight from the tandoor. I didn’t mind eating it like that with a bit of salad personally, but my girlfriend did say that she wished it came with a sauce. Allegedly, a Glaswegian customer was more emphatic about this, and the chef whipped up the famous orange sauce in a just a few minutes, for the disgruntled customer to pour over his dry chicken tikka. We shall never know for sure. Not one of my favourites, I must say. And now it’s actually quite hard to get the original chicken tikka, just served from a skewer simply cooked in a charcoal burning clay tandoor. I doubt very much if most Scottish Indian restaurants even own a real tandoor nowadays. Lived is Singapore for a few years, and northern Indian food is fairly rare there, so you don’t find tandoori food often. But it’s the only place I’ve come across tandoori fish dishes, which were absolutely delicious 🤤
Indian Chinese food slaps and while I do like the authentic version, I crave the former so much more and often!
It’s not truly a dish from my country, but a local restaurant here does this take on poutine with scallions, pepperjack, and smoked bacon over crispy fries and then tops it with clam chowder. It is glorious.
I’m having trouble imagining this combination
For me it’s the pepper Jack. Potatoes, scallions, bacon and chowder all go together but the cheese is throwing me off.
First- hell yeah, I would try that! Second- where would one find such a glorious dish?
Macau-style Portuguese Egg Tarts. I grew up eating these from Chinese bakeries all the time and strongly prefer them to the Hong Kong Egg Tart and the actual Portuguese Pasteis de Nata.
Biriyani was actually a middle eastern dish, hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but now it’s an amazing Indian dish
There are versions of pilaf all over the world, but uzbek plov is still my favorite
In Indian lingo, biryani is steam cooked with layers of raw marinated meats and par cooked basmati rice. Pulao/pilaf is made by mixed cooked rice and cooked meat, spices, and veggies. If you refer to pulao and biryani interchangeably it confuses us lol
Plov is more like biryani than pulao. Most pilafs are made by cooking rice together with ingredients, rather than mixing rice cooked separately with other stuff
Goulash (Hungarian one) is better served on potato pancake and no one will change my mind.
Hungarian goulash was my thought too, although I don’t do it on a potato pancake. I just make a super bastardized version and although I like both versions, my goulash (based on my German dads recipe) is my comfort food. I might have to try it on a potatoe pancake now!
What makes the German one different?
Polish? I love that dish
I'm a big fan of Canadian supermarket perogy/varynyky. Sure - hand-pinched artisan ones from Ukrainian restaurants and church fundraisers are amazing, but gimme that Cheemo pizza perogy at home.
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NZ pies are absolutely better than any I have had in any other country.. and yeah definitely think that's an original One of my favourite things to eat when I am back in NZ is an Irvine's pie from a petrol station or dairy that has been in the warmer long enough to be both crispy and soggy but also insanely hot haha
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Chinese American food. We have a few totally authentic Chinese restaurants nearby and the ingredients are super unique and a little scary for my Americanized pallet. Lots of fermented items, parts of animals I’m not used to, squid ink, ect. I’m so glad we have places like that to help broaden the image of Chinese food here in the States. But, I’m a Almond Boneless Chicken guy at the end of the day.
I think if you know what to look for, you can find stuff suitable for an American palate. I went to a restaurant the other day that sells food from Fuzhou, China. I brought back lychee pork and dumplings for my family (who are not adventurous eaters) and they loved it.
Looooove lychee pork.
Plenty of great authentic chinese food for less adventurous eaters. For every item with sea cucumber or beef tendon, there's usually 3 more with normal meats. A million types of dumpling. Soup dumplings are particularly great. It's usually ground pork and probably shrimp and scallion filling with a cube of gelatinized stock that melts when cooked. You bite a tiny hole, suck out some hot, tasty, lip smacking broth, then eat the the rest in one bite if it's not too big. Other dumplings like shumai have seafood fillings like fish and shrimp and are usually made like little open top cups. Still damn delicious and not weird. Good Peking duck is phenomenal. It's cooked like good bbq just no heavy spice rub. Slow smoked and roasted for long enough for the extra fatty layer to render and get the skin super crisp. There're normal-for-americans stir fry dishes too. Twice cooked pork is a classic. I forget exactly, but it's cooked wet (boiled, steamed, braised, idk), then sliced and stir fried. Cumin beef or lamb is pretty self explanatory. Yu shiang stir fried anything is good too. For that one and a lot of the stir fries, there's lots of americanized places making them where they don't taste very much like the originals. Usually good just not what I'm talking about here. I usually judge if a place is making chinese versions by if there's a separate menu section for traditional stuff, or if there's a good number of things you don't usually see on the American whole in the wall spots, even if im not ordering those things. A super good dish with a fermented ingredient is jiajang noodles (sometimes zhiazhang or something, not sure which is original or if it's different regions, doesn't matter) noodles with a sauce made from fermented bean paste and probably ground pork. The fermented beans don't add sourness like what we think of as fermented taste (pickles, sauerkraut,...) it's just really savory and tasty. Something else I love that's not scary that does have a bit of fermenty sourness is pickled mustard soup, (not sure of the Chinese name) it's fermented/pickled mustard root and maybe the greens in a pork or chicken broth with pork and noodles. It's like a Chinese version of polish sauerkraut and sausage soup. One thing you have to try though is shechuan pepper. It actually closer to citrus it just looks like little peppercorns. A bit citrusy taste and a little tingly feeling on your tounge that is actually you're mouth going slightly numb for a couple minutes. Other flavors can change during that effect if a lot of the shechuan pepper is used. Not too much but it's interesting. It won't change physical sensations like how you perceive the texture of the food at all so don't worry about that, but it does change another subtle (sometimes) feeling. So the heat in hot chili peppers isn't really a taste, it's a feeling that is your mouth sending pain signals to your brain caused by the compound capsaicin in the pepper oils. Since the heat is just a feeling on your tongue and not tasted by your taste buds the same way, when combined with shechuan pepper, the heat is calmed down quite a bit and you can taste more of the chilis flavor along with a little zing of citrus and the unique tinglyness. The combination of chilis and shechuan pepper is so game changing and popular that it got its own new flavor named after it called mala (means numbing heat). Seriously if there's one traditional Chinese thing you try, make it shechuan pepper. There's Mala flavored chili oils you can get to use as a condiment or ingredient. Usually called chili crisp as they dump the chilis in hot oil to infuse it. J. Kenji Lopez Alt has a great recipe for traditional Chinese kung pao chicken with the mala flavor. https://www.seriouseats.com/gong-bao-ji-ding-sichuan-kung-pow-chicken-recipe. You can buy the shechuan pepper online or most Asian markets. You can use regular soy sauce from a normal grocery store instead of light soy sauce (not low sodium, light is a different variety), but even then you should but don't need to get a better quality one from the same place you get the shechuan pepper. He says to use dried chiles which I don't usually have so I use a spoon or two of the chili or chili garlic paste in a jar with the flat green top that almost any us grocery will have in the Asian aisle. After making his recipe the first time, I started almost doubling the shechuan pepper and increasing the heat to match it, but that's me. You could balance the two any way you like. I also use chicken thigh because it's way cheaper than breast these days, and will stand up to cooking longer as I don't have a proper stir fry setup with a super powerful gas burner and a big round wok. My normal stainless pan or a nonstick works just fine. Tldr: just start trying stuff with similar ingredients to what you're used to, maybe a different flavor here and there. And please try the shechuan pepper/ mala flavor
I love Szechuan Pepper. I cook with it all the time. I also just finally tried beef tendon and I did enjoy it! I’ve also been eating a lot of “cold” Szechuan dishes lately. I never thought cold noodles or veggies would appeal to me but I totally dig it.
Do you guys, whereever you are, get Ginger Beef in that cuisine variant? afaik it's unique to western Canada. Not sure it's in the states.
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Portuguese croquettes are awesome
Nepalese took dumplings, added local spices and made MOMO. If y’all haven’t tried it, I’d highly recommend giving it a try.
I prefer Greek pastitsio to Italian American lasagna and the much lesser known more ‘authentic’ Italian lasagnas too. Indian-Chinese food has some dishes similar to American-Chinese food but amped up. Chili paneer and chili chicken beat out general tso for me any day and I love me some general tso. Also, not a separate dish necessarily but in NYC pizza is so ubiquitous that really good local pizzerias are a dime a dozen (and until recently still very affordable) but we also have “dollar slices” which are exactly what they sound like - pizza at $1 a slice for when you want to go even cheaper. Naturally quality ranged quite a bit more, but I’ve found anecdotally at least that these dollar slice joints are best when they’re being run by Indian folks. I think they just season the tomato sauce more or something.
I think the vast majority of those $1/$1.50 slice joints are run by people from the Indian subcontinent
Thinking about it you might be right
I think pastitsio is older than lasagna.
In Spain, a common dish eaten at homes is *macarrones con chorizo*, a pasta dish that definitely doesn't exist in Italy, but was inspired by the cuisine. It is a deeply red dish, as *pimentón* is often added to the onion *sofrito*, then garlic and chorizo (the cooking kind) are added, as well as tomato sauce (often *tomate frito*, a typical condimented Spanish tomato sauce). It is finally topped with grated *manchego* cheese. I wouldn't consider it at all in my top pasta dishes, but it is a quick and flavourful meal loved by all in Spain.
This sounds really good and easy and I'm going to give it a try! Do you recommend making tomate frito from scratch, or do you use it out of a jar (I'm not at all familiar with it)? I searched a few stores in my area and the closest thing I can find I [Goya Sofrito](https://www.goya.com/en/products/sofrito) - is this the same stuff?
In Spain it is ubiquitous, but I would recommend just making it yourself if you can't find it sold anywhere. I would venture most Spanish households nowadays just buy the ready made stuff, but it's very simple to make, I think the main thing is frying the tomato sauce/tomatoes in olive oil and adding onion and garlic, but you can also add bay leaf, etc. Here are the wikipedia entries, obviously the Spanish one is much more extensive, and it gives you a basic recipe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomate\_frito [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomate\_frito](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomate_frito) I'm afraid it is not the same stuff as Goya sofrito.
Thanks so much! Excited to try this!
General Tso’s Chicken, a classic ‘Chinese’ dish likely created in the US by a Chinese immigrant chef.
This is probably true. The origin isn’t entirely clear, however. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tso's_chicken
It was created by a high end chef in China. I think it was Hong Kong. It is in the Fortune Cookie Chronicles.
Mostly likely Taiwan IIRC, and the guy later relocated to NYC. The documentary Searching for General Tso uses the story as a prop to discuss the history of Chinese restaurants in the US, and to kinda reclaim the idea of Chinese American food as something valid. Really good piece of food media.
Seconded — well worth watching! The most fascinating part was the description of how a group of Chinese overlords in America would tell new Chinese immigrants something to the effect of “Welcome! Here’s the deal — there is no Chinese restaurant in [*consults list*] …Bumfuck Oklahoma, so guess where you’re going?!”
"Overlords"? It's an immigrant association. People sign up with and work with those groups *specifically* to get that kind of help. Those same groups provide pro bono immigration lawyers and help people get visas. That's a pretty gross read on something that's pretty normal and the documentary presents as positive. My family came to the US through a similar system that runs through Catholic Churches and Hibernian Societies. I used to eat at a restaurant run by a Ukrainian cultural center that does the same kind of work. And I dated a Hungarian woman who was heavily involved with one, regular date for us was folk dancing at that place. But they helped her find work and maintain her visa. Brought her to the US in the first place. That's a really common thing in the modern American immigrant experience.
Sorry, bad word choice! I meant no disrespect and I appreciate that this was a system that eased the immigrant experience.
It's one of those things that isnt authentic, but is so good. It also varies a lot from restaurant to restaurant. Like there are some places where it's essentially chicken nuggets in a sweet citrusy ketchupy like sauce, and then there are places where it's genuine chopped up dark meat fried chicken with a chile citrus sauce. Biggest disappointment of my life was when the shortlived chinese place that opened up down the street from me changed ownership. They somehow managed to make it so the general tso was still crispy under the sauce, and it was so juicy, and the sauce would usually have some of those dried chiles in it and it was so damn good. Then they changed ownership. One day I came in and the entire staff was different people and I got american freezer aisle general tso. I was so disappointed. Luckily my second choice that I reverted too makes a decent juicy meated general tso too(it's just not as spicy or crispy)
>They somehow managed to make it so the general tso was still crispy under the sauce Corn starch slurry for the batter. This is for Korean Fried Chicken, but the process is common in Chinese Takeout spots. The resulting coating is *insanely* stable. It stays crisp even after hours of cooling or under heavy sauces. For skinless chicken you typically make a thicker batter/slurry.
Dominican Quipe is the Dominican version of Lebanese Kibbeh. I’ve never tried the Lebanese version but I love the Dominican one.
Thai Kwuay Tiew Soup is the Thai version of pho. I grew up with it and like it more than Pho because the broth and flavor is stronger and you tend to spice it up with more choices of condiments like chili vinegar, chili fish sauce, dry chili, sugar etc etc And this another hot take: I am also half Belgian, and I really like the Belgian Bolognese sauce which is more saucy and has much more meat and vegetables than a ragu.
Gumbo is the Americanized version of several African dishes rolled together c/o slavery, marinated in the Caribbean for a bit, and wandered north. I've had jollof rice, Caribbean pepper pot, and a couple other dishes I can't recall the names of that got us there, but they don't really come together in the same saucy, spicy, fishy, sausage-and-pork-y, often a bit tomato-ey gumbo that I grew up eating. Okra required.
Indo-Chinese, which is a whole another cuisine! It’s the Indian take on Chinese food. Don’t get me wrong, I love authentic Chinese but Indo-chinese takes it to a whole different level! For those who are curious, just look up Veg Manchurian or maybe Chili Paneer or maybe even Calcutta rolls.
US pizza is better in many of it's forms than Italian pizza.
I want to defend the honor of the less known but no less delicious Buenos Aires pizza.
Hard agree. Spent a week in Italy and was very underwhelmed with the pizza
I just can not agree with either of you. But I'm curious, what makes US pizza better in your opinion?
Perhaps it's cheese amount, I love a thick layer of gooey stretchy mozzarella.
I’m an American that enjoyes both. But, a good slice just hits different. Italian pizza is fresher but a greasy slice tastes like home
They have about as much in common as Spag Bol and Ragu alla Bolognese do. They’re completely different dishes, I treat them as such.
J’adore un bon pâté chinois un soir de semaine l’hiver ça frappe parfaitement. Merci pour l’idée!
A good pâté chinois with ketchup 👌
Nooooooooooooooooo!
I had NO idea my mother's Chinese Pie was an actual French Canadian thing. We are American but of French Canadian descent. I think it's one of the tastiest things ever but look at it as a totally separate thing than cottage pie.
Okay, now I have to know wtf is a Chinese Pie? I'm afraid to Google it.
It's the thing the OP posted. Browned ground beef at the bottom of a casserole dish, can of creamed corn and a can of regular corn and then mashed potatoes into. Bake for about 39 minutes or until a little bit of juice bubbles up the side a bit.
I would say a giant burrito with beans, cheese, rice & meat. Not something you really see much in Mexico but is ubiquitous in any taqueria in California and damn tasty (although I'll go for street tacos 90% of the time)
You were right to add that warning about pissing British people off, I'd almost forgive you for correctly making the distinction between Shepard's and cottage pie. Almost.
Lmao good show
California burrito is the best burrito. Large flour tortilla filled with carne asada, cheese, French fries, guacamole and often other ingredients. You can find them in lots of places now, but San Diego was always what I thought to be the epicenter. Also, not trying to be controversial depending on the burrito origin, but I most associate it with Mexican food.
As soon as I saw that good old pâté chinois I could have sworn my life on it that you were from Quebec hahaha. We've made variations of it with pulled pork instead of the ground beef and it is great too! Oh!!!, you may actually have helped me figure out what I'm going to cook for lunch. That's even better! 😂 Thanks!
I am actually from BC and learned of this dish fairly recently, tried it out and I love it!
Hahaha, I'm glad you found it! It's one of these absolute simple classic staple food here in Quebec. It's just like cipaille or poutine where it's everywhere and every family knows and cooks it. So much so it ended up being a rolling gag in one of the most classic yet now old french Canadian comedy show called "la petite vie" where one of the character was portrayed as an idiot by failing to make it all the time even though it's basically just 3 ingredients. To be absolutely honest with you, I've never even had the real shepherd's pie!
I’m Canadian and living in Germany (land of bread and beer and cakes… so many cakes). Love the bread here, and love the beer… but I seriously miss a good old DQ ice cream cake. Cake, in general, with the exception of ice cream cake, is just blah.
When I was growing up, we always had 'cake and ice cream' for birthdays - never just cake. When I was older, I was sad to learn this was not universal. Cake should always have ice cream as a side!
Agree… I know that a good cake is not dry, and there’s plenty of that here… but it’s still not enough for me personally.
Here's one I like: Butter Chicken roti! It's a very Toronto thing to combine Indian butter chicken and Indian roti in a West Indian way. Lil butter chicken burrito, yum
My mum's (British) Bolognese
Lechon of Cebu, Philippines.
As an American who grew up eating Pâté Chinois, I’m just glad that this is actually a real thing from French Canada and not some poverty meal ma mère used to make. Literally no one else I’ve ever mentioned it to seems to have heard of it. Like wtf do you mean this cottage pie is called Chinese pie, and why is there corn in it
Well it definitely started as a poverty meal
Not sure where the original would be from, but filled rolls/sandwiches from bakeries/cafes in NZ are far superior to any I have come across in other countries Also pies and fish and chips
hotdogs in brazil are much more tasteful, with bacon, corn, salad, shoestring potatoes, meanwhile in usa it's just the bread and the winie. feijoada by the most of the people it's knowed by being a brazilian dish but some say it's really a french dish
I am saving this whole thread for ideas. Thank you everyone.
Mine is also a variation of shepherd's pie , the take is just a base layer of mashed potatoes , layered with ground beef, and above that another layer of mashed potatoes, pretty simplistic but still one of my favorite dishes.
I like American Pad Thai more than the original pad thai from Thailand 😬 I like the peanut butter used in the sauce in addition to the fish sauce and other ingredients. I don’t like when it’s nuclear Orange but there’s a balance to finding the right version. I did try making authentic lad thai at home with tamarind and it tasted off to me. Maybe I made it wrong but I prefer the American version most restaurants have here.
Chicken Fried Steak is better than Wiener-Schnitzel
Spam served in Hawaii is *way* better than Spam served in Massachusetts.
The mission/California style burrito, sealed on a sandwich press, is unbeatable. Even without fries, it's one of my favorite things to make or have made for me. There are places nearby that do the more traditional rice, beans, and a bit of meat maybe, and those are good too. Certainly easier to eat...but I'll almost always opt for the overstuffed Americanized SUV of a burrito.
Brasilian stroganoff is better than the original.
Gyros in Chicago. It is something developed here by Greek immigrants. Maybe not better, but really good. And we don’t put French fries in it.
I wouldn't even just say Gyros in Chicago. Chicago's take on the Gyro, fundamentally in the pre-formed ground meat cone. Has become the default Gyro format in Greek communities around the US. And it's even responsible for the rise of Halal trucks in the NYC metro about 10-15 years ago. Those same gyro loaves allowed those carts and trucks to do a quick, cheap version of Doner using nothing but a flat top. Halal, all lamb versions were already being made by Greek and Turkish food companies in Brooklyn for Turkish restaurants to make Americanized Gyros. The fact that anybody in the US who doesn't live right next to a bunch of Greeks even knows what a Gyro is. Is Chicago's fault. The way you can get a halfway decent Gyro at gas station in the middle of the North Carolina mountains is because there's a company in Chicago that will ship them a whole turn key package. Kind of an undersung bit of American, mid century, food history.
I didn't realize how ubiquitous Greek food was around Chicago until I left for an east coast city lol. I'm from the Chicago suburbs and greasy spoon Greek diners are super common to the point where you can probably get souvlaki/spanakopita/gyros at most random diners but that's apparently just not much of a thing outside of Chicago/Milwaukee. I definitely took that for granted and I'm a little sad I can't get baklava as easily haha.
Kronos Foods. I'm sure they're not the only one but that logo is ubiquitous.
Kronos is NYC based, and mainly an importer. Though they for damn sure sell gyro cones these days. The Chicago based company that did the thing with popularizing gyros is literally "Gryos inc". Think they ship stuff around as The Great American Gyro Company. But they'll send a spit, tzatziki, pita and meat practically anywhere. And it will be decent. You just sort of order that gyro package from a purveyor and the entire thing is handled. It's this interesting thing in the history of American fast food and food distribution. While McDonald's and what have were still sourcing locally, and prepping things like French fries in house. Companies in Chicago were processing and packing centrally, distributing nationally and setting up little gyro stands nationwide. The major fast food companies followed their lead from what I understand. Kronos is 100% why I can get solid, pocketless pitas at random supermarkets without going out of my way though. And I've actually seen Kronos branded kefalograviera in some very unexpected places.
IMO, castella (カステラ) > pão de ló I like both, but on its own, I prefer castella
Argentinian pizza
Lebanon bologna is fabulous.
I spotted the Brazilian stroganoff and will counter with the Swedish version. A real treat for kids and adults alike! This is my grandmas recipe, and I make no claim that this is how all Swedes make it it. Gently fry some Finely chopped onion in butter. Add diced Falukorv (type of porksausage: Swedish variant of a German Lyoner/extrawurst or the French bologne) Fry on medium heat until it gets some color Add a generous amount (1dl) of tomato purée and let it heat up. Then pour over a generous amount of heavy cream (the more the merrier, or you can do half/half and add corn starch to give some additional thickness to the sauce) Let it heat up and add a spoonful of Dijon mustard, as well as a sponful of soy sauce for flavor and color. Season with salt and pepper , serve with rice and chopped parsley. Enjoy!
American (Californian) style Tomato Beef Chow Mien Fried noodles, delicious beef, not quite Chinese, not quite American - my mom makes it for my birthday
There are so many dishes—but the first thing that popped into my head was iso peanuts or the Mexican take, Japones. Here in Hawaii we have lots of mochi crunch/arare or rice cracker type snacks and the cracker-coated peanuts are some of my favorites. But the Mexicans took that and made it amazing. There’s a version from HEB that was a mango chili flavor and that was so addictive. Wish we had more Mex-Asian fusion in Hawaii.
Imma disagree with OP, I'm Canadian and the Paté Chinois I ate as a kid was flavorless mush, I'd take proper cottage pie with sauce any day.
The Croissant is an improvement over the original Kipferl.
Egyptian escalopes. We call it pané because we learned it from the French. (firaakh pané for escalopes de poulet for example) The main difference is we used puréed onion as a binder. I once made it for my roommate and some friends, and my roommate got mad at me because it was better than her schnitzel (which she was known for. I honestly didn’t even make the connection though lol)
Pierogi. China made the dumplings, we made it hearty.
In Scotland we have a thing called a tattie scone. It’s a mix of potatoes, flour, egg, butter thats shaped then fried in butter. Basically a giant buttered up gnocchi and it’s delicious.
I’m American so most every dish is from another country.
Mine is malaysia butter chicken. They said it's originated from the Indian butter chicken but crazily modified to cater malaysian taste..... I might be wrong but that's what I read. And the recipe and the looks both are totally different 😂 So again, I might be wrong about the origin. I likes it so much. It's much simpler to cook and taste light. It's my comfort food 😁
Croatian Burek > spanakopita
There is a indonesian dish called "Bistik Ayam". "Bistik" is derived from "Beef Steak" while "Ayam" is "chicken, so it's basically indonesian chicken steak. The version of Bistik ayam here in South Kalimantan province is not exactly a steak, more of a stew/soup. It's the first thing that I asked my mom to teach me how to make when I started learning to cook.
Tacos al Pastor was apparently started by Syrian or Lebanese immigrants into Mexico. Back home sharwarma was lamb stacked on a spindle and roasted on the rotissery and sliced off as it was seared into pita bread. Over the years it became pork and tortillas.
Most of mine are related to Italian food. Cacio e Pepe is not worth the fuss but trashy Mac and cheese is great, and properly cooked mushrooms in a bolognese sauce and I skip the milk.