For those of you who grew up in places that have distinctive regional cuisines...

[xiphias]

Some foods are place-bound. There's no reason that a Cincinnati Chili couldn't be made outside of Cincinnati, or that there could be a Garbage Plate somewhere other than Rochester, NY. But they're not. And some are a bit less place-bound, but still place-bound -- try getting Moxie outside of New England. Is there a region somewhere down South where they drink it, too? But not most places.

So, for those of you who grew up with such a cuisine, how old were you when you realized that other places just don't have it?

For me, I was just thinking about Whoopie Pies. And the age that I realized that they're not ubiquitous outside of New England was 40 2/3.

Yeah. Okay, I'm slow sometimes.

Oddly, I think I've got almost all the ingredients I'd need to make them in my kitchen right now. The only thing I'm missing is ... eggs. I've never made them before; it didn't occur to me until half an hour ago when Lis asked me that they were a thing that you actually COULD make. But they don't look all that difficult. It's just basically chocolate cake and buttercream frosting, really.

Well, one of the variations we found includes a buttercream/marshmallow combination frosting. Dunno how that would be.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I have almost never seen a lardy-cake since I left Oxford; it took me embarrassingly long to understand that it was barely known outside a few southern counties. On the other hand, I picked up fairly quickly that it was entirely unknown in the US. I keep promising myself to rectify that deficiency...

(In other news, Cincinnati chili, you say? This was new to me. I have now read Wiki on the subject, and recipes beside. Hmm. My poor friends: I fear they are doomed to my experimentation...)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

... I'm not sure how you'll react to the concept of Cincinnati chili once you look into it. Let's just start by saying that the chili in question must come from a can...

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Nooo. Noooo...!

(Happily I have a recipe that starts where it ought to, with ground beef and spices. And cocoa. I don't care how authentic that is, it is the Way of Good Food and I can go there. Though I will soak and cook my own beans, where even the Saveur recipe takes them from a can.)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Aw, c'mon, aren't you overthinking this? Hormel-brand canned chili poured on top of cheap spaghetti, with grated cheap mass-produced cheddar-like cheese on top! What could go wrong?

Okay, fine, apparently there are people who make this out of actual food instead. But it sort of seems like that misses the point. Some foods aren't actually SUPPOSED to be made out of recognizable food.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

The original must have been made of actual food, though, surely? And I have been known to add chillies to my regular spaghetti sauce, so it ain't that far different, just a little more specialised in the spicing...

This is the recipe I'm looking at, and, y'know? That sounds rather good.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Of course, I'm certainly being unfair here.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

seek out the episode of No Reservations where Bourdain goes to Cleveland to see Ruhlman, and forces Ruhlman to go to a Skyline Chili locations (Cincinnati chili chain) and eat the 'Skyline 3-Way'. It's funny as hell.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of a lardy cake, but looking them up, they look somewhat similar to bobka, except, well, for the basic thing that's in the name. Bobka are make with butter, which is kind of a major difference...

The lardy cake sounds nifty, though.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Lardy cake is indeed excellent: sweet and fruity and rich (and not at all pig-flavoured, should anyone be wondering). And now I have bobka to explore too, because I'm unfamiliar. See what a new world you're opening up for me tonight!