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Antipasto Platter No longer need shoppers hunt down a salumeria or pork store in the Italian part of town to find meats for a good antipasto platter. Such once-exotic salamis and sausages are found in many good supermarket deli cases. Of course the best meats are still found behind the counter of true Italian butchers.
Baked Oatmeal This gives the appearance of a cake, but is far less sweet. Just as it is named, it is truly baked oatmeal, delicious served warm & topped with cream or whole milk.
Baked Pancake A baked pancake is testimony to the rising power of an egg. Similar to Yorkshire pudding, but without the savory beef infusion, baked pancakes can be served simply, with a dusting of powdered sugar and a few squeezes of lemon, or they can be effulgently dopped with fresh fruit or fruit compote. Seeing as how this must be served and eaten immediately after being cooked, the only practical way to make several is to have several pans, one for each pancake.
Beef Carpaccio with Porcini Mushroom Relish Beef carpaccio was first served in Venice at Harry’s Bar, which is also birthplace of the Bellini (white peach nectar and sparkling wine). This elegant recipe is from Harry Caray's in Chicago.
Bierock We've heard all sorts of explanations for the name bierock, including the fact that one of these pocket sandwiches tastes great with beer. Historically, the bierock, like the trademarked Runza, goes back to the Volga Germans who settled on the American plains about a century ago. The portable meals (similar to the Upper Midwest's pasties) were a favorite lunch among farm workers; and today they are ubiquitous at Church suppers and fund-raisers throughout Nebraska and Kansas.
Braised Lamb Shank "Everyone's favorite," is how chef Sissy Hicks of the Dorset Inn describes braised lamb shanks. "They look a little barbaric with the shank hanging out of the bowl, but they make a stupendous meal!" She suggests serving them with white beans.
Buckwheat Cakes The Courtesy Coffee Shop of Winchester, Indiana, is long gone, but when we came across it in our travels back in the 1980s, we managed to secure its recipe for buckwheat cakes. The ladies of Winchester like them broad and elegant-textured. If you like them thicker, simoply reduce the amount of buttermilk you add. (Note: buckwheat flour is available at most organic or natural grocery stores.)
Buttermilk Pancakes Blessed with smoke houses, artisan bakeries, and excellent maple syrup, Vermont is a fine place to eat breakfast. The Dorset Inn is especially great. These are chef Sissy Hicks' simple and perfect buttermilk pancakes.
Calamari Fritto Gaetano Carbone discovered fried calamari at Leon's restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut. In order to get the recipe for his own restaurant from Leon's chef, Guy swapped him his recipe for eggplant. It remains a huge favorite at Carbone's in Hartford.
Cheddar Corn Pancakes Cheddar corn pancakes are a delicious legacy of Gail's Station House of West Redding and Ridgefield, Connecticut. They are sweet and savory and even more delicious when blanketed with warm maple syrup.
Chicken Vesuvio Harry Caray's is "The Official Home Plate of the Chicago Cubs," a great place to have some brews while watching games and an even better place to plow into great steaks, Italian fare, and a dish that is unique to Chicago, Chicken Vesuvio. Not too many restaurants in the Windy City offer it, but of those that do, this is by far the best version. It is a deliriously satisfying meal of chicken baked to utmost succulence encased in a red-gold crust of lush skin that slides from the meat as the meat slides from the bone. For garlic lovers in particular, it is sheer ecstasy.
Cincinnati Chili Bearing no resemblance to any Southwestern-style “bowl of red,” Cincinnati chili often is called five-way because there are five separate layers in its full configuration. No Cincinnati chili cook will give out his recipe, but this one comes pretty close to the superlative five-way served at our favorite Queen City chili parlor, Camp Washington. Oyster crackers are the traditional garnish, and the proper companion beverage is a milk shake or sweet soda pop.
Clam Cakes Clam cakes make any seafood meal sing. Serve them alongside fisherman's stews such as cioppino or bouillabaisse, or along with grilled salmon or swordfish or halibut. For a less ambitious meal, you hardly need a main course. Simply serve clam cakes and chowder or lobster stew, with strawberry shortcake or wild blueberry pie for dessert. There you have a genuine summertime Downeast feast!
Clam Hash We've not seen clam hash on a menu other than at Pat's Kountry Kitchen, but it has deep roots in Yankee cookery. Founder Pat Brink told us that her recipe was developed when her kids accidentally threw away the broth retrieved from a batch of clams that were destined to become clam chowder. Without the broth, there could be no chowder; and so Pat improvised and created hash. This recipe is not hers, but comes pretty close.
Crab Cakes The secret of great crab cakes is to use the most amount of crab and as little binder as you can get away with to hold the cake together. Of course, the quality of the crab meat crucial. Fresh-picked Chesapeake Bay crab or Dungeness crab is best.
Fried Chicken Bon Ton There is no printed menu at the Bon Ton Mini Mart because everyone comes to eat one thing: chicken. Located in a former convenience store / truck stop, this out-of-the-way treasure is an unlikely place indeed to find fine food; but in fact this chicken is some of the best you ever will eat: salty, spicy, moist and bursting with flavor. The spice mix used for Bon-Ton chicken is a closely-guarded secret, but cook Donna King shared with us its fundamental ingredients as well as the basic principle of a long marinade – at least twenty-four hours. During that time, she explained, blood seems to be drawn from the meat, allowing a briefer frying time, resulting in the juiciest possible chicken with flavor insinuated into every fiber. She also told us that the pieces must rest five or ten minutes and "get doughy" after being dredged in spiced flour, and that pure vegetable shortening will insure it is grease-free. Remember: Begin marinating the chicken the day before you plan to cook it!
Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce It isn't necessary to serve this gingerbread with lemon sauce, but the sauce totally transforms it – from a sweet bread suitable for an afternoon snack into a blissful warm dessert. The sauce is also good on bread pudding. For bread pudding or hot gingerbread, this is the crowning touch.
Horseradish Pickles Garnishing every plate at Porubsky's in Topeka, Kansas, are hot-hot pickles. They start as briney dills, then get doctored up as follows. Serve them with sandwiches, or as they do at Porubsky's, chopped up on top of chili!
Matzoh Brie In case you aren't familiar with Old Testament cuisine, matzoh is the unleavened bread made by Jews when they beat a fast retreat from Egypt and had no time to wait for yeast to work. You'll find fried matzoh, aka matzoh brie, in many Jewish delis and breakfast restaurants from coast to coast. It ranges from scrambled eggs with a few bits of matzoh to matzohs barely bound with a bit of egg. Our version is dry enough to eat pieces of it with your fingers, but also perfectly suitable as fork food. You can adjust the number of eggs and amount of sour cream to vary its moistness.
Mojito Chef Doug Shook of Louie's Back Yard said, "You could call this a Cuban mint julep, but it's lighter and more refreshing. It's an addictive cocktail, appealing to look at and easy to drink."
Peach Cobbler Whatever other desserts may be arrayed at the large circular table in the center of the Blue Willow Inn's buffet room, you can always count on a big pan of peach cobbler. Be sure to use self-rising flour in this recipe. (Note: Fresh peaches can be used as well as canned. When using fresh, peel and slice them, sprinkle the slices with an additional 1/2 cup of sugar and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before using.)
Red Beer Red beer is popular in much of the West. We first came across it in Pendleton, Oregon, during the annual Roundup. Beer is always the main ingredient; tomato juice is second fiddle; but the exact ratio can vary from an effervescent 5:1, in which the beer is merely flavored, to a 2:1 mix as fruity as a drink in a health food juice bar. V-8 juice, regular or spicy, may be substituted for the tomato juice if desired.
Sautéed Fresh Calf Liver Many otherwise adventurous eaters put calf liver on their short list of inedible dishes. But for those of us who love it, there's none better than served at the Dorset Inn of Dorset, Vermont. Chef Sissy Hicks explained its popularity on the menu by saying, "No two people in a family like calf liver, so it is rarely cooked at home." Thus, when liver-lovers dine at the Inn, it is their opportunity to indulge.
Stewed Apples We had always liked desserts of apple pie, apple crisp, apple dumplings, and apple brown Betty, but didn't really know about having a side dish of stewed apples until we ate in the South. We have come to appreciate the luxury of tender, long-cooked apples as great companion for pig meat in of any kind – country ham, pork chops, even barbecue – and especially welcome as a syrup-sweet balance for bitter greens or tangy green tomatoes on an all-vegetable plate.
Sugared Pecans Sugary things are fundamental throughout the day and for virtually every course at the Southern table, from peach preserves for morning biscuits to Karo nut pie at supper's dessert, with plenty of sweet tea in between. For a munchable snack to fill that bill, The Blue Willow Inn recommends sugared nuts, a recipe given to the Van Dykes by Margaret Hale.
Surf and Turf The big lobster tails called for in this recipe tend to be very pricey, more so even than prime filet mignon; but that’s the point of surf and turf. It is essential to any topflight steakhouse menu because it is the height of luxury – two of nature’s richest foods combined on a single plate.
Sweet Italian Cheese Platter For those with a serious sweet tooth who aren’t interested in frilly cakes and puddings, Harry Caray's of Chicago offers a platter of cheeses adorned with booze-infused fruits and sugar-toasted nuts.
Veal Chop with Peppers and Onions The big veal chop is king of meat in Italian restaurants. Harry Caray’s serves massive one-pounders that are so tender that a knife seems to fall through them when applied to the surface.