What IS American cuisine?

Apr 11 14:54 UTC 1993

As you all know, I'm sure, there are all kinds of ethnic cooking and
restaurants...  But do you consider 'American' as an ethnic entity?
What got me thinking about this is the April edition of 'Gourmet' magazine
which, this month, features only American cuisine [apparently, for the 
first time ever that the whole issue is devoted to the good ol' USofA.]

So I guess what I'm asking is, is American an ethnic entity in its own
right or more of a grouping of other ethnic areas?  Or with our regional
diversity more accurate [like there's big difference, I've noticed, between
popular foods in southeastern MI vs where I currently reside in NC.]

And, what does 'American Cuisine' mean to you?  If you were to entertain
guests from another country and you wanted them to sample American food,
what would you prepare [or have prepared]??

[I'll start a separate item for American recipes...]

response 2 of 27:

Apr 11 16:19 UTC 1993

Well, the introduction to the trade paperback edition of James Beard's
_American Cookery_ has this to say:
 
"In the years since this book was first published in 1972, the stature
of American cookery has grown tremendously.  Whereas eight years ago
people sneered at the notion that there was such a thing as an American
cuisine, today more and more people are forced to agree that we have
developed one of the more interesting cuisines of the world.  It
stresses the products of the soil, native traditions, and the gradual
integration of many ethnic forms into what is now American cooking."
 
Later, in the Introduction to the original book, Beard writes:
 
"While I do not overlook the grotesqueries of American cooking, I
believe we have a rich and fascinating food heritage that occasionally
reaches greatness in its own melting pot way.  After all, France created
French cuisine over centuries, and I daresay some of it was purely
experimental cookery.  Italian, Austrian, and Scandinavian cookery, as
well, has had generations of change and tradition.  We are barely
beginning to sift down into a cuisine of our own..."
 
Beard thus recognizes the existence of an American cuisine.  His
definition includes many sources, including native cookery, ethnic
dishes, and adaptations of ethnic dishes to American tastes, and
regional food.  Probably the simplest definition of American cuisine is
"anything cooked in America" as even ethnic dishes tend to take on an
American flavor noticeably different from the same dishes prepared in their
native countries.
 
It's hard to think of too many things more American than apple pie, hot
dogs, hamburgers, potato chips, and Coca-Cola (but that's hardly 
what one thinks of when describing "cuisine" -- and hardly what I'd
consider proper to serve guests).  What about barbequed foods?

response 4 of 27:

Apr 11 18:44 UTC 1993

It's an 800 and some-odd page book that covers a lot of territory...
A lot of the recipes in this book you will no doubt say "well, that's
not American, that's Italian...German...Mexican...etc." and to be sure
Beard includes a number of the "original" recipes for comparison with
their Americanized versions.  So...
    Cole slaw
    Potato salad
    A bazillion seafood and chicken salads
    Soups
    Pan-fried fish; deep-fried fish; sweet and sour carp (!)
    Boiled lobster; Lobster Newburg
    Shrimp Creole
    Hangtown Fry
    Clam Chowder
    Gumbo
    Fried Chicken
    Chicken `a la King
    Pennsylvania Dutch Pot Pie
    Roast Turkey
    Venison (steaks, roast haunch of, pot-roasted, etc.)
    Diag Squirrel Stew :^)
    General Frost's St. Louis Wild Duck
    Loads of steak recipes
    Roast beef hash
    Pot Roast (a number of variations; origins in Europe)
    American Beef (Buffalo)(Horsemeat) Stew
    Creamed Chipped Beef
    Meat Loaf
    Hamburgers (European origin but very much American now)
    Sloppy Joes
    Pork many ways
    Several methods of curing ham are of American origin
    We aren't noted for our sauces
    Toll House cookies
 
Ran out of time...gotta run.

response 6 of 27:

Apr 12 05:33 UTC 1993

Pepsi

response 8 of 27:

Apr 13 02:22 UTC 1993

I would vote for the cassarole as we now know it as a uniquely American
food.  At least, my former mother in law (a Scandinavian who has never
lived in the US) stared with semi-polite horror at tuna noodle cassarole
and macaroni and cheese when she first encountered them.  She said she'd
"eaten in many backward countries, but never in her life seen anyone do
that to food."

I'll admit to feeling that way about lutjefisk, blueberry soup, and oatmeal
for supper.     ;)

response 10 of 27:

Apr 13 14:42 UTC 1993

The World Book we have here says "Squirrels live throughout the world
except in Australia, Madagascar, and sourthern South America...There are
over 300 kinds of squirrels".

response 12 of 27:

Apr 13 22:25 UTC 1993

   The Arboretum?

   Thats an interesting list.  I think I have to take exception to
things like the Penn. dutch pot pie; I'm quite sure I saw that served
in the Netherlands.  In fact, I passed it by just because I'd seen it
a mere 270 miles from home.  But anyway, a lot of these could be the
fuel for food origin wars if we aren't careful. ;-)  It sounds like this
book is worthwhile.  Sometimes I *am* a snob about American foods.

response 14 of 27:

Apr 14 05:37 UTC 1993

Genuflect,genuflect,genuflect.

response 16 of 27:

Apr 15 20:57 UTC 1993

I'm sure it does, or at least refers to it, but I don't have time to
scan through all umpteen zillion recipes to see.  

response 18 of 27:

Apr 24 15:37 UTC 1993

Tuna Noodle Casserole???

response 20 of 27:

Mar 14 16:53 UTC 1998

re #4, looks like Americans were dealing with an excess of meat - all but one
was meat (tollhouse cookies).
re #1 Mexicans, before the Spaniards, did not have cows.  Therefore much of
what is served as Mexican is Spanish-influenced, if it has ground or cubed
beef, or cheese. They also did not have wheat, as in flour tortillas (or
Native American fried bread - most of what I saw in a Native American cookbook
was based on such new ingredients, including refined cane sugar).
Regarding squirrels, the Europeans and Chinese have few because they were
killed off long ago, to make expensive fur capes and/or to eat.  Foreign
students with cameras always go for the squirrels first.  I think miniver,
white fur used by nobles for robes of state (see 17th century French
portraits, too) was made from squirrel belly.  Our Chinese friends were also
astonished to see live mussels on the coast, in China they were eaten long
ago.  (COuld the Chinese be convinced to eat zebra mussels?).

response 22 of 27:

Apr 3 02:21 UTC 1998

At a lecture on Arab-Americans in Detroit, we learned that they cook
Thanksgivig dinner with turkey and stuffing, and cranberries, but
nobody eats much of it, they prefer the lamb and rice that also gets
cooked then.  My Jewish-American mother also cooked a turkey then, but other
holidays were more traditionally ethnic.  The word turkey is because the
Europeans were introduced to it from Turkey.  The Russian word is 
indiyka, they thought it was from India.

response 24 of 27:

Apr 4 11:56 UTC 1998

(From dim memory.)  German chocolate cake is a fairly specific recipe
that was invented/discovered/popularized (dunno which) by an American
food company looking to boost demand for the ingredient that it made.
(It was a great success.)

Inside, it's more of a bother to make than most chocolate cakes - you
have to goof around with seperated eggs, use buttermilk, etc.  Outside,
there's a rather distinctive coconut-pecan frosting.