What American recipes would interest you?

[Venus193]

I second jambalaya.

New England Clam Chowder
Manhattan Clam Chowder

[JoW]

Good point- any dish featured needs to be made from scratch with no proprietry mixes or specialised ingredients as you can't always get them here. You can't get Bisquick for example.

You can make your own substitute for Bisquick from readily availble ingredients.  Google Bisquick Substitute.  The same is probably true for most shortcut ingredients.  Google the brand name and "substitute" and you'll probably find a way to make your own. 


I've eaten Chicken Fried Steak exactly once.  Never again.  It was a crime against good meat.  But my mother cooked it, and she's not much of a cook.  Its likely that someone else has a decent recipe for it. 

[CLE_Girl]

Apple Pie
Chicago style deep dish pizza
Baked Potato Soup
Tuna noodle caserol (not a favorite, but very american!)

[Sophia]

Cooks had a very good recipe for Tuna Casserole two issues ago. 

[lady_disdain]

How about funeral potatoes? I love the name.

[Kitty Hawk]

As an American living in Germany, I am most often asked for Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Someone mentioned Split Pea Soup -- there is nothing particulalry American about that!

Corn on the cob is also a good one.

[jmarvellous]

Regional recipes such as Boston Baked Beans or Kentucky Burgoo would be interesting, especially if you could follow it up with a discussion about the region- climate, influences etc.

Another option might be to pick a European or other region and post a recipe typical of that community living in the US- such as a typical Pennsylvania Dutch recipe- then you can have a follow on discussion.

Skyline Chili
Shrimp & Grits
Yankee Pot Roast
Frogmore Stew
Crawfish Pie
Catfish Stew

I am American and really into reading cook books and I have never heard of any of the bolded. Unless Yankee pot roast is just pot roast, I guess. (Not to dis those things! I just love how diverse America is.

I know it's not, strictly speaking, exclusive to America, but I think Tex-Mex food like tacos, burritos, nachos (which are basically American) and even stuff like homemade tortillas or salsa is a good idea to show America's diversity. It's definitely not very European!

I love another poster's idea to post "Americanized" versions of Euro-originals.

I've heard the American idea of a big salad as an entree is pretty unusual over there, but I'm not sure about that. Would certainly make an easy recipe, maybe with something like a recipe for the very American ranch dressing.

edited to add disclaimer

[Sophia]

That reminds me

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

[crytoscopophiliac]

Wow! Thanks for all of the great tips! It never occurred to me that I could find substitutions on Google. It will make my life a bit easier.
By student request, next week will be Chicken PotPie. I don't know how she heard of it but she is in luck as I have a copy from my Grandmother's cookbook. We are going to try to alternate dessert and main.

Some of the other suggestions around the office included Banana Nut Bread, Zucchini Bread, and Fried Green Tomatoes.

[Venus193]

Here is the Banana Bread recipe I use:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-banana-bread/

You can substitute granulated Splenda for the sugar (there is a brown sugar version) and it tastes exactly the same.

[Sedorna]

Maryland crab cakes

If you do crab cakes, make sure you use fresh (not canned) jumbo lump backfin crabmeat. That really makes a difference, but I'm not sure how expensive/possible that would be where you live.

I'd also recommend Maryland crab soup. I adore the stuff, myself. And pit beef sandwiches, which consists of beef, grilled over high heat and thinly sliced. It's best rare, and served with white onions and horseradish sauce.

[PastryGoddess]

Maryland crab cakes

If you do crab cakes, make sure you use fresh (not canned) jumbo lump backfin crabmeat. That really makes a difference, but I'm not sure how expensive/possible that would be where you live.

I'd also recommend Maryland crab soup. I adore the stuff, myself. And pit beef sandwiches, which consists of beef, grilled over high heat and thinly sliced. It's best rare, and served with white onions and horseradish sauce.

Proud Marylander here:  Since you'll be in the UK, you'll probably not be able to get fresh crab meat so canned will be fine   Just FYI.  Jumbo Lump meat is preferred.  Lump backfin is still good, but not as high a quality.  Special Crab meat is really the cheapest you want to go for crab cakes. 

And you must must must use Old Bay Seasoning.  Without it, Crab cakes and crab soup are nothing


I actually just made crab soup yesterday.  And had 6 relatives asking for some even before it was done.


Softshell crabs are divine


New England Lobster Rolls


Red Velvet Cake w/ cream cheese frosting

[Sophia]

...
Red Velvet Cake w/ cream cheese frosting

Good one.

[heartmug]

Meatloaf

[DaisyG]

As a non-American, my vote would be for Pecan Pie - my dad used to make a good one but has now lost the recipe