And so many varieties of everything! You mention a food, and I’ll bet you can have half a dozen variations of it within ten minutes. Pecan pie can have chocolate in it, it can have bourbon, and as mentioned above, can be made with maple syrup.
We have two different clam chowders, New England and Manhattan, more types of barbecue than you can shake a stick at, and I’ll bet you ask five different bakers and they’ll tell you five different ways of making sourdough bread.
[QUOTE=ivylass]
Pecan pie can have chocolate in it,
[/QUOTE]
Cite, cite, cite, you…you Yankee gourmand!
How about both at once?
And don’t call me a Yankee. I was born and raised in Florida, so there. 
[QUOTE=ivylass]
And don’t call me a Yankee. I was born and raised in Florida, so there. 
[/QUOTE]
Not a Yankee, but a Yankee gourmand; one who eats Yankee food; for example, one who puts (forgive me, I do not wish to insult you in particular) sugar in cornbread.
…and my Sainted Grandmother, who came here from Illinois and converted as it were, made pecan pies and chocolate pies, but not both in the same crust.
I do not put sugar in my cornbread. However, I have been known to put salt on my watermelon and Parmesan cheese on my popcorn.
And what’s wrong with a little chocolate syrup to go with pecan pie? (I’m channeling Billy Crystal from When Harry Met Sally for some reason.)
[QUOTE=ivylass]
And what’s wrong with a little chocolate syrup to go with pecan pie?
[/QUOTE]
That’s how the sugar in cornbread thing started. Beware!
…maybe with pecan pie and ice cream…
[QUOTE=tdn]
I stand amended. Then there’s the whole midwest thing, but I refuse to recognize anything containing jello and marshmallow salad as a “cuisine.”
<snip>
[/QUOTE]
Bah! Kansas City barbeque alone is a recognizably tastey thing, not to mention Chicago dishes. I don’t think you realize all that you are dissing.
[QUOTE=Alessan]
Don’t get me wrong - I think homecooked American food is wonderful. I just wish more Americans ate it.
[/QUOTE]
And who are you eating with? Midwesterner, who lived in the east and the west, checking in. We cook almost every day and all those around us do too. Maybe you’re just being treated by your US friends to “bought” food as a treat. Check out the supermarket, it’s obvious we are not all eating M’D’s or KFC everyday.
[QUOTE=Inthelake]
For what it’s worth, I’m French, and one of my dreams is to have the chance one day to eat a real home-made Thanksgiving turkey dinner. I’m just enamoured with the concept. Turkey. Cranberries. Corn bread. Succotash, yams, mashed potatoes, the whole shot.
[/QUOTE]
Come to our house. We get a fresh turkey without any of the added flavorings and additives. Do real live cranberries, none of that canned stuff, mashed taters with the skins on, sweet potatoes with no god-damned marshmellows, stuffing with portebello rooms, and acorn and butternut squash. Followed by homemade apple and pumpkin pie with real whipped at home cream. All preceeded by shephard’s pie for breakfast.
A heart-attack in a day. YUMMMMMM.
[QUOTE=sinjin]
Asweet potatoes with no god-damned marshmellows,
[/QUOTE]
Hear him! Hear him!
For the variations on Thanksgiving cuisine, check out this thread.
InTheLake, pick your host for dinner this year.