# Help Me Like Yankee Food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185 "2005-10-14T04:58:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/1 "2005-10-14T04:58:13Z")
I was raised in Arkansas, and thus have been exposed almost exclusively to Southern Cuisine: fried catfish, fried okra, cornbread, biscuits and the like. Despite having lived in the St. Louis area for thirteen years, I still almost always stick with the old country recipes. I’ve shied away from what I’ve seen as “Yankee” food, but now I want to expand my culinary horizons. So what Yankee dishes would be good for a country girl to try out? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/2 "2005-10-14T05:12:31Z")
Aside from Yankee Pot Roast, what else is considered “Yankee” food? It’s not what they serve at the Yankee Stadium concession stands is it? ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/3 "2005-10-14T05:14:54Z")
> [@KCSuze](#): > > I was raised in Arkansas, and thus have been exposed almost exclusively to Southern Cuisine: fried catfish, fried okra, cornbread, biscuits and the like. Despite having lived in the St. Louis area for thirteen years, I still almost always stick with the old country recipes. I’ve shied away from what I’ve seen as “Yankee” food, but now I want to expand my culinary horizons. > > So what Yankee dishes would be good for a country girl to try out? I have to say I have no idea what “Yankee food” would be. Different areas of the non-South have different regional foods as well. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/4 "2005-10-14T05:25:07Z")
Lobster? ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/5 "2005-10-14T05:25:45Z")
Hmmm. I think Yankee food would be stuff like non-fried fish, lobster, Italian food, German food, or any other ethnic food from the people who mainly settled up north. Bratwurst, brown bread, Pennsylvania Dutch dishes, mmmmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/6 "2005-10-14T06:05:47Z")
I’m a Southerner who is crazy about New England chowders – clam chowder, fish chowder, corn chowder. I also _love_ crab or lobster Newberg. She-crab soup is terrific too. I’m not much of a cook though. The only recipe that I have to offer is for _partan bree_ (crab soup) and the recipe comes from Scotland. That would be cheating. At Christmas one of the Yanks in our family prepares roasted butternut squash. I really go for that! ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/7 "2005-10-14T06:18:43Z")
What **C3** said. Your pot roasts, your Boston cream pies (though I don’t know why they call it a pie when it’s a cake) and other northern delicacies. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/8 "2005-10-14T11:31:05Z")
I’m guessing that this southerner _might_ be equating Yankee food with Fancy food. But, Yankee food – like I know it – usually starts with rendering the fat from salt pork in the bottom of a pan. It’s not a stretch for a southerner to get on board with that. They say the Mainer’s spice cabinet is salt, pepper and ketchup. There are some creamy dishes like Salmon Wiggle, and there’s also chowder (with lots of rendered fat), pot roast, baked beans. Shepherd’s Pie was always made in Maine. These aren’t challenging things to like. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/9 "2005-10-14T12:02:34Z")
If you bet up Wisconsin/Chicago way, try beer-battered fish, straight from Lake Michigan. Wonderful! ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/10 "2005-10-14T12:30:47Z")
This is a great time of year for apples. My personal favorites are Macintosh, with Empire a close second. And let’s not forget cider donuts. Great googly moogly, they’re good. Another good one for this time of year is pumpkin pie. My other northern favorites have been mentioned: clam chowder (New England, of course) and butternut squash. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/11 "2005-10-14T12:55:31Z")
By “Yankee food” do you mean specifically New England food or do you mean North of the Mason-Dixon Line food? Here in the Pittsburgh area, for example, the cuisine was heavily influenced by Italian, German, and Eastern European immigrants. You never had lasagna, bratwurst, or pierogies? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/12 "2005-10-14T13:19:57Z")
> [@Nutty Bunny](#): > > This is a great time of year for apples. My personal favorites are Macintosh, with Empire a close second. And let’s not forget cider donuts. Great googly moogly, they’re good. Strudel. Or deep-dish German Apple pie. \< **Bosda** sings\> \*Heaven! I’m in heaven! And my heart beats so, that I can hardly speak! \*\< ? **Bosda** sings\> ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/13 "2005-10-14T13:33:05Z")
A Yankee food thread without mention of Boston Baked Beans? Blasphemous! Here’s to the city of Boston Home of the bean and the cod. Where the Lowells talk only to the Abbotts And the Abbotts talk only to God. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/14 "2005-10-14T14:06:16Z")
Whenever I try to picture “Yankee food” in my head, I invariably get images of stuff like hot dogs and pizza. I suppose non-fried seafood (shellfish especially comes to mind) and as mentioned before, ethnic foods from groups of people who primarily settled up there (oddly enough, it seems that a lot of the German stuff is also Texan food, as we seem to have a suprisingly large Germanic population here). As an aside, do they eat steak up there? I hear you guys make some pretty decent beef. 😃 Incidentally, I’ve only visited the bitter cold northern wilderness of Boston once, during a heat wave in summer. Temperatures as high as 85 degrees :dubious: (actually, the fact that the air was so humid you could swim in it did bother me a great deal) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/15 "2005-10-14T14:11:16Z")
In Wisconsin: Pickled Apples Pickled Grape Leaves Rhubarb Pie Lutefisk Cornish Pasties Finnish Pasties Goulash Chile- It’s not even close to what the southern states make. Macaroni in it and thin like soup. Barbeques- Ground meat not pulled, brown sugar, and molasses. Lefse Sauerkraut or Victory Cabbage Brats Kielbasa ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/16 "2005-10-14T15:32:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > A Yankee food thread without mention of Boston Baked Beans? Blasphemous! > > Here’s to the city of Boston > Home of the bean and the cod. > Where the Lowells talk only to the Abbotts > And the Abbotts talk only to God. It’s Cabots, not Abbotts. Neither can be eaten. ---
**Author:** ![Poonther](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Poonther](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poonther)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/17 "2005-10-14T15:39:22Z")
Try their turnips, they actually only eat the roots. When my big haired Jersey MIL passed me her turnips the first time at a family meal, I wondered how she got “the greens” so hard and white, then I realized what they were. Definitely not as good, but try them anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/18 "2005-10-14T15:48:38Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I’m a Southerner who is crazy about New England chowders – clam chowder, fish chowder, corn chowder. I also _love_ crab or lobster Newberg. She-crab soup is terrific too. I’m not much of a cook though. The only recipe that I have to offer is for _partan bree_ (crab soup) and the recipe comes from Scotland. That would be cheating. > > At Christmas one of the Yanks in our family prepares roasted butternut squash. I really go for that! Excuse me? Did you just call she-crab soup a yankee food? Because this South Carolinian might cry at that. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/19 "2005-10-14T20:26:39Z")
Sliced Indiana tomatoes, still warm from the sun. Sweet corn on the cob, ten minutes from the stalk in the backyard. Inch-thick pork chops on the grill. That’s what I used to serve my dad, to remind him why he came back to Indiana every year. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185/20 "2005-10-14T20:40:43Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Excuse me? Did you just call she-crab soup a yankee food? Because this South Carolinian might cry at that. **Zoe** probably meant [the Maryland version](http://southernfood.about.com/od/seafoodsoups/r/blbb449.htm). Still south of the Mason-Dixon Line, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-like-yankee-food/326185.md?page=2)