One of my idle hobbies is to look up regional cuisines, or less-well-known recipes from various international cuisines, on Wikipedia to see if I can find anything that seems interesting that I’d like to try making. That’s how I found out about Cincinnati chili, ragu Genovese, and a number of other dishes that I’ve since included into my kitchen repertoire. On one of those recent deep dives, I found an entry for a sandwich called a “South American”. It’s not from South America, or in a South American style, or even from the South of America - it’s from northern Minnesota, and is apparently an Iron Range tavern specialty that sounds kinda like a sloppy joe but far more complex, with several meats and a BUNCH of fresh veggies cooked down in a big pot for hours until it forms a sort of spread that’s then eaten on Italian bread.
The article itself is barely more than a stub, but the description, and the bizarrely inapt name, piqued my interest, so I sought to find a recipe… which was difficult, since “South American recipe” and “South American sandwich recipe” tend to yield results about, well, South America. Even searching for it on Minnesota subreddits is difficult. Ultimately, I managed to find two pages that both cite the same recipe from a cookbook of Iron Range recipes.
The recipe provided is big, but it looks like it could be halved easily enough, and I’d be able to make it in my own kitchen without buying any extra equipment, but since I live alone and I’m responsible for eating all of my leftovers, I’m always wary of trying a new recipe that’s gonna be on the pricier side of things if I don’t have a solid idea of what I should expect the result to be, and since I’m probably the only person in this state who’s ever even HEARD of these things, I seek the wisdom of any Minnesotan Dopers out there.
Ever had one of these? Are they good? Ever make 'em at home? How’s this recipe look? Have you ever even heard of these?