MN foods (New Ulm, Dakota: restaurant, areas, cities)

[Citykid3785]

+ Juicy Lucy

[old fed]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

+ Juicy Lucy

it's jucy lucy, FYI

[Lodestar]

Lasagne is never called hotdish in Minnesota. It is called "exotic" or "foreigner food." So is canned Chef Boy-ar-dee spaghetti. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


Here are a few more -


Turkey, depending on whether you're talking to a Minnesotan or a Texan.


Morel mushrooms.


Blueberries.


We've even got our own Minnesota-shaped pasta. When Dh's cousins visited from the Netherlands I did a silly "Better off Dead" sort of thing - a themed meal. Only my theme wasn't "Frahnce" but rather Minnesota.


And don't forget the Hamm's and Grain Belt (which the relatives thought were a bit on the weak side.)

[cornsnicker3]

The first food that pops in my mind when someone says "Minnesota" is Lutefisk, which is technically Norwegian, but no state champions the food as much as Minnesota. The fact that it wasn't the first answer on this thread boggles my mind. Hot dish comes in second.

[HighFlyingBird]

People eat an extremely large amount of ranch dressing here, I have noticed

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by HighFlyingBird

People eat an extremely large amount of ranch dressing here, I have noticed

This is soooooo true! When I moved here, my friends would dip their fries in it. It's actually considered more of a dipping sauce here vs. a dressing. In fact, 50% of the Mexican restaurants here actually serve a ranch style dip with the chips and salsa! Seems to also go hand in hand with "seasoned sour cream", which was a new thing to me.


What about Booya? I never heard of it until I came here. Still have never tried it.....

Also, to me there is MN style Pizza (Carbones, Red's Savoy, etc.). Thin crust, deep-dark red sauce, tons of cheese (no gaps in the cheese), cut into squares (potentially with pineapple on it?!?!). It's not a culinary masterpiece, but something one might crave with drinking with friends.

[viridianforest]

Plan to check out Minnesota in the near future, and my family loves to find new, interesting foods. Going to have to look up what some of these are since of course I'm unfamiliar.

I think the ones I've mostly seen on online articles are Juicy Lucy/Jucy Lucy - seeing the picture makes me drool...looks so good (seen it spelled both ways, not sure which is right...) and "Hotdish" :P but it's nice to have a different list!

The ranch and french fries comment makes me hungry (it feels like one of the most addictive things on the planet)...I used to love ranch and then a sensitivity to eggs - stinks so much. After all, it was a middle school cafeteria favorite of mine and a few others.

Question, is it common to mix ketchup with mayo as a dipping sauce? I remember having some friends that moved from up north and can't remember what states they were from...but they loved that combination with their fries.

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by viridianforest

Plan to check out Minnesota in the near future, and my family loves to find new, interesting foods. Going to have to look up what some of these are since of course I'm unfamiliar.

I think the ones I've mostly seen on online articles are Juicy Lucy/Jucy Lucy - seeing the picture makes me drool...looks so good (seen it spelled both ways, not sure which is right...) and "Hotdish" :P but it's nice to have a different list!

The ranch and french fries comment makes me hungry (it feels like one of the most addictive things on the planet)...I used to love ranch and then a sensitivity to eggs - stinks so much. After all, it was a middle school cafeteria favorite of mine and a few others.

Question, is it common to mix ketchup with mayo as a dipping sauce? I remember having some friends that moved from up north and can't remember what states they were from...but they loved that combination with their fries.

I've only seen this mixture of ketchup and mayo from my black friends, they seemed to mix mayo with everything. Maybe a cultural thing?

[mingna]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

I'm often asked what foods an outsider needs to try that define MN? Maybe they weren't invented here, but in some respect, when you're in MN, you need to eat "blank" when you're here to feel Minnesotan. What foods make that list?
Wild rice soup
Walleye
Lefse
Cheese curds
Porchetta
Tater tot hotdish

Good list. Except I associate cheese curds with Wisconsin more, and have never heard of porchetta. Hot dish in multiple forms, yes.

For "cold dish" : Ham Salad, 7 Layer Salad

Originally Posted by Ghengis

spam

Sliced and fried in its own fat until crisp. Eaten with plain steam white rice, with fried eggs, between two slices of soft Wonderbread...

Originally Posted by Brian_M

For me it's Sunnies (bluegill, sunfish) ~ but that's because MN was always visiting grandparents and they liked to fish.

But LOL at "hotdish"... haven't heard that in forever.

Those are all I ever seem to catch - bluegills and sunfish. Never a fat walleye! Sunnies are tasty fried up, but quite bony to eat for most impatient folks.

Judy Lucy must be fairly recent invention. Never heard of it or ate any growing up.

And although I've eaten and made lefse growing up, I've never seen lutefisk actually served or eaten by anyone I've known. Seems to be more of a mythic-lore food.

[mingna]

Originally Posted by HighFlyingBird

People eat an extremely large amount of ranch dressing here, I have noticed

It's a very popular dip with my kids, and just kids in general today. I don't think it's limited to Minnesotans.

Originally Posted by viridianforest

Plan to check out Minnesota in the near future, and my family loves to find new, interesting foods. Going to have to look up what some of these are since of course I'm unfamiliar.

I think the ones I've mostly seen on online articles are Juicy Lucy/Jucy Lucy - seeing the picture makes me drool...looks so good (seen it spelled both ways, not sure which is right...) and "Hotdish" :P but it's nice to have a different list!

The ranch and french fries comment makes me hungry (it feels like one of the most addictive things on the planet)...I used to love ranch and then a sensitivity to eggs - stinks so much. After all, it was a middle school cafeteria favorite of mine and a few others.

Question, is it common to mix ketchup with mayo as a dipping sauce? I remember having some friends that moved from up north and can't remember what states they were from...but they loved that combination with their fries.

That's how I ate it growing up. Just seems like a natural marriage of deliciousness in condiments to me.
May be it's a spill-over practice from the mixture of the two in burgers?

(The Belgians eat their fries, which are similar to McD's, with mayo - not ketchup. How are they all not on anti-cholesterol medication? Must be the beer.)