Missouri and Maine

Two inventions from Missouri - toasted ravioli and ice cream cones!   The story about the latter is that an ice cream vendor at the St. Louis World's Fair ran out of bowls, and the waffle vendor next door rolled up a waffle to use for the ice cream instead.  For those that have never had them, toasted ravioli are basically breaded ravioli that are then deep fried.   We baked them in a hot oven instead.   I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of the ones that I've had in restaurants, but I actually liked the ones that we made at home.  Perhaps because we went lighter on the bread crumbs and didn't fry them.

I remembered part way through making the ice cream cones (without an actual waffle cone machine), that I've never had much luck trying to make cookies that are shaped after baking.   I'm afraid the cones didn't work too well either.   They tasted good, but it's really not worth trying at home without the right equipment.

Two foods strongly associated with Maine are lobster and wild blueberries.   Living in New England, I actually make lobster rolls now and then.   Unfortunately, lobsters are rather pricey right now, and frankly, I just didn't feel like dealing with them.   So we bought some freshly made lobster ravioli, which we did not toast, to enjoy with our toasted ravioli.   And we made yummy wild blueberry sorbet to go with our homemade ice cream cones.

Michigan and Arkansas

This counts as our junkiest (in a good way) meal yet.   Our main dish from Michigan was the Coney Dog, invented in Jackson, MI.   It's a hot dog, with a particular meat sauce, chopped onions, and yellow mustard.   We learned a new cooking technique making the sauce.   The ground beef gets sauteed with water, which results in a very fine texture for the ground beef.  You pour off the water and fat after it is cooked.  Good to know.  Here's the recipe we used for the Coney sauce http://reliableanswers.com/kitchen/coney_island_sauce.asp.

Arkansas is, apparently, all about cheese dip.  There's even a short documentary about it (which I haven't yet watched) called "In Queso Fever (A Movie About Cheese Dip)".    There are lots of recipes out there for cheese dip, but we went with the classic.   A pound of Velveeta microwaved with a 10oz can of Rotel tomatoes with green chiles.   What could be bad?!   I used the leftover dip the next night to make baked mac 'n cheese.

For dessert we made Rice Krispie treats.  Which actually worked for both states, since Arkansas is the biggest producer of rice in the U.S., and Kelloggs (producer of Rice Krispies) is in Michigan.

Texas and Florida

Yay!  These two states were the easiest to come up with a menu for so far.   Texas, of course, means Texas style chili.   It is their official state dish.   Texans believe that "chili con carne" should be what the name says - peppers with meat.   No beans, cubes of beef, and no tomatoes.   It is ok to eat it on rice.  

We made the recipe at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/True-Texas-Chili-355049 using guajillo peppers (Penzeys Spices has them).   It's a bit of work - you have to soak the dried peppers, seed them, and then make a paste in the blender with the other spices.   Not difficult, just time consuming.    We concluded that the result was worth it.

Texas also has an official state bread called Pan de Campo.   Which translates as "camp bread".   There are a ton of variations, but it is basically a baking powder bread traditionally cooked over a campfire.   Many times in a Dutch oven, but sometimes in a skillet with lard.    We made it in a Dutch oven in our indoor oven since we don't have an appropriate setup for making a campfire in our backyard.  It ends up being pretty much a giant biscuit, but that's a good thing :-).

For Florida we made key lime pie.   It's not an official state symbol, but it should be!   We served it with genuine Florida strawberries, which, happily, are in prime season right now.