Destination # 15 - Rhode Island
This will be our first "Culinary Road Trip" project destination where we actually cooked and ate the food while physically in the location featured here. Drake and I just returned from a whirl-wind trip where we basically ate our faces off through all of New England (Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts) and New York. We sampled many new dishes which I hope to capture here and in future blog postings and generally were entirely impressed with the cuisine of our New England friends. We were visiting a foodie friend born and raised in Rhode Island and therefore an expert as to the local cuisine of RI and all of the neighboring states. This stuff is about as legit as it comes, people. No research needed.
A dish absolutely unique to Rhode Island is “Johnny Cakes”. WTF are Johnny Cakes, you might ask? Well, lemme tell ya! Johnny Cakes are essentially pancakes made out of a cornmeal based batter. There are some differing opinions as to whether you serve them with syrup or simply with butter but opinions aside, they are definitely a breakfast food and a darn tasty one at that. Similar to our Aunt Jemima pre-made pancake batter here, you purchase a box of the dry mix (only to be found in RI) and mix it with a bit of sugar, salt and hot water to form a batter the consistency of regular pancake batter. Drop those by the tablespoon and grill them up on a hot griddle and top with butter and/or syrup. They both look and taste delicious! They reminded us a bit of a fried polenta cake; crispy on the outside and creamy and buttery on the inside. I love the name "Johnny Cakes." I like saying it a little fast with some pizazz and accompanied by jazz hands. Try it! "JOHNNY CAKESSzzzz!" I think I'll write a song on my Ukulele dedicated to Johnny Cakes. When it makes it to the top of the charts, I promise to host my first concert in RI.
Recipe for Johnny Cakes
Purchase box of Johnny Cake dry mix (which can only be found in RI)
Follow directions on the box precisely
Eat your face off
Other popular foods found in Rhode Island are non-cream based chowders, (a.k.a. "chowdah"), quahog clams (a Rhode Island essential), clam cakes (made with those same Quahogs) and "stuffies" which appear to be a twice-baked potato stuffed into a clam shell, but it's not! The uniquely Rhode Island clam stuffie is a bready mix of chopped clams, celery, onions, peppers, parsely, lemon, garlic, and at times, Portuguese sausage baked in a big quahog clam shell. Due to the prominent presence of Portuguese folk in RI, Portuguese sausage (a.k.a. chorizo) is another common food item. Our friend made us New England style BBQ baked beans with chorizo one night for dinner and it was to die for. Permit me to go back and spend a minute here on clam cakes. HOLY SHIT STICKS THOSE SUCKAHS ARE GOOD! If I were shameful enough to admit it, which I am, I'd say that that clam cake was the best thing I put into my mouth during our 10 days of eating some of the most amazing food ever. I should note that I am not a big fan of clams. I occasionally will eat them in chowder but never in the raw by themselves or in any other form. I would *never* have ordered these clam cakes on my own but we went out for a big family dinner with my friends' family and RI native dad ordered a dozen clam cakes for the table. I was immediately nervous, knowing that I was going to have to be an adventurist and try one and then figure out how I was going to spit it out into my napkin without 8 relatively sophisticated people at the table seeing me. When a plate of steaming giant fried dough-balls arrived at the table, I started to salivate. These things are made up of a special batter that makes for doughy, gooey, delicious balls of fried goodness. I didn't even taste the clams but was assured that they were in there. I made the rookie mistake of trying to cut into one with a fork and knife which is all wrong. The natives just pull them apart with their hands bit by delicious bit and the entire experience is just AWESOME!
For a tiny little state, a barely visible blip on the map, Rhode Island has a lot to offer. We visited the multi-acre "cottages" in Newport which are magnificent and stunning. We drove along Ocean Drive with the Atlantic to our left and sprawling mansions to our right. We had a pint at the White Horse Tavern in Newport, the oldest standing bar in the U.S., opened in 1673, and we feasted on some amazing seafood. In short, I dig Lil' Rhodie!
A dish absolutely unique to Rhode Island is “Johnny Cakes”. WTF are Johnny Cakes, you might ask? Well, lemme tell ya! Johnny Cakes are essentially pancakes made out of a cornmeal based batter. There are some differing opinions as to whether you serve them with syrup or simply with butter but opinions aside, they are definitely a breakfast food and a darn tasty one at that. Similar to our Aunt Jemima pre-made pancake batter here, you purchase a box of the dry mix (only to be found in RI) and mix it with a bit of sugar, salt and hot water to form a batter the consistency of regular pancake batter. Drop those by the tablespoon and grill them up on a hot griddle and top with butter and/or syrup. They both look and taste delicious! They reminded us a bit of a fried polenta cake; crispy on the outside and creamy and buttery on the inside. I love the name "Johnny Cakes." I like saying it a little fast with some pizazz and accompanied by jazz hands. Try it! "JOHNNY CAKESSzzzz!" I think I'll write a song on my Ukulele dedicated to Johnny Cakes. When it makes it to the top of the charts, I promise to host my first concert in RI.
Recipe for Johnny Cakes
Purchase box of Johnny Cake dry mix (which can only be found in RI)
Follow directions on the box precisely
Eat your face off
Other popular foods found in Rhode Island are non-cream based chowders, (a.k.a. "chowdah"), quahog clams (a Rhode Island essential), clam cakes (made with those same Quahogs) and "stuffies" which appear to be a twice-baked potato stuffed into a clam shell, but it's not! The uniquely Rhode Island clam stuffie is a bready mix of chopped clams, celery, onions, peppers, parsely, lemon, garlic, and at times, Portuguese sausage baked in a big quahog clam shell. Due to the prominent presence of Portuguese folk in RI, Portuguese sausage (a.k.a. chorizo) is another common food item. Our friend made us New England style BBQ baked beans with chorizo one night for dinner and it was to die for. Permit me to go back and spend a minute here on clam cakes. HOLY SHIT STICKS THOSE SUCKAHS ARE GOOD! If I were shameful enough to admit it, which I am, I'd say that that clam cake was the best thing I put into my mouth during our 10 days of eating some of the most amazing food ever. I should note that I am not a big fan of clams. I occasionally will eat them in chowder but never in the raw by themselves or in any other form. I would *never* have ordered these clam cakes on my own but we went out for a big family dinner with my friends' family and RI native dad ordered a dozen clam cakes for the table. I was immediately nervous, knowing that I was going to have to be an adventurist and try one and then figure out how I was going to spit it out into my napkin without 8 relatively sophisticated people at the table seeing me. When a plate of steaming giant fried dough-balls arrived at the table, I started to salivate. These things are made up of a special batter that makes for doughy, gooey, delicious balls of fried goodness. I didn't even taste the clams but was assured that they were in there. I made the rookie mistake of trying to cut into one with a fork and knife which is all wrong. The natives just pull them apart with their hands bit by delicious bit and the entire experience is just AWESOME!
For a tiny little state, a barely visible blip on the map, Rhode Island has a lot to offer. We visited the multi-acre "cottages" in Newport which are magnificent and stunning. We drove along Ocean Drive with the Atlantic to our left and sprawling mansions to our right. We had a pint at the White Horse Tavern in Newport, the oldest standing bar in the U.S., opened in 1673, and we feasted on some amazing seafood. In short, I dig Lil' Rhodie!
Labels: food, Rhode Island
posted by E-Rae | 8:43 PM
1 Comments:
Okay, I'll admit I love clams (heh) but I've never heard of stuffies and now I'm officially drooling. They sound a-frkn-mazing. Also, I totally did the *jazz hands*.
Post a Comment
<< Home