Regional Cuisines?

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Daphne duLibre

Washing Up
Joined
Jul 28, 2005
Messages
66
I lean hard toward French Provencal cooking -- probably because it's "honest" -- whole food, reasonably simple preparation -- but I also do a fair amount of Cajun, Italian, Chinese, Japanese preparation.

I live on the Oregon coast and so ocean products are readily available, tuna, salmon, mussels, oysters, halibut . . .

Stir fry veggies is basic, and I pan-fry steaks, fish. But also poach fish, seafood.

My mom is from So. Cal. about three generations removed, and I spent two years in the Army in Texas, so Tex-Mex works its way into the mix. Chilis, frijoles, tortillas . . .

Pork fat and Tabasco . . . seems Cajun, southern.

I can dredge catfish in flour and cook in lard (Southern/Cajun), but I'm inclined toward a court-bouillion, or creme poach, maybe add a roux to the creme sauce . . .

And so, what are the regional approaches to cooking that we integrate into our cuisine? I have a book on "Caribbean" but just don't do a lot of fruit and fish . . .
 
A good basic fruit and fish to me is ahi salmon seared/flash seared on both sides served in a fresh Vietnamese spring roll with pineapple salsa along with slivered cucumbers, red pepper, carrots, cilantro and a lime, soy sauce, garlic/chili paste, and peanut butter - or a fish taco (ahi tuna again) and the pineapple salsa with a dose or two of Chilula hot sauce.

No matter where you live I feel you can take the "heritage" meals and make it "clean". Here in the south collard greens and green beans are normally cooked in bacon grease - I find that beef boullion works well too along with a chopped onion thrown in.

I have yet to find a good substitute for biscuits and gravy. :ohmy:

I lean towards many ethnic choices. While I might change a recipe to where it shouldn't be called whatever I took it from (i.e., chicken marsala that someone doesn't want to use marsala and they don't like mushrooms so they leave those out and they lean towards being a vegetarian so if they could substitute that............well, you get my drift - if you do all that IT AIN'T WHAT YOU STARTED OUT WITH)....anyway what I was saying if I take a recipe away from it's originality it at least gives me a reference point. But there are those times when you just have to make your macaroni salad with whole mayonaise, or you have to make your Alfredo without trying to make it healthy.

I am inclined, like you, to prefer the "clean". I have a Spicy Red Fish Stew posted here - probably under stews - that I think you would really like. It sounds like a winter-type food but it is pure summer food. It's absolutely clean tasting and contains everything in a 2-cup portion to provide a "whole meal". ahhh - I found the recipe - please note that I add 1 cup of white wine to this when I add the tomatoes:

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2321&highlight=Spicy+Fish+Stew
 
LOL on your signature - When visiting Utah during skiing season it was said - Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may be in Utah - that was a long time ago - the alcohol laws were very strange. You had to show proof of eating at the restaurant before you could sit at the bar and order a drink - and other things similar to that - very strange - I'm sure things are different now.
 
My cooking, as you can tell from my recipes, are known by several names:

Eurasian
Asian Fusion
Pacific Rim

The cuisines and techniques that I mostly intertwine include:

Japanese
Chinese
Korean
Thai
Vietnamese
French
Italian
Greek
Spanish
Mexican
Southwestern

 
KE and IC...long time no see! I know it's my own fault but have been through many upheavals in the last year and have barely had time to draw a deep breath. Time is still dear, but at 4:30 in the morning, one may find time to do those things that you enjoy but have had to set on the back burner. Got a beautiful pork shoulder on the grill this morning and the fire needn't be fed for a while so I thought i would pop in for a spell.
Daphne I was born and raised in North carolina by Italian and French parents. My own cooking would be called "fusion" by many but I have to admit I think that term is a cop-out...all good cooks fuse the styles they are most comfortable with into their own personal style. I use a lot of classic Southern ingredients and incorporate techniques and ingredients from such diverse cultures as Italian, French, Polish, German, Carribean ( I am never sure how to spell that) Mediterranean (That either), Indian, Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Since I live on the coast a lot of "low-country" gets thrown into the mix.
 
I'm Scots - which may be considered a 'region' of British cooking... I love Italian food (favouring the Northern areas' cuisine) and French.

I love Indian food and also some Chinese cuisine, too.

Not so keen on Germanic or Dutch or Eastern European foods.
 
Welcome back BubbaGourmet! We have missed you around here.

As to the regional stuff, that is a tough call for me. I cook whatever takes my fancy usually. I think mostly "clean" as you have said. Lots of Italian, French but lots of "Country" cooking as well. I also lean to my Ukrainian roots at times (far from clean!), and aspire to my husbands Norwegian heritage.
 
Another welcome back to Bubba, 'specially since we're almost neighbors!


I'm really trying to take advantage of the wonderful availability of produce and seafood here in Charleston, so I'd have to say a lot of my cooking right now is 'new Southern' with a hefty helping of 'traditional lowcountry' thrown in!

Also a little Japanese, a little Italian, a little French - whenever the muse hits!
 
I live smack in the middle of the heartland, and I guess you could call our cooking "Farm Style". It isn't exotic, but it sure is good.
We also have a lot of people living in our area whose parents or grandparents immigrated from Europe to work in the coal mines, especially German, Italian and Eastern European, so we have those influences here.
I first experienced Oriental Food in restaurants in St. Louis and Evansville, In, and like that style very much. I was also exposed to Mexican food when I was going to college in Texas. I do a lot of "Americanized" versions of those cuisines, changing them around to suit our family's taste. I don't care if the dishes are authentic...just as long as they taste good to us.
I learned about Cajun and Creole foods when I lived in southern Louisiana, and cook in that style frequently.

Really, food is like music to me. I like some of every kind.
 
My wife is german/lebanese.......and I am english/finnish. My step grandmother was from the mid south usa so most of our cooking represents these areas. We cook alot of mideastern food.
 
kitchenelf said:
LOL on your signature - When visiting Utah during skiing season it was said - Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may be in Utah - that was a long time ago - the alcohol laws were very strange. You had to show proof of eating at the restaurant before you could sit at the bar and order a drink - and other things similar to that - very strange - I'm sure things are different now.

Actually . . .

Dauphine du Libre is a classic European bicycle race. I'm a guy, but the name Daphne du Libre was too good a tag to pass up. She may end up a character in a novel.

But surfing -- I just bought a board, a week ago. I live at the beach, bought a house 2 yrs ago about 8 miles inland from the Pacific and the mouth of the Columbia River. I've wanted to surf since I was about 14 (1964). Now I do.

I'm retired and life is an endless week-end bash. No kids, no spouse, just eat, drink, be merry . . . and surf. I like to cook at the beach. It often turns into a communal pot-luck beach feast.

Germanic and Dutch foods -- I'm a sucker for "Braut and Kraut" dill pickle relish, chopped onion, and Gray Poupon on a Kaiser roll.

I met a woman in Amsterdam online. She cooks up a traditional Dutch storm. She's always chatting and has a pot of potatoes, onions, peas, ham hocks on. The funny part is -- since it's legal -- she grows pot in her herbarium, off the kitchen. She's always commenting, "I put a bit in the soup, and the rest I smoked. *G* "
 
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BubbaGourmet said:
KE and IC...long time no see! I know it's my own fault but have been through many upheavals in the last year and have barely had time to draw a deep breath. Time is still dear, but at 4:30 in the morning, one may find time to do those things that you enjoy but have had to set on the back burner. Got a beautiful pork shoulder on the grill this morning and the fire needn't be fed for a while so I thought i would pop in for a spell.
Daphne I was born and raised in North carolina by Italian and French parents. My own cooking would be called "fusion" by many but I have to admit I think that term is a cop-out...all good cooks fuse the styles they are most comfortable with into their own personal style. I use a lot of classic Southern ingredients and incorporate techniques and ingredients from such diverse cultures as Italian, French, Polish, German, Carribean ( I am never sure how to spell that) Mediterranean (That either), Indian, Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Since I live on the coast a lot of "low-country" gets thrown into the mix.

Bubba, nice to see you around. Hopefully your schedule will allow you more down time.
 
Daphne duLibre said:
Actually . . .

The funny part is -- since it's legal -- she grows pot in her herbarium, off the kitchen. She's always commenting, "I put a bit in the soup, and the rest I smoked. *G* "

Pot a Soup?
 
Mediteranian to Scandinavian, plus some regional American are my normal repertory. Have done some Asian from time to time.
 
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