1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (146 page)

Iconic American symbols nearly from day one, peanuts are thought to be indigenous to Peru, where evidence of them exists in tombs dating back to 750
B.C.
New World explorers transported them to Europe, along with tomatoes, cacao beans, and potatoes, and they made their way to Africa as a consequence of the slave trade. (The term
goober
, the common nickname for the peanut, comes from its Congolese name,
nguba
.)

The peanut plant thrived in the American South, especially in Georgia, where just about half of all American peanuts are grown today; the peanut soup and peanut cake featured in cookbooks like Sarah Rutledge’s
The Carolina Housewife
, published in 1847, are still traditional favorites throughout the region, where the peanut harvest is still a marker of seasons. Beyond the South, peanuts really took off when peanut butter was introduced at the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904. Around the same time, Carver was beginning the work that would result in the introduction of more than three hundred peanut products, including an emulsion to beat bronchitis and a base for cosmetics. In 1906, an Italian immigrant named Amedeo Obici perfected a system for blanching whole roasted peanuts, which effectively removed the reddish jackets from the kernels; along with his partner, Mario Peruzzi, he went on to found Planters, the first company to market and package roasted, shelled peanuts. The “nuts” entered the political fray in the late 1970s, when Jimmy Carter rode his brand of just-folks politics from his peanut farm in Plains, Georgia, all the way to the Oval Office. Today, China and India are the world’s top peanut producers. Peanuts are beloved ingredients in many Asian dishes, and can be found in curry garnishes, Mexican moles, and sauces for satays (see
listing
). But the nutty legume can also be enjoyed all by itself, whether “wet” (boiled in briny water until meltingly tender, for a result referred to as “goober peas” since the days of the Civil War), roasted, or split out of the shell at baseball games. And of course, let us not forget the all-American snack spread, peanut butter (see
listing
).

Mail order:
The Peanut Shoppe of Williamsburg, tel 800-637-3268,
thepeanutshop.com
(search handcooked virginia peanuts; savannah peanuts; chipotle peanut crunch); amazon.com (search hampton farms no salt roasted in shell peanuts).
Retail and mail order:
In Charlottesville, VA
, The Virginia Shop, tel 434-977-0080,
thevashop.net
(click Virginia Peanuts).
Further information and recipes:
Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea
by Andrew F. Smith (2006);
Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking
by John Martin Taylor (2012);
Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen
by Rick Bayless (1996);
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook
by Gloria Bley Miller (1984);
epicurious.com
(search boiled peanuts; spiced peanuts; chinese chicken breast with peanuts; lemon rice with peanuts; asian slaw with peanuts).
Tip:
Peanut cream is an especially salty-and-sweet, decadent treat, an excellent recipe for which can be found in
The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook
by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso (1985).

A New York City food cart tradition.

For the lover of hot dogs, to walk the streets of New York is to be constant prey to the tempting scents of a variety of wursts. Whether boiled, steamed, or grilled, these sputteringly hot and juicy “tube steaks,” ideally in crackling natural
casings, will be slipped into soft rolls. Smeared with cheap, brassy mustard or ketchup, they will be crowned with a rainbow of toppings like sauerkraut; soft onions in spicy tomato-based sauces; or raw onions, chili, and cheese, the type of wurst and topping varying from one locale to another. The experience will be enriched by the swirl of big-city street life, whether one stands and juggles food and drink or eats on the go, perhaps musing on a centuries-old comestible that exhibits the most modern concepts of package design—well-preserved, waste-free (only a napkin is necessary), and wholly sustaining of body and soul.

A smoked wiener of beef, pork, or both, sandwiched into a long, soft bun, the hot dog is a strictly American invention, and a native of Brooklyn, at that. Its frankfurter precursor emigrated from Frankfurt, Germany, with Antoine Feuchtwanger, who sold the steaming wurst at the turn of the twentieth century in St. Louis. If customers burned their fingers on the hot tubes of meat, their complaints do not survive. Enter Charles Feltman, another Frankfurt immigrant and the first to put these wursts in long rolls. He sold them from a rolling cart in Coney Island in about 1869, an enterprise so successful it led to his opening the tony Feltman’s Restaurant in the same seaside neighborhood. One of his waiters, the young Nathan Handwerker, went out on his own in about 1905, moving just a few blocks away and conjuring up a spice recipe to add to the meat mix that remains a secret to this day—and is still in copious use at Nathan’s Famous. Nathan’s hot dogs are now sold packaged in supermarkets, with token Nathan’s Famous outposts operating around the country, but the Coney Island original is the only place to get these snapping, grilled dogs in crisp natural casings. The popcorn-scented salt-sea air of the Atlantic Ocean, just across the famed board-walk, and the screams and cries of roller coaster revelers add as much seasoning to the Nathan’s dog as the mustard does.

Outside of Brooklyn, Katz’s Delicatessen dishes up Manhattan’s best, juiciest, and most pungent grilled hot dog. Wrapped in natural casing and served with sauerkraut or whatever else devotees favor, the dogs can be eaten at tables or carried away to be munched as one tours the historic and colorful Lower East Side. In the same neighborhood and beyond, no one can claim the title of true New Yorker without having succumbed to the lure of the blue-and-yellow umbrellas that are the defining characteristic of the Sabrett hot dog carts seen on street corners throughout the city. Though often over-boiled, these gentle, beefy wursts gain interest through their toppings; many of the Sabrett vendors hail from the Greek island of Cyprus, and add a heady dash of their much-loved cumin to onions simmered in tomato sauce. The hot dog has trotted out far beyond the Big Apple, too. Although street food stands aren’t permitted in Chicago, it’s another great hot dog town, hailed for the slim, all-beef, flame-broiled Vienna wieners known as red hots for the fieriest of reasons. That, and the coarser, garlic-laden Polnischer can be eaten in or carried out at the shabby but popular Wieners Circle in the Lincoln Park section of town. You can choose from dazzling toppings: sauerkraut, raw onions, sweet relish, dill pickles, tomatoes, hot peppers, celery salt, and more. Make sure to try the fabled hot and crunchy
fries and chilled homemade lemonade as well.

Ballparks are prime real estate for hot dogs, but few can match the Brewers’ stadium, Miller Park, in Milwaukee, where a strong German heritage inspires not only beer brewers but a wurst-savvy audience. Silvery German pork bratwurst, paprika-bright Polnischers, and slim Chicago-style wieners, mild or red hot, comprise the dazzling array.

For hot-dogging it at home, Niman Ranch hot dogs offer more of a high-toned pleasure. Made of beef from grass-fed, hormone-free cattle, and packed into natural casings, they bring a purity of essence to the wiener enterprise.

Where:
In New York
, Katz’s Delicatessen, tel 212-254-2246,
katzsdelicatessen.com
;
in Brooklyn
, Nathan’s Famous, tel 718-946-2202,
nathansfamous.com
;
in Chicago
, The Wieners Circle, tel 773-477-7444,
wienercircle.net
; Hot Doug’s, tel 773-279-9550,
hotdougs.com
;
in Milwaukee, WI
, Miller Park,
bymark.mcewangroup.ca
;
in St. Louis
, Steve’s on the Hill, tel 314-762-9899,
steveshotdogsstl.com
;
in Philadelphia
, Frankford Hall, tel 215-634-3338,
frankfordhall.com
;
in Marietta, GA
, Barkers Red Hots, tel 404-756-1542,
barkershotdogs.com
;
in New Orleans
, Lucky Dogs, food carts in the French Quarter, mainly on Bourbon Street and around Jackson Square Park, starting in mid-afternoon,
luckydogs.us
;
in Austin, TX
, Frank, tel 512-494-6916,
hotdogscoldbeer.com
;
in Los Angeles
, The Short Stop, tel 213-482-4942; Skooby’s, tel 323-468-3647,
skoobys.com
;
in North Hollywood, CA
, Vicious Dogs, tel 818-985-3647,
viciousdogshotdogs.com
.
Mail order:
Niman Ranch,
nimanranch.com
(search fearless franks); amazon.com (search nathan’s hot dogs; nathan’s coney island mustard).

The ultimate treat for children of all ages is a frosty tulip-shaped parfait glass filled with vanilla ice cream and smothered with a decadent pour of hot fudge or golden butterscotch, that tantalizing combination of butter and caramelized brown sugar. Next comes a crunchy topping of chopped walnuts or toasted almonds, a lush cloudlet of whipped cream, and a crowning rose-red cherry—an example of only too much being enough.

It’s the all-American sundae, one of the best examples of the pleasures of contrasting temperatures, and true heaven in a glass. Little can beat the thrill of dipping through its layers of melting ice cream, velvety sauce, and crunchy nuts.

There are many claims as to the origins of the beloved sundae, most of them incredibly hard to pin down. Of its alleged birthplaces, the most likely are Ithaca, New York; Two Rivers, Wisconsin; and Evanston, Illinois. But the California Milk Advisory Board would have you believe that Hollywood deserves the credit, what with all those stories of starlets being discovered at drugstore soda fountains. And in truth, the sundae is a throw-back to those drugstore soda fountain days.

Geography aside, legend has it that the sundae was the result of the nineteenth-century blue laws that forbade the selling of sodas (among other temptations) on Sundays. Canny soda jerks substituted syrup for the soda in their ice-cream treats and called the new creation “sundae,” adjusting the spelling so as not to offend religious leaders by taking the Lord’s day in vain. Thus a
star was born. Now the sundae is an American icon, made in almost endless variations, with myriad ice-cream flavors in combination with any number of acceptable toppings, from fruits and compotes to brownie bites and bits of candy. As might be expected, California claims the world record for the largest sundae, a dessert tower constructed in Anaheim in 1985—a 120-foot-tall indulgence made up of 4,667 gallons of ice cream. And how many spoons?

Where:
In New York
, Elephant & Castle, tel 212-243-1400,
elephantandcastle.com
; Serendipity, tel 212-838-3531,
serendipity3.com
;
in Forest Hills, NY
, Eddie’s Sweet Shop, tel 718-520-8514;
in St. Louis
, Crown Candy Kitchen, tel 314-621-9650,
crowncandykitchen.net
.
Further information and recipes:
Soda Fountain Classics
by Elsa Petersen-Schepelern (2001);
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts
by Jeni Britton Bauer (2014);
epicurious.com
(search mint hot fudge sundaes; mexican hot fudge sundaes; southern peanut butterscotch sundaes; butterscotch sauce).

Most of us identify the term
huckleberry
with Mark Twain’s irascible Mississippi River hero, Huck Finn, but the succulent, ink-dark, purple berry gives the literary Huck a run for his money as a local folk favorite. Indigenous to the western mountainous regions of North America, huckleberries were used for barter before the settlers arrived. Though they are relatives of the blueberry genus
Vaccinium
, they have a far more intense, winey tang, and a pungent aroma that provides extra appeal.

Attempts to cultivate huckleberries are still in their infancy—like many wild things, they are tricky to grow and gather. Their slender shrubs don’t grow well below 3,500 feet in elevation, taking up to fifteen years to mature and produce within the brief ripening season of July and August. Yet, to those who cherish their elusive flavor, they are worth the trouble and extra cost.

Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and Idaho lay claim to the largest crops, though Hungry Horse, Montana, nine miles west of the entrance to Glacier National Park, bills itself “the wild huckleberry capital of the West.” Some parts of the Pacific Northwest appear to make a living out of canning and jamming the fruit, but that practice seems a wasteful use. Better to serve the berries fresh, under a mantle of sweet cream, or lightly crushed over vanilla ice cream, or baked into unctuously silken pies that leave red-purple traces of what resembles indelible ink on the tongue and teeth, much to the delight of young huckleberry eaters far and wide.