Overview

An acclaimed chef offers a historically informed cookbook that will change how you think about Midwestern cuisine. Celebrated chef Paul Fehribach has made his name serving up some of the most thoughtful and authentic regional southern cooking—not in the South, but in Chicago at Big Jones. But over the last several years, he has been looking to his Indiana roots in the kitchen, while digging deep into the archives to document and record the history and changing foodways of the Midwest. Fehribach is as painstaking with his historical research as he is with his culinary execution. In Midwestern Food, he focuses not only on the past and present of Midwestern foodways but on the diverse cultural migrations from the Ohio River Valley north- and westward that have informed them. Drawing on a range of little-explored sources, he traces the influence of several heritages, especially German, and debunks many culinary myths along the way. The book is also full of Fehribach’s delicious recipes informed by history and family alike, such as his grandfather's favorite watermelon rind pickles; sorghum-pecan sticky rolls; Detroit-style coney sauce; Duck and manoomin hotdish;  pawpaw chiffon pie; strawberry pretzel gelatin salad (!); and he breaks the code to the most famous Midwestern pizza and BBQ styles you can easily reproduce at home. But it is more than just a cookbook, weaving together historical analysis and personal memoir with profiles of the chefs, purveyors, and farmers who make up the food networks of the greater Chicago region. The result is a mouth-watering and surprising Midwestern feast from farm to plate. Flyover this!  

Full Product Details

Author:   Paul Fehribach
Publisher:   The University of Chicago Press
Imprint:   University of Chicago Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.853kg
ISBN:  

9780226819495

ISBN 10:   0226819493
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   20 September 2023
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Chapter 1: On Relishes, Sweets, and Sours: Pickles and Preserves Meet the Locals: Justin Dean Chapter 2: A Country Well Lit: Cocktails Meet the Locals: Andy Hazzard Chapter 3: Baker’s Delight: Breads Meet the Locals: Titus Ruscitti Chapter 4: Of State Fairs, Tailgates, and Main Street Cafés: Sandwiches and Handheld Food Chapter 5: Please Pass the Corn: Vegetables and Sides Meet the Locals: Rob Connoley Chapter 6: Pull Up a Chair: Meat and Potatoes Meet the Locals: Marty and Will Travis Chapter 7: Burgerlandia Chapter 8: Midwestern Barbecue Chapter 9: A Pizza Tour Meet the Locals: Stephanie Hart Chapter 10: Sweets: Pies, Cakes, Cookies, and Confections Meet the Locals: Erika Allen Chapter 11: What Next, Heartland? Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index  

Reviews

There are many good chefs, fewer great chefs, and then there's Paul Fehribach: Not just a fabulous chef, but a scholar, storyteller, and exemplary ambassador for the foodways of the American Midwest. Midwestern Food will be studied, referenced, cooked out of, and flat-out enjoyed for decades to come. -- Kevin Pang, America's Test Kitchen The Midwest has long been the neglected region of American cookery. It is no longer. Midwestern Food maps the 'unknown country' with a chef's sensitivity to local and ethnic foodways, both its country cooking-the most Eurocentric in America-and its city melange of global cultures. From German Rye Pretzels to Ojibway Manoomin, from cornbelt cornbread to Skyline Chili, the landmark dishes appear-140 in all. Yet Fehribach does more than instruct cooks-he tells the stories-the migrations, adaptations, and creations that make the Midwestern table meaningful. Doing so, he brings the rich story of American Food closer to completion. -- David Shields, author of The Culinarians: Lives and Careers from the First Age of American Fine Dining What a wonderful book. This is a dish-by-dish story of what makes the region America's true heartland cuisine. Part memoir, a very well-researched history of classic Midwestern foods, and a first-rate cookery book, Midwestern Food is and will be the go-to Midwestern cookbook for years to come. -- Bruce Kraig, founder of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance

Author Information

Paul Fehribach is an eight-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes; and owner of the critically acclaimed Chicago restaurant, Big Jones. He was born and raised in the rolling wooded hills of Southern Indiana, and learned to hunt, fish, and find wild foods from an early age. Ample time spent on the family farms of relatives together with the woodland backdrop instilled a keen palate in him, reflected in the big, clean flavors he puts on the table along with a heated passion for true seasonal cooking. His book Midwestern Food: A Chef’s Guide to the Surprising History of a Great American Cuisine, with More Than 100 Tasty Recipes was named a book of the year by Food and Wine, Bon Appétit, and Eater. He is likewise the author of The Big Jones Cookbook: Recipes for Savoring the Heritage of Regional Southern Cooking, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

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