Chicago home cooking

When one thinks of Chicago foods, what comes to mind, mostly, are restaurant foods: hot dogs, pizza, beefs. It's harder to think of foods that people cook or buy for home cooking that are typical to Chicago. Of course, the city is large and diverse, and the things people make vary with their tastes and background, but ... I'm wondering if there are some common local products that most of us tend to stock or dishes you see commonly when you dine at people's homes.

Minnesota, for example, has hot dish. And nearly every Milwaukee party I've been to has had cheese and summer sausage.

Once upon a time in Chicago, it seems, every party host put out a bowl of Cohasset punch, so famous that Saul Bellow put it in his 1944 novel "Dangling Man," writing that he could have known "hours, days, weeks before" that the event would feature "the light furniture in the popular Swedish style, the brown carpet, the Chagall and Gris prints, the vines trailing from the mantelpiece, the bowl of Cohasset punch."

One of the things I thought of was giardiniera. In many places outside of this region, people don't know what it is and and it can be hard to find. But every grocery in Chicago stocks it and lots of people I know here keep a jar on hand to jazz up all kinds of dishes. I also see cheesecake pretty frequently, either Eli's or J.R.'s.

I'm hard-pressed to think of intrinsically local, common recipes.

Chicken Vesuvio.

Shrimp DeJonghe

Interesting topic. I've recently moved away from my home town Chicago to Minneapolis and will say that yes, hot dish is a staple here. Maybe not to the younger generations but it's something that people think of fondly. Every fall, there seems to be countless news segments and articles written about hot dish but you'll rarely find it outside of someone's home.

Things I miss from Chicago, that is, things I've either eaten or prepared that I don't as much are:
-Italian sausage - grilled with peppers and onions or in a red sauce for either a pasta side or sandwich. I'm not Italian but I seem to have eaten this at least weekly and the Italian Sausage was a consistent grill item at most home / friend's parties. I can't find a decent I-sausage here. Everyone points me to the same sausage place in NE Mpls and although it's good, it's not the same as having dozens of retail options at your beck and call.
-Subs. Not Subway or Potbelly's but a good sub sandwich. Does not exist here but back in Chicago, people would buy huge subs for parties. Almost every b-day party had one in the western burbs. I remember eating cold cuts for dinner and it was a treat - fresh bread, good quality meats and cheeses and all the "trimmings." I recently suggested to my MN-born wife that we should just have sandwiches for dinner and she looked at me like I was crazy - "not for dinner! - only for lunch!"
-I could always find or knew someone that had/made a good red sauce. We make one, from scratch and it was passed down from my mom, from her mom, from her mom. Again, I'm not Italian but my Mom grew up around Italians in Maywood and Addison so her family picked up some ideas from neighbors. Have you ever suggested to anyone outside of Chicago to use neck bones for their "gravy?" They don't know what the hell you're talking about - maybe the East Coasters do.
-I know Tacos aren't "home cooking" but I make them here in MN at home more than seek them out. I go to one of the few Mexican grocers in South Mpls and buy skirt steak, chicken, house made salsas and crema. I use local, fresh tortillas and when I invite people over, they're pretty impressed. "Where did you get this stuff?" -I wouldn't say they're amazed but it's rare for them to eat "ethnic" food at home. For me, tacos a few times a week (especially after the bars) was routine, so I didn't have to make them at home as much. But I miss that access here.
-During Easter in Chicago, you would find a pound cake or butter shaped like a lamb. I don't see that as much here.

I don't want to dismiss pizza, hot dogs, or cheesecake. I know these are cliche but they are a fact of most people's diet in Chicago. Here's the deal when you move out of the city - delivery options are very limited. The idea of ordering a pizza on Friday night for dinner is not unique to Chicago but having more than 3 pizza options might be. Arguing over the toppings / deep vs thin / pizza place / etc seemed to happen in Chicago much more than here. You know what's popular in Mlps? - Papa Johns and a "local" place Pizza Luce that tastes just like Domino's. I basically have one option here and I get it every week because my 4 year old likes pizza once a week and I don't want to cook every day. I would kill for a Pequod's or even My Pie deep dish delivered to my door.

I'm sure I'll come up with more. I'll be checking back frequently to remind myself how much I miss Chicago food.

Grwoing up in the NY area, all those things missing in Minneapolis are pretty common there, so not unique to Chicago. Obviously cheesecake is big in NY as well. However I had never heard of giardiniera or chicken vesuvio. Shrimp de jonghe was an old fashioned dish while not totally unknown, was pretty rarely seen.

Yes gardinerie is not available in other places. I recall most everything mentioned here except the punch. Years ago every party had french onion chip dip and potato chips. You do not see that much now. Or a cheese ball rolled in nuts. Also so called Taco dip which was layered lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, olives cream cheese and put on a plate. Maybe people do not serve dipping stuff anymore because of double dippers. What about hanky pankies and sausage balls made with bisquick. People would have appetizer parties and serve nothing but the above and drinks.

Also so called Taco dip which was layered lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, olives cream cheese and put on a plate.

Not a native IL food at all - the first recipe I saw for this, which is delicious if executed properly, was in a Sunset magazine back in AZ in approximately 1973. No cream cheese, though. Sour cream. And chopped ripe avocados are integral, as was a highly seasoned ground beef.

giardiniera - I have seen it all over the Carolinas.
My wife from KY always does the bisquick sausage balls - so not exactly a Chicago thing.

Sundevilpeg--

Sunset had it earlier than that! I remember my mom serving it in Sacramento in the early 60s. And yes, it absolutely was sour cream. Sliced ripe black California olives, too, the same she used in the similarly provenanced "tamale pie"--remember that?

Geo

Geo/Toria:

I reckon that midwestern snowbirds carried the taco dip recipe home with them from their winter trips to AZ and Cali - probably brought Sunset magazine with 'em, too. I still subscribe to it, myself.

Here's their most recent version, which is meatless, but not vegetarian. Very similar to the one we always had:

Layered Bean Dip, from Sunset Magazine circa 12/2004

Just a thought -
Perhaps there is no "Chicago" standard homemade food since we are such a diverse mix, and have options to get just about anything? I think this way because of my better half's homeland, Da U.P. Every party we go to, it's the same thing, no matter who the host is: mini pasties, ham rolls, macaroni salad, asian noodle salad (dry ramen packets mixed with prebagged coleslaw with a simple dressing) taco salad (doritos with ground beef, lettuce, shredded cheddar and kraft french dressing.) There are generally only 4 or 5 more things that can be made. Any variation from the norm is generally met with stern disagreement. Everyone up there is Swedish, Finnish, English or, Italian, generally. All ethnic food is generally horrible. I went to a huge wedding. Catered. The people were rich Italians. I was looking forward to it.
Canned ravioli, Chef Boyardee style. I shit you not. I took a bunch of pictures while my family tried to shoo me away cuz they knew I was gonna post about it here or somewhere.

Hmm I think my mom used cream cheese put some taco seasoning in it. I can not remember if that is just the way she made it or if she did it that way because I can not eat sour cream. I could substitute the stuff made from soy. We never put avocado in it not that its not delicious it would go brown too quickly. Myself, I like a layer of refried beans in it too zipped up with some spices but mostly this was omitted because a lot of peeps do not like it.