What happened to horseshoes? Springfield, IL's iconic food

Hi,

I was delighted to get an e-mail today from Julianne Glatz who writes about food for Illinois Times. It is Springfield's equivalent of The Reader.

She had written a history of the horseshoe's origins revealing (not surprisingly) the offerings today are faint replications of the original and elegant sandwich.

This article includes the sauce recipe, which approximates a Welsh Rarebit rather than the ersatz cheese sauce poured on today.

There are some who have sworn off the horseshoe after each miserable variant. Yet hopes springs eternal whenever it's a menu option and orders yet another one. Perhaps making it as outlined in this article will finally give credance to why Springfield residents have adored their horseshoe.

This history and recipe can be found here.

Regards,

You can also get them at Capone's Hideout in Niles. I never heard of them before.

Pie Lady wrote:You can also get them at Capone's Hideout in Niles. I never heard of them before.

Ordering a horseshow does not guarantee you obtain a real horseshoe.

Regards,

There's a horseshoe on the menu damn near every place in Quincy where I'm from, but most places just use a canned cheese sauce unfortunately. Last time I had one was several years ago at a place in Springfield; I don't remember what it was called but it was a roadside diner type of place. They had a tenderloin horseshoe on the menu, so I figured I'd kill 2 cravings with one meal. The cheese sauce was real, but the "tenderloins" were ground pork patties. It's been years since I've had a good horseshoe. Might have to make one.

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:Might have to make one.

That seems to be the best idea, instead of eating poorly made ones where they happily take your money.

The other day on my morning walk I was listening to the podcast of the July 14th episode of "The Splendid Table." I smiled when I heard LRoKasper as the week's trivia question: "Where can you eat a horseshoe?"

You can imagine what happened to my smile when she gave her answer: "Springfield, Missouri."

Katie wrote:The other day on my morning walk I was listening to the podcast of the July 14th episode of "The Splendid Table." I smiled when I heard LRoKasper as the week's trivia question: "Where can you eat a horseshoe?"

You can imagine what happened to my smile when she gave her answer: "Springfield, Missouri."

You can now send her a note highlighting the error of her ways.

I am sure she got plenty of emails. I'm curious to see whether the next week's podcast will include a correction. What really surprised me was that I thought she said something about the info coming from a J&M Stern book, and that doesn't seem like a mistake they'd make.

Cathy, what did you mean by "now"? Now meaning the Splendid Table website takes comments? Or now meaning now I know where horseshoes come from? I knew that already; my family is from around there.

Katie wrote:I am sure she got plenty of emails. I'm curious to see whether the next week's podcast will include a correction. What really surprised me was that I thought she said something about the info coming from a J&M Stern book, and that doesn't seem like a mistake they'd make.

Cathy, what did you mean by "now"? Now meaning the Splendid Table website takes comments? Or now meaning now I know where horseshoes come from? I knew that already; my family is from around there.

HI,

I wouldn't spend too much time analyzing my statement. You can talk back to the radio/podcast or send a note. My Mom would throw potatoes at the radio.

Michael Stern tried a rare horseshoe sandwich almost in the form originally intended (cubed ham instead of sliced was the small snag). At the Road Food symposium in April, the horseshoe was served with the rarebit cheddar sauce from the Leland Hotel, which originated the horseshoe.

Regards,

FWIW, I discovered Sunday night that Beverly's Horse Thief Hollow brewpub has an entree on the menu called "The Shoe." It's essentially a horseshoe with a single, cooked-to-order 1/2lb ground beef patty, good crisp fresh-cut fries, and a tasty Welsh rarebit-style sauce.



Went down nicely along with their sticke Alt Ambiguously Grain Duo, a dark German-style ale they collaborated on with Revolution for their 2nd anniversary. I was pleasantly surprised when they asked us how we wanted the burger cooked, as in my experience that is rare with the horseshoe. They are typically made with cheapo frozen preformed patties. We asked for and got ours medium rare.

Fair warning: it's a lot of food. There are probably a lot of people, myself included, who could take this thing down solo but on this particular occasion I did share it with the beautiful Saint Pizza.