American cuisine is a variety of cooking styles in the United States. Originating from the English cuisine of the 17th and 18th centuries, mixed with some Native American culinary traditions (corn and sweet potato dishes, maple syrup, etc.), it has changed significantly over the past three centuries, becoming a synthesis of culinary traditions from around the world, combining the cuisines of various immigrant cultures. American dishes include German "Hamburg steaks" and sausages, Italian pizza and pasta, and Chinese cuisine.
American cuisine recipes were influenced by the national cuisine of
the first settlers, primarily English, as well as Indian (local),
Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, African, etc. The climate and
conditions of different regions of America are of great importance for
creating recipes for cooking in American families.
Typical dishes
of the southern states include fried chicken, country-fried steak,
smoked pork (barbecue), pulled pork, cornbread and corn pancakes, crabs,
she-crab soup, and Maryland crab cakes.
Boiled dinner, fish
dishes, lobster, and clam chowder are traditional in the New England
states.
The Midwest table is decorated with charcoal-grilled beef
steak, baked potatoes, and chocolate cake. Italian cuisine has had a
strong influence on the urban cuisine of the Midwest (Chicago's
deep-dish pizza, fried ravioli in St. Louis, etc.).
The Southwest
is dominated by a synthesis of Mexican and American cuisines, the
so-called Tex-Mex, whose characteristic dishes are fajitas, tacos,
burritos, chili con carne, stuffed sweet peppers, and other Tex-Mex
dishes.
American cuisine often uses rice as a side dish - long,
brown, and wild. A lot of sugar and spices are used in cooking: garlic
powder, several types of pepper, cloves, nutmeg, oregano, tarragon,
cinnamon, ginger, bay leaf, cumin, dill, vanilla, onion powder, etc.,
peanut butter.
Supermarkets and grocery stores sell a lot of
processed foods. On weekdays, many Americans use processed foods for
lunch or cook, for example, beef with a side dish (baked potato and
spinach or beans from a bag). Fresh vegetables are used for salad:
lettuce, escarole, tomatoes, avocado, green shallots, cucumbers,
radishes. For dessert, a cake made from a purchased biscuit mixture is
served. Sandwiches, both hot (hamburgers, cheesesteaks (thinly sliced
roast beef with cheese and fried onions)) and cold (ham, turkey
breast, vegetables) are typical for American lunch. On weekends,
holidays, family and other celebrations, food is usually prepared
according to more labor-intensive recipes. At Christmas, turkey is often
roasted with apples and apple pie is baked.
Initially, the first colonists ate strawberries, blueberries,
cherries, currants, gooseberries, plums, raspberries, sumac berries,
junipers, hackberries, elderberries, hawthorns, and walnut trees. They
ate the meat of rabbits, raccoons, opossums, rats, chipmunks, pigs,
peccaries, wolverines, badgers, and porcupines. Birds included turkeys,
partridges, quails, pigeons, plovers, and larks. Waterfowl included
ducks, geese, and swans. Snail and turtle meat and frog legs were also
served.
The indigenous inhabitants of the continent did not have
the opportunity to develop their own cuisine. The size of the country,
as well as the scattered and isolated nature of the indigenous tribes
living in a vast territory, hindered the development of culinary arts.
The lack of regular communication also slowed down the development of
national cuisine. The fact that Native Americans did not establish
cities was also one of the factors that slowed down the development of
gastronomy. In addition, American cuisine lacked the so-called driving
force of the royal court. The cuisines of France, Italy, Spain, Persia,
India, Thailand and China drew inspiration in large part from the need
to create unique dishes for the royal court that expressed the "spirit
of the nation". This not only standardized the culinary arts, but also
contributed to their complexity, as chefs tried to impress members of
the royal family. Before the Civil War, there were four main culinary
traditions in the United States, each with English roots. First of all,
the New England tradition, for which simplicity in food was inextricably
linked with religious piety. New Englanders adhered to a strict diet,
emphasizing boiled and baked meats, boiled vegetables, pies, baked
bread. Second, the Southern tradition, which was a combination of
African, English, French, Spanish, and Indian culinary traditions. This
tradition was characterized by the prevalence of large amounts of
seasoning, as well as a predominance of fried and stewed dishes. In the
Quaker-influenced areas of the Mid-Atlantic, the diet was generally
simple and based on boiling foods, including boiled puddings and
dumplings. In frontier areas such as New Mexico, the culinary tradition
included ingredients that other settlers used as animal feed: potatoes,
corn, and various greens. In this area, fried pies, grits, and pork
dishes were especially emphasized.
American cuisine expanded
significantly in the 19th and 20th centuries, primarily due to the
influx of immigrants from various countries. This provided the rich
variety of dishes that we have today across the country. This was partly
due to the numerous chefs and TV presenters who contributed to the
development of culinary art in America.
Since the 1970s, the term
"New American Cuisine" has been widespread, reflecting the main
characteristics of American cooking: a combination of various elements
of a number of traditional cuisines. Traditional American recipes are
combined with foreign ones, and sometimes with modern culinary
technologies, such as, for example, molecular cuisine. In general, New
American Cuisine recipes focus on local and seasonal farm products.
Modern American nutrition is characterized by the extremely wide
distribution of processed foods, fast food restaurants (so-called fast
food) and restaurants of various national cuisines, which makes it
difficult to characterize American cuisine. According to modern
researchers? Americans "value good looks and choose food that makes them
look good." The choice falls in favor of organic and local products. The
issues of production, food processing and the culture of the companies
that supply this food are becoming key. But despite the cultural shift
toward conscious consumption, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC and other
American fast food chains remain extremely popular.
American Cookery (full title: American Cookery, or the Art of
Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables, and the Best Methods of
Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Puddings, Custards, and Preserves, and All
Kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plum to the Plain Cake: Adapted to
This Country and All Statutes of Life) by Amelia Simmons is the first
known cookbook written by an American woman, published in Hartford,
Connecticut in 1796. Until then, cookbooks printed and used in the
Thirteen Colonies had been exclusively British.
Simmons' American
Cookery used terms that American readers could understand, and also
relied on ingredients that were readily available to local cooks. It was
the first cookbook to include New England specialties such as Indian
pudding, johnnycake, and what is now called pumpkin pie. It was also the
first to suggest serving cranberries with turkey and the first to use
the Hudson Valley Dutch word cookey. Amelia also introduced the use of
pearl powder, a precursor to baking soda, as a chemical leavening agent,
beginning a revolution in American cake making.
The book was
quite popular and was reprinted for 30 years after its first
publication. Researchers call the book revolutionary because before its
publication, an American culinary identity did not yet exist, especially
in printed form. Even though the country had been in existence for two
decades by this point, there was no official recognition of American
food culture. American Cookery and subsequent cookbooks helped not only
collect, shape, but also anchor American cuisine in a historical context
as a distinct phenomenon.
Only four copies of the first edition
are known to exist. The Library of Congress considers it one of the
"books that shaped America."
Due to historical and geographical features, modern American cuisine
has a distinct regional character. The main regions are:
Mid-Atlantic
This region covers the cuisines of New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, as well as Washington, D.C. The
influence on cuisine in this region of the United States is extremely
eclectic due to the fact that it has been and remains a "conduit" for
international influence and the influx of migrants into the country.
Midwest
This region draws its culinary roots primarily from the
cuisines of Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe, as well as the
cuisines of the indigenous peoples of North and South America. This
includes: the cuisines of Chicago (Chicago hot dog and Chicago pizza),
Cincinnati, Ohio, Omaha, St. Louis, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Iowa.
New England
Territorially covers Boston, Rhode Island, Vermont. This
region has roots in traditional English and Native American cuisine
(Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampanoag, and other
indigenous peoples).
South
This region has roots in
traditional Native American cuisine (Cherokee, Caddo, Choctaw, and
Seminole), enslaved Africans sold to the North American colonies through
the Atlantic slave trade, French, Cuban, and Spanish cuisine.
Southwest
This region has roots in Spanish, Native American, Mexican,
and cowboy cuisine. Its borders run through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
and include parts of California, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
West
This region is heavily influenced by Latin American roots (Mexican,
Latin American, Spanish), as well as East Asian and Oceanic influences
(Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai, Hawaiian) and
Western European influences (Italian, French, Portuguese). This region
includes: Californian cuisine, Hawaiian cuisine, Pacific Northwest
cuisine).
American cheese is a dairy product that is made from rennet cheeses,
melting cheeses, cottage cheese, butter and other dairy products with
the addition of spices and fillers by melting the cheese mass (at a
temperature of +75…95 °C) - made from a mixture of cheeses, most often
Colby and Cheddar. It can also be packaged, cut into thin slices in the
form of squares or "mushrooms".
Peanut butter
Livermash
Clam chowder - a seafood soup, most often made from small shellfish
Chili con carne - a spicy meat dish with chili peppers
Dutch baby - a
popover similar to Yorkshire pudding, but larger and sweeter
Jambalaya - a dish of rice, meat and vegetables
Bagel
Barbecue
Beefsteak
Hamburger
Gumbo
Mashed potatoes
Banana bread
Ham
Sandwiches
Cobb (salad)
Cole slaw - cabbage salad
Corn
dog
Corn bread
Toast
Apples. The two main ones are Golden
Delicious and Red Delicious
Small pear
Ultrapasteurized milk
Ice water. By default, all drinks in the US are served with ice cubes,
regardless of the season or weather
Corn chowder is a milky cream
soup made from corn
Corn flakes
Waldorf salad
Caesar salad
Broiler
Tabasco sauce
Thousand Island sauce
Pecan pie
Pumpkin pie
Lime pie
Russian tea cookies (despite
the name, are not a Russian dish)
Brownie is a chocolate cake
Chocolate Chip Cookies are cookies with chocolate chips
Donuts
Muffin is a small cake
Banana split
Cheesecake
Marshmallow
Maple syrup
Puffed corn
Bear claw is a sweet pastry with almond
paste