Cuisine of Minnesota

The cuisine of Minnesota (sometimes Iron Range cuisine) is a type of Midwestern cuisine found throughout the state of Minnesota.

A tater tot hotdish.

Wild rice is a staple grain in Minnesota. It is used in many dishes.

A Jucy Lucy, one of the most well known dishes invented in Minneapolis.

Strawberry delight, a dessert salad, that is commonly found in Minnesota.

A Porketta sandwich, one of the most well known Iron Range dishes.

Typical Minnesota cuisine is based on Norwegian, Swedish, and German cuisine, with heavy Native American (particularly Ojibwe and Dakota) influences. Other European cuisines that influenced Minnesota cuisine include Czech, Cornish, Italian, and Polish cuisine. Since the 1960s, Minnesota's cuisine has also been influenced by the cuisines of the various immigrant and refugee groups who have settled in Minnesota; immigrant cuisines popular in Minnesota include Somali, Hmong, Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, Ethiopian, Burmese, Laotian, and Liberian cuisine.^[1] Minnesotan cuisine also has regional variations, in rural Minnesota, Scandinavian dishes and foods like hotdishes are made. Fusion cuisine is popular in the Twin Cities, with many new dishes being created like the jucy lucy, and bundt cake. In the Iron Range, Italian inspired dishes are eaten, like pizza rolls and porchetta sandwiches. Pasties are also eaten in Northern Minnesota.

Foods typical in Minnesota cuisine are generally affordable, filling, and hearty, reflecting Minnesota's long, cold winters. The majority of dishes are comfort foods. Meats in Minnesota cuisine typically include: Spam, white fish, walleye, pork, beef, turkey, chicken, lake herring, salmon, trout, and cod. Grains such as corn, wild rice, and wheat are used. Canned fruits and vegetables are used in hotdishes and dessert salads. Minnesotan cuisine is notable for the common use of wild and foraged foods, including wild rice, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, chokecherry, morels, hazelnuts, and pecan truffles. Though not typical Minnesota cuisine, archetypal fair foods are offered at the Minnesota State Fair including dozens of foods offered "on a stick", such as Pronto Pups and deep-fried candy bars.

Ingredients

In northern Minnesota, along the North Shore of Lake Superior, commercial fishing has been practiced for generations. Settlers were used to the cold, rugged work as many of these immigrants came directly from the coastal fishing villages of Norway. Ciscoes (also known as lake herring), lake trout, lake whitefish, and rainbow smelt are still commercially fished today. Smoked or sugar-cured trout is prepared from local fish in areas along the North Shore like Duluth.^[2] Barbecue in Duluth typically consists of smoked lake fish, such as salmon.

Wild rice is eaten plain or as a side with other dishes.

Side dishes

Fried cheese curds

Gravlax, Spätzle, halušky, cabbage rolls, potato dumplings, and pierogis are very popular in Minnesota, all of which were brought by immigrants from Northern Europe. "Minnesotan sushi" is an appetizer that contains a pickle, covered in cream cheese and wrapped in ham, and cut into slices like sushi.

Potato salad, and pasta salad are often served in Minnesota. Mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus, and green beans are Minnesota staples, often eaten at Thanksgiving or large dinners. French fries are often enjoyed with jucy lucys and corn dogs, along with other foods.Typical sides include pickles, locally grown boiled new potatoes seasoned with fresh herbs or horseradish, baked beans, and vegetables buttered peas, and carrots. Preferred to rice or pasta, potatoes are often served alongside buttered rolls and homemade strawberry jam.

• Minnesota-style cheese curds are very popular, they are often served battered and deep fried^[3]
• Sauerkraut - sliced and fermented cabbage, was brought to Minnesota by German immigrants
• Latkes - fried potato pancakes or fritters. Brought by immigrants from Central or Eastern Europe
• Corn on the cob, typically locally grown sweet corn
• Jello salad
• Basil wings - chicken wings made with basil, and numerous spices^[4]
• Potatoes with strawberry jam and buttered rolls
• Kluski - a type of soft, Polish dumpling

Soups

Booyah seasoned with peas, granulated vegetables and chicken

Minnesotan soups include knoephla and booyah, which is a thick stew usually requiring up to two days and multiple cooks to prepare; it is cooked in specially designed "booyah kettles" and traditionally was meant to serve hundreds to thousands of people, but in contemporary Minnesotan usage, booyah has found itself typically served at small gatherings. In cooking booyah, one makes a base or broth derived from meat bones, to which vegetables are added. Beef, chicken, and pork are popular varieties of meat for booyah (with all three often in the same kettle), with vegetables such as carrots, peas, onion, and potatoes also in the mix. A wide variety of seasonings are used.

Some soups proposed as the Minnesota state soup include: cream of mushroom, cream of lutefisk, and wild rice soup, all of which include either ingredients from Minnesotan cuisine or are popular in the state.^[5][6] Brought to Minnesota by Vietnamese immigrants, pho is a soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat usually beef, and sometimes chicken. It is very popular in Minnesota and can be found in eateries around the Twin Cities. Ke'Ke, a Somali-inspired stew made with strips of chapati, was invented in Minnesota.

There's also Walleye chowder.^[7]

Main dishes

Tater tot hotdish from the Saint Paul, Minnesota Winter Carnival

Jucy Lucy, cut length wise

Corn dog with mustard.

• Lutefisk - is very popular in Minnesota, and is often eaten during Christmas. Lutefisk is dried whitefish. Usually cod is used, but ling and burbot are also used. It is made from aged stockfish (air-dried whitefish), or dried and salted cod, cured in lye. Lutefisk is traditionally served with boiled potatoes, mashed green peas, melted butter and small pieces of fried bacon. Madison, Minnesota has dubbed itself the "lutefisk capital of the world" as well as claiming the largest per capita consumption of lutefisk in Minnesota. It is also used to make cream of lutefisk soup. It was brought to Minnesota by Norwegian immigrants.^[8]
• Rømmegrøt - is a thick and rich porridge made with sour cream, whole milk, wheat flour, butter, and salt. It is generally drizzled in butter and sprinkled with sugar and ground cinnamon. It can be eaten with cured meat. It was brought to Minnesota by Norwegian immigrants.
• Swedish meatballs - Are usually made with a mix of ground beef and ground pork, or just with ground beef, which is mixed into a mixture of beaten eggs, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, and grated raw onions or finely chopped and fried onions. Cream is often added for more luxurious versions. The meatball mixture is seasoned with salt and white pepper or a mixture of white pepper and allspice. Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with gravy, boiled or mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam, and sometimes pickled cucumber. It was brought to Minnesota by Swedish immigrants.^[9]
• Hoppel poppel - is an egg casserole made with leftovers. the casserole dish is associated with the Midwestern United States. The basic recipe for the casserole is home fries (fried potatoes), scrambled eggs, and onion. Sometimes it is topped with melted cheese. Other ingredients like green pepper or mushrooms can be added to the basic combination, and a variety of meats can be used including bacon, ham and salami. It was brought to Minnesota by German immigrants.
• Pasty - Pasties are made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetables, in the middle of a flat shortcrust pastry circle, bringing the edges together in the middle, and crimping over the top to form a seal before baking. Associated with immigrants from the UK, they are popular in the Iron Range of Minnesota.^[10] They are popular in the iron range of Minnesota, especially as a lunch for iron miners.^[11]
• Hotdish- is a casserole dish that typically contains a starch, a meat, and a canned or frozen vegetable mixed with canned soup that must be served hot or warm. the most popular varieties in Minnesota are tater tot, tuna, chicken, hamburger, and wild rice hotdish. They were invented in Minnesota or the Upper Midwest; it is one of Minnesota's most iconic dishes.^[9]
  • Tater Tot Hotdish- is made with ground beef, topped with tater tots, and flavored with thick condensed cream of mushroom soup sauce, but some versions in Minnesota use the official state grain wild rice, or even macaroni, in place of the potatoes.
  • Hautedish- is a fancy variation of the hotdish, it is deconstructed and contains tater tots, short ribs, a cream of porcini sauce, topped with green beans, and mushroom-Parmesan salad. Unfortunately all restaurants serving this dish have closed.^[12]
• Jucy Lucy - a burger with melted cheese in the patty.Two bars in Minneapolis, Minnesota, claim to be the inventor of the burger, while other bars and restaurants have created their own interpretations of the style. In a jucy lucy both patties around the cheese to create a single patty with a cheese core. As the burger cooks, the cheese inside melts. This has the effect of keeping the meat near the center of the burger very juicy. It also separates the cheese from the bun, resulting in a slightly different texture than the usual cheeseburger. Burger toppings such as condiments, onions, and pickles may be added. It was invented in Minneapolis and is one of the most iconic dishes in Minnesota.^[9]
• Corn dogs - a sausage on a stick that is deep fried in corn batter. Another variety eaten in Minnesota is the corn brat, a brat on a stick that is fried in cornmeal. Corn dogs are very popular in Minnesota, and are a common state fair food.
• Minnesota-style pizza - a thin crust pizza, cut into squares, with hearty toppings. It is popular in the Twin Cities and the rest of Minnesota, with several chain restaurants offering the style.^[13]
• Walleye fingers - pieces of cut up walleye that are deep fried. They are especially popular in Minnesota because they are the state fish. It can also be served as a sandwich in Minnesota's pubs where the fish is very popular, deep fried walleye on a stick is a Minnesota State Fair food.
• Baked Penne - is a baked pasta dish consisting of cream cheese, penne pasta, and marinara sauce, it can also be sprinkled with mozzarella and Parmesan. There is also a special variation of baked penne in Minnesota consisting of sausage, ham, and a spicy marinara sauce that is also used on Minneapolis-style pizza.
• Slumgullion - is made with ground beef, canned tomato, macaroni, and occasionally cream of corn. They are often served at potlucks along with hotdish.
• Iron Range pot roast - a pot roast made with porchetta or pork, potatoes, and seasonings.^[14]
• Walleye cakes - are fish cakes made with walleye meat.^[15]
• pizza rolls- a popular snack food in Minnesota, that was invented in Duluth.^[16]

Sandwiches

Sandwiches in Minnesota are typically served hot or cold, and were popular among the working class of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, or in the iron mines of Northern Minnesota. Most Minnesotan sandwiches are influenced by Italian Cuisine.

• Porchetta sandwich- is a sandwich consisting of slow roasted, season pork. It is served on a sandwich with greens (rapini or spinach) and provolone cheese. Porketta remains a popular local dish in towns such as Hibbing, Minnesota with distributors such as Fraboni Sausage.^[4]
• Roast beef commercial - an open faced sandwich, with roast beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy.^[4]
• Fried walleye sandwich
• Chapati wraps - which is a wrap made of chapati, Somali rice, meats, and various spices.^[4]
• Hot dago - is a sandwich consisting of an Italian sausage patty, between two pieces of bread. It is usually topped with melted cheese, and marinara.^[4]
• Banh Mi - is a baguette, that is filled with vegetables and meats. It originated from Vietnam.
• South American sandwich- This sandwich was invented in the iron range of Minnesota. It is a bar snack made with several kinds of minced meat, onions, tomatoes, peppers, celery and other leftovers in between two slices of bread.^[17]
• Ting-Town barbecue beef sandwich- is a sandwich originally served at Ting-Town, a restaurant that closed in 1970. It is still homemade by Minnesotans in the Iron Range. It is made with barbecue beef, numerous sauces, seasonings, on a burger bun.^[18]

Beverages

Craft root beer is popular in Minnesota and there are many brands in Minnesota such as Killebrew, Lift Bridge, and Northern Craft Root beer. Milk is very important for making cheeses. It is also the state beverage of Minnesota.^[19]

The Bootlegger cocktail was invented in Minnesota and remains popular today. Akvavit was brought from Scandinavia by immigrants and is produced in numerous distilleries. The Minnesota Slammer, a popular cocktail in Minnesota, is made with cherry brandy, sweet and sour mix, peach and sour apple schnapps, and lemon-lime soda.^[20]

Minnesota is also home to several breweries, including Hamm's, Summit Brewing Company, Surly Brewing Company, and August Schell Brewing Company, which also produces Grain Belt.^[21][22]

Lovit soft drinks were produced by Fitger brewing in Duluth.^[23]

Wine

Minnesota also produces Minnesota wines. The Minnesota Grape Growers Association (MGGA) is a statewide organization that promotes grape growing and winemaking in the state and also in cold-hardy climates. Minnesota is home to the International Cold Climate Wine Competition (ICCWC) hosted annually in partnership between MGGA and University of Minnesota. This is the only wine competition solely dedicated to the promotion of quality wines made mainly from cold-hardy grape varieties.

Desserts

partially cut bundt cake

Dessert bars, bundt cakes, cookie salad, dessert salads, Snickers salad, strawberry delight, South Minneapolis style vanilla ice cream, and glorified rice are desserts invented in Minnesota or the Midwest.^[24][25]

other desserts brought to Minnesota by immigrants include: rosettes, krumkake, kransekake, marzipan, lebkuchen, gingerbread, stollen, Shoofly pies, poppy seed roll, kolaches, Smultring, German baked apples, hamantashen, Sandbakelse, and potica. Potica is a rolled pastry made of leavened paper-thin dough filled with any of a great variety of fillings, but most often with walnut filling.^[11][10][1]

Lefse, brought to Minnesota by Norwegian immigrants, is often eaten as a dessert around Christmas, topped with butter and a variation of sugar and cinnamon or brown sugar.^[26]

Blue Moon ice cream is also popular in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest.^[27] Licorice is a popular confection usually flavored and colored black with the extract of the roots of the licorice plant Glycyrrhiza glabra. Licorice is so popular that it was proposed as the state candy in 1997.^[28]

There's also Pie à la Mode.^[29]

Other dishes brought by immigrants

• baklava^[1]
• lasagna^[1]
• sauerbraten^[1]

Other dishes

A blueberry muffin.

Produce

The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station's Horticultural Research Center at the University of Minnesota has developed three new apple varieties, the Haralson, Honeycrisp, and the Sweetango. These fare well in the harsh Minnesota climate and are popular fruit. Morel mushrooms are the state mushroom, and very popular among Minnesotan chefs. Wild rice is a popular appetizer in Minnesota. It can be eaten in several "ways" such as in a soup or hotdish. Lingonberries are used to accompany lefse and lutefisk. The berry can also be eaten plain as a snack.

Cheese

Minnesota is known for its dairy industry. Cheeses in Minnesota are made with cow, sheep, or goat milk.^[30] Caves of Faribault and Shepherd's Way Farms are among the Minnesota businesses that produce artisan cheese. Caves of Faribault has produced cave-aged cheeses in Faribault since 2001. Shepherd's Way, which began producing cheese in 1998. Minnesota produces numerous cheeses such as: cheddar, brie, swiss, and gouda.

• Morcella- a sheep cheese which is sprinkled with morel mushrooms.^[31]
• Big Woods Blue- a blue cheese made with sheep milk.^[32]
• Amablu- is a blue cheese produced in the Caves of Faribault.
• fresh cheese curds

Sausages and cured meats

• Spam- is salty processed canned pork and ham. It is made and was invented in Minnesota. It can be eaten in many ways, but also plain as a snack.^[33]
• Polish sausage- is very popular served cold as cold cuts on a platter, usually for an appetizer. It is also a common snack served with beer or plain vodka.
• bratwursts- Are eaten in hotdog buns or as corndogs.
• Hmong sausage- is a long thick pork sausage from Hmong culture seasoned with herbs.
• Krakowska- a type of Polish sausage

Breakfast dishes

• Lefse- It is made with riced potatoes, can include all purpose (wheat) flour, and includes butter, and milk, cream, or lard. It is cooked on a large, flat griddle. In Minnesota it is typically made with potatoes. It is eaten plain or filled. The most common is adding butter and sugar to the lefse and rolling it up. Other options include adding cinnamon, or spreading jelly, lingonberries, or gomme on it. Scandinavian-American variations include rolling it with a thin layer of peanut butter and sugar, with butter and white or brown sugar, with butter and corn syrup, or with butter and salt, or with ham and eggs. Also eaten with beef and other savory items like ribberull and mustard, it is comparable to a tortilla. Lefse is a traditional accompaniment to lutefisk, and the fish is often rolled up in the lefse.^[34]
• Blueberry Muffin- It is a popular breakfast food in Minnesota. It is also the state muffin.
• Rice pudding- is rice mixed with milk and other ingredients. It was brought to Minnesota by immigrants and is enjoyed as breakfast or dessert.
• Potato pancakes- are shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, matzo meal or flour and a binding ingredient such as egg or applesauce, often flavored with grated garlic or onion and seasonings. They may be topped with a variety of condiments, ranging from the savory (such as sour cream or cottage cheese), to the sweet (such as apple sauce or sugar).
• Breakfast hotdish- a hotdish consisting of eggs, cheese, and sausages.

Minnesota-style barbecue

Minnesota barbecue in includes meats like lamb, ribs, chicken, pulled pork, and fish such as smoked salmon. Horseradish is used opposed to chiles. Brown sugar, molasses, and tomato is also used. Spices such as allspice, nutmeg, and star anise. Minnesota barbecue is served with lingonberries, lefse, ranch, pickles, and broccoli salad. Smoked juicy Lucy is also part of Minnesota barbecue. Minnesota barbecue originated in the Twin Cities, but smoked fish barbecue started in Duluth.^[35][36]

Food as an event

Minnesota potluck

Potlucks

Minnesota is known for its church potlucks, where hotdish is often served. Hotdish is any of a variety of casseroles, which are popular throughout the United States, although the term "hotdish" is used mainly in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Hotdishes are filling comfort foods that are convenient and easy to make. Tater tot hotdish is popular, as is wild rice hotdish; Minnesota is one of the leading producers of wild rice. Dessert bars are also common at Minnesota potlucks. Other dishes include glorified rice, German baked apples and cookie salad.

Fish fry

The Friday night fish fry, often battered and fried perch or walleye, is traditional throughout Minnesota. It usually also includes french fries, coleslaw, macaroni salad, lemon slices, tartar sauce, hot sauce, malt vinegar and dessert. Some Native American versions are cooked by coating fish with semolina and egg yolk. Fish is often served on Friday nights during Lent, the Christian season of repentance, as a restaurant special or through church fundraisers.

Booyah

A booyah is a large gathering in which booyah stew is served, typically outdoors.^[37] The annual booyah cook off is held in St. Paul.^[38]

Smorgasbord

Smorgasbord is a buffet-style meal of Swedish origin. It is served with various hot and cold dishes. In Minnesota it is served with kolaches, potica, halušky and pierogis.

References

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