What to eat today?

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Rhubarb custard pie

Farm wives across Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas called rhubarb 'pie plant', because the first stalks in May went straight into this pie after a long winter without fresh fruit. Chopped rhubarb is baked in a sweet egg custard, so each slice is soft, creamy and tart at the same time. It turns up at Memorial Day picnics and church bake sales. Chef's tip: toss the rhubarb with the sugar and flour and let it sit 10 minutes before adding the eggs; it starts drawing out juice and the custard sets more evenly.

80 min

American Desserts

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Iowa scalloped corn

In Iowa, scalloped corn is the dish everyone brings to the Thanksgiving table, the church potluck and the Sunday dinner after a funeral. Sweetcorn kernels and creamed corn are baked with milk, eggs and buttery crushed crackers into a soft, spoonable pudding with a golden, crunchy top. Chef's tip: save a third of the crackers for the top and mix them with melted butter so they crisp instead of going soggy.

60 min

American Sides

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Ohio Shaker lemon pie

The Shaker communities of Ohio and Kentucky wasted nothing, so they sliced whole lemons, peel and all, and left them overnight in sugar until the rind turned soft and syrupy. Baked with eggs between two crusts, the filling is like a bright, chunky marmalade custard, sweet, sour and faintly bitter. Shaker villages and Ohio bakeries still make it for spring. Chef's tip: slice the lemons paper-thin, ideally on a mandoline; thick slices stay chewy and bitter.

75 min

American Desserts

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Hawaiian malasadas

Malasadas came to Hawaii with Portuguese workers from Madeira and the Azores in the 1870s, and on Malasada Day, the Tuesday before Lent, bakeries in Honolulu have queues round the block. They are eggy, airy yeast doughnuts with no hole, fried golden and rolled in sugar while hot; some are filled with haupia or custard. Chef's tip: the dough is very soft and sticky, so oil your hands rather than adding more flour, or the malasadas turn heavy.

50 minPacific Islander Baking

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Hawaiian butter mochi

Butter mochi is the sweet of Hawaii's potlucks, school fundraisers and family parties, a local mix of Japanese mochi and the islands' coconut. Glutinous rice flour is baked with coconut milk, evaporated milk, butter and eggs into a golden, chewy cake with crisp edges and a soft, bouncy middle. Chef's tip: cut it with a plastic knife once fully cooled; a metal knife drags and sticks.

70 minPacific Islander Baking

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Hawaiian shave ice

Shave ice came to Hawaii with Japanese plantation workers, and on hot afternoons on Oahu's North Shore families still queue at roadside stands for a towering, soft cone of ice soaked in rainbow syrups. The ice is shaved so fine it is like fresh snow and soaks up the syrup instead of letting it run to the bottom. Without a shaver, freeze ice in a block and scrape it with a fork. Chef's tip: let the ice block sit out for 5 minutes before shaving; slightly tempered ice gives fluffier flakes.

30 minPacific Islander Desserts

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Hawaiian macaroni salad

Every Hawaiian plate lunch, from drive-ins in Hilo to the lunch wagons of Honolulu, comes with two scoops of rice and one of this soft, creamy macaroni salad. It is simpler than American pasta salads: overcooked elbow macaroni soaked in vinegar while hot, then folded with lots of mayonnaise, a little milk and grated carrot. Chef's tip: cook the pasta past al dente, a few minutes longer than the packet says; plate-lunch mac is meant to be soft so it soaks up the dressing.

30 minPacific Islander Salads

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New Mexico carne adovada

Carne adovada is the slow-braised red chile pork of northern New Mexico, a speciality of Chimayó and the Española Valley, eaten in burritos, with eggs for breakfast or with sopaipillas on the side. Pork shoulder marinates overnight in a smooth sauce of dried red chile pods, garlic and oregano, then bakes until it falls into soft shreds stained deep red. Chef's tip: marinate it overnight in the fridge; the chile works into the meat and makes it extra tender.

200 min

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Green chile cheeseburger

The green chile cheeseburger is the pride of New Mexico, with an official trail of roadside diners and bars from San Antonio, New Mexico, to Santa Fe competing for the best one. A juicy beef patty is topped with melted American or cheddar cheese and a heap of roasted, chopped green chile, which adds smoky heat that cuts through the richness. Chef's tip: put the chile on before the cheese and let the cheese melt over it, so it holds the chile in place.

35 min

American Fast Food

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Chicken sauce piquante

Sauce piquante is the fiery tomato-and-roux braise of the Cajun parishes, cooked in big black pots for family reunions and the Raceland sauce piquante festival, with chicken, rabbit, alligator or turtle. This chicken version simmers until falling off the bone in a sauce sharp with chilli, vinegar and plenty of black pepper. Serve over rice. Chef's tip: let it sit for 20 minutes off the heat before serving; the heat and sharpness mellow and blend.

95 min

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Manhattan clam chowder

Manhattan clam chowder swaps New England's cream for tomatoes, a style that grew up in the Portuguese and Italian fish restaurants of New York and Coney Island and is still ladled out in Fulton Street lunch counters. It is a brothy red soup with clams, potato, carrot, celery and a little bacon (pork), lighter than the white kind and peppery with thyme. Chef's tip: add the chopped clams only for the last few minutes; long boiling turns them to rubber.

60 min

American Soups

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Maryland crab cakes

Around Chesapeake Bay, from Baltimore's crab houses to the docks of the Eastern Shore, a proper crab cake is judged by how little holds it together: sweet lump blue crab, a spoon of mayonnaise and mustard, a little seasoning and just enough crumbs to bind. They are eaten as a platter with coleslaw or in a soft roll with tartare sauce through the summer crab season. Chef's tip: chill the shaped cakes for an hour; it firms them so they don't fall apart in the pan.

35 min

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Maryland crab soup

Maryland crab soup is the red, vegetable-packed soup of Baltimore crab houses and Eastern Shore church fundraisers, simmered in a beef broth with tomatoes, corn, beans and lots of crab seasoning, with blue crab meat stirred in at the end. Locals eat a cup before a tray of steamed crabs. Chef's tip: let the vegetables cook fully before the crab goes in; crab meat only needs warming, and stirring too much shreds it.

70 min

American Soups

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Philly cheesesteak

The cheesesteak was born in South Philadelphia in the 1930s, and the rival stands on Passyunk Avenue still keep the city arguing over whether it should come with melted cheese sauce, provolone or American cheese, and 'wit' or 'witout' fried onions. Paper-thin ribeye is chopped on a hot griddle, cheese is melted over it and the lot is scooped into a soft, crusty hoagie roll. Chef's tip: freeze the beef for 40 minutes before slicing; it firms up so you can cut it almost see-through.

35 min

American Fast Food

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Reuben sandwich

The Reuben is a New York deli classic, claimed by both a Manhattan delicatessen and a poker game in Omaha, and now on every Jewish-style deli menu in the city: rye bread layered with thin corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing, then fried in butter until the cheese melts. It is a big, salty, tangy lunch. Chef's tip: squeeze the sauerkraut hard in your fist; wet kraut makes soggy toast.

20 min

American Fast Food

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Halal cart chicken over rice

From the silver carts on Midtown corners, often run by Egyptian and Afghan cooks, comes New York's favourite cheap late-night meal: chopped spiced chicken thighs on turmeric rice with shredded lettuce, a tangy white sauce and a fiery red chilli sauce. Office workers and taxi drivers queue for it at 2 a.m. Chef's tip: marinate the chicken in the fridge overnight; the lemon and spices soak right in.

55 min

American Breakfast & Brunch

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Scrapple

Scrapple is the thrifty breakfast meat of Pennsylvania Dutch farm country and the Delaware Valley, made at pig-killing time from pork trimmings simmered and set with cornmeal and buckwheat into a loaf. Slices are fried until crisp and brown outside and soft within, and eaten with eggs, apple butter or maple syrup at Lancaster County diners. This home version uses pork shoulder and a little liver. Chef's tip: slice it 1 cm thick and leave it alone in the pan until a dark crust forms; it sticks if you move it early.

170 min

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Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie

In Lancaster County a pot pie is not a pie at all: bott boi is a thick chicken stew with potatoes, celery and saffron in which big squares of rolled egg dough are boiled like noodles, served at firehouse suppers and Amish and Mennonite family dinners. It is soft, comforting and golden. Chef's tip: drop the dough squares in one at a time into a rolling boil so they don't stick together in a lump.

130 min

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Country captain

Country captain is the curried chicken of Savannah and coastal Georgia, said to have arrived with sea captains in the spice trade from India, and it is still served at Georgia Junior League luncheons and holiday buffets. Browned chicken is braised in a mild curry and tomato sauce with peppers, then finished with currants and toasted almonds, and served over white rice. Chef's tip: toast the curry powder in the fat for a full minute; raw curry powder tastes dusty.

75 min

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Kentucky hot brown

The hot brown was invented in 1926 at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, as a late-night dish for dancers, and it is still ordered there and all over the city on Derby weekend. Thick slices of roast turkey on toast are covered in a rich Mornay sauce and grilled until bubbling, then topped with tomato and crisp smoked bacon (pork). Eat it with a knife and fork. Chef's tip: use leftover roast turkey breast carved thickly; thin deli slices dry out under the grill.

35 min

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Philadelphia roast pork sandwich

Many Philadelphians quietly prefer this to the cheesesteak: thinly sliced roast pork shoulder soaked in its garlic and herb juices, with bitter sautéed broccoli rabe and sharp provolone in a seeded Italian roll. It comes from the Italian markets of South Philly and the stalls of the Reading Terminal Market, where it is lunch for market workers. Chef's tip: slice the pork very thin and dunk it back in the hot juices; that soaking is what makes the sandwich.

230 min

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Buffalo chicken wings

Buffalo wings were first tossed in hot sauce and butter at a bar in Buffalo, New York, in 1964 and are now the snack of every American football Sunday. The wings are cooked until the skin is crisp, then coated in a glossy, vinegary chilli-butter sauce and served with celery sticks and a cooling blue cheese dip. This oven version skips the deep fryer. Chef's tip: dry the wings well and toss them with baking powder; it draws out moisture and blisters the skin almost like frying.

65 min

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Beef on weck

Ask in a Buffalo tavern and many people will say this, not the wing, is the city's real sandwich: thin slices of rare roast beef dipped in its juices, piled on a kummelweck roll crusted with coarse salt and caraway seeds, with sharp horseradish on the side. German bakers in western New York brought the roll in the nineteenth century. Chef's tip: dip the top of the roll in the beef juices just before serving, so it softens but the salt crust stays crunchy.

120 min

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Crawfish étouffée

Étouffée means 'smothered', and in Breaux Bridge, which calls itself the crawfish capital of the world, this is what happens to the spring crawfish catch from February to May. Peeled tails are simmered in a butter-based light roux with the trinity, garlic and cayenne until the sauce is glossy and orange with crawfish fat. Serve over white rice. Peeled frozen crawfish tails or raw prawns work well outside Louisiana. Chef's tip: keep any yellow crawfish fat in the pack; it gives the sauce its richness and colour.

50 min

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Shrimp Creole

Shrimp Creole is the tomato-red weeknight dish of New Orleans homes and old Creole lunch counters, quite different from the brown, roux-based Cajun stews of the countryside. Gulf prawns simmer briefly in a sauce of tomato, the trinity, garlic, bay and hot sauce, and the dish is spooned over fluffy rice. Chef's tip: simmer the sauce until it is thick before the prawns go in, because they release water as they cook.

50 min