Which foods are unusually popular in each state on Thanksgiving.
Like many other readers, we were fascinated by the 50-dishes-for-50-states Thanksgiving mega-menu that our colleagues in the Food section recently produced. The piece – and the many reactions to it – got us wondering what a democratic version of the project might look like. That is, if the residents of every state could vote for distinct Thanksgiving dishes, what would each state’s dish be? So we asked researchers at Google for help. You can think of every web search that someone does for a recipe as a kind of vote, after all. The researchers didn’t focus on the most popular dish in every state, because that would be “turkey” in all 50 states. They instead looked for the most distinct. The dishes you see listed here are the result of the analysis. You should not interpret the dishes here as the most iconic Thanksgiving recipes in each state, or even a state's favorite dish. It’s possible that some dishes are so central to a state’s culture that people there don’t need to search for them on the web, for instance. But academic research – on everything from voter turnout to flu epidemics– has found that Google searching can be a meaningful indicator of behavior and attitudes. We certainly learned a lot from the analysis – ooey gooey bars! pig pickin cake! – and have had great fun talking about them around the office in the last few days. We hope you enjoy it as much. The top-ranked dish Googled for Thanksgiving in Colorado (Also Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming)was “Frog Eye Salad,” which turns out to be something of a regional phenomenon, also appearing in the top 10 in Idaho, Nevada and Utah. It is especially popular among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The New York Times Stylebook warns against overusing the word “unique,” so we’ll just tell you that we’re not aware of any other salad that combines pasta, fruit, eggs, whipped cream and marshmallows.
“The son-in-law posted this on his blog and stated “I personally commit to each and every one of you that, even though I am from Colorado, I have never, ever, Googled “frog eye salad”. Nor do I ever plan to.” So I did – and I took it to Thanksgiving dinner at their house! It was NOT a hit! Sort of ambrosia with something odd in it.
Ingredients:
- 20 oz can pineapple tidbits , drained and juice reserved
- 10 oz can crushed pineapple , drained and juice reserved
- 1 c reserved pineapple juice
- 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 Tab cornstarch
- 1/2 c acini de pepe noodles (tiny round balls of pasta)
- 15 oz can mandarin oranges , drained
- 1/2 c shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 c mini marshmallows
- 1 banana , sliced
- 1 c heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 c powdered sugar
Directions:
- Drain the pineapple cans and reserve the juice. Reserve the pineapple fruit in the fridge for later.
- In a saucepan over medium heat combine the pineapple juice, sugar, egg yolk, salt and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
- Cook until mixtures comes to a low boil and thickens slightly.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Cook acini de pepe noodles according to package instructions.
- Drain and cool.
- Combine the acini de pepe and the thickened sauce in a Tupperware.
- Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
- Once the acini de pepe mixture has chilled add it to a large bowl with the pineapple, mandarin oranges, coconut, marshmallows, and bananas.
- In a separate bowl beat the cream and sugar together until stiff peaks.
- Fold fresh whipped
- cream into the acini de pepe mixture.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate.
Serves: 10
Source: Tastes Better From Scratch
