Hometown Favorites

Zucchini Bread Two Ways

July 13, 2011
Zucchini Bread Two Ways

No self-respecting Hunky can grow up without a great zucchini bread recipe. This less-dense variation, made here in muffin pans, is outrageously moist. The recipe below yields about 24-30 full-sized muffins. When I make it, I divide the recipe in half just before adding any pecans and make half with nuts and half without. I [...]

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Pennsylvania Dutch Red Beets & Eggs

June 16, 2011
Red Beets and Eggs

As a resident of Pittsburgh’s historic Deutschtown neighborhood, I’ve come to accept that my neighbors are going to keep saying Dutchtown as if we are all running around in our ancestral wooden klompen clogs. (Newer transplants to the North Ver-sayles area know what I’m talking about here.) Much to the chagrin of the Netherlands Society of Pittsburgh (NSOP), [...]

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Potato & Cheese Pierogies

April 20, 2011
How to Make traditional Pierogies

Ah, the most revered of Pittsburgh picnic delicacies- the salty, savory, butter-glistening pierogie. Many Eastern European cultures lay claim to the original, but in Pittsburgh we’re satisfied with lumping it into the general hunky classification. Both my Polish and my Slovak grandmothers enjoyed making and eating pierogies, and their recipes were very similar. Fillings for [...]

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Haluski (Cabbage & Noodles)

April 8, 2011
Haluski - Polish Cabbage & Noodles

A Pittsburgh tradition from Polish & Slovak heritage… both of which are in my family’s ethnic composition. My Slovak grandmother likes to make her Haluski with anisette or caraway seeds (she uses anisette in her pizzelles too), and my Polish grandmother opts for sauerkraut over fresh cabbage. Here’s my take on one of Pittsburgh’s all-around [...]

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Pittsburgh City Chicken

March 31, 2011
Pittsburgh City Chicken

If you don’t know what City Chicken is, here’s a hint: It ain’t chicken… That’s right. City Chicken is actually pork and sometimes even veal and/or beef, but never chicken. A popular dish in Pittsburgh and the surrounding region, this mock-chicken dinner has been handed down for generations over the past century. In the early [...]

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