u/strcrssd

Hey folks, I've tried this twice and have, on neither occasion, gotten any meaningful fermentation. 2% brine, by mass. On the second time I tried adding some kimchi to seed, and still no fermentation.

I am trying a vacuum bag, vacuumed, but that's not generally a preservation method on its own. Maybe I'm popping the helpful bacterial cells?

Any tips or suggestions?

Planning on Habanero and Ghosts this time, and I need to do research on garlic in fermentation. My favorite hot sauce is Garlic Reaper.

I've been surveying hyper-local American dishes — stuff that's on menus all over town and a blank stare everywhere else. Not single-restaurant specialties — things multiple places serve that don't exist 200 miles away.

Detroit actually turned up more entries than most cities — Coneys, almond boneless chicken, the entire Dearborn ecosystem. But I know I'm missing things, especially from the suburbs, Downriver, and the Macedonian/Yemeni/Bangladeshi pockets that don't get food-media coverage. What else fits?

The test: you tried to order it or explain it outside metro Detroit and got a blank stare.

Edit: Feel free to keep posting and I'll do a review at some point tomorrow, but here's what I've got so far: Modern Forage: Detroit

A million pounds of something called goetta gets eaten in Cincinnati every year and 99% of it never leaves the metro. A Cantonese D-Day vet in Springfield MO invented a cashew chicken in 1963 that 70+ restaurants there now serve, and not one of them is outside Missouri (this is not the same cashew chicken you may have in your local restaurant unless you live in Springfield or the region). South Dakota liked deep-fried meat cubes so much they made it the official state nosh.

I keep finding these but am starting to run dry. Every time it's the same story to start: one cook, one city, and the dish just never leaves. It frequently expands locally because it's good, but hasn't hit the larger zeitgeist.

Chicago specifically. Italian beef is going national but what about the gym shoe sandwich? Chicken Vesuvio? Shrimp DeJonghe? Still on every menu or dying out? What neighborhood-level stuff from Bridgeport, Pilsen, Albany Park, Devon Ave never makes it past the city limits?

The smaller and weirder the better. Sub-50k towns and burbs are where the real ones hide.

Edit: Here's a link to the reddit discussion for the write up/results of this thread. Thank you all for your great responses, and I'll keep monitoring this thread and the write up thread.