Comment on What is the most beloved food from where you live, and what's the most divisive?
anon6789@lemmy.world 16 hours agoI could eat infinite soft pretzels! 🤤
I usually eat them plain, I love them so much as-is, but uber processed melty cheese or mustard are good too. I like stone ground, but it always seems to make me a little….windy. 😅
And you have to say water like “wooder” to keep it proper.
I feel both of those have become US foods now though. They seem pretty popular in a lot of places.
My granpop could speak PA Dutch with the Amish still when we would go to Lancaster to do business things out there, but that was the last somewhat traditional generation of our family.
“Crick” for creek, “earl” for oil … takes me back. I just looked up a couple more and some sources are saying dentist was also pronounced “Dennis,” apparently(!) Haha, I don’t remember that one.
Well, nominally… or to extent, yeah. But not unlike a proper cheesesteak, I find that they need to be made fresh and locally for best taste. For example, going to the freezer section and buying water ice and soft pretzels is invariably disappointing. And for me it’s been decades, but the last time I tried making homemade pretzels, they were a crushing disappointment. I believe that’s because the dough is prepared to fairly tight standards which you really need to get right for best ‘Philly’-style results.
Last time I was at 30th Street Station (which was years ago) I remember a popular stand called…. “Anne’s Pretzels” or something like that with a blue logo. I thought to myself “great! they’re right in the heart of Philly, so they can’t possibly screw up a soft pretzel. Err, nnnnnnope! 😅
Hmm, I wonder how far back you have to go before PA Dutch and German Deutsch were co-intelligible… 🤔
anon6789@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
I guess we do have more strange pronunciations than I think of… I feel I don’t hear as much Dutchiness as I used to though, which I miss.
The PA Dutch wiki doesn’t seem to give a real answer about the exact origins of the language. I’m not very knowledgeable on European history, but all the warring and stuffing of borders and people and then the migration and solution is the language loses me even more. It’s probably one of those things that even they would find each other to have localized accents and different terminology among themselves here.
I’ve made some ok pretzels, but I don’t think it’s the same without something a little more dangerously alkaline to really get the outside right. Baking soda water works ok, but it’s not the same. I like the homemade stuff more as pretzel buns, where it’s still a key player in whatever food it’s holding, but it isn’t a solo act.
Are you talking about Auntie Anne’s Pretzels?
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I looked it up and was surprised they’re actual from Pennsylvania. I always thought they were ok bread sticks, but not pretzels.
I think Wawa pretzels suck too, but they are cheap and darn near everywhere so I’ve adapted to the taste, but there still meh but ok enough to scratch the itch.
Oh gosh, Auntie Anne’s, that’s right!
(could also read “Anti-Anne’s,” meaning lowkey disappointing pretzels?) XD
Myeh, I don’t want to be all stupid-ass ‘gatekeeping’ here. BUT:
Anon, you just described the perfect cheesesteak in your earlier comments. That is the common FORMULA, oh yeah.
Now for whatever reasons, people all across the nation and all across the world somehow just can’t manage to follow the basic directions… like… EVER!
Now I SUPPOSE there are wilder things I’ve seen in my life, however…
anon6789@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
To me, Auntie Anne’s are a butter and cinnamon sugar delivery device, not a pretzel. Totally different food if you ask me.
Besides getting the bread wrong (and sometimes the steak), people mess up by ignoring the simplicity, adding peppers, mushrooms, or who knows what else. I think Pittsburgh adds a fried egg. It doesn’t need all that, just let it be what it is.
Some folks here like cheesesteak hoagies, which seems wrong to me, because who wants hot lettuce? That’s at least 2 area foods though, so hey, do what makes you happy.
To me, just a Philly roll, sliced ribeye, real cheese, not Wiz, and fried onions optional. It’s not healthy food, don’t try to disguise it as something with a well-balanced nutritional profile. 😄