Snacking State-by-State: Wisconsin IV - There's a Brat in My Beer, and I'm Cryin' for You, Dear

My final Midwestern post takes us back to a food savored at millions of cookouts and tailgates all across America.  Mind you, Ohio fights for the glory, but Wisconsin insists on brushing them aside in the war of the bratwursts.  Perhaps but one can claim the mantle.

Official Name: State of Wisconsin
State Nickname: The Badger State
Admission to the US: May 29, 1848 (30th)
Capital: Madison (2nd largest)
Other Important Cities: Milwaukee (largest), Green Bay (3rd largest), Kenosha (4th largest), Racine (5th largest)
Region: Midwest, Upper Midwest, Great Lakes; East North Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Wild Rice
Bordered by: Minnesota (west); Lake Superior (northwest); Michigan (upper panhandle) (northeast); Lake Michigan (east); Illinois (south); Iowa (southwest)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: badger (animal, though these aren't typically eaten anymore); corn (grain); dairy cow (domesticated animal); honeybee (insect, for the honey); milk (beverage); muskellunge, or "muskie" (fish); sugar maple (tree, for the maple sap); white-tailed deer (wildlife animal)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: typical Midwestern cuisine; German, Central European and Scandinavian foods; dairy, especially cheese and fried cheese curds; Wisconsin-style fish boil (usually done on a massive scale for many people); beer brats (bratwurst cooked in beer and grilled, usually on a "Sheboygan roll", a typical bratwurst roll from the Midwest); beer, beer and more beer

For those of you who have been following this blog, or at least this series, I have already explored bratwurst.  Twice!  Both times were when I was exploring Ohio.  One was a simple pan-boiled brat, the other used bratwurst to make delicious fried balls of sauerkraut, Cleveland-style.  And yet, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, still claims to be the "Bratwurst Capital of the World".  I've already described bratwursts in the aforementioned posts, and that does include their tie to Wisconsin's identity.  They go together about as much as Wisconsin and cheese, or beer.  In fact, this Cheesehead trinity is so important that the very conservative Republican governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker invited angry Democrats to the Governor's Mansion after his recall attempt earlier this year and tried to smooth things over with beer, cheese and - of course - brats (Fulton 2012).  These people love their brats as much as some others in this country love their fish fries, clam bakes and steamed crab feasts.

Now while my friend Eric pointed out to me that people sometimes cook brats in a pan with water or beer, in the Upper Midwest they don't seem to prefer that method, if my research does not deceive me.  The folks at the Bratwurst Pages (2005), based in Wisconsin, have a whole collection of Bratwurst-related links, including the procedure for fixing brats the typical, correct way.  Of course, you need to grill it, and of course, I have no grill handy at the moment.  Fortunately Jonathan Croswell (2011) helps out on that score in his Livestrong.com article about how to cook brats in the oven when there is no grill available - long story short, broil 'em, setting them about five to seven inches away from the broiler.  I set mine as far away as I could.

The Bratwurst Pages people point out that a bratwurst is correctly eaten with various fixin's, from kraut to ketchup to mustard - but they are very specific to note that yellow mustard is an abomination.  Spicy brown mustard, however, works well.  Also note: you are not supposed to use hot dog rolls for these things.  They mention something called a "Sheboygan roll", a malty roll that is somewhat crisp on the outside and soft on the inside commonly found around the Bratwurst Capital of the World, but not at all found in my part of the country.  Trying to be un-abominable as possible, I eventually sought out non-baked club rolls from Harris Teeter, and baked them myself while the brats were cooking.  If you actually want to make some of these rolls, get thee to a homebrewing store (not like I hadn't gone recently) because you will need some malt extract.  I didn't feel like buying a whole container just for a roll I didn't have time to make anyway - malt extract ain't cheap - which led me to buy the club rolls.

The Recipe: Classic Wisconsin Beer Brats

To keep these as authentic as humanly possible, since we're not using the outdoor grill, assemble the following:

* bratwurst (Johnsonville, out of Sheboygan Falls, are a no-brainer for this Wisconsin-esque recipe.  Only $4 at Harris Teeter)
* onion (small to medium yellow one, had it)
* butter (had this too)
* beer (now I have tons of beer at home, but the beer I made in the last post was still in the fermenting process (as you can see in the picture above, the decanter is still sitting underneath my kitchen table), so instead I sought out a few bottles of Leinenkugel, based out of Chippewa Falls.  I still didn't have enough, so I used an extra bottle of Rolling Rock I had sitting in my pantry to top it off)
* club rolls (as noted above, do not use hot dog rolls.  Find Sheboygan rolls if you have them, but if you're outside of the Midwest you likely will not find them.  These unbaked club rolls cost about $3 at Harris Teeter)

Prepare your beer bath (ooooh, fun) by boiling together your beer and onions.  Some authentic recipes do not do this step, but others do and since I'm not grilling these outside I wanted to go this extra step.  I reserved half my beer and onion for this step, because the brats will sit in a beet-butter-onion bath after grilling as well.

If you go this route, boil your brats in the beer for about twenty minutes.  If you do not do this step, prepare the beer bath for the brats to sit in after grilling them.  You need to do that step regardless.

When they start looking like this (yes you should turn them), remove them and get ready to either grill them or...

...place them under your preheated broiler.  If you can't grill for some reason you will want to set your broiler pan as far away from the flame as possible (five to seven inches is optimal).  Leave them there for about 10 minutes, with no pre-boiling, leave them there longer.  If grilling, leave them on for about 20 to 25.  You really have to guesstimate here.

While those brats are a-broilin', prep your second beer bath.

Add the rest of your chopped onion to the beer bath.

And then add your butter.

Melt everything together, and let your brats simmer in this liquid until ready to eat.  For this part, you really do leave them in there indefinitely, based on the recipe I saw.

Finally, bake your club rolls, or use pre-baked ones.  If you have bratwurst rolls, use those instead.

And now you're ready to build your bratwurst.

Typically, you put ketchup, sauerkraut, chopped onions and non-yellow mustard on your brat.

I used some of the chopped onions from the beer and butter bath, whole seed brown mustard and ketchup.

I can't say much about this.  It was a bratwurst.  It was juicy and delicious would have been a little messy were it not for the massive roll sopping up the juices and toppings.  I'm not used to bathing it in beer and butter of course, but I may use this method again when I do brats.

- - - - -

What a strange milestone: we are but one state away from the end of this long, loooooong series!  Or are we?  Once we're finished with Wyoming, our final destination, I will be making the rounds briefly just to re-explore the different regions of the country to see if I missed anything.  This I will be doing in ten - yes, ten - posts.  Then this State-by-State thing will truly be finished.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  On to Big Sky Country!

Sources:

Beer Institute.  "State Per Capita Consumption 2003 to 2011" (PDF available).  Copyright 2012, All rights reserved.

Bostwick, William & Jessi Rymill.  Beer Craft: A Simple Guide to Making Great Beer.  Rodale: New York, 2011.

Bratwurst Pages.  "Classic Wisconsin Beer Brats".  Bratwurst Pages, 2003.  Copyright 2002, 2003 Bratwurst Pages, All rights reserved.

Croswell, Jonathan.  "How to Cook a Bratwurst in the Oven".  Livestrong, 2011.  Copyright 2011, 2012, All rights reserved.

Door County Today (YouTube channel: DoorCounty Today).  "History of the Door County Fish Boil".  Posted March 15, 2012.

Fisher, Joe and Dennis.  "Wild, Wild Rice!"  Brew Your Own, October 2000.

Fulton, April.  "Will Beer And Brats Break Through Wisconsin's Partisan Divide?"  The Salt: What's on Your Plate.  Posted June 12, 2012.  Copyright 2012 National Public Radio, All rights reserved.

Midwest Living.  "Wisconsin Fish Boil".  Midwest Living, 2012.  Copyright 2012 Meredith Corporation, All rights reserved.

Mr. Beer.  "Instructions, Premium/Deluxe Editions".  Copyright 2011 Catalina Products LLC, All rights reserved.

Spencer, James, and Steve Wilkes (YouTube channel: basicbrewing). "Basic Brewing Video - Doctoring Mr. Beer - January 7, 2012".  Posted January 7, 2012.

Splendid Table.  "Episode 487: The Japanese Grill", July 30, 2011, Segment 21:46 – 28:35 (William Bostwick talks home brewing).  Copyright 2011, 2012 American Public Media, All rights reserved.

Vics, Drew (YouTube channel: Cryptobrewology).  "Brewing Mr. Beer American Devil IPA".  Posted January 25, 2010.
Wisconsin Brewer's Guild.  "Wisconsin Brewer's Guild".  Copyright 2009-2012, All rights reserved.

Wisconsin Historical Society.  "Dictionary of Wisconsin History: Pabst Blue Ribbon beer advertisement, 1940 (WHi-56371)".  Copyright 1996-2012, All rights reserved.

Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.  "Cookin' Up Wisconsin Curds".  Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, 2012.  Copyright 2012, All rights reserved.

Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.  "History of Wisconsin Cheese".  Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, 2012.  Copyright 2012, All rights reserved.
Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Wisconsin" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Wisconsin".

Snacking State-by-State: Texas V - Good sandwich, Vietnam!

Most Americans don't realize that Houston and the Texas coast are home to one of the largest Vietnamese-American communities in the United States.  Escaping Vietnam during the mid 1970's many Vietnamese sought refuge in the US, bringing their recipes for dishes such as phở and bánh mì with them.

Official Name: State of Texas
State Nickname: The Lone Star State, The Republic of Texas
Admission to the US: December 29, 1845 (#28)
Capital: Austin (4th largest)
Other Important Cities: Houston (largest), San Antonio (2nd largest), Dallas (3rd largest), El Paso (6th largest),
Region: South, Southwest; West South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chile Pepper; Gumbo; Bison
Bordered by: Oklahoma (north), Arkansas (northeast), Louisiana (east), Gulf of Mexico (southeast), Tamaulipas, Nuevo León & Coahuila (Mexico) and the Río Grande (south), Chihuahua (Mexico) (southwest), New Mexico (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: cast iron dutch oven (cooking implement - not edible, of course, but used for cooking), chili (dish), chiltepín (native pepper), Guadalupe bass (fish), jalapeño (pepper), longhorn (large mammal), pan de campo (bread), pecan (tree and health nut), prickly pear cactus (plant - for the pads and the fruit), sopaipilla and strudel (pastries), sweet onion (vegetable), Texas purple sage (native shrub), Texas red grapefruit (fruit). tortilla chips and salsa (snack)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Where to begin?  Texas-style barbecue (specifically beef and beef brisket), Texas chili, chicken fried steak, Mexican (specifically Northern Mexican) foods, Tex-Mex foods (including migas, chile con carne and sopaipilla)

Texas, as other parts of the US, was reluctant to welcome the first wave of Vietnamese refugees, but once the "boat people" arrived in the second wave of Vietnamese immigration in the late 1970's, this more culturally and ethnically diverse group was more readily welcomed into Texas, whose coast was a logical place to settle since some parts were similar in terms of weather and climate [von der Mehden date unknown].  It wasn't just the climate that attracted them, as Fred von der Mehden points out [date unknown]:

The major reasons for moving to Texas were economic opportunities, the nearness of resettlement camps, the climate and geographic similarity of places like Rockport to Vietnam, and, eventually the growth of Vietnamese communities, including support groups, media, and stores catering to their needs. Vietnamese generally moved to urban centers such as Houston, Dallas, and Austin and to seacoast areas. In 1981 Texas had the second largest number of Vietnamese of any state, 40,000, and Houston had more than any American city outside of California. In 1985 the total Texas Vietnamese population was estimated at 52,500, but the actual number was probably larger. [von der Mehden date unknown]

One of the most famous Vietnamese dishes is the ubiquitous phở, that scalding hot soup in which noodles and super-thin pieces of beef cook on the way to your table, accompanied with bean sprouts and slices of jalapeño and cilantro.  Another popular dish, the popular bánh mì sandwich, has its origins in the French occupiers of Vietnam: a soft baguette cut in half and filled with meats, cilantro, chiles and often some sort of Vietnamese pickled vegetables.

The bánh mì sandwich is quite popular in Texas' major cities.  Ruthie Johnson Miller [2011] of the Culture Map Houston website lists some of the most popular bánh mì joints in Houston, for example, correcting an oversight of the New York Times' recent list of America's best bánh mì sandwiches that overlooked Houston altogether. 

I originally wanted to make a phở for this final Texas post, but with all the beef I've eaten lately (from brisket to chili), I thought I'd have a change.  Fortunately, Andrea Nguyen [2009] leaves plenty of room in this post, one among many she's done about bánh mì on her Viet World Kitchen website:

There is essentially one sandwich in Vietnamese cooking and it is quite a tour de force. It started out very simply, with baguette smeared with liver pate and that was it. That's how my mom knew it in the 1940s when she was growing up in Northern Vietnam. What we know today as banh mi is a light, crispy small baguette that is split and hollowed before it is invariably filled with homemade mayonnaise or butter (which I don't like), sliced chili pepper, cilantro leaves, cucumber, a tangy-sweet daikon and carrot pickle (do chua), and a drizzle of soy sauce. The variation comes in when you choose what protein component(s) will be center stage. [Nguyen 2009]

That meat could be anything from liver pâté to crispy pork skin to tofu, but Nguyen's recipe calls for any strongly flavored pork.  I went with a very simple thickly cut roast pork for my sandwich, and not only used her bánh mì recipe, but her recipe for do chua pickled carrot and daikon as well.

The Recipe: Bánh Mì

For Nguyen's standard bánh mì you will need:

* French baguette (about $2 for one at Wegman's)

* "boldly flavored" luncheon meat (since I was all beefed out from the brisket and the chili, I went with fancy charcuterie roast pork from Wegman's at about $10 a pound - daaaaang - so I only got half a pound)

* cilantro (a bunch for $2.50)

* jalapeño (one was just a few cents)

* cucumber (about 50 cents for one at H-Mart)

* mayonnaise (after the derecho took out my power and most of the contents of my fridge in June, I was in need of a new jar of mayonnaise.  I went again with Duke's brand, only this time getting the low fat version for about $4.50)

* soy sauce (not pictured: I forgot to put this in the photo but I do add it in the recipe below)

* do chua, a quick Vietnamese pickle consisting of...

* carrot (I only needed one, from H-Mart for about 50 cents)

* daikon radish (about 75 cents for this smallish one from H Mart)

* distilled white vinegar (had on hand)

* sugar (same)

* water (this is not difficult for me to find)

* salt (again, I have this)

I used the small square setting on my French fry cutter to easily cut the daikon into thin strips.

I did the same with the carrot.  Note that these cuts are still wider than do chua typically is.

Cover the carrot and daikon pieces with the salt (about a tablespoon for a full version of Nguyen's recipe) and some of the sugar (about two tablespoons).

Thoroughly mix them with your fingers for a few minutes.  She notes that liquid will collect in the bowl.  I didn't see as much, but I didn't make a whole recipe so maybe that's why.

Rinse and drain the vegetables in a colander and set aside.

Next for your quick pickle, mix the rest of sugar with the water and vinegar and stir to dissolve.

Immerse the vegetables in the solution for at least an hour before you make your bánh mì sandwiches.

While the do chua is brining, thinly slice your cucumber and jalapeño,  You can seed and devein the chile, but I like a spicy chile so I left them.

Slice up your baguette, and slice each segment of baguette in half.

With fingers, hollow out some of the bread from each half of baguette.

You are ready to assemble your bánh mì.  Fill each hole you made with mayonnaise.

Add soy sauce to each slice of bread.

Fill each bánh mì with your meat of choice and your do chua...

...your cucumber and jalapeño slices, and your cilantro sprigs.

Smoosh the sides of bread together and smoosh.

I loved these intense, juicy, salty and spicy little sandwiches.  Once you have it all together it's easy to do, though for all your different components it takes a little while to make this.  It is a worthy effort and one I will pursue again in the future.

- - - - -

We are done in the Lone Star State.  We don't completely leave the southwest, heading northwest to that Great Salt Lake for jello and potatoes galore.  It's time to explore Mormon cuisine, Utah-style.

Sources:

DallasVegan.com.  "Simple Vegan Migas…Brownsville Style".  DallasVegan.com, posted January 19, 2009.  Copyright 2010 DallasVegan.com.  All rights reserved.

Dr. Dan (blogger).  "Spicy 3 Chilies Texas Chili a la Crock Pot".  101 Cooking for Two, posted February 25, 2012.

Fain, Lisa.  "My Oven-Baked Brisket".  Homesick Texan, posted December 16, 2008.  Copyright Homesick Texan.  All rights reserved. 

Goldwyn, Craig "Meathead".  "Barbecue Beef Brisket Texas Style".  Amazing Ribs updated March 2, 2012.  Copyright Amazing Ribs.  All rights reserved.

Guía de Tacos (Guiadetacos.com).  "Enchiladas norteñas".  Date unknown.

Johnson Miller, Ruthie.  "Banh mi, oh my! The top five Vietnamese sandwich shops in Houston".  Culture Map Houston, posted February 26, 2011.  Copyright 2009-2012 Culture Map, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Daikon and Carrot Pickle Recipe (Do Chua)".  Viet World Kitchen, posted May 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Master Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe".  Viet World Kitchen, posted June 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Shuttlesworth, Patrise.  "Tex-Mex vs. New Mex: Not Just About Jalapeños or Green Chiles".  On the Road, a Houston Press Blog, posted March 26, 2012.  Copyright Houston Press.  All rights reserved.

Sliter Satterwhite, Shannon. "Make a Batch of Texas Chili".  Southern Living Magazine, October 2005.

von der Mehden, Fred R. "Vietnamese".  Handbook of Texas Online.  Date unknown.  Published by the Texas State Historical Association.  Copyright 2012 Texas State Historical Association, published by the Texas State Historical Association, and distributed in partnership with the University of North Texas Sponsors.  All rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Texas" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Texas".

Snacking State-by-State: Pennsylvania II - A cheese steak just isn't a cheese steak... (or "The Philadelphia [Cheese Steak] Story")

When food fans thinks of Philadelphia, two things come to mind: cream cheese and cheese steaks (twice with the cheese).  I've eaten much more of the former, on bagels, in cheesecakes, even in maki rolls.  But the famous cheese steak is a sandwich I haven't eaten many of.  That changes below.

Official Name: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
State Nicknames: The Keystone State, The Quaker State
Admission to the US: December 12, 1787 (#2 - Delaware beat 'em to the punch)
Capital: Harrisburg (9th largest)
Other Important Cities: Philadelphia (largest), Pittsburgh (2nd largest), Allentown (3rd largest), Erie (4th largest)
Region: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest; Middle Atlantic (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Maple Syrup; Clambake; Crabcake; Chestnut; Wild Rice
Bordered by: Maryland & the Mason-Dixon Line (south), West Virginia (southwest), Ohio (west), Lake Erie (northwest), New York (north & northeast), New Jersey & the Delaware River (east), Delaware (southeast)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: white-tailed deer (animal), milk (beverage), ruffed grouse (bird), chocolate chip cookie (cookie), brook trout (fish)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: German & Amish foods; Polish & Eastern European foods; pretzels, water ice, hoagies & Philly cheese steaks (particular to Philadelphia); city chicken, halupki & halušky, chipped ham, kielbasa (particular to Pittsburgh); scrapple; Hershey's chocolates; birch beer; Herr's Potato Chips, Hanover Pretzels & (yes) Utz Potato Chips; people (if you're an extra in a George Romero movie, that is - the big ones were all filmed near Pittsburgh)

Swing from western PA to eastern PA, and discuss the foods of Philadelphia, city of brotherly love.  This includes pretzels, water ice and of course Philly cheese steaks.

I've been to Philly enough - it's just two hours up 95 after all.  And yes, I've eaten a lot up there: Egyptian food, Irish food, ice cream, hot dogs, a myriad of plates full of whatever at the Reading Terminal Market (just before a visit to the Franklin Institute, or after a visit to the creeptastic Mütter Museum no less).  But I haven't really ever tried the cheese steaks.  This has spared me from making the fateful choice between the city's fabled competing cheese steak stands, Pat's vs Geno's (or were they actually fighting?  Maybe not after all...)  Yes, I know I'm not from Philly, and yes, I know that Baltimore, with its weird mish-mash of Northern, Southern and generic Chesapeake foods, is a major hub for "Philly (style) cheese steaks.  But since i haven't eaten many in Philly, I can only assume that ours are mere shadows of the real thing.  Probably the same can be said for the one I made below.  Actually scratch that - I know you can say that.

But I wasn't sure just how easy or difficult it was to make a Philadelphia cheese steak.  It can indeed be done - whole online forums are devoted to the subject.  The matter they debate is not about assembly, or even whether to use provolone or Cheez Whiz.  They debate how to slice the meat, and what meat to use.  Most forums, such as this one on Chowhound, specify a rib eye roast of at least a few pounds.  The rib eye roast, which is apparently the most tender to use, needs to be at least partially frozen to enable easier slicing.   In addition, the forums recommend a meat slicer.  I know my family has one, but I have no idea where this thing is.  And I don't have an extra $70 - $300 to buy a new one.  So a $20 electric knife will have to do.

The Recipe: Philadelphia Cheese Steak


The recipe I use is from Pat's King of Steaks.  They give an easy recipe to the Food Network that I attempt to replicate below.  You will need:

* beef roast (preferably rib eye; I got about 1 3/4 lbs of eye round for about $4 a pound)

* vegetable oil to fry up the veggies in; I had this)

* onion (had one)

* mushrooms ($2.50 for a small tub)

* green & red bell peppers (at first I planned to buy one each, roast them and fry them in oil, but buying the jar of pre-roasted pre-oiled peppers for about the same price - $4 - and this saved me an extra step or two at that)

* provolone and/or Cheez Whiz (I had neither, and wanted to try the cheese steak using both.  A half pound of provolone was about $4, as was one jar of Cheez Whiz, which I didn't realize was in the refrigerated section)

* ketchup (had it)

* Italian rolls (a package at Harris Teeter was another four bucks) 

First, leave your roast, uncooked, in the freezer for at least a few hours.  This will make it easier to carve.  Even after leaving it in for two hours, it didn't really get too hard.  I tried it in a semi-semi-frozen state.

I knew going in that the beef would never be truly as thin as I wanted it to be, since I didn't have a hand slicer.  But I did try my best to get it as thin as possible.

The pieces wound up being about this thin.  So already this won't be as thin as I want it.  But it's as good as I will get it.

Next, slice an onion thinly.

Heat some vegetable oil on a flat surface - a griddle, a grill or (once again) my trusty 12" cast iron skillet.

Fry the onions until slightly brown.

When they get like this, remove them...

...so you can fry the beef.

It won't take long to cook the beef through, though had the beef been thinner it probably would've cooked faster.

I wanted to try the cheese steaks with both provolone and Cheez Whiz.  The provolone is easy to use: just put it on the cheese steak.  But I don't usually work with Cheez Whiz, so I had to go the extra step of heating it up to a pourable consistency in the microwave.  I found that I had to reheat it since it re-solidified by the time I needed it.  That's just not natural, dude.

Take out the beef and cook the mushrooms.

Add the peppers, and what the hell, add the onions too.  Pat's recipe does not say to cook the onions with mushrooms or peppers.  It assumes those are already cooked.

Now to assemble your cheese steak.  First place the meat on your Italian roll, which of have to cut in half of course.

Next add the onions (had I cooked them separately, the mushrooms and peppers would go on last).

Then comes the cheese.  I decided to make half provolone and half Cheez Whiz, and divide the sandwich in half..

Top this with a little ketchup.  This didn't look right but the recipe never said where exactly to put it, so there it goes.

There you have it: my own version of Pat's King of Steaks' cheese steak.  Granted it's certainly nothing like the original, or their competitor's version.  I found it kind of messy to eat - had I put it inside some sort of paper wrapping I could have kept it from falling apart.  It didn't completely fall apart, though a few bits of beef did fall out, or off, here and there.  It was a jam-packed sub, that's for sure.  The beef was a little chewy, which would not have been a problem had I been able to slice it thinner.  As to the question of provolone vs Cheez Whiz?  I have to go with the provolone.  I found the Cheez Whiz to be surprisingly bland.  In comparison, provolone is too, but I just liked it better.  That said, I now have a jar of Cheez Whiz I need to find something to do with.

Sources:

Amish America.  "What do Amish eat?"  Copyright 2010 Amish America, All rights reserved.

Amish Homestead Cookbook.  Tourist cookbook, date of publication unknown.

AmericanCivilWar.com.  "American Civil War Recipes: Union Hardtack and Confederate Johnnie Cakes".  Date unknown.  Copyright 1997-2012 AmericanCivilWar.com, maintained by Central Design Lab. All articles are public domain and clearly credit and link to the author when possible.

Batz, Bob, Jr. "Pittsburgh sticks with loving 'City Chicken'".  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published March 30, 2012.  Copyright ©1997-2012 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Brieda, Luboš.  "Potato Dumplings (Halušky)".  Slovak Cooking, posted November 3, 2009.  Updated March 24, 2010.  Copyright 2009-2011 Slovak Cooking.

Chowhound.com.  "Slicing Ribeye roast for philly cheese steak".  Discussion on "Home Cooking" board, Chowhound.com. Thread started September 6, 2008.

Pat's King of Steaks. "Pat's King of Steaks Philadelphia Cheese Steak".  Featured on the episode "Best Sandwiches" of the show The Best Of.  Food Network, 1999.

Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau.  "Pennsylvania Amish history & beliefs".  Copyright 2012 Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau, site maintained by Cimbrian.

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.  Pennsylvania Cookbook Trail of History.  From the Editors of Stackpole Books and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, foreword by William Woys Weaver.  Stackpole Books: Mechanicsburg, PA, 2004.

Pittsburgh.About.com (About.com). "How to Make Haluski (Cabbage and Noodles)"  Date unknown.  Copyright 2012 About.com.  All rights reserved.

Robinson, Douglas.  "City Chicken".  Recipe in I Grew Up in Southwestern Pennsylvania: A Nostalgic Look at Growing Up in the Pittsburgh Region.  Recipe featured in the article "Pittsburgh sticks with loving 'City Chicken'" by Bob Batz, Jr. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published March 30, 2012)

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Pennsylvania" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Pennsylvania".