What's your state's best food? Midwest Edition

Serious Eats is continuing their hunt to find the favorite foods in all 50 states. First it was the Northeast region, then the Southwest, and now it's time for the Midwest.

Ohio: CINCINNATI CHILI
Even if you're not from Ohio, you've probably heard of Cincinnati chili. While many people associate chili with parts of the Southwest, Cincinnati's is in a league of its own. It's a regional style of chili characterized by unusual ingredients such as cloves, chocolate, or cinnamon and by the lack of chili peppers or powder -- often served over spaghetti or hot dogs. Skyline chili (a chain of restaurants based in Cincinnati) seems to be the uncontested favorite, and its recipe has been guarded as a family secret among the original Greek owner's surviving children (although many believe its unique taste comes from cinnamon and chocolate, spices which are common in Greek meat dishes). Cincinnati's chili is such a regional staple, that according to the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cincinnatians consume more than two million pounds of chili each year!

Minnesota: JUCY LUCY



Why have your cheese on top of your beef patty when you can have it gushing from the inside? The Jucy Lucy is a cheeseburger in which the cheese is surrounded by raw meat and cooked until it's molten. So simple and yet so ingenious. The Jucy Lucy was allegedly invented at Matt's Bar in Minneapolis, although another joint lays claim to its birth (and spells it the "Juicy Lucy.") The Jucy Lucy is often seen as the cheesesteak of South Minneapolis, and incites similar feelings of protectiveness in locals.

Missouri: GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
Gooey Butter Cake, an accidental lovechild of St. Louis, MO, is a type of coffee cake (not dessert cake) that, true to its name, is incredibly gooey. A dry bottom layer (e.g. cake or a sweet dough) creates a base for the "goo" mixture of eggs, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla or almond extract, and then put in the even until nearly firm -- it's vital not to overcook the cake so that it loses its "gooeyness." The finished product is dusted with more powdered sugar. It is said to be extremely moist, rather than unpleasantly paste-like, with a cream cheese-y flavor that goes perfectly with a strong cup of coffee. The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Bureau calls it one of St. Louis's "popular, quirky foods," and even includes a recipe for the cake on its website.

Illinois: CHICAGO-STYLE DEEP DISH PIZZA
While there will be a never-ending debate over whether New York's or Chicago's pizza is America's champion pizza, Chicago-style deep-dish pizza is certainly the star of Illinois. Deep-dish pizza, invented in Chicago in 1943, does not use a thin crust or delicate toppings, but is made with a heavy, thick crust and massive amounts of cheese, sauce, and other ingredients, making it more like a pie or casserole than a conventional slice of pizza. (In fact, the story goes that the original inventors of the deep-dish pizza fashioned it after a traditional Italian tomato pie, and then added mozzarella and sausage to the mix). It's piled high and "upside down" -- the cheese goes on first, then piles of toppings, and the sauce on top. Whether or not you think it's better than New York's breed of pizza (which is also regularly eaten in Chicago), you've got to admit that Chicago's homegrown deep-dish reinterpretation deserves some serious accolades. Special shouts to Lou Malnati's and Burt's Place.

Wisconsin: DEEP FRIED CHEESE CURDS

It's no surprise that Wisconsin, home of American cheese and all that is deep-fried, came up with deep-fried cheese curds. Every restaurant, bar, and eatery in Wisconsin serves them, where they compete with French fries as a side order. And why settle for deep-fried potatoes when you can have deep-fried cheese? Fresh and squeaky cheddar cheese curds are dipped in a batter of egg, bread crumb, and seasonings (e.g. cayenne, thyme), and then deep-fried to a golden crisp that gushes from the inside. But Wisconsin takes it a step further -- the finished product is often served with a ranch dressing dip and obviously, a cold beer. Hello, heaven of cheesy nuggets, and hello, heart attack.

Indiana: SUGAR CREAM PIE
Back in the 1850's Indiana's Shaker and/or Amish communities came up with a glorious rich pie ironically made out of desperation. No apples on hand? No problem. Sugar Cream Pie could be made with ingredients that were almost always on hand at any farm. A pie shell spread with layers of creamed butter and maple or brown sugar with a sprinkling of flour, is then filled with vanilla-flavored cream and then baked. One can imagine that makes a bad harvest or a long winter much more bearable. Today, the pie is one of two (the other being persimmon pudding) foods considered "Indiana legendary local cuisine."

Michigan: CONEY ISLAND HOT DOG
True, Michigan is the cherry basket of the country, but the state also created an American tube steak artform: the Coney Island hot dog. (The name has little to do with Coney Island itself except to acknowledge the birthplace of the original hot dog). The Coney dog is made with a beef hot dog with casing, and topped with an all-meat chili, sweet diced onions, and yellow mustard -- all on a warm, steamed bun. There are two main local varieties of Coney dogs: Flint-style (which uses dry chili similar to ground beef in consistency), and Detroit-style (a soupier chili, and more heavily seasoned with chili and cumin powders -- dubbed "Coney Sauce").

Iowa: LOOSE MEAT SANDWICHES



The loose meat was born in 1924 in Sioux City, Iowa, and has since flourished. A loose meat sandwich is a cross between a hamburger and a sloppy joe: it consists of unseasoned ground beef on a bun, sauteed onions, and is often topped with pickles and mustard. But it's said that if you see a tomato-based sauce (like those used in sloppy joes) in a loosemeat recipe -- run. The sandwich is now served in eateries all throughout the state, but a chain called Taylor's Maid-Rite began selling their (steamed!) interpretation of it in 1926, and has dominated the loosemeat world since. In fact, much like pork rolls in Jersey have become analogous with "Taylor Ham," loose meats in Iowa have basically become synonymous with Taylor's "Maid-Rites." Seems like Taylor is the lucky name of regional specialty monopolies.

Montana: HUCKLEBERRY PIE
You will rarely eat fresher meat, especially game (from venison to elk to bison) than you do in Montana. Not to mention all the fresh trout abundant in streams. While there is access to all of these less conventional meat entrees, a classic Great Plains meal is almost always finished off with some kind of Huckleberry pastry, most traditionally, wild huckleberry pie. Huckleberries are grown not on farms (no one has yet succeeded in growing them commercially), but grow wild on Montana's mountains and forests. They constitute a substantial part of the grizzly bear's and Montana foodies' diet!

South Dakota: FRY BREAD
Frybread, a flat dough fried in oil, shortening, or lard, is a Native American food and plays a central role in Native culture, often being served at home and at social gatherings. It can be used as a base for a savory "Navajo Taco" by adding toppings like beans, ground beef, cheese, etc., or to make a sweet treat by adding honey or powdered sugar. Frybread as anointed the official "state bread" of South Dakota, but has recently come under fire as a contributor to obesity and diabetes among Native Americans. But surely, if deep-fried cheese curds are allowed to play as big of a role as they do in Wisconsin cuisine, fry bread can retain its pivotal role in Native American and South Dakotan culture.

North Dakota: DAKOTA BREAD
North Dakota, the most rural of all states (with farms covering more than 90% of the land), is the nation's leading producer of certain types of wheat, barely, rye, honey, oats, sunflower seeds, and so forth. So while North Dakota does have a medley of interesting cultural influences (ranging from Native American to Germans from Russia to Scandinavian) and cuisine that is accordingly influenced, a truly North Dakotan food would be Dakota bread, a favorite of former governor and the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Edward T. Schafer. The recipe he submitted to the public is based on ingredients that are found freshest and most abundant in the North Dakotan plains -- wheat flour, rye flour, rolled oats, sunflower oil, and cornmeal. (And an interesting addition of cottage cheese).

Kansas: CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK



While Kansas City is renowned for its barbecue, it's technically in Missouri. But Kansas proper knows how to treat its meat too -- in particular, the chicken-fried steak. While it is claimed to have originated in Texas, it has spread as a comfort food throughout the South and the Midwest, though it is rarely seen in other regions of the country. A piece of steak is breaded and then pan fried (no chicken involved; it just looks similar to fried chicken). It's most often served with a creamy gravy. Seems one of the tenets of Midwestern culinary philosophy is to take already heart-stopping foods (e.g. cheese, steak), bread and fry them, and serve them with a creamy sauce! Healthy? Maybe not. Brilliant and mouthwatering? Yes.

Nebraska: RUNZAS
Nebraska, along with many other Midwestern states, has a large German-American community. So it would make sense that the runza, a yeast dough bread pocket filled with beef, pork, cabbage, or sauerkraut, onions, and seasonings, is a European (it originated in Russia and was then sent to Germany before being served in the U.S.) as well as a Nebraskan specialty. They are baked in various shapes throughout the Midwest, but in Nebraska, the runza is baked in a rectangular shape. (In Kansas, where they are called bierocks, runzas are generally baked in a bun shape). In 1949, German immigrants opened the first Runza restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska, which today serves up several types of Runzas sandwiches. Runza sandwiches have even become part of the sports culture; a university newspaper reported that 10,000 Runza sandwiches were sold in the stadium during a University of Nebraska football game!

Wyoming: MILK-CAN SUPPERS
Wyoming's cuisine is mainly a product of Native American culinary traditions and"cowboy cooking." One culinary tradition that has endured is the "milk-can supper," the Western equivalent of clambakes. Ingredients (typically potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onion, corn, sausages, beer or water) are layered into up to 10-gallon steel milk cans. Once the can is full, it is covered and set over a fire to cook. A part of Wyoming rancher history, milk-can suppers remain a popular way of entertaining a crowd.

Colorado: BISON
Bison (i.e. buffalo), which used to roam the prairies of eastern Colorado, is a tasty and healthier alternative to beef, pork, and even chicken. Some people are trying to bring it back -- in the form of bison steaks, bison burgers, bison jerky -- you name it. We might be looking at the new chicken breast!