Cuisine of the Northeastern United States

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The cuisine of the Northeastern United States refers to the distinctive styles of food indigenous to the states above the Potomac River. Maryland, Massachusetts, and Maine are centers of seafood cuisine. Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York cuisine is heavily influenced by Italian and German immigrants to the industrial centers of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Jersey City, Binghamton, Elmira, Corning, Williamsport, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton.
State by State
Connecticut
Large immigrant populations have made Italian food very popular in Connecticut. Jamaican food is also widely available in the Hartford area.
New Haven, Connecticut is well known for its highly-regarded and competitive pizzerias. New Haven pizza bears some similarities to New York pizza, as they both have thin, crispy crusts, but New Haven pizzas do not necessarily include a layer of cheese, feature heavier use of olive oil, and are cooked at relatively high temperatures. Pizzerias in the region also frequently use (allegedly) archaic Italian spellings of the food's name, such as "appiz."
Unlike the rest of New England, milkshakes in Connecticut are referred to as "milkshakes," but sandwiches which would elsewhere be called subs or hoagies are invariably called "grinders."
Maine
Larger in land area than the rest of New England combined, the cuisine of Maine is diverse. The food products most associated with Maine are lobster, potatoes and blueberries, which grow wild and abundantly. Maine has a rich iconographic history of incorporating the lobster into its mythology and it remains one of the most affordable places in the country to purchase lobster.
Maryland / Washington, D.C.
Maryland boasts a plethora of marine fare, including blue crabs, crabcakes, crab soup, seafood lasagna, raw oysters, and rock fish. The state even has its own brand of potato chip, called Crab Chips from the Utz brand.
Marylanders use Old Bay, a local spice, to season everything from crabs to applesauce to peaches to popcorn. Along with the residents of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Maryland's citizens are fond of scrapple.
The Washington, D.C. area is best known as the origin place of the half smoke.
Massachusetts
Boston is the center of Massachusetts, and its norms and modes have influenced the whole of the state. A major seaport from Colonial times, Boston is famous for its clam chowder, called "New England clam chowder" to distinguish it from a similar soup made in New York.
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Due to its position between New York City and Philadelphia, most towns in New Jersey are bedroom communities of one or the other. As a result, the signature foods of both cities are very popular in their corresponding suburbs - pizza, bagels, pastrami, and submarine sandwiches (sometimes called heroes or hoagies) in the New York Metropolitan Area communities of Northern and Central Jersey, and hoagies (the Philadelphia equivalent of a New York hero), cheesesteaks, pretzels, water ices, and scrapple in the Philadelphia Area towns of South Jersey.
Still, there are a number of foods which are especially prominent in or unique to the Garden State. North Jersey is renowned as a hot dog stronghold, with several variants that have their roots in its cities. The ripper is perhaps the most famous type of hot dog that is native to New Jersey. It is deep-fried in oil until the casing bursts, or "rips", and might be best exemplified at Rutt's Hut, a longtime hot dog eatery in Clifton, New Jersey. Texas wieners are another type of hot dog in the state. They are either grilled or deep-fried and served with spicy brown mustard, chopped onions, and a thin meat sauce similar to chili. Wieners ordered "all the way" are dressed with all three condiments. Interestingly, the Texas wiener was independently created in two different locations - Paterson, New Jersey and Altoona, Pennsylvania six years earlier.
Another type of hot dog indigenous to North Jersey is the Italian hot dog, which originated at Jimmy Buff's in Newark, New Jersey in 1932 and is one of the foods most synonymous with North Jersey's Italian-American culture, especially in Essex County. The Italian hot dog is prepared by slicing a roll of round pizza bread in half (for a double order) or into quarters (for a single order), digging a pocket into it, and then spreading mustard along the inside of the roll. A deep-fried dog (two for a double order) is stuffed into the pocket, topped by fried or sauteed onions and peppers, and then followed by deep-fried potatoes that have been thinly sliced into discs or thickly-cut into chunks and drizzled with ketchup. Italian sausages can be substituted for the hot dogs and, as with their counterpart, are ordered as a single or double order.
Trenton, New Jersey, located near the boundary of Central and South Jersey, is known for two foods in particular: Tomato pie and Taylor Ham. Tomato pie is basically an interchangeable term for pizza, albeit with a subtle difference: while traditional pizza pies are prepared by placing the cheese and toppings on top of the sauce and dough, tomato pies are made by laying the cheese directly on top of the dough, then adding the toppings, and finally spreading the sauce atop the mix. This creates a more tomato-intensive taste for the thin-crust pie.
Meanwhile, pork roll is a type of sausage-like pork product made from coarsely ground pork shoulder. It was developed by John Taylor of Trenton in the late 19th century and has become a popular breakfast and sandwich meat throughout the Garden State. In South Jersey, it is often referred to as a pork roll due to the "roll" or tube-like sack in which it is traditionally packaged, while in Northern and Central Jersey it is usually called Taylor ham. The meat is generally eaten sliced and grilled like Canadian bacon, but is also known to be fried.
Salt water taffy is Atlantic City's gastronomic contribution to the world. It is a soft taffy originally produced and marketed in the South Jersey resort city beginning in the late 19th century, and is a staple candy and souvenir item of the Jersey Shore boardwalk. Salt water taffy is widely sold throughout beachfront areas of the United States and Canada.
In addition to its local foods, New Jersey boasts a plethora of authentic ethnic cuisines due to its large immigrant population. Some of the more prominent examples include Indian, Brazilian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Cuban, Middle Eastern, and of course Italian food, which is arguably the most popular cuisine among New Jerseyans.
New Jersey is renowned for its multitude of diners, many of which are open around the clock. In fact, New Jersey has more diners per capita than any other state in the U.S.
The Grease Trucks of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey have also been made famous by mentions in USA Today, and by Maxim Magazine naming the "Fat Darrell", the top sandwich in the nation.
New York
New York City is known as one of the gastronomical capitals of the United States; with its diverse and large immigrant population, virtually every type of cuisine can be found there. New York City is especially famous for its Italian American and Chinese American cuisines.
North of New York City, the Upstate New York region has its own culinary traditions. Beef on weck sandwich, made with roast beef, is a tradition in western New York, and Texas hots are served at many eateries opened by Greek immigrants. Buffalo is known for its Buffalo wings, sponge toffee and pastry heart. There are many wineries across the northwestern portion of the state. Concord grapes are made into grape pies in the fall and celebrated at the Naples Grape Festival. Utica is known for its tomato pie, chicken riggies and half-moon cookies. Binghamton is the home of the spiedie, a unique type of sandwich. Rochester is the home of the Garbage Plate and Chicken French. Syracuse is known for salt potatoes. A loganberry drink is also popular in the western New York area that is little known outside the region. In the North Country of New York, one can find a variation of Texas Hots, locally referred to as "Michigans". In this area one can also find the "Cumberland Head Style" Monte Cristo sandwich, a heartier version of the famous sandwich served with Thousand Island dressing.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is the home of Just Born candy, , Tastykake, Utz, Snyder's of Hanover, Peanut Chews, and the cheesesteak. Pretzels are a common snack in Pennsylvania. They come in many varieties, from the hot, soft, chewy pretzels sold by vendors on the street or stadium to the salty, hard, crunchy variety sold by pretzels manufacturers in the grocery and quick stop stores of Pennsylvania.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island is well known for its seafood and its clam chowder, which unlike New England clam chowder or Manhattan clam chowder, features no additional base like cream or tomato and is often referred to as "clear chowder". In addition, clamcakes, a fried dough fritter with clams is popular in many places. The state drink is coffee milk, while Del's Frozen lemonade is considered a rival and another state specialty. Milkshakes or "frappes" in the region are referred to as "cabinets". A cabinet contains ice cream, while a milkshake is milk and flavored syrup whipped together. This is especially difficult for tourists, as it differs from the common usage in New England where "frappe", which itself is a nonstandard description, is used to refer to the same drink. Rhode Island is also home to a variety of Americanized ethnic dishes, a result of its rich immigrant history.
Vermont
Vermont is famous for its maple syrup and related products such as maple candy. Vermont cheddar is a nationally known cheese. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is closely associated with the state and is considered by many to be a symbolic exporter of Vermont cultural values.

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