One-Stop Culinary Tour of Cincinnati

The next time you’re on the hook to give a culinary tour of Porkopolis, make it easy on yourself by stocking your home kitchen with the best ingredients from around town. Turn them into a week full of meals that will buy you bragging rights until Summer 2011.

‘Tis the season for vacationing family, and, Cincinnati has become quite the destination for traveling Trushes.  Just last weekend we hosted a gaggle of special cousins in from Arizona.  I’m choosing to believe they came to see our own lot, but they certainly were hungry too.  We spent a chunk of our time together retracing Guy Fieri’s steps through the Queen City, and the rest of the time around the dining room table comparing notes on new recipes, home gardens, and best burgers.

Of course, the Food-Is-Love language is the only other one I speak fluently, so I was delighted to indulge our guests.  But if you’re still working to master that tongue, the menu below will help.  The next time you’re on the hook to give a culinary tour of Porkopolis, make it easy on yourself by stocking your home kitchen with the best ingredients from around town.  Turn them into a week full of meals that will buy you bragging rights until Summer 2011.

Of course, you’ve got to do the chili first.  With the cans at the grocery, make a 3-way your own (like Blue Ash Chili does with deep-fried jalapeno caps) with a couple rings of Hot Pickled Onions right on top.  Or, use Cincinnati’s secret recipe as a layer on this juicy pizza, or even as a marinade for this Cincy Chili Sammy.

Then, you’ve got to show your guests that the best burger is quite often determined by the bread that wraps around it, and the goods stuffed inside it.  Serve them a Daisy Head Mayzie Burger on a Parkerhouse roll from Servatii’s, or a Goetta-Stuffed Burger full of Glier’s Goetta.  (Servatii’s buttery knots are better suited to handle a stuffed stack.)

Decorate your Queen City spread with the crunchiest, most colorful produce in town from Daisy Mae’s Market down at Findlay.  Serve Homemade Succotash, Asparagus Slaw, and Roasted Grapes for a real treat.  And because the Daisy Mae’s folks want to make sure you get all your fruits and veggies in every day, you can boast to your dining mates that all the colors were delivered to your office (remember this?).

You’ve just got to serve any one of Cincinnati’s tasty brews alongside your meal, and you might even consider using them as an ingredient as well.  Showcase a taste of our fair city with Beer-Braised Pork Shoulder (served on one of Servatii’s to-die-for pretzel sticks in the picture above).  Then, treat your guests to Homemade Beer Bread toast with a drizzle of Orange Caramel Sauce for breakfast before they leave in the morning.  They’ll be singing your praises the whole way home.

And while I’m sure you need no tips on showing off Cincy’s superior frozen treats, you may be interested in a couple fun recipes.  Whether you’re loyal to Aglamesis’, Graeter’s, or Dojo Gelato, creamy flavors are undoubtedly made more interesting in Peppermint Crunch and Caramel Cream Floats.