50 States; 50 Meals: Pennsylvania

What we had for dinner:

Cheesesteaks 

Probably one of the most famous food wars is the cheesesteak showdown between Pat's and Geno's. 
Pat Olivieri began in the food industry by running a hot dog stand.  The story is told that one day he made the, now famous, chopped steak and onion (no cheese) sandwich for lunch.  A cab driver happened to stop at the hot dog stand and asked for his own steak sandwich.  The stories of the cab driver range from he suggested that Pat stop with hot dogs and focus on the sandwich to him telling all his cab driver friends about it (Word-of-Mouth Marketing at its best) and they all came looking for a sandwich.  Either way we all owe our gratitude toward this mystery cab driver. Provolone cheese added to the sandwich later by Joe "Cocky Joe" Lorenza, a manager at the Ridge Avenue location."
Some say that Joe Vento, the founder of Geno's, says that he added cheese to the sandwich first. 

How to order a Cheesesteak:

I would like a Cheesesteak = One
I would like cheese = wiz; provolone
I would like onions = with
I would not like onions = without

Example:
I would like a cheesesteak with Cheese Wiz with onions.  = One wiz with
I would like a cheesesteak with provolone without onions. = One provolone without

My cousin once took me to Philly for a cheesesteak.  I was so worried about ordering wrong I made him order for me.  I was worried it would turn into a Soup Nazi situation and I was too hungry to let that happen.

The meat traditionally used on a cheesesteak is thinly sliced rib-eye or top round.   Most cheesesteak places use Amoroso or Vilotti-Pisanelli rolls and the most commonly used cheeses are Cheez Whiz, provolone, and white American cheese.
We used an awesome recipe from The Little Kitchen.  We will definitely make these again.

Rita's Water Ice/Italian Ice

Rita's is based out of Trevose, PA.  The company began when Bob Tumolo, a former Philadelphia firefighter, started selling Italian Ice porch window. Rita's was named after Bob's wife.
More History

We brought home a quart of Cherry to share.

Soft Pretzels 

Pennsylvania today is the center of American pretzel production for both the hard crispy and the soft bread types of pretzels.  According to Ushistory.org, the average Philadelphian consumes about twelve times as many pretzels as the national average.

We just picked up a box of frozen soft pretzels.  I taught my girls how to dip the soft pretzel into their cherry Italian ice.  Something I learned from my boss when I worked at Rita's. 

Stromboli

One claim is that Nazzareno Roman, owner of Romano's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria created the first Stromboli in 1950 in Essington, Tinicum Township, just outside of Philadelphia.

I made my Stromboli using pre-made pizza dough, not the can kind, pizza sauce, a package of shredded pizza cheese and pepperoni.
Roll out the dough into a circle.
Add the sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice.
Roll the dough like a jelly roll
Bake at 500 for 8 - 10.

I just winged it but for an actual recipe you can try this one from Lauren's Latest.
Lesson learned:  divide the dough in half of you end up the with the biggest Stromboli ever.

Next State: Rhode Island