Chicago is known for many edible icons. Deep-dish, hot dogs and Italian beef are some of the classics.
But there are many more, all of which have been researched and documented in a new book by a pair of local food writers.
Don’t forget the pepper-and-egg sandwich and taffy grapes, found at your neighborhood steak and lemonade joint. Chicago has a rich history of street food, much of it cooked up in response to our working-class roots.
From hot dogs to jibaritos; even pizza puffs - Chicago is a city with lots of classics we love to devour. David Hammond has been writing about food in Chicago for decades. But his latest book, “Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites,” is a tag-team effort with fellow food writer and lifelong Chicagoan Monica Eng.
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“So this was an opportunity to dig deeper into the food of a city I’ve been living in my whole life,” said Hammond.
We met at The Hat, a Bucktown diner at North and Ashland, where they make several Chicago classic sandwiches.
“The most uniquely Chicago food is the Italian beef sandwich,” he said.
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Typically topped with hot giardiniera, sweet peppers and then either dunked in the gravy (or not), it’s better known than the mother-in-law, which originated on the South Side.
“You put in that poppyseed bun a Chicago corn roll tamale, and then chili is put on top, and many of the same condiments that one would find on a Chicago hot dog. Well, they call it a Mother-in-law because it, too, will give you heartburn.”
Another bun-based sandwich is the Maxwell Street Polish, topped with onions and mustard.
“They were near the union stockyards. Lots of pork scraps there, Hog Butcher to the World, right?”
Right. One reason we have a bone-in pork chop sandwich here as well.
“And the trick to eating it is when you bite into the bun you hold on to the bone through the bun, and then you eat around it otherwise you risk biting into the bone and that would hurt.”
Up in Albany Park, Great Sea is one of a handful of restaurants left still serving Gam Pong chicken wings.
“In the early 1980s, a lot of ethnically Chinese Koreans moved to Albany Park, and they made this dish that was actually something they made back in Korea, but they noticed that wings in the United States were so cheap, so they said instead of doing the whole chicken, let’s just use wings,” said Eng.
Unlike wings at your favorite bar, these are transformed, thanks to the creators’ ingenuity.
“But it’s kind of messy, so let’s make a little handle by Frenching the wings and making them lollipop wings,” she said.
Great Sea also makes a different sauce than its competitor down the street.
“Made it spicier, stickier and sweeter and they actually sell the sauce here now,” said Eng.
We’ve only scratched the surface. The best thing about the book is the origin story behind each of these dishes. Stories of necessity and ingenuity.
"Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites" - by David Hammond and Monica Eng
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