St. Louis, Missouri, is renowned for various unique dishes that illustrate its rich cultural history and culinary creativity. Here are five notable foods that St. Louis is most acclaimed for
1. St. Louis-Style Pizza: This variant of thin-crust pizza is a staple of the city. Created with a unique twist, it has a cracker-like crust made without yeast. It's traditionally topped with a regional processed cheese known as Provel, a combination of cheddar, Swiss, and provolone, which has a low melting point and gooey texture.
2. Gooey Butter Cake: St. Louis is the birthplace of the Gooey Butter Cake, a dessert that started as a baking error in the 1930s but soon became a city specialty. This cake is a flat, dense, buttery treat with a cake-like base layer, topped with a combination of cream cheese, eggs, and butter, then dusted with powdered sugar.
3. Toasted Ravioli: This dish, also known as T-rav in the local lexicon, consists of breaded deep-fried ravioli, typically filled with meat or cheese. It is served with a side of marinara sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan. This food item was seen first in the Italian neighborhood, "The Hill," in St. Louis.
4. St. Louis-Style BBQ: St. Louis prides itself on its barbecue, which typically involves grilling the meat (usually ribs) and then slow-cooking it in a sauce. The city is known for the St. Louis cut ribs, which are spare ribs with the sternum bone, cartilage, and rib tips removed to create a rectangular-shaped rack. These ribs are often dry-rubbed before grilling.
5. Concrete: Concrete is a super-thick frozen custard that's served at St. Louis's famous Ted Drewes Frozen Custard stand and other dessert locations around the city. Its thickness is demonstrated by serving it with the spoon upside down. The custard won't fall due to its heavy consistency.
These foods reflect St. Louis's multicultural history, including influences from Italian and German immigrants who brought their traditions and modified them over the years to create St. Louis's unique culinary landscape. Each dish provides a snapshot of the city's cultural dynamics, demonstrating how food habits change and evolve to create local specialties.