7 Missouri Foods That Confuse Everyone Who Didn’t Grow Up There
Bring a friend from out of state to dinner in Missouri, and you might spend half the meal explaining the menu.
Plenty of locals in St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield know the feeling.
Here are the dishes that can leave outsiders asking questions.
1. St. Paul Sandwich
Your St. Paul sandwich arrives as a fried egg foo young patty between two slices of white bread, topped with mayo, pickles, lettuce and tomato.
That name often sends newcomers looking for a Minnesota dish.
It’s a local invention.
Steven Yuen, who owned Park Chop Suey there, reportedly invented it in the 1940s.
The Kansas City public radio station KCUR says he named it after his hometown, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Nearly all of the Chinese restaurants in St. Louis sold it.
You can order the patty with the meat of your choice inside.
2. Toasted Ravioli
Toasted ravioli isn’t toasted.
What you get is ravioli sprinkled with Parmesan, served with marinara and deep-fried, according to National Geographic.
Two St. Louis restaurants get credit for inventing it.
Oldani’s, now Mama’s on the Hill, is among them.
The decade is up for debate, with National Geographic saying the 1940s and Feast saying the 1950s.
In one telling, a cook accidentally dropped some ravioli into a fryer.
Fox 2 reports that Oldani’s version of the story adds red wine, with a tipsy cook dropping the ravioli.
Order it as an appetizer, and you’re eating a dish that was called largely a Midwest specialty in 2009.
3. Provel Cheese
Bite into a St. Louis-style pizza, and the cheese you taste is Provel.
It isn’t mozzarella.
Tasting Table describes it as a blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone with hints of liquid smoke.
Its buttery texture and low melting point keep it gooey even near room temperature.
Under it sits a cracker-thin crust, with toppings running from square edge to square edge.
The Takeout’s writer recommends it in grilled cheese and burgers. It comes in five-pound loaves.
Outside St. Louis, you’ll have a harder time finding it, though Imo’s Pizza will ship you a supply.
Where Provel Comes From
A Chicago-based company, J.S. Hoffman Co., first applied for a Provel trademark in 1947, according to Feast.
Justia’s federal trademark record lists the registration date as October 10, 1950, and Churny Company as the current owner.
That first application was denied because the name was too similar to another cheese called Provole.
4. Burnt Ends
Arthur Bryant’s, in Kansas City’s Jazz District, traditionally gave burnt ends away to diners who had waited in line, Kansas City Magazine says.
They began as scraps.
The Flatland video series Burnt Legend calls them the bits too charred and crunchy for sandwiches.
Order them there, and as of 2021, you get a chunk of brisket that’s been double-smoked and sauced heavily.
True burnt ends are naturally in short supply because they come only from the end of the brisket.
You can get a little taste of the true ends on the 3-B sandwich, which includes them alongside sliced brisket depending on availability.
5. Gerber Sandwich
Hear the name Gerber, and you might picture baby food, as a lot of out-of-towners do.
What you’ll find instead is thinly sliced ham and Provel on toasted garlic bread, open-faced and hot and melty from the oven.
It dates to 1973.
Gastro Obscura says Ruma’s Deli, a local chain, invented it and named it after a customer, Dick Gerber.
6. Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken
David Leong created Springfield-style cashew chicken at Leong’s Tea House in Springfield.
It began as a stir-fry.
Leong’s son, Wing Yee, says his father added breading because he knew people there liked country-fried steak.
The result, St. Louis Magazine says, is deep-fried chicken chunks under a thick gravy of oyster and soy sauces.
If you order it, you’ll find chopped green onions and crushed cashews on top, over a gravy built on from-scratch chicken stock that cooks overnight.
7. Pork Steaks
Many people see “steak” on a menu and think of beef.
If you ask for a pork steak in St. Louis, you’re getting a thin steak cut from the Boston butt, a part of the pork shoulder.
When pork steaks hit the grill, it’s officially summer in St. Louis, Feast says.
Elsewhere in the country, your butcher might scratch his or her head if you ask for a pork steak.
Historian Robert Moss told St. Louis Public Radio that, for a long time, St. Louis was about the only place you could find them.
The St. Louis TV station KSDK reported that Schnucks’ website credited two family members with inventing the pork steak in the 1950s.
But a 1947 Post-Dispatch ad shows Schnucks already selling pork steaks.
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A St. Louis “slinger” is typically breakfast potatoes, eggs, cheese and a protein, all drowned in what?
Two Cooks, Two Cities
If you wonder why Yuen chose egg foo young, KCUR says he wanted something unique yet familiar that would bring more customers in.
Leong was born in Guangzhou and came to Springfield after a surgeon, Dr. John Tsang, found him working at a Chinese restaurant in Florida.
Feast Magazine says Leong blended his Cantonese heritage with Ozark tastes.
Once Leong and his brother had saved enough money, they opened Leong's Tea House.
Leong happily shared the recipe with numerous would-be restaurateurs, and St. Louis Magazine says cashew chicken flourished all over Springfield.
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