‘When in doubt, fry’: tasting the best sate foods from the upper midwest

Do you have a favorite treat from Michigan or dish from Minnesota? Have you ever had Vernors soda, or squeaky cheese curd? For this week’s food segment, we continue our state-by-state journey to find our favorite regional foods from around the country with our friend Ed Levine of SeriousEats.com.

This week we head to the Upper Midwest, physical center of the country and comfort food central, for a look at their local cuisine. From the great state of Michigan, we encounter our first U-P pasty — a bread-like crust filled with potatoes, vegetables, and meat. Illinois is famous for the breaded steak sandwich, as well as the Italian beef sandwich. Minnesotans are fond of eating foods on sticks, everything from corn dogs to macaroni and cheese. Wisconsin, known for its cheese, brings us two kinds of cheese curds, squeaky and fried, and Indiana is the birth place of sugar cream pie. No Pepto-Bismol included.