CHICAGO _ Succotash may be a Southern favorite and be named after the word "msickquatash" of the Narragansett in New England, but this dish, most famously made with corn and lima beans, has deep roots in the Midwest. You can taste that story at various restaurants around Chicago where chefs are adding seasonal, Midwest touches to their succotash.
"I grew up with it. I'm from Ohio," said A.J. Walker, chef de cuisine at Publican Anker in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. "I think it's the quintessential Midwest side dish. Yeah, you just have it at a lot of family get-togethers and stuff like that."
"The Midwest is a melting pot of all the different parts of the country," said Tom Carlin, chef de cuisine at Dove's Luncheonette around the corner. "And being able to bring our ingredients and our history we've gotten from the South and the Northeast together is what makes it specifically a Midwestern dish."
Certainly, succotash has a long history in Chicago. The family of John Kinzie, one of the first permanent European settlers early in the 19th century, "likely ate venison, succotash and salt pork," according to Bruce Kraig, the historian who wrote a city food timeline for the Chicago Tribune in 1997. Three-quarters of a century later, in 1877, cans of succotash were 15 cents each at Hickson's Cash Grocery House, according to an advertisement in the Chicago Tribune. A May 15, 1886, Tribune column included a recipe for succotash calling for canned corn and canned string beans cooked in equal parts milk and water. And, in January 1894, the Ohio Society of Chicago honored that state's governor and future president, William McKinley, with a banquet at the Grand Pacific Hotel that featured succotash on the menu.
Today, you can find string beans in the succotash at Dove's Luncheonette, but they're fresh. It's a reflection of the desire of a number of Chicago chefs to create succotash using seasonal ingredients according to personal taste and the restaurant's overall theme. Carlin is a Kansas City native whose family put green beans in the succotash. That's why you find them in his, which is used as a filling for vegetarian enchiladas topped with a sauce of pureed chiles and tomatoes.
"Succotash is more of a theory than it is an actual dish," explained Jimmy Papadopoulos, chef/partner of Bellemore on the Near West Side. "It's more an idea of using a variety of ingredients and showcasing what's beautiful at that time of year."
He's currently making a succotash featuring okra, cubed zucchini, zucchini flowers, corn and fava beans. Look for his dish to change with the seasons.
Corn is the inspiration for Nick Dostal, executive chef at Terrace 16 at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in the Near North neighborhood. He isn't a fan of lima beans, having ate canned ones as a kid. So, he uses fresh jicama instead in his succotash, which also features sweet peas, espelette pepper, tarragon and a citrus vinaigrette.
"Customers love it," he said. "Midwesterners look at succotash and see something familiar."
