Michigan

Michigan is two states and one table.

In this eighth book of the 50 States Gathering Table series, Waverly Finch travels the Great Lakes State from the Coney island diners of Detroit to the pasty shops of the Upper Peninsula, from the Polish community kitchens of Hamtramck to the Lebanese bakeries of Dearborn, from the cherry orchards of Traverse City to the Dutch baking traditions of Holland. These 50 recipes are a love letter to a state whose food is as diverse, as specific, and as deeply rooted as any in America.

Pull together a Detroit Coney dog with the specific beef chili sauce that has made American and Lafayette Coney Island neighbors and rivals since 1917. Bake an Upper Peninsula pasty with beef, rutabaga, and potato sealed in a short crust the way the Cornish miners made it in the 1840s. Fry a basket of whole-belly smelt the way Michigan families do every April when the run comes in. Make Sanders-style hot fudge cream puffs the way Detroiters have been eating them since 1875. And finish with a Michigan tart cherry pie made with Montmorency cherries from Traverse City - the cherry capital of the world.

With stories woven between the recipes and techniques that honor the tradition, this book brings the Great Lakes State table home to your kitchen.

50 recipes. One extraordinary state. Pull up a chair.