[Sca-cooks] OOP- The Rochester "Garbage Plate" (urp!)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hullo, the list!

This is a semi-obscure regional food question; those who aren't
interested in the post-modern minutia of New York State food please hit
delete now.

A week or two ago we were discussing New York state foods (apparently
the mention of a garbage plate was supposed to get Gunthar to pull up
stakes and move here???), and among the spiedies, the salt potatoes, the
Buffalo wings and the halupkies was a mention of the garbage plate.

I don't even recall who it was who mentioned it (and no, you don't all
look alike to me but there are maybe 250 people on this list), but I
recalled the garbage plate being described as a Rochester specialty
consisting of a plate full of macaroni salad, I coulda sworn a mentoin
of baked beans was made, and various other items, all topped with chili.
Was that approximately correct?

Interestingly enough, if you do a web search for the phrase "garbage
plate", you get a lot of hits, all suggesting it's pretty much agreed
that the garbage plate originates at Nick Tahou Hots, that it is the
preferred cuisine of college students at 3AM on a Friday or Saturday
evening, and most authorities seem to agree on components consisting of
cubed-style home fried potatoes, macaroni salad, a meat "entree" such as
a burger, chicken, hot dog[s] or, if it's the right time of morning,
since this place was, until recently open 24 hours, fried eggs, all
topped with a beanless chili "sauce", similar, I suppose, to the chili
that goes on top of a chili dog. Official theory is that it all then
gets a garnish of a sprinkle of hot sauce and chopped onion, but I
gather that in practice this gets added, and then followed by commercial
ketchup, and lots of it.

So, for those who have actually encountered this, a question or two, or
three:

At least one alleged authority refers to refried beans being on the
plate. True or false?

The lady on this list mentioned, I thought, baked beans, but I can't
find any mention of this being an orthodox or a heretical practice.
Comment? Retraction? Refutation of any no-account ignoramuses with
websites who would fail to mention the baked beans?

If chicken is included, how is it cooked?

And finally, what kind of hot sauce is favored? Are we talking about the
usual pseudo-Tobasco of red chilies pureed in vinegar and aged, often
with a gum emulsifier to keep it from settling (which, to be brutally
honest, is what the hot sauce used for Buffalo wings tends to be)?

My thanks for any help in this important research!

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98