I personally didn’t think of comfort food when I thought of Delaware, but that was before I did my research and learned that I was very wrong. We started strong with a version of chicken and dumplings which are now my preferred way of making them. These are called “slippery” dumplings and they are a Southern Delaware delicacy. This dish has deep ties to the farming communities of the Delmarva Peninsula and has been a staple of home cooking for generations.

The broth is a key element in chicken and dumplings, so you want to make sure it’s as flavorful as possible. I made homemade chicken stock by boiling the chicken thighs with their bones and carrots, onions, celery, smashed garlic cloves, peppercorns, and fresh herbs. For the dumplings, I just mixed flour, baking powder, salt and shortening with my fingers until it resembled a dough and then rolled it out as thin as I could before growing impatient. As you can see, mine aren’t super thin but they were delicious nonetheless!

The main attraction: the Bobbie! She’s not the prettiest girl in school but by gosh is she delicious. There’s nothing I love more than a Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich. It’s what I look forward to all month long in November. I was thrilled to learn about the Bobbie sandwich so I could have an excuse to make one in April.

The Bobbie is a Delaware institution thanks to the iconic Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop. It contains roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mayo. I didn’t roast my turkey because I didn’t want to commit to buying a whole breast, so I slow cooked some turkey tenderloins in gravy and that was clearly the right move, even if the result looks like slop. I just did a quick stuffing of dried bread cubes, sautéed bell pepper, celery, and onion, dried herbs, and enough chicken broth to make it a wet, crumbly texture. You know, like, stuffing. Then I used canned cranberry sauce because it just doesn’t get better than that.

We have a two-fer for dessert! One of them is actually relevant to Delaware cuisine, and one of them is because people on Reddit said that Delawareans eat it at every family gathering and honestly I just wanted to make it. The actual “Delaware” dessert is a peach pie. Delaware has a long history of being the “peach state of the northeast.” In the 19th century, Delaware was the leading producer of peaches in the U.S., and the fruit remains a symbol of the state’s agricultural heritage.

For the fun, bonus dessert I made strawberry pretzel salad. It’s not exclusive to Delaware, but it’s a crowd-pleasing favorite often found at potlucks (so the people say). This layered dessert combines a salty pretzel crust, a creamy middle layer of sweetened cream cheese and whipped topping, and a strawberry gelatin topping with fresh strawberries.

I throughly enjoyed rolling out the dough for the slippery dumplings, stacking the perfect Bobbie sandwich, and making two desserts to celebrate The First State! Next stop, Florida.