Chow Down Chicago: Good Eats from the Windy City

Halloween is one of the biggest commercial holidays in the U.S., second only to Christmas. Every year, billions of dollars are spent on Halloween candy, decorations, and costumes. This made me wonder what the origins of the holiday are, and as I did research I found an excellent recipe along the way. Halloween’s roots can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which was observed on October 31. Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”) marked the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. It was also a time to honor ancestors who have passed on. It was believed that the veil between the world of the living and the spirit world was almost nonexistent at this time. Samhain was celebrated with bonfires and feasting. Revelers would cook food in honor of the dead and leave food outside their homes as offerings for the spirits. People would wear costumes to ward off ghosts under the logic that if you looked like a ghost, they wouldn’t bother you. Celebrators were also known t...

Fall means apples, and in Chicago, apples bring to mind apple slices. Apple slices consist of apple filling between two layers of dough topped with sugary icing that is cut into squares and sold by the slice or pan. I didn’t realize apple slices were a Chicago thing until recently when Curious City, my favorite podcast about all things Chicago, did an episode on them. A listener contacted the podcast asking if apple slices are a local dessert and the experts’ answer was a resounding yes. However, you might not see them around as much now as you would have in the past. According to WBEZ, many European groups have some type of apple dessert, but apple slices are purely American Midwestern. The exact origins of apple slices are hard to pin down, but the earliest known recipe for them appeared in a 1945 issue of the  Chicago Daily Tribune . A 1957 article in the same newspaper stated that apple slices were Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley’s favorite dish. The heyday of the pastry’s popul...