Originally an American invention, succulent and smoky barbecue ribs have become one of the most famous dishes in the world. The dish is typically prepared with pork ribs, usually spareribs or the tender, leaner baby back ribs. Pork is the obvious choice for the dish since it tends to be juicier on the bone, allowing the meat to come right off after the grilling process.

It is one of the barbecued dishes which leans on the American-style grilling, in which the meat is cooked long, slow, and at a low temperature. To give the ribs their distinct taste and texture, they are always treated before grilling. Two most common ways include marinating and dry-rubbing. 

Bread pudding is an old dish that has been prepared since Medieval times in Europe and the Middle East. However, it is extremely beloved and defining in the cuisine of New Orleans. The dish consists of stale bread that is bathed in a combination of milk, sugar, eggs, nuts, and fruits, and is then baked into a delicious dessert.

It can be consumed either hot as a pudding or cold as a cake. In the past, there was a practice of hollowing out a loaf which then acted as a container for a sweet dish. There are numerous variations of bread pudding, from Egypt and Turkey to India and Malaysia. 

Despite its name, creamed corn isn't exactly heavy on the cream. It is typically made by mashing the corn kernels into a pulp, collecting the milky residue, and cooking the whole thing in that same residue along with water, sugar, salt, and starch.

Many cooks like to enrich the dish with the addition of butter, milk, or cream, and maybe a bit of bacon sometimes, for extra flavor. Most often, creamed corn is bought in its canned version in many American supermarkets.

One of the staples of the Southern U.S. cuisine called chicken fried steak contains no chicken at all, contrary to what one might think upon seeing the name of the dish. It consists of a thin, breaded, and fried cut of beef that is traditionally served with a side of mashed potatoes and drizzled with cream gravy.

The dish got its name due to the fact that the method of preparation is very similar to that of fried chicken. Originally, the first recipes for batter-fried steaks had appeared in Southern cookbooks during the early 1800s. In the old days, the cut of beef was inexpensive and tough, usually round steak, but today many restaurants use more expensive cuts such as tenderloin and rib-eye. 

One of the hallmarks of traditional American cuisine is the classic pecan pie. It consists of a thin pastry crust that is topped with a mixture of eggs, butter, flour, a sweetener such as brown sugar, syrup, or molasses, and a handful of halved or chopped pecans.

When baked, pecan pie should have the consistency of a thick, silky custard with a pronounced caramel taste. When it initially appeared in written form at the end of the 19th century, it was mostly associated with the American South, but today it represents an authentic American dessert, traditionally prepared on Thanksgiving Day.