>> Are we going to do any trash talking before we wrap up?

>> PAYTON: Would you like to?

Three foods enter.

Three public television producers also enter.

I hope none of them leave.

I want them to have a good time.

♪ >> PAYTON: Hello, and welcome to a very special edition of "Flyover Culture."

My name is Payton Whaley, and this is "Defend Your Dish."

♪ >> PAYTON: I have invited two of my good friends from other PBS stations around the Midwest to show off their state's most iconic food.

But not like the easily palatable stuff.

I want the weird and weirdly delicious.

The kind of food that makes you go, eh, I guess I'll try it.

But before I introduce my guests, I knew I had to find Indiana's own version of a dish that locals swear by and makes tourists go, are you sure about that?

And that is the Duane Purvis burger.

♪ Good morning.

It is 9:30 a.m.

I am here with videographer Jake.

We've got our coffee, and we are about to drive two hours to go try a cheeseburger with peanut butter on it.

Pray for me.

In West Lafayette, Indiana, is the famous Triple XXX Family Restaurant.

Maybe most famous for the Duane Purvis burger, named after the Purdue football superstar, this is a fully loaded cheeseburger with a spread of peanut butter.

How does it taste?

We'll find out in a minute.

That brings us to now, where I'm bringing my own diluted version of the Duane Purvis head-to-head against two of my good friends.

From Iowa PBS, we have Taylor Shore.

And not too far from where I grew up, we have St. Louis' own Veronica Mohesky from Nine PBS.

How are you both doing today?

>> Awesome, Payton.

>> I'm doing great.

>> PAYTON: I'm so excited that you agreed to do this and to suffer for fun.

[ Laughter ] So when I first asked you about this, what did you think?

>> I thought, that's Payton.

Yep, that sounds about right.

[ Laughter ] >> Well, I -- I really wanted to try to talk about toasted raviolis or some of our other types of food, and then you said St. Louis pizza.

And I was, like, this is a really controversial one.

So I was -- I'm happy to do it, but I'm a little scared.

>> PAYTON: I'm glad you agreed to it, because toasted ravioli is a St. Louis staple, but it's too good.

It's like meat-filled ravioli that's then deep fried and served with marinara, like who's not going to enjoy that?

St. Louis pizza, which we'll get to in a minute is a whole other different beast, and I'm so glad you are here to be the champion for Imo's Pizza, which some would argue doesn't need any help, but, you know, we're here to offer it any way.

Speaking of which, I did want to ask you both, you know, were there more heinous sounding foods that you could have brought today?

>> Right off the top of my head, Payton, I can think of you had initially suggested cinnamon rolls and chili, which is a pretty standard combo around here.

I hate chili!

So for me, that was definitely an, mmm, I'm gonna pass on that one.

>> PAYTON: I figured we could start today with, Taylor, your dish.

What upsetting creation did you bring to us today?

>> Today, I brought ham balls.

Actually, a coworker of mine, Sarah, she gave me her Grandma Edith's ham ball recipe.

And I made ham balls last night for the very first time, tried them out last night.

They definitely are defendable in many ways.

So excited for you to try your version that you got, Payton.

I know it's a slightly different ham ball recipe, but definitely the same core ingredients.

It's a sweet ball.

>> PAYTON: What is a ham ball, before I kind of go off on why mine is a little bit different?

>> Ham ball, in all the recipes that I have seen, usually is almost a half and half split between ground ham, which is not the same as ground pork.

Ground ham is a lot more lean.

The ground ham that I have is 98% lean, 2% fat.

The other part is ground pork, you know?

Some of the recipes will call for ground beef.

You can generally mix in any other kind of ground meat in with that ground ham.

Some of the recipes differ a little bit, but all together it ends up being a pretty sweet dish.

Payton, I know the one that you made, the bread crumbs are made from graham crackers.

I used -- Grandma Edith's recipe just calls for your basic regular bread crumbs, you know?

They all seem to have some kind of mustard, whether that be dry mustard or regular mustard.

>> PAYTON: I'm sorry, the look on Veronica's face.

>> I was -- I was not expecting mustard, but continue.

[ Laughter ] >> They -- all the recipes seem to have a little bit of vinegar to them, you know, water, that kind of thing.

And then a lot of brown sugar.

You know, whether it's your recipe, my recipe, any of the recipes, they all have brown sugar for that glaze that goes on top of the balls before you cook them.

Grandma Edith's recipe is unique in that it has nothing that's tomato based.

Pretty much every other ham ball recipe I have ever seen calls for, like, tomato soup or something like that to add that extra flavor to it, and make it especially saucy, you know?

This one is a little more of a glaze than a sauce.

>> PAYTON: And I also found out that one of the reasons these are so popular is because Iowa is the top producer of pork in the U.S. >> Mm-hmm.

>> PAYTON: Nearly a third of the United States pork comes from Iowa.

So I guess if you've got a lot of it, mush it together into some balls and cook it up.

>> We gotta find some way to use it all, right?

[ Laughter ] >> PAYTON: Yeah, so without further ado why don't you give us a taste for it.

>> Yay!

>> PAYTON: I will partake of mine as well.

>> I was gonna say, I already snuck in a bite because I couldn't resist.

>> PAYTON: I'm so proud of you.

The first noticeable thing is that they are very pink on the inside.

That is not because they are under down.

I made sure to check the temperature.

They are very much down.

But, yeah, that's all the ham.

So I guess if you are a little squeamish about, like, making sure your food is cooked to heck, then -- >> They are very pink.

Wow.

Okay.

>> PAYTON: Bon appetit.

♪ >> Hmm.

>> PAYTON: I like these.

>> Yeah, right.

>> PAYTON: I don't know if it's from the cooking or from -- I made these this morning.

Nothing like some good 8 a.m. ham balls.

The brown sugar has kind of crusted around the meat, which is very nice.

I like that a lot.

There's no way on God's green earth that these are healthy for you, but -- >> There's not a lot of things in Iowa that are healthy for you.

That's fine.

[ Laughter ] >> PAYTON: They're very rich.

I think a lot of that is the fat from the ham really coming through, which is one of the reasons, like, most times I'm not a big ham person.

It's too fatty for me, but I guess if it's all kind of, you know, ground up and processed, then it just kind of congeals in a lovely way.

>> Evens out with the bread, right -- the bread crumbs or for you the graham cracker crumbs.

>> PAYTON: The graham cracker, yes.

You know it's good when there's a full-on dessert inside your meat.

[ Laughter ] >> PAYTON: When you describe these to people who live outside of Iowa, do you get looks like Veronica gave us?

[ Laughter ] >> Clearly here we like meat options that have a little bit of sweetness to them.

When I describe them as, you know -- I think outside of Iowa, plenty of people have sweet meatballs.

You know, like they have a sweet barbecue sauce or something like that to them, and this is a little different than that, but close enough to where I might get a few of those faces that Veronica made, but not a lot.

[ Laughter ] >> I was going to ask, what do you serve with the ham balls?

>> I've only ever had them at like a potluck, you know?

I would imagine most people would have, you know, some sort of a carb on the side, like potatoes or something like that.

You know?

>> PAYTON: Yeah, my recipe was, like, serve it with vegetables.

And I'm, like, these -- I just put a cup of brown sugar in this.

Nobody is serving this with vegetables.

[ Laughter ] >> Fried vegetables maybe.

[ Laughter ] But, yeah, we might have a little -- a little salad on the side, but then also a big heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes as well.

♪ >> PAYTON: Moving on to our second dish.

Veronica, you brought something that is very familiar to me, for better or worse.

What are we dealing with?

>> We are dealing with St. Louis-style pizza.

So the one I picked up today is from Imo's, which is, like, one of the most popular places to get St. Louis-style pizza.

I will open up the box so we can -- >> PAYTON: What did you get on it?

>> So I got the, like, Imo's, like, original or special.

And so that has onions, bell peppers, bacon and sausage, and then, of course, Provel cheese.

>> PAYTON: I love that you got Imo's because you say it's, you know, one of the most -- to me, that is, like, synonymous with St. Louis-style pizza.

There are some others.

I distinctly remember going to, like, Cecil Whittaker's when I was a kid.

>> That's a big one.

>> PAYTON: Imo's is still, like -- just sort of part and parcel with St. Louis-style pizza.

So as far as I understand it, St. Louis-style pizza has three elements.

I would argue maybe three and a half.

The first is the crust.

This is a sort of very thin cracker crust unleavened.

And then on top of that, this is arguably element number four, but if you ask me, the sauce tends to be a bit sweeter than you would find in other places.

Seems to be a theme today, is, like, how do we incorporate more sugar and more sweetness into these things.

On top of that is the big haymaker, the Provel cheese, which is a copy written blend of cheeses.

It is Swiss, [ Bleep ] and Provolone.

And then lastly, the square cut.

It's intended to be, you know, sort of served in a big helping.

You grab it on a napkin and you go.

It's the square beyond compare, TMTM.

>> Right.

Right.

>> PAYTON: Please don't sue us.

How long has St. Louis-style been in your life, Veronica?

>> Oh, since I was born!

I mean, when you're in St. Louis, you grow up with St. Louis-style pizza.

Like, it is just synonymous with pizza.

That's the type of pizza you eat.

That's what you get when you're in elementary school and you have pizza parties.

I mean, everybody in St. Louis eats St. Louis-style pizza.

>> PAYTON: What flavor profile would you say that we're working with?

>> It's definitely sweeter, and that, like, the Provel cheese is, I think, what makes it really interesting and unique, because instead of, like, the mozzarella cheese, like, where you will have, like, the strings coming off of the pizza.

It's more of, like, a gooey consistency, like kind of like a -- not quite as liquidy as a nacho cheese, like, it's more sticky.

But it's -- it's really great because if you have this pizza, and, like, you don't finish it, the next day when you warm it up, it's the same consistency.

So, like, that's one of the benefits of Provel cheese.

And I know a lot of people don't like it, and are kind of turned off by it.

But I think it's great.

It's a great melting cheese.

You can buy Provel here in St. Louis, like, the strings.

>> PAYTON: It is a marvel of modern engineering.

>> It really is.

>> PAYTON: It was invented in St. Louis back in the late 1940s, around 1947.

There are about 2 million pounds of it consumed yearly, but twist, now it is made primarily in Wisconsin.

>> But it's only sold at the St. Louis markets!

Nobody else wants it!

We want all of it.

I'm fine with that.

>> PAYTON: The pizza dates back to a man named Amadeo Fiore, who moved down from Chicago and opened a restaurant in St. Louis in 1945.

He did the thin crust, did a few different types of that pizza, but then eventually sort of arrived on that cheese blend that we know today.

Have you taken a bite yet?

>> Not yet.

Not yet.

>> PAYTON: Yeah, give us your reaction.

>> Okay.

>> PAYTON: And I will say while she's chewing, bacon was a good choice, because you need that saltiness to cut through it.

>> You do.

And it's like -- it is kind of -- people have described the crust as like a cracker.

So you get -- you get kind of the crunch.

I don't know if you can hear it, like, in the mic, but it's really good.

>> PAYTON: Veronica has the benefit of her's is the only dish today that's, like, hot and fresh.

[ Laughter ] >> Mm-hmm.

>> PAYTON: I will say, you know, I encouraged you to do St. Louis-style pizza, because I am not a huge fan.

Imo's was never, like, a big hit for us.

And so it was usually other pizza.

[ Laughter ] It's just very standard.

>> I will say, though, some people in St. Louis are, like, kind of embarrassed about St. Louis-style pizza.

Like, it's definitely something that comes up, like, when you meet people from other places.

Like, people get embarrassed.

But I don't think people should be embarrassed about it.

Like, it's different, I will say that.

It's very different.

It's completely different from, like, Chicago or New York-style pizza.

But, like, even though the form is different, and it's, like, really thin, like, it's still pizza.

Like, it still tastes really good.

I mean, I know some people are turned off by the cheese, but, like, you gotta give it a try.

It's really good.

>> PAYTON: You know, love it or hate it, there's nothing else like it.

>> Absolutely.

>> PAYTON: And lastly, we have what is commonly known as the Duane Purvis burger, which is a fully loaded cheeseburger with a big slab of peanut butter on it.

>> I have a very important question for you, Payton.

Why?

>> PAYTON: Why not?

>> Why?

Come on.

It's so funny, we are adding sweet to everything today, right?

You have hamburger we are adding sweetness to.

I added sweetness to my ham balls.

I cannot get on board with the idea of peanut butter on -- on a cheeseburger like that.

>> Does the peanut butter go -- like, is there also cheese on the burger?

Are there other toppings that go with it?

>> PAYTON: We went to West Lafayette, Indiana, last week, to try it in its -- in its purest form, which is the Triple XXX Family Restaurant.

They are the ones that are famous for it.

The reason it has peanut butter on it is because Duane Purvis was this all-star athlete in the '30s at Purdue.

He was an all-American football player.

He also threw javelin.

Sure!

But he had a tendency to bring peanut butter with him and just put it on stuff and see how that went.

And so later down the line, they named a sandwich after him.

I will say at the Triple XXX Restaurant, it is a fully loaded burger.

And then the slab of peanut butter on the bottom.

This, as you can see, is not all of that, because I don't know how I feel about all the toppings.

I took one bite of it, like, just pure, because I wanted to be, like, you know, this is the experience.

This is how they intended it to be.

Immediately took the onion off as soon as I took a bite, because onions and peanut butter do not mix!

Everything else, it's not bad.

I'm gonna see how I did.

>> I think you brought the most controversial one, Payton.

>> PAYTON: I need water.

[ Laughter ] >> I think I would have taken the pickles off too.

Maybe could have continued on with the tomato and lettuce with the peanut butter, but pickle and peanut butter doesn't sound very appetizing to me either.

>> PAYTON: We are doing this for the sake of the show.

Um, do not make your own.

Go to the Triple XXX diner, where they know exactly what they're doing, because, one, it's hot.

And so the peanut butter melts.

So it feels less like a spread and more like a sauce.

It's also the messiest burger I ever had in my life.

But your note about the pickles.

The pickles are good.

The pickles, like, kind of help cut through the really savoriness of the peanut butter.

The way they prepare their patty, they coat it in flour before they grill it, so that way when the fat renders out, it kind of creates this really delicious crust, which I would argue is the best part of the whole thing.

I would say, like, the peanut butter at the end of it is kind of like a hat on a hat.

And it's the burger itself that's really, really good.

And it's, like, well, how much do you like this burger?

Do you like it enough to try it with peanut butter on it?

>> I really like peanut butter.

So, like, I could see it in a burger, but I don't know if I could see it with regular burger toppings.

Like, I feel like it almost has to be some kind of a specialty, like, some different kind of stuff on there.

>> PAYTON: I did enjoy it at the time.

I will also say it is something maybe I could have once a year.

And this is my third in a week to prepare for this video.

[ Laughter ] So my heart is very tired.

[ Laughter ] So when I invite you back next time, and it's ground up ham with Provel cheese and peanut butter on it, we're good for that, right?

>> Only because it's you, Payton.

>> If I have to do it for the series I will, I guess, but -- I won't enjoy it!

>> I mean, I'm just trying to think of, like, how I can convince you guys that of these three things balls are on top for sure.

>> PAYTON: Oh, I would agree.

>> What?

You're going with the balls?

>> PAYTON: I sure am.

>> No.

No.

>> PAYTON: Granted, right now, I'm very hungry.

I've had one bite of a cold cheeseburger.

I would eat all three, but if you had -- if you asked me to rank, I would say just on simplicity and purity alone, ham balls slightly edge out.

>> No, that is just ridiculous.

This is pizza!

We're talking about pizza here.

That is ground up ham with graham crackers!

>> PAYTON: Maybe we can throw some Provel on it.

I don't know.

>> This is the square beyond compare!

This is -- >> PAYTON: It got compared.

And that will do it for this inaugural edition of "Defend Your Dish."

Veronica, Taylor, thank you so much for sharing your state's bonkers food with me.

Before I let you go, is there anything you want to plug or anything you want to share that you've got going on?

>> Come to Iowa.

Come to the Iowa State Fair.

Try all of our delicious foods because ham balls are just the beginning.

[ Laughter ] >> I would also recommend checking out St. Louis.

If you are not a fan of St. Louis-style pizza, that's okay.

But we've got toasted ravioli, pork steaks, all kinds of beer.

So come on down.

>> PAYTON: Concretes.

>> Concretes, oh, my gosh, I almost forgot.

And follow Nine PBS on TikTok.

Thank you so much for watching.

And as always, please don't do this.

♪ >> No shots of me, like, really horking down while I'm listening to Veronica, okay?

>> PAYTON: I would never.

I would never do that to you.