Tomato Pie is a specialty of Trenton NJ rather than PA. This article explains it.

Tomato Pie

I've had tomato pie once and it wasn't as the article described but rather pizza without cheese. Next time I see one in the store, I'll have to read the package.

I like scrapple a lot. It's essentially corn meal mush with ground pig parts (don't ask which ones) mixed in. I like it when it's sliced about 1/4" thick, pan fried until the exterior is crisp but the interior is still creamy. If you can find a farmers market or butcher shop where they make it in house it's much better than the packaged stuff in the grocery store.

It's a common 'snack' in Italy. Sort of like a focaccia. Sheet pan trays of it displayed in front windows and served as quick street food, room temp and barely wrapped in tissue. Eat on the go. Or bagged and taken home as you would a baguette in France.

Usually just a smear of tomato paste. It is in every corner pizza joint in NYC. Not found in the better places. The places that are super quick and cheap prices. By-the-slice place.

Can be good if you're in college and stretching pennies. Along the lines of a hot dog or soft pretzel or basic bagel.

Can be excellent at the right place just like a great hot dog or bagel.

Love scrapple but i grew up with it.

I didn't think I would like tomato pie, but I bought a 1/2 bushel of roma tomatoes and made a pie with some. This recipe uses sauteed onions, mayonnaise, basil and cheese in a pastry crust.

I love a good tomato pie! I have read that tomato pie is unique to the Utica, NY area as well as parts of PA. Up this way we have our tomato pie, greens, riggies, wings, speedies, and turkey joints -- and we all know what we're talking about. :) Good info here: Italian tomato pie

ETA: the only time I see tomato pie here is at large parties, like graduation parties, big birthday parties, etc. It's one of the items you'll almost always see a stack of on the munchies or buffet table. They have to be ordered at least 24 hours in advance to be made properly!

I was born and brought up in the Utica, NY area in the forties and fifties. I recall many a Friday lunch at my Italian girl friend's house---crispy fried fish, lettuce with oil and vinegar, and tomato pie. It was served room temperature. This was just before pizza became the popular item it is now.

Jasdip, that's not the tomato pie we're writing about. That looks like it tasted MUCH better ;-)

Good tomato pie is really really good. When I lived in NJ a family friend would bring my uncle tomato pie from Hoboken where he worked. This was an event! The sauce in that case was a fresh tomatoey garlicky sauce - not paste.

BTW there is not an italian gene in the family - but my uncle lived in Rome for a decade, cooks and speaks italian fluently.

And on other side of the family my aunt married an italian and moved to Utica NY. Last summer she came to Maine for a reunion with my cousin and her pizzaria owning boyfriend. So we had Utica style pizza in the wilds of Maine.

It's a Philly thing too. Where To Savor The Most Authentic Tomato Pie In Philadelphia

Nothing is added, eaten as is, whenever you want it, lunch, dinner, snack.

Now, have you been introduced to Shoo-Fly Pie yet? :-)

There's a bakery - been there for years - in Tampa - Alissi's - that makes it. In fact, as a child they made it for the public school lunch programs. I always thought it was pizza, didn't know the real name until I was in my 30's. Many people order lots of it for parties and receptions, etc. in Tampa because they are such an old staple in the older neighborhoods. It is most often served at room temperature.

There's a lot of Jersey transplants in Florida.

Diane, we're in the Philly area, Montgomery County. I saw it at Giant.

I can pass on Shoo-Fly Pie (have had it, meh), but I'll take a Butter Cake, thank you!

Butter cake! Now you're talking! ;-)

I think if I have the worst version of a dish first it takes me years to try that dish with an open mind.

My mom grew up in a town of NY eastern european jews in NJ. She lived in NYC and acquired her cooking skills from her friends and the amazing variety of stores and restaurants there. Then we moved to Maine full time. She had no interest in or knowledge of traditional New England cooking - so there are a huge variety of dishes that I only experienced through school lunch - blech. Only now am I learning chicken pot pie can be delicious.

One exception - my mom made a delicious New England boiled dinner but even then it was served with a thick garlicky green sauce.

So if ones first tomato pie was sitting too long on the counter of a corner store wrapped in 20 layers of plastic wrap - I can understand not liking it.

Now Rosestink - what are Utica greens?

Jasdip, let's have that tomato pie recipe, please!

It was posted here...tomato pie