In northeastern Minnesota, dotting a landscape called the Iron Range, there are cities with names such as Hibbing, Virginia, Chisholm, Nashwauk, and Eveleth, and in these cities are bakeries, delis, bars, restaurants, and church fundraisers that sell delicious things beginning with the letter “p.” Delicious things that have been part of the region’s identity since iron ore was discovered here in the late 1880s, and waves of immigrants—Cornish, Italians, and Slovenes to name a few—answered the call to work in the mines. With them came hope, desire, expectation. And food. Specifically, food that begins with ‘p’: pasties, porketta, and potica. The Iron Range isn’t a mountain chain, but a 175-mile series of iron ore outcrops, from which iron was mined to produce steel that built the nation’s skyscrapers, bridges, and military equipment in both World Wars. Although many of the mines have closed, the heart of the mining industry still …