More Relishes

Ours is a family that loves relishes. There are so many recipes it amazes me. The first one is from Aunt Bonnie (below left). She is Dad’s older sister and was married to Uncle Custy(below right). Uncle Custy, whose real name was Constantine, was Italian and a great mushroom-hunter. He would take us out in the woods and he knew all the mushrooms. We would come back with a bushel basket full of delicious mushrooms. Our favorite was a type that grew in big clumps on long, slender stems with caps that came down over the stem. Mom would wash them and fry them up in butter with garlic and serve them on toast. They were incredible --- so much more flavor than commercial mushrooms! Their daughter Jean has many recipes in the cookbook but we’ll add those later.

Aunt Bonnie’s Chili Sauce
Scald and peel 25 large, red tomatoes. Chop them fine and add:
6 medium chopped onions
3 chopped green peppers
3 cups vinegar
1 ½ cups sugar
1 1/3 tblsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp dry mustard
½ tsp each ginger, cloves and allspice.
Simmer until very thick. Ladle into sterile jars and process 5 minutes.

Mom’s Fruit Relish
Peel and dice:
20 ripe tomatoes
8 very firm pears
8 firm but ripe peaches
6 large onions
1 red and 1 green pepper
Place in a large kettle and add:
4 cups white sugar
1 quart vinegar
2 tblsp salt
Spice bag containing whole cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon stick pieces and allspice to make about 2 tblsp.
Slowly bring to a boil and boil until very thick and not at all watery — about 2 hours stirring regularly.
Ladle into sterile jars and process for 10 minutes.

Dad’s Tomato Marmalade
This is excellent with any meat. If you mix equal parts of this and hearty mustard it makes a great glaze for roasts.
Peel 3 oranges and 2 lemons. Cut the peelings into very fine slivers. Combine with 2 cups water and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain.
Remove all pulp from the fruit and add it to the peelings. Blanch and peel 5 ½ pounds of tomatoes and slice.
Combine all ingredients in a kettle and mix lightly. Add a spice bag containing 5 cinnamon sticks and 1 tblsp cloves. Add 6 cups sugar and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until thick and clear. Ladle into sterile jars and seal. Process 15 minutes.

Pauline’s Green Tomato Relish
Pauline lived next door. She and Specky had three kids, Kathy, Mike and Mary Ellen. Pauline was a good neighbor, a good friend and a great blackberry picking partner. This recipe is a great way to use up green tomatoes when the season is coming to an end.
Clean and cut into manageable pieces 5 ponds of green tomatoes. Pack them into sterile jars and to each jar add 1 clove of garlic, a few slices of onion, 1 whole clove and 3-4 dill heads. Place in a large pan:
1 quart of vinegar
1 quart of water
1/3 cup salt
sugar as desired
Simmer for five minutes then pour into the jars over the tomatoes. Seal and process for 20 minutes. These are really delicious!!!

Mrs. Lemmon’s Fruited Mincemeat
When I lived in Erie, PA and worked at the diner that served as the model for the Canal Street Diner in The Old Mermaid’s Tale, Mrs. Lemmon was my neighbor. This is her recipe.
Grate the peel and remove the pulp from 3 large oranges.
Peel and chop 6 apples.
Mix with 1 cup each raisins, dried peaches and dried apricots, chopped
1 cup chopped suet
Add:
½ cup finely cut citron
1 cup grated carrots
2 tblsp cinnamon
1 tblsp mace
½ tblsp ginger
½ tblsp allspice
1 tsp cloves
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups light molasses
1 cup boiled cider
1 cup rum
1 cup brandy
Mix thoroughly and place in a container with a tight seal. Store in a cool place for at least a month before serving.

Mom’s Zucchini Relish
Mom always joked that St. Marys was the kind of town that, when you went down town in the fall, you’d better lock your car doors. Otherwise people would put zucchini in it. This is a good recipe for using up zucchini.
Combine:
10 c. grated zucchini
4 c. diced onions
2 tblsp salt.
Put this in a colander int the sink and let it stand overnight. Rinse with cold water and drain well. Add:
2 1/4 cup vinegar
2 ½ cup sugar
1 tblsp corn starch
1 tsp each nutmeg, dry mustard, turmeric
2 tsp celery seed
1 each red and green pepper chopped fine
Simmer in a large kettle until very thick. Ladle into sterile jars and seal.

Colorful Pear Relish
Both Gram and Jack (below right with Dad and I in 1951) had huge pear trees in their yards. I LOVED making this and would can it in quart jars because it was so delicious it never lasted long. Gram even liked to spoon it over cottage cheese.
Put through a food chopper:
12-18 very firm pears
6 sweet onion
4 green peppers
4 red peppers
1 hot red pepper
Heat together:
1 pint cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 tblsp salt
1 tsp. Cimmanon
½ tsp each cloves, nutmeg and ginger
Add the pear mixture and slowly bring to a boil. Watch it carefully because it will seem very moist but will thicken up fast. Simmer until thick. Ladle into sterile jars and process 20 minutes.

Mom’s Pizza Sauce
This is fabulous. It is thick, spicy and delicious and can be used in lots of ways.
Cook and strain 8 quarts of peeled and chopped tomatoes. Add 4 cloves of garlic. In a kettle put 1 cup of olive oil and add 3 cups chopped onion, 2 chopped green peppers, 1-2 chopped red peppers. Add tomatoes.
Saute until soft them put through a food mill. Add:
1 ½ tsp basil
1 ½ tsp oregano
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 c. salt
8 ounces tomato paste
½ cup parmesan cheese
Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 hours being careful not to let it burn. Makes 12 pints. Ladle into sterile jars and process 10 minutes.

Some Salads

Both Mom and Gram made really wonderful salads. Following is a selection of some of their best salads. Probably my very favorite is Dandelion Salad which Gram made abundantly in the Spring. I can remember her sitting out in the yard with a screwdriver and a bucket pulling up dandelions when they were still young and tender. She always liked to get a few with the little buds before they blossomed. Mom said Dandelion Salad was a spring tonic. I’ve actually made it with spinach when dandelions were in short supply. It is also good with tender greens or romaine lettuce.

Gram’s Dandelion Salad
Thoroughly wash a large bowl full of dandelion greens (or other greens). Keep the buttons (buds). Drain well. Boil 2 medium potatoes and hardcook 2 eggs.

Slice a large sweet onion and separate the rings. Cool the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Peel and slice the eggs. Toss them with the greens. Add 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt.

Over medium heat fry 3-4 slices of bacon cut into small pieces. When bacon is crisp remove it to a paper towel then add to the salad. Pour off all but 2 tbsps bacon grease. Place the pan with the grease back on the burner and turn up heat. When it is sizzling carefully add ½ cup cider vinegar and let it sizzle and sputter. Pour hot from the pan over the greens. Toss again and serve.

Great Aunt Annie’s Carrot Salad
Great-aunt Annie (at right) was Grandma Valentine’s sister. She was a wonderful woman and a real character. She lived in a darling house in Falls Creek, Pennsylvania. I remember one time her son Quay went to visit her and she wasn’t in the house. He went outside and discovered a ladder up against the house. She was up on the roof replacing some shingles. She was in her eighties then.
Combine:
3 cups shredded carrots
3 tbsps sour cream
4 tbsps mayonnaise
1 cup raisins
1 tsp honey.
Stir together and chill before serving.

Mom’s Freezer Cole Slaw
Mom got this recipe from Mrs. Brown who lived up the hill and had a huge garden. Every year she and her husband had the first corn of the season. Mr. Brown made beautiful grandfather clocks. Their house always smelled like apple pie baking or chili sauce simmering. She always had amaryllis blossoming in her kitchen. It was the first place I ever saw them and I thought they were beautiful.
Chop and mix together:
1 medium head cabbage
1 medium carrot
1 green pepper
1 medium onion
1 tsp salt
Toss together and let stand for an hour. Combine:
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed
Bring to a boil for one minute. Let cool and pour over the vegetables. Pack in cartons and freeze. Thaw 45 minutes before serving.

Gram’s Instant Cole Slaw
Heat to boiling:
2 c. vinegar
2 c. sugar
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp turmeric
Pour this over:
1 quart shredded cabbage
2 shredded green peppers
1 chopped sweet onion
2 grated carrots
1 small jar of pimentos
Mix very well and pack in jars for the refrigerator. Chill at least 12 hours before serving. Will keep for weeks in the refrigerator.

“Alter” Society Salad Dressing
The Altar Society tends the linens, flowers, candles, etc. at the old German Church in St. Marys. This is the dressing that they always served at their monthly dinners. I have copied it exactly as Miss Rose Ebrel wrote it.
3/ cup oil, ½ cup sugar, ½ cup vinegar, 2tsps salt, ½ tsp pepper, dash Garlic Salt, end of tsp of prepared mustard. Put in Blender. I always double this recipe.

Mom’s Russian Dressing
Mom always made this at Easter with the leftover hardboiled eggs. Jack only ate the yolks and I only ate the whites but we wouldn’t eat each others’ leftovers. So Mom made this.
Hardboil 4 eggs (or use leftover Easter Eggs from temperamental children’s baskets). Chop very fine and add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 2 cups mayonnaise, ½ cup ketchup and adjust seasonings. Cut iceberg lettuce into wedges and drizzle the dressing over them.

Mom’s Three Bean Salad
In a large bowl combine:
1 can each green beans, yellow wax beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans (yes, I know that is four beans — I don’t know why she named it what she did.
Mix:
3 cups salad oil
½ cup sugar
1 cup vinegar
2 cloves minced garlic
1 large onion sliced
salt and pepper to taste.
Stir and chill 2 days before serving.
Adding a heaping tablespoon of horseradish is delicious, too.

Gram's Soltz (Sultz) and Liver Dumplings

Both Gram and Great Aunt Mary (at left in 1976) made these and they were wonderful, old-world treats. I don't make them anymore but sometimes I think about it. I'd hate for these recipes to be lost.

Soltz (Sultz)
When Gram made this it was always something of an event. Her brother George would come by and bring hot rye bread from Meisel's Bakery. We would sit on her front porch on the big swing and the glider and eat the soltz with rye bread, mustard, sliced onions and cold beer. It is a sort of pickled meat that is really delicious. Those old German's used up everything so soltz was a way of using up the meat scraps left on bones. Later people added extra meat --- Jim Auman (who is married to Aunt Mary's daughter Snooky) added chopped up turkey to his. Gram used to say that the only part of a pig you couldn't use was the squeek.

Place 5-6 lbs. of meaty bones in a large kettle, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer 2-3 hours until the meat is falling off the bones. Remove meat and strain the broth well. Measure it and add an equal amount of cider vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste (best if you use a fair amount of pepper). Let the meat cool a bit and remove it from the bones discarding all the fine bones and gristle. Grind the meat and add extra if you like. Add an onion. Place it back in the broth. Simmer for 5 minutes in the vinegar broth until the onion is cooked.

Ladle into loaf pans. In some Pennsylvania Dutch communities they make an arrangement of carrots and pickles to look like flowers in the bottoms of the pans "chust for nice", as they say. Cool the soltz and it will gel. Refrigerate until very cold then slice and serve with mustard and rye bread. Have a beer.


Liver Dumplings
I know it sounds strange but they are absolutely delicious! Gram often made them with a commercial onion soup mix for the broth which is fine. They are extra delicious if you make a batch of Mom's Egg Noodles to serve with them.

Combine:
1 lb ground calves liver
1 stack of saltine crackers, crushed
1 egg
1 small onion, minced
1 tsp salt
juice of one lemon (optional)
Bring the onion or a beef broth to a rolling boil. Drop the liver mixture in by the tablespoonful. Boil about 20 minutes or until the dumplings float to the top and are done on both sides. Ladle the broth and dumplings into a soup plate and serve with noodles.

Parlez-Moi Blog Post about Soltz
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Pickles & Relishes

Since it’s that time of the year, when people are starting to can, I thought it would be a good time to add a few of our family’s favorite pickles and relishes.

Grandma Valentine’s Sandwich Spread
Grandma Valentine (at right with Grandpa and Dad's two oldest sisters, Aunt Viola and Aunt Bonnie) lived in a big house on Chestnut Street. It had a porch that wrapped around it with a porch swing. There were several apple trees, a beautiful crab apple tree, orange blossom bushes and a hedge of currant bushes along the back alley. I remember crawling under those currant bushes on summer afternoons and eating the currants still hot and juicy from the sun. Grandma had a huge vegetable garden and there were hollyhocks and peony bushes along the side of the house. Inside there was a pantry and she hung dried herbs in bunches inside the stairwell. I still remember opening the door to the stairs and the fragrance of herbs coming out. She had a canary that sat in the sunshine and sang all day. Her house was a good place in which to be a child.

Combine and let stand overnight:
2 qts. Ground green tomatoes
1 pt. ground onions
2 each of red, yellow and green peppers, ground
½ cup salt

Next day drain the excess liquid and place in a heavy pot. Add:
1 pt. white vinegar
2 ½ cups sugar

Bring to a boil and let simmer 20 minutes making sure it doesn’t burn. Chill thoroughly then add 9 oz yellow mustard and 1 pint salad dressing. Stir well and seal in jars.

Pretty Apple Relish
Grate coarse:
4 large Granny Smith apples
1 each large red and green pepper, seeded
1 medium onion
In sauce pan heat 1 c. vinegar, 1 1/4 c. white sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add 1 tblsp cinnamon, ½ tsp each nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Add apples, peppers and onions. Simmer 20 minutes stirring often. Add 1 cup raisins. Simmer until liquid is mostly evaporated. Ladle into clean, dry jars. Seal. Let cool and keep in reefrigerator.

Dad’s Refrigerator Pickles
Combine:
4 cups sugar
4 cups white vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp dill weed
1/4 cup salt
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp celery seed
Heat together until sugar is dissolved. Add:
several cloves of garlic
several slices of onion
Pour over a gallon of thinly sliced cucumbers. Refrigerate for a week before serving.
These are very, very crisp and keep a long time in the refrigerator.

Gram’s Strip Pickles
In a large bowl combine:
10 large cucumbers, peeled, sliced and cut into strips
6 carrots, simmered for 5 minutes then peeled and cut in strips
12 red and green peppers, cleaned and cut in strips
Cover with ½ cup salt and 1 quart water and let stand overnight. Rinse and drain.
Heat to boiling:
6 cups sugar
4 cups vinegar
3 tsp celery seed
2 tsp turmeric
3 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp salt
Add vegetables. Bring to a boil again then shut off. Ladle into sterile jars and process in hot water bath.

Mom’s Chili Sauce
This is unbelievably good!
Combine:
4 quarts cored and chopped tomatoes
2 cups chopped sweet red pepper
1 ½ cup chopped sweet onion
1 small pod hot red pepper
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tblsp salt
Simmer over a low heat until juicy. Increase heat and bring to a rapid boil, stirring often for 30-40 minutes until reduced by half. Fill a small cheese cloth bag with:
1 large clove of garlic
1 long stick of cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1 ½ tblsp mustard seed
1 heaping tblsp allspice
1 bay leaf
Continue to boil with spice bag added. Keep cooking down until quite thick. Stir in 2 ½ cups white vinegar and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Discard spice bag. Ladle into sterile jars and process 5 minutes. Let stand overnight before storing.

Preserved Children
This recipe was on a plaque hanging in a friend’s kitchen.
You will need:
one half dozen small children
one large field
one sunny day
2-3 small dogs
Mix the children and the dogs together. Dot them over the large field and stir in the sunny day. Sprinkle the field with flowers. Spread with a clear blue sky. Bake in the sun until brown.

Sauerkraut

In The Old Mermaid’s Tale, Clair and Baptiste often have dinner at a restaurant behind the Customs House where he works, at a little restaurant called the Hofbrau House. They order pork with sauerkraut and dumplings and a lovely, crisp, white wine. Sauerkraut is a treasured part of my life.

I have often thought that if our family had a coat of arms, it would have a barrel of sauerkraut on it. Some of the best times I can remember growing up was when we made huge barrels of homemade sauerkraut at the end of the summer when the cabbages were huge and fresh from the garden.

(Above: The John Werner Family, 1915, seated, John Werner and Anna Groll Werner, my great-grandparents,
back row: Alfred G. Werner, my mother's father, Jane, Edward, Rose, and Leo Werner)

Dad would bring the cabbage up from the garden and hang it upside down from rafters in the shop until we were ready to have a sauerkraut making day. He and I would clean them, saving the tough outer leaves, and cut them into wedges. There was a huge crock that had been in the family for generations. Mom would scrub it out and line it with those outer leaves. There was an enormous shredder that had also been around for a couple generations that we used. It was made of wood with a metal blade set into it and the cabbage would be swiped back and forth along the wooden slide over the blade to shred it. We all helped with that. Sometimes a relative would stop in and take a turn at the shredding just for nostalgia’s sake.

The shredded cabbage was layered into the crock with occasional layers of coarse salt to help it work. There was a big stone that fit on the top of the crock to weight it down but Dad had an improvement on that. He would take a heavy-duty garbage bag, fill it with water and tightly close it and put that on top of the shredded cabbage. This added the weight to press down on the cabbage while sealing off the air at the same time. The crock was then stored in the dark under the basement steps for several weeks until the cabbage fermented into kraut.

When it was fermented and “sauer”, Mom packed the sauerkraut into sterile quart jars and processed them in a boiling water bath. We made a fifty gallon crock full but no matter how much we made it was always gone by the following summer.

We always had sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. It was a tradition and even the rare person who didn’t like sauerkraut was urged to eat at least one bite of it for good luck. Personally, I have always loved sauerkraut raw, straight from the jar. I use it as a relish in sandwiches and as the base for salads. Following are two recipes for using sauerkraut — one each from my two grandmothers:

Gram Werner’s Sauerkraut with Pork and Dumplings
In a large, deep Dutch oven place 3 lbs. Of rinsed sauerkraut. Sprinkle with 1/4 c. brown sugar. Nestle a 2-1/2—3 lb. Pork roast in the sauerkraut and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder and pepper. Seal the pot and place over a medium flame. Let simmer for a couple hours until the pork falls apart with a fork.
In a bowl combine:
2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 3 eggs, a little water if needed.
Knead gently until well mixed.
Remove the pork (as much as you can) and set aside. Bring the sauerkraut which is quite juicy by now to a boil. Pinch off pieces of the dough and drop into the bubbling juice. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes. Cover and Gobble up!

Grandma Valentine’s Sauerkraut and Pork Chops
In a large, shallow, oven-proof dish place 2 lbs. Of rinsed and drained sauerkraut. Sprinkle it with ½ cup brown sugar. On top of the sauerkraut place enough thick-cut pork chops to cover it. Sprinkle them with onion salt and pepper and place in a 350 degree oven and let bake until the chops are crispy. I have often placed a slice of apple on top of each chop for the first 45 minutes of baking. This keeps the chops very moist and flavorful but, since the apple absorbs excess fat, they should be discarded before serving.

Sauerkraut & Soltz on Parlez-Moi Blog: Part 1 & Part 2

Four Dessert Recipes from Mom

The following are four of the very best and most often made of my Mother’s desserts — her pie crust recipe and three of her outstanding cakes. That's her with Baby Me a VERY long time ago.

Mom’s Apple Cake
Absolutely delicious!
Cream together:
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 stick of softened margarine
2 eggs
½ tsp salt

Blend in:
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 c. milk
2 1/4 cups flour
dash of vanilla

Stir well.

Gently fold in 2 c. chopped apples

Mix well and pour into cake pans. Sprinkle the tops with brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Bake at 350°̊ for 45 minutes.

Mom’s Pie Crust
Virtually infallible. Even mine turns out flakey.
Cut together:
4 cup flour
1 tblsp sugar
1 1/3 cups shortening
2 tsp salt

Beat in a bowl 1 tblsp white vinegar, ½ cup ice water and 1 egg.
Combine with flour mixture and form into balls. Chill at least 15 minutes before rolling it out. May be kept for up to 3 days.

Mom’s Cream Cheese Cake
I absolutely love this cake. Mom always made it at Christmas time in small loaf pans and passed them out to people as gifts. Sometimes she would make this and her Apple Cake in little loafs, wrap them in colored cellophane and tie them with pretty ribbons to give as treats. They were always much appreciated.

Combine:
8 oz. Softened cream cheese
1 ½ cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 c. margarine
1 ½ tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour

Blend in:
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chopped dates
1 jar of maraschino cherries, drained and sliced
Stir together. Pour into a tube pan or small loaf pans. Bake at 325̊° for an hour and 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Mom’s Date & Nut Cake with Broiled On Topping
For years I asked for this for my birthday cake. Not a traditional birthday cake but I didn’t care. This and rhubarb pie are my very favorite birthday treats.
Combine:
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
Let stand until cool. Meanwhile cream together:
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 ½ cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts
1 tsp. Vanilla

Add to date mixture and pour into a prepared cake pan. Bake at 350̊ until top is set and does not respond to touch.
Broiled on Topping:
Blend 2 tbsps brown sugar, 2 tbsps cream, 5 tbsps margarine and ½ tsp vanilla. Spread on finished cake and place under broiler until it sizzles. Sprinkle with coconut.

Aunt Rosie’s Hot Potato Salad and Her Squash

Aunt Rosie’s Hot Potato Salad

Aunt Rosie (at left with me and Gram Werner) is my godmother. She and Uncle Buddy lived in Erie, PA most of their lives and I spent many lovely summer vacations with them. Uncle Buddy is the one who got me interested in the maritime history of Lake Erie and The Old Mermaid’s Tale is dedicated to him. I remember that Aunt Rosie was a good cook but I don’t have a lot of recipes of hers in my cookbook. Probably because she cooked a lot of the stuff that Gram and Mom did. I was talking to her recently and we got talking about rhubarb pie. Oh, the memories of rhubarb pie! These two vegetable recipes are from Aunt Rosie:

Fry 4 slices of bacon until crisp and remove them from the pan. Into the grease stir 1 ½ T flour and mix well. Add 1 T sugar, 1 t salt, 1 T prepared mustard and stir well. Add ½ c vinegar and ½ c water and simmer until sauce thickens. Gently add 4 cups sliced, boiled potatoes and the bacon crumbled. Simmer 10 minutes and serve.

Aunt Rosie’s Squash

Slice several young zucchini and/or yellow squash and a medium onion into a heavy sauce pan. Add a small amount of water and cook, covered, until just tender. Drain well. Add salt and pepper to taste and place a 4 oz block of cream cheese on the hot veggies. Cover and let it melt. Stir gently before serving.

This works well in the microwave and is also good with broccoli, lima beans, and/or spinach.

Gram Werner’s Apple Dumplings

There is nothing that can compare with Gram Werner’s (at right in 1919) apple dumplings. What wouldn’t I give for a bowl of them right now!!! They are crusty and crunchy on the top and gooey and sweet on the bottom. You can have them hot or cold, with or without milk. They are the BEST!

Prepare a batch of pie crust (Mom’s Pie Crust will be coming soon.) Divide into 4 sections and roll each section out into a thin circle. Cut each crust into 4 quarters (16 pieces.) Peel pie apples and cut them into chunks. Place a handful in the center of each crust. On each pile of apples place 1 heaping T. Sugar, 1 pat of butter, sprinkles of sugar and nutmeg. Fold up the corners of the crust and pinch them together to make a little dumpling. Place them seam-side down in a shallow cake pan. Pierce the top crust of each dumpling 2-3 times with a fork. Drizzle maple syrup or light corn syrup over each dumpling.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until golden brown. Serve with milk, ice cream or just plain.

Gram Werner's Mincemeat Tarts
Christmas was never Christmas without Gram's Mincemeat Tarts. She had the prettiest tins to bake them in --- I found one a few years back in a yard sale and I treasure it. It is sort of like a muffin tin but with a fluted bottom. My tarts might look like Grams but nothing will ever taste as good as hers did.

Make a double batch of pie crust. Divide into 16 pieces and cut into circles to fit your tin. Reserve the scraps.

Mix together:
1 large jar of commercial mincemeat with rum and brandy
1 c. chopped apples
1 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. raisins.

Spoon the mixture into the shells to almost fill them. Cut little circles from the scraps of dough and place one on top of each tart. Pinch the edges of the tarts in but don't close completely. Beat an egg with 1 T of water and brush over the top of each tart. Bake at 350° until the shells are golden brown.

Great-Aunt Mary Dippold’s Keuchels

Keuchels (KEE-kulls) are wonderful things! They are puffy, round pieces of fried dough which are thick and chewy around the edges and thin and crunchy in the middle. Great Aunt Mary Dippold (right in 1919)was Gram Werner’s older sister and the most beautiful woman she had round pink cheeks and snowy hair and she always reminded my of Mrs. Santa Claus. She lived across the street from the German Church in St.Marys and made the best keuchels. A proper keuchel should be about the size of a luncheon plate and be a lovely, golden brown color. The old Germans in St. Marys say they get their quaint shape because they are shaped by pulling them over your knee.

Mix well:
1 qt. milk
1 c. sugar
1 stick margarine or butter

Dissolve a yeast cake in ½ c. warm water.
Knead together 8 c. flour and 6 eggs. Add the yeast and the milk mixture. Knead well. Cover and let raise.

Pinch off pieces by the handful and shape into round, flat shapes that are thicker toward the edge and flat toward the middle. Drop into a fryer of hot oil and fry until golden and floating. Drain well and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Gram liked to serve them warm with jam in the center.

Mom’s Homemade Bread

In The Old Mermaid's Tale, Clair has a heart to heart discussion with her mother in the kitchen while Louise is "stiffening" bread. My mother always referred to the process of kneading bread as "stiffening" it. This is how she did it:

My mother (at right in 1927)was the best bread-maker I ever met. Her bread was absolutely delicious and she made it all the time. One of my fondest memories is coming home from school on a cold winter afternoon and smelling that delicious, warm, yeasty smell of fresh-baked bread. The following is exactly the way Mom wrote the recipe down for me:

Boil a small potato until mushy and add liquid to make one quart. Mae a well in a basin of white flour, add part whole wheat flour if desired. Add ½ c. sugar, 1/4 c. salt., 1 Household yeast cake, ½ to 3/4 cup shortening. Mix together until well-kneaded. Let rise, mix down, let rise again. Put in loaf pans.

That’s where her directions stop. Kneading bread is a pleasurable experience. You really have to get into id and go to work but as the dough becomes thoroughly kneaded it becomes smooth and glossy and doesn’t cling to your fingers or the bowl.

When I make bread the way Mom taught me I start with about 10 cups of flour. I tend to use unbleached flour and at least half whole-wheat which gives a denser, chewier bread than Mom’s. When the potato is soft, blend it well into the water and add enough cold water to make a quart — you want the water to be warm but not hot or it will kill the little yeasties. I also “proof” my yeast which Mom never did. Crumble the yeast cake or use two packs of dry yeast in a cup of warm water to which a tablespoon of flour and of sugar has been added. When it begins to bubble and foam it is “proofed”. Add to flour along with the other ingredients.

Dough should always be kneaded with love and happiness — it makes better bread. When you are satisfied that the dough is well-kneaded and it has a smooth, glossy finish, place it in the bowl, cover with a clean dish towel and set aside to raise. Mom’s bread used to raise so high it sometimes came over the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough again — this makes the texture fine and helps eliminate big air bubbles. Divide the dough into sections. You can put it in greased loaf pans, shape it into round or long shapes, or pinch pieces the size of golf balls off and tuck them into a round cake pan to make buns. Let rise again.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove to cooling racks. Mom always greased the tops of her loaves with a little shortening. Actually that was my job as a kid.

Variations on Mom’s Home-made Bread:

Rye Bread: Substitute 1 cup rye flour for every third cup of white flour and add a 1/4 cup of caraway seeds. Shape loves into long, torpedo-like shapes and slice them across the top vertically before setting to rise.

Dinner Rolls: Mom made many, many pans of these. After the dough has risen once pinch off balls about the size of a golf ball and place them in a greased pie plate in a ring. Fill in the center. Let them rise and then bake.

Sticky Buns: These are absolutely delicious. I suppose they are just as good cold as they are hot from the oven but I don’t think they ever lasted long enough for us to know that. While dough is rising the first time, melt together ½ c. butter, ½ c. brown sugar, 1/4 c. corn syrup and a pinch of salt. Bring to a soft boil and let simmer about 6 minutes. Pour the hot mixture in the bottom of a large, flat cakepan. Roll risen dough out until it is ½" thick. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and cinnamon. Scatter with raisins and chopped walnuts, as much or as little as you like. Dot with little dabs of butter. Roll up jelly roll fashion. Slice off 1" pieces and tuck them side by side in the pan with the syrup in the bottom. Let them raise and then bake. Turn out onto waxpaper while still hot.

Pizza Dough: Let rise once. Break off a piece the size of a cantaloupe and spread out on a flour-dusted board. Roll the dough out using flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Spread the top with a little olive oil. Add toppings and bake.

Hot Cross Buns: Originally a Good Friday tradition, I love them too much to only serve once a year. Before setting to rise the first time, knead in chopped candied and/or dried fruit, chopped raisins and dates and sliced maraschino cherries. Knead well. Pinch off a piece the size of an egg and tuck into square oven-proof dish that has been greased. Continue until dish is full and bake. When they are cool mix together 4 T. Butter and 4-5 T. Powdered sugar and a drop of vanilla. Mix well. Place in pastry bag and decorate the top of each bun with a X.

Jack’s Smoked Sausage

In My Last Romance and other passions the last story, “Treat Yourself to the Best” is about a young woman named Fifi whose big, noisy, rural family drives her crazy. In the story she takes her husband back to her hometown for a sausage making party, a thing I have plenty of familiarity with!

My brother Jack was a great sausage maker. This recipe is in the original cookbook written exactly the way he wrote it down for me. Jack died in 2002 and I think of him every day. This is his recipe:

Grind up 25 lbs. Of venison or beef and 25 lbs. Of pork. Pork butts are the best but bulk pork may be used. Crush 6 cloves of garlic and soak them in a quart of hot water. To the ground meat add 1 lb. Morton’s Tender Quick (available at most butcher shops), 1/4 lb. Sugar, 2 oz. Black pepper, 1/4 t. sage and the juice of two lemons. Blend in. Work in the garlic water until the meat and water is completely mixed. Stuff sausage into casings. Hang the sausages and let them dry overnight. The next day it is ready to be smoked. During smoking you must keep an eye until it gets to a rich, red color, and the casings are dry.

To serve, boil them for 15-20 minutes, grill over open fire or sauté over medium heat until firm and cooked through.

At home, as in the story, we usually had them with baked beans and pancakes.

More about Jack: Good Night, Sweet Prince

The Valentine Family and Friends Cookbook ONLINE!!!!

In 1981 I was living in Houston, Texas and was dead broke. I was flying home to Pennsylvania for Christmas and wanted to take gifts but I had no money. For years I had collected recipes from my mother, two grandmothers and many aunts, cousins, siblings and friends. So, I pulled them all together and made a cookbook. It was a great hit with my family. My mother began photocopying the book and selling them for $3. She sold hundreds of them! A cooking columnist for the Erie Daily Times named Fran Fry got a copy of it and wrote not one but three columns about the book. He even drove down to St. Marys, PA, where my folks lived and spent a day with my mother sampling her cooking.

In 1992, then living in Marblehead, Massachusetts, I revised the cookbook and added lots more recipes. Again people loved it and I have no idea how many were copied and passed out. Over the past 15 years or so I’ve thought about revising the cookbook yet again but so far I haven’t.

When I began writing and publishing fiction one of the first things people said to me was my writing is very evocative and filled with sounds, smells, tastes, textures. They said my writing was very sensuous. When My Last Romance and other passions was first published a lot of people commented on the lushness of description, including the food. Now that my novel, The Old Mermaid’s Tale is also out, I am hearing more about that. A good part of the action takes place in a diner and there is food — lots of food.

I grew up around people who cooked — really cooked. They planted gardens and canned vegetables. They made bread and home-made pickles and preserves. Food was a big part of life — good food, nourishing, wholesome, delicious food, often fresh from the garden. The chapters in The Old Mermaid’s Tale when Clair works in the kitchen with her mother, where their most intimate talks take place, are straight from my own life. My mother and I had our best conversations while peeling peaches and canning garden fresh corn.

I write a literary blog at www.KathleenValentine.com. And, though I write about art and books and philosophy and knitting and whatever wanders through my mind, I get the most comments and emails when I write about food. I wrote a two part blog on my Gram Werner’s home-made Soltz and another on Sauerkraut and they still get hits everyday. So, I decided to start this blog. I plan to gradually add the recipes from my original Valentine Family & Friends Cookbook. Maybe it will eventually turn into an entire cookbook. Maybe I’ll get to tell a few stories about the memories associated with certain foods.

My family taught me a deep and abiding love for two things — books and good, wholesome food. Both my parents were avid readers and so I became a writer. Both my parents were good, down-home cooks. And so this blog.I hope you’ll try a recipe or two. And I hope you will find, as my Gram Werner would say, “Das Schmecht Gut!”