Message-ID: <003e01c8e8f7$f7b77260$0201a8c0@user8c5960a2f3> From: "Bev Brayton" <dabkbrayton03@pctcnet.net> Subject: Re: Price County Historical Society creates new cookbook Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:01:48 -0500
John
Thanks for sending the article that appeared in the Wed. July 16 issue
of the Ashland Daily Press. I have saved the entire article and when
included in the next newsletter, I will give credit to you AND to the
Ashland newspaper.
Thanks for such a great promotion of the recent accomplishment of Bonnie
& Jo.
I also received an e-mail thru the WSHS list serve. Another society had
seen the article and thought it was an excellent idea and project. We
may be contacted regarding the preparation of this project.
Thanks again for helping in so many areas of PCHS.
Bev
----- Original Message -----
From: John Smart
To: Historical Society Listserve
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 8:39 AM
Subject: Price County Historical Society creates new cookbook
The Daily Press
Northern Wisconsin's Daily Newspaper
http://www.ashlandwi.com/articles/2008/07/16/community/doc487e0c1e89b9899
0959423.txt
Price County Historical Society creates new cookbook
The Price County Historical Society has just created its
own cookbook, "Recipes and Remembrances."
By John Smart
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:38 PM CDT
By JOHN SMART
For The Daily Press
The Price County Historical Society has at long last published
its cookbook, ”Recipes & Remembrances” — at long last because this
project has been in the works for several years now — and it's well
worth the wait. It will be a welcome addition to every cookbook
collector's library. The recipes were collected from members of the
society and other long-time residents of Price County, and come complete
with tales of long ago.
Lapskaus, a Norwegian stew that uses both beef and pork with
potatoes and onions, represents many of our early immigrants' connection
with their home country, as does Alsatian Potato Salad, with bacon,
celery, onion and sweet peppers seasoned with caraway and dill.
Alsatian Potato Salad
2 1/2 lbs. little red potatoes, cut in half
3 or more scallions, chopped
6 slices bacon, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 red or green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Cut little red potatoes in half and boil until tender. Do not
overcook. Saute bacon until crisp, and add scallions until tender.
Toss potatoes with bacon and scallions, celery, peppers and parsley with
the sauce.
Sauce:
2-3 Tbls. bacon fat
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3-4 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. caraway seed
1/2 tsp. dill weed
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil. Remove from
heat and pour over the salad.
This recipe came from the Edward Hines Lumber Co.'s kitchen
records. In the great logging days of our area, thousands of board feet
of lumber were cut at the Hines Lumber Mill in Park Falls, employing
many locals, and this is one of the remembrances from that mill.
There are recipes in the book for such forgotten delicacies as
pickled tongues and gizzards, and lots of instructions on how to make
dumplings of all kinds, from raw potato and mashed potato to bread
dumplings.
One contributor remembers the wild rice hotdish that her mother
always brought to church potlucks, and another tells about her mother's
"fibber" beef stew, a fib because it was made with venison but she told
people who said they didn't like venison that it was beef!
A wonderful recipe from Mrs. Albert Saetebeer, a Polish
immigrant who arrived in Price County in 1889, uses venison to make
mincemeat, not that raisiney, meatless stuff that's sold in jars, but
the real, savory thing: chopped venison and suet, apples, raisins and
currants all seasoned with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice,
mace, brown sugar and moistened with real apple cider. Now that's
mincemeat!
One of the recipes in this book is a family treasure from my
96-year-old mother, Dixie Smart: Mother's Onion Pie. She writes, "Our
mother, Mrs. Eugene Paquin, often made this dish when we were children.
It was inexpensive, tasty, and one our father liked a lot. She never had
a recipe for it and, after her death, our father asked if we could make
it. So we fiddled around until it came close to the way we remembered
it." For our family, this is comfort food.
Mother's Onion Pie:
1 lb. salt pork, cut in cubes
flour
lard or other shortening
water
3-4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup chopped onions
1 pt. milk
ground pepper
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
baking powder biscuits
Dredge the salt pork in flour, seasoned with pepper, and brown
in a small amount of shortening in a Dutch oven or large iron skillet.
Add water to cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add potatoes and
onions and simmer for 10 more minutes. Add milk and stir. Make a paste
of flour and butter and stir into mixture until thickened. Place baking
powder biscuits on top of the mixture and bake in a 350-degree oven
until biscuits are done.
A prize recipe comes from an old newspaper article that was
saved by Pat Schroeder, the PCHS's late curator who was the originator
of the cookbook idea. "The Northwoods Inn, in the heart of Wisconsin's
famed northern vacation-land, is at the junction of state highways 13
and 70 in Fifield. Eli Nicholas is the owner and manager. Lunch and
dinner served daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m." Mr. Nicholas is long since
gone, but the Northwoods Inn is still there.
Northwoods Inn Cranberry Pudding
Pudding:
1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
2 Tbls. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup cranberries, chopped
pinch of salt
Dissolve soda in boiling water and stir in molasses. Combine
with other ingredients and pour into a greased mold or coffee tin. Cover
and steam for two hours, and serve hot with sauce.
Sauce:
1 cup butter
1 cup cream
2 cups sugar
2 Tbls. brandy
Combine ingredients and cook over bubbling water in double
boiler for 1 hour. Serve hot over cranberry pudding, plum pudding or
fruit cake slices.
There is a recipe for dandelion jelly which demonstrates that,
in lean times, everything was used in the kitchen, and a gall bladder
cure recipe that calls for steeping chopped red onions in Holland Gin
and then taking 1 tablespoon of the mixture 3 times a day. Sounds like a
good cure for almost anything!
There's a recipe for "horse cookies" that are really cookies to
feed to your horses and a "roach inhibitor" made from lard and boric
acid to discourage those creepy-crawlies from invading your home.
Some of the recipes included are novelties (nobody expects
readers to actually make roach inhibitor with lard and boric acid) but
most of them are encouragement to head for the kitchen.
The Price County Historical Society, incorporated in 1959, is
responsible for discovering, preserving and passing on the history of
Price County, Wisconsin. The society is based in the Old Town Hall
Museum in Fifield, at the intersection of highways 13 and 70. The Old
Town Hall served as Fifield's seat of government from 1894 until 1967,
at which time it was acquired by the PCHS.
The Old Town Hall Museum provides a fascinating glimpse into the
early logging and railroad days of this part of northern Wisconsin. The
Museum is well worth a visit, and is open from 1-5 p.m. on Fridays and
Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day or by appointment for groups.
Everyone interested is invited to check out the Website at
pricecountyhistoricalsociety.com. And you can order your copy of Recipes
& Remembrances there too — simply click on to "Gift Store." The
cookbooks are $10 each (plus $3 shipping), and can be purchased by
sending a check to the Price County Historical Society at PO Box 156,
Fifield WI 54524-0156. Wouldn't they make great gifts?
John Smart, from Park Falls, is a member of the board of
directors of the Price County Historical Society.
Copyright © 2008 - The Daily Press - Ashland, WI
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