Family recipe Monday: a Simple Gifts Thanksgiving

This is the dream-team Thanksgiving dinner from the Simple Gifts project. Collectively, these recipes span over a hundred years and a goodly part of the country. I wish I could bring all these cooks together--some of them never even met each other. Family cooking keeps us together across the generations--be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug from us.

Start out with these perfect nibbles.

The Shelton-Sommers family. Ralph is on the left.

I may now be disowned for publishing this, but I think it is a great picture.

Ralph’s East Texas parched pecans

Pecans

Worcestershire sauce

Butter

Melt butter in skillet. Add Worcestershire sauce and pecans. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden. Best paired with a single-malt Scotch.

--Ralph Shelton

Use the next two recipes to put together a world-class version of Texas Cornbread Dressing.

Corn kernel cornbread

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

¼ cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1 cup milk

3 T melted margarine

1 cup yellow cream-style corn

Preheat oven to 450* F. Brush 9” square baking pan or skillet with melted shortening. Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl, stirring to blend well. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, margarine and corn. Add all at once to dry ingredients, mixing quickly and thoroughly. Pour batter into pan and bake about 30 minutes, or until bread tests done. Can also be baked as sticks or muffins. Serve hot.

Dipping biscuits

Whisk in bowl to blend:

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup unbleached flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
¾ tsp onion powder
½ tsp ground thyme
½ tsp ground sage (or substitute ¾ tsp Bell’s seasoning)

Add ½ stick butter cut in ½” cubes; blend in with pastry blender until coarse meal consistency. Blend in 1 cup buttermilk, 1 large egg, mix until moist. Turn onto floured surface, knead briefly until dough comes together. Gather into ball, roll out to ¾“, cut into rounds or squares. Bake in 400o preheated oven 20-22 minutes, or until biscuit tester* comes out clean! Dip in gravy and enjoy.
--Pat Monaco

*This is an in-joke. Our friend Pat actually found a snooty gourmet magazine recipe for biscuits that required the use of a biscuit tester to determine doneness. If you can’t tell when biscuits are done, a tester will not help you much. These are great crumbled into a cornbread-sage dressing.

For a soup course, try this Pennsylvania classic.

Shaffner-Hess wedding reception, 1954.

Potato soup

Sauté gently in 2 T butter:

1 T grated carrot
1 T scraped onions

Stir in:

1 tsp salt
¼ tsp celery salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups hot milk
1 cup mashed or boiled potatoes, put through a coarse sieve

Cook 20 minutes
--Dolly Shaffner Hess

For a variation on the standard cranberry jelly, try this.

Cranberry salad

1 lb. cranberries
1 whole apple

Grind in food chopper. Cover with 1 cup sugar. Add:

1 small can crushed pineapple
Pinch salt
1/2 cup nuts

Mix into 2 pkg. Jell-O (cherry or raspberry) in 3 cups water. Chill.
--Vada Brooks Johnson, Shirley Johnson Shelton

And here is a quartet of great side dishes:

Vada’s marinated carrots

2 lb. carrots, cut in 1” pieces

Cook until tender; drain and set aside. Bring to boil:

1 cup sugar
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1/3 cup oil
½ cup vinegar

When boiling, add 1 onion (sliced) and 1 green pepper (sliced). Bring back to good hard boil and pour over carrots.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

Rice-broccoli casserole

1 package chopped broccoli

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped celery

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 small jar Cheddar cheese spread

1 cup cooked rice

Cook broccoli according to package directions. Sauté onion and celery in small amount of oil. Mix with broccoli. Add soups and cheese spread. Line a casserole dish with rice. Pour broccoli mixture over rice and bake at 375* F for 10 minutes.

--Vada Brooks Johnson

Pennsylvania red cabbage

2 tbsp bacon drippings heated in skillet (oil may be substituted)

Stir into drippings or oil:

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup cider vinegar

½ tsp caraway seed

¼ cup water

1 ¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Stir in to coat:

4 cups shredded red cabbage

2 cups cubed unpeeled red apple

Cover and cook on low heat about 15 min until cooked but still crisp. Stir occasionally.

--Dolly Shaffner Hess

Perfect baked sweet potatoes

4 medium to large sweet potatoes

Safflower oil

Preheat oven to 400* F. Wash and scrub potatoes. Dry thoroughly. Coat potatoes lightly with oil. Prick surface with fork. Bake until tender (40-60 minutes, depending on size).

The best rolls of all time for the dinner are Bran Rolls and Potato Rolls. I'd serve these with Honey Jelly.

Honey jelly

3 cups honey

1 cup water

½ bottle liquid fruit pectin (Certo)

Measure honey and water into large saucepan and mix well. Place over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. At once stir in pectin. Then bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim off foam with metal spoon, and pour quickly into glasses. Cover jelly at once with 1/8” hot paraffin wax. This will make five glasses.

Here are a couple of options for the main course, in addition to the Shrimp Creole we love for holidays. Because we just do, that's why.

Basic roast turkey

18 to 22-lb. turkey

2 oranges or 4 lemons, halved

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

Salt, pepper, paprika

Cheesecloth

4 T corn oil

Clean turkey with damp paper towels. Dry well inside and out. Squeeze orange or lemon juice over the inside and outside of cavity. Fill neck cavity with one stuffing and body cavity with another, if desired. Don’t pack too tightly. Close cavities by sewing or skewering. Rub 1½ sticks of butter over outside of turkey. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Drape cheesecloth over top of turkey. Place breast side up on rack in roasting pan. Bake 4½ to 5 ½ hours at 325* F or until turkey tests done. Baste every 30 minutes with corn oil which has been mixed with remaining butter (melted). Baste without lifting cheesecloth, but check periodically to make sure it is not stuck to skin. If it is, gently lift and baste under cheesecloth. If breast gets too dark, tent with a piece of foil.

The Brooks family. Vada is the taller of the two little girls.

For the poultry-averse:

Brisket

6 lb. brisket

3 T garlic salt

3 T onion salt

3 T celery salt

½ bottle dark smoke (liquid smoke), 3-oz bottle

Wrap in foil and marinate overnight. Cook 6 hours at 275* F.

--Vada Brooks Johnson

Finally, if you are still able to move, we recommend a nice selection of pies for dessert. You can never have too many of these. Some already-printed classics include Pumpkin-Chiffon Pie, Buttermilk Pie, Pecan Pie and Caramel Pie. Here are a few other dessert options:

Sour cream dried cherry pie

2 cups sour cream
3 egg yolks
½ cup brown sugar
3 T flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 ½--2 cups dried sour cherries
½ cup water

Put the cherries in a small saucepan with the water and plump them over low heat about 5 minutes. Cool and drain. Combine the flour and sugar. Add the beaten egg yolks, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Cook the custard in a double boiler until it just starts to thicken, stirring continuously. Mix in the cherries and divide between two pre-baked piecrusts. Bake at 350* until just golden, 10-12 minutes.
--Pat Monaco and Sally Shelton

Chocolate chip cheesecake

1 ½ cup finely crushed Oreo cookies
¼ cup oleo or butter, melted
3 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 14-oz can Eagle Brand condensed milk (not evaporated)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini-chocolate chips
1 tsp flour

Preheat oven to 300* F (important). Combine crumbs and oleo; pat firmly on bottom of 9” springform pan. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add Eagle Brand milk and beat well. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. In a small bowl, toss together ½ cup chocolate chips, 1 tsp flour to coat. Stir into cheese mixture. Pour into pan. Sprinkle ½ cup chocolate chips on top. Bake 1 hour or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temperature. Chill and remove side of pan. Serves 10-12.
--Marcie Nelson

I'll post another pie recipe on Thanksgiving Day. Happy Monday.

Family recipe Monday: Leaving September, and apples

Scarlet maples, Delaware Museum of Natural History

When fall hits out here in the Dakotas, it hits hard. A front whipped through over the weekend and brought the temperatures to near-freezing. I think that we'll see the end of the produce season up here soon. We are all hoping that we even have fall colors this year. Last year we had a freezing front and snow on October 1. There were no colors: the leaves froze while they were green and fell off the trees in huge clumps. Not the sight of which fall reveries are made. There is nothing like the blazing yellow of cottonwoods in the fall.

We are missing the colors of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast right now, so our thoughts are turning to the Pennsylvania Dutch apple recipes that are so good this time of year. These are classics, and not easy to find out here if you didn't bring a Pennsylvania Dutch cook with you. Fortunately, we covered this contingency.

Apple dumplings

6 large baking apples
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 T butter or margarine
¾ cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 T lemon juice
2 T butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Make pastry first. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in shortening until like coarse cornmeal. Moisten with milk, stirring with fork as little as possible. Roll into a rectangular sheet about ¼" thick. Cut into 6 squares. Peel and core apples and place one on each square. Mix ¼ cup of sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon. Fill center of apples. Use more sugar to fill centers if necessary. Make a syrup by bringing to a boil ¾ cup water, ¾ cup sugar, 2 T lemon juice and 2 T butter. Roll dough around apples and fasten by moistening edges and pinching them together. Place in large shallow pan. Pour syrup over dumplings. Bake at 450o for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350* and bake for 30 minutes.
--Dolly Shaffner Hess
Date on card: August 26, 1985

The only explanation I have for the spot on this card is the usual one: this is a sure sign of a much-loved and much-used recipe.

Brown Betty

Mix together in 10"x6"x2" pan:

3 cups chopped apples (peeled or unpeeled)
1 ½ cup coarse bread crumbs
¼ cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar

Sprinkle with ½ tsp cinnamon or nutmeg. Pour over top ½ cup water. Bake at 325* for 45-50 minutes.
--Dolly Shaffner Hess

Apple crisp

Place in buttered 10"x6"x2" pan: 4 cups sliced apples. Sprinkle with 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp salt, ¼ cup water. Rub together ¾ cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter and drop on apples. Bake at 350* for 40 minutes.
--Dolly Shaffner Hess

I will finish with my favorite September poem of all time. Loren Eiseley captured the bittersweet feeling of September on the prairies best of all. There was a trace of smoke in the air last night, and this poem can immediately to mind.

Leaving September

If I have once forgotten on this field
The long light of the dusk, or far away
The sheep on tawny grass, how stones will yield
Small bitter puffballs, or a cricket stay
To wring wry tunes from emptiness and dearth,
Let me remember; let me hold them now
Close to the heart--while I upon the earth
Am the stone field and pain the heavy plow.
Not in wide measures is the harvest culled;
Not by disaster nor by cutting hail
Is the loss seen, the grief is somewhat dulled--
Being done at last. Ours is a different scale--
Leaving September stars and a little smoke
And memory tight as a lichen to an oak.
--Loren Eiseley

Happy Monday.

Family recipe Monday: art of the soufflé

Cheese and leek souffle, from Elaine's British and Irish Food blog.

Soufflés are surprisingly robust, easy dinner preparations. They can turn leftovers or small amounts of ingredients into impressive meals. Have the ingredients at room temperature and the oven fully heated, then dare to experiment. The key is the stiffness of the egg whites: it's hard to overdo this. That's where the loft comes from. They do not keep, so have everything ready to serve. Don't let the hype deter you from trying your hand at these kitchen wonders.

Gene's mom Dolly had a couple of great recipes with careful directions in her files. Enjoy.

Dolly’s cheese soufflé and variations

Make Thick White Sauce: 4 tbsp. butter, 4 tbsp flour to 1 C milk, adding ¼ tsp. dry mustard, and a dash of cayenne pepper with salt and pepper.

Stir into the hot white sauce 1 C (¼ lb.) shredded sharp cheese. Remove from heat and stir in 3 egg yolks well beaten.

Beat until stiff 3 egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar and fold into the cheese mixture.

Pour into ungreased 1½ qt. casserole (7½”). For High Hat Soufflé, make groove 1" from edge. Set casserole in pan of water 1" deep. Bake until puffed and golden brown. Serve immediately. Can be served with crisp bacon, mushroom or shrimp sauce, etc.

Temperature: 350 degrees (F) Time: 50 to 60 minutes Amount: 4 servings

Variations: 

• Tomato-Cheese Soufflé: Follow recipe above except use tomato juice in place of the milk.
• Cheese-&-Corn Soufflé: Follow recipe above except add, with seasonings, 3/4 tsp dry mustard and, with cheese, 1 C drained cooked whole kernel corn and ½ C soft bread crumbs.
• Cheese-&-Ham Soufflé: Follow recipe above and add, with the cheese, ½ C ground cooked ham.
• Mushroom-Cheese Soufflé: Follow recipe above and fold in 1 C sautéed finely cut mushrooms into the Cheese Soufflé mixture at the last. Delicious with any seafood sauce.
• All you have to do - For second servings bake Cheese Soufflé in two 5" to 6" casseroles placing one in the oven 10 minutes after the other and bake only 30 to 35 minutes.
• For Individual Cheese Soufflés, pour into custard cups and bake only 20 to 25 mins.

ALWAYS SERVE IMMEDIATELY
--Dolly Shaffner Hess

Mushroom soufflé

24 large mushrooms
1 small onion, finely diced
¾ cup butter
2 T flour
1 cup chicken broth
4 eggs, separated
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Wash, dry and detach stems, but do not peel. Chop stems and 6 whole mushrooms and sauté with the onion in 4 T butter. Make a cream sauce of 2 T butter, flour and broth. Add sautéed mixture. Cool. Beat egg yolks and fold into cream sauce. Season with salt; add more if necessary. Beat egg whites stiff and fold into mixture. Place mushrooms into buttered casserole, hollow side up. Brush with butter. Pour soufflé over. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350* F until puffed and brown.

Happy Monday.