By Ann St. Martin Stout
Leaves Are Free
Food is one of the many ways a family defines itself.
My mother-in-law recently passed away. While 41 family members visited at the private reception following her services, her daughters put out Mom’s recipe box and some of her specialty cookbooks, primarily with a Pennsylvania Dutch flavor.
Her teapot collection also graced the table. Most given to her as gifts, they now were selected by many as a remembrance of her. The teapots were always displayed on the top of the hutch as she and my father-in-law lived in various homes.
Fanned out on the table beside the teapots were the recipe box and cookbooks.
Mom and Dad both grew up in south-east Pennsylvania. The cookery, as it was called there, is distinct. Sweetened, vinegary brine containing chopped vegetables called chow-chow; and diced green peppers with green cabbage in a similar liquid called pepper cabbage are two I remember around the house. And of course, important from the German roots — sauerkraut.
Desserts like shoo-fly pie or funny cake were particular to the area of Pennsylvania. Apea cake — a dry, coffee-dunking cake contrasted with sticky buns, a soft, risen breakfast roll, dripping with either a brown sugar syrup or white icing. These were the Pennsylvania Dutch favorites the family remembers, along with ring bologna and Lebanon bologna.
But in those recipe boxes were some of Mom’s American fare too, both on the cards and on the family table years ago. These included deviled eggs, scalloped corn, sloppy joes — many from the Betty Crocker cookbook.
About six years ago, when I visited Mom and Dad at their Sunapee apartment, she commented that the thing she missed most, on that day before Ash Wednesday, was going to the bakery to buy Faschnauts. Similar to a raised doughnut, the faschnauts were traditionally made to use up the eggs, butter, lard, and sugar, before the Lenten fast began. These were a once-a-year treat.
I tucked that comment in my brain. On Fat Tuesday the following year I made a batch of faschnaughts (after comparing recipes in my Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook against those on the internet). Sprinkled with powdered sugar, and presented to the local experts, they met with approval, as Mom wondered aloud to Dad, “has she been making these a long time?” I guess my first attempt at faschnaughts tasted authentic.
Now, for holiday meals my children prepared Grammy’s scalloped corn. They’re ready to make deviled eggs. Apea cake, which is fairly easy to make, is always in the back of our minds. Next I’ll try the recipes on the cards I selected that day: candied sweet potatoes and Nut Cake.
And since I’ve heard about apple dumplings for a long time (served for supper with longhorn cheese and ring bologna) I will be giving that a try. My first attempt 40 years ago was not much of a success.
Since apple season is here, it’s time to try it again.
