A Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Recipes

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A Prairie Cookbook has recipes that were used to satisfy the hunger of pioneering families in the Midwestern United States.

I must frame your expectations before you read this book. These aren’t Old Country recipes. They’re recipes from the Midwest from the turn of the last century. You’ll find better recipes on how to make ox-tail soup, for example, on the internet and from other books, complete with full-spread glossy color illustrations. If you read this book for culinary how-to instructions or the art of gourmet, you’ll be missing the point. Rather, my goal is to open a window into a vanishing world through the doorway of taste.

This book provides another dimension to understanding the lives of our ancestors. These recipes are as simple and as unpolished as those who worked the land. And yet they invoke an atmosphere that other histories may not fully capture. They become a kind of a time portal into the past. Crushed tomato leaves are an example for me. Their smell magically transports me back to my grandmother’s tomato garden when I was five years old. For you, it might be the smell of a holiday dinner or freshly baked cookies.

Despite the hardships they faced, the people of the plains had high aspirations and ideals. In 1918, my grandmother Emma’s husband Nicholas died during the Spanish flu pandemic that raged at the time. And yet she saw all eleven of her children go to college before and during the Great Depression.

A Prairie Cookbook helps provide the context in which these meals were lovingly prepared, for children, grandparents, and field hands, and for holidays, weddings, funerals, and for daily life. Both these recipes and the memoirs give us a glimpse of an important time in the history of our nation and give us insight into the simple but strong character of the homesteaders of the Midwest.

CONTENTS

Bread and Bread Making
Griddle Cakes and Waffles
Cereals and Cereal Products
Soups and Chowders
Salads and Salad Dressing
Relishes and Sauces
Meats

From the Publisher

Excerpts from A Prairie Cookbook

Ox-Tail Soup

Cleanse and cut 1 ox-tail into joints, put into stew kettle, cover with salted cold water, par-boil, strain off liquid or stock; have ready 1/2 cup finely chopped bacon or ham, and 2 each onions, carrots, small turnips, and single stalks of celery, all finely sliced or chopped.

Steam-engine Tractor

Grandfather Wik’s steam-engine was a powerful machine for its time. The picture was taken in 1916 or 1917.

German Steak

Large, thick round steak; put in a deep pan, dredge with flour; cover with layer of slices of potato, season with salt and pepper; cover this with a layer of tomatoes, salt, pepper, and flour; on top, place a few slices bacon; full pan about half with water, cover, cook slowly in moderate oven about 4 hours.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01BJB5F7G
Publisher ‏ : ‎ A Blue Kitten Book
Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 6, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 17.5 MB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 177 pages
Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #966,197 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store) #85 in American Midwest Cooking #281 in Midwestern U.S. Cooking, Food & Wine #344 in Midwest U.S. Biographies
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