Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Elizabeth Town, North Carolina

 

The Location: Elizabeth Town, North Carolina

2013 population: 18,266. 55.9% African American, 37.0% white. Per capita income: $18,024.

Nicknamed, the "Harbor of Hospitality," the city was founded in 1794. It was originally a mercantile hub, but segued into a commercial and industrial center. It was originally named Redding, but since there was another town nearby with the same name, it was renamed in 1801. Two different theories exist about the name: Either it was named after Queen Elizabeth I, who had funded the colonization of the Virginia and Carolina coasts 200 years previously, or it was named after Elizabeth Tooley, a local tavern owner who donated a lot of her own land to the city.

Elizabeth Town is positioned on the Pasquotenk River, and the nearby Dismal Swamp Canal would help improve the town's financial success. In 1827, the custom house, or the government building where trade paperwork was filled out and filed, for all of Camden County, was moved to Elizabeth Town. This increased business and tolls being paid to the city.

The Confederacy had a fleet stationed in the city during the Civil War. After a brief battle in the city on February 10, 1862, the city was taken over by the Union. Guerilla warriors for the Confederacy would continue to attack Union forces, though unsuccessfully, for the remainder of the war.

After the Civil War, the railroad would alter Elizabeth Town's importance as an industrial center. With transportation moving to the railroad, it left the city less relevant than it had been, but it would be revived during the Second World War. It was made into a center for textiles, aeronautics, and shipbuilding. It would also bring commerce back to the area, due to the increase in population. Today, the city still has a strong economy, with government and agriculture-based industries.

The Food: Vinegar and Mustard BBQ Sauce and Pimento Cheese
The South has a wide variety of dishes to choose from. I have tried to spread them out over the course of this project, and not overdo certain best-known items. Barbeque is one of them. I have done one other state: Texas, and knew I was going to do this one, since the sauces are so vastly different, but I did not want to overdue it. So, two states out of fifty got barbeque, and I think that's fair, even though it's known all over the country.

This ended up being an interesting meal. The items I thought I would like, I ended up not liking, and the item I thought I wasn't going to like, ended up being really delicious! North Carolina has two very unique barbeque sauce traditions that I had never tried before. Vinegar-based sauce and mustard-based sauce are dueling sauces that, depending on where you're from in the state, you are very passionate about. I decided that since they were both simple sauces, I would try them both. I purchased a pork roast and roasted it very simply in the oven with salt and pepper. This way I had a neutral base for each sauce.

The vinegar sauce was basically what it sounds like: cider and white vinegar with Tabasco, sugar, and chili pepper flakes. I made it a couple hours before using it, so I thought it would marinate and become very flavorful. Unfortunately, it basically just tasted like vinegar. Maybe I should have heated it up to help the flavors blend better, but I feel like I shouldn't have had to. Pork with vinegar doesn't taste very good, so this wasn't a win, in my opinion. I will share the link to the recipe in the sources section for anybody interested in trying it out, but I'm not going to type out the recipe here.

The other sauce was a yellow mustard-based sauce. My taste for mustard has begun to expand over the years, so I thought I might be ready for this one. It turns out, I am not. This one just tasted like mustard and vinegar and I did not end up eating it either. It also ended up being a sort of unappealing brown color too, so that didn't help. Again, I'll provide the link, but I'm not going to write out the recipe. It turns out, I'm definitely a traditional tomato sauce-based bbq sauce person. It's what I grew up eating, it's what my palate is used to. It's just what I think is the tastiest. But at least I know now what the other kinds taste like. Barbeque fans are very passionate and particular about what they like and don't like in a sauce.

And now, for the recipe that I was assuming I would detest, and did because it is such a Southern staple: Pimento Cheese. Anything with the word pimento in it is generally something I try to avoid. If you are unaware of what pimento is, think of the red bits inside a green olive. It is a roasted red bell pepper that usually comes in a jar. I cannot stand the taste. So, when I decided to try it out anyway, the first thing I chose to do was to roast my own red bell pepper. I have no idea what a jar of the already roasted stuff costs, but I imagine it's probably more than the cost of buying your own bell pepper and throwing it in the oven. It is the easiest thing in the world to roast a bell pepper and I cannot recommend that over the jarred stuff highly enough. If you have never roasted a bell pepper before, here's the process: Wash the bell pepper and place it on an ungreased sheet pan. Put that into a 400 degree oven. It will start to blacken on the outside and sometimes it will pop and make noises, but don't be worried, it's just releasing the air from the inside of the pepper. Occasionally, turn the bell pepper so that the underside gets a chance to blacken. After about a half hour, remove it from the oven, place it in a mixing bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap to allow the heat to steam the skin off the pepper. When it's cooled down enough, remove it carefully from the mixing bowl(it will generate a lot of juice from the pepper. You can decide if you want or need to use this for whatever you are using it for. I drained mine off except for a very small amount.) onto a cutting board and pull out the stem and peel off the skin. This will allow you to start ripping apart the sides and carefully unfolding it. You will want to remove all the seeds. From there you do whatever you need to with it. Cut it into thin strips, or what I did was dice it very small. One average bell pepper will yield a little over 1/4 cup of roasted, minced pepper.

Fancy Pimento Cheese

20 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup minced fresh chives
1/2 cup minced roasted red pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup dill pickle juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco)
1 pinch ground black pepper

Using the smallest holes of a box grater, grate half the Cheddar cheese. Grate the remaining Cheddar cheese on the next larger size holes.
Stir together the Cheddar cheese, chives, roasted red pepper, cream cheese, pickle juice, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce, and black pepper in a bowl until evenly combined.

I have seen pictures of other pimento cheese recipes over the years, and the ingredients are all blended together. The cheese must be heated up or something, but this wasn't like that. It does feel a little odd to scoop up and spread wet cheese shreds onto a piece of bread and eating it, but it was worth working through the weirdness! One ingredient stood out to me as very unique: the pickle juice. What a brilliant idea for flavoring food! And it turns out it was great in this recipe. I served this spread out on slices of French bread and it was really good! I made a half recipe, as you see above, the recipe is enormous! A half recipe still filled that entire container and I will be sharing it with my coworkers tomorrow.

So, my dinner didn't turn out as I had planned, but that's ok. That's what is fun about this blog project. Not everything is going to turn out how you want it to. Some things will taste amazing and some will taste awful. You never quite know what you will get. And just because you didn't like something, doesn't mean something went wrong in the cooking process. Sometimes it just means you don't care for the flavor, or your palate is not adjusted for it yet. If only I knew somebody from North Carolina who would have tried the recipes and let me know if I did them right or not!! Oh well, it was still a fun experiment!

Sources:
Pimento Cheese Recipe

Vinegar-based BBQ Sauce

Mustard-based BBQ Sauce

City Map

City Pic

City Stats

City History

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Laramie, Wyoming

 The Location: Laramie, Wyoming

 

2013 population: 31,814; 83.6% white, 8.7% Hispanic. Per capita income: $22,441.

Prior to being colonized by the United States, the region around Laramie was home to the Sioux/Lakota tribe. The town of Laramie was first founded in the 1860's, and was built as a tent city next to the railroad line. The city was initially part of what we call the "Wild West" and subjected to a lot of the lawlessness that went along with it before being stabilized and "civilized".

Laramie, or perhaps all of the state of Wyoming, comes across as full of contradictions. Wyoming, as a territory, was organized in 1869. Women were granted equal rights by the legislature. Laramie was the first city in the United States to have women serve on a jury, in 1870. It was also home to the first woman to cast a ballot in an election, on September 6, 1870. It's the first city to ban smoking in public places. However, it is also home to the University of Wyoming, where the Matthew Shepard murder took place. For a place that from its inception was a beacon of what we would today define as liberality, it also has some shockingly conservative attitudes as well.

Supernatural Factoid: Actor Jim Beaver hails from Laramie.

The Food: Turkey Jerky and Three Sisters Stew

Wyoming's food seems to be as contradictory as its history and values. The two themes I came across most while researching food for this state were: Cowboy food and Native American food. So, I decided to run with it and find a recipe that represented each of those halves. Beef and buffalo are big in Wyoming, but they are not big with me, and I've always wanted to make jerky, but that meant finding a different protein source. Enter, the turkey. I modified two recipes I found online and combined them into my own recipe. I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt!

Turkey Jerky
1 Tbsp. liquid smoke (Tip: If you are having trouble looking for this at the grocery store, check out the bbq sauce aisle. It's a good bet you'll find it there.)
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce, or to taste
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 tsp. mesquite flavoring liquid (I could not find this in the store and dumped in some chili powder instead. I think it turned out pretty good this way!)
2 tsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. turkey breast, sliced thin (I used the cutlets that come pre-cut, the Jenny-O brand. I cut them in half but they were the perfect thinness to begin with.)

Combine the liquid smoke through the salt in a gallon-size ziplock bag. Mix well.
Add the turkey slices, and cover all the turkey slices in the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator 12-24 hours.
When ready to prepare the jerky the next day, pour the turkey slices and the marinade into a pot, and simmer until the liquid reaches 160 degrees on a meat thermometer. (I didn't actually test the temperature, I just made sure it looked cooked on both sides.)

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. (Note, my oven's lowest setting is 170 degrees. If yours is this higher temperature too, you may want to put the turkey in for less time. Try 2.5 hours and then test for moisture as described below.)
Drain the turkey slices from the marinade. Pat the turkey slices dry with paper towels. Lay the slices of turkey directly across your oven racks. (Place foil or a sheet pan under it to catch any of the slices that may slip off.)
Prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon to allow moisture to escape.

Continue to cook the turkey this way for 3-6 hours.
After 3 hours, test a piece by allowing it to cool,and then bending it. If there is any moisture present, continue to dry longer, checking every so often.
Store in an airtight container for up to 2 months in the refrigerator, or up to 6 months in the freezer.

 My jerky tasted awesome! A bit spicy, but I liked that. It was a bit crunchy in some bites, which means it dried out too much, as I said in the notes, this was probably because the temperature was just a bit higher than it was supposed to be. Probably a half hour less would have been perfect. It was way easier to make than I ever expected it to be. If you have been curious to try making jerky but are worried that it might be too complicated, don't be! Try it out! It's a fun project.

Three-Sisters Stew
I came across this name a few times in my researching and decided to use a vegan version of the recipe. According to Native American lore, there were three sisters: Corn sister, bean sister, and squash sister. Those three sisters provided all the nourishment the people needed, and because of this, they were planted together. The corn grew tall and the stalks allowed the beans to grow up without needing stakes. And the squash grew at the corn and bean's feet, making for easy harvesting. And science has proved the truth of this lore, because these three food items eaten together form what is known as a complete protein. Animal proteins are complete proteins because they contain every type of amino acid in them, but vegetarian protein sources are incomplete. Corn, beans, and squash, combined together, contain all the amino acids, which make it a complete protein source, and a boon for vegetarians and vegans. There are versions of these stew with meat in them, but I felt it wasn't needed. The three sisters are the star of this dish, and they deserved to stand out on their own, especially since I was making turkey jerky as well. I didn't need more meat than that!

1 large butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium green or red bell pepper, cut into short narrow strips

1 (14- to 16-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with liquid

2 cans (drained and rinsed) pink or pinto beans

2 cans corn kernels, drained

1 cup homemade or canned vegetable stock, or water (I used water)

1 (4 oz.) can chopped mild green chilies, drained

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. chili powder or mesquite seasoning, or more, to taste (I used chili powder)

1 tsp. dried oregano

Dash cayenne pepper

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place squash on a greased sheet pan and roast for about a half hour, until browned and cooked through.

Heat the oil in a large sauce pan. Add the onion and sauté over medium-low heat until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to sauté until the onion is golden. Add the squash and all the remaining ingredients except the salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. 

Simmer gently, covered, until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If time allows, let the stew stand for 1 to 2 hours before serving, then heat through as needed. The stew should be thick and very moist but not soupy; add additional stock or water if needed. Adjust seasonings to your liking. Serve in bowls.

This was really tasty! The squash is sweet and helps temper the spices in the stew. I am curious how it will taste reheated, but it was very good fresh too. It worked really well with the turkey jerky and was perfect for a snowy day like it was here today. It felt very winterish. I highly recommend this recipe!

Sources:
Turkey Jerky recipe

Turkey Jerky recipe

Three Sisters Stew recipe

City Map

City Pic

City Info

City History

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Portsmouth, New Hampshire

The Location: Portsmouth, New Hampshire

2013 population: 21,440; 88.5% white, 3.9% Asian, 3.9% Hispanic. 2013 per capita income: $40,437

Prior to the European invasion, Portsmouth had been home to the Abenaki and other Algonquian language-speaking tribes. Martin Pring is the first recorded European to explore the area in 1603. By 1630, Europeans were colonizing the area. A British fort, Fort William and Mary, was built near the village of Portsmouth, giving it added protection. Portsmouth is located on a river harbor that opens to the ocean, and is thus a strategic location for trading. Other industries included lumber, ship building, and fishing. By 1645, enslaved Africans were being used as a labor source. Portsmouth profited greatly from their role in the Atlantic Slave Trade.

The city was first incorporated in 1653. In 1679, it was named the capital of the colony of New Hampshire and also became a place of refuge for Puritan exiles from Massachusetts. In 1774, Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth and warned people that the British were on their way. During the Revolutionary War, the slaves helped defend the city from the British. Once the war ended, in 1779, a group of 19 slaves submitted a petition to the state asking them to abolish slavery in exchange for the role they had played in the state and the nation's freedom. The petition was ignored, but New Hampshire did eventually unofficially abolish slavery in 1783 when they changed taxation codes and reworded the state constitution. It was not officially abolished in writing, however, until 1857, when the state passed legislation that stated that a person's decent may not be used to deny them citizenship to the state. Though it wasn't until New Hampshire ratified the 13th Amendment on July 1, 1865, that it was truly and officially ended.

Portsmouth was incorporated as a city in 1849. Though President Lincoln toured through the state of New Hampshire, and the state sent soldiers to fight, the state itself was too far north to have had any battles fought on its soil. Though Portsmouth lost many men to the war, the city itself remained unscathed.

Today, there are many museums and historical buildings dedicated to preserving the early American history of Portsmouth. The city itself now is considered a politically liberal city with many colleges and universities. The publishing company, Heinemann USA, is located in Portsmouth. Portsmouth is home to a plethora of well-known names throughout history. A few recent names include: Ilene Woods, the voice of Disney's Cinderella, Brooke Astor, philanthropist, Samantha Brown of the Travel Channel, and Tom Bergeron, tv host.

The Food: New England Clam Chowder and Brown Bread

I couldn't not do New England clam chowder at some point in time with this blog project. It is so quintessentially New England that it would be criminal of me to neglect it. I know there are several types of clam chowder, but I wanted the traditional New England kind, with a dairy or dairy-like base and no tomato products in it. And soup needs bread, right? One of the most famous kinds of New England breads, is Boston baked bread, the brown bread with raisins, baked/steamed in a cleaned out metal can. But this isn't Boston and so I couldn't do that one. But I found a similar bread and made that one instead. The bread recipe comes from my own recipe collection, at this point in time, the source is unknown. The clam chowder recipe came from online.

Raisin Rye Bread
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup water, 105-115 degrees
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup butter
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
1 1/2 cups rye flour
2 3/4-3 cups white flour(I only needed the 2 3/4 and probably could have used less. I had to add a bit of water to get it to mix properly because it was too dry.)
1 cup raisins

1.) In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
2.) In a saucepan, combine the milk, molasses, and butter.
3.) Heat to lukewarm, 110-115 degrees. Pour into yeast mixture.
4.) Stir in the salt and caraway seeds. Beat in the rye flour and white flour with the raisins.
5.) Form a soft dough. Knead on a lightly floured board.

6.) Let rise in a buttered bowl, covered, until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
7.) Shape into a round loaf. Let rise on a buttered baking sheet, covered, for 30 minutes or until almost doubled. Slash the top.
8.) Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
9.) Let cool on a rack.
Makes one loaf, 16-20 slices

The bread was kind of tough to knead. I had to add water to it to get the flour to incorporate fully and I feel like it never rose as much as it was supposed to. In spite of all that, the flavor was fantastic! I bet you never thought that a caraway flavor would taste good with raisins, but it does! This is a nice, rustic bread that is good with lots of butter on it. I am going to try toasting a slice today and I bet it will be really great that way! This was super easy to make.

New England Clam Chowder-Dairy and Gluten Free
I have made the base for clam chowder in the past, when I worked in the restaurants I used to work at, but have never actually made it from start to finish before. I think it's a soup that people are intimidated by for some reason, but there is no reason to be. I wanted a recipe that was dairy-friendly and this one is! It's also gluten-friendly for those who need that. The original recipe that I will put in my sources section, has instructions for using canned and fresh clams. Because I used all canned, I will only write out the recipe the way I did it.

3 (6.5 oz.) cans chopped clams with liquid (Strain these with a strainer into a bowl. Keep the clams separated from the juice because you will add them at different points in the cooking process.)
1 (8oz.) can clam juice
3 strips bacon, chopped (I recommend freezing the bacon before chopping, it will make it so much easier.)
Olive oil, if needed (I ended up needing it, my bacon did not give off much fat.)
1 small onion, chopped
2 leeks (I used one large and it was enough.)
1 cup finely chopped celery, with leaves
2 Tbsp. sweet rice flour (Can use regular flour if gluten is not an issue for you. I had the rice flour on hand so I used it.)
1/2 cup white wine (I didn't have any on hand, but you'll note that sherry is listed as an optional ingredient in this recipe, at the end. I used it in place of the white wine at the earlier step instead.)
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram or thyme (I had marjoram on hand so I used it.)
1 bay leaf
Pepper
1-1 1/2 cups almond milk or alternate to dairy milk of choice (I used coconut milk and it was wonderful in this. Not the kind from the can, the kind from the cardboard carton like you would use for cereal. You'll find it at the store in the same place as the almond milk. Probably the same brand too.)
1/4 cup sherry, optional

1.) Cut off and discard root ends and green tops of leeks. Slice leeks in half lengthwise, remove outermost layer and discard. Run leeks under water, separating layers to rinse out sand. Slice leeks thinly.
2.) Cook bacon in a large pot, until crisp. Remove bacon from pot and leave about 2 Tbsp. bacon fat in the pan or use olive oil to make up the difference, if there isn't enough.
3.) Add chopped leek, onion, and celery to the pot and saute over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes.
4.) Add flour and wine and stir about 30 seconds. Working slowly at first to avoid lumps, stir in the clam juice and deglaze the pan. 

5.) Add potatoes, marjoram, bay leaf, and pepper. Liquid should cover the potatoes. If it doesn't, add water to cover, and bring to a boil.
6.) Reduce heat to simmer and cover, for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Remove the bayleaf and discard.
7.) Using an immersion blender, puree about 1/3 of the potato mixture. Mix in the almond milk, reserved bacon, and the clams, and heat back to a simmer. Add sherry, if desired.

This was fabulous! I am looking forward to reheating this tonight because you know how soup always tastes better the next day. I ate this with the bread and some potato chips and it was a perfect meal for a chilly winter night. The clams and clam juice weren't smelly, which is nice. If I had had Saltine crackers or some oyster crackers, that would have been a lovely addition to the soup.

Clam chowder is easy to find in canned form at the grocery store, or in restaurants, but it really is not hard to make from scratch. If you have always wondered what it's like to make, you really should try it out. It did not take long at all, I had much better control over what went into it, and it tasted delicious! If you want to try out a dish that screams "New England," this is it!

Sources:
New England Clam Chowder Recipe

City Info

City Pic

City Map

City Stats

City History

Slavery in New Hampshire

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Mankato, Minnesota

The Location: Mankato, Minnesota

2013 population: 40,641. 88.4% white, 3.7% African American. Per capita income: $24,330.

The region Mankato is part of was once home to different groups of Native Americans, and over time, when the East Coast began to be populated with more European Americans, the Native Americans were displaced and many ended up relocating in the Mankato area. European Americans also followed suit and began settling in the area in February of 1852.

Mankato as a city, was formed on May 11, 1858, by a man named Henry Jackson. Legend has it that the town was intended to be called Mahkato, the Dakota word for Greenish Blue Earth, but there was a clerical error, and it was entered as Mankato. The railroad came to Mankato in 1868, connecting it to the greater world and making it much easier to travel to and from.

"Fun" Fact: Mankato was the location of the largest mass execution in United States history. On December 26, 1862, the US Army executed 38 members of the Dakota tribe for their role in an uprising known as the Dakota War in 1862. 303 Native Americans had actually been sentenced to death, but President Lincoln pardoned all but 38.

You may be asking why I chose Mankato, out of all the cities in the state of Minnesota, why such a random, obscure town? Well, the answer is simple: Little House on the Prairie. Not the books, the tv series. Mankato was sort of the go-to town that the people on the show traveled to for trading and other business. And one of my rules in life is, if you can connect something to Little House on the Prairie, you do, no questions asked! And so, here we are!

The Food: Scandinavian Christmas
So, I have had a bad cold and was unable to do this blog project for two whole weeks. This set of food was actually scheduled for last week and I was going to take the food to a family gathering to share, but I was too sick to cook and too sick to attend the gathering. I was very sad to miss out, especially since one of the items was tied to a date. In the end though, I decided to do it this week instead and freeze the results to bring for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Lussekatter-Lucia Buns
December 13th is St. Lucia Day, and though St. Lucia is a Catholic saint, she is highly celebrated in the mostly-Lutheran Scandinavian countries. If you have ever seen drawings or pictures of blonde girls with wreaths and lit candles in their hair, this is it. Traditionally, the eldest daughter in the family dons the wreath and candles and serves her family Lucia Buns, which are a saffron-flavored and -colored sweet roll.

I have had this recipe for Lussekatter for years. Every year around Halloween, I pull out my holiday recipes and decide what I'm going to make for the year, for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every year I pull out the recipe and I say, "I'm gonna make these finally!" and every year, I don't, and then I put it back till next year, where the ritual is repeated. When I started this blog project, I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally make these. And in keeping with the tradition, it fought me every step of the way. First off was getting sick when I was supposed to make them. I wondered if I should forget it, yet again, and put the recipe away for another year. But then I decided that I am neither Scandinavian, Lutheran, nor Catholic, so what the heck did it matter if I did it on the proper day or not? So, I did it, a week late, but I did it! And then there was preparing to make it. When you bake, one of the most important things to do is get your mis en place, this is a French term that basically means "getting your sh-- together". You make sure you have all the stuff you need before you get too far into the process and find out something's missing and your project is ruined. I had just gotten back from the store with ingredients for my other recipe, yet did not look at the ingredients for this one. Of course, it turned out I didn't have enough yeast, so back to the store I went and bought yeast. Then I was able to get started!

Traditionally, these buns have saffron in them, but if you can't find it or afford it, you can use turmeric instead. This particular recipe does not have either in in, but as a nod to it, I added a pinch of turmeric to the egg wash I put on the tops before baking to turn it a bit yellowish. If I had thought of it ahead of time, I would have added it to the milk and let it color the entire dough itself, which is how it's supposed to be done.

Here is the recipe:
3/4 cup milk
2 pkg. dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2/3 cup sugar
5 cups flour, sifted(I did not notice this part, I would definitely sift it)
1/2 cup softened butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 cup seedless raisins(You need two per roll, so a total of 64)
1 egg white, beaten slightly with 1 Tbsp. cold water(I used the whole egg after realizing it should be a yellow dough, I added a pinch of turmeric too. It worked pretty well, I think.)

Scald milk and cool to lukewarm. Add yeast to lukewarm water and mix until yeast is dissolved. Add milk, sugar; mix well.

Add two cups flour and beat until smooth. Add butter, egg, salt, and cardamom. Beat to well mixed. Gradually add in the remaining three cups of flour until well-incorporated. Turn out on a floured board. Knead to smooth and elastic. Place in bowl. Let rise until double in bulk. Punch down and repeat.(Note, I did not repeat, I went directly to the next step. I have never heard of a bread dough where you let it rise and punch it down two times before moving on to the formation and final rise step. You can try it and see what happens, but I can't vouch for it...)

Divide dough into 32 pieces. Roll each piece until about 16" long. Cut in half. Place two side-by-side and curl up ends. (As usual, I didn't actually really read the recipe as I went along and didn't do this. I rolled each piece out as much as I could and then rolled it up into a sort of S shape, making 32 rolls. This is possibly why they came out a bit on the dry side, because they were too small.) Place raisins in curl.

Cover-let rise until double. Brush with egg white and bake at 350 degrees for 11-12 minutes.

The cardamom flavor in these rolls is amazing! I really love the flavor of cardamom, it's a nice change from cinnamon. It's a prominent flavoring in Scandinavian cooking and baking. I like to think about the history of food and these buns are a good example. How do cardamom and saffron, spices from Asia or the Middle East, make their way to the northernmost parts of Europe? Why, the spice trade of course! You can see the geography and history sitting right there in the roll, and you can taste it as you eat it. Portable, edible history is always the best kind, I think.

The next recipe is a Christmas cookie recipe I have also had for a very long time but never tried. I decided it fit in very well with the buns and the theme of the blog meal. There is an icing for these cookies, but I did not make it yet. Since I froze the cookies to take to Christmas Eve and Day, I will make the icing fresh and put it on the thawed cookies. They were pretty awesome even without it, though!

Scandinavian Almond Bars-Source: Taste of Home Magazine

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp. almond extract(I have to thank the tall man at the grocery store for reaching to the very back of the top shelf for the almost extract, or I would have been stuck with the imitation stuff!)
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. milk
1/2 cup sliced almonds, chopped(These are so thin you can actually crush them in your hand and not need a knife and cutting board to chop these up)
Icing:
1 cup powered sugar
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1-2 Tbsp. milk

In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter; beat in egg and extract. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well. (The recipe does not call for chilling the dough, but I do think this type of dough would benefit well from it. If I was to make this recipe again, I would chill the dough.)

Divide the dough into fourths; form into 12"x3" rectangles. Place 5" apart on greased baking sheets. Brush with milk; sprinkle with almonds.

Bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until firm to the touch and edges are lightly browned. (I found 18 was too much and the first batch was a bit overdone. I did 15 minutes for the second batch and it turned out better. 14 would probably have been best.) Cool on pans for 5 minutes, then cut diagonally into 1" slices. (I found mine stuck to the pan, use a spatula and carefully remove each rectangle to a cutting board ASAP.) Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Combine icing ingredients; drizzle over bars.

Makes: About 4 dozen

These have a texture akin to biscotti, and I thought it could have stood to have a bit more almond flavor. Next time I would double the amount of extract I used to help bring that flavor out a bit more. I am also curious to see what the icing will do to the flavor. I am not generally an icing person, but it will add more almond flavor, so I'll try it out.

Though neither of these recipes turned out perfectly, I really had fun making them, and that's all that really matters. I would make them both again, with the small changes that I think would make them even better. If you are of Scandinavian descent or just enjoy the cuisine, I highly recommend both of these! You can have St. Lucia buns next December 13th!

Sources:
City Stats

City Info

City Map

City Pic

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Tahlequah, Oklahoma

 

The Location: Tahlequah, Oklahoma

2013 population: 16,359; 46.4% white, 29.2% Native American. Per capita income: $17,056.
Tahlequah, legend has it, is derived from the Cherokee word "Ta'ligwu," which means "two is enough". According to the legend, after the Cherokee people arrived in Oklahoma, upon finishing their trek along the Trail of Tears, there was to be a meeting with three tribal elders for them to decide upon a location for the Nation's new permanent capital. Only two of the elders showed up, so they decided that two was enough, and made the decision themselves. In 1839, Tahlequah was named the capital of two Cherokee tribes based out of Oklahoma: the Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and remains the capital of both to this day. The oldest public building in the state is located in Tahlequah: the Cherokee Supreme Court Building.

Tahlequah has a Cherokee language immersion school, and children from elementary school age through middle school age are taught 100% in Cherokee. This causes some issues, however, when students are tested for statewide testing, they are tested in English, and therefore do not do as well. When they graduate to high school, classes are taught bilingually, however. Most street signage in Tahlequah is also bilingual. The Cherokee language is part of the Iroquois language group, and is one of the first Native American languages to have been written down. A Cherokee silversmith by the name of Sequoyah, or Ssiquoya, created a syllabary(alphabet) in 1821, and it was officially adopted by the Cherokee Nation in 1825.

The original Cherokee Nation was first recognized by the United States government in 1794, until 1907. Prior to their removal by the United States government to Oklahoma, the Nation's territory extended from Texas to North and South Carolina, and up from Tennessee down to Georgia and Alabama. The Cherokee, along with the Seminole, the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Chickasaw, were what is referred to as the "Five Civilized Tribes" by the United States government. They were called this because they adopted many of the traits that the United States favored, such as conversion to Christianity, slave ownership, a centralized government, and intermarriage with white people.

So, how did a large, well-organized group of people come to live in Oklahoma when they had enjoyed such a large territory? Well, in 1830, the United States government passed the Indian Removal Act. This would remove all of the "Five Civilized Tribes," one by one, from their territories and move them all to Oklahoma. The route they took would become known as the "Trail of Tears". The first instance of this term comes from the removal of the Chocktaw Nation in 1831.

Between 1830 and 1850, the "Five Civilized Tribes" and any white members of their families, and any of their slaves, were forcibly removed from their lands. The Cherokee removal started in 1838, when gold was discovered in Georgia. In the summer of 1838, 16,543 Cherokee were removed from their territory, and put into concentration camps. About 353 people died during that time. The death march to Oklahoma started in the autumn of 1838, and an estimate of 2,000-6,000 people were killed along the way, due to freezing temperatures and extreme weather. They arrived in Tahlequah on March 18, 1839.

The Food: The Other Side of Thanksgiving
You might be asking yourself why I chose to celebrate this horrible moment in history at this particular holiday. Well, I don't consider this a celebration of the Trail of Tears, or what was done to the Cherokee or any other Native American tribe in our long, and mostly sad, history between the United States government and the Native Americans. I know a lot of people struggle with allowing themselves to enjoy Thanksgiving, knowing what we are responsible for. I don't know how much of the original story of Thanksgiving is actually true, and how much of it is myth, but I like to think of it as a moment in time in which we had many paths to choose from. Paths in which we worked together with other groups of people, and lifted ourselves up equally and coexisted peacefully and lovingly. Ultimately, though, we did not take that path, but chose a path of ignorance and selfishness and hatred. But for that one moment, all things were possible. I think it's a good time to not only look at what we have in our lives to be grateful for, but to also remind ourselves to choose the path of peace and love and working together.

The state of Oklahoma is difficult to find, shall we say, culinary gems that I wanted to feature on this blog, so that meant looking outside of the usual Euro-centric cultures that I too-often default to. I remembered a piece of information from school about the Trail of Tears ending in Oklahoma, and that's where I started my research. I looked up my schedule for when Oklahoma was going to be featured, and saw it was the weekend after Thanksgiving, and thought it was a sign that it was meant to be. But this presented some other issues. What to eat? I had resisted for this entire project, the idea of doing fry bread for a Native American food post. I have wanted to feature more Native American food, but so much of it is so obviously post-Columbian in nature that I wasn't sure I wanted to go there. Unfortunately, I had very little luck finding anything doable that was pre-Columbian. This was one of the first times I talked over a blog post with somebody else prior to doing it. I talked to my friend, Mika, and expressed my concerns and issues. I only wanted to feature Native American food if I could do it with the utmost respect, and honor it as best as I could. It isn't my culture, after all. Whenever I write about a meeting of two cultures in this project, I present it as a good thing to celebrate, but how do you celebrate this particular meeting of cultures? Her suggestion was to just go for it, and express my misgivings, and that it is a celebration, of sorts. A celebration that, in spite of all that was done to them, and all the people and land lost over the years, the Cherokee, and other tribes, are still here. They were not wiped out entirely, and though they are not nearly what they were before, they still exist. The United States government failed in their attempts to wipe them all out, and that, is deserving of a celebration, in my opinion. And so, I decided to do the fry bread, because if there is one dish I would assign as "Native American" more than any other, it would be fry bread. Each tribe seems to have their own recipe, and within the tribes, each family probably has their own take on it as well. Mika also helped me find some other recipes to try, and I ended up with four! It was a proper feast. All the recipes come from the internet, and I will include the links in the sources section at the end of this blog.

I think this is the first time I have done a beverage for this blog project. I ran across a recipe that sounded so unusual to me I knew I had to try it. I figured it would either be the best thing or the worst thing I've ever had, and I was lucky that it turned out to be amazing! Here is the recipe:

Pinole
1 cup cornmeal(the recipe calls for blue or white but my store only had yellow. I opted for the medium grind and I think that was a good call.)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Milk

Pour the cornmeal out onto an ungreased sheetpan and put into a 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Every few minutes, take the pan out and stir the cornmeal around. This will brown very quickly and mine actually got to the edge of burned, but was still ok. It may smoke, so make sure to turn on your stove's fan or you may set off your fire alarm. When it's toasted, pour it onto a plate or another sheetpan to cool off.

When the cornmeal is cool, combine it with the sugar and cinnamon and mix well. When you are ready to drink, heat one cup of milk and one Tablespoon of the cornmeal mixture over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. You don't really want it to boil, and make sure to stir often.

This was a crazy good drink. It almost smelled like chocolate, and the cinnamon tasted really good. The texture is really rich and you think you're drinking something really unhealthy, but it's just because the cornmeal softens and has a really amazing texture. You will need to stir it often while drinking, but I was surprised at how much I liked this drink. The mix makes a lot, and I'll keep it around for special treats.

The cup has the pinole in it, and the cut up item behind it is the unfried fry bread. I have seen fry bread, and have eaten it once before, but never made it myself. It turned out to be very simple and delicious! Here is the recipe:

Cherokee Fry Bread 
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk

Mix the ingredients in a medium bowl, adding more flour to make a stiff dough.(I found mine needed almost an entire cup more.) Roll out the dough onto a floured board as thin as possible. Cut into strips 2" x 3" (I used a pizza cutter to do this) and fry in an inch or so of oil over medium heat. Brown on both sides. 

My first batch was flat, but all the rest bubbled up more like fry bread is supposed to. I think the oil wasn't quite hot enough for the first batch. I loved watching these bubble when you put them in the oil. They were sort of like a cross between a pancake and a tortilla. They were awesome!! I ate them plain but the recipe said you could add honey if you wanted. 

In my search for an entree, I kept running across something called "Cherokee Chicken". I'm always a little wary of recipes with titles like these. If they are authentic at all, they've usually been Americanized beyond recognition, but I found a recipe for it on a Native American message board, so I felt a little better about using it. It was super simple and used ingredients I was familiar with, but put them together in such a unique way that I was was just really impressed with the result. It's also Thanksgiving-worthy, as you'll see...

Cherokee Chicken
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2 Tbsp. minced onion
1 green pepper, minced
Salt/pepper to taste
1 frying chicken, disjointed (I bought two chicken breasts, with skin and bones, because my store didn't have a whole chicken and I didn't really need that much. Because of this I cut the recipe in half and it worked out just fine)
8 oz. can whole cranberry sauce (Because I try to limit my sugar intake, this was a place to cut out sugar by making my own cranberry sauce. I made my own with a bag of cranberries, about a half cup of unsweetened applesauce, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and about 1/2 cup of water used to rinse out the jar of applesauce and boiled it all in a pan until the berries popped and everything got nice and thick.)

Instructions:

Heat oil and butter in a 12" skillet. (I used a large pan with a lid. A Dutch oven would have been awesome for this too, if I had one.) Add chicken; cook until golden brown on all sides.

Remove chicken from the pan and move to a plate. Pour off all but 2 Tbsp. fat. Add green pepper, garlic and onion; cook until soft. Add cranberry sauce, salt and pepper. Return chicken to the pan and turn a couple times to cover all sides in the sauce. Cover, simmer 25 minutes. Every once in a while, turn the chicken to continue flavoring all sides with the sauce.

Serves 4 to 6.

This was amazing! I was a bit concerned about the cranberries in this recipe. I mean, cranberries are native to this continent, but they are not found anywhere near where the Cherokee used to live or in Oklahoma, so why were they used in this recipe? There was a note on the message board that said the cranberries had come to be used instead of wild berries that were originally used in the recipe, so I felt better about using them. This definitely works in keeping with Thanksgiving flavors. And I think the homemade cranberry sauce kept it from being too sweet. This was worth every step it took to make this. 

And as if all of these recipes weren't enough, I decided I needed a dessert too. I ran across a unique recipe that I was sure I could reduce the amount of sugar from and still have a good texture and flavor. It turns out I was right! I probably ate five of these tonight...

Cornmeal Cookies with Dried Cranberries
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar(I used 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce instead)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. baking power
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries

Cream the butter and sugar(and applesauce if using). Add the egg and vanilla and blend well. Stir in the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt until combined. Stir in the cranberries until well mixed.


Drop dough from tablespoon on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.(Mine were a little smaller than a Tablespoon and made two full dozen. I cooked them for slightly less time, maybe 12 minutes.)

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen.

You should be really jealous of me and the meal I ate tonight. Or, you could try out all the recipes yourself and you can partake of the amazingness as well! I had no idea cornmeal was so versatile. I have used it a lot over the last year during this project. I know corn is native to this continent, but there is something about cornmeal in particular that seems to be so very American. I used it in two very different ways tonight. Ways I have never used it before. Maybe it's another example of two worlds colliding. Instead of death and destruction, though, it created something amazing and beautiful. Perhaps I could look at it as a glimpse of the world we could have had, if we'd taken that other path so long ago when we'd first had the chance to...

Sources:
Cornmeal Cookie Recipe

Fry Bread Recipe

Pinole Recipe

Cherokee Chicken Recipe

City Stats

City Map

City Pic

City History

Trail of Tears Map

 

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Cuba, Kansas

 The Location: Cuba, Kansas

2013 population: 149; 96.8% white, 1.9% two or more races; per capita income: $19,062

Cuba was founded in 1868 by Southerners after the Civil War. It was named after the country in which one of the travelers had spent time and grown to love. In the 1870's, Czech immigrants settled there. In 1884, the town moved from its original location to a location closer to the newly-built railroad. It has since moved one more time to its present day location. The Czechs left a rich cultural heritage behind and today, the city proudly boasts this cultural contribution to America.

Cuba doesn't appear to have a terribly thrilling past, but what I find interesting about it is, it seems to be the perfect example of small-town America. Kansas is in the center of our country, and was once a hub of farming communities. Today, though, big agriculture business has wiped out most of these small towns, making them truly a dying breed. As young people leave in search of more interesting activities or to increase their chances of financial success, and as the older folks who stayed behind begin to die off, these towns are dwindling. Some might think that we should be allowed to die out and move on with the future, but I think it's really quite sad. Some of these towns at least, should be preserved. For so long, states like Kansas were responsible for feeding this nation, and it was the toil and sweat of hardworking people who fed us. I'd say it's time we gave back to them. Perhaps, like the Czech immigrants who came to Cuba so long ago and infused the town with their culture, it's time for a new group of people to come and help Cuba to thrive again. New blood, as it were. I can think of one particular group of people in desperate need of a place to live right now, but that's a topic for my other blog...

The Food: Klobasnek and Kolache
Kolache is a Czech food, and Klobasnek is an American invention that is a savory take on the Kolache. Though the Klobasnek hails from Texas, I am using it for the state of Kansas because I wanted to focus on Czech food and wanted a savory item to balance out the sweetness of the Kolache. Kolache are a cross between a cookie and a bread. Its bread dough that is rolled thin and filled with some type of sweet filling and then baked. They come out of the oven looking a bit like a cookie, but still have a bread-like texture. Klobasnek are sausage and cheese rolls made with a savory Kolache dough. The recipes I used came from the internet and are so long that I won't put them here. I will include the links in the sources section and write up my experience in making them.

I made both recipes concurrently, so I will write up the experience all in one section, rather than one recipe at a time. First up was the Kolache-or, the trouble-maker dough.

So, this was a trouble maker from start to finish. First off was the adventure of buying poppy seeds for one of the fillings. I made three fillings for these: a poppy seed, an apricot, and a blueberry filling. I have never cooked with poppy seeds before, but have seen them used in a lot of Eastern European baking that I knew I wanted to try it out. I went to Fred Meyer and luckily they had poppy seeds in their bulk spice section, so I got a small bag, about one cup worth. Now, these run a little expensive, about $13 a pound, which makes sense because poppy seeds are so light. I bought a few other items at the store and when the checker told me the amount right as I ran my credit card through, I knew $41 was way too much for the poppy seeds, the lemon, the orange, and the croissant I had purchased. It was too late though, the transaction had gone through. I thought maybe they were more expensive than I had though, maybe I'd misread the label. I looked at the receipt though, and noticed they'd come in as nearly three pounds of poppy seeds! There was no way that small bag was three pounds. Luckily the customer service area was empty and the woman there was very nice. She reweighed the bag, which actually came in at a third of a pound, and discounted me the $32 overcharge! Easy peasy, and then I was on my way.

Fast forward to the afternoon when I'm finally going to start these blog items, to about 3:30pm. You know, there's a reason people make bread earlier in the day, but I thought, how bad can it be? This is plenty of time! Wrong! I did not pull the last set of Kolache out of the oven till about 9:30pm last night...The moral of that story is, you don't have to get up at 2 in the morning maybe, but do start a bit earlier in the day than I did. You'll thank yourself later.

So, first off, the yeast wouldn't dissolve in the milk. I think I let the milk that I heated cool off too much because I was afraid it was too hot. So, I pour most of the milk, minus the chunks of yeast, back in the pan and heat it up again. Then I put it in the bowl with the yeast and it still won't melt! I have never had this happen before. It wasn't expired yeast, I checked the date. I finally used my fingers(with gloves on) to sort of mash the yeast into the milk and force it to dissolve. Fun, fun, fun!

After that time, I went about the recipe exactly as it was written. I had set the stick of butter on the stove to soften. It was perfectly soft and ready to use. The only problem? I forgot to put it in the dough! So, I am kneading this dough that is stiff as heck and would only let about half the flour absorb into it. I finally gave up trying, greased the bowl, covered it, and moved it to the stove to let it get warm for the first rise, and see the stick of butter sitting there! What do I do to fix this? I was pretty sure that leaving it out with be an absolute disaster, so I had to figure out a way to get that butter into an already-formed dough. I was not about to start over, so I took the bowl back to the counter, unwrapped the butter and smashed it into the dough. Literally. And then I kneaded it as best I could, while sort of tearing the dough from the inside and letting the butter incorporate all the way into the center. I didn't want it to turn out like a croissant dough, where the butter layers remain distinct from the dough. I just worked and reworked it, while adding more flour to absorb the extra fat. Finally, it looked halfway decent, but I'm afraid it never quite recovered. That plus the earlier yeast issue meant that I could never get it to rise quite as much as I had hoped it would.

While that dough was rising, I started on the Klobasnek dough, or, the well-behaved dough. This dough was a dream, and everything the Kolache dough was not. It rose easily and fully and was soft and easy to handle.

While both doughs were rising, I worked on the three fillings for the Kolache. I made half batches of what the recipe calls for and ended up with extras for the poppy seed and the apricot fillings. The blueberry filling was just enough. I recommend making quarter batches for the apricot and poppy seed fillings, unless you plan on using it for all the Kolache. For all of the fillings, I replaced the sugar with an equal amount of unsweetened applesauce and I think all of them turned out just fine. You would never know unless I told you. The blueberry filling was very straight forward and cooked up very nicely. The poppy seed filling was interesting because I had to grind the seeds up first, using my spice grinder. Did you know that poppy seeds are filled with oil? I did not, and found this out when I ground them up and they started clumping together. The oil has a very distinct smell and scent, one that I am sure most of us are unfamiliar with, since most of us only eat them on our everything bagels or mixed into muffins. The apricot filling was boiled for a while and then I used my hand-held blender to puree it into a sauce.

In this picture, you can see all the fillings, and the doughs while they rise. The blueberry is on the left, and the poppy seed filling is on the right. The Kolache dough is in the metal bowl, and the Klobasnek dough is in the blue bowl. You can clearly see the difference in how they are rising.

For the Klobasnek dough, you mix a few of the dough ingredients first and let it sit for a half hour before adding the next set of ingredients and letting it sit for it's first rise. After that first rise, I punched it down and divided it up into 8 equal pieces. You roll them or stretch them out into small rounds, like little pizza doughs, then place a Tablespoon or two of shredded cheddar cheese in the center. Top that with a piece of sausage. I had Polish sausages that are basically in the shape of hotdogs, so I thawed two of them and cut them up into quarters, once lengthwise, and once widthwise so there would be a good amount of sausage in each one. Then you roll them up, pinch the edges to seal them, and set them on a greased sheet pan to rise the second time.

I managed to stick all of them on one sheet pan. The sides on some of them did end up touching some of the others, but it all baked up just fine.

For the Kolache dough, after its first rise, I punched it down and kneaded it some more, while adding more flour, because of all the mishaps it had had, it was still a little greasy. It looked much better after adding more flour. This dough is divided in half and each half is rolled out as thinly as you can get. Then you use a cookie cutter, or I used a glass, and cut out rounds. It's supposed to make 24, and mine might have if it had cooperated better, but mine only made 21, and the last few times of rerolling it were really difficult. The dough did not want to stretch out anymore, so some of them were pretty sad-looking. Those rounds were placed on greased baking sheets and set aside for their second rise. I did seven on each pan and did not want to dirty yet a fourth pan, so I only put two sets on the pans first and let the last set sit on the counter to rise.

After their second rise, I used my hands to press down the center of each Kolache and make a space for the filling to go. I made 7 of each flavor, putting the filling in before you bake, so that it all bakes together.

I didn't follow the egg glaze or the posipka recipes for these exactly, but made it work for what I had on hand. The Klobasnek dough called for two egg yolks, so I had two egg whites left over, so I threw some milk into them and mixed them and used that as the glaze and I think it worked just fine. And my sister had some sugar and cinnamon mixed for toast, so I just sprinkled some of that on over the glaze and it was perfect.

After the Klobasnek had finished their second rise, I finally was able to bake them, while working on the Kolache. Before you put the Klobasnek in the oven, you brush them in melted butter. When they're done and you've taken them out of the oven, you brush them in more melted butter while they're still hot.

OMG, these things were fantastic! The bread dough was the softest I think I've ever had in my life and the cheese and sausage were ridiculous. I ate two of them last night! I ate them while I was baking the Kolache, which I did one batch at a time, rather than trying to use two racks and hoping the bottom one didn't burn. They each took 12 minutes to bake and turned out amazing! I liked the blueberry and apricot ones the best. I didn't care for the flavor of the poppy seed filling. It was just too strong of a floral flavor for me. Since I don't have any experience with this filling, I have no basis of comparison, so I don't know if it's supposed to be that way, or if I did something wrong. Maybe if I had been raised with that flavor, I would like it more. But I am very excited that I tried it out and got to see just how that filling is made! I had no idea they grind up the seeds.

So that's all of it, in its glory, about six hours after I started...My feet and back were so sore and then I still had to deal with packaging it all up for people! Many of the Kolache were placed on a plate and I froze them to take to my family's Thanksgiving dinner this week, so they will get a chance to taste them all! Some are being shared with my parents today and some will go to work tomorrow for a few people to try them out, but the rest of the Klobasnek are mine!! I froze them so I can have them whenever I want!

During the last part of this, I of course had to watch The Wizard of Oz. I mean, Toto and Dorothy might not have been in Kansas anymore, but that's where I was visiting, and so it was a must.

This was quite an adventure, trying to make two completely different bread-dough based items at the same time. I have never tried that before, and I have never started it so late in the day before, either. I would highly recommend starting a bit earlier in the day for these, especially if you are making both. They were both fantastic, though, so if you feel confident in your bread-making skills, and have never made these before, you really ought to try them out. You'll come away from it asking yourself where these have been your whole life!

Sources:
Klobasnek Recipe

Kolache Recipe

Cuba City Website

City Map

City Pic

City Info1

City Info2

City Stats

Dining-In: A Culinary Tour of America-Winchester, Virginia

The Location: Winchester, Virginia

2013 population: 27,216; 68.8% white, 15.9% Hispanic. Per capita income $26,061.

Before the Europeans arrived, the region around Winchester was home to Iroquoian-speaking Native American tribes. This included the Sherando and the Senedo. In the late 17th century, the Shawnee challenged these tribes for their hunting territory, and eventually took over. The area was also a battleground for the Seneca and the Lenape who hailed from the North, as well as the Siouan Catabwa, from the Carolinas. The Shawnee would end up being removed from their land in the 1830's by the United States government as part of the Indian Removal Act. Though they did not travel on the Trail of Tears, like many other tribes, they ended up in Oklahoma, with all the other tribes who did.

The area around Winchester began to see European settlers starting in 1729, when Quakers from Pennsylvania traveled there. The Scots-Irish and Germans soon followed. The city was founded in 1738, as Frederick Town, but in 1752, it was renamed Winchester, after the town in England. A young George Washington spent a lot of his younger years here, surveying the surrounding land. During the Revolutionary War, a militia group from the city came to General Washington's aid during the Siege of Boston in 1775.

During the Civil War, Winchester's proximity to the Shenandoah Valley made it a large target for both the Union and the Confederacy. It was the location of five battles between 1862 and 1864, and there were two more nearby in 1864. After the war, the United States government assigned a military presence in the city during the Reconstruction era.

Today, Winchester has several museums and tours available for tourists and Civil War buffs.

The Food: Peanut Soup and Savory Baklava

Peanuts originate from South America, but are now known as an American staple. Virginia peanuts, which actually grow in various Southern states, are very large in size and in high demand. Virginia began growing them in the 1860's. When I think of this state, this is one of the foods that immediately come to mind, so I knew I wanted to do something with them. I could have tried out boiled peanuts, but from everything I've heard about them, they're just not all that amazing. I wanted to try something very different and substantial. Peanut soup is something I've heard mentioned off and on over the years and in the course of researching for this project, but I have never been brave enough to try it until now. It just sounded so weird to me, but it was actually really good! My recipe comes from a vegetarian recipe site, and I'll copy it here with my changes and put the link to the original recipe in the Sources section at the end of the post.

Peanut Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 large celery stalks, finely diced
8 to 10 ounces carrots (6 to 8 medium), peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup dry white wine or water
2 tablespoons unbleached white flour
 32-ounce container low-sodium vegetable broth
3/4 cup natural smooth peanut butter(I used Adam's brand)
1 to 1/2 cups unsweetened rice milk or almond milk(I used dairy milk because that's what I had at home and I didn't want to buy more)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish(I skipped this, I'm not a big parsley fan)
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice, to taste(Mine needed at least twice that to get the flavor to come through. I used lime juice because that goes really well with the peanut flavor. Think Thai food.)
Cayenne pepper or other hot seasoning, to taste(I used Tabasco sauce)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Chopped roasted peanuts for garnish, optional

Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion, and sauté over medium heat until translucent.

Add the celery, carrots, and wine. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are soft but not overcooked.

Sprinkle in the flour in with the vegetables, and stir it in until it disappears.

Add the broth and bring to a rapid simmer. Cover and simmer gently over low heat for 10 minutes.


Spoon the peanut butter into the pot and whisk it in briskly until blended with the liquid.

Stir in the rice or almond milk and bring to a gentle simmer once more. Stir in the parsley and lemon or lime juice.

Add cayenne or other hot seasoning to taste, then season with salt and pepper.

If time allows, let the soup stand off the heat for an hour or so to allow the flavors to blend, then heat through as needed.

Taste to adjust seasonings, then serve. Garnish each serving with some chopped peanuts and parsley if desired.

I'm pretty proud of the fact that my soup looks pretty much exactly like the picture on the original recipe. It definitely had a Thai flavor to it that I really liked, but there was too much celery for my tastes. Next time I'd probably cut that at least in half. I found this soup to be really rich and filling. I mean, it's peanut butter, it's full of fat(the healthy kind) and protein, so there's a lot going on there. A cup of soup, rather than a bowl, is best for this sort of hearty soup. This was pretty easy to make and didn't take long to cook. I didn't have any peanuts to use as a garnish but that would have looked nice on top and added some crunch to it. Make sure you have some for the garnish if you try this recipe out.

And for the entree...Virginia ham is a unique ingredient, akin to proscuitto. It is very salty and meant to be eaten sparingly. It is also referred to as Country ham. But, it can also refer to other types of ham, the sliceable kind for sandwiches, and this is the kind I used. It's not easy to find in Seattle, so I went to two grocery stores and went with the first kind I found, no questions asked. It said Virginia on it, so I was cool with it. It wasn't the prosciutto-style, but it was very smoky and didn't seem to have any sweetness to it, like most hams do.

So, this recipe was supposed to be something else, and I had to change it at the last minute due to a couple different things. First, it was supposed to be baked in mini cupcake tins, and I only had one and didn't want to prep these 4 times which is the amount of batches I'd have to make with only one tin. Second, to thaw out the few sheets of phyllo dough I needed, I actually had to thaw the entire half package. The phyllo dough I bought came in two separate halves that you have to unroll. What to do with all the other dough? You can't refreeze it and you can't really refrigerate it, and I was not about to just toss it. I spent good money on the high quality stuff, I wanted to use it. So, I thought about the recipe and how I could change it to make it work for me. And thus, this recipe was born. When I ate sweets, baklava was one of my favorite desserts, so I am quite familiar with how it works. How to turn it into a savory entree, though? Well, that's where the original recipe came in. I used all the filling ingredients, added one of my own, and assembled it in the style of baklava. I will write out my recipe and include the link to the original inspiration in the Sources section as well.

Savory Baklava with Virginia Ham
1/2 pkg. phyllo dough, thawed
1/2 lb. Virginia ham, chopped
6 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 tart apple, chopped or shredded
1/2 cup pecans, chopped(Because baklava needs to have nuts in it. I know pecans don't scream "Virginia", but they are a Southern staple and I looked it up and George Washington grew pecans in his home at Mount Vernon in Virginia, so that to me makes it an appropriate nut to include in this dish.)
1 stick butter, melted
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed(I used the Trader Joe's brand, because the Nabisco brand still has partially hydrogenated fats in it it, even though it's not a lot. I try to avoid those at all costs, but use whichever brand you like most or have access to.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the bottom and sides of a 9"x13" baking dish. I used a glass dish. Layer several sheets of phyllo dough on the bottom and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle some of the crushed crackers and then put another several layers of phyllo dough over that. Butter that layer and put half the ham mixture on top of that, spreading it out evenly. Repeat with the phyllo, butter and crushed crackers for a layer or two and then top with the rest of the ham mixture.

 

Continue with the phyllo, butter, and crackers until it's all used up.

Any extra butter you have can be poured over the top and then tilt the pan around to let it seep through to the lower layers. Or you can just use it for something else if you don't want to use it all up. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, checking to see that it's browned all the way through before it's finished. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes before cutting into pieces and serving.

 I found this to be really rich, and didn't need much to get filled up. I can see why the original recipe was for appetizers. A little of this goes a long way! Paired with the peanut soup, I got full really fast. Of course, it might have something to do with the bag of Pirate Booty I ate during the Presidential debate last night. Dinner was suuuuuper late! This made a lot of leftovers, so hopefully my coworkers will help eat it all up tomorrow for me! I gave some to my parents too, so I'll have to check later to see what they thought of it.

I looked at my blog schedule last night and did the math. This week's post denotes the start of my final fifth of the states. I am amazed that I have managed to keep up with this project for so long and that it's getting down to the last set of states to study! I'll be sad when this is over...!

Sources:
Original Ham Tart Recipe

Peanut Soup Recipe

City Info

City Stats

City Map

City Pic

Virginia Peanut Info