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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-06-05, Page 22Page 6A—Crossroads—June 5, 1985 Cooking Corner - Traditional dishes a Dutch treat By Verne Palmer Tucked away in the heart of Pennsylvania's Mennonite farm country is a 200 -year- old stone farmhouse. It sits beside a small rural road miles from Highway 283, the arterial link between Harrisburg and Philadel- phia. There's nothing to differentiate it from its neighbors and, in fact, to. many of those neighbors it is simply the Groff family farm. Life on the farm proceeds much the same as it does on other farms in the area. The fields are tilled, the livestock cared for, fruits and vege- tables are "put up" in due season, breads, rolls and egg noodles are made daily and a steady stream of homemade sausages, hams, pork loins "and beef roasts make their way into the farm's smoke- house. The difference is apparent only at mealtime. The 75 people who sit down to eat in the Groff dining room are not members of the family or even relatives — in fact, some have traveled as far as 15,000 Miles to dine at the Groff Farm Restaurant. The dishes visitors enjoy there are traditional Pen- nsylvania Dutch — one of what proprietor Betty Groff describes as two pure ethnic cuisines in America (Creole being the other). Groff said Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is more than 200 years old, and "hasn't changed much in all those " years." A typical meal includes at least two main dishes, and if it's a special occasion there are a minimum of three -- usually usually a chicken, meat and oyster dish. In addition there is an endless stream of vege- tables side dishes, starches,. relishes, and desserts - be- fore, during and after the meal. Meals at -. the farm tradi- tionally begin with Cracker Pudding and Old -Fashioned Chocolate Cake. "The ap- petite is bigger atthe begin- ning of the meal, so why not enjoy a little dessert?" Groff said. The desserts are pas- sed around the table throughout the meal and a fresh assortment follows it. In addition to the tradition- al smoked meats, cured hams and pork sausages, Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine takes its individuality from such delights as noodle pot pies, schnitz and knepp (dried apples and dump- lings), oyster fillings, black raspberry and shoofly pies and endless relishes: A sampling of recipes selected by Groff as espec- ially representative of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine follows. CRACKER PUDDING 1 qt. milk ,1 2 egg yolks Two-thirds cup sugar 2 cups broken saltine crack- ers (not ' rolled into crumbs) 1 cup grated coconut (fine or medium shred) 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 egg whites, stiffly beaten "In heavy 3 -quart pot or Dutch oven, heat milk al- most to boiling point. In bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar together until frothy and light. Gradually add to hot milk. Reduce heat to medium. Crumble crackers into milk (1 package of crackers makes 2 cups). Stir constant- ly until mixture comes to. boil. Add coconut and stir until pudding bubbles thick- ly. Remove fromheat and add vanilla. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Serve warm orcold. If you want to make this fancy, top with meringue and bake until golden brown. Serves 6 to 8. CHICKEN STOLTZFUS 1 (5 lb.) roasting chicken, cleaned, giblets removed 11/2 • qts. water 1 tbsp. salt One-third tsp. pepper Pinch saffron 12 tbsps. butter 12 tbsps. flour 1 cup light cream or 1/2 cup each milk, and evaporated milk 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh or t/8 cup dried parsley 438 Bloor 8t. W. Toronto, Ont. 964-1389 Pastry Squares(recipe fol- lows) . Parsley for garnish Put chicken in 6-quart'ket- tle. Add water, salt, pepper and saffron and bring to boll. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, for 1 hour. Remove chicken and cool enough to debone. Strain stock. Reduce stock to 4 cups. Remove skin and bones from chicken and cut meat into bitesize pieces. Melt butter in pot in which chicken was cooked and mix in flour. Cook over medium low heat ntil golden and bubbling. A 4 cups chicken stock and ream, stirring constantly. ook over med- ium-high heat until sauce. comes to boil. Simmer until thickened and smooth. Re- duce heat and add chicken pieces and chopped parsley. Serve hot over pastry squares. PASTRY SQUARES / cup lard or vegetable shortening t/z cup butter 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. salt About 1/2 cup ice water Cut lard and butter into flour and salt with pastry blender, or mix by hand, un- til it forms crumbs.' Sprinkle ice water over crumbs with one hand, while tossing them lightly with other hand. Use only enough water to hold dough together. Press dough into ball and put on lightly floured sur- face. Divide into 2 or 3 parts. Roll' each part 1/e inch thick to fit ungreased cookie sheet. On cookie sheets, cut dough into 1 -inch squares with pas- try wheel or sharp knife. Bake in preheated 350 F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Arrange pastry squares on heated platter. Spoon chick- enon top. Note: These may be made beforehand. Store in airtight container. SHOOFLY PIE 1 unbaked 9 -inch pie crust Crumb topping: 1 cup flour 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1/4 cup' vegetable shortening Liquid bottom: 1 tsp. baking soda 1 cup boiling water 1 cup boiling water 1 cup golden table molasses Whipped cream or ice cream (optional) Combine flour, brown sugar and shortening in bowl; and cut with pastry blender or rub together until it forms fine crumbs. While prepar- ing liquid, put unbaked pie shell in preheated., oven at 350F for about 5 minutes. (This prevents bottom from getting soggy. To make liquid, dissolve / soda in boiling water in bowl. Add molasses and salt and stir to blend well. Pour liquid mixture into prebaked pie Shell, and sprinkle crumb topping evenly on top. Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and bake 30 minutes longer until center does not shake when it is moved. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream, if de- sired. These pies freeze very well. MILL ENDS KNITTING WORSTED & BABY 28* oz.* Reg. 35a SPINRITE FACTORY OUTLET 152 Main St. Listovtiel, Ont. 291-3951 BUSINESS A PLEASURE—When space is limited and must do double duty for home and at -homeoffice, sleek rattan and brass chairs with glass -topped rattan table can fill the bill. Patterned grass -cloth on walls complements the rattan furnishings with their textured chair cushions. Furniture is by Chromcraft. Double duty best of both worlds By Barbara Hartung Q. I am retiring this sum- mer but will continue to work at home as a free-lancer for my company. I will need facilities to serve as an office but I don't have space in my condominium for a separate room for that purpose. What additions might I make in a standard condo- minium that would give me an office but allow me to keep my business` clutter separate from my private life?—R.C. A. Double -duty furniture is one option. A dining table that can double as a small conference table is perfect. Inyour dining area, do you have one wall that isn't doing much? Install shelves and a counter that will give you a wall office — a place.,for com- puter or typewriter, writing space, and storage space for files and special materials for your work. Add doors, screens or even blinds that will allow you to close off the work area. This should give you the best of both worlds. Q, I am repainting my bed- room in white and will buy a new white bedspread. I need something at the windows The other day I saw 35,000 bats live. They weren't fly- ing around in caves or any- thing like that. They weren't even alive, but they make up one of the largest collections of Chiroptera' — that's' bats — in the world. The collection takes up several rooms at the Royal Ontario Museum, where huge Cabinets are packed with bats that have been dried and stretched out on trays. Rows upon rows of them. There are tiny bats about two inches long. There are medium size bats, yourtcom- mon garden variety, and whoppers as large as sea- gulls! The curator who corralled this collection is Dr. R. L. Peterson, an internationally recognized authority on bats. I spent a morning with him and came away With a whole new outlook on those creepy looking creatures that for centuries have been consid- ered symbolic 'of darkness and doom. Peterson has travelled the world looking for rare species. Known as the 'bat- man' at the ROM, he's brought 'em back from Madagascar, New Guinea, Soloman Islands, India and many other far -away places. "Bats are fascinating," he says! "They've just been given a bad - reputation through negative publicity — a bad press." ' I also learned that vam- pire' bats don't do all those gruesome things we think they do. They don't sink their teeth into your neck and drain out your blood. They scratch their prey and lick up the blood_ that oozes out. _ Dr. Peterson let me hold one of his favorite vampires. It felt soft and wooly, but had a mean little face. It wasn't as big as I'd imagined vam- pires to be. It has a wing spread of about six inches. Vampires feed off the blood of other creatures and will feed off human blood if they can't find anything else. But they never go for the jugular vein. They're more likely to scratch an arm or a leg. Dr. Peterson pointed out that bats are beneficial and essential to the balance of nature. "It's kind of a shame that people have developed such a fear of them," he said. So if you have bats' in your belfry, welcome them. You'll find that bats can be beauti- ful and you'll be as batty as the rest of us who, after hanging around Dr• Peterson awhile, became suddenly sold on these charming little creatures of the night. but I don't have the funds to buy expensive draperies. What simple window decoration could I use? I just need something to look pretty. Privacy is not a con- sideration, because I am on the third floor and no other buildings are close.—R.S.D. A. Hang a decorative wood drapery rod. Buy inexpen- sive white sheer curtains (or --lac ardage at a mill end store) . Sew wood loops to the top of the curtains and sus- pend the curtains floor to ceiling, allowing a generous amount of fabric to.,give a luxurious feeling. Q. My 10 -year-old daugh- ter has outgrown her juvenile decorations and wants a•grown-up look. The room now is peach, yellow and white. The pale peach carpeting still is very ,good. What would be a nice color scheme that would in- corporate the peach but not necessarily as the dominant color?— W.W. A. Do you think your daughter would like a tran- quil peach and blue color scheme, heavy on the soft blue? Wallpaper could be a cream and light blue pattern with/ draperies in a peach and blue print, which could be repeated on the bed. Or a soft blue bedspread would look equally pretty. Repeat. touches of cream and blue throughout. Paint the inside of her closet pale blue, for example. Or use the blue as the dominant color in an adjacent bathroom with accents (towels perhaps) in the peach. BE A SUCCESSFUL WRITER Qr'We recently moved into a lovely old house that has wood louvers across the lower parts of the windows in the living room and dining room. The upper parts of the windows are covered in short draperies that are old and faded and in need of replace- ment. We want to capitalize on alt the light we can and so 1 am 'wondering,what sort •of treatment might be best for us. We don't like the closed - in look of the draperies but I feel there needs to be some softness. We havemixture of modern and ; ntique pieces in our living room and dining rooms although the domin- ant feeling is one of tradition. Please give me some. ad- vice —T.P.Y. A. Light swags of fabric at the tops of your windows should be sufficient. Use a fabric that you use .else- where in the room — perhaps on a sofa, a chair, dining chair seats or a skirted table. Edge the fabric in a pretty trim. Simply catch the fabric at each corner of the window and let the fabric gently drape across the window and down each side to the edge of the louvers. ntta Make money writing & earn while you learn. The Writing School shows you how to write ankles, .short stories, novels, romances, radio and TV scripts that sell and keep on selling. 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