From my mom’s kitchen

In Irene in Danger and Finding Florence, the two most recent cozies in my Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries, narrator Henny James stars in her own TV show titled, “From My Mom’s Kitchen.” In contrast to Irene’s focus on French cuisine, Henny shares down-home recipes from her mom’s Texas kitchen. This morning I went searching for a specific recipe from my mom—a leg of lamb with plum preserves—to share with you. Never did find it but I sent myself on a nostalgia trip remembering some of the ordinary dishes Mom cooked.

Alice Peterman Peckham MacBain was of German descent, and her mother Granny Peterman, whom I barely remember, served traditional German meals. One result of that was Mom refused to touch or serve sauerkraut, and I never tasted it until I was grown and fixing my own meals. And as a child, I never had sauerbraten or schnitzel or rouladen, and there might have been cabbage but never sweet and sour. Still, married to an Anglophile who wanted roast beef and potatoes every night, Mom managed to cook some foods that I think she probably learned from her mother. Here are a few simple ones:

Sausage and apple skillet

1 lb. ground pork sausage

3-4 tart apples, cored and cut into slices but not peeled

Fry pork sausage until crumbled and done; drain off some of the grease and add two or three sliced apples—maybe McIntosh? a tart variety—and cook until apples are mushy. In those days we didn’t have choices between hot or mild or maple-flavored sausage. There was only what today would be labeled “regular” or “original.”

Mom sometimes served this for breakfast, but more often it was a light supper. We had a tradition of Sunday supper eaten on a rolling tea cart in front of the fireplace rather than at the formal dining table. This skillet dish was typical of those suppers; so were souffles and stratas (a layered casserole of bread and egg, usually with cheese.)

 

Wilted lettuce

Dad struggled to grow vegetables in the soot and smoke of Chicago, but when we had fresh leaf lettuce, Mom often wilted it. Christian was cautious when I mentioned wilted lettuce (it does conjure a negative image), but he now likes it.

2-3 slices bacon cooked crisp and crumbled – save 2 Tbsp. grease

Vinegar to taste (start with 1 tsp. and taste)

Fresh leaf lettuce

Mom would fry bacon, drain some of the grease off and add vinegar to the remaining, and crumble the bacon into it and reheat until just warm. (She did not measure, and my suggestions are approximate.) Then she poured the warm grease on the lettuce. You can only do this with fresh leaf lettuce.

 

Mom also used to fix beets and greens, which you almost never see these days. I don’t think people eat fresh beets much—or any other kind. She’d cook the beets, slice them, and return them to the pan with the washed and stemmed greens to simmer until the greens were soft. She poured vinegar over beets and greens, and one of my sons always ate them that way. I prefer them with butter and lemon. But a warning: it’s hard to find enough greens on fresh beets.

Beets and greens

1 bunch fresh beets with full, healthy greens still attached

Butter

Lemon and butter or vinegar to taste

Remove greens from beets; wash and set aside. Boil or roast beets until they can easily be pierced with a fork. Run under cold water until cool enough to handle and peel (the peel slips right off once cooked). Cut off the ends, slice, and return to drained saucepan. Trim stems off greens and add to pan with just a bit of moisture. Cook until beets are heated and greens are wilted and cooked.

 

I never ate southern dishes as a “northern” kid, but it occurs to me all these years later that Mom’s fried mush was typically southern. I think fried mush was one more thing from my Granny Peterman’s kitchen. Today, we’d call it hard polenta and serve it at supper. In Mom’s kitchen, it was breakfast.

Fried mush

Cornmeal

Oil

Butter

Syrup

Make cornmeal mush in a loaf pan, following directions on the cornmeal, and chill. Slice and fry in skillet with small amount of oil or maybe she used margarine (I’d use butter today) until lightly browned. Serve warm with butter and syrup. It’s delicious!

 

As for that sauerkraut Mom wouldn’t eat, try this:

Caramelized sauerkraut

Sauerkraut - about ½ cup per person (I do not like canned sauerkraut and always use a brand that comes in a glass jar or plastic pouch; drain well before frying)

Butter

Sugar

           Stir-fry sauerkraut in butter, constantly stirring and sprinkling with sugar, until it turns a lovely shade of light brown. It’s hard to get this right, and you may have to try a couple of times, but it’s so good. Mom didn’t know what she was missing!