"Hungarian Recipes" Reflections On An Intriguing Cookbook From The Magyar Evangelical and Reformed Church in Elyria, Ohio, 1957

I love food.  I like to cook but I don't claim to be a good cook.  I also love cookbooks, especially interesting, odd, unusual cookbooks, and I have bought cookbooks which fit that description for many years at yard sales and discount stores such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.  I don't even remember when or where I bought this little cookbook but I strayed into it again and, due to the fact that it is a piece of work from a truly unique cultural group in America and contains a few odd, interesting, and unique recipes, I decided to write about it on this blog.  My copy is the 12th printing of the book with a copyright date of 1957.  It is, amazingly, available online in whatever the current printing may be.  In the copy I own, it labeled as being "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of the MAGYAR EV. and REF. CHURCH 119 West River Street, Elyria, Ohio".  The copy available for sale on the internet today is labeled "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of Community of Faith United Church of Christ (formerly Magyar UCC)".  My copy sold in 1957 for one dollar with shipping available for 25 cents extra.  The copy available today online is priced at $15.00 with standard US shipping.  Inflation has obviously had some effect on the cost of cookbooks.  Interestingly, the cover of the book is exactly the same plain green it was in 1957.  The only change is the address and name of the church.  It is said to be available until December 31, 2025.  One other interesting footnote to this story is that despite my not remembering where or how I came to own this cookbook, I used to have an aunt, uncle, and three cousins who lived in Elyria, Ohio.  The book is only 40 pages in a pamphlet form but it is loaded with recipes.  

For me, the most interesting recipes in the book would be the following: Liver Dumplings, Veal Heart And Lung Soup, and Kidneys With Rice.  There is also one recipe for Chicken And Rice which calls for "1 chicken--using bony pieces: neck, feet, wings, gizzard, liver".  The wording in that ingredient is taken verbatim from the book.  Many of the meat based recipes also call for generous portions of lard.  I am forced to wonder if the 2024 version of the book still calls for lard but I doubt it.  The book also has a large section of recipes for dessert items, cakes, pies, cookies, etc.  For those of you who might not know the term Magyar, it is defined as:

"a member of a people who originated in the Urals and migrated westward to settle in what is now Hungary in the 9th century AD"

 

Basically, Magyars are Hungarians.  For those of you who have spent your entire lives in Central and Southern Appalachia and wonder what connection there is between Appalachia and Magyars or Hungarians there was once a large community of Hungarians in Martin County Kentucky who were brought into the area to staff a large, cooperatively operated coal  mine near Beauty and Lovely on the Tug River.  This is a fascinating little cookbook and you can find your copy at the link above at a considerably larger, but currently standard level, price.  I would love to try the recipes I mentioned above but doubt that I ever will due to changes in my eating habits over the last 6 or 7 years. I was raised on organ meats and love to eat them but I just don't do that anymore.  If any of you readers try the book and recipes, please leave the rest of us a comment about what you learned from the experience.  

 

 

Muskrat For Supper, Ring The Dinner Bell!

 

When I was growing up in Appalachian Kentucky, my family ate nearly everything available with only two exceptions, muskrat and opossum.  We were always told that both were "nasty" and we shouldn't eat them.  Since then I have eaten both although it has been a long time since I ate either.  The firs time I ate muskrat was about 28 years old and working as the broodmare and yearling foreman on a Thoroughbred farm in Lexington, Kentucky, known as The Stallion Station. Our maintenance foreman was an African American man named Harvey "Bull" Jackson.  I will always remember Bull for a variety of reasons but one of the fondest memories I have of him involves the first time I ever ate muskrat.  Bull and I had to come in every Sunday morning with one man each to help us and do the bare minimum work on the farm.  My helper and I had to check on all the horses, do the feeding and turn out or put up whichever horses needed to be moved, and do any treatments for sick horses.  Bull and his helper had to check fences, water lines, etc. and do any necessary repairs.  We got in the habit of meeting for breakfast in the tack room at the foaling barn which had a good table, a hot plate, a sink, and hot and cold running water.  

 

One Sunday morning Bull came in with a big platter of meat all cooked up and set it down on the table and said "I brought breakfast.  Sit down and eat."  When I looked at the meat, I knew it was some kind of wild meat and thought it was probably groundhog which I love.  I've written about eating and cooking groundhog in more than one place on this blog.  I grabbed a leg, took a bite, liked it a lot but could tell that it wasn't groundhog.  "What is this, Bull," I asked.  He responeded, "Ruth cooked that.  Eat that.  It's good."  I finished the first leg, grabbed another and asked again, "What is this, Bull?"  I got the same answer, "Ruth cooked that.  That's good.  Eat that."  I knew Bull's wife Ruth and knew she was an excellent cook so I kept eating.  Finally, when he saw that I was enjoying the meat, he told me, "That's muskrat.  I went out last night to the ponds and shot some muskrats.  Ruth cooked them up for supper and we had that left over.  You like that don't you?"  I told him that I did like it and we finished the pan of meat.  I've been a muskrat lover ever since but I have not had the opportunity to eat a lot of it. 

In my recent blog post about eating groundhog, linked above, I made reference to a cookbook I have called "The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook" which had a couple of groundhog recipes which I mentioned in that blog piece.  It also has recipes for muskrat along with several other species of animals which most people don't eat but which I have found to be very good grub as we say in the mountains of Appalachia.  In their introduction to the section on muskrat the authors of the cookbook say: "In New Orleans and other eastern cities whose restaurants serve muskrat in season, this delicious meat is often listed as "marsh rabbit" to avoid the stigma attached to the word "rat".  It is a pity that the name puts off some people, for the tender, fine grained meat is excellent fare."  The authors of that cookbook are absolutely correct.  I have only been to New Orleans on two occasions and have never seen it on a menu where I have eaten.  I would love to try it in a commercial kitchen there someday.  I also know that in the Detroit, Michigan, area muskrat is commonly eaten and is generally thought to have been rooted in Catholic culture.  History says that in that area "tradition has it, it was during these early years of the 19th century that the humble pastor of Ste. Anne Parish in Detroit, Fr. Gabriel Richard, lobbied for a special dispensation to the region’s residents to consume muskrat throughout the Lenten season." I have also heard it told that in the Detroit area muskrat is commonly served smothered in sauerkraut or with sauerkraut as a side dish.  I've never been in Detroit in my adult years although I have spent several weeks in Michigan over the years in other parts of the state and have never seen muskrat on a menu in the state. I would love to attend the Lenten dinner described in the article linked above.  

My L. L. Bean cookbook has four recipes for muskrat.  The first describes oven roasting muskrat in much the same way Ruth Jackson cooked hers and similar to the way my family has often cooked both groundhog and raccoon.  Their second recipe is for "Marsh Rabbit" New Orleans Style.  They claim this recipe can be used equally well for rabbit, squirrel, groundhog, and beaver.  That recipe mentions "deglanding" the muskrats prior to preparation and I would agree with that idea.  Muskrats are so named because they have musk glands near their rectums and exude musk for purposes of defense, marking territory, and attracting mates and the musk can be quite strong in adult males.  Skinning of muskrats, beavers, or any other mustelids should be done with careful attention to removing those musk glands without damaging them and infusing the meat with the musk.  This second recipe contains several vegetables including carrots, onions, and green peppers. It also include a quarter pound of diced ham.  This recipe is also heavily spiced with a combination of red pepper seeds, cayenne, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, parsley, salt, and pepper.  It is intended to be simmered for 1 1/2 hours in a Dutch Oven or heavy casserole dish.  Between the many vegetables and the diverse collection of spices, it appears to me that muskrat should become so well disguised that it's distinctive natural taste could well be lost.  The third L. L. Bean recipe is much simpler and called Braised Muskrat.  The only additives are onions, thyme, 1/2 pound of salt pork, and a touch of salt and pepper.  It seems that this recipe would be much more natural in flavor and true to the real muskrat.  The last L. L. Bean recipe is called Basic Sweet-Sour Recipe For Braised Muskrat Or Other Furred Game.  It is reputed to good for several other animals including beaver, squirrel, groundhog, and raccoon.  I have a bit of an issue with any recipe for any product which makes any claim leaning toward its being universally applicable to anything that creeps, crawls, or flies too low over the supper table.  It also includes onions, green pepper, and lard for flavoring.  The spices are salt, pepper, theyme, 1/4 cup sugar, dry mustard, and vinegar.  Once again, this recipe seems to be attempting to mask the natural flavor of the muskrat.  

There are also numerous recipes available on the internet for muskrat ranging from braised and baked to stewed and fried.  If you love wild meat, muskrat should never be avoided.  It is good, pretty, red meat with a nice color and taste.  You can find a recipe which appeals to your individual taste and try it.  It is well worth eating.  Just ask any devout Catholic in Detroit.  

Putting Up Peaches! Freezing.

 

For the past several years, I have bought fresh peaches from a Mennonite friend I know who travels with a truck and trailer to peach orchards in several states and sells peaches from his home in Crockett, Kentucky, in the Mennonite community in which I have so many friends and connections.  We freeze the peaches and use them during the winters for cobblers which are wonderful in cold weather.  We have also begun in the last year to fry peaches just as you would fried apples and they are also a great addition to a country breakfast and a nice flavor break from always eating apples.  Due to both the loss of quite a bit of food value and the extra labor involved, this year we decided to try freezing one half bushel box of peaches with the skins on instead of peeling them.  As a test, we made one cobbler with the first box of peaches we bought a few weeks ago without peeling them and it worked quite well.  I have always eaten fresh peaches skin and all and the idea of eating the skin has absolutely no negative connotations for me.   So yesterday, July 31, 2021, we decided to freeze our second half bushel of peaches with the skin intact.  The amount of waste, especially without hogs or chickens to eat the peelings, is incredibly smaller.  Where we usually have gotten seven bags of peaches, minus the few we eat, cook into a fresh cobbler, and a few to give to an elderly neighbor.  Without peeling the peaches, we got the same amount of eating, fresh cobbler peaches, and give away peaches, but had nine bags for the freezer.  That math makes a lot of sense.  I have to admit that we did not do any research about freezing peaches with the skin on before we attempted this which is not usually our first action.  This morning, after having already frozen the peaches, I have read a few articles on the internet from people who have regularly frozen them with the skin on and they all agree that they like it that way.  But one person said that peaches frozen with the skin on will shed the skin when they are thawed.  We will have to see how that turns out in a month or so when we eat our first bag of frozen peaches.  My niece in Kendallville, Indiana, who has frozen, dried, canned, and preserved food for many years in any way possible says that she uses a hot water bath with peaches to cause them to shed the skins before she freezes them.  We considered doing it that way but decided the extra labor with the hot water made it more attractive to just remove the pits, slice them, and freeze them.  Plus, there were two jobs when I was growing up which I hated with a passion and they were helping can beets and tomatoes because my mother used the hot water bath method to get the skins off the beets and tomatoes and that hot water in a three bushel tub was something that I never came to accept willingly.  I just did not want to repeat the experience with peaches.  

I can't wait until that first fall morning when we have fried peaches as a part of our breakfast.