I’m not a big proponent of corn syrup for various reasons (which is in this recipe), but I just had to post this black walnut pie recipe! Black walnuts are found all across the U.S., but the largest one is located right here in my own backyard–on Sauvie Island, just minutes from Portland! Here it is:

Enough about walnuts, on to the recipe!

Black Walnut Pie

1 c. dark corn syrup
1 tsp. flour
3 eggs, beaten
1/8 tsp. salt
Chopped black walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. sugar
Egg white
Melted butter
Uncooked pie crust

Combine and mix well corn syrup, flour, three eggs beaten, salt, vanilla, sugar. Pour into uncooked pie shell. Brush pie crust with egg white. Put butter over pie and cover with chopped black walnuts. Bake about 40 minutes in a very low oven, about 250 degrees.

Sorghum Molasses Pie

2 c. molasses
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. melted butter
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of nutmeg
Pie crust

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat well. Pour into pastry and bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) until done.

Mince Meat

Boil and chop fine: 3 lbs. beef tongue or venison tongue. Add 4 lbs. suet, also chopped fine.

Then add:
4 lbs. brown sugar
4 lbs. raisins
3 lbs. currants
4 lbs. apples, chopped fine
1 lb. finely sliced citron
1 Tbsp. each of mace, cloves, and cinnamon
2 nutmegs (coarsely ground)

Mix with enough brandy to wet well. Keep moist and it will “keep” all winter.

This old recipe comes from the Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook, published in the 1950s. I love this cookbook because all it talks about is how much men love meat and potatoes! The salads it features are basically intended for women’s luncheons. The Garden Salad Loaf recipe is one of the classic Jello mold recipes of the 50s and 60s, so I thought it was pretty appropriate for this blog.

I wonder if anyone ever cooks these things anymore?

Garden Salad Loaf

2 green peppers, cut in small strips
4 chopped green onions (include tops)
20 radishes, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, thinly slices
4 small tomatoes, cut in thin wedges
¾ c. French dressing
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
¼ c. sugar
1 tsp. Salt
2 2/3 c. very hot water
½ c. vinegar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 c. shredded chicory or lettuce
1 c. coarsely torn spinach or shredded cabbage
¼ c. minced parsley

Combine first 5 vegetables and marinate in French dressing 15 minutes or more

Combine gelatin, sugar, and salt; add hot water and stir to dissolve ingredients. Add vinegar and lemon juice. Chill until gelatin thickens.

Drain vegetables well. Fold marinated vegetables and crisp greens into gelatin mixture. (Chicory, spinach and parsley do not wilt easily, but you may use lettuce or shredded cabbage, too.) Pour into oiled loaf pan, about 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 3″. Chill until firm.

Turn out on platter. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Here’s a secret: raccoon is good eats! A recipe for roast raccoon was included in the 1931 edition of The Joy of Cooking, and more recently, it received an article in the Kansas City Star. Raccoon tastes good, is lean, and highly nutritious. In Missouri, one whole raccoon sells for $4-$7 and feeds 4-5 hungry adults. Coons are safest to eat out West, as East Coast coons sometimes have diseases, so make sure your meat looks healthy before buying (and no trapper will sell you diseased meat in the first place). If you happen upon some fresh, wild coon meat, you may be surprised to find one paw remaining on the carcass. This is required by law to prove that the meat is, in fact, raccoon, and not some mystery meat.

If you trap them yourself, you only want to catch them during freezing temperatures, apparently they taste better then. Follow these steps for dressing the game: skin, draw, and clean the meat as soon as possible. Carefully remove the scent glands from under the forelegs, thighs, and back. They are brown, bean-shaped kernels, and you don’t want to break them.

This recipe comes from a farm journal and makes enough for 24 people, so pare it down if you aren’t serving that many.

Roast Raccoon

3 to 4 raccoons, 4-5 lbs. each
5 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 c. flour
1 c. oil for frying (use only as much as needed at one time)
8 medium onions, peeled
12 bay leaves

Cut meat into pieces, saving meaty backs and legs for baking. Cook bony pieces in water to make a broth for the gravy and dressing, adding a small amount of seasonings. Simmer until meat falls from the bone, strain, and set aside.

Season the rest of the meat with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour, brown in a skillet with the oil, and put in a roasting pan. Add onions and bay leaves, cover, and bake at 350° for about 2 hours or until tender.

Afterword, make the gravy by adding flour to the pan drippings (2-3 Tbsp. flour for 1 c. liquid). Serve with vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.

Now, this pawpaw pie recipe is too interesting to pass up! Pawpaws are native to the Midwest and are as large as a mango. They have a creamy, custardy inside and taste like a tropical fruit, somewhere in between a banana and a mango. Pawpaws were consumed in North America for centuries before European settlers came over, but you’re best bet finding it now is at a local farmer’s market if you live in the Midwest. Some people sell them through mail order catalogs as well.

Pawpaw Pie

1 c. sugar
1 c. milk
1 egg
¼ tsp. Salt
1 ½ c. paw paws (peeled and seeded)

Place all ingredients into stew pan and stir together. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake until the crust is done. Can be topped with meringue or other topping.

This recipe is adapted from a 1939 pamphlet advertising Rawleigh’s food products. It’s called the “50th Anniversary Good Health Guide” and includes horoscopes and recipes, mainly for pies and cakes. As I read through the recipes, this cucumber-horseradish relish caught my eye. It’s got a consistency reminiscent of my grandma’s Jello molds–who knew that carrots and Jello go together?

Before Jello came around, these gelatinous dishes were known as aspics or cabarets. They date back to at least the Middle Ages—you can find a recipe for aspic in Le Viandier, a cookbook written in the 1300s. Aspics hold together various ingredients; meats, vegetables, and fruits have all been incorporated into aspics at some point. Try this one the next time you want something different to go with your meat.

Jellied Cucumber and Horseradish Relish

1 Tbsp. gelatin
1/4 c. cold water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 lg. cucumber, diced
2 Tbsp. horseradish
1 sm. onion, chopped
1/2 c. mild vinegar
1 Tbsp. green or red pepper, minced

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and dissolve over boiling water. Mix remaining ingredients and add gelatin. Pour into tiny individual mold that have been rinsed in cold water. Chill until firm and serve with meat.

This recipe for catfish soup dates back to at least the 1850s. We’ve modernized it, using olive oil for the vegetable saute and bulking up the veggies. Serve with homemade biscuits and you won’t be disappointed!

Catfish Soup

2 to 3 lbs. catfish, deboned
4-6 c. water
1 sliced onion
1 stalk celery, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
1 potato, chopped
Garlic
Bay leaf
Parsley
Thyme
1 c. milk or cream
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Saute onion, celery, and carrots, then add garlic and potatoes and cook for one minute. Add herbs, water, and catfish. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, the simmer until everything is tender. Stir in milk near end and serve warm.

Rhubarb is a vegetable that has been cultivated for centuries, but not many people continue to grow it in their home gardens. Surprisingly, there are many rhubarb recipes besides strawberry rhubarb pie–all it takes is looking in the right place! This rhubarb punch recipe makes a gorgeous drink that is great on its own, but you can also substitute sparkling water or add vodka for an adult version of the drink!

Rhubarb Punch

2 c. rhubarb juice
4 c. water
1 ¾ c. orange juice
1 ¼ c. grape juice
½ c. sugar

Serve cold. Makes 8 or 9 servings.

**If you don’t have a juicer, you can make rhubarb syrup the old fashioned way: cut rhubarb into 1″ pieces and put in soup pot. Cover with part of the water and sugar, bring to boil, then simmer until tender. Strain out the pulp.

Squash biscuits are an old southern recipe dating back to at least the 1800s and were made popular by the cooking teacher Fannie Farmer. This biscuit recipe comes from an old booklet of mountain recipes primarily focused on the Ozarks. It’s a wonderful way to incorporate more vegetables into your diet, and it’s a great way to use up any fall squash you may have left over from the harvest.

Squash Biscuits

1 pint cooked, sieved squash
1 packet yeast
1 small cup sugar
½ tsp. salt
Butter, the size of an egg
Flour

Dissolve yeast in a little water. Add to the squash one cup sugar and the softened butter. Beat well, then add yeast and beat once more. Add sifted flour and stir well. Add enough flour to make a stiff batter. Leave in a warm place overnight, then pour into greased pans and bake in a hot oven until golden brown.

This recipe comes from a very old cookbook, The Compleat Cook, published in London in 1658. It’s an interesting take on the typical salmon recipes, with a marinade of vinegar, white wine, and sweet herbs and spices such as sorrel, cloves, mace, and cinnamon.

The original text is below, and I’ve attempted to translate it into modern English so you can try this recipe the next time you find some nice salmon at the market. It’s one of those light summer dinner recipes, so Let me know how it turns out!

An excellent way of dressing Fish.

Take a piece of fresh Salmon, and wash it clean in a little Vinegar and
water, and let it lie a while in it, then put it into a great Pipkin
with a cover, and put to it some six spoonfuls of water and four of
Vinegar, and as much of white-wine, a good deal of Salt a handful of
sweet herbs, a little white Sorrel, a few Cloves, a little stick of
Cinamon, a little Mace; put all these in a Pipkin close, and set it in a
Kettle of seething water, and there let it stew three hours.

You may do Carps, Eeles, Trouts, &c. this way, and they Tast also to
your mind.

Salmon with White Wine, Sorrel, Cloves, and Cinnamon

Pour into a shallow bowl equal parts vinegar and white wine. Add salt, pepper, marjoram, summer savory, bay leaf, sage, thyme, cloves, ground cinnamon, and a pinch of ground mace. Let marinate overnight.

Remove fillet from marinade and either bake or grill it (I don’t think stewed salmon has the greatest consistency). It shouldn’t take long–15-20 mins. in the oven. It will be done when the meat is flaky. If it’s summertime and the grill is fired up, put some asparagus or zucchinis (cut down the middle and basted with olive oil) on the BBQ and serve with the salmon, along with a fresh salad and chilled white wine.

Mmmmmm…

Squirrels are much more than the critters that chuck acorns at you–they can be a protein source, too! They’ve become increasingly popular, according to this New York Times article. Eating squirrel also helps keep their rampant population growth under control.

This squirrel stew recipe is one of the many variations of the old Southern recipes that feature this meat. It might not be for everyone, but if you’re looking for something to stretch your budget and tickle your taste buds, try it out.

Squirrel Stew

2 squirrels, cleaned and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 onions, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. thyme
4-5 c. beef or chicken broth, or water
2 potatoes, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cans tomatoes, diced, drain off liquid
1 c. corn
1 Tbsp. flour + 1/2 c. cooking liquid

Season meat with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in soup pot and brown the meat on all sides, then add onions and let cook 5-8 minutes, until starting to turn transparent. Add garlic and cook one minute more, then add the stock, bay leaf, thyme, and vegetables. Mix together 1 Tbsp. flour and 1/2 c. cooking liquid to form a slurry and stir into the soup. Bring to boil, then simmer until vegetables are tender and stew has thickened. Taste to adjust seasonings and serve.

Bierocks are only the best Volga German food ever! My friends and family are addicted to them. With 18th century German-Russian origins, the biercock (also known as a runza, Kraut Pirok, or fleischkuchen) could best be described as a type of hamburger—a savory pastry traditionally filled with ground beef, cabbage, onions, and spices. The dough is the hardest part to perfect, so try this one or use your favorite bread dough. In theory, the recipe makes enough to freeze, but you might have to make a double batch—they go fast in our house!

Bierocks Recipe

Bierock Dough

Beware—to prevent possible dough overflows, you’ll need a big bowl at least twice the size of the dough!

2 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. + 1/3 cup sugar
1 c. water
2 c. milk, warm
2/3 c. olive oil or butter, cut into small bits
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp. salt
8 c. flour

Mix together the yeast, 1 Tbsp. sugar, and water and let sit for ten minutes. Then add the milk, salt, rest of the sugar, eggs, and olive oil (or butter). Slowly mix in the flour and then turn out onto a floured surface, kneading until the dough isn’t sticky. Let rise until doubled in size.

While the dough is rising, you can start on the filling:

Bierock Filling

The filling is pretty bland unless you spice it up a bit, so use the recommended spices or your own favorites.

1 lb. ground beef, or 1/2 lb. ground beef and 1/2 lb. ground turkey
1 head cabbage, chopped
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, more if desired
Salt and pepper to taste
Spices of choice: I use cumin, caraway seeds, dill, Lowry’s seasoning salt, sage, thyme, and a bit of fennel.

In a large, deep pot, brown the beef, adding onions, garlic, spices, and salt and pepper about halfway through. Add the cabbage and let flavors mingle. When done, taste to adjust seasonings and take off heat. Drain off excess water after cooking.

Now the fun part…

Make yourself a nice work space with ample room. Set out the dough, filling, a rolling pin, extra flour, a knife for cutting the dough, and a couple spoons.

Because I don’t have a lot of space, I cut through the dough like a pizza while it’s in the bowl so I only work with a little at a time. Pull out some of the dough and roll it out into a rectangle. The thickness of the dough is up to you—I like it pretty thin to make sure I have enough for all the filling. The dough will continue to rise until you bake it.

Cut the dough into 6-8″ squares and spoon a couple tablepoons of filling in the center of each square (or as much as possible while still being able to seal it). Bring the corners together and seal all the edges so no filling can escape. (The end result will look like a smaller square or circle depending on how you seal it.)  Flip the pastry over before putting it on a greased baking sheet so the seal side is down. Repeat until all the filling (or dough) is gone.

Mix together an egg and a bit of water for an egg wash and brush it over the tops of your pastries before baking. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until nicely, lightly brown.

Eat immediately with butter melted on top for the ultimate bierock experience. I like to serve it with pickalilly and a salad when people are over, otherwise we just pull them out of the freezer and defrost at 350° for 20 mins. (you can microwave for a bit to defrost, but you must put the bierock in a toaster oven or regular over to get a nice crust).

Happy eating!