A Centennial Cookbook from Minnesota

I picked up this little cookbook at the thrift store last year sometime, and was looking through it recently. It was published in honor of the centennial of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota (1889 to 1989). It contains the usual assortment of recipes from the '70s and '80s--red velvet cake, millionaire's pie, hash brown casserole, etc. But it also has lots of old German, Polish, Irish, Italian, Czech, French and English recipes from all 147 parishes in the diocese.

There are lots of pictures of Archbishops and Bishops, chapels, convents, monasteries, and pictures of all the churches of the diocese, most of which were built in the 1800s and are beautiful.

My favorite part of the cookbook, though, is in the back. There are recipes from "Special People and Churches." Recipes from mothers and grandmothers of bishops, recipes from convents and monasteries, priests, sisters, and even a couple from the White House and the governor's mansion are included.

Here's Grandma Polak's Jellyroll recipe from Josephine Polak, grandmother of Bishop Jerome Hanus.

Beat 6 eggs 'til nice and light. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Gradually add and beat in 1 c. sugar. Sift together 1 c. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. baking powder. Fold this into egg mixture. Grease an 11-inch plus by 17-inch plus pan. Line with waxed paper. Grease and flour the waxed paper. Pour in batter. Bake in 350 degree oven 20-30 minutes. Have ready a clean cloth, a dishtowel will do. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Invert cake on cloth, peel off the waxed paper. Spread quickly jelly on the cake and roll up. Leave in towel to cool. If you don't care for the jelly, just roll up the the roll, including cloth. When cool, unroll carefully. Put in softened ice cream or any other custard filling. Reroll. Put into freezer if you used ice cream.

And here is Father Geno's Tootsie Roll Bar.

Mix:

1 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Add:

1 3/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. soda

Melt 6 oz. chocolate chips and combine with 1 can sweetened condensed milk.

Grease 9X13 pan. Pat 2/3 of the batter on the bottom, add the chocolate mixture, cover with tiny pieces of dough. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Fr. Eugene Doyle, Tintah

One more. Here's Louie's Easy Porkchops. His note at the end made me laugh out loud.

Put 3/4 to 1-inch thick pork chops in an iron skillet or baking dish into which they will just fit. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Spread a rounded tsp. of brown sugar on each chop and wet sugar with lemon juice. Put a round slice of lemon on each chop and skewer with a whole clove. Pour over all equal parts of ketchup and water, well mixed.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 'til tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Pour or skim fat off, put chops on a platter and pour darkened, thickened sauce over them.

Note: This is the sort of dish you can prepare in the morning, stick in the fridge and tell some culinary incompetent who is staying at home to put in the oven at 350 degrees at 4:25 (plus, perhaps, some baking potatoes) and you can come home at 5:45 and have everything on the table by 6.

Bro. Louis Blenkner, St. John's Abbey

I don't know how an old cookbook from Minnesota ended up in a thrift store in San Antonio, Texas, but I'm glad it did. :o)