In Winter's Kitchen. Beth Dooley
ALSO BY BETH DOOLEY
Peppers, Hot and Sweet
The Heartland
Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland
The Northern Heartland Kitchen
Minnesota’s Bounty
Meat and Potatoes
© 2015, Text by Beth Dooley
© 2015, Cover art by Josh Birdsall
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415. (800) 520-6455 www.milkweed.org
Published 2015 by Milkweed Editions
Cover + interior design by Mary Austin Speaker
Cover illustration by Josh Birdsall
Author photo by Mary O’Brien
15 16 17 18 19 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Target Foundation; and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Also, this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit www.milkweed.org.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dooley, Beth, author.
In winter’s kitchen / Beth Dooley. -- First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-57131-881-7 (ebook)
1. Cooking, American. 2. Local foods. I. Title.
TX715.D6872 2015
641.5973--dc23
2015033774
Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. In Winter’s Kitchen was printed on acid-free 30% postconsumer-waste paper by Edwards Brothers Malloy
For Kevin
Matt, Kip, and Tim
IN WINTER’S KITCHEN
Introduction: Do You Know Where You Are?
APPLES
WHEAT
POTATOES
BEANS AND CARROTS
SWEET POTATOES
CRANBERRIES
CHESTNUTS
CORN
MILK
BUTTER AND CHEESE
TURKEY
WILD RICE
Epilogue: Cooking My Way Home
Recipes
Apples
Applesauce
Bread
Daily Bread
Potatoes
Best Mashers
Pickled Ginger Carrots
Pickled Ginger Carrots
Spicy Dilly Beans
Spicy Dilly Beans
Sweet Potatoes
Old-Fashioned Maple Sweets
Fresh Cranberries
Fresh Cranberry Relish
Cranberry Sauce
Chestnuts
Old Fashioned Chestnut Stuffing
Corn and Cornmeal
Golden Cornbread
Fall Fruit Tart in a Butter Crust
Fall Fruit Tart
Turkey
Simply Roast Turkey
Turkey Gravy
Wild Rice
Basic Wild Rice
Notes
Further Reading
In late summer of 1979, my husband, Kevin, and I loaded a U-Haul in Princeton, New Jersey, and headed to Minneapolis. “Why?” friends wondered. Didn’t we already have plenty of great prospects in our hometowns? What about our families, the bustling New York metro? They could understand Los Angeles or Chicago, sure, but “Mindianaolopis,” as my dad called it, was flyover country, land of interminable winters and a lot of corn. Kevin, a fresh-out-of-law-school attorney, was drawn to the Twin Cities’ vibrant business economy and lack of big-city commute. And we were both attracted to Minnesota’s lakes and trails, the piney woods and big rivers. I had already left my job with a large New York publishing firm to take on freelance writing assignments, work I could do anywhere.
So, like generations of women before me, I went west with the man I loved to create a new life and make a home. I’d loaded up our starter furniture and wedding gifts as well as my grandmother’s worn bread trencher and dented copper bowl, familiar tools of my past that seemed essential to my future.
In my beloved grandmother’s kitchen, with its chipped blue cabinets, rolling wooden floor, and smells of coffee, oatmeal, and cooling pies, I’d learned to knead bread dough until it was soft as a baby’s bottom and simmer raspberries into jam thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. When I was small, we’d drive Route 35 to her home on the Jersey Shore and at each