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MARBEHEAS REPORTER
Fearer: The flavor of the immigrant kitchen
By Myrna Fearer/ Creative Kitchen
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Mention Ellis Island and people immediately think of the place where most of
the immigrants first landed when they came to America, a place that stood in
the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of freedom. Tired, hungry
and confused after their long, exhausting trip in steerage, these folks,
speaking the language of their native land, went through a tedious and
frightening process that included a physical exam to see if they would be
allowed to enter this golden land, a land they dreamed of for so long.
They came from the poor farms of Ireland, escaped the pogroms of Russia
and the massacres in Armenia. They were Italian, English, German, Austrian,
Greek, Danish, French. And though they spoke many different languages, grew
up in countries that bordered the balmy waters of the Mediterranean Sea or
the cold waves of the North Sea, they all had the same dream in common -
coming to America for better opportunities for themselves and their
children.
And with them came their customs, their clothing and their food, the
familiar dishes they would re-create that would make the land of their own
childhood seem less far away. It was the comfort food that would turn a cold
water flat, with a bathroom shared down the hall, into a home - their home.
Tom Bernardin, a graduate of St. John's Prep, Class of 1966, and The
College of the Holy Cross, is a preservationist and a collector of Statue of
Liberty memorabilia. He was also a National Park Service tour guide at Ellis
Island for three years before it was restored to its original appearance.
His fascination with the immigrant experience whet his appetite to do
something tangible in the way of preserving the flavor of the past. The
result is "The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook."
Bernardin donated several copies of "The Ellis Island Immigrant
Cookbook" to his alma mater, St. John's Prep, which were sold at the auction
last Saturday.
"In giving tours of Ellis and talking with the immigrants, I became
aware of how important food was to their experience," Bernardin wrote in his
introduction. "...(It) was a means of bringing with them and preserving this
part of their earlier lives."
Through a national recipe search, Bernardin received many original
recipes from immigrants, their children or grandchildren. Often, recipes
were accompanied by anecdotal or biographical information. The result is a
fascinating compendium of recipes and an inkling into a bygone era. Some of
the spelling is phonetic, but Bernardin decided not to change anything in
order to keep the integrity of the recipe.
No cookbook that covers many different ethnic foods would be complete
without a good Irish soda bread recipe right from The Old Sod, especially
with St. Patrick's Day around the corner.
NELLIE O'LEARY'S IRISH SODABREAD
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick melted butter
1 1/2 cups raisins
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
Sift flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; add melted butter and mix.
Stir in raisins and caraway seeds. Combine buttermilk, egg and baking soda.
Make a well in the center of the batter. Pour liquid ingredients and stir
into flour mixture. Place in large iron frying pan, well-buttered. Use a
knife to make a cross on the top. Moisten with melted butter.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for an hour or until golden brown and shrinks
from the side of the pan.
Jeanette Caruso of Bloomington, Ill., talks about her folks who came to
Ellis Island from Italy on the same ship but didn't meet until long after
their arrival. Caruso sent along her mother's special artichoke recipe.
STUFFED ARTICHOKES (Italy)
8 to 12 artichokes
2 tablespoons Italian bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups grated Romano cheese
1 1/2 cups chopped parsley
10 cloves garlic, cut up
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 ounce lemon juice
olive oil
Cut tops (of artichokes) off a little and soak in lemon juice, then put
upside down. Pull apart and stuff with mixed ingredients. Cook in pan with
small amount of water and steam; then drain and put your oil on them.
Florence Collatos of Andover was very proud of her father, Harry J.
Kaniares, who left his small Greek village at the age of 14 and came to
America. As a youngster, he had already realized there was no future for him
in his small village. Hard work and perseverance met with several successes
as a candy store proprietor in this country, a shoe shine parlor owner and
restaurateur, with many restaurants to his credit. Egg lemon soup is a
popular restaurant item, but Collatos says that none is as good as her
dad's.
GREEK EGG LEMON SOUP
1 chicken for broth (3 quarts)
1 cup rice
4 eggs
juice of 3 lemons
Boil a chicken for broth. Cook 1 cup of rice. Add rice to 3 quarts of
chicken broth.
Separate 4 eggs. Beat egg whites until foamy. Eat egg yolks and add
juice of 3 lemons. Beat again.
Mix yolk-lemon mixture to egg whites by beating. Slowly add broth into
egg mixture, 1 ladle at a time while beating. When half of broth has been
beaten, add all the rest of the broth and rice and stir.
Rena Weinstein of East Northport, N.Y., sent along her grandmother's
noodle pudding recipe. Grandma Celia passed through Ellis Island at the
beginning of the 20th century and was still a joy to her family at the age
of 94 at the time of this book's first copyright in 1991.
GRANDMA CELIA'S NOODLE PUDDING (Russia)
1 stick butter
1 pound medium egg noodles, cooked
4 eggs, separated
1/2 pint sour cream
1 pound pot (Farmer's) cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 pound can crushed pineapple (a recent addition, according to
Weinstein))
3/4 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Melt butter in baking pan. Beat egg yolks.
Add sugar gradually. Add sour cream, pot cheese, milk, pineapple and melted
butter. Pour over cooked noodles and combine.
Beat egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into egg yolk mixture.
Turn into greased rectangular baking dish, about 10 x 13 inches. Set in oven
and bake 1 1/2 hours or until firm and brown on top.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.
If you want a copy of the cookbook, contact Tom Bernardin on his Web
site: www.ellisislandcookbook.com
Fearer: The flavor of the immigrant kitchen
By Myrna Fearer/ Creative Kitchen
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Mention Ellis Island and people immediately think of the place where most of
the immigrants first landed when they came to America, a place that stood in
the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of freedom. Tired, hungry
and confused after their long, exhausting trip in steerage, these folks,
speaking the language of their native land, went through a tedious and
frightening process that included a physical exam to see if they would be
allowed to enter this golden land, a land they dreamed of for so long.
They came from the poor farms of Ireland, escaped the pogroms of Russia
and the massacres in Armenia. They were Italian, English, German, Austrian,
Greek, Danish, French. And though they spoke many different languages, grew
up in countries that bordered the balmy waters of the Mediterranean Sea or
the cold waves of the North Sea, they all had the same dream in common -
coming to America for better opportunities for themselves and their
children.
And with them came their customs, their clothing and their food, the
familiar dishes they would re-create that would make the land of their own
childhood seem less far away. It was the comfort food that would turn a cold
water flat, with a bathroom shared down the hall, into a home - their home.
Tom Bernardin, a graduate of St. John's Prep, Class of 1966, and The
College of the Holy Cross, is a preservationist and a collector of Statue of
Liberty memorabilia. He was also a National Park Service tour guide at Ellis
Island for three years before it was restored to its original appearance.
His fascination with the immigrant experience whet his appetite to do
something tangible in the way of preserving the flavor of the past. The
result is "The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook."
Bernardin donated several copies of "The Ellis Island Immigrant
Cookbook" to his alma mater, St. John's Prep, which were sold at the auction
last Saturday.
"In giving tours of Ellis and talking with the immigrants, I became
aware of how important food was to their experience," Bernardin wrote in his
introduction. "...(It) was a means of bringing with them and preserving this
part of their earlier lives."
Through a national recipe search, Bernardin received many original
recipes from immigrants, their children or grandchildren. Often, recipes
were accompanied by anecdotal or biographical information. The result is a
fascinating compendium of recipes and an inkling into a bygone era. Some of
the spelling is phonetic, but Bernardin decided not to change anything in
order to keep the integrity of the recipe.
No cookbook that covers many different ethnic foods would be complete
without a good Irish soda bread recipe right from The Old Sod, especially
with St. Patrick's Day around the corner.
NELLIE O'LEARY'S IRISH SODABREAD
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick melted butter
1 1/2 cups raisins
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
Sift flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; add melted butter and mix.
Stir in raisins and caraway seeds. Combine buttermilk, egg and baking soda.
Make a well in the center of the batter. Pour liquid ingredients and stir
into flour mixture. Place in large iron frying pan, well-buttered. Use a
knife to make a cross on the top. Moisten with melted butter.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for an hour or until golden brown and shrinks
from the side of the pan.
Jeanette Caruso of Bloomington, Ill., talks about her folks who came to
Ellis Island from Italy on the same ship but didn't meet until long after
their arrival. Caruso sent along her mother's special artichoke recipe.
STUFFED ARTICHOKES (Italy)
8 to 12 artichokes
2 tablespoons Italian bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups grated Romano cheese
1 1/2 cups chopped parsley
10 cloves garlic, cut up
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 ounce lemon juice
olive oil
Cut tops (of artichokes) off a little and soak in lemon juice, then put
upside down. Pull apart and stuff with mixed ingredients. Cook in pan with
small amount of water and steam; then drain and put your oil on them.
Florence Collatos of Andover was very proud of her father, Harry J.
Kaniares, who left his small Greek village at the age of 14 and came to
America. As a youngster, he had already realized there was no future for him
in his small village. Hard work and perseverance met with several successes
as a candy store proprietor in this country, a shoe shine parlor owner and
restaurateur, with many restaurants to his credit. Egg lemon soup is a
popular restaurant item, but Collatos says that none is as good as her
dad's.
GREEK EGG LEMON SOUP
1 chicken for broth (3 quarts)
1 cup rice
4 eggs
juice of 3 lemons
Boil a chicken for broth. Cook 1 cup of rice. Add rice to 3 quarts of
chicken broth.
Separate 4 eggs. Beat egg whites until foamy. Eat egg yolks and add
juice of 3 lemons. Beat again.
Mix yolk-lemon mixture to egg whites by beating. Slowly add broth into
egg mixture, 1 ladle at a time while beating. When half of broth has been
beaten, add all the rest of the broth and rice and stir.
Rena Weinstein of East Northport, N.Y., sent along her grandmother's
noodle pudding recipe. Grandma Celia passed through Ellis Island at the
beginning of the 20th century and was still a joy to her family at the age
of 94 at the time of this book's first copyright in 1991.
GRANDMA CELIA'S NOODLE PUDDING (Russia)
1 stick butter
1 pound medium egg noodles, cooked
4 eggs, separated
1/2 pint sour cream
1 pound pot (Farmer's) cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 pound can crushed pineapple (a recent addition, according to
Weinstein))
3/4 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Melt butter in baking pan. Beat egg yolks.
Add sugar gradually. Add sour cream, pot cheese, milk, pineapple and melted
butter. Pour over cooked noodles and combine.
Beat egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into egg yolk mixture.
Turn into greased rectangular baking dish, about 10 x 13 inches. Set in oven
and bake 1 1/2 hours or until firm and brown on top.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.
If you want a copy of the cookbook, contact Tom Bernardin on his Web
site: www.ellisislandcookbook.com