RECIPE ROUNDUP

by Kent Brick “The food of the Germans from Russia reflects that
they were so limited with funds and resources,” Miller says.

H eads bowed before the bountiful noon meal, our Ger-

man-Russian ancestors of a century ago would offer
this prayer: “Segne, Vater, diese Speise, Uns zur Kraft und
dir zum Preise. Amen.” (Translation: “Father, bless this food,
for our nourishment and
to your glory. Amen.”)
Though the language,
the communities and
the customs have fad-
ed, commitment to the
food those remarkable
pioneers cooked and
blessed has not.
Preserving the food
traditions of the Ger-
mans from Russia is one
of the key activities of the
North Dakota State Univer-
sity (NDSU) Libraries’ Ger-
mans from Russia Heritage
Collection (GRHC), GRHC is
located in the main library
on the NDSU campus.
The mission of GRHC is, “To collect, docu-
ment, preserve, exhibit, translate, publish, promote and
make accessible resources on the culture, history, folklore,
textiles and clothing, and food ways of the Germans from
Russia.” The office focuses on German-Russians who pro-
duced North Dakota and Northern Plains descendents.
GRHC Director and Bibliographer Michael Miller says
he is proud the collection houses the largest German-Rus-
sian cookbook and recipe collection of its kind in the world.
Miller, whose German-Russian roots are in Strasburg, says
mastery and ingenuity with basic farming staples were the
keys to how people survived.
He says flour, eggs and milk were the basics for the many
dough-based dishes, often prepared in heaping batches for
large families.
GRHC has 62 original, locally produced cookbooks for
sale, along with the exten-
sive archive of non-circulat-
ing cookbooks and massive
index of German-Russian
recipes. This is strong proof
that German-Russian off-
spring of today want to pre-
serve their culinary culture.
For this month’s Reci-
pe Roundup, the GRHC has
furnished three cookbooks
from among those it sells (to
browse these, go to: http://li-
brary.ndsu.edu/grhc/). Chal-
lenging as it was, North Da-
kota LIVING has selected and
published one recipe from each
cookbook.
The first cookbook is Food ‘n Customs: Recipes
of the Black Sea Germans, by The Germans from Russia
Heritage Society, Bismarck, 2004; cookbook committee: Jo-
sephine Eckman, Vi Schielke and Katherine Meidinger. This
book’s introduction emphasizes the importance of publish-
ing specific ingredients, measurements and techniques to
preserve what had been just oral family folklore. It reads:
“Grandmothers from the old country were brought up in
‘humble beginnings’ and lived close to the earth. Many had
no formal education, so recipes were handed down verbal-
ly. They felt the recipes in their hands.” From this cookbook
we present the Russian Borscht recipe.
The second cookbook is Sei Unser Gast: Be Our Guest,

RUSSIAN BORSCHT (vegetable soup) PORK CHOPS WITH KRAUT

1 lb. boneless beef 2 cups cabbage, 6 pork chops, cut 1 ⁄2” 1
⁄2 cup liquid
chuck, cubed chopped thick (sauerkraut juice
1
⁄4 lb. soup bone 1 cup grated carrots 1 T. shortening supplemented with
3 qts. water 1 pt. green beans 1 cup onion, chopped water)
1 qt. tomato juice 1 onion, chopped 1 cup coarsely 2 T. light brown sugar,
1 T. salt 1 T. lemon juice chopped unpared packed
1
⁄4 tsp. pepper 1 T. dill or caraway raw apple 1
⁄2 tsp. caraway seed
2 cups grated beets 1 can (1 lb. 11 oz.) salt
sauerkraut, drained
Simmer until soft. Skim. Stir in lemon juice. Serve with (save juice)
sour cream and dill weed garnish. Add vinegar at table.
Taken from page 7 of the Food ‘N Customs: Brown chops in shortening on both sides in 12” skillet.
Recipes of the Black Sea Germans cookbook Remove chops. Add onion and apple to pan droppings,
Recipe by Vi Schielke and heat. Stir in sauerkraut, liquid, brown sugar and
caraway seed. Arrange chops on top. Sprinkle with salt.
Cover and cook over low heat 30 minutes or until chops
are tender. Add additional water if needed, a small
amount at a time, to keep sauerkraut moist. Serves 6.
Test notes: Instead of cooking on top of a stove, put the
skillet containing the assembled dish in a 300-degree
oven and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Taken from page 60 of the Sei Unser Gast (“Be Our Guest”) cookbook

30 SEPTEMBER 2011  NORTH DAKOTA LIVING www.ndarec.com

 H E A LT H Y H I N T S

Explore world cuisine in N.D.

C an you list a couple of typical “Amer-
ican” foods? If you thought of ham-
burgers, hot dogs and ice cream, think
again. Hamburg-
produced by the North Star ers are a German
Chapter, American Historical So- import, hot dogs
ciety of Germans from Russia, are associated
Minneapolis-St.Paul, 2008. This with Greece, and
group consists of about 100 fam- ic e c r ea m was
ily members in the Twin Cities, first “made in
with most of the German areas China.”
in Russia represented. According As we recently

COURTESY PHOTO
to its introduction, this cookbook worked on a proj-
is presented, “… to document ect about North
German-Russian cuisine and Dakota food and
food ways so that present and fu- culture, we learn-
ture generations can enjoy their unique ed about the
culinary heritage.” From this cookbook we present wide range of Julie Garden-Robinson,
the Pork Chops with Kraut recipe. Ph.D., L.R.D.
foods associated
The third cookbook is Connecting Generations: Fond Rec- with past and recent immigrants to our
ollections of German-Russian Heritage, Traditional Family Recipes state. As the population of North Dakota
and Reminiscent Stories from Five Generations of Cooking with Mom, is becoming more diverse, so is our cui-
by Donna Erbele Iszler and daughter Mya Iszler Mayer, self-published, sine. If someone offered you a Sambusa
Bismarck, 2005. or some Fool, would you know what to ex-
In the opening Mayer writes, “The recipes in this documentation pect when you took a bite? On the other
of our family’s heritage kitchen are authentic. They are the recipes we hand, would you be familiar with Fleisch-
have all come to love. Mom and I have spent hundreds of hours to- keukle and Rommegrot?
gether writing down proportions and cooking instructions that were Sambusas and Fool are associated
passed to her verbally or through experience throughout the years.” with African cuisine. Like Fleischkeuk-
Donna’s family roots are in the Lehr area. From this book, the recipe le (a German recipe), Sambusas consist
we present is Florence’s Pumpkin Blachinda. of dough filled with meat stuffing and
The GRHC encourages present-day German-Russian family mem- are deep-fried. Fool, a dessert, is simi-
bers to get familiar with and add to the collection’s resources. In addi- lar in consistency to its creamy Scandi-
tion to the Web site http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/, contact the GRHC by navian counterpart, Rommegrot.
telephoning Michael Miller at (701) 231-8416 or Acacia Stuckle, GRHC Food goes beyond providing nour-
special collections associate, at (701) 231-6596. To learn more about ishment for the body. It also helps nur-
the Germans from Russia Heritage Society in Bismarck, go to http:// ture family traditions and connects us
www.grhs.org/.  with other cultures. If you are fortunate to
Kent Brick is editor of North Dakota LIVING. Kent can be reached at kbrick@ have your great-grandma’s delicious des-
ndarec.com sert recipes, I am not going to suggest
that you alter them to make them health-
ier. Enjoy them in moderation on spe-
FLORENCE’S PUMPKIN BLACHINDA cial occasions. On the other hand, if your
Dough Filling
heritage recipes are for canned goods,
½ cup shortening 9 cups pumpkin be sure to have an extension agent evalu-
2 cups sweet cream 1 cup sugar ate them for safety based on present-day
1 cup sugar 1
⁄2 tsp. salt research.
½ tsp. salt 11 ⁄2 tsp. cinnamon As part of our project, we compiled
3 eggs
3 tsp. baking powder Rolling mixture recipes associated with several cultures
5 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup all-purpose flour in North Dakota, including Norwegian,
1 cup sugar German, Native American, Mexican, Bos-
Mix dough gently and set aside. Mix filling in separate bowl nian, Somali and others. The North Da-
and set aside. Roll out a large walnut-sized piece of dough on kota State University (NDSU) Extension
rolling mixture into a 6- to 8-inch-round disc. Put 1 to 2 heaping Service publication, North Dakota Food
tablespoons of filling mixture on one half of dough disc. Fold over and Culture – A Taste of World Cuisine,
the half without filling and roll the edge of a plate around the edge
to seal. (Re-use the leftover dough scrap into the next walnut to be is available online at www.ag.ndsu.edu/
rolled.) Cut two small vent holes on top of Blachinda and place on pubs/yf/foods/fn1513.pdf.
greased cookie sheet. Back at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Until next time … enjoy some old and
Taken from page 61 of the Connecting Generations cookbook. new recipes! 

Julie Garden-Robinson is an associate

professor and food and nutrition specialist with

www.ndliving.com N O R T H D A K O T A L I V I N G  S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1 31