Tradition in the Kitchen : Settling America

The Keep Klean Mission was founded in Milwaukee’s Jewish ghetto in 1896. It was set up next to a brewery in order to take advantage of the unlimited supply of hot water; for a penny, anybody could take a bath. In time, however, it became better known for its cooking classes and ultimately as the home of one of the best-selling cookbooks of the 20th Century. In the nearly 100 years since “The Settlement Cookbook” first came out, the book has gone through 34 printings and has sold more than 2 million copies.

Between 1883 and 1900, almost 4,000 Russian, Polish and Romanian Jews landed in Milwaukee, having escaped religious persecution and poverty in their native countries. Once in America, they continued to struggle to escape poverty. The native Jews of Milwaukee were motivated to help because their brethren were in need--and because they wanted to prevent the newcomers from embarrassing the established Jewish community.

“The original idea of the (Milwaukee) mission was to make the children have a jolly time and through games inculcate a few of the primary ideals of good citizenship,” wrote Helen Van Valkenburgh in the Milwaukee Free Press in 1910. “The mission had a large assortment of these games with which to beguile the youngster into the guild hall, games such as Parcheesi and checkers and messenger-boy, but strangely enough, these failed completely.”

Rather than games, the children demanded work. So founder Elizabeth Kander began after-school cooking lessons for girls, teaching her charges about American foods and economical preparation while preserving many of the students’ ethnic foods.

Part of the lessons involved hours of laborious recipe-copying from a blackboard, which took up a lot of time. Kander realized that if these recipes were printed and bound into a volume, the children would take them home to their families, where they would most certainly be put to good use.

When she approached the all-male settlement board for the $18 to do such a project, they sniffed at its “extravagance” and joked that she could go ahead and do it with her own funds--and they would gladly share in the profits.

Kander turned to Gussie Stark Yewdale, who persuaded her husband, Merton Yewdale, the owner of a local printing company, to assist Lizzie in soliciting ads for the manual and in printing it.

In 1901, a 174-page volume called “The Way to a Man’s Heart: The Settlement Cook Book” appeared. It contained 500 heirloom recipes gathered from women who, the book boasted, “set the best tables in Milwaukee.” Also included were 24 lessons on everything from rendering fat and making kuchen (coffee cake) to building a fire and dusting a room.

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Books not needed for the classes were sold for 50 cents a copy, and within a year, the 1,000 original copies were gone. The profit was turned over to the settlement board (which should have hung its collective head in contrition) to be distributed to local charities, most of which served children.

After repeated demands for the book, a second printing came out in 1903--and rapidly sold out. Several printings later, the settlement committee realized “The Way to a Man’s Heart” was not just a fleeting fancy, and they made a more permanent arrangement. In 1921, the Settlement Cook Book Co. was created. It consisted of a board of women in charge of revising the book to suit the needs of the times and directing its profits to deserving causes. The company continues that work to this day.

In 1953, after bids from several major publishers, Simon & Schuster took over publication and expanded the book to 665 pages. The 1976 edition still had instructions for homemade wine, but in the most recent 1991 edition, called “The New Settlement Cookbook,” there are instructions only on how to choose a wine, not make one.

The most recent edition has 1,200 recipes that reflect the whole country’s immigrant history: meat ravioli, pad Thai, rosettes and paprika schnitzel , to name a few. But this edition retains at its heart the flavor of Kander’s original idea, in the tastes of Milwaukee rye bread, tortes of all kinds and gefilte fish, which once adorned both the finest tables in turn-of-the-century Milwaukee and the humblest tables of the immigrants who lived in the ghetto.

Many of the classic recipes in various editions of “The Settlement Cook Book” have been repeated and refined through the years. Others are relatively new additions and reflect the change in the ethnic fabric of American culture.

Except where noted, these recipes are reprinted, and slightly adapted, from the most recent version of the cookbook, entitled “The New Settlement Cookbook.”

MIXED VEGETABLE SPRING STEW

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 pound new potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half

10 to 12 baby carrots, scrubbed

1 pound green onions, white parts only, trimmed, blanched and cut in half

2 cups shredded lettuce

2 cups shelled peas

1 pound asparagus, trimmed, stems peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Melt butter over moderately high heat in heavy casserole. Add potatoes, carrots, green onions and lettuce. Reduce heat and cook slowly until tender, about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally, checking to see that there is enough vegetable juices to prevent scorching. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons water if too much liquid evaporates. Add peas and asparagus during last 5 minutes of cooking.

Add cream and gently stir to blend. Increase heat and let cream simmer until reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper. Add parsley. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

293 calories; 244 mg sodium; 65 mg cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 26 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 2.86 grams fiber.

CHICKEN PAPRIKA

4 to 4 1/2 pounds chicken parts, skinned if desired

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons paprika

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups hot water or milk

2 to 3 tablespoons sour cream

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Hot cooked noodles or rice

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle chicken with salt and dust with mixture of 1/3 cup flour and paprika. Melt butter in 12-inch skillet. Add chicken in batches and brown evenly, turning pieces occasionally. Remove chicken to platter and drain off fat.

Return chicken to skillet. Add hot water and heat just until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until juices in thickest part of thigh run clear when pierced with fork, about 30 minutes.

Transfer chicken to serving platter and keep warm. Pour drippings into large measuring cup. Skim off fat. Add hot water to drippings to make 2 cups liquid and pour into skillet. Stir together remaining 3 tablespoons flour, sour cream and 2 tablespoons water in small bowl. Gradually add this flour mixture to liquid in skillet. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until thickened, then cook, stirring, 1 minute more. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Arrange hot cooked noodles around chicken on serving platter. Pour some gravy over top and serve. Pass extra gravy. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

283 calories; 425 mg sodium; 107 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 25 grams protein; 0.35 gram fiber.

NOODLE KUGEL

1 pound broad noodles

1 cup butter, melted

4 eggs, beaten

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cook noodles in large pan of salted boiling water until tender. Drain.

Combine cooked noodles with butter, eggs and salt and pepper in large bowl. Transfer to buttered 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees until top is well browned and slightly crisp, 25 to 30 minutes. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Each serving contains about:

461 calories; 342 mg sodium; 222 mg cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 0.23 gram fiber.

ORANGE JULEP

3 cups crushed ice

4 teaspoons finely grated orange peel

4 teaspoons powdered sugar

4 sprigs fresh mint

2 teaspoons white creme de menthe

1/2 cup whiskey

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Place about 1/2 cup crushed ice in each of 2 tall glasses. To each glass add 2 teaspoons orange peel and 2 teaspoons powdered sugar. Stir 1 to 2 minutes. Add mint and fill glasses with additional crushed ice.

Stir together creme de menthe, whiskey and orange juice. Pour over ice in glasses. Stir well before serving. Garnish with additional mint, if desired. Makes 2 servings.

Each serving contains about:

186 calories; 1 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.06 gram fiber.

A perennial Jewish favorite, this spicy, soft, old-fashioned cookie appears in nearly every edition of “The Settlement Cook Book.”

HONEY LEBKUCHEN

6 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 to 1 cup diced candied citron

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup honey

3 cups almonds, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons rum, wine or lemon juice

Powdered Sugar Glaze

1 apple, cored and sliced

In large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and citron. In separate bowl, stir together eggs, sugar, honey and almonds. Stir rum into egg mixture. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Dough will be stiff. It may be necessary to knead in last of flour mixture with your hands.

On floured surface, roll dough 1/4-inch thick. Cut into 3x2-inch rectangles and place on greased baking sheets. Cover lightly with towels and let stand overnight.

Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees until cookies are brown and firm, 20 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Brush with Powdered Sugar Glaze. Let stand until dry. Store in airtight container with several apple slices to soften cookies. Makes 40 to 50 cookies.

Each serving contains about:

227 calories; 14 mg sodium; 21 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.61 gram fiber.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

2 to 4 tablespoons hot water

1 teaspoon vanilla, lemon or other extract, or rum

2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Stir together hot water, vanilla and powdered sugar in small bowl. Icing is of proper consistency for spreading when it coats spoon.

When Prohibition went into effect, the settlement purged its cookbook of all references and recipes using alcohol. This recipe was adapted from the 16-page booklet, “The Repeal Recipes,” published upon repeal of Prohibition in 1933.

CHERRY SOUP

4 cups dark cherries, pitted and cut up

3 cups water

1 cup dry red wine

1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar

1 (6-inch) cinnamon stick

1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons instant tapioca

Combine cherries, 2 cups water, wine, sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon in large saucepan. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine remaining 1 cup water and tapioca in small bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Stir tapioca mixture into cherry mixture. Cook, stirring, just until mixture boils. (Mixture will thicken slightly as it cools.) Transfer to bowl, cover and chill thoroughly. Remove cinnamon stick and lemon slices, if desired, before serving. Makes 5 cups, or 10 servings.

Each serving contains about:

72 calories; 4 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.13 gram fiber.