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Haluski (The Hazards of History)

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There is perhaps nothing in my cooking repertoire more contrary to presentation here than the shapeless and nearly monochrome combination of cooked cabbage, onion, butter, and noodles that make up haluski. Even with a bit of black pepper and Hungarian paprika, no dressing up for the camera will really make this dish shine (or, frankly, make it appetizing if you don’t already love the tastes you’re anticipating). However, particularly if your grandma used to make it for you, there is really no protection from the winter cold more secure than this supper.

To keep the oven and stove top cranking while I steamed and sauteed my pot of cabbage and onion, I paired the cooking of this noodle dish with the creation of a loaf of soda bread and a buttermilk broccoli soup (to use up the rest of the buttermilk, though I recommend treading carefully with this recipe if nutmeg is not your thing).

Irish Soda Bread

It occurred to me halfway through the cooking that perhaps there were “better” ways to make haluski and that maybe I should have done a bit of Googling before I began cooking. Pretty much every post I turned up after the fact, however, was exactly the dish I had made. (Aside from the one that also included Crisco–yikes! Though if you grew up with a lard version, this may help get you there.)

So fill your kitchen with the aroma of cooking cabbage and think of grandma with love. You’ll be all the warmer for it.

Family Recipes

Guessing Game: The hazards of family recipes

Helen’s Haluski
based on the “um, maybe?” instructions of gram, via my mom

1 medium head of white cabbage, cored and shredded with a knife
1 medium white onion, roughly chopped or thinly sliced in half moons (cook’s preference)
1/2 cup water, plus more as needed
1/2 cup butter
3/4-1 lbs. wide egg noodles
salt, pepper, and paprika to taste

Ingredients

Place cabbage, onion, and water in a large pot. Cover almost completely with lid and heat to steam vegetables for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water as needed. Add butter and continue cooking to brown vegetables, about 30 minutes more. Cabbage and onion should be soft and tasty. Remove from heat.

About 15 minutes before vegetables are done, cook noodles according to package directions. Add noodles to cooked vegetables and toss well to combine, seasoning with salt, pepper, and paprika. A dollop of sour cream or some cottage cheese might not be amiss either. (Don’t give me that look.)

Serve with crusty bread, vegetable soup, and pickled beets (or sausages, if you swing that way).

Haluski meal

Hello Homemade Pierogi (Goodbye, Mrs. T’s)

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I’ve been eating pierogi (pierogies?) since I was a little kid, but this project takes us a far cry from the freezer-burned grocery store packages of days gone by. And though you would need to be a speedier chef than I proved to be to crack out these tasty dumplings in the 60 minutes the recipe suggests, none of the steps are actually all that challenging. The dough is silky and cooperative and everything works just like you’d expect, so while it’s a time commitment, it can be a relaxing afternoon in the kitchen as well. So turn on NPR, make some tea, and have a feast for dinner (just add sauerkraut and sour cream).

I doubled the batch, figuring that if I was going to invest myself in such a production line, I wanted leftovers. Otherwise I followed the instructions just as I found them at King Arthur, boiled and fried them up in some butter and onions, and deemed them delicious.

Note from Rebecca:

Molly beats me to the punch on this topic. Here I was readying my own pierogi missive, passing on a recipe that my cousins obtained from a cooking class at the Strawberry Hill Museum and Cultural Center  in Kansas City, ground zero for my hometown’s Eastern European communities. It’s very similar to the King Arthur version cited, breaking away to tuck the sour cream into the potato filling instead of the dough. Instead, I’ll offer an alternative filling.

SAUERKRAUT FILLING

3 cups sauerkraut, drained

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons butter

Melt butter in pan and sauté onions. Add sauerkraut, salt and pepper. Turn off heat and stir until combined. Cool approximately 30 minutes before filling pierogi.

Note: Crumbled bacon can be added to filling, or sprinkled over cooked pierogi