FRIED WALLEYE & CHERRY PIE At Table Fried Walleye & Cherry Pie MIDWESTERN WRITERS ON FOOD Edited and with an Introduction by Peggy Wolff University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London © 2013 by Peggy Wolff Acknowledgment for the use of copyrighted material appears on pp. 257–58, which constitutes an extension of the copyright page. All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fried walleye and cherry pie: midwestern writers on food / edited by Peggy Wolff . pages cm — (At table) ISBN 978-0-8032-3645-5 (pbk.: alk. paper); 978-0-8032-4855-7 (pdf web) 1. Cooking, American—Midwestern style. 2. Cooking—Middle West. 3. International cooking— Anecdotes. 4. Food habits—Middle West—Anecdotes. 5. Authors, American—Middle West— Miscellanea. 6. Middle West—Social life and customs— Anecdotes. I. Wolff , Peggy, editor of compilation. II. Title: Midwestern writers on food. TX715.2.M53F85 2013 641.5977—dc23 2013022747 Set in Minion by Laura Wellington. Designed by Nathan Putens. In memory of my father Growing up, my favorite hot dog was the one at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. “It’s just a ballpark hot dog,” my dad would say. But no other Vienna Beef dog anywhere else was the same. Th at’s because we waited in line together, the thick smoke from the vendor’s cart seeping into our noses, our hair, and our mitts, while we watched our red hots stuff ed into a poppy-seed bun. Th is was where I learned that food is not just food. It’s the experience that counts — where you are, whom you are with, and, if you’re lucky, a win for the home team. Th anks, Dad. Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Midwestern Staples In the Midwest, It’s Meatloaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Elizabeth Berg Field Trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Stuart Dybek Easter Island Almondine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Thom Jones Th e Sandwich Th at Is Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Michael Stern Cincinnati Five-Way Chili: Still Legal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Robert Olmstead Corn in Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Jacquelyn Mitchard Let Th em Eat Pâté . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Peter Sagal High on the Hog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Jon Yates Th e Chef and the Farmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Gale Gand Recipe: Goat Cheese Panna Cotta with Caramelized Figs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Distant Cultures Art’s Lunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Harry Mark Petrakis A Tale of Two Tamales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Carol Mighton Haddix Recipe: Beef Brisket, Savory Cherry Compote, and Jalapeño Cheese Tamales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Le Dog, Ann Arbor, Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Jules Van Dyck-Dobos Th e Night of the Rhubarb Kuchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Anne Dimock Recipes: Rhubarb Kram; Rhubarb Kuchen with Almond Meringue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Th e Black Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Donna Pierce Eat Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Phyllis Florin Th e Door County Fish Boil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Peggy Wolff Recipes: White Gull Inn Door County Cherry Pie; White Gull Inn Fish Boil Recipe for Home Cooks . . . . . . 128 Holidays, Fairs, and Events Th rill Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 John Markus Under the Checkered Flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Melanie Benjamin Bicentennial Pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Timothy Bascom So You’ll Diet Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Lorna Landvik Th anksgiving Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Mary Kay Shanley Recipe: Thanksgiving Stuffi ng with Cast-Iron Skillet Corn Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 A Full Belly Th e Tam-O-Shanter, Lincoln, Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Sherrie Flick What Was Served . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Douglas Bauer Tomorrowland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Peter Meehan I’ll Eat Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Molly O’Neill On Cider, Cornmeal, and Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Robin Mather Recipe: Buttermilk Doughnuts with Cider Glaze . . . . . . . 217