B E A T R I C E O J A K A N G A S FINNISH RYE, FEED SACK FASHION, AND OTHER SIMPLE INGREDIENTS FROM MY LIFE IN FOOD 1 Homemade 2 Cookbooks by beatriCe ojakangas Published by the University of Minnesota Press The Great Holiday Baking Book Great Old- Fashioned American Desserts Great Old- Fashioned American Recipes The Great Scandinavian Baking Book Great Whole Grain Breads Pot Pies Quick Breads Scandinavian Cooking Scandinavian Feasts Homemade 12 FINNISH RYE, FEED SACK FASHION, AND OTHER SIMPLE INGREDIENTS FROM MY LIFE IN FOOD BEATRICE OJAKANGAS University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis • London All photographs are reproduced courtesy of the author, unless credited otherwise. Copyright 2016 by Beatrice Ojakangas All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Printed in the United States of America on acid-f ree paper The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer. 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ojakangas, Beatrice, author. Homemade : Finnish rye, feed sack fashion, and other simple ingredients from my life in food / Beatrice Ojakangas. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2016] Identifiers: LCCN 2016027973 | ISBN 978-0-8166-9579-9 (hc) Subjects: LCSH: Cooking, Finnish. | Cooking—Minnesota. | Ojakangas, Beatrice. | LCGFT: Cookbooks. Classification: LCC TX723.5.F5 O42 2016 | DDC 641.59776—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016027973 Contents 12 Acknowledgments ix Prologue: Any Questions? xi d  PART I My Paternal Grandparents: A Story of Commitment and Perseverance 3 Finnish Cardamom Coffee Bread (Pulla) 6 Korppu 7 My Maternal Grandparents: A Story of Famine, Fire, and Fear 8 Grandmother’s Sugar Cookies 12 First Names First 15 Finnish- Style Mojakka 17 Growing Up on a Farm in Northern Minnesota 18 Salt Cake 22 Mummy’s Simple White Cake 23 There Were Ten of Us 25 Being Finnish 31 Thin Finnish Pancakes (Lattyja) 34 Sunday Services at Uncle Frank’s 35 Summers on the Farm 37 Wild Berry Jam 38 Swimming 39 Cows in Wintertime 41 Finnish Baked Cheese (Leipäjuusto) 45 Venison 46 The Best Venison Liver and Onions 47 Visits from Aunts and Uncles 48 Orange Date- Nut Cake 53 My Twelfth Birthday 54 No Recipe Needed 56 Mummy’s “Juicy” Cinnamon Rolls 57 Feed Sack Fashion 58 Hired Men 61 Mrs. Long’s Graham Rieska 63 Christmas Trees 64 Pulla People 66 Some Stories Are Hard to Tell 68 Vesala 70 Floodwood, My Hometown 72 Sam’s Socklat Cake 74 Lincoln School in Floodwood 76 Anne Brown’s Beauty Parlor 80 Town Kids versus Country Kids 82 Country Carrot Meatloaf 83 Seeds for a Bible 84 Heaven and How to Get There 86 Confirmation in the Finnish Lutheran Church 88 Till the Cows Come Home 90 The End- of- Summer Prize 92 Lemon or Orange Chiffon Cake 96 Back to the State Fair 97 Cheese Soufflé 99 Finnish Rye Bread 101 d  PART II Becoming a Home Economist 105 A Turn in the Road 108 My First Taste of Gourmet Food 111 Hot Cheese Puffs 112 Burnt Sugar Ice Cream 113 My “Toast in the Morning Man” 115 Almond Cardamom Scones 118 The Pillsbury Bake- Off 119 Cheesy Picnic Bread (Chunk o’ Cheese Bread) 123 A Year in Finland 124 Lanttulaatikko (Rutabaga Casserole) 125 Swedish Prince’s (Princess) Cake 126 Stories from Finland 129 May Day Tippaleipä 132 Sima 133 Sunset Magazine 134 A Marriage Encounter with Moussaka 136 Moussaka 136 A Food Writer and a Mom 139 Jumbo Sugar Jumbles 140 Welcome Back to Duluth 141 Somebody’s House 145 Rabbitburger 148 Stroganoff Burger 149 Swiss Fondue 149 Jeno and the Big Idea 150 Two Years at Vocational School 152 Karjalan Paisti (Karelian Three- Meat Stew) 153 Cooking School in the South of France with Simca 155 Tarte de Nancy 156 Pâté Sucrée 157 Nice Is Nice 158 A Totally Untraditional Bouillabaisse 160 The Seven- Course Morel Festival Meal 162 Cream of Morel Soup 163 In the Kitchen with Julia Child 165 Quick Method Danish Pastry 167 Danish Pastry Braid 168 On TV with Martha Stewart 169 Katja’s Birthday Sponge Cake 172 Peachie, the Butter Spokesperson 174 Cookie Questions 176 Chocolate Chip Cookies 177 The Great River Road 178 Nauvoo Wheat- Nut Coffeecake 179 Shrimp à la Creole 180 The Butter Churn and My Beloved Mom 181 Twenty- Nine Cookbooks and Counting— All of Them “Pot Boilers” 183 Cooking in a Church Kitchen (Bring Sharp Knives!) 193 Three- Grain Wild Rice Sunflower Seed Bread 195 Summing It Up 196 Acknowledgments 12 From the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, I recognize a basic truth that “I am a part of all I have met.” From my family to my friends and to the teachers, both formal and in passing, I owe a debt of thanks and acknowledgment. My life is more than what I have inherited through blood and body. I have had the incredible support of extended family and friends, who somehow magi- cally appear just when I need encouragement the most. This is for you, my family. To my late mother, Esther Honkala Luoma, who taught me to cook on the woodstove, and my late father, Ted, who put ingenu- ity into my gene pool. To my husband, Dick; kids, Cathy, Greg, Susanna; and my grandkids, who are “grand” indeed: Niko, Tomas, Isabella, Kieran, Celka, Lian, Frans, and Kaisa. My hope is that these stories will shed a bit of light on each of you. Also, for my nine brothers and sisters and countless cousins, there may be something here that explains some mysterious family trait. To the folks at the University of Minnesota Press, who have been so amaz- ingly supportive— Erik Anderson, Kristian Tvedten, and others: I couldn’t have done it without you! d ix