I'm a big fan of recipe preservation and the accompanying traditions whether it's family recipes, heritage recipes or both. I get even more excited when I find cookbooks on the subject so when I stumbled across this Internet article "Appetites: Preserving Iron Range Recipes" by Minnesota Public Radio News I decided to change topics this month and expand on November's potica post. In addition to providing another potica recipe, there are recipes for porketta and pasties. Pasties became a convenient lunch staple of the miners in the Iron Range. My great grandfather, Anton Pene, worked the mines for years and probably ate his share of these delicious meat pies. Interesting timing/side note, my daughter cooked porchetta/porketta for Christmas dinner last month and learning to make meat pies are on my "to-do" list this winter! The featured cookbook, "Come, You Taste-Family Recipes from the Iron Range" by B.J. Carpenter is available through the Minnesota Historical Society using the link provided in the article. I have ordered, but not yet received my copy, however, I'm excited to read this "cultural record" of the Iron Range and my heritage. A new cookbook is also available through The Slovenian Union of America ,"The American-Slovenian Table", which contains traditional Slovenian recipes and holiday menus. Chapter 1 starts with New Year's Eve-Silvestrovo and highlights significant holiday events in Slovenian culture and ends with Chapter 11 Christmas-Božič.
As families grow and relocate to different states and even abroad, upholding and celebrating family traditions become more important because they are at risk for being lost. Let's make the effort to keep those holiday traditions and old recipes you might inherit. You never know who might really be missing Aunt Mabel's famous chocolate cake recipe!
As families grow and relocate to different states and even abroad, upholding and celebrating family traditions become more important because they are at risk for being lost. Let's make the effort to keep those holiday traditions and old recipes you might inherit. You never know who might really be missing Aunt Mabel's famous chocolate cake recipe!