Penn Press Log

This Week's New Books--Beggar Thy Neighbor and As American as Shoofly Pie

Beggar Thy Neighbor: A History of Usury and Debt Charles R. Geisst 400 pages | 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4462-5 | $39.95 | £26.00 From the Roman Empire to the most recent financial crisis, this comprehensive economic history examines humanity's attempts to curb the abuse of debt while reaping the benefits of credit. Read more . .

As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine William Woys Weaver 336 pages | 6 x 9 | 59 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4479-3 | $34.95 | £23.00 Not for sale outside North America Celebrated food historian and cookbook writer William Woys Weaver delves deeply into the history of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine to sort fact from fiction in the foodlore of this unique American culture. Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Saunders Robinson. Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Authentic Mock Scrapple

Just because vegetarians are at your table doesn't mean you can't serve traditional Pennsylvania scrapple. This mock scrapple recipe from As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine, written by local food historian William Woys Weaver, is in keeping with the Pennsylvania Dutch spirit of making the most of what's at hand or hoof. Just substitute vegetable oil for the bacon drippings or lard when frying, and the dish becomes truly meatless. Penn Press staff member Sara Davis gave the recipe a try. In the essay below, she shares the results with you.

Mock Scrapple (Blinder Panhaas)

1 quart (1 liter) reserved cooking stock from vegetables, peas, or beans
1 cup (200g) parched (dark roasted) cornmeal
1/2 cup (75g) buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon summer savory (dried leaves)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon powdered hot pepper (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste

Put the reserved cooking broth in a large saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil. Sift together the cornmeal and the buckwheat into a bowl and pour 2 1/2 cups (625ml) of the hot broth over this. Whisk smooth to remove all lumps, then pour this into the remaining broth. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly to thicken the mixture. After cooking for 15 minutes, add the ground pepper, savory, allspice, and hot pepper if desired. Season with salt. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture thickens (20 to 30 minutes). Pour this into a small, greased bread pan or an earthenware terrine. Set aside to cool and set. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day turn out the mock scrapple, slice, and brown in bacon drippings or lard in a hot iron skillet.

The Results

I didn’t grow up in Pennsylvania and never tried scrapple until I’d lived here for several years. To my great surprise, I love it. Never mind what’s in it: good scrapple is crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, savory and satisfying. So when I saw the recipe for mock scrapple, I knew I had to try it.

Blinder Panhaas is a great dish for the frugal cook to have in her repertoire: the recipe is essentially a means to turn leftover cooking stock and some basic kitchen staples into a tasty accompaniment. As it happens, I am already a committed maker and saver of homemade stock: I freeze vegetable scraps from cooking—carrot peels, onion tops, herb stems—and make a large batch of stock every few months. Furthermore, I had planned two consecutive nights of cooking with my neighbor, who hosts a big dinner party every March, so I had time and company to accommodate the two stages of cooking mock scrapple.

My neighbor and I didn’t have the recommended roasted corn meal and buckwheat flour, so we used oat flour and regular corn meal instead, feeling that it was appropriate to the waste-not-want-not spirit of the dish. But of course, swapping ingredients can change the taste and texture. If we had used the recommended dark grains and bean stock, the scrapple would have had an earthier, possibly nutty flavor; ours was lighter in taste and appearance, resembling a coarse polenta until we added seasoning. We had the savory, coriander, and allspice recommended by the book, which are spices often found in sausage and scrapple, but one could probably substitute other earthy seeds and green herbs (sage or thyme, fennel or caraway) to good effect. We also went with the optional teaspoon of red pepper, which tasted very hot in the uncooked meal but mellowed a great deal with cooking.

Texture-wise, our light flour and corn meal mix was possibly a lot thirstier than roasted grains would have been: my mix soaked up all the stock I poured into it, so it was difficult to whisk. I ended up stirring it with a wooden paddle until it smoothed. Once I poured it back into the hot stock, I found it easier to whisk, but I needed to add a little more stock while the grains cooked. (This also might be a problem with my technique, as I’ve had similar experiences making polenta.)

We poured the cooked meal into a square baking dish and left it in the fridge overnight to set.

The next day, after we’d wrangled a turkey into the oven and prepared several pounds of green beans and Brussels sprouts, I cut the cold, firm scrapple into thick triangles. This pan yielded about thirty-two thick wedges. We fried them in about a quarter inch of vegetable oil (to keep it meatless for visiting vegetarians), flipping each piece once to brown on both sides.

 

Mock Scrapple Frying

The finished triangles tasted pretty good—as most fried things do! We put some on a plate with apple butter, as the book recommends, and really enjoyed the contrast of crispy, savory scrapple with the sweet, tart fruit preserve. We weren’t trying to fool anyone with these, but interestingly, a few late guests supposed that they were eating traditional scrapple. I guess that the combination of savory spices and the familiar creamy cornmeal texture seemed close enough. Others figured they were eating some kind of corn fritter. In any case, the plate we set out as an appetizer was soon empty.

Sara Davis is the Direct Mail and Advertising Manager for Penn Press and the writer behind the scenesofeating.com blog.

Check our Pi/Pie Day post for another staff-pleasing recipe from As American as Shoofly Pie.

Pennsylvania Dutch Pies for Pi Day

Happy Pi Day! We put an historical Pennsylvania Dutch twist on the mathematical celebration of 3/14 by eating shoofly pie and sharing a recipe for apple Schnitz pie, two the dishes in As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine by food historian William Woys Weaver.

Shoofly Pie (Melassich Riwwelboi)
A shoofly pie, shown below in detail, graces the front cover of As American as Shoofly Pie next to other more or less authentic Pennsylvania Dutch items. But make no mistake, our Pi Day shoofly is not just a "Dutchified" (uffgedeitscht) show treat for the tourists.

Shoofly Pie (Melassich Riwwelboi) with other regional attractions

Unlike many contemporary shoofly pies, Weaver's version is eggless. The frugal recipe is, as Weaver writes, "a by-product of the baking-powder revolution that took hold of Pennsylvania Dutch cookery during the 1870s." Indeed, even today the ingredients for this pie are common to most pantries and refrigerators. The pie, which is more of a breakfast cake, first came to national attention at the 1876 United States Centennial. And here's a slice of Melassich Riwwelboi on the Press break room table, served with a cup of coffee as Weaver recommends.

Shoofly Pie in the Press Break Room

Apple Schnitz Pie (Ebbelschnitz Boi)
What is Schnitz? Schnitz refers to dried apple slices, the key ingredient in our free Pi Day recipe.

A Local Brand of Apple Schnitz

Yield: one 9- to 10-inch (23 to 25cm) pie

Pastry for one 9- to 10-inch (23 to 25cm) pie
3 cups (750ml) boiling water or cider
8 ounces (250g) tart apple Schnitz (pie Schnitz)
2 tablespoons (15g) potato starch
2 tablespoons (25g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 cups (500ml) sour cream
1/2 cup (125g) sugar
1 tablespoon (15g) unsalted butter

Pour boiling water over the Schnitz. Cover and let stand 4 to 6 hours or overnight until the Schnitz are soft. Drain and chop into lima bean-size pieces, then place them in a large work bowl. Combine the potato starch, brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice, working the mixture with a fork to create fine crumbs. Take out 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture and set aside. Line a 9- to 10-inch pie dish with short pastry. Dust the Schnitz with the brown sugar mixture and then arrange the fruit in the pie shell, pressing down with a spoon so that the Schnitz fit together closely. Mix the sour cream and sugar and spread this evenly over the fruit. Combine the reserved tablespoon of brown sugar mixture with the butter and work this to a crumb texture. Scatter the crumbs over the top of the pie. Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 50 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

Weaver credits Elma Landis Harnish (1899-1945) of New Danville, PA for this version of apple Schnitz pie.

Enjoy the rest of your Pi Day.

 

Why Groundhog?

Tomorrow tens of thousands of people are expected attend Punxsutawney, PA's annual Groundhog Day ceremony while millions more watch the event on television and online. With that celebrity status, furry forecaster Punxsutawney Phil doesn't need to worry about human predators as he checks his shadow. But that wasn't the case for his forebears.

In "Consider the Groundhog," a chapter in the forthcoming book, As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine, historian and author William Woys Weaver reminds us that the famous marmot was usually seen on a platter before he began to appear on television. Groundhog meat--along with squirrel, rabbit, and other small game--was an economical source of protein for rural families. Weaver says, "Properly dressed, groundhog is indeed an underrated American delicacy, and smoked groundhog is an unsung luxury—I do not exaggerate."

Fortunately for the groundhog, it is more appealing as a mascot than as a main dish. Pennsylvanians have named many institutions after the animal, from the Groundhog Day holiday to the Groundhog or Grundsau Lodges, which preserve the Pennsylvania Dutch language. What gives the unassuming rodent such regional charm? Weaver writes:

The groundhog fits neatly into Pennsylvania Dutch culture because it was a common denizen of the countryside, a ready symbol of farm life, and long associated with weather prognostication, an important point in the days when farmers spent the late winter poring over almanacs.

Now, even though we're more likely to consult the Weather Channel than the Farmer's Almanac, admiration for the groundhog endures.

This Week's New Books: Agriculture, Love, and Archaeology

Food and Agriculture in Ethiopia: Progress and Policy Challenges Edited by Paul Dorosh and Shahidur Rashid 376 pages | 6 x 9 | 104 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4529-5 | $59.95 | £39.00 A volume in the International Food Policy Research Institute series In this volume, policy experts provide empirical evidence to shed light on the complexities of agricultural and food policy in today's Ethiopia, highlight major policies and interventions of the past decade, and provide insights into building resilience to natural disasters and food crises.

Empires of Love: Europe, Asia, and the Making of Early Modern Identity Carmen Nocentelli 272 pages | 6 x 9 | 10 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4483-0 | $55.00 | £36.00 Drawing on a wide range of Dutch, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish sources, Empires of Love shows how the encounter with Asia shaped the way early modern Europeans came to define their racial and sexual identities. al ventures have formed political associations to promote and defend their interests.

The Archaeology of Phrygian Gordion, Royal City of Midas: Gordion Special Studies 7 Edited by C. Brian Rose 360 pages | 8 1/2 x 11 | 13 color, 230 b/w illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-1-934536-48-3 | $79.95 | £52.00 A volume in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology series This volume covers all aspects of Gordion's Phrygian settlement topography from the arrival of the Phrygians in the tenth century B.C. through the arrival of Alexander the Great in 333 B.C., focusing on the site's changing topography and the consistently fluctuating interaction between the inhabitants and the landscape.

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Saunders Robinson. Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Making Seafood Sustainable--Now Available

Making Seafood Sustainable: American Experiences in Global Perspective
Mansel G. Blackford
296 pages | 6 x 9 | 20 illus.
Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4393-2 | $45.00 | £29.50
A volume in the American Business, Politics, and Society series


"Intelligent, provocative, and well researched, with delightful writing throughout. Blackford has a grasp on the ways in which global developments manifest themselves in American fisheries on a number of different levels: economic, environmental, cultural, and political. Indeed, Blackford demonstrates that all of these local manifestations of globalization are connected to each other."--Arthur F. McEvoy, Southwestern Law School

Making Seafood Sustainable shows how and why sustainable fishing and seafood management can work by looking at past success stories in dealing with the global overfishing crisis, especially in American waters.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Saunders Robinson.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

A New Penn Press Podcast--Three Researchers from the Penn Museum on Sustainable Lifeways

In the October Penn Press podcast, Naomi F. Miller, Katherine M. Moore, and Kathleen Ryan from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology discuss human strategies for coping with environmental change over time. The conversations ranges from the power of dung in ancient Anatolia to the career choices of today's young Maasai in east Africa. The three are coeditors of the forthcoming book Sustainable Lifeways: Cultural Persistence in an Ever-changing Environment.

To listen the Sustainable Lifeways interview, visit the Penn Press podcast site.

 

Food Chains--Now in Paperback

Food Chains: From Farmyard to Shopping Cart
Edited by Warren Belasco and Roger Horowitz
304 pages | 6 x 9 | 26 illus.
Cloth 2008 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4128-0 | $55.00 | £36.00
Paper 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2134-3 | $26.50 | £17.50
A volume in the Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture series

This collection of fascinating historical case studies reveals the remarkable inner workings of the modern food provisioning system and the complex web of institutions that move food from the farm to the dinner table. Read more . . . Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Penn Press Open House: Saturday May 15, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

May is an exciting time at Penn Press for many reasons. We are preparing to announce the fall crop of books. Some of our favorite work study students graduate and go on to bigger and better things. And last but not least, we host an Open House.

This year's open house promises to be very interesting. Not only will guests have the chance to meet Penn Press staff and enjoy beverages and hors d'oeuvres.  Former New York City police chief, City of Philadelphia police commissioner, and police chief of Miami John Timoney will be on hand to discuss the stories and issues raised in his new book Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities.

So please stop by. Our doors are open from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 15. Penn Press is located at 3905 Spruce Street on the University of Pennsylvania Campus in beautiful West Philadelphia.

For more information about the open house, please visit our events page or our Facebook fan page.

Spring Overstock Sale--Save 70%

It's a beautiful day (at least in Philadelphia) and the perfect time for the Penn Press Spring Overstock Sale to begin. Hundreds of titles have been marked down by 70 percent. Visit the overstock sale web page for a complete list of discounted books. There's an array of books to chose from, but quantities are limited so check out these bargains now before they're gone.