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.

Win A Free Copy of Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia

Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia, by economic development consultant Gregory L. Heller, is the first biography of this charismatic but controversial figure.

"Edmund Bacon, probably the most relentless and determined of all planners, believed that the most important and difficult thing to do was deciding what to advocate and that the trick in making that decision was selecting something that you could bring to fruition. . . . We are fortunate in having this stunning biography by Gregory Heller. The result is an engrossing story explaining how modern Philadelphia took shape."--From the Foreword, by Alexander Garvin

If you'd like the chance to receive a free copy of Ed Bacon, send an email to pressmkt at pobox dot upenn dot edu with your first name, last name, and your preferred email address by Friday, May 17  at noon Eastern Standard Time. One person will be selected at random to receive a hardcover or ebook copy.

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: In the Crossfire and Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters

In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform John P. Spencer 352 pages | 6 x 9 | 11 illus. Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4435-9 | $34.95 | £23.00 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0766-8 | $34.95t | £23.00 A volume in the Politics and Culture in Modern America series In the Crossfire brings a much-needed historical perspective to contemporary debates about educational inequality by tracing the life and work of Marcus Foster, an African-American educator who struggled to reform urban schools in the 1960s and early 70s. Read more . . .

Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America Victoria W. Wolcott 328 pages | 6 x 9 | 18 illus. Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4434-2 | $34.95 | £23.00 Ebook | ISBN 978-0-8122-0759-0 | $34.95 | £23.00 A volume in the Politics and Culture in Modern America series Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters tells the story of the battle for access to leisure space in cities across the United States. This detailed and eloquent history shows how African Americans fought to enter segregated amusement areas not only in pursuit of happiness but in connection to a wider movement for racial equality. Read more . .

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

This Month's Podcast: Albert Churella and the Pennsylvania Railroad

In the September Penn Press podcast, Albert J. Churella, Associate Professor in the Social and International Studies Department at Southern Polytechnic State University and author of The Pennsylvania Railroad, Volume 1: Building an Empire, 1846-1917, talks about his monumental history of the transportation giant.

From the interview:

Americans are addicted to mobility. Today we take for granted our ability to be mobile with our cars, with aircraft. We think less about the role that trains played in increasing American mobility. But not much more than a hundred years ago, America became a mobile society because of the railroads, and particularly because of the Pennsylvania Railroad. And it was the steady diminution of the operating costs associated with railroads—it was the steady downward spiral of railroad rates—that underwrote American economic expansion, the rise of big business, and the prosperity that ultimately made the United States the leading economic power in the history of the world.

In this clip, Churella considers the Pennsylvania Railroad's most significant accomplishments.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Albert J. Churella by PennPress

The complete interview is available at the Penn Press podcast page.

Paul's Pick: a Free Article on Working Women from the Journal of the Early Republic

Every month, Paul Chase in the Penn Press Journals department invites our blog readers to download a complimentary article from one of our many scholarly journals.

Paul's Pick for August is "Women on the Edge: Life at Street Level in the Early Republic" by Gloria L. Main, Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

"Historians are taking a fresh look at life and work in early American cities," writes Main. "They have long appreciated the vital economic and cultural roles played by cities through the ages. It is only recently, however, that they have discovered that we cannot understand how those cities actually functioned without taking into account the economic contributions of ordinary women and children, bound and free."

Main's article will appear in the upcoming Fall issue of the Journal of the Early Republic. Here's an excerpt from the abstract:

Women performed critical functions in the economies of early American cities, but female members of all classes found themselves disadvantaged by both the law and the market, where coverture, marginal jobs, and low wages forced their dependency on men. Yet, even when fully employed, men of the “working poor” did not earn enough to support their families.  As a result, most poor families relied on the earnings of mothers and children to get by.

Click here to download this free article and learn more about the Journal of the Early Republic.

Check the Penn Press Log in September for Paul's next pick.

Q&A with C. Dallett Hemphill, New Editor of the Early American Studies Journal

C. Dallett Hemphill, Professor of History at Ursinus College, is the new editor of Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, taking over from longtime editor Elaine Forman Crane. Dallett graciously agreed to answer a few of our questions about her upcoming editorship.

What areas will you try to focus on with upcoming issues of EAS?

I won’t try to focus on any particular area in the two regular issues; rather, I will try to line up an interesting mix of articles on different topics and from different disciplinary perspectives. One of the reasons I took on this editorship is that I wanted to have a perch from which to follow the development of the field. I’m enjoying reading the varied work that has come in in the past few months and hope to continue the EAS tradition of nurturing and offering original contributions by both junior and senior scholars.

The special issue each year will continue to offer a thematically-unified selection, often the best papers from a recent conference. EAS is a great place to capture the energy of these events, and the guest issues offer an opportunity to vary the editorial perspective as well.

What other journals have you been affiliated with?

I’ve served on the editorial board of the Journal of the Early American Republic, and have enjoyed reviewing books and articles for a variety of American history journals, including the William and Mary Quarterly and the Journal of American History, in addition to Early American Studies.

What is your area of interest in early American studies?

I’m a social and cultural historian by training and experience, with particular interest in age, class, gender and family relations. I’ve written books on manners and sibling relations in America from 1600 to 1860, and am currently at work on a collection of mini-biographies of fascinating early Philadelphians who were not Founding Fathers.

What do you see as the future of scholarly journal publishing?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I am impressed by the way online databases have given print journals a big shot in the arm, by making them so accessible. Whether we continue to produce the paper copies remains to be seen, but the peer-reviewed scholarly journal seems healthier than ever.

Yet I am also interested in exploring the possibilities of a web interface with the journal, to disseminate new materials and reach new audiences. The McNeil Center for Early American Studies has such a wide array of constituents. In addition to its nationwide network of scholars, it also welcomes undergraduate thesis writers and local public historians. I’m hoping the journal can connect with all these groups, and with researchers on the new media frontier, through its webpage.

Do you use an ereader? How much of your research is online vs. going to the library?

I have a NOOK that I find useful when travelling, but I still prefer to curl up with a book! Like everyone else’s my research life has been revolutionized by the internet. I was astonished at the speed at which I was able to do the research for my second book versus my first. I love digging through sources in the wee hours in my pajamas. But I also love combing the shelves in the library and mining the archives. The internet offers speed and search-ability, but there’s nothing like turning the pages of an original document. I’m so blessed to be near Philadelphia, with its incredible libraries and historical societies, and their knowledgeable staffs.

Demolition is Not Enough: Design After Decline Author Brent Ryan on Redevelopment in Philadelphia

In this guest blog post, Design After Decline: How America Rebuilds Shrinking Cities author Brent D. Ryan asks Philadelphia to consider its demolition patterns and rowhouse legacy.

Demolition Is Not Enough
Distressed cities like Philadelphia need a future vision that is more than just less

The first decade of the twenty-first century brought a rebirth of sorts to Philadelphia. Real estate markets boomed, housing construction flourished, and confidence in the city rebounded. The city’s population even increased slightly from 2000 to 2010, reversing decades of decline. And the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI), a demolition scheme that former Mayor John F. Street made the key policy initiative of his administration, removed 8,000 vacant, dilapidated houses from Philadelphia neighborhoods. At least until the 2007-08 housing crash, the city’s future looked brighter than it had for decades.

Today, the future in many Philadelphia’s neighborhoods is far less certain. Lots cleared by NTI continue to sit vacant, with no conceivable reuse in sight. City government faces the repayment of $250 million in debt that NTI incurred. And almost three-fourths of Philadelphia neighborhoods have housing values lower than construction costs--meaning that market-rate construction is unlikely to occur there. With Mayor Michael Nutter beginning his second term, real estate at a slowdown, and a new comprehensive plan for the city (Philadelphia2035) recently completed, the timing is right to reassess the redevelopment strategies for Philadelphia’s troubled neighborhoods.