German-Russian Pioneer Cookbook

The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection is pleased to present the German-Russian Pioneer Cook Book from the community of Eureka, South Dakota, once the world's wheat capitol from 1887 to 1902.

In the introduction, Martha Mehlhaff, writes: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. The pioneer woman must have known that, as the welfare of her family came first. Her main purpose was to put food on the table for hungry mouths. With the recipes in this book and with some special touches of your own you can create some healthful combinations of nutritious foods."

Contributors for the recipes cover many of the pioneer families who settled in Eureka and McPherson County, South Dakota - Straub, Lang, Harr, Kurle, Bertsch, Kundert, Whittmayer, Lindemann, Rath, Fischer, Kusler, Scherle, Wolff, Ehrman, Mehlhoff, and Krein.

Main dishes include popular German-Russian recipes of halupsy (pigs in the blanket), fleischkuchla, cottage cheese strudels, kase knoepfla (cheese buttons), German potato salad, kartoffel kloesse (potato dumplings), dampfnudel, schuff noodles and chubbekkas.

Meats include dried beef, headcheese, summer sausage, homemade bologna, grandma's fricassee chicken and jelled pigs feet. Soups include Russian beet borsch, bean soup, revilla soup, milk noodle soup and sour cream soup.

Pastries include keese kuchen, prune kolacky, carrot kuchen, kuchle, grandma's humbug cakes, schlitz kuchla and rahm strudles. Cookies include hershen saltz cookies, anise cookies, Russian cream cookies, himmels futter and pfeffernuse. Miscellaneous items include making of butter, homemade cream cheese, dandelion, beet and rhubarb wine, homemade vinegar, homemade soap, and depression plant. Preserves include dill pickles, pickled beets, sauerkraut, watermelon, beans, and cherry jelly.