Minnesota’s All Weather Cuisine by Ruth Paget
I learned as a young child that if you like eating freshwater fish Minnesota is a land of plenty. My father took me on canoe fishing trips in several of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes as a kid.
I thought gliding along in a canoe in cold, damp air that smelled of pine tree resin was fun. My dad caught fish. My job was to gather damp twigs to start a cooking fire. Dad gutted, scaled, wrapped the fish in foil with onions and carrots, and cooked it right on the flame, which I thought was cool.
There is a recipe for cooking fish in foil this way including folding directions in Dishing Up Minnesota: 150 Recipes from the Land of 10,000 Lakes by Teresa Marrone along with many other fish recipes including:
-a freshwater fish chowder that uses no dairy products.
-salmon or trout mousse – this is a great catering recipe as it can be prepared ahead of time and used over several days
-smoked fish spread made with chive-onion sour cream, mayonnaise, fresh dill, and lemon juice
Minnesota has foraging treasures that make ordinary dishes shine when combined with them. Some of these delicious recipes include:
-morel mushroom cream sauce with roasted shallots and garlic – this sauce goes well with roasted chicken and pan-fried fish
-Minnesota wild rice sop with celery, carrots, onion, cubes of turkey, rice, heavy cream, and turkey broth
-sherry-mushroom cream sauce – goes well with roast chicken or mashed potatoes
Minnesotans are very inventive with their alcoholic beverages, using them to flavor everything from main dishes to desserts such as:
-porter beer and spice cake with porter flavored icing
-beer and cheese soup using ale beer and cheddar and Swiss cheese
-pork loin braised with apples and hard cider
Immigrants through the centuries have made contributions to surviving in Minnesota’s harsh winters with many comfort foods including:
-pheasant baked in cream sauce
-Swedish meatballs
-Danish open-faced sandwiches
-spicy Hmong chicken larb stir-fry
-spicy Somali lamb or goat stew Surprisingly,
Minnesota’s cuisine works year-round thanks to ice fishing and Friday night fish fries available to everyone. (Beer drinkers know that deep-fried fish tastes great with ale beer.) Iron skillet pizza is a big homemade favorite as is Norwegian lefse potato bread with butter. Coffee with baked goods is another meal tradition Scandinavian and German immigrants brought to Minnesota that is supported by farmers’ markets, bakeries, grocery stores, and home cooks alike.
Fish lovers might enjoy reading about how Minnesota has set up a self-sustaining food economy in Dishing Up Minnesota: 150 Recipes from the Land of 10,000 Lakes by Teresa Marrone.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
