Pennsylvania’s Value-Added Cuisine by Ruth Paget
There is always a little something or two added to dishes in Pennsylvania to enhance flavor such as mashed potatoes with horseradish or sautéed fish with nuts.
Flavor enhancements like this reflect Pennsylvania’s immigrant background with contributions from English, German, Italian, Polish, and other Eastern European cuisines. Value-added dishes are well-documented in The Best of the Best from Pennsylvania Cookbooks: Selected Recipes from Pennsylvania’s Favorite Cookbooks edited by golfing friends Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley.
The value-added ingredients in Pennsylvania dishes usually are not difficult to add and distinguish the dish with a particular culture. Dishes like this include:
-smoked salmon pâté using canned salmon, cream cheese, onion, lemon juice, and horseradish
-onion and herb bread made with sherry
-blender apple pancakes that make the apples part of the batter
-pierogis – Polish ravioli filled with cottage cheese and topped with melted butter and sautéed onions. I ate pierogis in Detroit (Michigan) as a child with my Polish babysitters who also made French terrines.
- a non-puréed shredded cabbage soup made with onions, celery, parsley, peas, mushrooms, and diced chicken
-cream of zucchini soup for when zucchini is exploding into bloom in summer gardens. This soup is made with zucchini, onions, and milk.
-cream of broccoli soup made with cream and cheddar cheese
-brie soup, which I am sure the dons of the University of Pennsylvania eat. The brie here is melted in broth with the addition of sliced mushrooms, julienned carrots, green onions, sherry, and heavy cream
-Swiss green bean salad made with green beans, Swiss cheese, olives, red pepper, and almonds
-Amish macaroni salad made with celery, onions, parsley, carrots, and hard-boiled eggs
-Pennsylvania Dutch pancakes made onion, scallions, and lemon juice for a tangy flavor
-wild rice with mushrooms and almonds
-cranberry chutney with ground cloves -pork tenderloin with orange sauce
-lemon-apricot chicken
One dish that is part of my family heritage in this cookbook is Gulielma’s Chicken and Dumplings. Gulielma Springett was the first wife of Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn and the step-daughter of my ancestor Isaac Penington (1616 – 1679). William Penn was also a Quaker and one of the reasons I attended a Friends School in Detroit (Michigan) for part of my high school education.
Gulielma’s dumplings are made with parsley and chopped mushrooms, which exemplify the value-added character of Pennsylvania’s food.
(The Pennington’s have left their mark in Pennsylvania. There is a Pennington Road in Philadelphia, which has brown brick row houses lining it. There is also a town named Pennington close to Allentown, Pennsylvania.)
Other dishes in this cookbook that are just a little different from plain presentations include:
-swordfish with pecans
-roasted red pepper with shrimp grits made with cheese
-chocolate bourbon cake
-black walnut cake
-cream cheese fudge made with Philadelphia cream cheese
-apple-cranberry cobbler made with an oat topping
Delicious and historical recipes like these abound in The Best of the Best from Pennsylvania Cookbooks edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley, making it a good purchase for chefs and historians alike.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
