Estelline – 125 years of History – the old country

Memories of the Old Country
Starting on page 194

Romme Grot  –  Idella (Carl) Rymerson
1/2 gallon cream
1 cup flour
5 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
Add flour in with eggs and beat. Can add just a wee bit of water to thin if necessary, like gravy. Boil cream and add flour and egg. Can add a little more flour if necessary. Then add salt. Stir until butter forms. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Fattigmand – Cecelia (M.A.) Gorder/ Anna Fjerestad
6 egg yolks
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp salt
6 Tbsp sweet cream
4 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
Beat eggs well, add sugar and mix well. Add rest of ingredients. Roll thin, cut in diamond shape. Cut in center and fry in deep fry in deep fat at 370F for two or three minutes or until golden brown. Dust with powdered sugar.

Lefse – Marge (Garry) Grorud
Mix well the following:
1 pound instant potatoes
3 cups dry milk
3 Tbsp sugar
5 tsp salt
Bring to a boil:
9 cups water
3 sticks margarine (I like Parkay), pour over potato mixture
Mix well with a masher – divide into 3 equal parts and chill. Mix up the dough on one day and bake it the next. To each part of the dough add 1 1/2 cups flour, mix with a pastry blender and form into 16 balls. Bake on hot griddle. Do not add flour too far ahead of when you can bake them or they will get sticky and you will have to add to much flour and destroy the flavor and the will become dry. Steam the baked lefses under oil cloth or plastic until cold before packaging – not more than 16 on a pile. The whole batch makes 48 rounds.

Norwegian Butter Cookies – Mrs. Evelyn (Glen) Justice
1 cup soft butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 cup walnuts
2 tsp vanilla
Roll in little balls. Flatten slightly with fork. Bake 10 minutes in 325F oven.

Norwegian Flat Bread – Marge (Garry) Grorud
Cream well:
1 cup margarine
1/4 cup sugar
Add:
1 1/2 tsp soda
3 cups buttermilk
Stir in:
1 cup all bran
1 cup quick oatmeal
3 cups graham flour
4 cups unbleached white flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Divide dough into small balls. Roll on slightly flour or unfloured pastry cloth, work in flour as needed to keep from sticking. Use a cloth on the rolling pin also. Roll thin. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet. Approximately 6-7 minutes at 400F. Makes approximately 30 sheets – you can bake the sheet whole and break up after baking if you like the broken off look or cut up into nice serving size before baking.

Rosettes – Janet Brandsrud
1 cup flour
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg unbeaten
Mix well and strain into another bowl. Heat lard to 365F. Be sure rosette iron is hot before dipping into batter. Fry until browned.

Gingerbread
1 cup molasses
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp allspice
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp ginger
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 tsp cloves
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Cream shortening, add sugar gradually and mix thoroughly. Add molasses and well beaten eggs. Sift flour, add soda and spices and sift again. Add this mixture to the first mixture, alternately with milk. Beat hard, so batter is thoroughly blended. Bake in oven 305F for 45 minutes. Served warm is excellent.

Sodsuppe (Sweet Soup) – Sue (Martin) Gorder
1 lb prunes
1/2 lb raisins
1/4 lb dried apricots
1 cup pearl tapioca
water
2 sticks cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Boil prunes, raisins, apricots and tapioca in enough water to cover for about 1 hour or until soft. Add cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice. May add some crushed pineapple and oranges with rind and 2 cups of fruit juice (pineapple, orange or apple). Simmer until pineapple and oranges are cooked. Remove cinnamon sticks. May be served warm or cold. This was brought to a new mother as it was felt to be very nourishing.

Swedish Herring Salad
2 pkgs cream cheese
3/4 cups chopped pickled herring
1/2 cup chopped cooked potatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
2/3 cup cooked beets (can use other vegetables)
2 hard cooked eggs, chopped
3 Tbsp pickle vinegar
3 medium sour pickles, chopped
Soften cheese to room temperature, and blend with vinegar until smooth. Add other ingredients. Finely minced, this mixture can be used as a sandwich spread or canape spread.

German Red Cabbage – Martha Schleuter
1 medium head cabbage
1/2 cup vinegar
6 peppercorns
4 cloves
salt to taste
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp lard (heaping)
1 bay leaf
3 apples, cut in chunks
Mix water and vinegar, boil. Add cabbage, salt, lard, peppercorns, bay leaf and cloves. Cook 1 hour. Add apples, cook until tender. Add more liquid if needed.

Blood Sausage (* Also known as Klub – the Norwegian name)
One half gallon blood, 1 1/2 cups pearl barley, 2 cups oatmeal, 2 cups graham flour, 2 cups water, 2 tablespoons salt, 2 quarts flour, 1 level teaspoon pepper and allspice, 2 cups suet.
Fill into muslin bags and cook in salt water for one hour. Do not have the bags quite full. Cut in slices and eat with sugar and butter. Leftovers are very good when fried in butter until crisp.
* If you happen to end up in Central Minnesota in the small town of Sunburg you would at one time be able to get Klub on Tuesdays at the cafe. People in that area still speak Norwegian. They just recently changed their “Wilkom Til Sunburg” to Welcome to Sunburg. They celebrate Syttende Mai which is Norwegian independence day. The people have a very distinct Scandinavian accent… similar to Lawrence Welk’s accent.

Kjod Kaker (Norwegian Meat Balls) – Mrs. Cecelia (M.A.) Gorder
1 lb ground steak
1 egg
1 medium onion, minced
1/4 lb fresh pork
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup milk, scalded
1/8 tsp each nutmeg, allspice, ginger
Grind meat until fine. Beat egg slightly, add milk and cornstarch to meat mixture and mix well. Add rest of ingredients and beat thoroughly until light. Form into balls. Brown in butter. Simmer slowly until done. If necessary, add water. When done remove meatballs add more butter or drippings. Add flour and brown, then enough water to make a medium thick gravy. Season with salt and pepper and add meatballs.

Norwegian Torte – Gloria (Walter) Johnson
12 graham crackers
3 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
Filling:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup nutmeats
 Crush crackers, add sugar and melted butter. Line a greased 9×9 inch cake pan with 3/4 of the cracker mixture. (For 9×13 pan, use 1 1/2 recipes). Cook filling over low heat, adding vanilla and butter after mixture thickens. Cool. Spread filling over cracker mixture. Sprinkle crushed nuts over filling. Beat egg whites, adding 4 Tbsp white sugar while beating. Do not beat dry. The mixture should look like frosting. Put egg whites over filling and sprinkle remaining cracker mixture on top. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Syrup
1/2 cup cream
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dark syrup
Bring to a boil. Serve warm with cakes and waffles.

Krumb Kakke (Norwegian) – Mrs. Magna (Bert) Prestrude
1 cup sugar
1 small can evaporated milk
1 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
Beat eggs well. Add sugar. Beat. Add other ingredients. Blend well. Spread on iron as thin as possible. Bake until light brown. Turn into a cone while warm. May be flavored with lemon juice cardamom or cinnamon.

Rhubarb Custard Kuchen
1 1/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 quart cut rhubarb (1 1/3 pounds)
Mix and sift flour, baking powder and salt. Cream butter, add sifted ingredients and mix well. Combine egg yolk and milk and add to the butter mixture and mix. Press mixture on bottom of a greased 9×13 pan. Mix rhubarb and sugar and spread over dough. Spread topping over rhubarb and bake in preheated 350F oven about 45 minutes.

Souse
If you don’t butcher at home, it is very easy to have the butcher clean the hog’s head for you. Chop it, then put it into salt water for 20 hours, to draw out all of the blood. Then boil until it is very tender, in fact until the meat comes off the bone. Then pick out all of the gristle and bones, season with salt, pepper and sage if you like and vinegar. Pack it in a stone jar and cover with a plate and a weight. To use, slice it. Some prefer to brown it a few minutes in the oven and serve it with toast.

Scrapple
Chop meat fine, leaving in about a quart of the water in which it cooked. Stir in corn meal until like mush, then turn in dish to mold. Slice and fry in butter.

Stuffed Peppers
Cut off the stem end of the green peppers and set aside. Remove the seeds and middle portion. Prepare by chopping very fine any cold meat on hand and mix with bread crumbs which have been thoroughly dried in the oven and rolled fine with a rolling pin. Season highly with salt and tomato catsup. Use no pepper. Stuff the pepper with preparation. Replace the ends, which have been removed and bake in a quick oven for 20 minutes or half hour. These may be served as a separate course or with beefsteak or roast beef.