Thanks to the internet, you can find recipes aplenty online, but I want to sing praises here to the joy of a good cookbook, one that offers much more than a sets of ingredients and the instructions for assembling a meal.
I’ve written or collaborated on my share over the years – seven so far. To me, a good cookbook is written in a clear and personal voice that helps relay the smell, feel, look and taste of a dish. This year’s new crop of cookbooks by local authors add more elements, a sense of this region, of the seasons, the land and our history. Within the pages of these books, you can discover memories of wonderful meals, of life in the kitchen and of the bounty so close to home.
These cookbooks can inspire you to spend more time with family, more time with meals and, I believe, more time making the memories that count.
As you consider holiday gifts, perhaps even to someone hosting a meal, I want to give you a sample of regional cookbooks worth a look.
Life in a Northern Town: Cooking, Eating and Other Adventures Along Lake Superior
by Mary Dougherty, (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, hardcover, $29.95)
Author Mary Dougherty lives a big-hearted life in the tiny town of Bayfield, Wisconsin. With wit and wisdom, she weaves stories of raising her family with recipes that are inspiring, intelligent and bold. Mary reveals how cooking with local ingredients, and getting to know the growers and producers, creates a home and builds community.
Lake Fish: Modern Cooking with Freshwater Fish
by Keane Amdahl (Minnesota Historical Society Press, softcover, $24.95)
With an experienced eye and an angler’s passion, Keane Amdahl shares his know-how about the bounty of fish from our streams, lakes and inland seas. His recipes, organized by type of fish, are innovative, upbeat and accessible: Sunfish Pot Stickers, Smoked Trout Kale Nicoise; Walleye with Morels and Browned Butter. All are fresh ideas for the fresh catch.
Old Farm Country Cookbook: Recipes, Menus, and Memories
by Jerry Apps and Susan Apps-Bodilly, (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, softcover, $26.95)
Intimate and engaging, this family memoir is drawn from the authors’ recipe box. It tells of growing up on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin harvesting ice, ordering spices from the traveling Watkins salesman, making sauerkraut, and churning butter. It’s chocked with old-timey recipes that have stood the test of time – headcheese, beet relish, ginger cookies – plus an entire section on rutabagas.
As a cookbook author, I find collaborating on cookbooks doubles the fun of writing about food and developing recipes. These past two years, I’ve been lucky to engage with photographer Mette Nielsen, an ardent gardener and terrific cook, and Sean Sherman, founder of Sioux Chef and a curious and creative chef, deeply committed to rebuilding the Indigenous food system. Our books also came out this year, and I humbly suggest them.
Savory Sweet: Simple Preserves from a Northern Kitchen
by Beth Dooley & Mette Nielsen, (University of Minnesota Press, hardcover $24.95)
Let’s dispense with the outdated notions of preserving and instead bring fresh, bright condiments into the kitchen with ease. Here’s how to make small-batch preserves in no time, without fuss or fancy equipment.
The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen
by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley, (University of Minnesota Press, hardcover $34.95)
Chef Sean Sherman remakes Indigenous cuisine and shows us the way to relate to the food growing right outside our kitchen doors. Find glorious corncakes with smoked trout, wild rice pilaf, old-fashioned rabbit stew, cedar-braised bison and hazelnut maple sorbet. With notes and kitchen tips on foraging and sourcing the foods that have always grown here, this book introduces us to new, healthful and delicious ways to relate to our food, our history and our place.
Pickled Cranberries (from Savory Sweet)
METTE NIELSEN
Picking amplifies the sweet-tart nature of the cranberry. Beautiful on a cheese board and alongside a rich paté, pickled cranberries are also wonderful tossed into a wild rice salad.
Mix a little sparkling water or Prosecco with the brine for a refreshing drink, or the brine can double as a shrub (a fruit-and-vinegar drink). Add a shot of vodka or rum for an elegant cocktail. Makes about 2 pints.
Ingredients:
1 lb. cranberries (about 1-1/4 c.)
1/2 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. ruby port wine
1/4 c. fresh red grapefruit juice
4 wide bands red grapefruit zest (use a vegetable peeler to take a layer of peel without the bitter pith)
1 tsp. ground fennel
Instructions:
Wash the jars, lids and bands in very hot, soapy water. Rinse them well, and place them upside down on a clean towel to drain.
Combine cranberries, vinegar and sugar in a 10-inch sauté pan, and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Lower the heat, and simmer for just a few minutes. The cranberries should stay intact. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cranberries to the jars, leaving the brine in the pan.
Add the port, grapefruit juice, zest and fennel to the brine in the pan. Bring it to a gentle boil for a few minutes to blend the flavors.
Place two pieces of the grapefruit zest in each jar and add the brine, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom to allow for the expansion during freezing. Cover each jar with a square of wax paper slightly larger than the jar opening, fold in the corners with a clean spoon and push down gently so some of the brine comes up over the wax paper. Wipe the rims with a clean wet cloth or paper towel, add the lids and bands, and finger tighten the bands.
Label the jars. Cool completely and tighten the bands before storing the jars in the refrigerator or freezer. Let the cranberries rest for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to marry.
Beth Dooley, a regular contributor, is equally comfortable in a kitchen or a kayak.