When doing genealogy, the information about our ancestors grows scant, we need all the hints we can get to know more about our ancestors and where they came from. This is why I have turned to our family's culinary history to find nourishing genealogy hints among family recipes.
Bread - Edna
This Zwiebach Pie recipe retains the original language in its title. This is from Great Aunt Edna’s family and she, a second generation American, still spoke German, her grandfather John’s native language. Zwiebach is a traditional German roll or bread that is twice baked.
Grandfather John was born in 1821 in Niedersachsen which was part of Prussia until 1866. Immigrants of the early 1800s introduced Zwiebach to Prussia. John came to the United States circa 1840. He apprenticed at and later owned a bakery. I can imagine his Zwiebach recipe as bread or pie becoming a staple of his business.
Crabs - Erma
One of my favorites as a child was my Grandmother Erma’s Crab Imperial. When she didn’t serve crab imperial in fake crab shells, she’d fry up crab cakes. My whole family enjoyed crab and, no wonder, they all hailed from Baltimore, a city associated with crab feasts and home to the Old Bay Seasoning company (the only seasoning for hard crabs and shrimp). All of my ancestors settled in Baltimore from Germany or Frederick County, MD (and several of them are originally from Germany as well).
Crab Imperial
Makes 5 medium sized servings
2 T. butter
1 ½ T. flour
1 cup milk
To create cream sauce: melt butter in pan and stir in flour. Over a medium flame, stir in milk gradually until sauce is thick.
½ t. dry mustard
1 t. salt
¼ t. Pepper
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. freshly chopped parsley
1-2 boiled eggs, minced
1 pound back fin crab meat
Add all these condiments, eggs and parsley to the sauce. Gently fold in crab meat. Pile this into fake crab shells or baking dishes and top with buttered bread crumbs, if desired. Bake at 350-400 degrees until heated through.
(T. = tablespoon, t. = teaspoon)
Cake - Elsie
Grandma Elsie cooked gourmet food for dinner parties. Along with the calorie-laden fare of Eggnog Parfait Tarts, Candied Grapefruit Peel and Cinnamon Cake, she prepared seafood dishes - such as broiled oyster and scalloped potatoes - based on the lessons of her Grandmother Anne-Marie who helped her mother Sophia run a seafood stall in Lexington Market, Baltimore in the 1860-70s and for which her uncle provided oysters from the southern Chesapeake.
Disclaimer: I have not tried to make any of these recipes. If you do, I’d love for you to post a photo!
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