an

WITH AN ancestry like Bonnie Pyplacz’s, it

ke,

Wednesday, March 20. 1997 ~ North Shore News - 59

Polish classics

Pa

s no wonder

she became the Narth Shore Economic Development Of-

ficer.

As she and her mother, Wilma.
cooked up an authentic Polish
luncheon for North Shore News
food crities and assorted friends,
they regaled their guests with
stories of their families’ experience
as Polish immigrants in the years
prior to 1950.

It was nothing if not diverse.
Wilma's father came from a
shopkheeping background, but
turned to coal mining after mov-
ing to Coleman, Afbertu. He and
his family operated a ranch and
sawmill as well, and as owner of
the third automobile in Coleman,
he ran a taxi service on the side
when he was sui] single.

‘“*Miy mom married him and
tamed him down,” notes Wilma,
referring to her father's habit of
using the taxi for rum-running ac-
tivities.

THE SECRET behind cabbage
rolls, says Wilma Pyplacz, is to
be sure to roll them tightly.

Bonnie's father, Stan, came to
Alberta from Poland with his
family when he was 12. His father
came to build houses for the in-
flux of immigrants pouring into
the country — and Stan carried
on in his shoes, building homes
for others and for his own family
after his marriage.

The families brought with them
a culinary tradition that included
staples such as sauerkraut, pork
hocks and boiled potatoes.

Wilma’s father made his own
sausage, and she remembers
treading on vats of shredded cab-
bage, working the salt into the
leaves in preparation for its
fermentation into sauerkraut.

The Pyplaczs served the follow-
ing family recipes at their lunch.
All were delicious.

Cabbage Rolls
Dough:
3c. flour
legg

From hogs to ham: cured meats draw on

THERE'S A catchy Cana-
dian children’s poem that
begins something like
‘‘hambone, bacon fat,
mulligatawny stew”.

While most of us would plead
ignoranee about mulligatiwny
stew. to many, ham op alo a
mysiery.

The process of chaneing fresh
pork to ham by salting i centuries
old. Praditionally dares amouats
of salt were used. Sada draws
moisture trom bacteria and mold,
making iamposstbic for then to
stpsdve and therebs prosereing the
Meat.

With refrigeration, cured: teats
are stil sadted.  thonel meatus
heavily. Potassigm oor sedan
Nitrate. sugat amet seasanines are
alse used.

By Peggy Trendell-Whittaker
News Reporter

1 tbsp. butter
l's¢. water

Mix al! ingredients together by
hand in large bowl, leaving bow!
slignily sticky. Cover and let
dough stand for 30 minutes.
Potato Cheese Filling
1% ¢, well-mashed potatoes
L) tsp. butter
salt to taste
1 med. onion, chopped fine
14 c. prated cheese

Fry onion in butier until gold-
en. Mix with all other ingredients
in bowl.

Plum Filling
12 frozen pitted plum hafves
sugar to taste

Preparation

Roll out dough on a lightly
floured surface. Using a cookie
cutter, container lid, ete, cut oui
three-inch diameter rounds in the
dourh.

Place a round flat on the palm
of your hand. Place one tsp. of
potato cheese filling, OR one
frozen plum half with sugar,
about 1/3 of the way down the
round.

Dip fingertip in water and
dampen edge of dough round.
Fold over dough round about the
filling and = press edges firmly
together. Place perogi on lightly
floured waxed paper.

If desired, freeze perogis flat on
a cookie sheet, then bag them for
storage in the freez*r. To cook,
place several perogis in large pot
of boiling water. They are ready
when they float to the surface
(usually after a few minutes).

Plum perogis can be eaten
plain; potato cheese perogis are
good served with fried onions
and/or sour cream.

Cabbage Rolls
i med. cabbage
2¢, cooked rice
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 1b. lean hamburger
1 onion
salt and pepper

Purchase cabbage the day be-
fore. Take out core, rinse, and
place in freezer. When ready to
start, remove cabbage from
freezer for one hour. Place cab-
bage in small roaster with %-inch
of water and microwave for 15 to
20 minutes until leaves are very
soft. Let cool slightly and remove
leaves from cabbage one at a
time.

Cook onion and hamburger,
adding salt and pepper to taste.

“Nitrates’* which change ‘to
“nitrites’” while curing, react with

Inquisitive

SUE
WILSON

ANNE
GARDINER

NEWS photos Paul McGrath

WILMA PYPLAC:? left) and daughter Bonnie, sporiing handsewn Polish garb, demonstrate pium
perogi and cabbugy rolls in the making.

Mix the
together.
Lay out a cooked cabbage leaf
and place two to three tbsp. of the
mixture in the middie of the cab-
bage Jeaf. Tuck in sives and roll
leaves tightly around mixture.
Place in flat pan with each roll
tightly packed against each other.

hamburger and rice

pigments in meat to form the pink
color and contribute to the favor
characteristic of cured meats.

A sgreen iridescence sometimes
shows on cured meats when their
coloring pigments are exposed to
oxygen and ultraviolet: light. 11s
not necessarily a sign of spoilage.

The use of nitrates has been
controversial since research studies
linked them with the development
of caneer in aninats.

Although permissible levels fave
been reduced oe der Caruda’s
Food and Drug Regulations,
nitrates lave net been eliminared
fromy cured meats since thes inhib.
othe growth of the bacteria «ich
could cause deadds bonis,

ANithough pork fs the meat mest
atten cured. boat ois alka used Phe
fanuliar corned beef cane. flan
beet brisket with) dante grains of
salt crachhonalls called carn’

When pan is filled, pour stewed
tomatoes over cabbage rolls. Bake
for 1% hours at 350 F.

Posypka
(Cottage Cheese Cake)
Dough:
4c. flour
te. sugar
L tsp. salt

giving rise to the name.

Tire curing mixture may be
rubbed dry on the outside of the
meat, Or ina ‘twet-cure’’, meat is
soaked in a solution of curing in-
eredients.

Since absorption of this brine
can titke up to two months, pro-
ducers often bypass tradition by
injecting the curing solution into
the meat.

After brining, hams are sir-
dried, heated, or smoked. Smok-
ing. the salting, is an ancient pro-
cess faden with tradition,

frish cures originated over
smoldering peat. while Mes oof
Travrant hickory and apple wood
stdi flavor the faured hams of
Virginia. bess expensive hams mays
wanphs be esposedh to smoky tha-
sorings,

Smoking of air drying alse
draves momrire from the meat's

¥2 ¢, butter
Mix these ingredients together

in a bowl by ‘rubbing’ them
together, Set aside.

2 eggs

1c. scalded milk, cooled

1 tbsp. yeast, soaked in % cy

{ukewarm water and I tsp. sugar

See More page 60

traditions

surface, making it more resistant
to spgilage.

In the finest hams, leisurely ag-
ing allows flavors to improve o-er
months or even years.

When smoking raises 2 inter-
hal temperature to 185 . .grees F
(73 devrees C}, the ham is labelled
“fully cooked’’ or ‘tready co eat’.
To serve, reheat at 380 cegrees F
C80 CC) FO minutes per pound,
siniply to bring out the flasar.

Dry-cured hams require soaking
to reduce saltiness. then gentle
SMinimering or baking.

Ham baked with sherry, brown
sugar and mustard glaze is meno
table. Uhe poem doeant sas so,
buries tisty right to tie bore,

Bacon taf we cat igaore. And
Mullivatawns stew? POs a hearty
mitron dish, to seme more
cha chenical then Gisty.

a

wy