The '70s to infinity and beyond
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Today we have the conclusion to our five-part series on Emporia recipes from the past 150 years. Thanks go out to Brenda Lavington and Linda Keller of the Lyon County Historical Society Archives for all their hard work, and Reeble’s and Price Chopper for sponsoring their efforts.
The seventies were an interesting period in food --- Irma Rombauer's Joy of Cooking was published in 1975, Paul Prudhomme introduced the Cajun blackened style of cooking, and the fast food wars were heating up the airwaves. Who you were as a person was seemingly defined by whether you drank Coke or Pepsi, ate at McDonald’s or Burger King, and so on.
The 1980’s saw the advent of salad in a bag, microwave popcorn, and Healthy Choice frozen dinners. There was a focus on healthy eating and nutrition, along with a simultaneous increase in portion sizes and overall calorie consumption. Many families were two-earner households, so parents found they had less time to actually cook. Whole meals could be brought home from various fast-food places or neighborhood restaurants, or you could just boil your dinner in a plastic bag.
As of the 1990’s and forward, Americans seem to be having trouble controlling their portions and caloric intake. Some restaurants prize themselves on their huge portions, and it’s a very recent trend for menus to list nutritional data to help consumers make the best choices.
These past few decades have seen a big increase in spicy foods and ethnic foods. American palates are becoming adjusted to a world cuisine. Our foods come from all over the globe and are farmed with all kinds of chemicals. Our meats are irradiated; our corn is genetically engineered. Our grocery stores are also becoming restaurants (rotisserie chicken and all the sides) and some of our restaurants are becoming drive-throughs (Applebees, Boston Market). We’ve come a long way from having to depend on the backyard garden for sustenance.
Emporia’s First Congregational Church was established just after the town had been laid out in 1857. Pastor Grosvenor C. Morse and his new bride, Abigail Prentice Morse, arrived in Emporia as part of the “Andover Band,” a group of Congregationalists who moved to Kansas to try and influence the free-state, slave-state battle. In August 1858, a Congregational church of five members was formally organized, two of those members being the minister and his wife. Their first church building was completed at Eighth and Mechanic in 1860.
A new, stone church was dedicated on January 8, 1881 with additions in 1910 as the congregation grew. Then, in 1942 a fire destroyed the site and as it died to a smolder, members of the congregation gathered in the music hall at the Emporia State Teachers College for Christmas vespers.
Due to the war, rebuilding was slow. The church was relocated to 12th and State and completed a new sanctuary in 1950, where it still stands today. They have three services on Sundays, plus Sunday School, and hold a Wednesday devotional period.
First Congregational published a church cook book in 1997 featuring recipes from current and past members. This book represents the culmination of 150 years of Emporia recipes from Emporia cooks. Bon Appetit!
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Elaine Ek came to Emporia to study at the College of Emporia. She met and married Don Ek of Ek Real Estate, which has been in business since 1965. Elaine says, in reference to this recipe, “Its a nice one to do. I make it for the kids when we gather at the cabin on Lake Kahola.” Elaine uses a 9-x-13-inch casserole dish, and she makes it the night before so all she has to do the next morning is pop it into the oven.
ELAINE EK’S EGGS
LA STRADA
6 slices buttered bread, cubed in 9’s
8 oz. grated sharp cheese
1 1/2 lbs. sausage, cooked
6 eggs
2 cups half and half
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
dash of Tabasco
Spread the bread and then the cheese in a casserole dish. Brown the sausage, drain, and sprinkle it over the the cheese. Beat together the remaining ingredients and pour over sausage. Refrigerate overnight. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
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Evora Wheeler says Virginia DeBauge was a “very dear lady.” Her husband and brother-in-law were the “DeBauge Bros., Inc.” Virginia entertained frequently and was active in one of the many Congregational church circles. She was a homemaker, and most of her family now reside in Florida and Massachusetts.
VIRGINIA DEBAUGE’S FRUIT FOR MORNING COFFEE
1 lg. can chunk pineapple
2 lg. cans fruit cocktail
1 can mandarin oranges
1 oz. instant French vanilla pudding
2 bananas
Drain juice from cans of fruit into large mixing bowl, except mandarin orange juice. Discard juice from mandarin oranges. Add instant pudding to juice and stir until pudding is dissolved. Fold fruit into pudding mixture. Just before serving add one or two sliced bananas and fold into mixture.
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Evora Wheeler has lived in Emporia all her life, growing up on a farm southwest of town. She and her husband Ralph have been married for 58 years, and are very active in the community. Evora has served on numerous committees and councils, but is especially honored by being asked to co-chair the Emporia Sesquicentennial Committee. Evora was also honored as a Volunteer of the Year in 2005.
Evora (Grandma) has been making these cinnamon rolls for almost 60 years. It is a combination of several recipes and “easy to do and makes a nice quantity.”
She usually makes between 75 and 100 dozen each year, for a variety of occasions, including a monthly “church men’s breakfast.” Evora gets up at 3:30 a.m. to make them fresh. The Wheelers have four children, 11 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren, all of whom love these rolls.
GRANDMA’S
CINNAMON ROLLS
2 pkgs. dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup salad oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
4 to 5 cups flour
Filling:
1/2 c. margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
Dissolve yeast in water and add 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Add eggs, sugar, oil and salt to cooled milk, and beat. Stir in flour, adding gradually until dough begins to pull away from sides of bowl.
Turn out on floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl and grease top of dough. Cover and let rise until double. Place covered bowl in microwave, turn on for 10 seconds and leave door closed for 20 to 30 minutes. It should be more than doubled in that length of time.
Turn out on floured surface again. Roll out to approximately 12 by 18 inches. Spread with filling, roll up jelly-roll fashion, cut into 14 or 15 slices. Arrange in greased pan(s). Let rise 15 to 20 minutes and place in oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake approximately 30 minutes. Drizzle icing over cooled rolls.
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Elizabeth Butcher sings in the church choir (a lovely soprano) and is always bright and smiling. Evora Wheeler said that she has always been very active in the church and community. Lois Balkenhol said “Everything she made was good.” Elizabeth’s father-in-law was Thomas W. Butcher. He served as president of what is now ESU from 1913 to 1943.
Butcher Children’s School was established in the early 1970’s and named after him. The Walter & Elizabeth Butcher Scholarship at ESU helps students each year with their tuition. Walter served on the history faculty at ESU and Elizabeth taught in rural schools in Kansas.
ELIZABETH BUTCHER’S GRANOLA BARS
3 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins
2/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg white
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup honey
Toast oatmeal 14 minutes in 350 degree oven. Combine with remaining ingredients. Press into 10-x-14-inch jelly roll pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 24 bars.
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Mrs. F.L. (Lulu) Purdy Gilson lived in Emporia during the first half of the 20th century. She was extremely active in the DAR, and her group was instrumental in chartering the Lyon County Historical Society. Lulu built an invaluable collection of scrapbooks that document more than 100 years of births, deaths, marriages, honors, events and activities of Lyon county families. Even when she was no longer able to do it, a series of “Gilson Clippers” have taken up the mantle. The current Gilson Clippers are Viola Kuhn and Elma Moore.
There are some who may recall Franklin Gilson for his thespian activities in the region. According to ESU historian Sam Dicks, he was probably better known throughout Kansas and the nation than any other Emporia State professor during the first half of the 20th century. The Gilson Players, a dramatic group which traveled by train throughout Kansas and elsewhere, performed a wide variety of plays from light comedies to Shakespeare and Eugene O'Neill.
Dicks writes that most Emporia productions were in Albert Taylor Hall, but Gilson’s summer productions of "Midsummer Night's Dream," many in the Peter Pan Park Amphitheater, were especially popular.
LULU GILSON’S 1934 BROWN NUT BREAD
1 cup sugar
1 rounding Tbsp. fat
2 cups sour milk
1 tsp. salt
2 cups graham flour
1 cup wheat four
1 tsp. soda
1/2 cups nut meats, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 cup dark Karo syrup or fruit jam
Stewed fruit may be added
Spices, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg as desired
Add flour if necessary to make rather stiff dough. Bake in loaves in medium hot oven (375 to 400 degrees-RM) for one hour or more.