Notes about Recipes in this book

• Fresh cheese ball with ground cherry chutney

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    Lovely use for ground cherries. And the fresh cheese is a special treat that is easy to make.

• Fried onion dip

  • taste24 on June 23, 2020

    This is nostalgic and tastes so good. A little sweeter than the other onion dips I make, but not in a bad way. Love the depth that the vermouth provides.

  • Shannoncooks17 on May 12, 2020

    I had heard about this dip from a couple of cooks and finally got to make it. It is soooo good! Totally worth the time and effort. Didn't change a thing about the recipe. Will make again and again!

• Iced kohlrabi with spiced salt

  • hillsboroks on June 17, 2020

    What a great simple, and unusual appetizer! We got kohlrabi in the CSA box this week and I happened upon this recipe doing an EYB search. I remember liking raw kohlrabi out of the garden as a kid and this recipe just enhanced this veggie for grown ups. It was lovely with a bit of wine before dinner. I didn't have ground fennel, just fennel seeds so I pulverized them in my mortar and pestle and it worked fine.

• Cracker-crust pizza

  • emiliang on December 29, 2013

    This is the thin, crackly crust pizza you can find throughout the Midwest. Very easy to prepare and very good.

  • Shannoncooks17 on May 29, 2020

    We loved this and being it is the pandemic, riots in Minneapolis and Saint Paul happening (RIP George Floyd) and living 15 minutes from any pizza place this was really good. Will be making it again. Not doughy like the other pizza dough we usually have. This will be made as our usual from now on. Loved it.

  • SugarTreeBaking on April 19, 2020

    I’m fortunate to live in Chicago where we have really good pizza. The most famous of course is “Chicago-Style” deep dish, baked in a deep, round pan and loaded with gooey cheese and chunky tomato sauce. A REAL Chicago native knows that thin crust pizza is the true Chicago pizza, complete with cracker crust, rich tomato sauce, fennel-rich sausage and cheese. No folding possible. I’d never think to make it at home with so many fabulous options just a short ride from home, but #quarantinecooking means trying new things. Amy nails the thin crust AND sauce. No yeast in pizza dough? It works! Happy pizza lovers in the house tonight!

  • taste24 on June 23, 2020

    This is hands down my absolute favorite way to make homemade pizza. Great representation of the Midwestern cracker crust. They key to keeping the crust so thin and crispy is no yeast and cooking the pizza on a pizza stone. I love making her sauce - simple and delicious, and also a homemade garlic cream sauce. Don't forget - this recipe makes 3 pizzas!

• Poker buns

  • taste24 on June 23, 2020

    These are delicious - I really liked the briny flavor from the pickles.

• Roasted sweet peppers with sour orange vinaigrette and goat cheese

  • Shannoncooks17 on June 07, 2020

    Made this with red and yellow peppers. Served with freshly baked peasant bread and it was delicious! Will make again.

• Corn fritters with green chile buttermilk dip

  • taste24 on June 23, 2020

    The fritters got nice and crispy and tasted great paired with the creamy, cool dressing.

• Smoky sauerkraut soup

  • XXOOL on April 29, 2020

    This sounded so weird but it was absolutely delicious. I added about a 1/2 tsp of toasted caraway seeds which gave it a nice Eastern European note. This would be a great way to use up sausages and sauekraut.

  • sosayi on February 09, 2018

    Warming, delicious soup. Cut in half, it was perfect for two with leftovers for lunch the next day. Would make anytime when sauerkraut is on hand. I cut the simmering time a bit, to speed up dinner prep, and the soup didn’t seem to suffer.

• Wild rice and smoked chicken soup

  • billcranecos on May 28, 2020

    My local grocery store has smoked chicken, and this turned out quite nice. The soup was brothy/creamy with a nice balance of wild rice flavors against the smoked chicken.

  • twoyolks on November 09, 2015

    This is a rather thin soup. The flavor is fine and the wild rice goes well with the smoked chicken.

• Best-ever beer cheese soup

  • taste24 on June 23, 2020

    Tasty. Not too heavy.. good amount of beer flavor. Really enjoyed!

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    Made this for a group of deer hunters and they loved it.

  • NJChicaa on January 25, 2018

    I used red bell pepper and didn't like the flavor. Next time I would just omit. Otherwise it was delicious.

• Double chicken soup with rolled noodles

  • Summerlandsky on March 28, 2014

    I love this chicken noodle soup recipe. It's the perfect way to use our butchered farm chickens without using store broth and the homemade noodles are easy and delicious. I usually double the noodles and leave all the chicken meat in.

• Bear and porter stew with fall spices

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    I used venison and it was awesome. Have since made it several times. Crowd pleaser for my hunting Krewe.

• Kale salad with fresh ricotta and black walnuts

  • jgreenheck on August 17, 2019

    The ricotta is super good...and easy to make. I may never buy it from the store again.

• Fire-and-iceberg salad

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    The dressing is delish and helps make iceberg lettuce special.

• Grilled mushroom salad with toasted almonds

  • taste24 on January 05, 2021

    This was pretty good, but not my favorite. We swapped baby bellas for the shiitakes, and that could have been part of the problem. The marinade for the mushrooms wasn't 'liquidy' enough, and thus remained pretty dry going into the cast iron pan. They did not really release their juices while cooking, so we ended up quartering the caps while cooking which helped. A lot of lemon in the dressing, but the brightness was nice against the fried almonds. Would do a little less lemon next time...

• Butter-basted walleye with thyme and garlic

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    I tried this with bluegill and it was very nice. Will definitely use it when I have fresh walleye.

  • hillsboroks on April 18, 2019

    For such a fast recipe with relatively few ingredients this dish really packed a flavor wallop. I loved the way the garlic became crispy and brown but my husband wanted less garlic flavor and more of the fish flavor. I don't know that this fish would ever have had a strong flavor. He caught it the day before in the Columbia River so it was extremely fresh. This was our first time trying walleye and it is such a lovely white, firm meat fish. Next time I will cut the amount of garlic in half and leave it whole after smashing it. I minced it a bit and that was probably a mistake.

• Classic chicken and wild rice hotdish

  • SACarlson on December 21, 2017

    This was my favourite dinner as a kid. I hadn't had it in years until I came across this recipe. It is like Proust's madeleine for a child of the Midwest. Loved it.

  • Lu1950s on September 11, 2020

    This recipe is a favorite of my whole family. The cracker topping got a little dark the first time I made it so I added the crackers during the last 15 minutes of baking.

• Upside-down spiced roasted chicken

  • billcranecos on November 18, 2020

    Will definitely repeat, as I'd like to get good at this chicken roasting method.

• Midwestern fried chicken and gravy

  • hbakke on October 05, 2019

    I've never made fried chicken before and I think this turned out well. I minced the garlic instead of crushing it and i didn't make the gravy. I think the dark meat turned out better than the breasts. They were moister and thinner meat = more crunchy coating.

• The French-Canadian meat pie (Tourtière)

  • twoyolks on December 26, 2018

    Too much meat. Not anything to balance it.

• Classic beef pot roast with pistachio salt

  • hillsboroks on November 16, 2018

    This was the most flavorful pot roast I have ever made. I used a beef chuck cross rib roast that was about 5 inches thick so I cut it in half before browning. I think doing this helped take the roasting time to about 4 1/2 hours, perfect for a rainy afternoon. I added a teaspoon of Better Than Bullion mushroom stock concentrate to the beef stock to amp up the umami. As Gobegal says the broth is fabulous. I also subbed in regular yellow onions for the Vidalia onions and 3 big parsnips for the turnips. We ended up with plenty of vegetables, perfectly seasoned delicious broth, and meltingly tender beef. I didn't bother to make the pistachio salt but will try it next time.

  • Globegal on October 14, 2017

    This takes 6 hours or so to cook. The broth is delicious & this recipe doesn't have enough vegetables to take advantage of that.

  • sarahkalsbeek on February 08, 2020

    Very delicious! We chose to cook this all in our round large le creuset. The vegetables could have been more tender. Wondering if that's due to the pot we chose. We'd just add them a bit earlier next time. Served with some homemade Parker house rolls and the celery butter from this book. Added parsnips like a previous commenter!

• Wild boar sloppy Joes

  • southerncooker on November 24, 2019

    I've made this many times with different combinations of ground meat - venison, pork and beef. This time I used all beef. It's always delicious and my family's favorite sloppy Joe. We love the crispy shallots and fried sage leaves on the sandwich. It does take awhile to cook but worth the effort.

• Nebraskan runzas

  • bching on August 16, 2015

    Runzas are a weekend project and great crowd pleasers! These are the best rolling and shaping instructions I've seen. The instructions say to use 1/2 a cup of filling per runza. I'd say that 1/3 cup fits a little more cleanly. Make them, wrap them in foil, and take to a party. The filling as written is a little bland but can easily be punched up with a little more salt and spice.

  • SKS on November 14, 2018

    I had never heard of these but they are amazing. I liked them with cabbage in the filling.

• Deer camp kefta kebabs

  • MarshaG on June 05, 2018

    good midwestern midwinter mid-East

  • jgreenheck on June 01, 2019

    This is very nice. I didn’t have dried cherries so I used dried cranberries. Would be great with a green salad and some hummus.

• Barbecued spareribs with tomatoes and lemon

  • Summerlandsky on March 30, 2020

    Recipe is missing oven temp, but according to an online recipe from this book it should be 325 degrees https://theweek.com/articles/452477/minnesotastyle-barbecue-moving-proud-tradition-inside

• Breaded stuffed pork chops with ham and Gruyère

  • twoyolks on November 11, 2019

    Good variation on chicken cordon blu but a bit over the top.

• Swiss chard with honey-roasted garlic

  • twoyolks on November 17, 2016

    I liked the addition of roasted garlic to the Swiss chard. However, the garlic is added after the Swiss chard is cooked so it doesn't really have time to dissolve or meld with the Swiss chard. So you end up with pieces of roasted garlic instead of a roasted garlic flavored dish. I'm not really sure the honey added much of anything.

  • hillsboroks on July 04, 2020

    This was a nice change of pace for the bunches of Swiss chard that keeps showing up each week in our CSA box. I agree with sarahkalsbeek and twoyolks about the garlic flavor ending up just in the bits of honey garlic. I think next time I will try adding a bit of chopped raw garlic to the pan with the chard when cooking it down to see what happens.

  • TrishaCP on October 03, 2020

    Maybe my garlic was too big, but the 30 minutes allotted to roast it still left it in big chunks. I agree the honey didn’t add anything.

  • lkgrover on April 15, 2016

    This was excellent! The honey roasted garlic added flavor, and the pine nuts added crunch. This is my new favorite Swiss chard recipe. (The only negative is the extra time it takes to roast the garlic.)

  • sarahkalsbeek on February 10, 2020

    This really was quite delicious, though I agree with twoyolks that the garlic is added at the end, so you don't get much of the honey garlic flavor in the Swiss chard. (We saved a tiny bit of the garlic on the side and spread it on rolls - divine!!!).

• Coleslaw with bread-and-butter pickles

  • TrishaCP on July 05, 2017

    This was a big hit. It is pretty much a standard coleslaw, but with bread and butter pickles. Delicious and genius. I did have a really fresh green cabbage, which I'm sure helped a lot to make it taste so good. The recipe didn't say, but I chose to cut my pickles to make smaller pieces that are better distributed throughout the dish.

• Young green beans with lemon-vodka cream

  • NJChicaa on January 25, 2018

    Absolutely amazing!

• Scalloped corn

  • hbakke on October 05, 2019

    I've never eaten or made something like this before so I may not be the best judge. It took an extra 15 minutes to bake and it definitely needed more salt, but the flavor and texture were good. I'm not sure I would make this again. I also used frozen corn on the cob which may have affected the results.

• Tomato carpaccio with horseradish ice

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    This is amazingly good. You just need to shave the ice right before serving. Otherwise, it’s an easy and new way to share summer tomatoes.

• Tomato and eggplant compote

  • jgreenheck on August 17, 2019

    Super easy, delicious dish. The flavor is a nice change of pace as I use up the vegetables from my garden.

• Turnips and their greens and bacon

  • JulesLP on June 04, 2015

    A tasty and easy way to prepare turnips. I used hakurei turnips from my CSA; the bacon and maple syrup go nicely with the turnips and greens.

  • TrishaCP on May 01, 2016

    I had baby white turnips from the farmer's market, and this was a great preparation, though I only used half of the maple syrup. This is one of the best turnip dishes that I have made.

  • lkgrover on July 24, 2020

    I made "Turnip greens and bacon" (no turnips). Bacon & maple syrup give a terrific salty-sweetness to the greens.

• Crispy cheese curd risotto cake

  • taste24 on June 23, 2020

    Wow are these a treat! Very decadent, but a great way to let fresh WI cheese curds shine. So so so delicious.

• Creamy yellow potato salad

  • lkgrover on May 26, 2017

    Used only 2 tablespoons horseradish cream: perfect amount. Used radishes.

  • Summerlandsky on June 08, 2016

    The perfect potato salad! It takes a smidge longer to make with the boiled dressing, but the result is pure creamy perfection and not overly fatty tasting like you get with a predominantly mayo based dressing. The author was correct that it tastes great both warm or chilled and leftovers hold up really well in the fridge. I used English cucumbers instead of radishes because I thought it had enough crunch with the celery, and I didn't want to make it too spicy for the kids.

  • twoyolks on June 20, 2016

    This was pretty good but didn't quite hit the spot that I was going for. I omitted the radishes as I didn't have any.

• Sweet-and-sour plums in syrup

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    These are so special. I foraged for wild plums in our woods. It takes a while to pick enough, but it’s worth the effort. The resulting Manhattans are addictive.

• Roasted peach and honey jam

  • SugarTreeBaking on August 15, 2020

    Delicious! I used in-season local peaches, peak flavor. Consider doubling the recipe as the jam cooks down considerably.

• Homemade butter

  • sarahkalsbeek on February 08, 2020

    Made the celery version of this but with store bought butter. So good and a great way to use celery leaves. Served with Parker house rolls, alongside the delicious pot roast from this cookbook.

• Fermented dills

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    These are very bold pickles. Fun to make. The pickle juice is great in Bloody Mary’s.

• Refrigerator bread-and-butters with curry

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    Not too sweet and plenty of flavor. I really like these but some of my tasters would have preferred them sweeter. I’ll be making them again, as written.

• Maple tarte au sucre

  • Summerlandsky on November 08, 2014

    A really delicious and easily made custard pie. Crust gave me no problems. Maple and brandy were a nice touch.

• Chocolate lazy-daisy sheet cake

  • Summerlandsky on June 27, 2014

    This cake is so delicious and very quick and easy to put together. I use unsweetened coconut for the topping as that's what I have on hand. My family loves it!

  • jgreenheck on January 13, 2021

    Great recipe. I’ll be experimenting withdifferent icings.

• Lemon bars

  • taste24 on July 20, 2020

    Everybody absolutely loved these bars. They were easy as well, which is always nice. I wish I would have baked the crust even longer than the extra 3-4 minutes I had it in the oven before pouring my filling on top.

• Curried Shaker squash bread

  • sosayi on February 19, 2019

    Good texture and moistness, which I like in a pumpkin bread. I normally make 1.5x the base recipe to use up a full can of pumpkin (in place of the squash puree). I've made it with both garam masala and curry powder (what is actually called for), and prefer it with garam masala. A nice twist on pumpkin bread, though.

• Morning buns

  • emiliang on March 22, 2015

    Exquisite even without the final roll in granulated sugar. The first rise takes much longer than suggested in the recipe, though. Start to finish, the buns are ready to eat in about 5 hours. (The dough can also be refrigerated overnight and baked the following morning)

• Cream potato lefse

  • emiliang on July 27, 2014

    These are very good, but a major pain to prepare. I ended up rolling them in-between flour-covered wax paper sheets, and transferring them to the pan with a dough scraper. I think that the best way to make these is to have a couple of helpers minding two hot pans, while you roll each lefse and pass it on.

• One-day buttermilk rye

  • emiliang on December 27, 2013

    The buttermilk and long rising times give this bread some good complexity. Overall, this is a better than average whole grain bread, but doesn't approach the flavor of a slowly fermented, sourdough based recipe. It keeps very well, though, for 3-4 days. Baking time was shorter than indicated in the recipe.

  • Frogcake on April 20, 2018

    We loved this bread. I simplified the rising - due to lack of time and busy schedule, the dough rose only once for four hours. May have benefitted by second rise but it turned out so well- mine was moist and very, very tasty. I sprinkled bulk barn multi-seed on top before baking. Pretty amazing for breakfast toasted with smoked salmon.

• Honey Dutch baby

  • Frogcake on May 22, 2016

    This is so easy and so delicious that I taught my boys to make this. First time I made it as written. Second time I threw in some sliced pears and drizzled maple syrup on top instead of honey butter. This is a very pure, eggy tasting pancake with lovely puffy crispy edges that my family loved!

• Johnson family Swedish pancakes

  • emiliang on April 04, 2014

    Closer to a crepe than other Swedish pancake recipes, but very good. Best accompaniment is some lingonberry, currant, or other berry jam, thinned with a bit of water and warmed to room temperature.

• Potato and three-onion hash with smoked lake trout

  • emiliang on April 25, 2016

    This is greasy perfection. Quintessentially Midwestern. Can substitute smoked salmon if you can't find trout.

• Serious Eats

  So while Thielen's book may not include the most elegant roast or trendiest Brussels sprout preparation, it does offer...hearty, warming food that pleases—the heartland at its best.

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• Boston Globe by T. Susan Chang

  It’s not every dish that can be spiffed up, repointed, and made new again... But this ardent homage should put to rest some misconceptions and ignite new passion for the heartland’s culinary heritage.

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