Family tales and recipes from Southern Illinois kitchens
Debbie Moore recalls a lively Southern Illinois family with a clan of characters led by Uncle Peck. The essay weaves memories, chicken and dumplings, and roaming roosters into a warm portrait of kin, food, and heritage with notes on shared German and local recipes. Moore, executive director and cookbook author, offers four dumpling recipes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Southern Illinois
Uncle Peck
Peck
Murphysboro
Debbie Moore
Carbondale Convention & Tourism Bureau
Gmail
Begin with good stock for chicken and dumplings
A kitchen guide explains making flavorful stock by stewing a chicken in water with onion celery and carrots. Simmer up to two hours, skim, then add bay leaves rosemary and salt and pepper in the last hour. Remove chicken to cool, strip meat, return to dumplings after cooking.
Great Grandmama Mueller Creamed Dumplings and Spaetzle
Instructions describe making creamed drop dumplings from cream, eggs, and flour, simmered in chicken stock and finished with cream. It also covers German spaetzle using milk eggs flour white pepper salt and nutmeg, pressed into stock to cook, strained, and sautéed. Notes suggest freezing dumplings and spaetzle as side dishes with butter onions and cheeses.
Rolled Dumplings with Saffron and Potato Dumplings
A compact home recipe describes making rolled saffron dumplings from flour, egg, and warm stock, kneading until pliable, cutting into two inch squares, and simmering ten minutes in broth. It adds saffron notes and a parallel potato dumpling variant fried in stock for later freezing.
Apple tart cake from Four Seasons Cooking adaptation
A thin elegant dessert blends tart and cake elements. Apples bound by a caramelizing custard bake in a 10 inch spring form pan for a showy unmolded presentation, or standard pan with different results.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Battifarano
Tangy Gorgonzola and chive cheese dip recipe
A creamy reduced fat dip combines cream cheese milk and mayo with garlic lemon juice and vinegar. Fold in Gorgonzola chives and pepper for a chunky smooth texture. Yields about two thirds cup per recipe with about 238 mg sodium and 74 calories from fat per serving.
Also Mentioned on This Page
By Debbie Moore
ART Services
Mueller
Spaetzle
Schuster
Idaho
Rizzoli
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!