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The Cuisine of the Central Plains
Known as the land of milk and grain, the Central Plains is the breadbasket and main source of food crops for America. Like the other regions of America, the culinary story of the Central Plains begins with an exchange of knowledge and ideas between the Native Americans and the pioneers, settlers, and immigrants of the region. The first Europeans to travel through the Central Plains were the French fur traders, known as the Mountain Men, in the 1600’s. Although they were not settlers, they did establish outposts along the way. These outposts were significant because they were the few places that the Mountain Men could obtain food and supplies. Typically, the only foods available in the outposts were indigenous to the local areas. Relatively little changes occurred in the Central Plains over the next century and a half. In 1849, gold was discovered in California and the Oregon and Santa Fe trails had opened signaling the start of the Land Rush. European immigrants and people from other parts of America began to settle in the Great Plains to farm, ranch, and build towns and to work on the railroads.
Between 1820 and 1914 over two million Scandinavians immigrated to America. The Norwegians were the first to arrive and began to work along the East Coast as loggers, fishermen, and farmers. Soon after their arrival, many of the Norwegians began to move inland where they found the weather and lands of the Midwest and Central Plains similar to their homelands. Around 1840 the Norwegians settled in the area of the upper Mississippi Valley, specifically the region which today makes up much of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Following the Norwegians, many immigrants from Sweden and Denmark also arrived to settle in the Central Plains. As this westward migration took place, the Mississippi River quickly became a dividing line, which separated the “civilized” East and the “untamed” West. The Central Plains, with the Mississippi River running through the middle of it lured new residents with hopes of agricultural wealth and great prosperity.
These immigrants from Northern Europe who settled throughout the Central Plains first learned how to harvest corn and wild rice from the Native Americans. Native Americans taught the immigrants techniques for hunting the abundant wild game of the region, that including pheasant, quail, grouse, wild turkey, deer, and buffalo. They also learned how to fish in the many rivers and lakes, which contain walleye, yellow perch, trout, and pike, as well as being home to many varieties duck, geese, and other water fowl. Most important, the vast lands were well suited for farming and for grazing livestock. These new agricultural techniques were quickly adapted by the Scandinavians and the new foods integrated into their daily diet. Rustic stews, like the chicken and sausage pie on page xx, breads, and root vegetables that were the traditional foods of Scandinavians in Northern Europe, became staples of their diet after settling in the Central Plains. The Scandinavians also brought to the area many other traditional food favorites which they enjoyed in the “Old Country,” such as cheese, sausage, smoked fish and meat, and, of course, beer. An example of a recipe that includes a combination of Old Country ingredients is Wisconsin cheese and beer soup featured on page xx.
As the migration west expanded, people from Eastern Europe began to find homes in the Central Plains, which also reminded them of their European homelands. Germans, Poles, Austrians, and more Scandinavians settled in the states of Illinois and Iowa as well as Minnesota and Wisconsin. They farmed the land and raised dairy cattle as their primary source of income. Wisconsin became a popular destination of German and Swedish immigrants. Cheese production began in Wisconsin in the 1830’s. Cheddar cheese was made in the English tradition as well as a variety of other cheeses from the Old Country, such as brie, ricotta, limburger, mozzarella, feta, and gouda. Two of the three cheeses truly invented in America, brick and colby, were invented in the 1870’s. Today there are over 200 cheese-making plants in Wisconsin alone. Wisconsin is also the number one dairy producing state in the country, producing milk, butter, and excellent domestic cheese.
Germans and Bohemians who immigrated to the region brought with them the art and love of beer, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain. The extensive prairies and farmlands of the Central Plains were perfect for growing wheat, oats, barley, rye, and corn, which are the grains used to produce beer. The region’s major trade areas of St, Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Paul, and Kansas City became home to America’s first breweries. By the end of the 19th century thousands of breweries sprang up and began producing unique beer products. The great beer industry went into decline during the prohibition period beginning in 1920, and in 1933, when prohibition ended, only about 400 of the thousands of original breweries were able to reopen for business. At one point, the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was dubbed ‘the city of suds’, due to the dozens of breweries located in the city. Although many of the original brewers are no longer operating in Milwaukee, their people still enjoy the traditions and culture that beer brewing has left behind. Today, over 80% of all beer consumed in America is produced by four major breweries of which three are headquartered in the Central Plains region: Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Stroh’s. The fourth major brewery, Coors, is headquartered in the Rocky Mountain region. Budweiser is a beer made by Anheuser-Busch, which is the largest brewing company in the world. Budweiser, named after the town of Busweis in the Czech Republic and made by Anheuser Busch holds a commanding 25% market share of all beer sold in America today.
Another product made popular from grain grown in the Central Plains was cereal. Ready to eat cereal was invented by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg of Battlecreek, Michigan, in 1894. While experimenting with foods in the sanitarium where he worked, he made a ready-to-eat cereal from wheat that had been shredded. He tried the same process with corn, and from that created Corn Flakes. Today most ready-to-eat cereals are fortified with extra vitamins and minerals to make them more nutritious than their predecessors.
German immigrants also brought to the region their expertise in sausage making. Not only were they experts in sausage production, they were inventive as well. The German farmers of the Central Plains region originated sausage varieties such as Knackwurst, Bratwurst, liverwurst, Mettwurst, and Thuringer, which are all still popular products today. In addition to the German contribution of sausage, they built smokehouses to smoke hams, bacon, and fish from the region’s lakes and rivers. Today, it is very difficult to tell where the German ingredients and cooking styles leave off and the American ones begin. Over the years the styles have blended and merged.
By the mid 1800’s railroads had connected the east with the west and the Central Plains became a major hub for connections to each coast. Cities like Kansas City, Chicago, and St Louis played an important role in cross-country commerce. It was during this time that Chicago became the leader in the transportation of cattle to the East Coast. Men like Adolphus Swift and Hormel developed methods to keep food refrigerated while in rail cars so that quality and sanitary conditions could be maintained during the long trip. Chicago and Kansas City became known as the “home of meat and potatoes.” Great steaks and other cuts of beef soon became associated with these cities of the Central Plains. The seared steak with Maytag blue cheese butter on page xx is one such example.
The birth of Chicago’s stockyards came about in the late 1800’s. With them came a huge migration of newly freed black slaves from the south, as well as Irish, Italian, and Polish immigrants who sought new opportunities in the big cities of the Central Plains. Small ethnic communities sprang up throughout cities like Chicago, providing a great deal of ethnic and cultural diversity. Even though the stockyards are no longer there, a variety of ethnic neighborhoods still exist within Chicago. Pilsen, known for its Hispanic culture; Andersonville for its Swedish heritage; the area of 18th Street & Wentworth for its Asian culture; and Devon Avenue which is the home to Jewish, Pakistani, Indian, and Arab cultures all remain vital communities of rich cultural diversity. Little Ukraine is an area dominated by people of Russian descent; Hyde Park on the south and west sides of Chicago is the home of many African Americans and great soul food. An Italian community exists around Taylor Street on the southwest side and there is an Irish community further south in an area known as Bridgeport. The Greeks settled in “Greek Town” located near the west loop. Today, there are more Poles living in Chicago than in Warsaw, the capital of Poland.
All of these cultures have contributed to the cuisine found in Chicago today. This diverse and rich food network in Chicago allows one, on any given day, to sample an array of foods ranging from Swedish pancakes to pirogues, Italian ice to corned beef and cabbage. Borscht, spanikopita, barbeque, whitefish, sausage, tacos, and dim sum are all available along with local beer made at Goose Island Brewery on Chicago’s north side. This ethnic and cultural diversity has allowed Chicago to grow into one of the America’s great food cities.
Some of the greatest chefs in the world reside and cook in Chicago. Their ranks include Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless, Rick Tramonto, Gail Gand, Michael Foley, Jean Joho, Jean Banchet, and Arun Sampavat, just to name a few. Then there is restaurateur Richard Melman and his company “Lettuce Entertain You” which has become a restaurant empire renowned from coast to coast.
These famous chefs and restaurateurs have helped to give birth to today’s market farmers who grow and sell crops only for urban farm markets and restaurants featuring high quality ingredients. These farmers usually do not have contracts with supermarkets or food processors. They typically follow a principle of “from farm to table,” indicating that at the very most the products grown are less than a day off the vine or out of the ground from when they are sold. These market farmers, who do not use insecticides or pesticides as a growing aid, are said to produce organic products.
The lands, waters, and cultural diversity of Central Plains have made significant contributions, and have added a wealth of culinary knowledge and culture to what we know today as American regional cooking.
Central Plains Indigenous Ingredients
All-Purpose Flour: Red winter wheat flour with a protein level between 11-12%. Hudson Cream Flour from Kansas is one of the most recognized brands of quality all-purpose flour. The patented process requires sifting at least 12 times with the last sifting through fine silk. With 100 pounds of wheat kernels, Hudson Cream only yields 62% that can be used for its all-purpose flour. The rest is used for animal feed.
Bigos: A rich and hearty flavored, Polish “hunters stew” made from fresh pork, bacon, kielbasa sausage, mushrooms, and sauerkraut. The preparation time for this dish can take up to three days if the recipe is followed according to tradition.
Black Walnuts: Grown in Missouri, black walnuts are about the same size as the more common English walnut, but have a dark shell with well-defined ridges. The nutmeat is quite oily and possesses an earthy, pungent taste different from the sweet flavor of the English variety. They are more frequently used as a cooking ingredient as opposed to a snack nut as the flavors permeate any recipe in which they are used as an ingredient. Due to the popularity and rarity of hardwood made from black walnut trees, these nuts are becoming hard to find and very expensive.
Brick Cheese: One of three cheeses invented in America. Swiss-born John Jossi invented brick cheese in the late 1870’s. His recipe begins the same as German Limburger cheese, but is altered by lowering the moisture content of the curds by pressing them between two bricks. As a result of this process, it acquired the name brick. The results are much more mild in flavor than its German counterpart with a much less offensive smell. These attributes caused it to be nicknamed “married man’s Limburger.”
Cheddar Cheese: The most popular cheese in America. Wisconsin devotes about half of its annual cheese production to the cheddar variety. Cheddar comes in two colors and many flavors. Americans west of the Mississippi River seem to prefer their cheddar an orange color, made by adding the extract of the annato seed to the milk during production, while Americans east of the Mississippi prefer cheddar white, or uncolored. The flavors of both colors of cheddar are identical. Flavor variations of cheddar cheese are usually based on how long the cheese is aged. Mild cheddar is aged less than 4 months; aging between 4 and 10 months creates a medium-sharp flavor; and more than 10 months results in a sharp flavor. The color of wax found on cheddar will denote its age. Clear wax for mild cheddar, red wax for medium-sharp, and black wax for sharp.
Cheese Food: A process invented by James L. Kraft to package pasteurized cheese products in blocks and into cans and bottles. Velveeta and Cheese Whiz are the two most common cheese food products.
Colby: The first new cheese invented in America. It was first made in 1874 by Joseph Steinwand from Colby, Wisconsin who wanted to produce a cheese with a milder flavor and moister content than the typical cheddar that were produced in the region. It is an all-purpose cheese and typically comes in a half moon shape referred to as Colby-Longhorn.
Corn Dogs: A snack food that became popular at state fairs throughout the Central Plains. It is a hot dog on a stick that is dipped in a thick cornmeal batter and deep-fried. It is usually eaten off the stick with yellow mustard.
Corn: A crop for over 5000 years in the Western Hemisphere, corn was what ancient cultures such as the Mayans and Incas built their civilizations. Corn was one of the few foods that the “New World” shared with its “Old World” counterpart. The greatest amount of corn is grown in the Central Plains. Over 85% of all corn is called “dent” corn and is used primarily to feed animals and livestock making it an important American commodity. The remaining 15% of corn harvested in the Central Plains is called “hidden” corn and is used to make products such as ethanol, corn syrup, corn oil, cough drops, and toothpaste. Today corn is a very popular American staple with over 3 pounds of shucked corn consumed each year by every person.
Fish Boil: A Scandinavian feast that is an annual event in Door County, Wisconsin. A huge cauldron kettle of water is brought to a boil over an outdoor fire. Whitefish, potatoes, onions, and lots of salt are the main ingredients. The large amount of salt allows the impurities in the broth to rise to the surface and overflow into the fire.
Flour: A starch milled from the whole kernels of the wheat plant. Flour comes in two varieties; those made from winter wheat, like all-purpose flour and those from spring wheat, like semolina. Flour is used primarily for making bread but has a variety of additional uses and purposes. There are many types of flour, which are based on the flour’s protein content. Bread flour has the highest protein content, referred to as the gluten strength, and cake flour has the lowest protein content.
Honey: A major product of the Central Plains, primarily North and South Dakota, which produce in excess of 60 million pounds of honey each year. The most popular types are Clover or Blossom and are light in color and mildly sweet in flavor. Wildflower honey is much darker and not as sweet as clover honey. Wildflower honey is excellent for cooking as is provides dishes a distinct honey flavor without adding extra sweetness. Clover honey should be used when sweetness is a desired outcome in a recipe.
Holupka: An ethnic Russian term for stuffed cabbage rolls that are commonly found in the Little Ukraine neighborhood of Northwest Chicago.
Jansson’s Temptation: An anchovy-studded, creamy potato dish favored by Erik Jansson, the founder of a Swedish settlement in West-Central Illinois in the 1840’s.
Jerusalem Artichoke: The bulb of the perennial sunflower plant also referred to as sunchokes. The Spanish Conquistadors, returning home, first brought this American food to Europe where the French popularized it as a vegetable. Oddly enough, the Jerusalem Artichoke is not nearly as popular in America as it is in Europe. This vegetable needs to be cooked before being eaten to avoid digestive gas. They are sometimes sliced and served in salads.
Kielbasa: A Polish type of cured sausage with garlic flavoring usually cooked by boiling or grilling. Today, kielbasa sausage is so common that they are hardly even considered an ethnic food.
Kringle: Also known as Kringler, this is an oval-shaped coffeecake with a rich, buttery flavor. The recipe is Danish in heritage and was passed down through the generations from Scandinavians who settled in the Wisconsin area.
Kutia: A sweet pudding made from wheat for the traditional meatless Polish meal that is served on Christmas Eve. Folklore tells us if a spoonful of Kutia is flung at the ceiling and sticks, the family’s harvest and luck will be good for the year.
Lefse: A flat bread of Norwegian descent made by the farm women of Western Minnesota. The recipe is a bread made from potatoes that is rolled extremely thin with a special rolling pin called a Lefse roller. The bread is then cooked on a griddle top and served with butter and cinnamon sugar.
Lutefisk: The name for a Scandinavian style of prepared fresh cod. To prepare lutefisk, cod fillets are soaked in a lye solution made with the ashes of birch wood. The cod is then air-dried. This method of preserving fish is somewhat primitive but very effective. Fish that is preserved in this manner can keep unspoiled for years in regions with cold climates.
Maytag Blue Cheese: A family owned business in Iowa, which began operating in 1941 by the Maytag family. The method they adopted for making their blue cheese was patented by a scientist at Iowa State University and used the milk from Holstein cows. Unlike most blue cheeses, Maytag blue cheese is aged five months giving it a creamy and tangy flavor considered by many cheese experts to rival the famous Italian Gorgonzola and French Roquefort cheeses. Maytag Blue cheese is noted as the first artisan cheese in America. Today there are many artisan cheese makers meeting the demand by Americans for the quality and character of old-fashioned foods.
Morels: A tan to black fungus with a cone shaped, umbrella capped stem, which grows primarily in the deep-wooded forests of Michigan. Similar to the French and Italian Truffles, these mushrooms are found growing out of the roots of oak, elm, and ash trees, covered by decaying leaves. Their growing patterns are inconsistent and unpredictable making them scarce as well as very expensive. Typically, the fresh morel season lasts but a few short weeks. Most locals familiar with morels will gladly share their recipes with you—but never their secret locations where the prized mushrooms can be located.
Muskellunge: Sometimes referred to as Muskee and are largest of the pike fish. Muskee have been known to grow as large as 70 pounds, have very sharp teeth, and are viscous fighters making them a favorite among anglers.
Oblaten: The beginning course for the traditional meatless Polish meal served on Christmas Eve. Oblaten, also referred to as the “holy wafer” is a thin bread that is stamped elaborately prior to baking.
Paczki: A filled doughnut of Polish heritage usually served during Lent. These Polish doughnuts are normally filled with raspberry preserves, but nowadays come with a variety of fruit fillings.
Persimmon: A Native American fruit that grows in Southern Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. They are much different than the more common Asian variety, which is larger in size. The American variety of persimmon is small, about the size of a golf ball and somewhat squat shaped. They are a vibrant orange color and have a deep-green crown with a sweet chalky flavor.
Pierogi: An Eastern European filled dumpling of Polish heritage, which is made with a flour dough. Traditional pierogis are usually filled with ground, seasoned pork, sauerkraut, farmers or cottage cheese, or sweet fruit such as cherries or apples. Pierogis are typically fried in bacon fat or oil.
Pike: Pike is a fresh-water fish. There are 6 different species, many of which are found in the rivers and lakes in the Central Plains. The largest of the pike is called a Muskee. The most common pike is the Great Northern Pike, usually weighing between 4 and 10 pounds.
Popcorn: A popular snack food consumed by Americans—over 14 gallons per person per year. Most popcorn is produced in the state of Indiana, which claims to supply over half of all popcorn consumed in America. Charles Cretors from Chicago invented the first machine that could make enough of the food to make it a viable street concession. Two other Chicagoans, Frederick and Louis Ruckheim, sweetened the popcorn with molasses, added peanuts, and put a small toy in each package of popcorn. We know this product today as Cracker Jacks. Gourmet popcorn came to be in the 1960’s when Orville Redenbacher from Indiana trademarked a hybrid variety of popcorn which was lighter and fluffier than normal popcorn as well as leaving virtually no unpopped kernels after cooking. Popcorn expands to 44 times its original volume once cooked.
Processed Cheese: A technique for making a cheese product where cheddar cheese is milled into shreds and cooked. It is then colored and shaped in a mold, which resembles a block of cheese. The most common processed cheese is called ‘American Cheese” and was invented by James L. Kraft in the early 1900’s. This cheese became quite popular in World War I when it was used extensively as a food for the soldiers. Kraft improved the original product twice. First by pre-slicing the block prior to packaging and then again in 1965 when individually wrapped slices were first marketed. Although American cheese is somewhat bland and predictable in taste, it is the most consumed cheese product in America.
Rullepolse: A type of cured, spiced, and pressed beef flank indigenous to the Danish descendants of Elk Horn, Iowa. This is one of the few places in America where this recipe can be found.
Sausage: The Central Plains are considered America’s home of sausage. The state of Illinois produces and butchers the most hogs, so it is logical that with its heavy influence of Danish, Bavarian and Scandinavian immigrants that sausage making has become so popular and abundant. Some of the most famous sausages in America have their heritage from Germans and Poles. Sheboygan Bratwurst, Usingers Thuringer sausage, Polish sausage, Kielbasa, Knackwurst, Beerwurst, and Liverwurst are just a few famous recipes for sausage, which have made their mark in the Central Plains.
Sorghum: A cane-like, grass plant originally from Africa that grows well in the Central Plains. It possesses a sweet dark syrup that is extracted from the plant and is used in a fashion similar to molasses or honey as a sweetener. Sorghum dates back to the days of the pioneers.
Sunflower: A perennial plant which dates as far back as 3000 B.C. It was a major crop in the Central Plains for the Native Americans as well as the settlers in the region. Sunflower seeds are grown for oil and are solid black in color. Sunflower seeds that are grown for eating are striped. Sunflowers also produce a bulb used as a vegetable called the ‘Jerusalem Artichoke.’ Fargo, North Dakota, is known in America as the sunflower capital.
Tart Cherries: Also known as “transparent” or “pie” cherries, these fruits are grown primarily on the shores of Northern Michigan. The variety, previously called Montmorency cherries, was brought to America about 100 years ago and is the only tart cherries produced today in America. They are light and clear but so sour they are hard to eat picked right from the tree. Once combined with sugar, they make excellent pies, cobblers, and preserves.
Walleye: Walleye Pike is not a pike at all but a perch. However, the residents of the region can call the fish what they like. Walleye is sometimes referred to in the foodservice industry as yellow or blue pike. Walleye is an excellent mild-tasting fish with a delicate flesh that is bright white in color.
Waterfowl: So many waterfowl fly over the Central Plains in the fall that it is sometimes called the “fly-over country.” A large variety of ducks and geese migrate south for the winter from Canada and stop to rest and eat in the Central Plains. Duck and geese are a large part of the diet for the residents of the Central Plains.
Wheat: A grain brought to America by the European colonists. However, due to growing difficulties wheat was not a major crop until the end of the nineteenth century when Turkey Red Winter Wheat began to grow well in the Central Plains. The growth and development of wheat crops in the Central Plains is attributed to Mennonite farmers from the Ukraine, who, with land provided from the Santa Fe Railroad in 1875, began farming along the rail lines in Kansas. Today Kansas by itself produces enough wheat in one year to make 30 billion loaves of bread and grows over 200 varieties of winter red wheat. In the Dakotas and parts of Oklahoma, Durham, a spring wheat and common crop, is used to make semolina flour for pasta.
Wheatberries: The whole kernel produced by the wheat plant. They are usually served in salads, made into cereal, or toasted and ground and used as coating or a recipe ingredient.
Wild Rice: The long and thin brown grains we know in America as wild rice is not really rice at all. They are the seeds of an aquatic plant that commonly grows in the lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota. These seeds were originally harvested by the Ojibway and Chippewa Native American tribes but were quickly adapted as a part of the diet by the settlers and immigrants who stayed in this region. This grain is the only cereal grain indigenous to North America and is usually only harvested for about two weeks in August. California also is a major producer of wild rice.
Yellow Perch: A species of fresh-water fish from the lakes and rivers of the Central Plains. Yellow Perch is known for its especially sweet tasting flesh. However, it is not readily available due to a ban recently imposed to protect the species from extinction.
Menus from the Cuisine of the Central Plains
Menu One
Wisconsin Cheese and Beer Soup
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Morel and Goat Cheese Tart with Red Bell Pepper Coulis
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Roast Pork Loin with Apple and Cornbread Stuffing and Brandy Sauce
Dill and Lemon Carrots
Brussel Sprouts with Wild Mushrooms
Wild Rice with Black Walnuts
Menu Two
Planked Whitefish with Orange-Horseradish Crust with Red Cabbage Braised in Cider and Beer
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Wheatberry and Toasted Sunflower Seed Salad
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Pan Seared Steak with Maytag Blue Cheese Butter
Corn on the Cob
Cheddar Potato Fries
Menu Three
Clear Chicken Soup with Sage Dumplings
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Beet and Apple Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette
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Deep-Dish Chicken and Sausage Pie with Buttermilk Biscuits
Prairie Sunchoke Gratin
Macaroni and Cheese