Coriander - Pepper Pork Loin Steaks (31/325)

The Relation

Louie Gassmann

Louie Gassmann  (George>Gertrude>Henry) is back, in action, and consuming much less alcohol than the last receipt (see 5 Reason Bud Bean Chili for his not so sober recipe). 

The Henry Gassmann faction is well known for it's runners, but Louie goes a step further in spreading the sport. For over 30 years, he coached the Olney High School cross country team in Olney, IL Now, I'm not sure if it's because of his involvement in the high school as an adult or because he was a fox in his youth, but Louie's brother Neal mentions he's been to more high school proms than all his siblings combined (for reference, there are 7 siblings). I certainly hope he invested in a tux early on. 

 

Jokes aside, Louie's sister also shared a memory of he first day of gradeschool at St. Joe. Only young Louie and Mary Pat were walking from 123 E. Locust Street to the school. Just as they were about to cross Main Street, Mary Pat decided that she wasn't going any further.  Whether it was first day jitters, a general dislike for school, or just frustation with walking, Louie was able to quell it and coerce Mary Pat to make it to school. If hadn't been for Louie, Mary Pat may have never finished school at all. Or at least that's what we will tell Louie. 

The Process

Too much pork

Let me take you all back to July 5th, 2020. The pandemic was still young, bars had just reopened in Vegas (only to be shut down again a few weeks later) and Kanye West had announced he was running for president. Me? I was making pork loin for my co-workers at a small dinner party.

Bare with me as I recall events that happened 8 months ago.

 

For starters, I think I tripled this recipe. I remember trying to decide on if I should double or triple it based on the attendance. Do children eat half as much as adults? What's the formula here?

 

On one hand, there would be 10 of us and not everyone might eat the pork loin. On the other hand, my boss's husband had been on a meat-only diet for some time. Decisions, decisions. Needless to say, I came home from the store with 12 pork loins - much to the dismay of my two vegan roommates. 

 

One of the primary reasons I had chosen this recipe for this occasion was that I did not (and still don't) own a grill. I have a small panini press, but I am told that really doesn't count. Additionally, the aforementioned husband of my boss at the time  - his name is Ryan - was known for his grilling. I guess when you only eat meat, you better get good at the grill. 

Ready for transport

In the marinade, I elected to use the ground variety of coriander and only one tsp of pepper. I don't love pepper. This perhaps stems from the time a girl in my intro to cooking class thought a to-go condiment container was the same as a tablespoon and ruined our mac and cheese. I used the blade of the knife to crush the garlic - releases juices better (ten points to the house who names this reference). I marinated the pork for the full two hours before Boyfriend Grant and I left for dinner

And here comes to fuzzy part. You know, the part where I learn to grill and retain 0% of it. Professor Ryan would have flunked me had there been a quiz. But here's what I can splice together from my memory.

Grilling. You get a big old piece of metal with a large, often oyster-shaped, chamber at the top. Inside the oyster bit, you gotta make some heat. Professor Ryan's grill has coals (maybe, I honestly don't remember). Coals are what the bad kids get for Christmas. When you light the coals, you have to wait for the grill to heat up. Once it's hot, do not touch the oyster shell with your bare hands (I think I did this at a birthday party when I was very young. It hurts). 

Prof. Ryan in his office

Now, on top of the grill, there is another metal tray that looks like prison bars for a cat. You want to brush the prison bars so there isn't too much gross stuff on there and the meat doesn't get stuck. Now that you're all brushed, it's time to put the meat on. There may be some spots on the bars that are hotter than others. You want to watch all of the meat, peeking at the underbelly to make sure nothing is burning. Flip as needed and cook until you've reached an internal temp of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Remove the meat from the grill and let it rest for bit to keep them juicy.

**Please do not take this word as fact as I am not an expert and barely remember if I brushed my teeth this morning, let alone what happened 8 months ago.

 

The Feedback

Pork loins were very well received. Everyone at the table liked them, including a guest who is a

Look at that masterpiece

renowned picky eater (Louie did you pick this up cooking for John???). In hindsight, I probably could have used a little more pepper. I feel like they didn't live up to their pepper pork name. But that is my fault, so don't beat yourself up Louie. 

The Recipe

CORIANDER – PEPPER PORK LOIN STEAKS - CC04

4 boneless 1½ -inch thick pork loin chops – American cut

2 cloves crushed garlic

1Tbs crushed coriander seeds or ground coriander

1 tsp-1 Tbs cracked black pepper

1 Tbs brown sugar

3 Tbs soy sauce

Combine all ingredients except pork. Marinate pork in mixture for 30 minutes-2 hours. Place pork on grill and cook 12-15 minutes each side.

River Rat Wine (30/325)

Bill Schaub (Left) CC80

The Relation

Bill Schaub was a marine and an outlaw (at least according to us). He was married to Emily Eagleson,  eldest daughter and third eldest child of Dot and Phene. He died on November 24th, 1986, and was born on October 19th, 1928 (Happy 92nd Birthday Bill!). He would be my first cousin, twice removed by marriage. 

Ned Schaub (Dot>Emily) sent me a wonderful article published after Bill's death written by Mike Lawrence at the Herald & Review Springfield Bureau. Bill was a journalist for many years, then started a career working as a civil servant for those in public office. Clearly, Bill never kept quiet about what he felt was right and wrong, risking his position to inform those he served of these notions. More importantly, he did it all with a sense of humor. I like to think Bill and I could riff on a few topics, but more likely he would teach me a thing or two. See the full article on Bill Schaub here.

The Process

Spooky Concoction

Let me first say that this was one of the receipts I was most excited to try. As I perused the Cousin Club Receipts book, I remember thinking "River Rat Wine... now that's a wild one." When the stay at home order was issued in Las Vegas and I knew I wouldn't be leaving my house for a bit, I knew it was the perfect time for the river rat wine. 

It's been a while since I actually made the receipt so some of my memory is a bit fuzzy but here's the jist. Head to the store and grab some frozen grape juice concentrate. My store hides their frozen fruit and juice amidst the frozen desserts, which always baffles me. The container I found may have been there longer than any store manager would be willing to admit. The cardboard cylinder felt a little squishier and there was some pretty severe ice build-up. 

Inside the jug

Next, grab some yeast. If you are in the beginnings of a severe pandemic, you may have to resort to buying a two-pound bag of yeast off of eBay. Helpful tip: Store most of the yeast in the freezer to make it last longer! You should also get a ton of sugar, which luckily I already had at home (another hard to find item during a pandemic).

Make sure to start thawing your grape juice concentrate as soon as possible. Not everyone lives in a city that is constantly 90 degrees, so plan ahead! Also, you will stain your hands. If you've got a hot date or a hand photoshoot later in the day, wear gloves. My mixing bowl has one of those handy spouts, which helps in the transferring of the sugar/yeast/grape juice mixture into your jug. Personally, I opted for the clean option (or at least thoroughly rinsed).

Day 1

Grab your balloon and pop that sucker on the top! Now, you have 21 days to ponder your existence, grow a sourdough starter, start a small business, whatever you choose.

21 days later, it was ready. Had I not cared about the fate of our population, I may have held a little wine and cheese soiree to celebrate. Alas, social distancing measures were followed. Sous Chef Grant (now also Boyfriend Grant, in case you didn't see that coming) came over for the official tasting. We broke out the only wine glasses I own, one with the Sailor Moon Senshi on it, the other with a little fox that says "for fox sake". 

The Feedback

READY!!!

Minor tangent: Back in my days as a hospitality major at UNLV, you were required to take a certain number of upper-level classes. Once you turned 21, the alcohol classes became an option. Naturally, I signed up to take the wine class to knock out one of the required courses. Unfortunately, hard as I tried, I really don't love wine. That combined with the fact I knew no one in the class and it was at 10:00 AM on Saturdays, led me to drop the class. Long story short, I am not a sommelier. 

All that being said, I didn't think it was awful! I had very low expectations. When we picked up the jug, you could see a ton of undissolved sugary sediment at the bottom, which made my stomach a little concerned. To me, it tasted like a cheap dessert wine. Grant loves wine. He, unfortunately, did not love this wine. Overall, highly recommend this as a fun quarantine hobby. Results may vary.

Grant & I taste wine

The Receipt

RIVER RAT WINE - CC80

Bill Schaub+

Time: About 21 days

Cost: About $1.60

1 large – about 13 oz – can frozen grape juice concentrate
4½ cups sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1 gallon jug or glass milk bottle
1 heavy – 10 or 15 cent – balloon

Thaw grape juice concentrate. Combine with sugar and yeast. Pour into clean – if you’re picky – jug. Fill with water to shoulder of jug. Mix thoroughly. Tie a heavy balloon over the opening of the jug. Let stand at room temperature for 21 days.

Balloon will blow up, then deflate. If it deflates sooner than 21 days, the wine is ready anyway. If the balloon blows right off, merely replace it. At the end of 21 days the wine is ready whether or not balloon deflates. Wine improves with age, but it’s ready to go at 21 days.

- Editor’s Note: That’s $1.60 in 1980 dollars.

Back to the Grind

Ladies and gentlemen... it's been a while.  To answer the question that must have been keeping you up all night, the Cousin Club Receipts Project is not dead!!!

Corona Virus hit hard, especially in Las Vegas, NV, and it's been a long quarantine. While you might think that quarantine would be the perfect time to get some blog writing done, I found myself doing a whole lot of other things. Mostly, sewing masks and building an Etsy shop (shameless self-plug: Made By Maddy G).

But I have not forgotten the recipe book. I could never forget about it. Especially when I have Julia Weber and Jim Eagleson breathing down my neck (hahah kidding... kind of). I received a few messages asking about the project which was really just... delightful. It's something I started for fun but I am so glad others have enjoyed it!!!

Speaking of Julia Weber, she and Michael Lemley sent me a flash drive with photos and a really wonderful note from Michael. I only know so much about the Webers being of such a recent generation. I cannot truly express how grateful I am for those of you who have shared their stories and memories with me for this project.

And with that, I leave all of you awesome Weber readers with a call to action. Please, PLEASE keep sharing! Message me on Facebook or look up my number in the CC Handbook or shoot me an email (mggassmann@gmail.com) with a favorite story. Send me a letter if you need to (please help save the USPS, they are struggling). 

In the words of Michael Lemley, "[our] history is noble, and [our] legacy is strong"

Love,

Maddy

Mama Weber's Fudge (29/325)

Barbara Gassmann's Wedding

The Relation

Barbara Gassmann Harris is the fourth daughter of Gertie and Zean. She would be my great-aunt and was allegedly a very classy lady. I, personally, absolutely love this photo Mary Pat Gassmann (Gert>Henry) found of Barbara on her wedding day. In a lot of these pictures, people seem to be a little stuff, but her smile in this photo is genuinely radiant. The wedding was held at the Presidio of San Francisco.

Slow Boil

The Process

I have never made fudge before (I should really keep track of all these culinary cherries I keep popping) so this was bound to be an adventure. Especially with the anecdote about it never failing... which made me ask myself, is making fudge hard?

First of all, I don't what type of mutant walnuts were growing back in the day, but I would love to see a walnut the size of a 1/3 stick of butter! That seems massive. I melted the mutant walnut-size butter piece per the instructions and added all the other good stuff.

Stir to stiff??

I want to put out there that I followed this recipe pretty carefully. I added the squares of chocolate and boiled for 5 minutes and took it off the stove right at 5 on the dot. I added a half cup of pecans (now a staple in my house since starting this project) and the vanilla. I stirred until it was stiff, and poured into a buttered pan.

Half an hour goes by, and it's still pretty liquidy. Another hour goes by, and the viscosity has not changed. I tossed it in the fridge at this point thinking maybe it needed to chill? I left it overnight and by morning, it seemed to retain its shape! But... something was amiss.

Pre-chill

The Feedback

Overall, not bad. I think I messed up somewhere. Maybe, I should have used an electric mixer to beat the mixture after cooking? I really only stirred it, there wasn't a whole lot of "beating" going on. It tasted like fudge! Sweet and chocolatey and all that. The texture though... it wasn't creamy or smooth like fudge should be. It was grainy. On top of that, the nuts had gotten soggy and soft overnight. My climbing friends said it was still good, which it was! But I am unsatisfied with the texture.

The Receipt

MAMA WEBER’S FUDGE - CC80
Barbara Gassmann Harris+

Melt butter the size of a walnut – ⅓ stick.

Add 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, ¾ cup cream or half and half, ¼ cup Karo and a pinch of salt.

Let come to a boil slowly. Boil one minute. Add 2 squares of Baker’s chocolate. Boil 5 minutes after chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Take from fire. Add teaspoon vanilla and ½ cup chopped nuts. Beat until stiff. Pour into buttered pan.

Never fails – even when it’s raining.

Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomato Torte 28/325

Jim & Me at CC13

The Relation

Jim Eagleson (again??) is my first cousin, twice removed. He is the author of many a happy birthday post in the Cousin Club Facebook page. If you remember, he is also the wonderful man who sent me the digital copy of the cousin club receipts book. Not only do I have that to thank him for, but I pull many of these photos from the Facebook page, a good portion from his happy birthday posts! So, if I haven't said it enough, THANKS JIM!

Cheesy Mixture

The Process

Man, I love goat cheese. It is just... amazing. This torte? An absolute delight to make. I mean, there were challenges, but (spoiler alert) it's delicious. Also, expensive. Twelve ounces of goat cheese puts you back about $15, so make sure you're serving only the classiest of guests.

I am going to overemphasize the need for a 6-inch springform pan. I did not have this particular piece of equipment and tried to use a regular 6-inch cake pan. I figured, if I created a wax paper nest inside of the pan, I could easily pull the finished creation out of the pan.

NOT a springform pan

I put the first layer of cheese mixture down, followed by pesto, followed by more cheese mixture. At this point, I must have just entirely blacked out, because I topped it with the sun-dried tomatoes, entirely skipped the second layer of pesto and third layer of cheese. I quickly realized my mistake and tried to scrape off the tomatoes and add the right layers.

With the new layers added, this thing was about a half to one full inch over the top of the cake pan. It's got height. I wrapped the whole thing in saran wrap and put it in the freezer. Why the freezer? Because I was supposed to be at a game night in an hour with the torte, and receipt clearly says to refrigerate for several hours. Oops.

Tall Boy

One thing is for sure, the torte came out of the pan pretty easily. The wax paper, however, was not so easy to remove. I'm highly confident some of it was consumed.

The Feedback

Climbing Pals Brooke, Dom, and Grant found the torte delightful despite its lack of curb appeal. I served it with Ritz crackers and Triscuits. As there were four of us, and approximately two pounds of torte, I had a fair amount leftover. If you also end up with leftovers, I highly recommend making paninis with chicken and spinach with it! Amazing.

The Receipt

Not pretty... but yummy!

GOAT CHEESE & SUN-DRIED TOMATO TORTE - CC04
Jim Eagleson

8 oz softened cream cheese
12 oz goat cheese
½ lb softened butter
1 cup basil pesto
1 cup drained minced sun-dried tomatoes

Place the cheeses and butter in a bowl and beat until they are well blended and fluffy. Butter the sides and bottom of a 6-inch spring form pan. Layer ⅓ of the cheese mixture in the bottom and spread half the pesto over it. If the pesto is very oily, drain it a little do it isn’t so runny. Repeat. Spread the remaining third of the cheese mixture and cover with the minced tomatoes. Place saran over the top and refrigerate for several hours. Remove from fridge ½ hour before serving to allow torte to soften. Remove the spring form pan and serve with bread or crackers.

Thin Butter Cookies 27/325

Mama Weber

The Relation

The ma'am, the myth, the legend, Mama Weber is my great-great-grandmother. Mad respect for this wonderful lady. I mean, she had 16 kids!!! For so many reasons that seems impossible. Firstly, carrying and giving birth sixteen times??? Holy smokes. And then actually having to raise them! Having any more than one or two kids gives me anxiety... but sixteen? I don't know how she did it. The picture to the right was colorized by Brad Weber (Anton> William> Tracy> James)

The Process

$9.00 nuts

This is another one of those recipes where some of the ingredients are hidden in the instructions paragraph, so read carefully. You may notice the recipe calls for hickory nuts. What are hickory nuts, you may ask? Hickory nuts are the fruit of the hickory tree. They are in the walnut family and taste very similar to pecans. According to Genie (Gert>Henry>m. John), you can use pecans and hickory nuts interchangeably for the most part. But what fun would that be?

I went on the hunt for hickory nuts at my grocery store to no avail. I checked every single label in the bulk nut section, but alas, no hickory nuts to be found. So, I started to search the interwebs. Amazon sells a whopping 20 grams, which is less than an ounce, of chopped hickory nuts for $9.00. These nuts were expensive! But, I sucked it up and bought the nuts, which, but the way, were not even eligible for Prime Two-Day Delivery *big sigh*.

Roll shaped?

Hickory nuts in hand, (over a week later *eye-roll*) I started these cookies. The first part of the recipe is pretty simple, just mix all the ingredients, right? Right. Now, it tells you to roll. Roll the dough out? Like, with a rolling pin? Or create a roll, as in a cylindrical shape out of the dough?? I couldn't tell you. I had enough dough, so I figured, why not both?

Half of the dough I made into a long cylinder (not unlike the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough that you can buy pre-made at the store) and tossed it in the fridge. After 30 minutes, I took the roll out and used a knife to slice little circle cookies. I tried to get them as thin as possible, but this is much harder than it looked.

or rolled out?

The other half of the dough, I balled up and put it in the fridge. 30 minutes later, I rolled it out to 1/4 inch thickness and used cookie cutters to pop out some squirrels (of course) and stars (why not?). Once cut out, I placed the squirrels on parchment-lined baking sheets and chilled them again (a trick I learned from my mom to help them keep their shape and not turn into blobs).

With all of the cookies, I coated them with the egg whites and cinnamon sugar (I do a 1:5 ratio on cinnamon to sugar). I added hickory nuts to the tops of some, pecans to others, and left a few without any nuts at all (for the nut allergy peeps in my life).

I should have timed them, but I forgot, so I think I ended up baking them for about 8 minutes? Maybe more, maybe less.

The Feedback

Mama Weber is certainly right, this recipe makes a ton of cookies. I distributed them to my office, climbing gym and kept a few for myself. They are very nice, light cookies, great for drinking a cup of coffee with. They don't snap like a hard cookie, but they aren't super chewy either. Very floury. Overall, good bake. And the hickory nuts? They were good! But honestly, just use pecans.

The Receipt

THIN BUTTER COOKIES - CC80
Mama Weber+

1 lb butter
6 cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup sugar

Cream butter and sugar. Mix well. Add eggs and flour. Roll. Chill. Cut very thin. Brush with slightly beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixed together. Add chopped hickory nuts to tops – press in lightly. Bake at 300° until lightly browned. Half the recipe makes a lot of cookies

Aunt Suzanne's Cubes 26/325

Lil Baby Suzanne

The Relation

Janet David (Dot) submitted this recipe, but I only think it fair to pay tribute to the name on the actual receipt, Aunt Suzanne. Suzanne (Suzie according to the handbook) would be my great-great-aunt, making her one of the OG 16. She is the second youngest child of Mama & Papa Weber. According to Julia Weber (Bud), Bud, her older brother, used to call her " Toots" like toot-toot of a train whistle.

The Process

I do not like pickles. Maybe this is one of those things where I just need to try them on 10 different occasions and build up a tolerance, but the smell, the texture, the whole idea of pickles is unnerving. Imagine my joyous reaction when I realized there was not one, not two, but nine pickle receipts. WHY??

Nothing like sugar & vinegar

Okay, pickle rant over. I figured I would leave the watermelon pickle receipts for summer, but I could at least tackle one of them now. Let me just tell you now, this one probably calls for a remake. We'll get to that later.

Overall, not a complicated receipt! You boil everything together and pour it over sliced cucumbers in a jar. I used a pint jar (because it is what I had on me). I wasn't sure exactly how to slice the cucumbers or how many I needed. I just tried to cut them so I could fit as many as I could in the jar. In hindsight, I probably should have cut them into cubes considering the name of the recipe...

I was able to fit 1.5 cucumbers into my pint jar and almost all of the pickling liquid (is there a real name for that stuff?). There were no instructions about what I should do next. So, I looked it up on the interwebs. Allegedly, I could just toss the whole jar into the fridge for five days and I would have

Definitely not cubes

pickles!

The Feedback

To quote Roommate Lora "I don't know what this is, but it is certainly not a pickle." They certainly didn't look very pickley either. Roommate Lora also questioned if I used pickling cucumbers, which, of course, I didn't know existed? And perhaps I needed to let them pickle for longer??? And cut them up smaller??? SOS, family, please tell me how to fix these pickles. I need help.

As compact as possible

The Receipt

AUNT SUZANNE’S CUBES - CC90
Janet David

¾ cup sugar
¾ cup vinegar
1 tsp curry
1 tsp salt

Bring to boil. Pour over sliced cucumbers packed in jars. Cool and refrigerate.