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For decades, German-Americans were a dominant group
in Illinois. Waves of German immigrants flocked to the Midwest in the 1840s
and 1850s, and nowhere was that more evident than in central Illinois. It
was not uncommon for German to be the predominant language in entire
communities. According to noted Lincoln historian David Herbert Donald,
Abraham Lincoln “secretly owned” the German language
Springfield newspaper, Illinois
Staats-Anzeiger, through which he could
connect with his German-American constituency, and presumably promulgate
his pro-Republican viewpoint. Lincoln purchased the paper in May, 1859, and
sold it after being elected president.
In 1910, the U.S. census showed that Germans were the
largest group of foreign-born residents in Illinois.
Why does so little evidence of this area’s rich
Germanic heritage remain? I’d guess it’s because of the two
World Wars. My grandmother used to tell stories about her German mother,
who’d emigrated with her parents when she was three years old, and
her father, whose background was also German. Before WWI, they’d been
proud of their heritage. But my grandmother remembered being repeatedly
warned during the First World War to never, ever, mention that they were German (although their last name,
Doerfler, had to have been a dead giveaway), and speaking German at home
became verboten.
Fortunately, the ban didn’t affect their eating
habits, and my grandmother cooked, and taught my mother and me to prepare,
many dishes she’d learned from her mother. Nana made her own
sauerkraut, and occasionally would dig out her big stone crock into which
she’d immerse a beef roast for a days-long soak in red wine, wine
vinegar, herbs, and spices for an exotic-tasting sauerbraten. There was
sieskraut, a delicious mash of cabbage and potatoes, and the spinach that
remains my favorite vegetable preparation to this day.
My husband, Peter, also has German in his
background and took German in high school, masterminding a plot in 1968 to
replace all the traffic signs in his suburban town of Arlington Heights
with ones in German, which earned a headline in the local paper:
“Creative Vandals Create Downtown Havoc.” He was never caught,
and, as far as I know, this is the first time the perpetrator of the crime
has been publicly revealed. Hopefully, the statute of limitations has run
out.
I’d taken German in high school, too, but my
motivation was less due to my heritage than that the German teacher was
reputed to be friendly and fun, while the French teacher (the only two
languages offered) was demanding and difficult.
Our first dinner party after we were married was for
Peter’s German club at the U of I (UC). It was a complete success,
except for the sauerbraten: when Peter reached for a yellow box to thicken
the gravy, he grabbed the baking soda instead of the cornstarch; whisking
it into the wine and vinegary pan juices, he created a purple volcano that
seemed as if it would never stop.
Folks who don’t have a treasure trove of German
family recipes — or those who do and don’t have the time or
inclination to make them — can sample Richard Dirksen’s at the
German Buffet he’ll be serving at The Coal Miner’s Hideaway in
Pawnee Oct. 21through 26. Dirksen’s family hails from the tiny hamlet of
German Valley near Rockford; the legendary late Senator Everett Dirksen was
a distant relative. He’s been in the restaurant business in one way
or another since the early 1980s, beginning as a busser. “I just fell
in love with the food industry,” he says. “I’ve pretty
much done it all.”
By 2005 he was managing a country club in Charleston,
Ill. It was there that Dirksen got the idea for his German Buffet.
“It was kind of a blue-collar country club, and a lot of the members
had a German background,” he says. Dirksen dug out his notebook
filled with family recipes, and produced such a lavish spread that the
buffet was an immediate hit. The periodic German feasts “turned into
the big social events” of the club.
When Dirksen and his wife, Deb, took the opportunity
to buy their own place, they brought their German Buffet with them to
Pawnee. It’s offered four weeks throughout the year: the weeks of
Labor Day and Memorial Day, in October for Oktoberfest, and in mid-December
for Weihnachts (Christmas).
When I asked what kinds of dishes he’d be
serving, Dirksen replied, “I can tell you exactly what’ll be on
the menu if you want.” “Fine, go ahead,” I said, and then
felt my eyes growing wider and wider as the list grew longer and longer.
Here’s Dirksen’s menu:
Pork chops with a sauce of sour cream,
onions, and horseradish
Three kinds of sausages – weisswurst,
knackwurst,
and bratwurst, all made
especially for Dirksen
by Eickman’s butcher shop
in Seward, Ill.
Grandma Jenny’s Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
Bavarian-style sauerkraut with caraway
Sauerbraten
Spaetzle (made fresh each day) with
gingersnap gravy
Jaegerschnitzel – Dirksen breads cubes of pork
rather than pounding them thin
(as is
traditional) and serves them with
a
brown jaeger (hunter) sauce.
Hot German potato salad
Potato pancakes
Beirock casserole
Onion pie
Beef and cabbage soup
House-made cherry and apple strudel
Oh, I almost forgot: There’s also a full salad
bar (all the dressings are made in-house) just in case anyone has room.
Wow! The price for this feast is a mere $12.95 per person – double
wow!
The German Buffets are extremely popular and
reservations are a must. The Oktoberfest buffet will be offered from 5
– 8 p.m., Oct. 21 – 25 and from 4-7 p.m. on Oct. 26. The Weihnachts buffet will be
offered December 16 – 21, and reservations for those dates can be
made starting in November. Be sure to go with an empty stomach!
The Coal Miner’s Hideaway is at 622 6th Street in
Pawnee. Phone: 217-625-8271
When I asked if I could print one of his recipes,
Dirksen quickly agreed: “A lot of people ask for them, and I always
give them out,” he says. As I flipped through the pages of his
battered notebook, it was obvious that Dirksen hadn’t been fooling
when he said that most were family recipes. The pages that had yellowed
with age, the notes in the margins, and various splotches and stains all
testified to their long history.
Of all the dishes that Dirksen told me would be on
the menu, the bierock casserole was the only one with which I was
completely unfamiliar. Dirksen says that the original recipe for this
specialty uses the meat and cabbage mixture as a filling for individual
puff pastry turnovers. For his German Buffet, however, Dirksen modified it
to make a large “pie” that can be cut into serving pieces.
Either way, it’s delicious.
BIEROCK CASSEROLE
2 sheets puff pastry
Beaten egg for brushing the pastry
5 c. shredded cabbage
Water
1 1/4 lbs. ground beef
1 T. butter
11/2 T. prime rib seasoning OR salt, pepper,
and garlic powder to taste
1 T. Düsseldorf, Dijon or other brown
(non-ball park) mustard
3 T. flour
1 c. grated cheese such as jack or cheddar
or a combination
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line the bottom of a
9″X 13″ baking dish with one of the sheets of puff pastry,
cutting it to fit as needed. Brush with some of the beaten egg and
partially bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room
temperature while you prepare the filling.
Place the cabbage and 1/2 cup water in a large pan
with a close-fitting lid. Cover the pan and place over medium high heat and
let the cabbage “sweat” (soften), stirring occasionally, until
it is wilted and somewhat translucent, 5 – 10 minutes.
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high
heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring frequently, until it becomes
translucent and just begins to brown. Add the ground beef and continue to
sauté, breaking it up as it browns so that it is thoroughly
crumbled.
When the meat is nearly browned through, add the
seasoning and mustard and mix thoroughly. If using the salt, pepper, and
garlic powder instead of the prime rib seasoning, add sparingly; you can
adjust the seasoning later.
Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture and toss to
combine. Let the mixture cook for a couple of minutes to take away the raw
taste of the flour.
Stir in 1/3c. water, then add the cabbage along with
the liquid in the pan and mix together thoroughly. Adjust the seasonings to
taste*.
To assemble: Spread the beef and cabbage filling
evenly over the par-baked sheet of puff pastry. Sprinkle the grated cheese
over the meat mixture.
Cut small slits evenly in the remaining sheet of puff
pasty and cover the casserole with it, sealing the edges along the sides of
the baking dish. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg, and bake for about
40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the bierock is completely
heated through in the middle. Let stand at least 15 minutes before cutting
into squares or rectangles. Serves 6 – 8 or more as part of a larger
meal.
*At this point the casserole can be assembled
immediately and baked as below, or the beef mixture can be cooled and the
final assembly completed just before baking. If you’re making the
mixture more than an hour or so ahead, it should be refrigerated, then
brought to room temperature before the final assembly. The casserole can
also be put together and then frozen. If freezing make sure the meat
mixture is completely cooled before assembling; then tightly wrap the
casserole. The bierock will take at least 15-20 minutes longer to bake from
the frozen state.
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.
