Community Cookbook: Celebrating the historic flavor of the Steel Valley

Web Extras: Marketplace, Bridal, Headlines by Email, Postcards

Community Cookbook: Celebrating the historic flavor of the Steel Valley

Thursday, May 13, 1999

By Nancy Anderson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Whoever supplied sour cream to the Mon Valley circa 1900 must have enjoyed counting the day's receipts.

Sour cream went into, or alongside of, just about everything -- meat, potatoes, noodles, casseroles, salads, dough, soups and desserts -- according to the recipes in "Out of This Kitchen: A History of the Ethnic Groups and Their Foods in the Steel Valley."

This unusual cookbook, self published by Dan Karaczun in 1992 to mark the centennial of the great Homestead Massacre of 1892, was reprinted last year because of demand.

Karaczun, who worked in U.S. Steel's Homestead Works for 17 years until its demise, spent nine months compiling facts about the valley, talking to steel workers and descendants of the original settlers, and gathering their family recipes.

He then lovingly wove the information into a compelling story of how the Mon Valley came to be and what its women put in the lunch pail and on the dinner table.

"It's been a phenomenon," said his wife, Joanne, marketing and distribution manager. "We've had calls from all over the country, and not just former steelworkers who have moved away."

"Out of This Kitchen," she added, also appeals to cooks, historians and cookbook collectors who are drawn to the uniqueness of the material.

The recipes are grouped in the order of how the immigrants settled the valley, beginning with the Germans, who were the first to arrive between 1708 and 1728, followed by a large number of Scotch-Irish in 1725 and the Irish in the mid-1800s.

As the mills flourished, the need for cheap labor brought an influx of peasants from Hungary, Ukraine, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Poland.

This melting pot lent a wealth of authentic Old World dishes, such as White Borscht, Dumplings with Sauerkraut, Korabeeki (yogurt cookies), Caraway Seed Soup, Noodle Goulash, Black Walnut Candy, Boxty and Ricotta Cake.

The book also includes recipes popular during both World Wars, The Depression and post-World War II which were printed in newspapers of the day -- The Daily Messenger, Homestead Local News, The Pittsburgh Press, and Pittsburgh Gazette Times.

Karaczun further personalizes those bygone days with short interviews with survivors such as:

Elmer Best (German) from West Mifflin. He was 17 when he lied about his age in 1924 to get a job at U.S. Steel. He worked a 62-hour week, six days a week, and took two or three ham sandwiches wrapped in newspaper for lunch every day.

Nicholas and Agnes Markoff of West Mifflin. His parents, Lambe and Nevena Markoff, arrived from Yugoslavia in 1905 and started baking bread in the basement of their apartment. It grew to be the successful West Homestead Baking Company, which burned in 1958.

Diana Jordanoff Kaye, West Mifflin. Born in Bulgaria, she came here in 1920 with her husband. They started a grocery store in Homestead but lost it in 1939. She was one of the first women to go to work in the mill during World War II -- at $6.48 a day -- pushing wheelbarrows and loading bricks onto railroad cars.

Julie Tarasevich's Czechoslovakian grandparents. He worked in the mill, she ran a Slovak confectionery store -- together they started Straka's Bar in 1925 which remained a landmark for seven decades.

Ed and Alice Manfredi, West Mifflin. He worked at Jones & Laughlin Steel in Hays for 41 years, warming his lunch on the furnace and receiving his pay in cash. She, of German-French descent, was one of 11 children from Homestead who combined her family's style of cooking with her husband's Italian influence.

Interspersed are photos of old kitchen tools used to make homemade kielbasa, Slovak and Russian immigrants, a steelworker and his family in 1916 and various shots of the mill.

That's quite a lot of info crammed into 185 spiral-bound pages. Cost is $18.19 and includes shipping. Send check made out to Publassist to: Publassist, 1671 New Haven Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15216-1918. A portion of the proceeds go to the Mon Valley Food Bank and the Rainbow Kitchen in Homestead. For details call 412-343-9749.

We chose foods from three countries to test. Where sour cream was called for, we used light.

Sauerbraten, a German pot roast, was tender and redolent of the red wine and seasonings it had marinated in for three days. Simple to make, too.

Paprika Potatoes, a Hungarian side dish, had a perky taste and a pink tinge because of the spice. They went nicely with the Sauerbraten.

Vareniki, a Russian dumpling filled with dry cottage cheese, was similar to a pierogi and as time-consuming to make. On their own, vareniki are rather bland, but a liberal dose of sour cream and a sprinkling of dill made them quite palatable.