Grandmama's Polish Potato Soup

So, Thanksgiving Day is nearly here. Pretty soon everyone will have had their fill of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

My Granddaddy Pierce had a recipe of sorts for what to do with your leftovers. I would bet that Daddy, Grandmama and Ron had to eat Turkey Hash from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas. It was a mixture of leftovers: turkey, dressing, vegetables (mostly peas), and a lot of chicken broth and hot sauce. It was soupy and I didn't like it' mostly because of the canned peas. He was always so proud of it. I ate it without complaint, but I never had seconds.

Grandmama's Polish Potato Soup, on the other hand, was an event, not just a dish. We all looked forward to it so much and she would serve it in china bowls which were actually called soup plates. She got this recipe from a friend she met in Buffalo, New York. I made it recently for my book club for our discussion of Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent. It was set in early 60's New York, so I thought it would have been a dish that Ethan would have had. It will be a good dish to serve once you're tired of holiday food.

Grandmama peeled and mashed her own potatoes, I used 3 24 oz packages of Simply Potatoes - which are already mashed. I also put the mixture through the food processor for extra silkiness, I also added a cup of cottage cheese and a cup of milk - so you can play with it and make it your own and take short cuts, but here is Grandmama's recipe:
6 large potatoes
32 oz. of chicken broth
1 package Kielbasa Sausage
One large onion
Three tablespoons of flour
Parsley and dill weed to taste
Three tablespoons Canola Oil

Boil potatoes in 2 quarts of water until tender
Drain potatoes into another pot and reserve
Mash potatoes with butter or margarine and salt, set aside
Chop onion, sausage, dill, and parsley
Heat oil in frying pan and sautee onion, sausage, dill and parsley
Stir in flour and add two cups of reserve water

Put mashed potatoes back on the stove
Add broth and simmer
put mixture through food processor for a smoother texture. 

Combine all ingredients; simmer for about thirty minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Grandmother Moss's Cornbread Dressing

Just in time for Thanksgiving shopping, I found my grandmother's recipe for Cornbread Dressing in the family heritage album Mama helped Emily make for a school project:

Ingredients:
Six or Eight home-made biscuits
One pan of cornbread
One quart of chicken broth
One large chopped onion
One cup of finely chopped celery
One small container of pimento (if desired for color)
Four medium fresh eggs
Two tablespoons of sage
Salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper to taste

Carmelize onions
Simmer onions and celery in chicken broth for about fifteen minutes
Crumble cornbread and biscuits finely in a large pot 
Add chicken broth, celery, and onion to cornbread/biscuit mixture
Add pimento if desired
Add seasonings
Mixture should be soupy
Add broth or water if mixture is too thick
Beat four eggs and fold gently into the mixture
Pour into large casserole or baking pan
Top with parsley and paprika for color if desired
Bake at 359 degrees until firm (about forty minutes)
Serve with gravy

Gravy used would have been Giblet Gravy
I prefer Redeye Gravy

Grandmama's Sandwiches

Today is National Sandwich Day. Grandmama told me that sandwiches were named for the Earl of Sandwich who needed to reach his armed forces quickly and didn't have time to sit for dinner, so he asked the servant to just put a piece of meat between two slices of bread and he would take it with him. Thus, the sandwich was born. To my understanding, there are many variations of this legend, but they all agree that the sandwich was named for the 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Grandmama enjoyed making sandwiches for lunch. She had some unusual but crazy tasty combinations. Here are my favorites:

The Tomato Sandwich:
Peeled, ripe tomatoes, toasted white bread, salt and pepper, and mayonnaise (actually, I think she used Miracle Whip, but I don't recommend it)

The Pineapple Sandwich:
4 slices of canned pineapple rings, 1 slice of American Cheese, toasted white bread, and mayonnaise

And my favorite... The Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich - which was just as it sounds

Enjoy National Sandwich Day!

Erie F. Pierce - Post-War Germany Assignment

In 1953 my grandfather, Erie Pierce, received an assignment to be in Germany for three years. He went on ahead to prepare the household for the family, and to begin his duties as the Commander of the Independent Medical Batallion which served the First Infantry Division. My dad says that in addition to setting up house for his wife and children, he also kept an apartment for his mistress. I have the romantic notion that he only had the one mistress - he told my mother before he died that he really only ever loved one woman. A half British and half East Indian nurse that he met in the war. He even asked his sisters to sponsor her so she could move to the US. They declined. Of course, it broke my grandmother's heart when a letter from this woman beat him home. So, I suspect this was the same woman if he was willing to get her an apartment - as he was a very frugal person. He also told me once that the best vacation he ever had was to Havana sometime just before Americans were not allowed to go there anymore. Grandmama never went to Cuba, so I suspect this was also with this woman. Daddy says he was just a womanizer and he had multiple ladies on the side. That's not as romantic. At any rate, Granddaddy went on to Germany sometime early in 1953 to begin his duties.

My dad had to leave Crewe, VA. A place they had lived for about three years, and his favorite place that he ever lived. He had a best friend there which is not easy for an Army Brat to acquire. They drove from VA to Brooklyn to a hotel on Clark Street - The George Washington Hotel where he and his brother enjoyed the saltwater swimming pool. The next morning they had to drive their car to Pier 91 for the car to be transported to Germany.

 On September 16, 1953, Daddy, "Rick" Pierce,  his brother, Ron, and my grandmother, Virginia Pierce set sail for Germany aboard the USNS PVT Elden H Johnson, an old victory ship from WWII  bound for Bremerhaven, Germany from NY, NY. Rick had to stay below deck with the junior officers because he was already 13. Ron and Grandmama stayed above deck. Daddy made friends with the ship's chaplain who taught him how to play chess and gave him the traveling chess set they used, which I now possess. Some of the crew gave Ron and Rick German lessons which they took to very well. One of the men Rick met below deck was a CIA officer who had a briefcase that would just fall away and a gun would be in its place. The handle of the case concealed a roll of gold coins.

They lived in Wurzburg in the Bergermeister's house. It had 17 rooms and a garden. They had two maids, a chauffeur, and a gardener with servant quarters on the grounds. Rick attended Benjamin Franklin Junior High and one of his teachers was Miss Halliburton, whose brother, Richard Halliburton was a renowned writer. The Complete Book of Marvels is still available on Amazon. Rick had made friends and even had a girlfriend there. Ron, Rick, and Virginia were all very happy to have this adventure.  They frequented the fancy officer's club, which had been a Nazi club. Daddy says there was an eagle holding a swastika on the outside of it. Chilling. But they enjoyed the events and dinners nonetheless.

Granddaddy's affair was discovered by his superiors. This was and continues to be a big deal in the Army. He was stripped of his rank and busted back down to Master Sergeant. It must have been one hell of a Christmas. They departed Rhein-Main in Frankfurt, Germany en route to Idlewild, NY on December 27, 1953, on Seaboard and Western Airlines. There were 28 passengers aboard. The plane caught fire! They made an emergency landing in Ireland. The plane was quickly repaired and the trip resumed. Somewhere above Canada, the plane caught fire, again and began to dive! The family thought this was it. Fortunately, the pilot managed to regain control of the plane and they landed safely in Newfoundland. They were there for three days before their arrival back in NY on Dec. 30, 1953. Because Granddaddy was the highest ranked officer on the plane, he had to go before a Congressional Committee regarding the crash. He spent the rest of his military career as a Reserve Advisor at Boston Army Base. He regained his rank before he retired in 1959, and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.