The Democratic advocate., 1909-11-19
PENN'A DUTCH DISHES
They WERE MYSTERIES TO The PALATE
OF A new YORKER
But will Tickle the Palate OF Any
Hungry Man or Woman

"At my first meal at the little Penn
sylvania Dutch inn over in Berks
county where l happened to be one
day last summer" said a New Yorker,
81 asked the rosy checked, black eyed
dining room girl for another baked
potato.
"Te bodatiss iss all" said she with
smile and shake of her head.
"All?" said l. All what?'
AL said the girl impatiently, and
with suspicion Of contempt in her
tone TIE bodatiss iss ALL"
"A native with the whiskers OF a
patriarch came to my rescue.
She means ter hain't no more y1t
alretty,' said he. Ter all
Thus | learned that the Pennsyl-
vania Dutch never say that anything
is gone. If the bar runs out of beer
the beer is all When the sauerkraut
is empty the kraut is all But there
is one thing, at least, that is never
all That is pie. If some thrifty
and hearty Dutch citizen should ever
ask for pie and word should come back
to him that the pie was ALI the
relations between him and his host
would at once become strained.
"But I found that the necessity for
asking for pie seldom exists, either at
tavern or farmhouse. At Pennsyl-
vanit Dutch inn the waiter doesn't
disturb your tympanum with:
"Minsrapp1epire puddin?
"She fetches in the pie at the proper
time and places it before you. Not
only pie, but whole pie; and often
not only one whole pie, but three or
four whole pies, all of different kinds,
and each kind a masterpiece OF the
pie making art. The black eyed girl
with the rosy cheeks who knocked
me out by telling me that the potatoes
were ALI placed four uncut pies on
the table soon afterward. There was
cheese custard, a gooseberry tart,
sweet potato custard, and snitz pie.
"Snitz is dried apples. Snitz means
the cutting of apples into small pieces
for drying, and snitZ parties, so |
learned, were among the social dis
sipations of the Pennsylvania Dutch
girls and boys at apple time. A favor
ite epicurian delight in rural Pennsyl-
yania Dutchdom is snitz and knep, a
combination of dried apples, fat pork
and dumplings, all cooked together.
This for supper might not at tlrst
thought strike a vegetarian as just the
thing to go to bed with if he had set
his mind on gentle dalliance with the
drowsy god, but it isn't so much of an
alder and abetter of nightmare as it
would seem, so | was told by those
who were brought up to dare it. Yet,
so they said, two good sized dishes of
it wasn't any too little for one good
man to eat, especially if he irrigated
it, as is somewhat the wont, with
tumbler or two of last years cider.
LAS to pie again, no matter how
many pies there may be on the table,
every guest is expected to help him
self to each. as his inclination and
capacity permit him. There is always
enough.
81 learned about some more pleasing
Pennsylvania Dutch things while l
was in Berks county. Schmierkase
has all seasons for it's own with them,
but it is only in the fall that sauer
kraut and lodwaerrick get their work
in. In the fall, too, metzelsup is on
the circuit, and many rise up and
clutch it. Then. likewise do rolachizZ
and pahanhoss make popular appeal.
''Lodwaerrick is apples and cider
boiled together until there is no more
cider left and the apples have be-
come savory pulp the color of ma
hogany bureau. In English the result
is called apple butter. Your grocer
sells you what bears the brand of ap-
pie butter Maybe that's what it is,
but you will never think so again after
eating lOdWaerrick.
Every we'll regulated Pennsyl
vania Dutch farmer kills at least two
fat pigs each fall for his own family
use. The butchering is great affair
and a neighbor here and there will
join in and help. When the hogs are
killed, dressed and cut up certain por-
tions are laid aside for those who help
ed in the killing and for gifts to poor
widows in the neighborhood. This
is distributed with a liberal hand and
is called the metzelsup. The farmer
who forgets the metzelsup is looked
upon as one for whom perditiOn
yawnS.
'If there is family in Berks county
that doesn't put down it's barrel Of
sauerkraut in the fall then that family
must have just moved in from some
distant part of the country. Every one
of the Pennsylvania Dutch counties
makes great quantities of sauerkraut
every fall, but Berks county claims to
put down as much as any three. of
the others.
From the middle of October until
the same time in November, as my
patriarchal friend at the inn table was
not backward in informing me, but
little else than sauerkraut in the do
nestle supply occupies the household
mind. The housewife at the head of
an establishment that requires thou
sands a year to support it has the
same recipe for putting down sauer-
kraut that her washwoman has and
when her kraut Is ripe it doesn't smell
bit better for it's more aristocratic
surroundings.