Cookbook:Grotten Hans

Grotten Hans
Category	Bread recipes
Time	2 hours 30 minutes
Difficulty

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes
Grotten Hans is a recipe that has been called a big dumpling but is basically steamed sweet bread. The recipe was traditional in the German areas of Russia.^[1]

Ingredients

¼ c. lard or oil
1 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
2 tsp. baking powder
½ c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
3 c. flour

Procedure

Cream lard, sugar and salt. Add eggs. Mix flour and baking powder.
Add this flour mixture to the lard mixture alternatively with the milk. Mix well.
Pour into a well-greased 2-pound coffee can. A piece of wax paper on the bottom of the can works well. Cover with foil, and tie this on with a string.
Set this tin into a large kettle of hot water several (3) inches deep. This will steam the dumpling. Cook for 2 hours. The old way was to dip a towel in hot water, then cold water, then sprinkle with flour.
Pour dumpling onto towel and tie up. Drop into boiling water and cook 2 hours.

A nice piece on Charles Portis in the LA REVIEW OF BOOKS.

Do we all eat the same six or seven things for Thanksgiving...turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, some vegetable that nobody touches, pumpkin pie.

Or is there one dish that is your family's own?

We always have cole slaw. Not sure if this came from my German ancestry or not? No one else seems to regard it as part of the Thanksgiving dinner. More like a summer salad or a barbecue go-with.
Also turnips were a staple-not a favorite with me since the year my Dad got sick in the serving dish.