The Best of the Season

Since my husband and I have been traveling a lot lately, we really needed to spend a weekend at home. Last weekend was officially Sit on the Couch weekend, and oh, we watched sooo much football. But in between games I did manage to make up a big pot of Shaker Cider Stew, something my mom used to make when I was a kid and that was always a big hit. I vividly remember coming home one chilly day when I was about 12 to find the house filled with the sweet smell of the stew and that heavy, earthy smell of freshly baked yeast rolls. I had been having a blast out with my friends, but when I got home and saw that mom had been putting so much effort into dinner while I was out made me feel really content and loved. If only this memory had surfaced a few times during those teen years, I might not have been quite as horrible to my mother, or at least I might have thought twice about it.

Shaker Cider Stew is not something my mother concocted herself, but in my mind it is absolutely her recipe, and I think it's sort of funny how that works. I'd never read a great book and be like "it's mine now!," even if it becomes a part of who I am on a deep level. But food, it seems, is different. Make something enough times and it seems to be yours--it becomes the thing you are known for at social gatherings, to the point where your invitation to the event ends with "oh, and can you bring your (insert name of awesome dish you make that everyone loves here)?" This proprietary thing is interesting from a familial standpoint, too, where you can only pass the secret sauce recipe, grandma's fudge recipe, etc. etc. to other members of the family, as if "privileged" kitchen knowledge must be kept secret to assure that no matter what year it is or where you live, your family will always have one thing it can make better than the Joneses. Making a recipe a certain number of times is like adopting it--it becomes part of your repertoire, and you love it and care for it over the years, even though sometimes it isn't as good as you hoped. It's amazing how often I find myself saying something like, "oh, my pumpkin pie recipe calls for...," even though there's no "my" about it. That shit came off the back of the Libby's pumpkin puree can. And it was delicious.

I suspect that my mom's Shaker Cider Stew recipe is from one of the many cookbooks she had in her collection when I was growing up, but we've adopted it and been making it for almost two decades. When my mother made me a scrapbook-style "family recipes" cookbook as a Christmas gift, she included this recipe,  so as far as I'm concerned, she's claimed it. I share it with all of you as a sort of tribute to her. I hope it'll make your home smell lovely and fill your belly well.

Shaker Cider Stew

Ingredients:
2 T. all purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 lbs. beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 T. oil
2 large onions, sliced
1 c. water
1 c. apple juice or cider
2 medium rutabagas, peeled and chopped (4 cups)
6 medium carrots, chopped (3 cups)
2 T. snipped parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram, crushed
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/3 c. cold water
3 T. flous
6 small potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed

In a paper bag, combine 2 T. flour, 2 tsp. salt, and the pepper. Add meat cubes, a few at a time, shaking to coat the meat.

In a Dutch oven or large soup pot, brown meat, half at a time in the hot oil. Return all meat to the pot. Add onions, the 1 c. of water, and apple juice or cider. Cover and simmer about 1 1/4 hours or until meat is tender. Add rutabagas, carrots, parsley, the 1 tsp. salt, the marjoram, and thyme. Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until vegetable are cooked. Blend the 1/3 c. of water and 3 T. flour; stir into the stew. Cook and stir till bubbly. Transfer to a serving bowl and spoon mashed potatoes around the edges. (also good without the mashed potatoes, and you can probably substitute turnips for rutabagas if you want, although I've never done so).