Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Monika Kriebel of Garfield has begun a two-year effort to compile old recipes of past eras into a book to be titled “Render One Pig: The Culinary History of the Palouse.” The title refers to the practice of using all parts of a slaughtered pig.
Kriebel began the Whitman County Historical Society project with a proposal in July, after her husband Mahlon, the president of the Historical Society, came home from a board meeting.
That night the members had discussed a fundraiser and someone suggested a cookbook.
“Not another cookbook,” came the reply.
Dave Appel of Colfax chuckled and said they could name it “Render One Pig.”
From there the idea of compiling the history of Whitman County cooking took hold.
Kriebel has been researching Historical Society archives along with family histories at the Colfax Library and county museums in Fairfield and Pomeroy since September.
At her current point in the project, she now seeks information on food trends at the start of the 20th century.
One day during her research, Kriebel discovered a musty publication called “The Plymouth Cookbook.” There is no date on it but clues inside include advertising from Colfax businesses such as The Great Eastern, which featured items like ladies skirts and wrappers.
This leads to another point on Kriebel’s itinerary, which is to visit the archives of the Gazette to see if she can place the date of the old cookbook by finding the Great Eastern ads, or mentions of the store. The cookbook was compiled by the Ladies Aid Society of Colfax.
Kriebel, who grew up in a small farm town in Germany, said one of the differences in looking at old recipes is that they were written in another manner, in standard paragraph form, before listing of ingredients and simple steps became the norm.
She intends to organize the book into three sections; from 1860 to 1905, 1910-30 and then a section for post-electrification, when families could plug in refrigerators and freezers. The last section is slated to be on the 1930s and 40s.
“I have always loved to cook traditional dishes,” said Kriebel, who uses local wheat, lentils, barley and chickpeas at home. She and Mahlon are making their own sausage this year. Last year they made sauerkraut.
“I realized how much work it is but how much better it is,” she said. “We’re finding out a lot of things that many people don’t even know anymore.”
Kriebel, who earned a degree in creative writing from WSU in 2007, has lived in Garfield for nine years. She and Mahlon, who grew up in Garfield, moved here from Syracuse, New York, where Mahlon was a professor at Upstate Medical Center. They now live on the Kriebel family farm.
Kriebel said she was drawn to the project by the weight of its subject.
“I like writing about things that matter,” she said.
Her endeavor involves not only finding the old recipes, but reconstructing lost ones from remaining bits of information she can find. She welcomes any tips and information which people may have.
Many of the old recipes were for cooking for harvest crews and plowing bees. These were large groups of mostly men, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“That was a lot of work,” Kriebel said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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