Murder Talks Turkey

RECIPES

Pea soup is one of the oldest traditional dishes in Sweden dating back to Viking times. Grandma Johnson makes it with pig’s feet, but I like to use ham hocks. Serve it with a dessert of Swedish pancakes topped with preserves. Wash it down with beer.

Serves four

2 cups dried yellow peas

2 quarts of water

2 ham hocks

1 large onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

Salt

Pepper

Thyme

Marjoram

Mustard

In a big pot, soak the peas in the water overnight. Add everything else except the mustard. Cook for one hour or until the peas are soft. Scrap the meat from the hock. Add more water if the soup is too thick. Serve with mustard on the rim of the soup bowl.

We always had great fun pulling taffy. Ours is even better than the stuff on Mackinac Island. We didn’t have a candy thermometer when my kids were young. We sized it up the old fashioned way, by dropping a small dab into cold water and rolling it around to see if it formed a soft ball. You’ll get the hang of it.

1 bottle white corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Boil the corn syrup and sugar until it forms a soft ball when a small amount is dropped into cold water. Add vanilla. Pour into a buttered pan and cool it just enough to handle it. Butter your hands. Pull until it’s white and stiff. The taffy can be divided into pieces so everyone can pull. When done, pull into long ropes, let it harden on waxed paper, and cut it into pieces with scissors.

Note: Make butterscotch taffy by using dark corn syrup instead of white.

We all own grinders with ½ inch stuffing attachments. Don’t you? If not, you’ll have to find a Yooper and borrow the equipment. You can get sausage casings in the meat department at your favorite grocery store.

1 pound ground pork

2 pounds ground venison

1 pound ground beef

6 potatoes, finely ground

2 onions

1 teaspoon allspice

Salt

Pepper

1 package of sausage casings

Mix all ingredients, stuff with grinder attachment. Drop the sausages into boiling water. Cook for 30 minutes