Some Thoughts on Church Basement Recipes & WOBAT

Life is too short to lock yourself into any one style of anything. I know there's a way of thinking out there that dictates that, in life, you have to dress to fit an image, have a career, spouse, car, home, 2.5 kids, etc., or whatever it takes to fulfill that image people see of themselves.  I understand it but it's not my way of thinking.  I see it much more simply:  live everything, taste everything, be everything, experience everything. Life is too short and too incredible to bypass any thing, any experience, or anyone just because we don't think they fit into a mold we've created of ourselves.

Food is one of those things.  There is everything great and wonderful and inspiring about working an organic home garden, shopping at farmer's markets and co-ops, dining in the finest, most chi-chi restaurants, etc..  Let me repeat that.  There is everything desirable about striving to eat the freshest and most natural of foods, and of being in awe of all that is unique in each other's cultures.  Expanding one's taste repertoire is something we should all be invested in, BUT, along the way to meet the wizard, I caution you not to miss out on pleasures in your own backyard in Kansas.  In food, the backyard Kansas dishes are what I respectfully call Church Basement Recipes. 

Please don't mistake my intentions and tone here in writing.  I don't mean to sound chideful at all, maybe rather re-mindful to myself more than anyone else that some of the best things in life really are simple, uncool, and unpretentious.  Yes, we should go out of our way to cultivate expansive tastes and we should seek the freshest and most unique in food and food culture, but food culture, like the tortes from my old cake decorating days, have many layers and some of them are not the stars of the cake, they're the structure holding it all together.  As I have said at another time and in another place, the A-list anything has my complete and total admiration, but the D-list is no less fascinating to me. 

Church Basement recipes are the D-listers and structure in food life. These are the recipes you see at every potluck, in every family gathering, and on the dinner tables of some of the best amateur cooks I have known.  They're usually simple, prepared from ingredients easy to find in any market, and are as unpretentious and down home as Paula Deen. Quite frankly, that's why I like her and enjoy watching her butter drenched shows.  She so reminds me of my mom and aunts getting together to make a holiday meal.  She's the Church Basement Recipe Poster Girl, and I'm not being sarcastic. I say that with utter adoration for someone who has created a career out of stepping in front of a camera, being authentically herself, and having the guts to say with gusto that pickled okra, smashed white bread, and cream cheese sandwiches are not only tasty, but "worth the weight" tasty.  And it's not even that I don't believe her.  Paula's never led me astray.  It's that I admire her cojones to tell the truth as she sees it and to be her giggly, buttery self all the way.  I honestly don't know that the food snob in me could be that bold but I'm working on it.

Just as an aside, Sandra Lee, does nothing for me. I find her neither charming, nor real, nor...anything. Where Paula knows who she is and calls her food style what it is: down-home and unpretentious, Sandra's gig is big sweet pile of nothing but a good paycheck. Nothing wrong with a good paycheck but her slipshod, slap it together and serve it up on the gauche tablecloth method doesn't work for me.  I personally don't bear her any ill will. I admire anyone who can land a good gig.  But I don't get it. 

That brings me to why I created WOBAT: Weekend Obnoxious But Amazingly Tasty food blogging.  I want to always remember that above and beyond everything else, food is just food and it's fun.  It is art and it is life but it's still just food. Berries off the bush and lettuce picked off the ground are food.  It's the combinations and preparation that bring along the wonder.  Actually, I have to take that last statement back. I've container gardened for a few years and I will say there is infinite wonder and awe in watching a seed sprout and a plant grow that beats any food show or event I've ever attended so what I said before wasn't really accurate.  But you know what I mean. 

After spending my first career planning banquets and always attending to the most impressive, I now like to remind myself once in a while that there's a reason kids play with their food-- Because it's fun.  WOBAT is my way of remembering that little nugget about life.  Food is meant to be joyous.  Joyous as in all definitions from the religiously pure and sublime to the giggling snort of "No way! Ya gotta taste THIS!". 

So in that tradition I give you the second WOBAT: Weekend Obnoxious But Amazingly Tasty food and this time from me it's all about good old Oscar Mayer Braunschweiger.  I found this recipe for "Braunschweiger Pate'" in our local Junior League cookbook. It made me laugh. Pate.  Uh huh.  Technically, pate is simply any spread made from finely chopped or blended and seasoned meat.  So TECHNICALLY this recipe is pate', but let's be real. This is a down-home fun dip.  And it is tasty. I have never served this at any party that I didn't get asked for the recipe and that's even by people who think they hate liver. By the way, the rosemary lavosh is excellent with this.

Follow the jump to get the recipe.

And for anyone interested in joining me in Weekend Obnoxious But Amazingly Tasty blogging, just send your links to me at Marie9949 (at sign) sbcglobal (dot) net by Sunday evening about 6pm central time to be in the round up on Monday.  Anyone who wants to join but doesn't have a blog, just send your recipe (and photos if you have them) to the same email address and I'll post them for you.  Don't forget--this is all about having fun!

Braunschweiger Pate'

8 oz Braunschweiger

8 oz Cream Cheese

3 green onions, diced

2 Tbsp sweet pickle relish

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp Chinese red hot sauce

1 tsp all purpose seasoning salt

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Cavenders or other Greek seasoning

Juice of one lemon

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (or Chimichurri sauce!)

Directions:

Let all ingredients come to room temperature so they'll mix smoothly with a hand mixer.  Chill at least 2 hours.  Serve with crackers, baguettes, or lavosh.

Comments

[sher]

Great post Glenna! Bob loves Braunschweiger, it's his favorite thing to put on a sandwich. But I get sick at the sight of it because we had to give our dog heart worm medication when I was a teenager. Back then, it came in a liquid and we had to pour the liquid into a chunk of Oscar Meyer Braunschweiger and form it into a ball with our hands, then give it to our dog. That was the only way he would take the medication. My hands would stink of Braunschweiger for hours, even after I washed them. So....I know that Bob will love this. But, if I eat any, it better not get on my hands!

[Rosie]

I'VE MADE THIS!! I had some left over braunschweiger in my fridge and needed to throw something together for a gaming night...the guys liked it but I never told them it was liver! They would have freaked.

I love braunschweiger. I even get smoked braunschweiger. It is the food of the gods with some onion and a german-style mustard on a sturdy rye bread.

I am working on some items for WOBAT. Give me some time - I've given up some of those dishes as I have gotten older and now you have brought memories flooding back.

I want to point out that Home Cooking Magazine, the best selling cooking magazine in America, specializes in precisely the type of dishes you are talking about. Don't believe me? Just check out their recipe swap section and see what people are asking for. http://www.homecookingmagazine.com/pages/recipe_swap.php

While I love sushi and all the other high end type foods, I still love my tuna casserole and chili mac. It is good stuff and make me think of happy memories when I eat them. And the great thing is, I am giving my daughter the same happy memories by sharing the food with her at the dinner table. I bet my grandkids will eat the same things too, and will be told "Your greatgrandma and grandma used to make this for me when I was a little kid." It is culture in food form and people who poo poo those dishes are cutting themselves loose from their roots. It's ok to be secretly happy with eating banana boats and fried twinkies. If it makes you happy, it must be alright.

[Glenna]

Yes! Yes! Yes! You get it. That's exactly what I'm talking about. And by the way, I love my tuna casserole and my sushi, too. I see no contradiction there. :-)

[Glenna]

Sher--I can definitely see why the braunschweiger doesn't do anything for you, but I love when we alternate talking about farmer's markets with the fact that you and I grew up eating all the same foods and our family's cooked the same ways. It's the southern thing.

[Glenna]

Rosie--forgot to say I know of that magazine! And you're right, that's exactly church basement recipes to me. I had a friend who subscribed to it and one day when I was talking about food with another friend she said something about being very "gourmet" because she subscribed to that food mag and read all of their kitchen tips. I remember thinking "uhhh, not gourmet" (defined as connossieur) but instead said out loud that I admire any of us who treat cooking like a skill and are willing to put time and effort into increasing it. And not knocking it, I've picked up a couple of issues at the grocery and I've never made a bad recipe from it.

[Rosie]

Glenna -

My mom had a two year subscription a while back and she really enjoyed some of the recipes. I have a lemon pie recipe that is a big crowd pleaser that came from one issue...it goes over exceptionaly well at potlucks..imagine that!

[Glenna]

Potlucks--yes! You know, I don't think there's anything wrong with kind of cooking. It's just different. I don't know, guys. I get that fresh and organic and all those things are great and wonderful but I'm not a snob by nature. I also respect the food and the time, effort, and creativity home cooks like my mom put into their meals.

[Lisa Morgan]

I have definitely tagged this one. It looks great. And my husband seems to have fond memories of braunschweiger, so I think I'll spring it on him as a surprise.

[Glenna]

Lisa--Go for it! I promise if he likes the braun, he'll like this. It's like Braunschweiger on steroids: looks da** good, but you don't want to think too hard about it.

[lucette]

My mother was an amazing Church Basement cook--although she sometimes ventured into the exotic. Great idea for an event.

[Glenna]

Lucette--Thanks! And my mom too. She always served up good down to earth food but then once in a while she would do something exotic to us, just for fun.

[Tanna]

OMG! I'd forgotten about this. I used to make this all the time when we lived in St Louis in the 60's and early 70'. Only you should know that what you're doing there is pretty gourmet compared to the way I did it. All I ever used was Braunschweiger, mayo, green onions, sweet pickle relish, Worcestershire sauce. You've really dressed it up.
Certainly a fun event!

[Glenna]

Tanna--YES! I got this out of a local junior league cookbook (and then messed with the recipe as usual for me) but that's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. Good tasty food that we've all been making for years that the food snobs in us are embarrassed to admit we love!

Go make it. You know you won't regret it. :-)

[SueMelin]

Gosh, are there really other people out there that eat this stuff? I thought I was the only one. Full of cholesterol, and so good for you, especially with mayonaisse and sliced onion on bread. Just like aspirin, I suspect that cholesterol will be found to be good for us in the next decade. How could braunschwieger feel so right inside if it was harmful?

[Glenna]

Sue--Loved your comment--thanks! I agree. I think it's all about moderation. People have been eating this stuff for centuries. Come on. We have to keep it all in perspective, which is the one thing we, as a culture really hate to do. We'd much rather be snobs and pat ourselves on the back or sometimes run screaming off into the sunset convinced that one food or food type will either be the end of us or the magic to cure all ills.

[rosina taylor]

it was so great to find braunswaer pate on your site, i had lost my receipe but i think yours is very close to mine. on aug. 5 you posted sher's comment about the pate and her dog! how disgusting is that and why would anyone do that. now that i have read her comment i will make and share the pate but i will never be able to eat it again myself. but i am grateful to find the receipe - but sher - UGH!!!!!!

[Glenna]

Rosina--Ahhh...don't let the dog thing get you down. You'll forget it in a couple of days. :-A)