SMART’s newly formed RISE Committee (Representation, Integrity, Support, Empowerment) is working to create our union’s first-ever cookbook — Cooking SMART: From Tools to the Table. The purpose of Cooking SMART is to support union solidarity and highlight the ways that food can be used as a tool to bring members together and strengthen our union.
View the first recipe, submitted by 41-year SMART member and International Organizer Thomas Kelm, below:
Thomas Kelm’s Sauerbraten
Ingredients
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 12 peppercorns
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 bay leaves
- 3 small onions
- 12 whole cloves
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 tsp salt
- 4lbs bottom round or rump roast
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground pepper
- 4 tbsp oil
- 6 ginger snap cookies
Directions:
2-6 days before serving, combine first 9 ingredients and bring to a boil. Put meat in deep bowl and pour hot vinegar marinade over meat. When cool, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate. Turn once a day. When ready to cook, remove meat from marinade and dry on paper towel. Strain pickling marinade and pour over browned meat. Cut up one more onion and also sliced carrots and add to meat. Add ginger snaps, cover and simmer 2 ½ to 3 hours until meat is tender. If gravy is a little thin, add flour. It is best to cook this the day before you want to serve it. When it is cooled, slice it and put it in a casserole dish, pour gravy over and heat in oven. Serve with egg noodles, mashed potatoes or spaetzle.
Thomas’s story:
“My family came to the USA after World War 2 from Germany. They lived in the Black Forest, the southern part of Germany, where hearty food was cooked. My mom always did the cooking, and as a kid we had lots of German dishes. When I got older, I asked her to make me a cookbook of her dishes, with many being very good.
“Her Sauerbraten was my favorite, and I keep the tradition going every fall in September by making many of her dishes and inviting the family over to reminisce about us all growing up and eating together. I always tell my kids, memories I don’t forget, because a family that sticks together stays together, and her cookbook will be shared with my kids. Thats how it relates to my family: A union that sticks together will always stay together.”
Latauna Bigelow’s Kale Salad
Latauna Bigelow, a 16-year member and organizer with SMART Local 100, submitted her simple kale salad recipe.
Ingredients
- Bag of kale
- Strawberries
- Feta cheese
- Salad toppers (pecans and walnut)
- Strawberry vinegarette
There is no cooking involved; just a bowl and your taste buds, and enjoy!
“I came across this salad at a church function and I fell in love,” Latauna said. “I usually don’t venture off when it comes to food but I couldn’t resist the colors of this salad and I’ve been making it every since.”
John Coleman’s Apple Pie
John Coleman, a 26-year member out of Local 7 in Michigan, submitted his apple pie recipe.
Ingredients
Pie:
- (9.5″ pie pan) Crust.
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 half sticks of cold butter
- 4-6 tablespoons of ice water
Filling:
- Peel & core apples
- 3-4 Granny Smith apples (they don’t break down)
- 5-6 apples that break down (Braeburn, Macintosh, Spies, Empire or Cortland)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 11/2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
- 2-3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Mix dry ingredients together. Add butter to dry ingredients. Use pastry cutter to cut up butter until all butter & flour is reduced to pea sized clumps. Slowly add ice water to flour mixture, (not too much) mixture should be damp, not wet, enough to bind together. Separate into two balls, place in fridge to chill.
Rolling out the dough is stressful, don’t let it get too hot (rips & tears) or stick to the surface, keep your surface dusted.
Slowly compress the ball until it is about 1″ thick with your hands, maintaining a circular shape. Slowly start to roll, in a spiral direction from the center out. You will probably flip your dough and dust your surface 4-8 times. It should be about a 1/2″ bigger than your pie pan to crimp the top crust. If you roll too hard straight out from the center, the edges will separate.
Place bottom crust in your pie pan. The top crust is the same as the bottom, don’t roll it out until the apples are in the pie pan (it will heat up and be hard to work with).
For the filling: Peel and core apples. Mix all the dry ingredients for the filling together in a separate bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest to the apples first, it will help keep them from browning and add to the flavor. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the apples, mix it up without bruising the apples.
Add apples to the pie pan, roll out the second dough ball, place on top, pinch the edges together and cut vent holes in the top. Brush on some milk and sprinkle sugar on top of the pie.
Place in the oven at 425 degrees for 25 minutes then reduce to 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes or so. Bake until juice bubbles up through the vent holes, time varies. If the crust starts browning before bubbles appear, reduce heat to 350.
John’s story:
“I came from a large family on my mother’s side, I had 21 cousins. The holidays were always a big deal when it came to cooking. Alma, my grandmother never wanted anyone to go without. She would make sure that everyone had their favorite pie for the holidays. She would bake about 6-8 pies. When she passed, so did her tradition of pie making. My mother hates baking anything, and my wife despises the judgement that revolves around people’s opinions of pie crust. So, I took it upon myself to learn to bake pies. I weave my pie crusts because I always thought it looked cool and didn’t understand why people didn’t do it; now I know. I’ve been baking pies for just under 20 years now, that’s my job during holidays and my kids request pie for their birthdays. Keep traditions alive.”
An additional comment: “Local 7’s annual picnic has been going on for decades. By bringing people together in a casual way, meeting members’ families, it helps everyone to understand what this union means to other people’s families.”