Come, You Taste: Family Recipes from the Iron Range

By B.J. Carpenter

This cookbook brings together eclectic cuisines and enticing tales to honor the Iron Range of yesteryear through traditional dishes preserved and shared over the course of a century.

Potica or kolache, sarma or braciole, lutefisk or baccala, fattigman or lefse--Minnesota's Iron Range has a culinary language all its own. The pursuit of rich iron ore in the early twentieth century drew workers who hailed from Finland, Sweden, Slovenia, Italy, and many other places, and as the men went to work in the mines, their families adjusted together to this new land. The immigrants' children, that first generation, grew up in multiethnic communities where grandmothers shared the bounty of their gardens and the products of their kitchens--and everyone savored a new mix of food traditions.

Come, You Taste celebrates the cuisine of these numerous groups and features fond memories of neighborhoods now gone, of flavors and scents that mingled on a single block, of local entrepreneurs who lifted up old-world dishes like porketta and pasties and potica. Second-generation Iron Ranger B. J. Carpenter has collected stories and treasured recipes that will inspire modern cooks to explore this brand of Minnesota cuisine in their own kitchens. Whatever the name of the dish, whatever the ethnic connection, these breads and pastries, hearty mains, and tempting sides all fit the bill of "very good food."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0873519698
• ISBN13: 9780873519694
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.3" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A taste of home from the Iron Range

When I moved, there was one thing I missed most, the food. The Iron Range area of Minnesota has a diverse mix of classic dishes brought over from the many immigrants working in the mines. This book brought back memories of sitting and listening to my Italian neighbors on a summer afternoon. The recipes were just what I was looking for. Italian, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish and many more share their recipes and stories. Part history, part cookbook. I'm glad someone compiled such a cultural record of the Iron Range and its history through food.