Dear Readers,
Cookbooks, written by celebrity chefs or personalities with an Italian connection have been published “in abbondanza” through the years, however my most treasured cookbooks have been those little gems published by Italian American clubs and societies.
“Grazie” to Lorraine Capurro McCloud, my good friend with Genovese roots in the Boot, I can share The Italian Gardeners Society Cookbook or Ricettario della Società Italiana dei Giardinieri of Stockton, California with you. The Italian Gardeners Society was founded over a hundred years ago, in August 1902.
Leaders of the then growing Italian Community in the Stockton area founded La Società Italiana di Beneficenza dei Giardinieri di Stockton, a mutual benefit and fraternal organization that has since come to be known as the Italian Gardeners Society. The 138 charter members, many from surrounding areas of Genoa, were proud visionaries who lived in an era when the social services that we take for granted today were non-existent.
These men joined forces to meet the needs of members in time of financial hardship. The Annual Picnic, Stockton’s social highlight of the year since the Society’s inception in 1902, was first held at Bid-a-Wee Park at the corner of North Wilson Way and Main Street. It was later moved to Oak Park, and then to he Growers Market. In 1928 it was relocated to Micke Grove Park, and in 1991 to the Waterloo Gun and Bocce Club.
The centennial picnic in 2002 was held at Micke Grove, where more than 600 people celebrated pride of family, hard work, individual initiative, and cooperative determination – principles that have guided Stockton’s Italian community and the Italian Gardeners Society for more than a century.
As the children of the original charter members grew older, it was deemed prudent to publish a cookbook in order to preserve and pass on the culinary heritage of their forefathers to future generations. The Italian Gardeners Society Cookbook contains old and new recipes submitted by members and families of the Italian Gardeners Society of Stockton, California.
Through the enthusiastic efforts of Louis Mazza, President of the Italian Gardeners Society, his Cookbook Committee, Joe Caffese, Joe Pinasco, Ben Filippini, Louis Mazza and many volunteers who shared family recipes, including Marion Turbetti, whose late husband Art had been a member of the Italian Gardeners since 1936, all contributed to the success of this cookbook.
The Italian Gardeners Club, founded in 1902, is a men’s only organization, started by farmers in Stockton in order to help each other through good and bad times. Stockton produces cherries, onions, walnuts, grapes, beans and many other fruits and vegetables. The men meet once a month.
They also have a large annual picnic, give scholarships to students to help them continue their studies and work on better ways to produce, distribute crops, and improve their farming techniques. When the wives of the men members of the group decided they would put together a cookbook to preserve some of the wonderful Italian recipes, they thought $15.00 would be a fair amount and would include postage and handling.
Order your Italian Gardeners Society Cookbook now, even if you do not do much cooking anymore, because you will enjoy a nostalgic culinary trip down memory lane and refresh your memory on how to feed your family when money is scarce or the economy is sagging. Send your check for $15.00, postage included, payable to The Italian Gardeners Society and send to Judy Mazza, 1065 Beyer Lane, Stockton, CA 95215 or call (209)931-3961.
As for me, I learned the difference between “brodi” (soups) and “birodi” (sausage). I doubt that many readers will take the time to make “birodi” (blood sausage) but I’ve been told this tasty treat is worth the effort, so from the Società Italiana dei Giardinieri Ricettario, here it is: This recipe was submitted by Ben Filippini but was derived from Mrs. Eugenia Lagorio and Mr. and Mrs. Giambattista Prato, who, as frugal Italian immigrants, used as much of the pigs that they butchered as they could.
The original recipe used lungs, stomach lining, brains and probably all the scrap pieces of the pig except the squeal. Birodi making was a reason for large numbers of family and friends to gather and enjoy each other’s company with a good time had by all during all the work and the party afterwards. Birodi (Blood Sausage) 2 gal. blood 1 ½ gal. milk ½ gal. half-and-half 8 lbs. pork (pork can be ½ pork jowl and ½ pork butt or pork butt with pork fat added so that meat contains at least 50% or more fat) ½ c. cinnamon ¼ c. pepper 1 twine ½ c. allspice ½ c. nutmeg ½ c. ground cloves ¾ c. salt 1 lb. pine nuts 1 pkg. casings Remove blood and milk from refrigerator so they come to room temperature. Cut pork into pieces small enough to fit in grinder.
Cook in water until tender. Grind to the texture of hamburger. Cut twine 9 inches in length. Flush the casing with water, checking for leaks. Cut into 3 foot lengths. Tie one end, place them in a bowl of water. Using a 6-gallon pot add milk, half-and-half, spices, pork and pine nuts.
When this mixture is slightly warmer then the blood, add the blood to it, straining it though a sieve. Constantly stir this mixture over medium-high heat until the fatty part melts and can easily pass though the funnel. Do not get mixture too hot (don’t get in a hurry.) Keep stirring until pot is empty. Assemble the strings, casing, cookie sheets and a large bowl on a table.
Start heating a large pot of water. Fill the casings ¾ full, keeping them on a cookie sheet so that accidents can easily be cleaned up. Tie the end and pass the cookie sheet to someone who will tie the casing into various sizes. Place them in a pot of hot water. Do not let the water boil. These are done when clear fat, not blood seeps when poked deeply with a pin (160 degrees). Remove and let cool.
They can be baked or fried. To freeze, place them in Ziploc bags after filling, chill ice water before placing in freezer. This recipe will serve about 50 people with no leftovers.
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If you are not up to making birodi, you can always give the hot dip (“bagna cauda”), bruschetta, limoncino, meatballs soup, bread salad, zucchini frittata, rice torta, gnocchi, polenta, ravioli, panettone, wine cake, panforte, and pesto sauce a try.
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