Sage Sausage Patties

I like sage sausage, and I frequently just buy some regular bulk sausage, or fresh sausage links and remove the sausage from the skins, then season the meat myself, because I like a lot of sage flavor. I make the sage sausage into patties for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or I put the patties onto buns, add some tomato, onion, lettuce and mayonnaise, and I've got "sage sausage burgers."

 

Ingredients (4 patties):

 

1 pound pork sausage

2 slices white bread (sandwich size), torn into pieces

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 medium garlic clove, minced

8 to 10 fresh sage leaves, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt 

 

Mix the ingredients together very well in a bowl. It's best to cover the bowl and refrigerate the sausage for an hour or two (several hours is better). Form into patties and bake, fry or grill.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Crave-This word seems to be derived from the ancestor of "craft;" thus "craft" is naturally its close relative. Forms of "crave" are not in all of the other Germanic languages. It goes back to Indo European "ger," which meant "to pull together, to gather up, to fit or put together, twist, wind (long 'i')." This gave Old Germanic "kraf/kreb," which meant "strength, might;" that is, "the energy or force put together from within, manifested in physical strength." This "apparently" developed an offshoot in North Germanic as "kref/krav," meaning, "to demand, to implore" (perhaps from the idea of "to ask strongly, forcefully"), and this was borrowed by Old English as "crafian," meaning, "to demand, implore;" thus also, "to inwardly long for, yearn" This then became "craven," before the modern form. The noun was formed with the common "ing" ending in the mid 1600s. While "craven," the Middle English form of the verb, may have had some influence on the meaning and spelling of the adjective of that spelling, they are NOT really the same word, and they are almost certainly unrelated. Germanic relatives: Norwegian has "kreve" (to demand, to claim, in the sense, "the captain's poor judgment claimed many a life"), Icelandic has "krefja" (to demand) and "krefjast" (to ask for), Danish has "kræve" (to demand, to require, to long for), Swedish has "kräva" (to demand, to require). 

Sauteed Fillet of Fish & French Remoulade

You can use any flatfish fillets for this, like flounder, sole, plaice or halibut (just for the halibut). "Sole" is a flatfish that can generally mean something different to different people. Fish names at times came to mean a specific fish type in one place, but a different fish type in another place, although they usually are similar types of fish.

This is an easy dish to prepare, but unless you have a good knife to fillet the fish, it's probably a good idea to buy fish fillets or have your fishmonger fillet the fish for you. I've kept the salt to a minimum, because I used salted butter.

Serve with roasted small red potatoes and French remoulade sauce. For French remoulade sauce, here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2020/08/french-remoulade.html

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 pound fish fillet (I used flounder)
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon regular olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
parsley for garnish 

Mix the 1/2 teaspoon salt into the flour on a plate. Melt the butter in a shallow dish. Add the panko breadcrumbs to another plate. Add the 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Cut some light "X" markings on what had been the skin side of the fish, do not cut too deeply into the fillets (this helps to prevent the fish from curling up when cooking). Dredge the fish fillets in the flour, then put them into the melted butter. Place the fillets into the panko breadcrumbs, then put the breaded fillets into the hot butter/oil in the skillet. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Serve with French remoulade sauce.

Sauteed flounder with remoulade and roasted potatoes ...

 

WORD HISTORY:
Flounder-This is the noun for a type of flatfish, but English also has a verb form, which may well be related, but that is not a certainty. The noun form is related to "flat," a word from Germanic, but in this case, a borrowing by English from Old Norse; it is also related to "plate," a word borrowed by English  from French, which had it from Latin, which had gotten it from Greek, which had it from Indo European. "Flounder" goes back to Indo European "peleh," and its variant, "pleteh," which had the notion, "to spread;" thus also, "to spread out;" thus, "to make flat." This gave Old Germanic "flunthrjo," meaning, "a flatfish," but a word that seemingly developed more in the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, producing Old Norse "flyðra" (=flythra) also meaning "a flatfish." Old Northern French borrowed the word as "flondre," but exactly how the borrowing took place is unclear. Old Norse speakers of long ago have often been called "Vikings," and they frequently raided along the northwestern coast of what is now France, even venturing up the rivers leading inland. Perhaps this brought about the borrowing? Anyhow, the Norman dialect that developed in England (brought there initially by the conquering Normans) had "floundre," and English borrowed the word, as "flowndre" and "floundre," in the early 1300s for the name of a specific flatfish. Low German is a close relative of English and it had "vlunder" ('v' pronounced like 'f'), but it is likely a borrowing from Old Norse, and there was much contact between Old Norse and Low German, and the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, common to both language groups, had lots of the flatfish given this name. German borrowed the word from Low German (late 1400s?) in various forms, which became the modern form "Flunder." Danish has "flynder," Norwegian has "flyndre," Icelandic and Swedish have "flundra."      

Ethiopian Spicy Chicken Stew: Doro Wat

I saw this dish made on television about 25 years ago, but I don't recall the television program. About a year ago I saw it made online by an Ethiopian woman and I decided I wanted to try making this myself (I've now made it three times in the last year). I checked probably 25 recipes, and there were naturally some variations, as this is a popular dish in East Africa, and like with just about all popular dishes, many people have their own versions, but generally the differences weren't all that great. The common similarity was the use of a lot of onion, although some chopped the onion finely by hand, others chopped the onion into more medium sized pieces and others used food processors to grind the onions into a fine texture, which is what I did the third time I made this dish (see photo below), and I recommend that you also use a food processor, it makes it all much easier. What makes this dish is the spice mix, called "berbere." You can read my note below, and if you make it yourself, you can control the "heat," or you can buy some and then "doctor" it more to your own preferences, especially if you like more heat. I bought some berbere, and it was far too mild, but I dry and grind my own hot chilies, so I easily remedied the "heat shortage." I keep two kinds of ground red chilies; one "hot," but not scorching, and a second type that is much hotter. As is almost always the case here, this is my version of "doro wat," which means "chicken stew," but it's certainly similar to many of the recipes I checked, including one I have in a cookbook I've had for over 20 years. Ah... I don't care for the recipe in the cookbook. While I mentioned that "doro wat" is a popular dish in East Africa, it is not typically served on a regular basis in most households, as it is more of a holiday dish or used for family celebrations, although restaurants catering to tourists are likely to have it on the menu. You can serve this with rice, but traditionally it is served with "injera," a crepe like flatbread common in East Africa. Injera is used to line serving plates and trays, just like you might line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and then various foods are served right on top of the injera. Then pieces of the injera are torn off, beginning at the edges, and used by diners to scoop up or pinch off foods from the injera covered plate/tray.*

You could certainly use a slow cooker to prepare this dish, but I cooked it in a pot over low heat on the stove top. The first time I made this, I used bone-in chicken pieces, although I had seen several recipes that used boneless chicken; so the second time I made it, I used boneless chicken. The third time I compromised between the two and I used bone-in whole chicken legs, but boneless chicken breast. The problem is, if you keep the bones in, when you serve the chicken, you have to be careful of pieces of bone that have come off into the stew. To be honest, it's better to use boneless chicken, BUT I put some of the removed skin into the stew for added flavor. If you keep the skin in big pieces, you can fish it out later.  

I believe I wrote about this in one of my articles about Germany some time back, since that's where it happened, but it is certainly relevant here. I met my first Ethiopian in Germany back when the country was still divided. When I say "Ethiopian," I mean a person born and raised there. I was returning from Berlin to Frankfurt by train, and a young man from Ethiopia was in my compartment. The political situation was somewhat tense, as there were periodic flare ups in those days between East and West Germany and their respective allies, with the United States then leading the support for West Germany, and the Soviet Union leading the support for East Germany, a then communist dominated country. At that time in particular the tensions were higher than normal, because an East German spy or two had been discovered in the West German government or military, I just forget the details. Read this carefully, because it is a bit hard to follow here. The Ethiopian man was young, and if I remember correctly, he had been, or perhaps still was, a student in the Soviet Union, in Moscow. In those times, Ethiopia had a pro-Soviet government, and this young man had a Soviet passport. The only reason I knew anything about him was that he was fluent in French and a young German man from the Württemberg region of Germany was quite good with French and he translated for us (there was also a middle aged German couple in the compartment), and also for the guards and train personnel who periodically entered the compartment. So, if you are confused, you have undoubtedly followed the story well: Ethiopian man, Soviet passport, speaks French, traveling in West Germany; hey, what's so unusual about all of that? Well, later the West German guards got on the train at the border between the two Germanies and when they saw the Ethiopian man's Soviet passport, they examined everything the man had on him, including his toothbrush. I distinctly remember that, even after all of these years. I felt so sorry for him, but it was a sign of those times.

Ingredients (6 servings):

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken pieces (or about 4 pounds skinless chicken pieces with bones)
3 large onions (softball size), chopped or put into a food processor
4 tablespoons butter (or clarified butter, or spiced clarified butter**)
1/3 cup berbere spice mix***
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped/minced
3 garlic cloves, minced 
4 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken stock (you can add a little more, if needed)
1 teaspoon salt (if the chicken broth is salty, you can omit this)
6 eggs (hard boiled and peeled)
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 inch x 1/2 inch piece of fresh lemon peel

You will need a good sized pot to make this dish. Peel the onions and chop them, but it is easier, including on the eyes, to cut the onions into fairly large pieces and put them into a food processor and process until the onions are finely ground. Onions have a lot of liquid, so don't be surprised if you see the processed onions with "puddles" of onion juice on them (see photo below). I also add the garlic and the ginger to the processor and just do this all together. In the pot over low heat, add the butter and oil (or clarified butter), after a minute or two, add the ground onion/garlic/ginger mixture and cook the mixture, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. Add the berbere spice mix, tomato paste, lemon peel and chicken broth; stir well and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the tomato paste breaks up and blends into the mixture. Add the chicken making sure that all pieces are submerged in the sauce, or at least coated with the sauce. This is another argument to use boneless chicken pieces, because if you use bone-in chicken and you want to move it around a bit during cooking, this can cause pieces of bone to fall off into the stew. Let the chicken cook, covered, over low heat until tender. Add the lemon juice, and then nestle the hardboiled eggs into the pot and let the stew cook for about 8-10 more minutes.  

* You can make your own injera bread and it's pretty easy: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/04/east-african-flatbread-injera.html

** Ethiopians use a clarified butter that is made with other ingredients to spice it up. Clarified butter has had the milk solids removed and this allows it to cook at higher temperatures or for longer periods of time without burning. The Ethiopian version is called "niter kibbeh/nitr qibe," and you can find it in some spice shops or in African grocery shops, or online. It depends upon how "authentic" you want to try to be, but you certainly can use 4 tablespoons of butter and add a pinch each of some, or all, of the following: ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground fenugreek. If you don't want to get this involved, just use 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of regular olive oil or vegetable oil. The oil will "help" to keep the butter from burning quickly.

*** Berbere spice mix can be found in some spice shops, African grocery shops or online. If you keep a large variety of spices at home, you can also simply make your own berbere. While the butter used is not quite as important, this spice mix is very important to make "Doro Wat." To make your own berbere spice mixture, here is my own recipe, but remember, many East Africans have their own recipes: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/04/east-african-spice-mix-berbere.html
    
1) "Doro Wat" with whole piece of chicken  2 & 3) Longer cooked "Doro Wat" with off the bone chicken  4) The onions for the stew in the pot, and you can see the onion juice on top   (Note: a boiled egg and some collard greens accompany some servings) 

WORD HISTORY: 
Skip-English has more than one word of this spelling, with one simply being a shortened form of "skipper" ("a ship's captain or commander"). Then there is "skip" meaning "basket, trash bin," in  British English, a variant form of "skep," which was borrowed from Old Norse "skeppa" (basket), but with an unknown further history. Then there is the most common word of this spelling, meaning, "to hop along between a walk and a run," also, "to jump over." This led to figurative usages like, "to leave out, as in 'to ignore a part of written text or music" (for example, "I'm busy, so I'll skip reading the middle part of the article and go to the end"), and also of people, often coupled with "over," as in, "Actually Johnny is next in line, but I'll "skip over" him, because I prefer the next person"; then later also, "to deliberately fail to attend some function or event" (for example, "I'm so tired, I think I'll skip going to the council meeting tonight"). This is all from North Germanic "skupan," meaning, "to hop, to leap," and English likely borrowed the word from some form brought to England by Old Norse, which had "skopa," meaning, "to make a run, to leap." English borrowed the word, as "skyppen," in the early 1300s. It then became "skippen," before the modern version. The noun form was derived from the verb in about 1450, initially meaning, "a bound, a short hop," but then it later also followed the figurative meanings of the verb, "a leaving out  or ignoring of something," and a common usage in the prominent days of vinyl records was, "a defect or scratch in the record causing it to "jump" out of sequence."       

Faroese: A Little Known Relative of English

In the North Atlantic lies a group of islands called the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands are a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but they have been self governing since a short time after World War Two ended. The population is "about" 50,000. There is more than a 600 mile distance between the islands and continental Denmark. The language of the Faroe Islands is not Danish, but rather "Faroese," a language from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic language family, with its closest linguistic relative being Icelandic, and Danish being a somewhat more distant linguistic cousin. Of course Faroese is related to the other Germanic languages, including English, although I would guess many English speakers, especially those outside of the British Isles, have no idea that such a language even exists. Like its close cousin Icelandic, Faroese has not had as many influences from other languages; thus, it has remained somewhat more consistent over time. "The Oxford Companion to the English Language" makes note that English and Faroese have not had much influence on one another.

Here are a few numbers in Faroese: ein (one), fýra (four), seks (six), hundrað (hundred), túsund (thousand).  

* "The Oxford Companion to the English Language," edited by Tom McArthur, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England; American edition printed in the United States in New York, 1992

The flag of the Faroe Islands ...

  

WORD HISTORY:

Meadow (Mead, not the drink 'mead,' which is unrelated to 'mead,' meaning meadow or pasture)-"Meadow/Mead" are closely related forms related to "math" (NOT the shortened form of "mathematics," rather as in the second part of "aftermath") and to "mow" ("to cut grass"), both from the Germanic roots of English. They go back to the Indo European root "me" (not the same as our word "me" today), with the notion of "cutting down grass or grain," with the suffixed form "met/maet." This gave Old Germanic "maetha," meaning, "place of mowed grass, place to be mowed;" thus, "grassy area;" thus, "pasture, meadow." This produced West Germanic "medwo," meaning, "meadow, pasture." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "mæd," which meant, "meadow, grassy area."^ This then became "mede," before the "mead" spelling. The accusative/dative form of Old English "mæd" was "mædwe," which came to stand on its own and then morphed into "meadow." Relatives in the other West Germanic languages: German has "Matte," meaning "highland meadow, pasture," which, like its close English cousin "mead," tends to be used more in high style writings and poetry in modern times; Low German (in Old Saxon) once had "matha/maða" ('ð' essentially=th), but this doesn't "seem" to have been a stand alone word, but rather it was used in geographical names. It's unclear to me exactly what happened with forms in Low German, as "mede" seems to be the last trace of the word, and that's been more than a couple of centuries ago; Dutch had "made/mede" up until a couple of hundred years ago, but I cannot a form in modern Dutch; West Frisian doesn't "seem" to have a stand alone word anymore, but it does have "miede" as part of a compound, and it means, "(grassy) field."     

     
^ The Old Germanic form also gave Old English the noun "mæþ," which meant, "grass that has been cut, crops that are cut down;" thus also, "harvested food produce."    

Pistachio Smoothie

Smoothies have become quite popular in many countries during the last couple of decades. This is a great one, especially if you like pistachio nuts and it's super easy to make.


Ingredients (3 to 5 servings, depending upon glass size):

1 cup roasted pistachio nuts (I buy the already shelled pistachios)
3 1/2 cups cold water
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 cup ice cubes or about 3/4 cup crushed ice

Put the pistachios into your blender and grind them until they finely ground. Make sure to stop the blender a couple of times and scrape the sides down to make sure all of the pistachios are ground. Add the yogurt and the turmeric, then add the water (I rinsed the measuring cup I'd used for the yogurt with the water). Add the ice and blend until everything is well mixed and there is some froth.  

WORD HISTORY:
Froth-This word has a shaky distant history, as it presumably is of Germanic origin, but its relatives are all from just North Germanic, not the broader Germanic languages, nor even more specifically West Germanic, as English is a West Germanic language. Old English had "afreoðan" ('ð' essentially equals, 'th'), which meant, "to froth," and also, Old English "freoðan." If other West Germanic languages had a form of the word, I would likely say that this Old English form was taken by the Anglo-Saxons when they left the Continent on their way to founding England, but I've not found such West Germanic forms, nor even one such form. It could be a North Germanic creation, which then was taken to England by Old Norse speakers who periodically raided along the English coast, and who then began to even settle in parts of England. Anyway, the Old English verb, with reinforcement from the Old Norse form "froða," likely spawned the modern English noun "froth" (once also spelled "frooth" and "frothe," with the ending "e" pronounced "eh/ah") by the late 1200s, which also became a verb ("frothen") by the second half of the 1300s. The word is often also used as an adjective as "frothy." Other related forms are only in North Germanic: Danish "fraade," Swedish "fradga," Icelandic "froða" ("foam").

Homemade Ranch Dressing

This highly popular salad dressing, also used as a dip, was developed in the 1950s by Steve Henson, founder of the Hidden Valley Ranch brand of dressings. This recipe is purely my own and I make no claim to it being the equivalent to the highly successful commercial brand, or any other brand, for that matter.

Ingredients

1/2 cup buttermilk (low fat is fine)
1 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat is fine)
1/4 cup sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

Simply mix all the ingredients together very well. If it is still too thick, add a little more buttermilk to get it to the consistency you want. Chill well before serving.

I just mixed and chilled everything right in a measuring cup (then covered it with plastic wrap), which shows that everything together made about 2 1/4 cups of dressing.

WORD HISTORY:
Heap-This word goes back to Indo European "k(h)oup," which had the notion of "raised surface;" thus, "hill." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "houpaz/haupaz," which "seems" to have reduced the meaning from "hill" to the lesser, "pile or stack of something." ^ This gave Old English "heap," but with the likely pronunciation of "hee-ap," and with the same general meaning, but with the figurative sense of "many," including people. This then became "heep/hepe," before the modern version, which "likely" mimicked the old spelling by coincidence. There was also a verb form, "heapian," dating to Old English (and in other Germanic languages, too) meaning, "to pile things together, to collect into a stack/pile." Going back to Old English, there was a further underlying notion in some uses as, "something bad, something spoiled," and this notion has carried through with the word since those times, as "heap" has been used for places of human waste, "dung heap," and also places for trash, garbage, "trash heap," and who hasn't owned a beaten up, old car at some point, "a heap." The other Germanic languages have: German "Haufen," Low German Saxon "Huup," Dutch "hoop," Danish "hob" (meaning "crowd, mob"), Icelandic "hópur" ("crowd, group").

^ The Old Germanic form may well have retained the original meaning, but then its West Germanic offshoot reduced the meaning from "hill" to "pile, stack." The "main" West Germanic languages in modern times are: English, German, Low German, Dutch and Frisian. Further, and this bolsters the idea that "apparently" the lessening of the meaning to "pile/stack" was made in West Germanic, Old Norse borrowed the word from Low German or Frisian as "hópr;" thus, the modern Danish and Icelandic forms came from that borrowing, as Old Norse is their North Germanic ancestor.

Apricot-Chili Chicken Wings

A number of cultures around the world mix hot chili peppers with sweet or sweetened fruit. I like such things, and this is one recipe I especially like. You can use peach or mango preserves too.

Ingredients:

24 chicken wing pieces, the store bought frozen wing pieces
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1/2 of an 18 oz. jar apricot preserves
1 or 2 chili peppers, depending upon desired heat level,* chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons butter

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the wing pieces out on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle each piece with some seasoned salt. Bake for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the preserves, garlic and chili peppers in a pan. Over medium low heat, cook until bubbling lightly, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and let gently cook for a few minutes to soften the garlic and peppers, and to mix the flavors. Turn off the heat. Pour 1/2 of the sauce into a bowl, keep the other 1/2 in the pan. Add one teaspoon of butter to the sauce in the pan, stir well to melt and mix. Add the other teaspoon of butter to the sauce in the dish, stir well to melt and mix. After 40 minutes in the oven, remove wings and toss them in the sauce in the pan to coat, return them to the baking sheet and bake another 5 to 7 minutes. Serve with remaining sauce on the side.

* The heat level of chili peppers can vary considerably, even with the same type of peppers. For the wings in the photo below, I used one mild red chili pepper, a type of pepper that is usually very mild to mild, but on occasion, I'll get one that is hotter than usual. I also used one serrano chili, a pepper type I love, and a type which usually has a fair to above average heat level. I had thought to use a second serrano, but I decided against it, fearing it would be too hot and hide the other flavors. In the end, I was disappointed, because the one serrano I used turned out to a milder pepper than usual (pretty rare by my experience), so the heat level was too low for me. I should have tasted the serrano first to see how hot it was. If you do taste hot chili peppers to check the heat level, take a small piece from near the stem end, where the pepper will be hottest, otherwise you can be fooled by tasting the end of the pepper, which can be very mild, but further up the pepper is much hotter.

WORD HISTORY:
Wing-The ancient history of this common word is uncertain. English borrowed the noun form as "wenge" from Old Norse "vaengr," circa 1200. Old Norse was another Germanic language, thus making it closely related to English, but it was from the North Germanic branch, while English is from the West Germanic branch. Old Norse spawned the main modern North Germanic languages Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish. Where did Old Norse get their word "vaengr"? There are theories about a possible Old Germanic ancestor (like 'weingan'), and some theories even carrying an Old Germanic form back to an Indo European root ("we/weh," meaning "to make air move, to blow"), but I'm not completely sold on it; at least, not at the moment. (NOTE: If "wing" does go back to these Indo European and Old Germanic forms, it is related to "wind," a word from the Germanic roots of English.) The verb form came from the noun, but not until the late 1500s or early 1600s.^ Other relatives of "wing" are all from North Germanic: Danish, Norwegian and Swedish all have "vinge," and Icelandic has "vaeng/vaengur." The other West Germanic languages use words related to "fly" as their words for "wing:" German "Flügel," Low German Saxon "Flögel," Dutch "vleugel." Before English borrowed "wing," the word for such was "fiðere" (equivalent to "fithere"), an old form of modern "feather."

^ The verb has a couple of common meanings: "use wings to fly" ("Many birds wing their way northward in the spring"), "wound," likely from hunters hitting fowl in the wing ("The ranch hand winged the cattle rustler as he tried to flee.") The noun also came to be used for parts of large buildings, like the "West Wing" of the White House. The use is often directional, but it can also be by a specific procedure done in a large building, like the "surgical wing" of a hospital, or the "audio-visual wing" of a library.

Sauerkraut Recipe

This recipe is my own, but it is really a collection of ideas from many sources over the years. For New Year's Day my mother and my maternal grandmother always fixed pork roast with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and rye bread with caraway seed. Before putting the food onto the stove, they would always give me a pinch of raw sauerkraut to eat, as that was supposed to bring extra good luck; notice, I said it's "supposed to bring extra good luck." I would guess that a high percentage of Americans would mention sauerkraut, if they were asked to name a German food, although bratwurst has become very popular since American forces helped to occupy and defend post-World War Two Germany. This recipe has traditional German ingredients, but with some specific Alsatian influences. Alsace (German: Elsass), its most well known city being Strasbourg (German: Strassburg), was long a German land, but because it bordered on French lands, it became a highly contested region, as the French sought to incorporate it into France. Wars and the resulting treaties saw the area come under French control, but then this was largely reversed during Bismarck's time in the 1870s, when much of Alsace came back under German control (a small, but heavily French populated part remained as a part of France). This continued until the end of World War One, when the area went back under French control. Don't get too comfortable, because the German defeat of France in 1940 put the area back into Germany, but Germany's defeat in 1945 saw Alsace become a part of France, where it has remained ever since. The German dialect of Alsace is closely related to that of Switzerland, southwestern Germany (in a fairly broad area, where Stuttgart is one of the main cities), Liechtenstein and the far western tip of Austria.

The use of wine in sauerkraut is not something unusual in Germany/Austria, for while Americans correctly associate Germans and beer, wine is a common drink for Germans/Austrians, and there are several regions, especially in western Germany near and along the Rhine and Moselle Rivers, and in eastern Austria, where vineyards are plentiful and wine is produced in large quantity.

Ingredients:

2 pounds sauerkraut, well rinsed
2-3 strips of smoky bacon, cut into small pieces
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 apple, chopped (Germans tend to use green apples, but I use either green or red, unpeeled, and my German relatives have yet to disown me ... then again, I haven't heard from them for a while. Hmm, maybe I'd better check on that one. LOL!
2 medium onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups of white wine (Germans generally use dry white, but I've used semi-dry white [see under the apple type, above, about my German relatives], but I wouldn't use a sweet wine, see next ingredient )
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper (unless you're a salt fiend, you won't need salt, as the bacon, ham and sauerkraut add plenty)
1/2 lb. ham, chopped
1 pork steak, whole
4 German sausages (fresh bratwurst; that is, not the precooked type, work well)
2 Frankfurters/wieners/hotdogs, whatever term you use, preferably with natural casing
If you want to make it more Alsatian, add about 8 or 10 juniper berries and 2 bay leaves (juniper berries are used to make gin), as well as another type of sausage, like knockwurst/knackwurst.

Now, I BAKE my sauerkraut, so make sure to have an ovenproof pan (with lid) or casserole that is big enough to accommodate all of the ingredients, keeping in mind the juice that will build during baking and that you will be adding the sausages later. In a skillet, saute the bacon pieces just a couple of minutes, then add the onion. Allow to cook, stirring to get the onions just somewhat softened. Add the garlic and continue for another minute or two. In your baking pan, add the sauerkraut, the chopped apple, the wine, the ham pieces, and the bacon/onion/garlic mixture. Stir to mix. Add the pork steak on top, then add the brown sugar and pepper. Cover and place into a 275 F degree oven. You really can't overcook this, in my opinion, but after an hour, you can turn the heat DOWN to 250 F, and let the dish bake a couple of hours longer. About an hour before serving, place the sausages around the top. Any precooked sausages will just need to be well heated, but any raw sausages will need the time to properly cook through. Mash some potatoes, cut the pork steak and sausages into pieces, and dig in, putting some of the liquid over the potatoes, or in a little hollowed out spot, as you would for gravy. Don't forget the beer or wine! (I'll have a brown ale.) Oh, I almost forgot. Before cooking, take a pinch of raw sauerkraut. HEY! I just got an email from Germany. See, they haven't disowned me .... What the hell do they mean it has to be a green apple and a dry German white wine, or else?

* For the history of the word "sauerkraut," or more specifically, the word, "kraut," see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/05/german-question-part-twelve.html

WORD HISTORY:
Time-This word, related to "tide," goes back to Indo European "di/da," which had the notion of "divide, separate into pieces." This produced "diman," which meant "periods of time, seasons." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "timon," with the same meanings. Whether this form only survived in the North Germanic languages is unclear to me, but Old Norse had "timi," the form still in use in Icelandic, which means "time, period," and Danish and Norwegian have "time," both pronounced like "tee-ma," and meaning "hour, class (session)," while Swedish has "timme," pronounced similar to the Danish/Norwegian, and with the same general meaning. This form "may" have then come to England with Old Norse to give Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tima," meaning "time, period of time." Later this became "tyme," before the modern version. Before the borrowing from Old Norse, English used "tid" (long i) for "time" and "tide," before separating the two. German uses "Zeit" (the 'z' is pronounced 'ts' and 'ei' is pronounced as a long i), and "Gezeiten" for "tide" (technically "Gezeit" means 'tide,' singular, but the plural form "Gezeiten" is most often used). 

Jean Stapleton Was No Dingbat

I wrote this when Jean Stapleton passed away in 2013.

Jean Stapleton and her "Edith" character have both been national treasures. The Ediths of the world make it a better place, as they deal with the difficult people around them and as they try to do the right thing, even when it hurts, often making the plotters and schemers uncomfortable. While her television husband Archie touted himself as a Christian, Edith was the practicing Christian, always trying to be a calming influence on her angry, bigoted, temperamental husband, who called her a "dingbat." While Archie blustered and lashed out at the changing world around him, Edith played the understanding wife.

Jean Stapleton passed away May 31, 2013 at the age of 90. Nothing I write here could possibly do justice to what others have written or said about her. She gave us some delightful and hilarious moments in the 1970s, as well as some solemn ones too. R.I.P. Jean Stapleton, we'll miss you.

NOTE: I did an article in 2012 about "All In The Family," so for those interested: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/04/archie-bunker-lives-on.html 

 Photo of Jean Stapleton from the 1977 Tony Awards which was televised on the ABC network. (Photo is a public domain photo taken from Wikipdia)

WORD HISTORY:
Bat-This is the noun for the flying mammal. The "bat," as in "baseball bat," is likely not the same word, or even related, although the origins of "bat, the animal," are uncertain. English seems to have borrowed it from a dialect of Old Norse, which had "blaka, bakka," as forms with the meaning "flapper." At least "bakka" quite obviously came to be applied to the mammal, but in compounds like Swedish "nat(t)bakka" (night bat). Where Old Norse, from the North Germanic branch of Germanic (English is from the West Germanic branch), got the term is also unclear, as it seems to only appear in North Germanic, except that English borrowed it. With Old Norse speaking settlements in England, mainly in the north and east, the word seems to have taken quite some time to finally become the main word for "the flying mammal," and by that time the pronunciation had changed the "k" sound to "t." The original English word for "bat" was "hreremus," which then became "reremouse" and "rearmouse," with the literal meaning being more or less "flapping/fluttering mouse." (I've previously covered "mouse" and I'll be covering "rere/rear" soon). I can't be certain, but I seem to remember hearing "rearmouse" even used by some old timers when I was a kid, right after the Spanish-American War (I stole your punchline), but I'm far from certain about that. Anyway, "bat" finally became the standard English word like in the late 1500s or early 1600s, but "rearmouse" did remain in use as a dialect word. German has "Fledermaus" (pronounced much like "flayder-mouse"), also the name of a famous operetta by Johann Strauss, again pretty much "flutter(ing) mouse."

English & Its Closest Relatives, Part One

Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon, was formed from two or three Germanic dialects* taken to Britain in the mid 400s A.D. by elements of Germanic tribes from what is today northern Germany.** Modern linguists classify English and its closest relatives as being "West Germanic," a branch of the broader family of "Germanic languages,"*** which itself is a branch of the Indo European language family.

Originally, it is "assumed," I'd say with a good deal of certainty, that the Germanic tribal elements that founded England could understand one another, although they had spoken different dialects (variations) of Germanic, and more particularly of West Germanic. As many of the dialects of West Germanic and of Germanic, in general, developed further, they grew further apart in mutual intelligibility; that is, how much speakers of the respective dialects could understand one another. English then was influenced by the related North Germanic, as Old Norse (an old form of North Germanic) was carried to England by raiders and settlers, usually Danes, but also some Norwegians, who settled mainly in the northeastern part of England, and also in southern Scotland. All of the Germanic dialects were influenced to varying degrees by Latin at one time or another in two ways: the Roman domination of much of Europe gave various military and government terms to other peoples; and, the adoption of Christianity by the Romans, and the subsequent spread of Christianity throughout Europe (and elsewhere), provided a wide variety of words, not just religious, to other peoples, too, as Latin became the language of the Christian Church. English borrowed some Latin words early on, but it saw a more substantial borrowing from Latin in a roundabout way, as the Norman dialect of French was brought to England by the "Norman Conquest," in late1066 A.D. Old French was a Latin-based language, with Germanic influences from the Germanic tribe the Franks, and the Norman dialect (from the Normandy region) was somewhat different from the dialect of Paris and environs, and it had some North Germanic influences, as Norse raiders had settled in the area; thus giving their name to the region and its people (Northmen=Norman). In this case, the Norse speaking rulers adapted to the regional French dialect, but some Norse words (and "perhaps" some pronunciation) were picked up by the French dialect in the process. Their successful invasion of England brought Norman administration to the English speaking populace, and eventually, although after many word borrowings, Norman French was overwhelmed by English, but it was a gradual process.**** The word borrowings from the Normans, in particular, is what has come to differentiate English vocabulary from its Germanic relatives on the Continent, but the most commonly used English words still trace back to the Germanic roots of English.

Next....The closest relatives of English
  
* The two principal Germanic tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. Research seems to show that the entire tribe of the Angles left what is now northern Germany for Briton in the mid 400s. The Saxons, a much larger tribe (probably a confederation of several Germanic tribes), however, did not all participate in the Germanic invasion of Briton. The Jutes were thought to have been another Germanic tribe that participated in the invasion, but in more recent times historians have been divided over this, with some believing the Jutes to have been part of the Saxons (the confederation I mentioned above). Research seems to show that some Frisians and even some Franks participated in the invasion, but not necessarily in great numbers. "Anglo-Saxon" is the term often used for the early English language, or also Old English, and the terms are interchangeable, although to this day "Anglo-Saxon" is sometimes used for the modern English people or for the language, seemingly meant in an affectionate way.   

** Prior to the Germanic invasions, Britain was Celtic speaking (the people being called "Britons"), although the Romans had been in a large part of the main island for a few centuries, but not in sufficient numbers to change these Celts to Latin speaking. The Romans withdrew their forces from Briton for the defense of Italy and Rome itself circa 410 A.D. The Germanic invasions seem to have diminished the Celts from most of what was to become England in several ways: first, the Germanic invaders killed many of the Celts; second, other Celts were made slaves by the conquerors, and they eventually died off or mixed in with the new Germanic population; third, a number of Celts fled into what is now modern Wales in the west of Britain, to Cornwall in modern southwestern England, and to what is now Brittany in modern France. Few Celtic words besides some place names were borrowed into English, leaving many scholars to believe most of the Celts either escaped or were killed by the Anglo-Saxons. Whatever the case, a whole new Germanic speaking society was formed.  

*** There are two other branches of the Germanic languages: North Germanic, represented in modern times by Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Faroese, and Icelandic; and, East Germanic, which is now extinct, but consisted of Gothic, Vandalic, and Burgundian. Sorry, there is no South Germanic, y'all. Remember, these are "modern" classifications, and the speakers of these various Germanic dialects did not go around claiming to speak "West Germanic, North Germanic, or East Germanic."

**** The Romans conquered what is modern France and remained a major presence there for a few centuries before the Germanic speaking Franks conquered much of the area. The area was Celtic speaking before the Romans marched in, but the Romans administered and stationed so many troops there, the area became Latin speaking. When the Germanic speaking Franks conquered much of the area, they were insufficient in numbers to convert the Latin speaking population to their own language; in fact, ever so gradually (a few hundred years), the Germanic speaking Franks lost their language, as it "blended in" with the Latin dialects of the area, although they gave their name to the territory, "France," and their language name to the language of France, "French." Similar happened in England after the Normans took over. Anglo-Saxon society and language were so rooted in England, the Normans were too small in numbers to have their Norman French dialect overtake English, but their administration gave many words to English, but usually from written texts, not from spoken word; thus these former "French" words were not pronounced in the Norman French manner; they were "Anglicized." 

WORD HISTORY:

Tongue-This word goes back to Indo European "dnghweha," which meant "tongue." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "tungon." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tunge," which then became "tonge," before the modern version. The meaning "language" also developed from the original meaning "organ of speaking or of speech." Common throughout the other Germanic tongues, ah, I mean languages: German has "Zunge," Low German has "Tung," Dutch has "tong," Frisian has "tonge," Icelandic and Swedish have "tunga," Danish and Norwegian have "tunge."  

Paying The Piper-Part Seven-Income Gap Biggest Ever

The U.S. Census Bureau yesterday (9/28) released the latest information on incomes in the U.S. It shows more disturbing trends, as the rich continue to rake it in, and the poorest Americans continue to fall behind even further. Those in the middle also dropped. Here are the basics of the latest info. If interested in more info, you can always go to http://www.census.gov/ (under income topics):

The top 20% of earners, those making at least $100,000 (and don't forget, those in the top one and a half percent make like a million or more) took in almost half of all income earned. On the other hand, the bottom 20% took in less than 3 and a half percent of all income. Those in the middle seem to have slipped a bit.

I really have no problem with people who make a hundred grand, or two hundred grand. Good for them! Of course, it DOES matter how they made it, but that's another subject. Okay Republicans, you should know what's coming.... We have Republicans in Congress pushing to extend tax cuts for the very top earners in the country. Those cuts were initially presented by and signed into law by President George W. Bush in two installments: 2001 & 2003 (and passed by Congress). Personally, I believe it would be far better if we had another one or two income tax brackets for higher incomes, rather than lumping everyone together who makes 200 grand (individuals) or 250 grand (couples) and higher. Its the "higher" part that I'm more concerned with. Those "higher" income people make anywhere from a half million up to amounts none of us can imagine. The idea that these folks need tax cuts is absurd. As I mentioned a couple of articles ago, I know I beat up on Republicans a lot, but they seem to have a soft spot for multi-millionaires, even indicating how tough it is for such high income people. Republicans actually have some ideas I agree with, but their desire to do anything and everything for VERY wealthy people troubles me deeply, and it should trouble you, too, unless you're making a cool million or more a year. I'm too old for much of this stuff to matter to me, but I find that I cannot sit still and watch what is happening to this country, which has just been handed over lock, stock, and barrel to the wealthiest people and interests in the country, and just to be fair, not without some help from Democrats. Republicans and Democrats, alike....THINK!!!

If you notice some of the ads on television, "Its a bad idea to put any kind of tax on oil companies." Did you see who is paying for those ads? The petroleum industry! They have lots of money, and they are willing to spend a chunk of it to keep their treasures. They're entitled to run those ads, but other Americans need to pay attention to WHO is trying to scare the hell out 'em! And that's perhaps the most troubling thing of all to me; Americans don't pay attention to these matters, and the "interests" know it. I just saw a caption online that indicated that in one poll, only 6 in 10 Americans knew that Joe Biden is Vice President of the United States. So, forty percent of Americans don't know who their own VP is!!! C'mon folks! Americans disturbingly seem not to know what's going on around them, and in this age of "globalization," that's downright dangerous. Other countries are pulling ahead of us in all sorts of education matters. The petroleum industry ads don't scare me, but this stuff does!

WORD HISTORY:
Gap-This word, related to "gape" and "yawn," ^ goes back to an Indo European base "ghei," which had the notion of "to open the mouth, to make an opening." This gave Old Germanic "gaponan," with the same general meaning. Whether Old English had a form of the word "gap" is not known, but it is "assumed" that many Old English words were unrecorded, as the common people could not usually write, and there are forms of "gap" in other West Germanic languages, and the old forms of the Germanic ancestors of "gap," "gape" and "yawn" were so close, it is at times difficult to separate them (Low German Saxon, for instance, has "jappen" and "gapen" for "yawn," but both also mean  "gape.") Apparently, English borrowed "gap" from Old Norse (a North Germanic language, English is West Germanic), seemingly in the 1200s, and kept the general Old Norse meaning, "chasm." Of course, if English did already have a word of its own, then the Norse relative most certainly reinforced the English word.

^ The English ancestor of modern "yawn" was spelled with a "g," not a "y," as its German relative, "gähnen," and its Dutch relative, "geeuw," still do.

Not In "Mint" Condition

For those of you who are unaware, York Peppermint Patties, a famous and popular American line of candy produced by Hersheys, will no longer be produced in America. If reports are correct, the production plant in Reading, Pa, had 300 workers, and also produced "Fifth Avenue" and "Zagnut" candy bars, and "Jolly Rancher" candy. If I remember one of the ad lines from the past for the York Patties, it said something like "a York patty is like a cool, refreshing breeze." Well it will now feel like some hot air from "south of the border, down Mexico way," as Hershey's is transferring operations to that country for the chocolate-covered mint candy, and supposedly for the other candy types mentioned above, too.

"OLE!!!" That's what you shout when the "bull" comes out.

Word History:
Slump-verb, also used as a noun in certain contexts. Pretty common word, but not a lot of info on it. Likely related to Low German "schlump," although could be borrowed from a relative in the "Scandinavian languages;" that is, North Germanic, as both Norwegian and Danish have "slumpe," which means "to fall/fall upon." Swedish, another North Germanic language, has "slumpa." Originally, it seems to have meant more specifically, "to fall into a muddy area, or into a bog." Linguists seem to feel that the word is a Germanic original and that it is "imitative;" that is, the word is imitative of the sound made when falling into mud or a bog. It seems that the word didn't come into common usage in English until the 1600s. The noun usage for a decline in the economy comes first from the 1880s, when it referred to big drops in stock prices, but that notion broadened to business activity in general during the sharp, post-World War One recession of the early 1920s. By the way, German has "schlumpe(n)," which seems to be a fairly obscure word for them, and whether this is the same word as our "slump," or just a coincidence, I don't know, but the German word means "be untidy, sloven." If it is the same word, if you fell into some mud, you would certainly be "untidy," and that could be the connection.