The Smithsonian Institution is coming to Missouri. If you haven't visited the world's largest museum complex in Washington, D.C. (or even if you have), here's your chance to visit it in your neighborhood. Beginning in June and continuing through April 2006, "Key Ingredients: America By Food," the newest exhibition of Museum on Main Street, will be showing for six weeks at a time in Ste. Genevieve, Salem, Butler, Webb City, Sullivan and Maryville.

Museum on Main Street (MOMS) is a partnership of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and state humanities councils in service to museums and citizens of rural America. Did you know that one-fifth of all Americans live in rural areas, and one-half of all U.S. museums are in small towns? The Missouri communities chosen to host the exhibit reflect these facts. The Missouri Humanities Council (MHC) is the statewide sponsor of the exhibit.

Eating across America

What exactly are gnocchi, spaetzle and pasties? (See answers at end of article.) These foods are found in many Missouri towns, and have become "American," although their roots are in Europe. Most of us eat these foods and many others without giving a thought to the history and culture that shape our everyday meals. The Key Ingredients exhibit, curated by Charles Camp, explores how our recipes, menus, manners and celebrations are directly shaped by our country's rich immigrant history, food preparation technology innovations, and changing availability of ingredients. The exhibit offers a provocative look at the historical, regional and social connections between Americans and the foods they produce, prepare, preserve and present at table.

While the traveling national exhibition provides the backbone for the program, each local community enhances the exhibit with its own programming and artifacts, explained Brian Crockett, co-director of MOMS and state council liaison. Local planners will link their own collections and local food specialties to the national story told in the exhibit. Activities will be as varied as the locales. Plans are underway for cooking classes, local cookbooks, hands-on activities for children, historic teas, butchering demonstrations, antique agricultural equipment displays, heirloom vegetable plots, harvest bean soup dinner, farmers' market tie-ins, cook-offs, church suppers, root beer brewing, and much more.

"The focus is not just on cooking and eating, but also on the cultural and social traditions that surround the preparation and consumption of food," explained Patricia Zahn, MHC associate director. The humanities aspects of food are the foundation for all exhibition programming.

Local Flavor, Missouri Style
Missouri abounds in food lore, much of it dating from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, commonly called the 1904 World's Fair, where iced tea, ice cream cones, hot dogs on buns and many other foods were popularized.

Wherever you sit down at a table in Missouri, you're in for a treat. You'll find toasted ravioli, brain sandwiches, Famous-Barr French onion soup, barbecued pork steaks, mostaccioli, gooey butter cake and St. Paul sandwiches in St. Louis. Look for cashew chicken in Springfield, liver dumplings and Oberle sausage in Ste. Genevieve, and "throwed rolls" at Lambert's in Ozark or Sikeston. Check out all manner of steaks and barbecued meats in Kansas City, and don't forget to sample the cheesy corn bake. In the Ozarks, look for homespun treats such as potato candy, taffy, rock candy and popcorn balls. Don't miss fried fresh soybeans in Butler ("One step down from CornNuts in crunchiness," according to Brian Phillips, chair of the Butler committee).

Many food products have Missouri roots. St. Joseph is home to the Cherry Mash candy bar. Williams Chili Seasoning was created in Webb City. New Haven offers Sun Drop soda. Kansas City is headquarters for Russell Stover, the world's largest producer of hand-dipped chocolates. St. Louis has ties to Southern Comfort and Switzer's licorice, not to mention Budweiser beer and Ted Drewes frozen custard. Burgers' Smokehouse produces fine country hams in California.

Missouri has historical food connections, too. Agricultural researcher George Washington Carver lived and worked near Diamond, and his research on peanuts is famous. Did you know Missouri had the first viticultural district in the United States, ahead of California? Augusta claimed that honor in 1980, followed soon after by Hermann.

Perhaps one of Missouri's greatest - and least known - culinary claims to fame comes from Chillicothe, the home of sliced bread. According to a news story in the Constitution-Tribune dated July 7, 1928, the Chillicothe Baking Company was the first in the nation to market wrapped loaves of sliced bread to grocery stores for public sale. The resulting phrase, "It's the greatest thing since sliced bread," has come to represent the ultimate in innovative achievement and American know-how.

And that's a key ingredient, no matter how you cut it.

Barbara Gibbs Ostmann, of Gerald
is the Missouri State Scholar for the
Key Ingredients exhibition.

Answers: Gnocchi--Italian dumplings
spaetzle--Austrian or German noodles
(also called dumplings)
pasties--British meat pies.

RECIPES:

ST. LOUIS GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
Available in almost every bakery and supermarket in the St. Louis area, this ooey, gooey coffee cake is unique in taste, texture and appearance.

Dough:
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)
4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup warm milk (110 degrees)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Gooey butter topping:
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
Dash salt
1 egg
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling

For dough, combine water and yeast in mixing bowl of electric mixer; hand-whisk to mix, then let stand a few minutes. Stir in milk, sugar, vanilla, butter, egg, salt, and 2 cups of the flour. Switch to dough hook and knead on slow speed, sprinkling in as much of the remaining 1/2 cup flour as needed, until dough is smooth, about 5 to 8 minutes. Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rise in warm, draft-free place 45 to 60 minutes, or until almost doubled.

Meanwhile, prepare gooey butter topping. Combine granulated sugar, butter, salt, egg, corn syrup, flour, water and vanilla in work bowl of food processor fitted with metal blade; process 20 to 30 seconds, or until mixture is a smooth paste. (Or beat with electric mixer until well mixed.)

To assemble: Generously spray two 9-inch square baking pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Gently punch down dough. Divide dough into two equal pieces. Press one portion into each prepared pan, pressing lightly to fit. Use fingertips to crimp edges about halfway up side of pan to make a border (so gooey butter will not run underneath). Use a fork to prick a few holes in dough to prevent bubbling (do not prick dough all the way through). Divide gooey butter into two equal portions; spread over dough in each pan. Let stand, uncovered, 25 minutes.

Place pans on prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated 375-degree oven 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 15 minutes. Topping should be bubbly and golden brown. Do not overbake; topping will not be gooey if cakes are baked too long.

Remove pans from oven and transfer to wire racks to cool until the topping settles and cake is just a bit warmer than room temperature. Sprinkle tops with confectioners' sugar.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 2 cakes; 10 to 12 servings each.


STE. GENEVIEVE LEBERKNAEFLY
(Liver Dumplings)
Although Ste. Genevieve is known for its French heritage, there's a strong German influence, too. There are probably as many versions of liver dumplings as there are home cooks in Ste. Genevieve. These liver dumplings are similar in size and appearance to spaetzle.

1 pound liver (calf, beef or pork)
1/2 cup ground pork
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
Salt and black pepper, to taste
About 1 cup milk
Salted water
1 tablespoon fat (oil, shortening or butter)

Grind liver. Mix with ground pork and onion. Mix in flour, then add eggs, parsley, basil (or allspice), salt and pepper. Add enough milk to make a stiff dough.

Transfer dough to a flat platter. Use a knife, dipped in hot water, to cut and drop tiny slivers of dough into boiling salted water to which fat has been added to keep dumplings from sticking together. When dumplings rise to the surface, they are ready to be skimmed off and drained.

Serve dumplings hot. Dumplings can be lightly fried in sausage drippings or served with a light gravy.

Yield: 6 to10 servings.


ST. LOUIS TOASTED RAVIOLI

According to local lore, this specialty was created when a cook in an Italian restaurant on the Hill (the Italian community) accidentally dropped some boiled ravioli into hot grease. When they came to the top, he sent a plateful to the bar. The customers loved them and asked for more. That first toasted ravioli was a distant cousin to today's beloved dish, which is breaded, fried and served with a sauce.

Frozen ravioli, homemade or store-bought
Milk
Dry bread crumbs
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Grated Parmesan cheese
Meat sauce, tomato sauce or butter sauce, for dipping


Remove ravioli from freezer. Do not brush off flour that was sprinkled over them before freezing. Pour milk into a small dish. Place bread crumbs in a small dish. Heat oil in a deep-fat fryer or pot to 375 degrees.

Dip frozen ravioli in milk, then dip ravioli in bread crumbs to coat. Deep-fry ravioli in hot oil 3 to 4 minutes, or until golden brown. The ravioli will sink at first, then rise to the top when done. Turn ravioli as they fry to promote even cooking. Remove from oil; drain well.

Sprinkle at once with Parmesan cheese. Serve as is, or with a tomato sauce, meat sauce or butter sauce.

Note: Canned, brine-packed ravioli, well drained, can be used.


OZARKS POTATO CANDY

This homespun treat is a classic among Ozarks families.
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup mashed potatoes, unseasoned
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter

Add vanilla and salt to mashed potatoes; mix well. Refrigerate until chilled.
Add confectioners' sugar slowly to chilled potatoes until mixture is stiff and dry.
Divide mixture into three parts.
Working with one part at a time, roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness on waxed paper (it should form a rectangle of about 12 by 4 inches). Spread with a thin layer of peanut butter. Roll up as for jelly roll. Repeat with remaining potato mixture and peanut butter. Refrigerate several hours, or until rolls are firm. Slice rolls (not too thick; this is rich). Store in refrigerator.

Yield: About 72 pieces.

Recipes adapted with permission from "Food Editors' Hometown Favorites" by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane Baker (Hammond, 1984).

updated 9/14/07