From Wisconsin with Love with a Beer-Cheese Soup and Fondue, the Hodag & the Packer "Crunch"! -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook: From Wisconsin with Love by Laurie Gluesing and Debra Gluesing

Publication Details: New Boundary Designs, 1984

There are an entire category of cookbooks that are centred around specific geographic areas -- usually states or provinces, cities or towns, etc. The one we are looking at today is almost a love poem to the food and tales, some of them tall, of the State of Wisconsin.


I love this cookbook for many reasons. Its folksy illustrations, the fact that many of the recipes are prefaced with interesting anecdotes, and, of course, the fact that much of the cooking is centred around two of my favourite things, beer and cheese!

The food here is hearty fare, using usually readily available ingredients, and is, overall, really delicious. You find recipes like "Corned Beef with Horseradish Sauce" and "Wurst-Beer Salad". When the ingredients are a little more off-the-beaten track they cover things like "Venison Stew".

The book is divided into six sections and today we are sharing one recipe from each as well as the tale of the Hodag.

Also, as many of my regular readers may know, I am a big fan of the community owned NFL Green Bay Packers of Wisconsin. So, of course, I share a Packer related recipe as well -- the Packer Crunch!

(Click on images to enlarge)

The Hodag in all its fiery glory!

In honour of the glorious Green Bay Packers -- 

The only major league community owned team in the United States!