Keepers
An Index to the Foods of Gideon Lawton Lane

Keepers began life as a cookbook in a small three-ring binder with spatter-proof pages. Over time, copies found their way to kitchens in the United States and Spain, creating version problems and update difficulties. Posting to the web seemed a decent solution.

This index gathers all of those Keepers recipes, sorts them by genre, and provides links to the full text. There are 47 recipes in the Keepers archive. To narrow your search, select:

Canning | Baking | Hors d’oeuvres | Soups | Main Dishes | Side Dishes || All Recipes

Vegetables / Sides

Black Cherry Salad with Charred Scallion Vinaigrette
Fresh black cherries seem to have a short season. We saw them in the market and came upon this recipe on the same day. It turned out to be a perfect accompaniment to a sandwich for a summer lunch.

Savory Blueberry Chutney
A welcome and unexpected addition to bowls of crackers, cheese plates, or other hors d’oeuvres.

Mimi’s Chestnut Stuffing
Part of most Nickel Thanksgiving dinners since at least the late 1930s, the recipe is now preferred as a casserole. It had been stuffed inside the turkey and roasted.

Cranberry Chutney
An interesting relish with a chunky texture that comes together quickly and lasts in the refrigerator for weeks.

Cucumbers and Oinions : Quick and Tasty
An excellent approach to the August surfeit of cucumbers in the garden. The pickles stay crunchy and delicious for several days.

Cucumber Salad: Two Versions
Two versions, sour cream (Swedish) and white vinegar (Danish). Both are wonderful side dishes to summer sandwiches. A single English slicing cucumber works for either recipe.

Johann im Sack: Großer Hefenkloß (Giant Yeast Dumpling)
This volleyball-size dumpling, known among older family members as “Johann im Sack,” comes from Frau Erica’s Deutsch-Amerikanisches Kochbuch (Rundschau Publishing Co., Milwaukee und Chicago, 1903; Eleventh Edition, Page 195).

Sweet Basil Pesto
We were introduced to pesto by the late Bill Pittsley, who prepared his grilled pesto-chicken pizza after a couple sets of mixed doubles. It’s best to plant your own basil in the spring and make the pesto in July.

Mimi’s Potato Salad
The potato salad was the most memorable part of picnics at Wilder Park in Elmhurst, Illinois. No mayonaise, no Italian dressing, no bacon and vinegar “German” style. It was mustardy with pleasant vinegar overtones, crunchy with celery, and still warm in its Fiestaware bowl.

Potatoes Aliki
A simple yet astonishing dish of baked potatoes prepared by Aliki Kantikou from an old family recipe. It yields flavorful, crisp potatoes, depending on how thinly the potatoes are sliced.

Naturally Fermented Sauerkraut
There are few sauerkraut recipes in old German cookbooks. It’s a simple task; every German adult knew how to do it. The recipe doubles or triples easily if there are containers large enough to hold it.

Succotash, an American Heirloom
The original Succotash was a dish made by native people for the first Thanksgiving. It was likely a combination of corn and dried beans (succotash) cooked in bear grease.

Green Tomato Relish
What to do when the tomato plants produce well into October but none of the fruit will ripen on the vine? Make a relish of green tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices. Add it to a plate of charcuterie or as a condiment for pork tenderloin or other meats, even hamburgers.

Tomato, Corn, and Black Bean Salad
Depending on what’s available from your garden or the nearby farm stand, more or less of any ingredient is perfectly fine. Freshness is everything. The original used cherry tomatoes, red onion, and basil from our backyard garden, corn from DeCastro’s farm stand, and organic frijoles negros from a can.