PODCAST Episode 215: Family Cookbook – The USCIS Rule and the Post-Thanksgiving Recipes (with transcript)

First, we welcome a new Patreon patron, Linda Sparks, and announce that the podcast is now available on Deezer! And of course, this episode is about food and carrying current or new traditions forward for future generations, but first, we have some business to take care of. Did you know that the Federal agency in charge of immigration records here in the United States is proposing a rule that would increase document search and delivery fees by up to 492%? Yeah, I was pretty horrified too. Fortunately, the rule proposal process includes a public comment period. That period only lasts through December 16, 2019, so we need to get on our bikes and ride, pumpkins! I’ll discuss that briefly, provide resources for reading the rule and commenting, and then we’ll talk turkey. And andouille cornbread dressing. And scallion mashed potatoes, orange-glazed sweet potatoes, white wine gravy, and pumpkin pie. So yeah, this is a well-rounded episode, I’d say.

Welcome! My name is Carolynn ni Lochlainn and I am your hostess with the mostest, here to bring you action and recipes in a post-Thanksgiving episode of From Paper To People’s Family Cookbook.

First, a big thank-you and welcome to the podcast’s newest patron, Linda Sparks. She’s supporting at the Sprout level. To help keep this podcast moving forward, I need you to join Linda by supporting me monthly at patreon.com/join/ancestorsalive. There are supporter benefits including swag, genealogy assistance, and private posts on my otherwise public blog, which features articles and videos I don’t share elsewhere.

Second, the podcast is now available on Deezer. I’ll put the link in the show notes.

Today, I want to talk about creating and recording new holiday recipes so that they can be traditions for future generations, but first, the US genealogical community is facing an urgent issue. We need to discuss that, and how you can take action.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services Genealogy Program is “a fee-for-service program that provides researchers with timely access to historical immigration and naturalization records of deceased immigrants.” Basically, you pay them, they find and deliver a record for you if it exists.

The USCIS’ fee structure and behavior are governed by rules through the Department of Homeland Security, a Federal agency. On November 14th, USCIS proposed a new rule allowing for fee increases, so that record seekers will have to pay more for the files that are of primary interest to genealogists and historians: C-Files, A-Files and Alien Registration Files. Right now, a search for a file costs $65, and a copy of that record for your own personal use costs another $65. That right there is a heck of a lot of money, to me. Under the new proposed rule, the cost would skyrocket to $240 just to search for the file, and potentially as much as $385 for a copy of the file once found.

There’s no way to say this nicely – that’s NUTS. It’s opportunistic monetization of an ever-growing research community, a proposed rate hike of up to 492%. I’ve seen bots on Twitter pretend to be genealogists to data mine and cause arguments, so as an identifiable community, we’ve obviously arrived. But this is proof beyond all else – when government agencies seek to make obscene amounts of money off of all levels of researchers, you know your community is taken seriously.

So let’s make them listen by taking them seriously, too.

We have until December 16th, 2019, to read and comment on the proposed rule. And that’s precisely what I am asking you to do, wherever you live. Tell the USCIS that these are public records about OUR ancestors, that WE have a right to them, and that you are ABSOLUTELY opposed to the fee increase.

I mean, seriously, can YOU afford $625 for a single piece of paper, no matter how much valuable information it yields? I know I can’t. This is red tape gone berserk.

To read the rule and get some guidance on how to respond, go to recordsnotrevenue.com. It has explanations and links to the rule itself, and to the comment portion of the rule site.

The Legal Genealogist has written a very helpful blog post about this, and Jennifer Mendelsohn has written a similarly helpful article at medium.com. I’ll provide the links in the show notes.

Reading the rule and all of the attendant definitions can be complex for those not used to it. Here’s my breakdown: I told them this fee increase is immoral because these are public records that belong to us, the people, and that concern our ancestors. I also argued that these increases are detrimental to the genealogy and history communities, and that they won’t cover the costs that USCIS claims to have because the increases will create a significant chilling effect on record requests. Better to do an increasing level of business at $65 per document request and $65 per document delivery than to lose business to FOIA, or to lose a considerable number of transactions at $65 apiece.

US residents – you can AND SHOULD send a copy of your remarks to your senators and representative. Make them aware of what’s happening. Tweet them, or call them. You can connect by calling the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. They will connect you with the proper offices. There are only 10 days left to comment, so don’t bother with snail mail. Make this immediate to your elected officials. There’s a LOT happening in our politics right now, but we HAVE to preserve the ability to access our records for ourselves and for future generations. Refer to DHS Docket No. USCIS-2019-0010 in all of your communications. When you tweet, tweet often and use the hashtag #recordsnotrevenue.

Now, let’s talk family history and holiday food traditions.

I made some SERIOUS FOOD this year for Thanksgiving. We’re not all about PIlgrims, we’re just about an excuse for reunion, some predictably annoying behavior that I really wish wouldn’t happen but that always does, and good food. This year was no different, right down to the bad behavior. But that’s another podcast altogether.

This was my first year hosting, EVER, and I was psyched. I had the ability to make more than just one dish on the menu. I made turkey, andouille and cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, scallion mashed potatoes, white wine gravy, and pumpkin pie. I’m giving you MY recipes because I don’t have anyone else to leave them to, and because let’s face it, I love talking about food!

For the dressing, you need a full recipe of the Hinzie Family Cornbread. I gave that in Episode 21, in July of 2018. The link is in the show notes.

You’ll have to listen or read to get that recipe. But here’s the rest. I made it a week ahead of time and froze it, then thawed on the stovetop as the turkey cooked. It’s absolutely perfect when made ahead, and you’ll save yourself oven space and labor on the day of the meal if you make it beforehand.

Andouille Cornbread Dressing
Oven Temperature: 350°
Baking Time: 35-40 minutes, or until browned

To make this you’ll need a small bowl; a medium bowl, a large bowl, a large pot, and a 13×9 casserole dish (greased or sprayed)
Ingredients:
1 t. salt
1/2 t. each white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. each onion powder, thyme
1 ½ sticks margarine (12 T.)
1 c. each finely chopped onion, finely chopped green pepper, and finely chopped celery
3 cloves minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 c. chicken broth
1 recipe Hinzie Family Cornbread (or other non-sweet cornbread)
1 pkg andouille sausage (5 sausages)
1 ½ c. milk
3 eggs
In the small bowl, combine the white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper, oregano, onion powder, and thyme. Melt the margarine in the large pot over high heat and add the onions, green pepper, garlic, celery and bay leaves. Stir the ingredients around as they cook, for about 2 minutes. Add the contents of the small bowl and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.

While those are cooking, crumble the cornbread by processing in the food processor and set it aside in the large bowl. Do the same with the sausage, setting it in the medium bowl.

Add the sausage and chicken broth to the pot on the stove, and cook for 5 minutes, still stirring. Remove the pan from heat and add the crumbled cornbread, then the milk and eggs. If your pot is not large enough, use a very large bowl to mix the ingredients. Put dressing in the greased 13×9 casserole dish, and bake. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Glazed Sweet Potatoes
My sweet potatoes were, yes, incredible. Just like in genealogy, it’s all about the process. I peeled & cut 6 sweet potatoes into chunks, added them to my slow cooker, zested & juiced in one Valencia orange, then added water to cover and cooked on low for about 10 hours. I then removed them to a large baking dish.

To make the glaze, I melted a knob of butter on low and added a dash of cinnamon, the zest and juice of a lime, the zest of another orange, and a single-serving bottle of pulp-free orange juice. Once that was steaming, I added 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in some water, and whisked the glaze over increased heat. When it started to thicken, I reduced the heat, continuing to whisk. When it was thickened to my liking (which means still pourable), I removed it from the heat, poured it over the sweet potatoes, and then baked the sweet potatoes for about 15 minutes at 350° to heat through. Then, I served!

As for pumpkin pie, I made the pie a day ahead of time, homemade filling from scratch in a homemade crust.

Press-in Oat Bran or Pecan Crust
½ cup butter or margarine, slightly softened
1 T coconut sugar (do not use sugar)
1 cup flour
½ cup oat bran or finely chopped pecans

Blend all ingredients in the food processor until all ingredients combine and form a ball.

Grease a 9½-inch pie plate and pat the crust in by hand.

Prick a few holes in the crust with the tip of a knife, lay in a piece of waxed paper, foil or baking parchment, set in pie weights, and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until browned. Watch the crust carefully…even coconut sugar burns more quickly than regular sugar!
Remove pie weights and parchment, and let crust cool.

Spicy Pumpkin Pie Filling

mixer or food processor; 9 1/2″ pie plate; your favorite pie crust baked for 10 minutes

1 ½ c. puréed pumpkin

Pumpkin Purée:
Prick holes in the skins of 1-2 whole organic pie pumpkins (they’re small) and bake for about 1 ½ hours at 350 degrees. When the skin gets darker & almost leathery, remove from oven. Peel off skin, remove seeds. Puree in food processor. If you puree, you probably won’t have to whip the pie filling for strings.

Filling:
2 t. ground cinnamon
⅓ c + 1 T. granulated fructose
1/2 t. Each of ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground allspice
A dash of cloves
1/2 t. maple syrup
dash salt
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
3 eggs, beaten
2 t. tapioca flour or cornstarch

Bake the pie shell and allow it to cool while you make the filling. Combine all filling ingredients in the large bowl, using the whisk. If you have a food processor, use it instead. Whip until the filling is fluffy and light. Immediately pour the filling into the shell and bake. Let cool on rack. I substituted a cup of oat milk for the milk and cream, and margarine for butter. It was delicious, so this can be dairy-free.

Scallion Mashed Potatoes
For the mashed potatoes, I peeled, cut and boiled about 8 Russet potatoes for 6 people. While the potatoes were boiling, I heated a few cups of chicken broth and added chopped scallions. Once the chicken broth boiled on high heat and the scallions brightened in color, I removed that little pot from the heat and added a big knob of garlic butter. Once the potatoes were done, I drained and returned the potatoes to the pot, off the heat, and added the broth, scallions first. A little salt, a little pepper, and Bob’s your uncle. The flavor of the scallions permeated the potatoes without overpowering them.

White Wine Gravy
For the gravy, which is my signature gravy, I bought an inexpensive bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, a dry white wine. I had stuffed the turkey with cut sections of two different kinds of organic pears, so the pan juices were slightly sweet. While the bird rested, I boiled the wine to eliminate the alcohol, then heated the drip pan with the juices and whisked in a box of good turkey stock. I added the boiled wine and a handful of herbes de provence, though any aromatic herb combo would do. I thickened partly with fine white flour and partly with cornstarch dissolved in water. Lots of whisking and then some cooling later, it was the right thickness and temperature. Salted to taste, this was GRAVY!

If you ever try my recipes, let me know how they go for you. I believe in a flavorful table, so there’s a lot going on here.

Moving forward and incorporating family history into this food discussion, how can you make YOUR holiday present into new traditions? Give your recipes, written or typed, to everyone in your family. Give them to your holiday guests when they eat the finished products at the meal you’re serving. When my mom knew she was dying, she assembled a book called Our Favorite Recipes and gave a bound copy to every family member at her last Christmas. She asked me to show her how to use the reference and citation functions, and she made it using Word Perfect. It had everything – a table of contents, chapters, EVERYTHING. It was dated December, 1992. She died in June, 1993. My copy is worn and stained, so I’m going to scan it into a pdf file and put it up on her FamilySearch profile. I don’t ever want to lose it, and I want my cousins and other family to be able to access it at will. I’m so grateful that she thought ahead like that, and that the grandchildren she never got to meet will benefit from it in the coming years. We as family historians have to continue to think of today as being tomorrow’s history, and to leave a pathway and a file of information for those who come after us so that they don’t get as frustrated as we do when trying to reassemble our own family trees. Don’t let them regret not having secured information from you. Save it for them. Attach your recipes to your own family tree profile, along with the stories that should accompany each recipe. As family historians, we don’t only seek the past, we must detail the present.

And that’s all for today! Thanks so much for listening. Please take action on the proposed USCIS rule and SPREAD THE WORD. Tweet about it using #recordsnotrules. Otherwise, do your research, don’t be a Jeffrey, preserve your present for the future, and EXPECT SURPRISES.

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