Prayers and Grace by Menno Simons

Prayers for Mealtime

Een christelijcke benedictie voor, een gracias na den eaten

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

I Corinthians 3.11

Courtesy Herald Press, Scottdale, PA (1984), Menno Simons, Author (c. 1557), Leonard Verduin, translator (1955), H. C. Wenger, editor (1955), The Complete Writings of Menno Simons, c. 1496-1561, p 955-958, Herald Press.

This Is a Christian Grace Before Meals, Together with a Prayer of Thanksgiving After Meals – Intended for all Genuinely God-fearing Folk, and Moreover Intended to Be Taught to Their Children from Childhood on, in Order That They May Learn to Fear the Lord, May Learn to Know Him, and to Walk in His Commandments All Their Days, to the Praise and Glory of the Lord and to the Salvation of Their Souls.  Amen.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

I.       A CHRISTIAN GRACE BEFORE MEALS

    O give thanks unto the Lord, said David, for He is good.  For His goodness and mercy endureth forever.  O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.  O fear the Lord, ye His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him.  The rich He sends away empty, but they that fear the Lord shall have lack of nothing.  He giveth food to those that fear Him.  He remembers His covenant forever. 

    Thou shalt eat the labor of they hands; happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee.  They wife shall be as a fruitful vine in the innermost part of thy house; thy children like olive plants round about thy table.  Behold, thus shall the man be blest that feareth the Lord.

    I have been young and now I am old, says David, and have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread, even as Thou hast, O Lord, demonstrated to the children of Israel.  Thou hast given them bread from heaven and water out of the flinty rock in the wilderness forty years long.  O Lord, Thou hast fed Elijah with flesh and with bread byt eh ravens morning and evening – also by the widow of Zarephath in that the meal did not diminish in the jar nor the oil in the cruse for a long time, according to the word spoken by the Prophet Elijah, the Tishbite – and by the angel of the Lord, with bread and with water under the juniper bush when he fled before Jezebel.  O Lord, Thou has fed Daniel in the den of lions in Babylon by the angel of the Lord, and by the Prophet Habakkuk with the victuals which he had prepared for his reapers.  Habakkuk spoke saying, Daniel, Daniel, take of the food which God has sent to you.  And Daniel spoke saying, And, Lord, Thou art ever mindful of me and dost not forsake those that call upon Thee and love Thee.  And he rose up and ate.   O Lord, Thou has so wonderfully, and unexpectedly, and, according to the Word of the Lord spoken by Elisha the prophet of the Lord, fed those of Samaria when the hunger was so great that the women (by nature quite pitiful, as Lamentations has it) did sod and eat their own children, even as at Jerusalem.

    O Lord, Thou hast with five barley loaves and two fishes fed about five thousand men, not counting women and children – twelve basketfuls remaining – by the power of Thy prayer of blessing and thanksgiving.  What is impossible with men is possible with God.  This , Lord, Thou Thyself hast declared.

    Therefore, Thou has in the Gospel taught Thy children that fear Thee saying, Take no thought for thy life, what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink, nor for the body what ye shall put on.  Is not the life more than food and the body than raiment?  Consider the birds of the heaven.  They sow not, neither do they gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them nevertheless.  Are you not much more than they?  Which of you can add one cubit to his stature by being careful for it?  And why do you take thought for raiment?  Consider the lilies of the field how they grow.  They toil not, neither do they spin – I ay unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into oven, would He not much more do such for you, O ye of little faith!  Therefore, do not be filled with care saying, What shall we eat?  Or, What shall we drink?  Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  After these things do the Gentiles seek but your Father knows that ye have need of all these things.  Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.  Be not therefore anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  It is enough that every day carries it own burdens, as Christ says.

Tacos de requesón menonita

Queso Mennonita, aka Queso Chihuahua

Tacos de requesón menonita 

Mennonite Tacos

Mennonites in Mexico are known for their excellent cheeses, especially queso Mennonita.  Recently, Chef Marisa Rodriguez published this recipe for Mennonite Tacos using cottage cheese -- a well-known ingredient to North American Mennonites but less familiar to our Mexican neighbors.  

The original recipe might be found via this link:  Mennonite Tacos

Chef Marisa Rodríguez | NorteDigital

"Nuestro estado de Chihuahua se caracteriza por elaborar productos lácteos de muy buena calidad, y uno de ellos que muchas veces no sabemos en qué utilizarlo es el requesón que el día de hoy les presento.

Es un plato muy sencillo con este ingrediente y muy útil para esta cuaresma, el requesón se elabora con el cuajo de la leche que nos sirve para elaborar los famosos quesos menonitas y muchos más.

Tiene un sabor muy neutral que podemos consumirlo en recetas tanto dulces como saladas y en esta ocasión les comparto unos tacos de requesón con una mezcla de pico de gallo lo que lo convierten en una comida muy diferente pero igualmente rica, ¡elabórenla y disfrútenla!"

Holiday Perischke

Traditional Mennonite Fruit Pockets

    In my experience, perischke have been an essential fastpa treat, but they have struggled to find a true place in the North American holiday schedule.  Anabaptists have long enjoyed perischke for “tea”, coffee breaks (lunch) or fastpa while working in the fields, between church services and choir practice or tucked into summer Bible school (DVBS) lunch-sacks.  Eating them always makes one feel warm inside – like when Grandma would sneak you an extra molasses cookie.  Like molasses cookies, they were never a “holiday” food, but just that sort of home-cooked goodness that gave you a sort of after-lunch or mid-afternoon hug from Mom or Grandma.

    The Mennonites of Montana have made perischke into a Schmekfest classic – along with pfefferneuse, tweibach and verenika.  In fact, while Grandma often made perischke for everyday consumption, Mom was more likely to make her annual super-batches that required a herculean effort to complete.  A few dozen were set aside for Schmekfest – the rest were squirreled away in the freezer to last out the year.

    Of course, the entire family, privileged patriarch excepted, got roped into helping Mom complete her late night baking.  To this day, the baking of perischke remains one of the few activities us kids have retained binding us and the grandkids together in her memory (their privileged patriarchs now excepted).

    The term perischke is seemingly becoming an anachronism amongst the American Russländer.  While Canadian, Mexican and Paraguayan literature and cookbooks continue to use the term, apart from the Mennonite Brethren and the Brüderthaler, many American Mennonites now seem to prefer the term peroghi (drawing from the Bethel  archives, Edna Kaufman uses the term perogi).  No self-respecting Russländer Mennonite would make such a mistake, however.  Everyone (at least those with whom I grew up) knows that perogi are boiled while perischke are baked.  A Polish friend in Chicago once actually apologized for serving his grandmother’s perogi baked (he had just moved and did not yet have a boiling pot).  “No problem,” was my response, “these are just like my grandmother’s perischke” – which was almost true.

    Judging from Winnipeg, Minneapolis and Chicago – all with large Polish enclaves, true perogi  are a bit more similar to vereniki – more of a noodle dough rich in cream and eggs.  When you bake, rather than boil, a verenika or a peroghi, the dough tends to form a tough outer skin that easily turns rubbery in the oven.  So it is really a misnomer that perischke are merely fruit-filled peroghi.  Like lions and tigers, perischke and peroghi might look alike but are entirely distinct species.

    Nor are perischke a form of Anabaptist danish – the doughs are not at all similar.  A danish is constructed from a flakey, buttery puff pastry dough more similar to a croissant than to a pie crust. 

   Thus resisting all attempts at cultural ecumenicalism, the perishke must stand alone.

    In the 3^rd Lustre EMB Ladies’ Aid cookbook, What’s Cooking in Lustre, journalist and cultural historian Carolyn Fauth defines perischki  as “… a fruit-filled pastry.  The crust is generally a rich pie crust dough but can also be a yeast dough like a basic sweet roll dough.  The fillings vary with the two most commonly used ones being finely cut apples with sugar and flour mixture sprinkled with cinnamon or fruit mixture made of dried apricots, dried peaches and prunes or each separate cooked with water until the mixture thickens like jam, then add sugar to taste.  Other fruits are cherries, Juneberries [Saskatoons], or blueberries.”  To her list of add-ons, one might readily add the historic mulberries of Molotschna.

    Having identified perischke, here are a couple of ideas to make holiday perischke special and reflective of other holiday food traditions (see the recipe tab for recipes).

     The Pumpkin Perischke is an idea whose time has come.  An aficionado of traditional pumpkin pie, I have often been guilty of having pie for breakfast.  These treats are equally good for dessert or that quick morning pick-me-up.  I recommend the half-circle shape for the pumpkin perischke.  Just beware that pumpkin perischke are a bit more work than pumpkin pie.

    There are a couple of differing opinions regarding the correct shape of perischke –  namely whether they should be cut and formed into half-circles similar to verenika or folded into true square fruit pockets.  My mother preferred the more decorative square pockets she had been taught by my great grandmother – but also tended to make perischke only for special occasions. My grandmother tended to make perischke more often for everyday consumption and almost exclusively folded hers into little half circles.

    Otherwise there is no clear reason as to why some fold their perischke one way or another.  I have heard that the half circles are easier to form, but this has not been my personal experience. 

    It is possible that more people from Mountain Lake tend to fold theirs into half-moons – this might also hold true for their descendants out West.  Possibly then, the square pockets might be a more traditional Nebraska approach to perischke -- with possible ties to the Kleine Gemeinde.  But this is all speculation.

    Another new holiday favorite for me is the cranberry-apple perischke.  These tasty bites look great peeking through the folds of the traditional square pockets.  You might even want to consider adding walnuts to the filling -- but be sure to label your perischke clearly for those guests with food allergies.

    Celebrating the global diversity of the Mennonites diaspora during the holidays, I am a new fan of the guava perischke reminiscent of Mexican or Cuban Pastelitos.  Definitely consider cheating and resorting to use of a commercial guava paste such as is used by my local Mexican pasteleria – you might have to look in the ethnic food aisle of your favorite grocer or specialty market.  Guava paste has the added benefit of being relatively inexpensive – a lot of taste for the buck.

    Finally, for more of an ethnic Mennonite touch, it is now possible to purchase dried mulberries at Whole Foods.  While they are sold as “The Turkish Super Food” meant for trail-mix, it should be possible to reconstitute them into a suitable filling.

    So while I am comfortable with the humble perischke remaining a simple everyday treat, try out a few new twists and dress them up for the holidays.  There might be some life left in them yet.