Kitchen Memoirs - Matt - So Happy You Liked It

Kitchen Memoirs are a collection of stories about the people and dishes who have inspired me most in the kitchen. Each month I will share a new story about one of these people accompanied by one or more recipes. This month’s feature is Matt.

Food-Rooted Friendships

Matt and I met in 2008. His high school sweetheart happened to be my dear friend, Amy. His quick wit and comical (yet oddly charming) vulgarity won me over quickly. Matt is the type of person who, within the first 10 minutes of meeting him, will have you laughing at his bold jokes, his brash comments, and easily smiling from ear to ear, as he always is.

Matt, or as I refer to him, “Matty”, was born and raised in a small southwestern farm town in Minnesota called Lake Crystal, population 2,593. His parents, from whom he learned how to cook, live in town as well, and it’s almost expected that we’ll run in to them during a quick stop at the local watering hole, The Lakes.

After Amy and I had graduated college, she moved back to Lake Crystal, and I back to the Twin Cities. The commute that used to take no more than 10 minutes to one another now was at least a 90 minute drive. However, as I could have anticipated, our friendship remained strong, with elaborate weekends planned months in advance. As these visits and annual traditions began, my time with Matt inherently increased. It didn’t take long for the topic of cooking, food, and mushroom hunting to quickly monopolize all of our conversations, and thus our friendship continued to grow.

Treasured Heirlooms

Like most cooks whose love for food is hereditary, Matt has an arsenal of handwritten recipe cards, scribbled instructions, and well documented guidance from his family, related or not. Many of which include the recipe owner’s name: Mrs. William’s Apple Sauce Cake, Janet’s Chocolate Cake, Joan’s Liver Balls.

“I’ve always cooked, really. My brother and I would always help with all of the canning in the fall, and if my parents needed help making dinner, sure – we would help. It probably wasn’t until high school that I really started cooking on my own though.” Amy reflects that Matt has been cooking since they first met. “It’s one of the things I like about him”, she says, to which Matt scoffs.

Years ago, Matt (although, Amy argues this was of her doing) suggested that his parents start sharing the long-loved, tried-and-true recipes that they grew up with. Each year for Christmas, his parents gift a stack of handwritten recipe cards, or photo copied versions of heirloom recipes that have been handed down by previous generations. The true definition of a priceless gift.

“Remember to always cook with love, because it is with love that you are being given these recipes.”

–Kathy Schroepfer, Matt’s Mother

Cooking With The Seasons

When I ask Matt what and when he likes to cook, he doesn’t skip a beat: “WINTER”, he says in a way that is worthy of capitalized letters. “Winter is the best time to cook. You can cook anything and it just feels right.”

While summer brings the opportunity to grill more, as well as an abundance of fresh produce from their massive garden, winter means low and slow cooking, recipes that take hours, and pure comfort. “When I used to work at my old job, I would get winters off. It would be so nice to spend a lot of time cooking. Now, these past four years it’s like, what can I make FAST.”

Matt and Amy have two kiddos, one 2 and the other almost 5. As any parent reading this could likely understand, convenience has become the language in which Matt and Amy operate mealtimes with. “We’ll usually make a ton of protein in the beginning of the week: grilled chicken, pork chops, or the other night Amy made carnitas. It’s nice doing that so when I get home I can play with the kids, the protein is already done, we can make rice or something to go with it, dinner’s ready in 10 minutes, then we go back outside and we play more.”

Mushroom Hunting

Matt grew up hunting, fishing, and foraging, so it will come as no surprise that morel mushrooms have become something of an obsession of his. And of course, with our many food-focused conversations, we can and have spoke at length about foraging for morels many times. Being the generous person he is, I have been lucky enough to receive countless gifts of dried morels over the years. His stories about foraging, the garbage bags of mushrooms he would come home with, and of course, the many salivating ways he would prepare them… had me hooked. I had to go mushroom hunting.

And then the years kept passing. We kept making “loose plans”, but never following through. Our schedules never aligned in a way that allowed us to get out in the woods.

Until now.

A Day In The Woods

Though Matt cautioned that his previous trips in search of mushrooms had produced next to nothing, I was determined: this is the year that we’re hunting mushrooms! I made the drive down to Matt and Amy’s, we packed up our hunting supplies (a bag for our findings, a cooler of chilled beverages for a post-hunt celebration, and long sleeved layers), and hit the road. As we drove to our “site”, Matt and Amy, as always, pointed out landmarks along the way. “There’s where Joe and Margie are going to build a house! That’s my Grandpa’s shop! Our friends live here and ran electricity out in that field so we can bring our campers over!”

What To Look For

When we arrive at our destination, Matt starts explaining what we’re looking for. “Elm trees look like a wine glass – you girls will remember that. You’ll want to find a walking stick to move brush, plants, and tree branches aside as we’re walking. The mushrooms are between the root and the tree: don’t get caught up just looking at the base of the tree, look also around, where the roots would be.”

As we forage, we find other forest delights, like ramps!

In the end, Matt’s fears were met: a dry season meant few morels for finding. Though we struck out, the afternoon in the woods exploring, learning, and just being was simply magical.

“Don’t get caught up just looking at the base of the tree, look also around, where the roots would be.”

Soup, Always

When probed with the very difficult question, “What’s your favorite thing to cook?”, Matt’s answer is humble: soup. A response that didn’t surprise me. Matt has always been a “soup master”, his versions somehow more savory, more creamy, and more satisfying than I’ve had anywhere else. “Today we’re going to make THE soup, but I love making homemade chicken noodle soup. I make my own noodles, and just really like the process.” As someone who has enjoyed his homemade chicken noodle soup, I can say with certainty that it is the best chicken noodle soup I’ve ever had.

“The” Recipe

The specialty that Matt has perfected and that we would be making that afternoon was his Wild Rice Soup. A recipe I’ve long known is his Dad’s, and one that I knew I would never get my hands on. Matt had joked that his Dad might kill him if he were ever to share it with anyone. A “joke” that I’m starting to understand…

However, Matt and his Dad likely need a recipe anymore. In fact, the above image of the recipe was sent hours after we had made this soup, as Matt nor Amy could find it. Matt made the soup completely from memory, and it tasted just as I remembered it.

“When you rehydrate the mushrooms, don’t get rid of the liquid: that’s all the flavor.”

The morels will need to be rehydrated first, as we’re working with mushrooms Matt found last season. “When you rehydrate the mushrooms, don’t get rid of the liquid: that’s all the flavor. Just cook them down in it.”

He shares a method that his Dad, Myron uses, although he’s abandoned it, “My Dad does a weird deal – he actually adds his vegetables to his roux. I don’t really get it, so I don’t do that.” Matt lets his vegetables rather simmer in the broth, and adds his roux last, serving as extra thickener to the soup.

I ask Matt if this is the type of soup that you can just let sit and simmer, or if you need to stand watch. “This one’s actually going pretty fast. I pre-made the wild rice, ’cause that shit takes too long”.

Anyone who knows Matt personally can probably hear him saying this.

Home Sweet Home

As previously mentioned, Lake Crystal has been home to both Matt and Amy their entire lives. They’ve made their own little slice of heaven on the dirt road they live off of, just outside of town. They’ve always had a large garden, Matt’s sunflowers being known to grow feet over your head, donning flowers the size of dinner plates.

They grow what they like to eat: cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, asparagus, herbs, beans, onions (not this year though!), and whatever else “sounds fun to grow”.

The newest addition? What else! 10 little chickens now call their backyard home.

Though Matt and Amy are likely to keep their chickens for eggs and entertainment for the kiddos, they have friends that raise chickens also who ask every year how many they’d like butchered. Additionally, one of Matt’s closest friends, Lance, is a hog farmer too. “At the drop of a hat we could go out there and get a pig if we wanted. They finish about 40,000 a year. They own the piglets and the sows up to the point of butchering, but they don’t process them.”

Ready to move to Lake Crystal yet?

Matty

Those that know Matt understand my previous remarks about him being, for all intents and purposes, a bit of a comedian. He always has a way of making those around him laugh, raise their eyebrows, and has always been one to say it like it is. He is kind-hearted, incredibly hard working, generous, and an amazing friend, husband, and father.

Now that I’ve inflated his head likely to its max, here are a few photos that perfectly capture Matt’s personality.