By Chell Gardner
“Times are so different now…the younger generation has food readily available…we worked the farm for food,” stated Rachael Hugunin, lead cook in the Gardner family.
Hugunin was born in 1923 from parents Celina and Richard VanDenBroecke. She had four older sisters: Genevieve, Marguerite, Mary, and Odelia. She helped her dad on the farm, plucking fresh vegetables, and slaughtering chickens, pork, and cows.
At age 8, she became the family cook because her mother was bedfast due to an illness, her sisters had jobs outside of the home, and her father ran the farm.
She used fresh tomatoes, onions, potatoes, beef, and eggs to cook her favorite meal: pot roast. “I liked pork better, but those big potatoes with the pot roast were so good.”
Growing from a Belgium heritage
“My parents came over on a boat from Belgium…at that time, they ate similar things as Americans,” stated Hugunin. “We would have fancied meals with fresh bread at every meal.”
Hugunin met her late husband, Jesse Hugunin, in 1941. Married a year later, they started a family. They had eight children: Ruth, Cathy, Roger, Jessie, Judy, Richard, Larry, and Teresa.
She continued to cook, while her husband was the breadwinner. Mr. Hugunin built houses and the children worked in the community.
Hugunin cooked the holiday dinners. “Grandma [her mom] gave me $46 dollars to go shopping at holidays…I had to feed the entire family…my dad, my sister’s families, and my own family,” Hugunin stated.
A family of cooks
For the holidays, she would prepare family favorites: ham or goose, chicken and noodles, stuffed green peppers, blood sausage, potatoes, and fresh bread.
In 1982, her cooking dwindled. “At this time, my kids were grown with families and my husband passed…there was not much need to cook anymore.”
Although she shared her cooking knowledge with all of her children, her youngest daughter, Teresa Gardner, continued cooking.
Gardner married her husband, Dan Gardner, in 1983 and had three children: Nick, Danielle, and Chell.
“I’ve cooked for my family the way my mom taught me…when mom started getting older, I took over the family dinners…I cook for both mine and my husbands’ families,” stated Gardner.
Hugunin made a cooking legacy that has been successfully passed from generation to generation.
Stuffed Green Peppers
Originated by Grandma VanDenBroecke
This recipe was read from Grandma VanDenBroecke to daughter Rachael Hugunin. Hugunin used all fresh ingredients from the farm to make this dish on the holidays.
Yields 6 servings.
2 cups rice
15 fresh tomatoes
1 pound ground pork
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
6 large fresh green peppers
4 thick slices of pork bacon
1 pound block cheddar cheese, chopped into 1 inch cubes
Cook rice as directed on the package.
In a stock pan, boil tomatoes, and then when tomatoes are soft, peel the skin off. Grind the tomatoes, making a chunky tomato sauce. Stir the tomatoes in with the rice.
Brown ground pork in a saucepan. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and pork to rice and tomato mixture.
Cut off the top of peppers and scoop out seeds from inside the pepper. Parboil green peppers so they are slightly soft. Stuff green peppers with rice mixture.
Place in a 9×13 pan. Place bacon over the top of the peppers. Place cheese blocks on top of the bacon and peppers. Cover and place in oven. Watch peppers until cheese is melted. (Modern cooking temperature is 350 degrees for 1 hour.)