Chippers, loons, moose, and Lutheran ladies

My grandparents used to flee summer's most oppressive days by driving their camper up to Minnesota. Grandpa would spend his days fishing while grandma would find loon postcards and write me updates about what the "chippers" (her nickname for chipmunks) were up to. (Mostly they were looking for food, but I always wanted to hear about them anyway.)

In that spirit, we're taking a field trip (mostly) north with The Lutheran Ladies Cookbook (1970).

Lutheran ladies do live up to the reputation Garrison Keillor has given them:

It has everything I've been led to believe a "hot dish" should contain: meat, starch, and copious amounts of canned soup. This is not even limited to one can of cream of mushroom soup, but goes the extra can to include vegetable soup as well!

Hot dish isn't all that Lutheran ladies are good for, though.

What do you suppose this roast is made of?

Congratulations if you guessed venison! Lutheran ladies really like game, too.

I'm not sure what makes "Spicy Barbecued Roast Venison" spicy. My understanding is that chili sauce is mostly a sweet and sour thing... Pairing that with sweet spices, current jelly, and lemon also makes me think this is probably more sweet and sour than spicy, but whatever it is, it's so red the hunters can pretend it's a fresh kill all over again....

Venison is not the only game in this book. Alaskan Lutheran ladies might make this next one:

If you've got extra moose, cook it with some catsup, canned mushrooms, and sour cream for a stroganoff.

With all the game recipes, I was a little afraid to find out what what Lutheran ladies would do with my chippers! Luckily, I didn't find any chipmunk recipes. They must be too small to bother with.

And while I was a bit horrified to see catsup in a stroganoff recipe, I knew it was a somewhat common variation. Another recipe showed me that Lutheran ladies have NO business trying their hands at Creole cooking:

Okay, they've got the onion... and maybe if we feel generous we can allow the substitution of ground beef for sausage. But canned cream soup? Chow mein noodles instead of rice? There is noooo way this has any business being called anything other than extra-salty hot dish!

Far from cooling me down, this post has gotten me steamed! So much for the Lutheran ladies of the north.

Happy Cookbook Wednesday, and a thank to to Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet for hosting!