Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Association 2008

The Red Wing Area Bed and Breakfast Association and the Candlelight Inn were glad to host the annual MBBA conference. John Schumacher, from New Prague’s once-famous Schumacher Inn, was the keynote speaker at the 2008 Minnesota Bed and Breakfast Conference which concluded Tuesday at the St. James Hotel here in Red Wing.

For those who don’t know him, Schumacher reigned supreme in New Prague for 29 years until changes in culture forced him to call it quits about 5 years ago. His inn and restaurant were a great draw for those who love German food and innovative cooking of diverse dishes such as wild game. He is the author of 8 cookbooks and has been a host and guest-speaker on many local television shows as well as a few national ones. He announced at the conference that he will be re-opening his inn and restaurant sometime late this year.

He has a direct style—a sort of edginess and bear-like gruffness which definitely appealed to the men in our audience. When he gave his recipe for muffin-top stuffing, the women were all ears; when he gave his disaster-readiness advice (including huge bottled water supplies and guns)—not so much. His new approach however will be sans wild game and will not emphasize the ethnic foods; he feels he learned a lot from his hiatus and cautioned the audience to go forward rather than looking back.

He is an advocate for the old-is-new-again trend of making the most of every morsel of food you buy. Another blunt, to-the-point cookbook author, Jay Jacobs, a former restaurant reviewer for Gourmet magazine, says, “Cooking today has lost touch with reality. In place of integrity, we have razzle-dazzle; in place of basic knowledge, superficial knowledgeability; in place of husbandry, waste…” The cutting-edge restaurants of New York City are serving the “whole animal” with an emphasis on dishes using offal. This would be right up Schumacher’s alley.

Getting back to that muffin-top stuffing, here’s the recipe:

Muffin Top Stuffing

Save the stale or extra muffins, cake, bread, sweet rolls, quick bread ends, and regular bread in the freezer until you have enough for your recipe

8 cups assorted breadstuffs (see above), cubed
½ cup butter
1 ½ cups chopped celery (include leaves)
½ cup chopped onion
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. crushed sage leaves
1 tsp. thyme leaves
½ tsp. pepper
1 cup good-quality chicken stock
Assorted cut-up dried fruits (such as craisins), and nuts
1 egg

Sauté the celery and onion in the butter until onion is soft and translucent. Put breadstuffs in a large mixing bowl and add sautéed vegetables (and butter), dried fruits and nuts, egg, herbs, salt and pepper. Pour chicken stock over all and allow to sit until liquid is absorbed. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. When ready to cook, take out and form about 1/3 cup of stuffing into a ball. Flatten stuffing ball into a 3” diameter cake and sauté in butter in a medium skillet until lightly browned. Turn and brown other side. Use in following brunch dish.

Stuffed Sausage and Eggs

Fry 10 flat, thin sausage patties in cold skillet; drain fat. Set sausage aside. In a separate, large, clean skillet, bring 2 inches of water and 1 Tbsp. white vinegar to a simmer. Water should shake and move, but not boil. Break 10 eggs, one at a time into a custard cup and slip very carefully into simmering water. Bring back to simmer and cover. Time eggs for 2 ½ minutes. Remove from pan carefully with slotted spatula and place carefully in a 9x13 baking dish filled with ice water. Using a scissors, trim eggs edges neatly. When ready to serve, place into a pan of simmering water for 30 seconds and remove to serve.

Make Veloute Sauce (recipe below)

Veloute Sauce

4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
2 cups chicken stock
2 oz. process Swiss cheese
1 ½ tsp. cornstarch
½ cup dry white wine

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken broth, cheese and cornstarch mixed with wine until dissolved. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute

To assemble and serve:

Spoon 1 tablespoon veloute sauce onto plate and place sausage patty atop. Cover with stuffing cakes. Make an indentation in cake with spoon and place warmed eggs into indentation. Spoon a generous 2 tablespoons of hot veloute sauce over all and sprinkle with paprika. Serve.


Another John Schumacher recipe:

Quick Strawberry Jam

1 pound strawberries
1 pound powdered sugar
1 pound granulated sugar

Pour sugars over strawberries in a large bowl. Allow to sit overnight. The next day, drain off the syrup and set drained berries aside. In large saucepan, cook syrup until reduced by one third. Add strawberries to reduced syrup and immediately pour into sterilized jelly jars. Seal with melted paraffin.