dsmWeekly - October 2, 2024

Rachael Storey and Nicole Bergman prepared a meal at the 1850 Pioneer Farm during Saturday's cook off. (Photo: Living History Farms)

FOOD & DINING

At Living History Farms, a cook-off for the ages
By Michael Morain

Step aside, Food Network. Living History Farms hosts its own cooking competition, with surprise ingredients, discerning judges and two centuries of drama.

The latest round of the “Cast-Iron Cook-Off” took place Saturday, when cooks in four of the Urbandale museum’s historic kitchens had just a few hours to whip up a historically authentic meal with four surprise ingredients: beef, acorn squash, blackberries and maple syrup.

The competitors on the museum’s interpretive staff had to use only the cooking equipment, techniques and recipes at their respective sites: the 1700 Ioway Farm, the 1850 Pioneer Farm, the 1876 Tangen House in the town of Walnut Hill, and the 1900 Farm.

They could use additional ingredients, as long as those ingredients would have been available in an Iowa kitchen in their respective time periods. For example, only the 1900 cook would have had vanilla, thanks to the arrival of the railroads.

“With the railroads, you could get anything you wanted,” said Meg Anderson, the Farms’ historic foodways specialist and … cue the drumroll … the new Cast-Iron Cook-Off champion.

Working with a wood-burning oven in the 1876 Tangen House, Anderson won Saturday’s challenge with a made-from-scratch menu of beef stew; squash roasted with maple syrup, ginger and cinnamon; and a blackberry pudding she adapted from a U.S. Centennial cookbook that featured recipes dating back to 1776.

The toughest part, she said, was cooking while visitors watched and peppered her with questions. “You had to be able to explain what you were doing,” she said. (Come to think of it, even modern home cooks have to do that for a skeptical child or spouse.)

Three judges — two Farms staffers and a board member — traveled through 200 years to sample each cook’s meal and score them on taste, presentation and historical value. “We definitely didn’t pace ourselves,” said judge Allison Clark, one of the Farms' interpreters. “I ran out of room to finish the pie, which was sad.”

For her prize, Anderson will take home a set of tea towels, hot pads and mug. She also won bragging rights, at least until the next cook-off.

The museum’s regular season continues 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through Oct. 30. In the off-season, visitors can book reservations for historic teas and dinners featuring pot roasts, homemade rolls slathered in butter and other hearty homemade dishes from an era before the invention of cholesterol.

Jennifer K.D. Hughes takes a peek behind the curtain in "Witch." (Photo: Alyson O'Hara)

BEST BET

‘Witch’ flies into the Stoner Theater

Iowa Stage Theatre conjures its storytelling magic to present "Witch" Friday through Oct. 13 at the Des Moines Civic Center's Stoner Theater.

The dark comedy Jen Silverman wrote two years ago is a subversive, feminist retelling of an English drama called “The Witch of Edmonton,” written in the early 1600s by John Ford, Thomas Dekker and William Rowley. It tells the gothic tale of a woman named Elizabeth Sawyer (Jennifer K.D. Hughes) as she deals with a charming, sweet-talking devil named Scratch (Alex Wendel) who shows up in the village of Edmonton. One by one, the demon persuades the villagers to give up their souls in exchange for their darkest wishes, but Elizabeth remains a stubborn holdout, despite being cast out as a witch.

Find showtimes and tickets online.

The Week Ahead

Wicked Heights (daily through Nov. 2): Head to the top of the AC Hotel for some views, booze and boos during the Republic on Grand’s new Halloween-themed cocktail menu through Nov. 2. No reservations required. A costume party is planned for Oct. 26.

First Friday at Mainframe (5-8 p.m. Friday): Celebrate artists of all ability levels during "A Night of Growth and Recovery," presented by Community Support Advocates. The nonprofit's award-winning Momentum Arts program empowers people with physical or mental health challenges to create art as a way to build confidence, develop resilience and inspire hope. Visitors to the 20th annual exhibition at Mainframe Studios can see artwork, listen to live music and enjoy a few refreshments.

ReelAbilities Film Fest (6:30 p.m. Friday, 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday): The Harkin Institute and the Des Moines Art Center co-host a weekend of film screenings by and about people living with disabilities. Guided discussions will follow each screening at the Harkin Center, 2800 University Ave.

Historic Cemetery Tour (9 a.m. Saturday): Take a bus tour around West Des Moines’ historic Jordan and Huston cemeteries, as well as the Jordan House Museum. Visitors will learn about some of the city's earliest residents.

Santino Fontana (7:30 p.m. Saturday): The Tony-winning Broadway star who sang the role of Prince Hans in Disney's "Frozen" comes to town for a concert with the Des Moines Symphony at the Des Moines Civic Center.

Des Moines Community Orchestra (2 p.m. Sunday): Haley Myles and Matthieu Berghau, two pianists from Lyon, France, join the local orchestra to perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. The concert at Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium is free and follows a brief introductory talk at 1 p.m.

Brandon Patrick and Aaron Diehl (7:30 p.m. Tuesday): The flutist and pianist team up for a program called "Songs of Black America" in a Civic Music Association concert at Sheslow Auditorium.

Community leaders: Women Lead Change has announced three honorees for the 2024 Iowa Women of Achievement Award. They are: Teree Caldwell-Johnson (1956-2024), a community advocate and public servant; Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret (1929-2022) a photographer, book publisher and civil rights activist; and Martha-Ellen Tye (1909-1998), a youth, arts and community advocate and philanthropist. The award recognizes the contributions of Iowa women who made outstanding and lasting contributions to the state, nation or world. The women's names will be added to the Iowa Women of Achievement Bridge in downtown Des Moines, and their friends and family are invited to celebrate at the awards luncheon, in conjunction with the Women Lead Change conference on Oct. 16 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Register here.

Horror film field day: The Fleur Cinema kicks off the 48 Hour Horror Film Project this Friday, when local teams will compete to write, shoot and edit their own short films in just 48 hours. There are still a few openings for last-minute competitors. Submitted films will be screened for the public and evaluated by a panel of judges at the Fleur Cinema Oct. 14-15. The winners will receive a cash prize and a chance to screen their film in Seattle in March, as well as the Cannes Film Festival in France. Winners will be announced during the Fleur's "Best of Horror Celebration" on Oct. 31.

Hydroponic farmer Aaron Thormodsen inspects a tray of plants being grown at the hydroponic farm on WesleyLife’s new Meals on Wheels campus in Des Moines. (Photo: Duane Tinkey)

IOWA STOPS HUNGER

Hungry for Innovation

By Sarah Diehn

Whether it’s on a local or global scale, finding, developing and implementing solutions for food insecurity requires innovative thinking.

WesleyLife built an indoor hydroponic farm at its new Meals on Wheels campus in Des Moines to increase the nutritional quality of the 2,000 meals it delivers to older adults every day.

A hydroponic system provides plants with ideal conditions for fast growth, said Aaron Thormodsen, WesleyLife’s hydroponic farmer. “We have optimal temperature, optimal humidity, optimal nutrients, water levels, oxygen levels,” he said. “We make it so these plants can grow as fast as they physically can.”

With that speed, the plants can yield several harvests over their life span. The farm currently grows six varieties of leafy greens, which produce about 100 pounds of food per week, Thormodsen said.

The greens are distributed through Meals on Wheels deliveries and WesleyLife’s senior living communities, as well as Hugo’s Wood-Fired Kitchen, the restaurant Lynn Pritchard opened in May in the same building. The greens have been served in 20,000 meals in the last six months. Shannon Draayer, WesleyLife’s executive director of community nutrition, said her team plans to develop retail partnerships to help offset the farm’s costs.

As the hydroponic farm expands, Thormodsen hopes to harvest up to 150 pounds of greens each week by streamlining the processes for seeding, transplanting, cleaning and harvesting. He answered the following questions about hydroponics.

Read a Q+A with Thormodsen about the ins and outs of hydroponic farming online.