Kansas’s Date of Statehood – January 29th, 1861
There’s no place like home! And nothing feels homier that a bowl of homemade chicken soup and a grown-up hot pocket! Click your ruby slippers together and you’ll be whisked away to some seriously delicious heartland cuisine. When you look up food from Kansas, one word pops up over and over; Bierocks. Bierocks are a meal in your hand, with ground beef, cabbage, and onions stuffed into yeast rolls and baked to golden brown perfection. According to Kansas.com, “According to food lore, bierocks are an Eastern European invention that were popularized in the United States in the 1880s by German Russian Mennonite immigrants who settled in Kansas. Wives wanted to take their husbands who were working in the fields a hearty but portable lunch, and bierocks worked just fine.” Pair this delicious sandwich with a bowl of scratch-made chicken and barley soup, and you have the makings of a great evening in Kansas!
Tips and Tricks
- When making homemade stock, it is important to skim the fat off the top or the soup will end up oily. One of the easiest ways to do this is to take a slice of plain bread and drag it across the top. The oil soaks into the bread and then you can just throw that excess fat away!
- When a recipe calls for a whole chicken for making soup, I like to use bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs. It tends to be cheaper and the meat never gets dry.
- When a recipe calls for finely shredded cabbage, I usually end up buying a bag of coleslaw mix and just using the very finely shredded cabbage part. I find this saves time and there is less waste.
Traditional Bierocks
Makes 6 Large Bierocks
Dough
- 3/4 Cup Lukewarm Water
- 1 Package Rapid Rise Instant Yeast
- 1 1/2 Tbs Sugar
- 2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 Tbs Butter, room temperature
Filling
- 1/2 lb. Lean Ground Beef
- 3 Cups Green Cabbage, finely shredded
- 1 Medium Yellow Onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)
Step 1: Begin by making the dough. Place the 3/4 of a cup of lukewarm water into the large bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk in a pinch of flour and the yeast to the water. Allow the yeast to sit for 10 minutes, or until foamy.
Step 2: Stir in the sugar, 1 cup of the flour, salt, and butter to the water. With the paddle attachment, beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.
Step 3: Remove the paddle attachment and install the dough hook. Add the rest of the flour until you get a soft dough. It should not be sticky. Add more flour if needed.
Step 4: Once the dough has come together, allow the dough hook to knead the dough on low speed for 8 minutes. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a large bowl, cover that bowl with a damp tea towel, and set aside in a warm, dark place for 30 minutes.
Step 5: While the dough is rising, make the filling. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the ground beef and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is browned, about 3 minutes. Drain off any excess fat from the meat.
Step 6: Reduce the heat to low and add the onion, cabbage, salt, and pepper to the beef. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are soft, about 10-12 minutes. Once cooked, remove the pan from the heat and set aside and allow to cool.
Step 7: After the 30-minute rise time, punch the dough down and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
Step 8: Take the rested dough out and place it on a lightly floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle that is 15″ x 10.” Then, cut 6 squares of dough that are 5″x5″.
Step 9: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 10: Place 1/2 cup of filling into the center of a dough square and add some shredded cheese on top if you wish. Then, pick up each corner of the dough square and pinch them together, also pinching together the seams so the dough balls are sealed. Place the bierock with the seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough squares. (I made 3 with cheese and 3 without cheese. I placed a single shred of cheese on top of each “with cheese” bierock so I could be sure to tell them apart.)
Step 11: Place the baking pan in the hot oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
Step 12: Serve Warm.
Chicken and Barley Soup
Serves 8
- 2-2.5 lbs. Chicken Thighs, bone-in and skin-on
- 8 Cups Water
- 4 Medium Carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 Stalks of Celery, root and leaves removed and chopped
- 1/2 Cup Pearl Barley
- 1 Medium Yellow Onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 Knorr Chicken Bouillon Cube
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1/2 tsp Poultry Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Rubbed Sage
Step 1: Place the chicken thighs and 8 cups of water in a large stock pot. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.
Step 2: Once cooked, remove the pot from the heat and remove the chicken from the water. Allow the meat and stock to cool. Once the meat has cooled enough to handle, strip the meat from the bones and skin. Discard the bones and skin and chop the meat into small pieces. When the stock has cooled, skim the fat from the top.
Step 3: Return the meat to the stock and add the carrots, celery, pearl barley, onion, chicken bouillon, bay leaf, poultry seasoning, black pepper, and rubbed sage. Increase the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 1 hour.
Step 4: Once cooked, remove the bay leaf and serve hot.
Fun Facts about Kansas: 1. Dodge City, Kansas may not be known as THE Windy City but with an average wind speed that clocks in at 14 miles per hour, it is actually the windiest city in the entirety of the United States. 2. Kansas really is flatter than a pancake. Scientists proved it when they compared the topography of Kansas against that of a pancake from IHOP. 3. Smith County, Kan. is the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states. 4. In Kansas, it is illegal to hunt whales, even though it is located in the middle of the country with no coastline in sight. 5. The tallest waterslide in the world is at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kan. It is taller than Niagara Falls. 6. Amelia Earhart, first woman granted a pilot’s license by the National Aeronautics Associate and first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean was from Atchison, Kan. 7. The term “red light district” came from the Red Light Bordello in Dodge City, Kansas. The front door of the building was made of red glass and produced a red glow when lit at night. 8. The First United Methodist Church in Hutchinson was built in 1874 during the time of the grasshopper plagues. As a result, thousands of grasshoppers are mixed into foundation. 9. There is a grain elevator in Hutchinson, Kansas that is half mile long and holds 46 million bushels of grain.
Edible U.S. 