Blog #84

By Kevin V. Hunt

The Nauvoo Niddy Noddy … now there is an attention grabber.  Gotcha!

In this case, the Niddy Noddy is actually about food.  Everyone I have ever known has loved food – good food – and eating.  And of course that is, has been, and always will be the case in Nauvoo.  So let’s explore the tradition and heritage of the Nauvoo Niddy Noddy.

INTRODUCING THE NIDDY NODDY

Recently my wife has been organizing and cleaning the front bedroom of our home.  She calls this room her “craft room” – but it also houses the guest bed for incoming guest couples.  (I also have my room … it is my “Office/Scouting and History Museum”.)  Lou is preparing for company coming soon.

In her cleaning, Lou unearthed a great find.  A worn, well-used, and vintage cookbook:

Wow!  Such a fun history find.   I opened the cover and began to read.

The name of the cookbook first caught my attention.  It was: “Nauvoo Neighbors’ Niddy Noddy Cookbook – 1975”  How’s that for a name?  Are you kidding me?  That was the year I was there as a “young missionary”.  I dug into the book immediately and realized that I knew every single “older sister” who contributed to the book.  And I realized that I had tasted many of the recipes in our monthly pot-luck dinners back then in Nauvoo.  And with margin notes of “good” or “very good”, Etc. in my writing, I realized that sometime in my past, I had made great use of this book – and had prepared many items from it.

But “Niddy Noddy” … how did they come up with that one? Well, they didn’t keep me in suspense.  The introductory pages of the cook book had the answers.  First off, it introduced the group saying, “The Missionary Sisters of Nauvoo Restoration, Inc.,  met once a week during the winter months of 1974-1975.  “Nauvoo Neighbors” was chosen as the name of the group.  This was taken from an early Nauvoo publication.”  [That was the name of the Nauvoo newspaper back in the pioneer day.]

Having endured a Nauvoo winter – when nothing much was happening I can see how they had time and interest in getting together.  But those Sisters must have really been into it.  The book listed their “Nauvoo Neighbor Officers”.  Sister Neda H. Gyllenskog was President with counselors Phyllis L. Leishman and Alva W. Hardy.  Nellie Stevenson was shown as the “Crochet Chairman” and Jo Fairbanks was shown as the Cook Book Chairman with committee members Marian Hadley, Ethel Mathews, and Phyllis Leishman.  Those names bring back a lot of fond memories of great ladies I served with in Nauvoo.

Continuing from the intro  “… During the year a cook book was compiled of recipes contributed by the sisters.  It was named the “Niddy Noddy” Cook Book from a measuring devise used during the Nauvoo Period.”

So, how did they know about the Niddy Noddy?  That was long before Miss Google and all of her friends came along.  I am happy that I have the help of Google today for such occasions.  I decided to delve into it a bit deeper.

Miss Google revealed that the “Niddy Noddy” is “A traditional hand-spinning tool used to wind yarn from a bobbin into a skein (or hank) and to measure its length.  It consists of a central handle with crossbars at each end, often used in historical reenactments.”  I even found a photo of the instrument – and several options for purchasing them.  I guess they are still a thing in the fiber world.  Who knew?

The next page of the Niddy Noddy cookbook  detailed “Emergency Substitutions”.  (The original Nauvoo pioneer women were probably Queen of Substitutions.  They probably had to frequently substitute.)

Anyway … some good info:

1 cup sour milk or buttermilk — 1T lemon juice or vinegar – fill cup with sweet milk

1 cup fresh sweet milk – 12 cup evaporated milk plus 1/2 cup water

1 cup honey – ¾ cup sugar plus ¼ cup liquid

1 Tbsp. cornstarch – 2 Tbsp. Flour

1 cup catsup or chili sauce – 1 cup tomato sauce plus ½ cup sugar and 2 tbsp vinegar

1 cup brown sugar (firm) – 1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter or margarine – 1 cup shortening and ½ tsp salt (for baking)  [Nowadays with the price of shortening, we go the other direction … converting shortening to butter or margarine.  GTK … Good to know!)

On the next page was a “Recipe to Preserve a Husband”:

“Mix well together the following ingredients:

A full measure of honesty

To which add sincerity

Blend with dependability and trustworthiness

Spice generously with fun and laughter

Garnish with patience well sweetened with smiles

And flavored with cookies to taste.

Then wrap in a mantle of charity

Keep warm with a steady fire of devotion

Serve with peaches and cream

• Ethel Mathews

THE NAUVOO HERITAGE OF IDA BLUM

When young in Nauvoo, I met Ida Blum.  She was kind of a hunched over little lady.  She was not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but she always came to our church meetings with a couple of her old lady friends.  One was a Mrs. McConkie.  (My mother-in-law knew these ladies well on her Nauvoo mission of 1979-1981.)

I thought that Ida Blum was ancient history when I met her.  Again, Google tells me that she would have been 86 when I knew her in 1975.  (And she died in 1980.)  “Ida Kuhn (a German name) was born September 2, 1889 in Nauvoo.”  She lived her entire life in Nauvoo.

I liked the modern artwork of the first recipe section of the book:

In this section, Ida introduced the first recipe of the book:  “This recipe has been in the Blum family for more than a century.  [So that would put it almost to the Nauvoo pioneer era.  The Germans came to Nauvoo after the departure of the “Mormons”.]  I have used it many times, then hartshorn was difficult to find in drug stores, so I commenced using the second recipe.”

She said that her original recipe for “Springerlies of Picture Cookies”  called for “two level teaspoons of hartshorn which had been powdered fine.  (One needs a hammer to do this for if the hartshorn is easy to crush it is useless.  Do not use more than two level teaspoons of the powder).”  I will leave it to your own imagination as to what “Hartshorn” might be – Kevin

This one – not from Ida looked intriguing:

And one more note about Ida.  I wrote of her in a blog created around December of 2024 but … Sister Hunt and I drove through a very old Nauvoo cemetery.  (I am weird … I often get my jollies by driving through or walking and reading headstones in cemeteries!)  As we rounded one corner I was drawn to the headstone that said “Ida Blum”.  I had to get out to investigate.  “1889 – 1980”.  I said to my wife, “I knew that lady”.

BEGINNING OF A FAMILY TRADITION IN THE NIDDY NODDY

In the Niddy Noddy, I was particularly drawn to one recipe that I recognized.  And in the margin, I had back then added my own hand-written note that said, “Very Good”.

For many years, our family has enjoyed making and eating “Nauvoo Potatoes”.  They are now a part of every major holiday celebration and often many times in between.  It has become the family craving. 

“Nauvoo Potatoes” … that is the only name that I have known them by.  I introduced this gourmet potato casserole to my parents and sibling family as I returned from my “young mission” in Nauvoo 1975 and I cooked them for Lou and our kids from the beginning of the Kevin and Lou family.   They (“potatoes” plural) are almost as eternal as we are.  Everyone has loved them through the years.  (Now the rest of the LDS world has caught onto them … but most folks know them as “Funeral Potatoes”.  That sounds like a dead title.  I think “Nauvoo Potatoes” is a much more historic and tantalizing name.  I would rather reserve them for eating among the living!

And on a search on my own computer, I found that my mother had liked the recipe, claimed it as one of her favorites, called it “Sout Cream Potatoes” and included it in hand-written recipe books which she gave to her granddaughters.  It is interesting that in the corner she covered all of the bases.  She called it “Funeral Potatoes” and “Nauvoo Potatoes”.

Frequently my family members have asked, “Why are they called Nauvoo Potatoes?  My answer has been “because Nauvoo is where I first had them.”

Anyway, in this vintage recipe book, I got excited as I found a recipe for “Nauvoo Potato Casserole” (there you have it!) submitted by Sister Dorothy Farnworth, who then served full-time in the Visitors’ Center.

 I copied the cookbook cover and the Nauvoo Potatoes recipe and sent it out to my family.  They loved it!  Kaylea said, “Oh Wow!  That’s very cool, Dad!  This is some fun history right there.”  Keith said, “Awesome!  It’s still “very good”.  Marinda said, “That is so cool to hear the back story of Nauvoo Potatoes.  Cool cookbook.”   And Lana wrote: “That’s so funny you shared this dad, my kids were just asking less than a week ago why they are called Nauvoo Potatoes.  Ha, Ha!”  I told Lana, “Now you can tell your kids it’s from the Niddy Noddy!”

So, now that I have your mouth watering … here is the original recipe from the “Niddy Noddy”.

THE FAMOUS SCOVIL BAKERY GINGERBREAD COOKIES

My wife also unearthed another small cookbook – which she inherited from her mother – who also served in Nauvoo – from 1979 – 1981.  A folded recipe fell out.  This was for the now famous “Gingerbread Cookies” as made in the Scovil Bakery.  And with it was a little poem about the Nauvoo “Bustle Oven”.  That is the kind of oven that the Scovil family had in their bakery – and it was common in many of the early Nauvoo pioneer kitchens.  For these “ovens” there was an indoor “box” that opened to contain hot fire and coals to heat the oven with.  And outside … well, it was so named because it stuck out like a woman’s bustle.  (I won’t comment on that one!)

For decades, the Scovil gingerbread cookies (cut to be gingerbread men) were actually baked right there in the Scovil Bakery – in that bustle oven.   And they were one of the “must haves” for anyone visiting Nauvoo.  Children of all ages love them!

Above:  The double bustle oven arrangement inside the Scovil Bakery.

Above:  Double Bustle Ovens behind Scovill Bakery … (Left) behind main house/kitchen and (Right) on the back of the “Summer Kitchen” structure

Above:  The Bustle Oven protruding out from the back of the Jonathan Browning kitchen in Nauvoo

The Scovil cookies  nearly went extinct during the COVID-19 pandemic.  That situation meant that the gingerbread men cookies could no longer be baked in this pioneer oven.  Gratefully, the cookies were such a Nauvoo tradition that other options were explored.

When Sister Hunt and I served on our mission in the Scovil Bakery, the Church had contracted with Morgan Squire – the owner of the fun little Nauvoo café called “The Red Front” to make the cookies to be given to Nauvoo guests.  (The Red Front is one of only a scant handful of eating establishments in Nauvoo.)

For one summer, Sister Squire (her staff and family) baked 50,000 of these little cookies.  Imagine that as a cooking project!  Sister Hunt and I were there in the Bakery one time when Morgan came with another installment 5 or 10 thousand cookies.  We helped her transport these down the very steep and curvy stairway into the basement of the bakery.

 Above:  The very steep and curvy stairs of the Nauvoo Scovil bakery.

In the basement there was a very pioneer looking deep freeze.  Actually there were two of them – both from the same vintage.

Above:  Gingerbread cookie freezer in the basement of the Scovil Bakery in Nauvoo.

I note that this is the kind of freezer that Grandma used to have in the hallway of the old farm house.  (We used to visit her and Grandpa for a few weeks every summer and that freezer was the favorite of me and all of my cousins.  She had giant Safeway 2 ½ gallon tubs or tanks of ice cream – which we could sneak into multiple times a day as desired.  Wow!  Every kid’s dream).  Anyway, this Scovil freezer was probably one of the original pioneer models.  And it was packed “to the gills” with hundreds of bags of these famous gingerbread cookies (each one being individually bag wrapped in its own cute little bag).

It was interesting as we greeted guests.  Many folks (kids of all ages) had heard of these cookies and they wanted one or more of them.  Some moms had been promising them to kids all day: “If you’re good we’ll get you a cookie at the Bakery”.   Some folks were challenged when we made them sit through our “Scovil” story if they were to be rewarded with a cookie.  And we always promised them cookies “if you’re good”.  And many people found a way to make return visits – asking to skip the speech.

Just a note:  This “fall-out” cookie recipe that we found was tucked into a 1980 cookbook.  The Scovil bakery existed in the pioneer Nauvoo era.  Lucius Scovil took in cakes, cookies, and other delectables “on consignment” so he invited all of the ladies in town (and maybe a few men) to create their very best goods – which  he then sold in his Bakery – making money for him and also for the real bakers too.

Above: Lucius Scovil marketing the goods at his Scovil Bakery in Nauvoo

I was born out of my time …  With my sweet tooth, The pioneer Scovil Bakery sounds like my kind of place.  I would have very much enjoyed the confectionaries of Mr. Lucius Scovil. 

Over time, the bakery building “disappeared”  at least the part above the ground did.  I think that the cellar or basement remained intact under the ground. 

Above:  The underground findings at the excavated Scovil Bakery site

When I was there in Nauvoo in 1975, this building was being reconstructed.  I took some photos of the place as it was being recreated. 

Above:  The Scovil Bakery undergoing reconstruction in 1975.  Photo by Kevin V. Hunt

Rebuilt in 1975 … So, that is why we missed the gingerbread cookies and the recipe in our 1975 Niddy Noddy.

Anyway, after the building reconstruction, the missionaries actually created and cooked the cookies right there in the old now new Scovil Bakery.   Our inspection of the secret inner parts of one of the two inner ovens revealed a modern oven element.  Naughty, Naughty!

MAKING BREAD AT THE FAMILY LIVING CENTER

Another casualty of the COVID epidemic was the hot bread that used to tantalize guests who came to the Family Living Center in Nauvoo.

Like the cookies, this hot bread used to be one of the highlights of any Nauvoo trip.

The Family Living Center has a fantastic vintage kitchen.  In all of my Boy Scouting cooking, this would have been the luxury kitchen.

Above:  Luxury pioneer kitchen with fireplace, Dutch ovens, bustle oven (center), bread cooking paddles, many shelves, bread proofer box, and large counter.  It doesn’t get much better than this!

Above:  The Family Living Center fireplace – with bustle oven on right

Above:  The teaching kitchen in the Family Living Center

It had a large fireplace for fire – where soup and other great foods could be created.  And it was large enough to generate a lot of hot coals – to be used for Dutch oven cooking – and to fill the “bustle oven”.   

Above: The bustle oven on the backside of the Family Living Center

So, the bustle oven …  this made for a lengthy and prolonged cooking process.  Fire would be added to the bustle oven.  In fact, the fire would be packed such that it would completely fill the available space.  A door would be placed in the oven front.  Then the coals would continue to burn until the fire was completely used up and only coals remained.

While the fire was burning, this became the time to create the bread and other goodies that would later be baked in the oven – once it was “pre-heated” sufficiently.  (Just like cooking in any oven today … it must be pre-heated for best cooking results.)

Above:  A modern version of what pioneer women may have baked.  And this was the recipe that we shared in our cooking demonstration at the Family Living Center.

To make bread in the pioneer era …  They often had a large box called a “proofer”.  This had a hinged door at the top.  Inside was placed a large bowl of boiling or very hot water (heated in the nearby fireplace).  Another large bowl with the bread dough was put down on the other side of the water in the box.

The lid would be closed and the dough would be allowed to raise for 10 minutes.  The dough would then be “punched down” and put back into the proofing box for another ten minutes.   By this time, the water would have cooled down and the water would be removed – and probably used for dish, clothes, or people washing.  More hot water would then be retrieved from the fireplace – where hot water was continually being heated. 

The above process of 10 and 10 minutes and punched down again.  After the second 10 minutes, the bread could be formed into loaves, rolls, cinnamon rolls, garlic bread, buns, and everything bread.  Yum!

After the bread or other goods were mixed and ready as per above, the oven would be checked.  If the baker could hold his/her hand in front of the brick oven for less than 10-12 seconds, that was a sign that the oven was hot enough for baking.  If one’s hand could be held there longer, the oven was not hot enough and more fire would likely be needed.  How’s that for a scientific method?

If the above test was passed, then the coals would be removed from the oven (and saved for soap making … nothing in the pioneer world was wasted …).  And by this time, all of the bricks that surrounded the oven on all sides – were very hot.  And then it was time to insert the bread.

Above:  bread cooked in the bustle oven

The bustle oven operated much the way that today’s pizza oven operates.  A bit of corn meal was spread onto the hot bricks to keep the bread from sticking to them.  Then the bread loaves could be placed into the oven using a large paddle (again with corn meal sprinkles) – like a pizza paddle.  

Being an old baker from years of Boy Scouts, and filling many a Dutch oven with cakes, pies, cookies, and cobblers, I loved giving this bread making demonstration to guests who came.

Back in the day – like Pre-COVID, missionaries actually made, cooked and served their wonderful bread to the Nauvoo guests.  But, sadly, this tradition and cooking method actually died in the pandemic.  So sad!  So when I gave this cooking demonstration, I warned the folks that I would be happy to teach them the skill of bread making +but they would “have to use their imagination” relative to the hot tasty bread.  I still had a lot of takers for the demo, however.

I could speak and teach emphatically on this subject of bread making.  I grew up with a mother and grandmother who made bread several times each week – and have a wife who is one of the greatest baker of breads and rolls of every variation.  It was always such a treat to come home (even when I was older) just in time to get some of Mom’s delicious bread as she took it out of the oven.  [And I note that she made the weekly sacrament bread for over 30 years – in two different wards!]

 I guess this bread-making skill is kind of a dying art.  Maybe that’s why the people were so interested in it.

Above:  Elder Kevin Hunt teaching bread making at the Family Living Center

I always told the young ladies on the tour that if they really wanted to impress the boys, they should learn to make bread.  I told them that all guys (young and old) absolutely love hot home-made bread.  I said, “Your bread is the way to win their hearts” (after their stomachs are first filled with their yummy bread).   I hope that I made some of the ladies believers.  Maybe their husbands will thank me later!

EMMA SMITH MADE SCONES

Another of my favorite Nauvoo food talks was in the Mansion House – owned by Joseph and Emma Smith.  It was fun to tell our guests that Emma often cooked scones in the Mansion House.  Yes, folks, Emma cooked those wonderful fried balls of dough – with honey.  Yumm!

Scones often became Emma’s “go-to meal” as Joseph sometimes gave her little notice of a meal – probably to feed a crowd. And often she probably lacked resources (flour, etc.) to make other “better” foods.  Her guests loved her scones. 

One guy (likely a highfaluting guest) was especially impressed.  He said something like, “These are wonderful! What do you call them?”  She smiled slyly and said, “I call them ‘CANDIDATES”.  And then the guy asked her, “Why do you call them “CANDIDATES”?  I am sure that she enjoyed digging him with the answer, “Because they are puffed up and full of air!” (Zing!)

Emma Smith was born July 10 (1804).  As Sister Hunt and I were in Nauvoo, a great-granddaughter of Emma staged an annual small gathering in honor of Emma’s birthday. She staged this at Emma’s gravesite.  And a major feature (steeped in tradition) was serving Emma’s famous scones.

On one July 10, Lou and I were serving at nearby Joseph’s Red Brick Store.  Knowing of the Emma event, I told Lou and all of the young sisters that I would man the store (giving all the tours) and encouraged them to attend the Emma event.  (I still got a good deal out of this arrangement, however.  As ever, my wonderful wife brought back some of the delicious scones for me.  Yum!)

Emma’s scone recipe is pretty simple … but still very tasty:

And here is another Emma recipe:  (She must have been a great cook!)

PIONEER COOKING

Most women of the Nauvoo pioneer era cooked directly on a fire and generally using Dutch ovens and other cast iron pots.  This is evidenced by the following fireplaces.

Above:  Pioneer kitchen and cooking as shown in the restored Benjamin Bird Cabin behind the Browning home

Above:  Cooking fireplace at the Nauvoo Homestead of Joseph and Emma Smith (built 1826 by James Smith prior to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints)

I personally love the cooking arrangements in the very original Sarah Granger Kimball home.  They had two fireplaces – back to back.  One was for heat in the parlor room.  The other was their main cooking fire – located right in the entryway room.  And in the wall between the two fireplaces, they had another hidden oven.  It was not a bustle oven but it operated on the same principle.

Above:  The Sarah Granger Kimball cooking fireplace with the hidden oven (in the center of the photo) used for baking.  The area below could be used to store firewood or coals.

MY FAMOUS DUTCH OVEN STEW

My Dutch oven stew did not originate in Nauvoo but it does have a long and yummy heritage.  I remember when and where I was lucky enough to acquire this recipe.

Back about 1980, I was a professional with the Boy Scouts.  I often had duties up at Camp Kiesel – located up Ogden Canyon – about 20 miles east of Ogden, Utah.  I had duties of helping for big events held up there.  Camp Kiesel was blessed with Cook Muriel.  Muriel was one of the greatest camp cooks that I have ever met (or dined from).  She often had to cook for a hundred or two for weekend meals.  One of her best meals for a crowd was her stew – made with plenty of fabulous biscuits.  She gave me the recipe and of course, I named it “Muriel’s Stew”.  I loved it – and made it many times.

Sadly, however, I somehow lost the recipe over time and it was forgotten. Then later I was reading in some of my past personal journals and there it was.  I had recorded the recipe in the journal.  Wow!  (Sometimes I impress even myself!)

Above:  Muriel’s Camp Kiesel Stew recipe

Anyway, on two occasions in Nauvoo, I staged and hosted Dutch oven dinners for some missionary groups.  Muriel’s stew was the perfect meal to cook.  (I had a large collection of Dutch ovens at home – but in Nauvoo, I didn’t have even one.  I had to buy another 14” oven – just for these Nauvoo occasions.)

One such dinner was for our Brigham District.  And the other event was for about 40 people – a reunion gathering comprised mostly of couples who were with us at the Provo, Utah MTC – where we gathered to learn and prepare for our Nauvoo missions.  I think that the missionaries were impressed with Muriel’s stew – as I had been over the years.

This was not a pioneer era Nauvoo recipe, but Emma and Lucius Scovil probably would have liked it (but they would have had to create their own cream soups).   I cooked the stew twice in Nauvoo – and the recipe was already 50 or more years old when I made it in Nauvoo.  It has stood the test of time.  If Muriel had been serving in Nauvoo she probably would have included her recipe in the Niddy Noddy.  I know I would have if I had lived in the day of the Niddy Noddy.  Anyway, thanks, Muriel, for the great heritage recipe.

And may the spirit and heritage of the Nauvoo Niddy Noddy live on!  We can’t get enough of that great Nauvoo food.