MICHIGAN COTTAGE COOK

MICHIGAN COTTAGE COOK
SUMMER AT THE BEACH

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

HOW TO MAKE DUTCH PIGS IN A BLANKET--6,000 AT A TIME or FOR JUST A FAMILY.

 


SAUCIJZENBROODJES

PIGS-IN-THE-BLANKET

Pronounced as: Si-sen-broaches, and translated into English as pigs in the blanket or sausage and bread, Dutch pigs are a seasoned meat mixture wrapped in a light pastry dough and baked.  The meat mixture can be beef and pork or just pork.  The meat is lightly seasoned with nutmeg and bound together with Dutch rusk crumbs, eggs and milk.  They can be eaten for breakfast, as a snack, enjoyed with soup, for a light dinner or as an appetizer.   Frequently they are garnished with ketchup, mustard or maple syrup.  The syrup is especially popular for breakfast pigs.  Another version of the Dutch pig is WORSTENBROOKJES, bratwurst wrapped in pastry.


DUTCH PIGS IN THE BLANKET
Dutch "pigs" are wrapped in pastry dough while Polish "pigs" are wrapped in cabbage.


PIGS IN THE BLANKET   SAUCIJZENBROODJES
First United Methodist Church of Holland, MI saids that Pigs in the Blanket are their Specialty!!!  They make the "pigs" twice a year for the Holland Tulip Festival and for Christmas.  They also make other Dutch food for the Festival and the Winter Market.

MEAT
4 lb. ground pork, not sausage
2 lb. lean ground beef
2 t salt
1t pepper
1 ½ c saltine cracker, crushed
3 eggs
¾ c milk
1 t nutmeg

DOUGH
9 c flour
2 T baking powder
1 T salt
1 ½ lb. margarine
3 eggs
3 c milk


For the Meat:  Thoroughly mix all ingredients together. 
For the Dough:  Mix dry ingredients and cut in margarine.  Mix eggs and milk and add to margarine mixture, mixing well by hand.  Place part of dough onto floured surface and knead lightly.  Roll out until quite thin.  Cut dough with knife into squares about 4x4-inch.  Place a scoop of meat mixture, about 2 ½ to 3 T, onto dough square.  Form meat into tube shape extending it to the end of the dough square.  Roll dough around meat tube and place on trays to freeze or baking sheet to bake.  Repeat roll outs until meat is gone.

Bake at 375°:  Thawed 30 minutes.  Frozen 45 minutes.  

 The first step in the process of making the "pigs" is to cover the whole kitchen with plastic including the flour.

 Assemble the ingredients.

 Post the recipe.

 Good Michigan flour makes good "pigs."

 Makes flour and eggs together.

Measure flour and add baking powder/salt.

 Break up margarine into small pieces.

 Makes the margarine and flour together like making pie crust.

 Mix well.

 Add liquid.

 Mix well.

 Knead lightly.

 Form into a ball.

 Balls of dough ready to roll on the left of the picture.

 Starting to roll the dough.

 And roll.

 Keep rolling.

 Getting close to the end of rolling out the dough.

 Everyone gets covered with flour.

 The church usually has a butcher mixes the dough.

 Meat is scooped into 1 1/2-ounce balls.

Balls of meat are placed in the middle of a square of pastry. 

 The pace is fast.

Meat balls are smushed down with fingers.

 Meat is spread from one side of square to the other.

 It is not necessary to roll the meat into a sausage shape.  Just smush it out.

 The rollers fix any imperfections.

 Start rolling the pastry around the meat.

Place rolls seam side down.

 There was a reporter from a TV station to film the process.

 The reporter had a lot to learn about making pigs.

 Mary Jo, who is in charge of this project and who works so hard, is laughing because the reporter found flour on his camera.

 Some "pigs" are baked for the workers to sample and for the reporter to take back to the station.

 Pigs baked and ready to leave the oven.

 Yummy.

 Unbaked "pigs" are packed six to a meat tray with seam side down.  Two meat trays are packed into a plastic bag with the baking insturctions.

 On the way to the freezer.

 The meat inside the pastry.

 "Pigs" are usually served with ketchup or syrup.

 ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!!!

11 comments:

  1. OK, I made these for the first time, and now I have some questions:
    1. How many should this recipe make?
    2. About how thick should the dough be?
    Thanks.

    Sally

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  2. HI SALLY, SO SORRY TO BE SO LATE TO GET BACK TO YOU. I HAVE BEEN IN MAINE AND HAD TROUBLE WITH MY COMPUTER WHILE I WAS THERE.

    THE CHURCH ROLLS IT DOUGH ABOUT A 1/4-INCH THICK. I MET A LOVELY DUTCH LADY WHEN I WAS BUYING AMERICAN GIRL DUTCH CLOTHES WHO TOLD ME THE THINNER THE DOUGH THE BETTER. SHE ROLLED HER PAPER THIN.

    I THINK IT IS UP TO YOU HOW THICK YOU WANT THE FINISHED "PIG'S" BLANKET TO BE. THE NUMBER OF PIGS MADE BY THE RECIPE WILL DEPEND ON THE SIZE YOU MAKE THEM. SOME PIGS ARE ONLY 2-INCHES LONG AND SOME ARE UP TO 4-INCHES.

    I KNOW THIS ISN'T VERY SPECIFIC, BUT I HOPE IT HELPS. YOU ARE STARTING YOUR OWN FAMILY TRADITION AND HOWEVER YOU MAKE THEM WILL BE COME YOUR TRADITIONALY WAY!

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  3. Where can I buy your pigs in a blanket?

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  4. The First United Methodist Church, 57 W. 10th St, Holland, Mi 49423 Phone 616 396 5205 sells frozen "Pigs".

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  5. Thank you so much for publishing your pig in the blanket recipe, instructions, and perfectly documenting pictures. I began eating pigs when I went to Lamont Christian School (in Michigan) just over 40 years ago and the Ladies Circle made them for fund raising. They still do not publish the recipe :( I have been searching lately for that perfect tasting pig recipe and you have finally provided it!!!
    Thanks again,
    Phil

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  6. I am so happy to receive your comment. Michigan Cottage Cook is all about publishing recipes. I love it when people find something they have been looking for a long time on my blog. I believe recipes are to be shared, just as love is to be shared.

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  7. I know this sounds crazy, but am i buying enriched flour OR pastry flour, not much of a cook but this looks yum!

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  8. It is not a crazy question. If on my blog you see flour, I mean all-purpose flour. If I mean pastry or bread flour, I specify the type of flour. Eary on I had a table with all the short cuts I use like T for tablespoon. I am sorry if my laziness in not typing all-purpose every time I write flour caused you problems. Enjoy the "pigs".

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  9. Thank you so much for this recipe. My Mom grew up in Holland, MI. I have been trying to find this recipe for years after she passed. Now I see where she got it from. Thanks for letting me enjoy this recipe again and enjoying my Dutch heritage.

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  10. :) I am so happy to find the recipe! I sought out the churches pig-n-blankets last night before watchig the Dutch Dancers on 8th street...and due to kitchen construction the church did not have piggies on their menu! :( so, I am so exicted to make these...and eat them too! And we did get to visit with a really nice couple while we were there--didn't get a name though. Well, anyway, thank you for sharing this recipe! ~Lisa from Grand Rapids, MI

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  11. Liza, your happiness makes me very happy. I hope to start posting again soon. I just returned from the Tulip Festival. Had lunch at the Civic Center where the "Pigs" I made at the Methodist Church were served.

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