Crispelli: Gramma's Special Recipe

Famiglia di Benestante

http://home.benstent.com July 11, 2010

It's the Eighteenth Annual
Benestante Family Picnic!
Sunday, July 18, 2010. (Rain or shine!)
2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Al and Carol Malley's, 9805 S. Lemont Rd.
(1/4 mile south of the I-55 Lemont Rd. Exit)
Look for the BALLNS!
Bring * a dish to share * grandchildren * memorabilia * your stories!
To help coordinate menus, please RSVP by Weds. July 14 to Diane (630/325-3298) or Carol (630/308-9922, ).
· For safety, please park in the area in front of the house instead on the driveway.
Thank you!
Extra: Partake of some of Gramma's favorite foods: figs, dates, prunes, graham crackers, tea, licorice, canned peaches, and lemon drops.

Crispelli: Gramma's Special Recipe

As recalled by Al Meschino

(Suggested by Don Rossi)

Ingredients

· 6-1/2 cups all purpose flour

· 2-1/2 cups water [slightly warm]

· 2-1/2 tsp salt

· 1 packet dried yeast

· 1 average size boiled potato, well-mashed.

Stir the yeast into a small amount of the luke warm water. Wait until bubbles form on the surface of the water mixture.

Put the flour in a large bowl or on a large flat surface. Add the salt, the yeast-water mixture, the mashed potato, and the rest of the water.

Mix thoroughly and knead for approximately 10 minutes. (Too much kneading will make the dough tough.) Set aside to rise. (I usually set the dough in the microwave oven so it is not disturbed by drafts. I also loosely cover it with Saran Wrap so that it does not form a crust.)

After 1-1/2 to 2 hours, punch it down and let it rest for 30 - 45 minutes.

Heat the olive oil to about 300º Farenheit. (If it's much hotter, the oil will burn.) I use one gallon of olive oil in a 1-1/2 gallon pot.

When the dough feels slightly soft but not sticky, it's ready for frying.

Pull off a piece of dough the size of a lemon and roll it out about 10 inches long and about a half-inch thick. Form it into a circle and twist the ends together. (Put a drop of water on the ends beforehand to keep them from coming apart.)

Drop several of these dough rings into the boiling olive oil. They float; turn them from time to time so they cook on both sides. When they reach a yellow color, but before they turn gold, they're done. Drop them in a strainer lined with paper napkins, to absorb some of the oil.

You can also make a few in the shape of a ball. Take a hand full of dough, squeeze it up through your forefinger and thumb and, with a soup spoon, scoop off enough dough to make a ball about 2 inches thick. I cook these longer, to a golden color, to ensure they're cooked through.

Bon Appetit!

Newly Unearthed Documents

In last year's newsletter, I reported my discovery of Ellis Island immigration records for Grampa Benestante and his brother Rocco.

This past year, I found other historic documents, at the office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds and through the Newberry Library.

Property Record

At the Recorder of Deed's Office, I located the deed history of Gramma and Grampa's house.

Here are some discoveries from that document:

· The house was first sold in 1890 or 1892.

· Grampa bought the house on December 29, 1911.

· Grampa's last name is variously inscribed as "Benestants," "Benestanto," or "Benestanti."

· The "People of the State" issued a "bond" on the house on March 4, 1933.

· Gramma transferred ownership of the house to "J. Benestants et al" on Aug. 12, 1964.

· On Jan 20, 1969, "Brothers Enterprises" sought a permit to "scavange" the property. (The house had been destroyed by fire.)

· The City of Chicago issued a license to demolish the building on March 31, 1970.

· The lot on the south, used by Gramma and Grandpa as a garden and farmyard, was sold on December 28, 1982 to the storefront church on the corner. An annex of the church now stands on that lot.

To view Gramma's lot and neighborhood as they appear today in satellite views, search Google Maps for 1443 S. Kenneth Chicago Illinois.

(Then scroll over for an aerial view of Franklin Park, designed by renowned nature architect, Jens Jensen. His work in Franklin Park has now been supplanted by standard-issue facilities.)

Census Records

Searching the Newberry Library's web-based genealogical data, I located our family's U. S. Census records for 1910, 1920, and 1930. (Some inconsistencies in those records suggest that the census taker received the data from a youngster.)

· Grandpa was born in 1874 or 1873. Gramma was born in 1880--reportedly on St. Patrick's day. (So she would joke, "I'ma a-REESH.")

· Gramma immigrated in 1895, at age 15. Grampa came in 1904 when he was 30 or 31.

· Gramma's first marriage was in 1897 or 1898. Grampa's was in 1900.

· Gramma and Grampa probably married in 1904. (Doc was born about a year later.)

· Gramma brought four children into her marriage with Grampa: Rose, George, Jimmy, and Frank. (This diverges from the family's traditional account, which held that only Rose and George came from the first marriage.)

· All told, Gramma gave birth to thirteen children. (Three died at an early age.)

· Grampa and Gramma lived in their Kenneth Avenue home for at least a year (during the 1910 census) before they bought it.

· During 1930, they received $15/month rent from their daughter Mary and her husband Ed Hendricks for the basement apartment.