Brownies lead to love, and Mom’s recipe takes off
Happy Valentine’s Day, one and all!
In honor of the occasion, I share updates to two past First Course columns — both love stories in their own way.
Chocolate matchmaker
Nice to know that if this food editor gig goes south, I can start a new career as matchmaker. OK, maybe not, but Missy Kueht-Becker and Michael Kreiter do have my Aug. 26, 2015, column to thank for bringing them together.
Kueht-Becker had asked me to track down the story behind her family’s cherished brownie recipe, which her then-91-year-old mother had clipped from The Milwaukee Journal years before.
Searching through our archives, I learned that Petey’s Brownies were indeed, as her mother thought, named for a longtime cook at a Milwaukee orphanage, known at the time as Lakeside Children’s Center.
In my column, I quoted from a lengthy profile The Journal published in 1958 about that cook, Eleanore Peters.
And Kueht-Becker told readers how her mother made the brownies whenever her dad’s Army buddy and his family came to visit them at their house on Golden Lake. Even that buddy — who was known for being a picky eater — loved the brownies, she said.
That’s where Kreiter comes in.
“Was your dad’s name Ken?” a neighbor asked the then-Tosa resident after reading about the brownies.
Kreiter said yes, after which he read the story himself, and then, through his sister, tracked down Kueht-Becker on Facebook. The two met at an Applebee’s on Nov. 12 (Kreiter remembers all the key dates of their relationship) to talk about their dads. They met up again, and again, and by Jan. 23, 2016, “we were inseparable,” he said.
Both Kueht-Becker and Kreiter were widowed in 2014. They are now living together and engaged to be married — no date set.
Kreiter remembers Kueht-Becker as just one of four Kueht kids, the only girl, at the Kueht lake house, where on visits they would “rake leaves and frolic in the lake and just have a good time.”
Kueht-Becker remembers being more enamored of Kreiter’s younger sister Sue, five years older than she and therefore a role model. She also remembers running into Kreiter at their respective parents’ funerals.
But not until the brownie story did either one think of getting together for a possible romance.
But here’s the critical question: Does Kreiter, like his dad, also love the brownies?
Yes, but …
“I’ve made these brownies many, many, many times,” Kueht-Becker said. “But of course, the first time I made them for him, they were a fail. I undercooked them.”
She’s done better since, but it clearly wasn’t that batch of brownies that won his heart. And, she noted, “he’s a picky eater, just like his dad.”
And when they do plan that wedding, would they serve Petey’s Brownies at their reception? Kueht-Becker laughed.
“Yes, we certainly would.”
Father Dom’s mom
Back in 2011, I wrote about Father Domenic Roscioli, a Catholic priest who had a thriving business, Holy Spirits wine and Father Dom’s Premium Products, replete with puns and playful religious references.
Patterned after Paul Newman’s charity-based food company, Newman’s Own, the business shares profits with charity. Fundraisers using his products are a large part of the enterprise.
At the time, Roscioli, who is now retired, had products that included Father Dom’s Papal Pancake Mix, Father Dom's Angelic Brew fair-trade coffee, a beer bread mix and assorted seasoning mixes. Each of his eight wines, from Pinot Noir to Riesling, was associated with a Catholic saint.
But he mentioned future projects he hoped to undertake, one of which was to bottle and sell his mom’s beloved homemade pasta sauce.
Last week, labels for “Father Dom’s Mom’s Pasta Sauce” were printed, and this weekend the sauce will be introduced, a “soft opening” of sorts, through an event at St. Stephen parish in Oak Creek.
The front label of the 24-ounce jar ($5.95) sports a photo of his mom, similar to the way Paul Newman’s face appears on his products. (No wonder, because the labels were created by the same designer in Connecticut.)
The back of the label is vintage Roscioli humor. Under the Nutrition Facts box it reads:
“So I said to my mother: ‘Hey, Ma, you’re only 93 years old. Why don’t you get a job?’ The next day, I come downstairs and there’s a pot of spaghetti sauce simmering on all 4 burners on the stove.
“‘I’ll show you!’ she says. …The rest is history as Father Dom’s Mom’s Pasta Sauce starts selling all over the USA with inquiries from 17 countries from around the world! (I made that last part up).”
The sauce is prepared and bottled at Emerald City Catering in South Milwaukee (owner Steve Ozbolt is a former altar boy of Father Dom’s).
“This first batch is meat-based,” the priest said. “Beef and pork ribs are cooked with it to add flavor to the sauce. Eventually we will do a marinara one for vegetarian folks.”
What makes his mom’s sauce so special?
“It’s cooked the old-fashioned way,” he said. “Everything’s fresh, the ingredients and spices.”
And Mom, who’s 94, was on hand to ensure quality control.
“Mother was there for each stage of the sauce to make sure the taste was right,” he said. “She’s all excited.”
Angeline Roscioli lives in Franklin with her 69year-old son, who takes care of her (such as she needs taking care of ). Last year he fulfilled a dream of hers and traveled with her to the Vatican. Two years ago, at 92, she zip-lined at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Conn., the camp founded by Paul Here’s the fudgy brownie recipe that brought Missy Kueht-Becker and Mike Kreiter together.
Eleanore Peters, longtime cook at the former Lakeside Children's Center in Milwaukee, first shared the recipe with The Milwaukee Journal in 1958. At that time, "Petey," as she was known, cautioned: "Be sure not to overbake them. There is a trick in the baking. They should be baked only until barely done."