From the camp to your kitchen
Basque recipes reflect rich history
The Basque culture is rich in traditions, including its food. Along with a number of restaurants, Bakersfield is lucky to have a strong community of home cooks willing to share their recipes.
Founded in 1958, the Kern County Wool Growers Auxiliary, aka “The Bo-Peeps,” was founded to widen the use of sheep products, promote public relations for the sheep industry and assist the Kern County branch of the California Wool Growers Association.
Along with hosting an annual Sheepman’s Picnic in June and offering an annual scholarship to an agriculture student, the auxiliary also helped spread goodwill with its two cookbooks. “From the Sheepcamp to the Kitchen,” volumes I (1990) and II (1998), shared a variety of recipes, some of which had their roots with immigrant Basque sheepherders who cooked in Dutch ovens set in pits that they dug in the ground while out at camps tending their flocks.
The following are recipes from both books ($15 each), which are available via the auxiliary’s website (kcwgaux.com).
Noriega spinach
The Noriega Hotel, founded by Faustino Noriega in 1893 and taken over by Juan and Gracianna Elizalde in 1931, was a beloved local culinary institution until it closed in May 2020.
½ onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon flour
– Salt and pepper to taste
2 drops of Tabasco
1 package frozen spinach
1 cup milk
Fry chopped onion and garlic in a little oil and butter until tender. Add flour, salt, pepper and Tabasco. Add milk to make light white sauce. Add spinach and simmer.
— Mary Ansolabehere and Jeanne Mendiburu,
“From the Sheepcamp to the Kitchen”
Stew (Chalet Basque)
JB and Marie Curutchague opened J.B. & Marie’s Chalet Basque in Wasco in 1969 before moving it to Oak Street in Bakersfield two years later. The restaurant has changed ownership a few times since then but the recipes are still classic.
2 pounds cubed, boneless lamb or beef
¾ teaspoon oil
3 carrots, sliced
½ cup chopped onion
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
– Mushrooms (optional)
2 teaspoons flour
– Salt and pepper to taste
– Hot water
In Dutch oven or heavy pan, brown meat in hot oil. Add onion, garlic and mushroom. Cook over medium hear, stirring with wooden spoon until onion is limp.
Add flour, salt and pepper. Pour hot water (enough to cover the meat well). Cook slowly for about 1½ hours. Add sliced carrots and cook for about 30 minutes longer.
Serve with sourdough Pyrenees French bread and butter.
— J.B. and Marie Curutchague, “From the Sheepcamp to the Kitchen”
Fried cream leche fritas
2 egg yolks
8 ounces flour
8 ounces sugar
34 ounces whole milk
In a bowl, beat 2 egg yolks; pour in some milk and mix it. Add the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the rest of the milk, little by little, along with the sugar and mix well.
Pour the mixture through a colander into a cooking pan. Cook at medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon so it won’t stick. It is done when the mixture doesn’t taste like flour.
Once it is done, pour it into a large flat dish and let cool.
When cold, cut it into square pieces; dip into flour and egg and fry.
Once fried, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon before serving.
— Maria Luisa Iturriria from I&M Sheep Co., “From the Sheepcamp to the Kitchen: Volume II”