“You don’t cry when someone dies,” Elsie Czerkovich told the Baltimore Sun in April 1974. “You rejoice because he is going to heaven to live with the Lord.”
It was the day after Easter, and Czerkovich was gathering with other worshipers from the congregation of the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church for a picnic. Women sold raffle tickets. Children played baseball. Families waited for the priest to bless the dead.
Czerkovich sat at the picnic with her 80-year-old father, Sedor Romanuk. She explained to the journalist, J.S. Bainbridge, Jr., that her father had come to Baltimore intending to make money to bring back to Russia. Instead, he had stayed.
Elsie Romanuk married Paul Czerkovich sometime between 1947 and 1950. Paul’s own parents’ countries of origin on censuses alternate between Russia, Ukraine, and Austria, demonstrating how meaningless borders can be.
Paul Czerkovich identified firmly as Russian, as evidenced by his heavy involvement in the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, as well as his appearances in local newspapers commenting on matters of Russian culture – particularly food. In a 2000 article about the Russian Festival at Holy Trinity church, Paul said that his father had been an officer in the Russian Imperial Army, and that Paul and Elsie had both attended Holy Trinity since they were children.
The Holy Trinity Russian Festival is still held each fall, with food, music, and dancing to celebrate the heritage of the church, which was founded in 1919.
Holy Trinity has produced at least two cookbooks: “Baba’s Kitchen Secrets” in 1981, and a decade later, a book simply titled “Favorite Recipes.” Both books are chock full of contributions from Paul and Elsie Czerkovich, each of whom participated in making food for the church’s various events.
In 1986, Paul told the Evening Sun that one of the main reasons Russian food hadn’t caught on more in the United States was the relatively small number of Russians here, as well as the fact that “Russian cooking is a hodgepodge” of different people and language dialects.
Of the many recipes shared by the Czerkoviches, I chose the most idiosyncratic, naturally.
I couldn’t really find any traditional analog to “Russian Easter Ham.” In scanned newspapers, the recipe first appeared in the Carlisle Pennsylvania Sentinel in 1984, and the version shared by Paul is not much different. The ham is cooked in a mustard sauce, and then cooled and topped with a cream cheese mixture, hard-boiled egg whites, and vegetables. Instead of cottage cheese, I used Polish farmer’s cheese.
When I made the ham, it occurred to me that it was possibly meant to be decorated like a lamb or something like that.
I served the so-called “Russian Easter Ham” to my family at (non-Orthodox) Easter. Surprisingly, it was enjoyed by all. It had a bit of a ham-salad effect.
I would love to hear from readers who are familiar with anything similar to this dish.
Other guests made recipes from “Baba’s Kitchen Secrets,” including marinated mushrooms, lasagna, pickled beets, and cake.
“Baba’s Kitchen Secrets” has many Russian recipes, but also lots of community cookbook fare – occasionally with a twist. I was excited when I saw a chili recipe containing buckwheat groats, aka kasha. I thought I was witnessing homegrown cultural fusion. I later noticed that the recipe is on the back of boxes of kasha.
Articles about the food served at the church, and the cookbooks tend to emphasize the breads, but the secret of good bread often lies in the hands of the baker. Elsie shared a recipe for her yeast dough for meat pies with the Baltimore Sun in 1979. I doubt that the likes of her meat pies will be tasted again. I didn’t even try to make her bread.
Elsie Czerkovich passed away in 2008, and Paul died in 2012. The couple are buried in the Holy Trinity’s cemetery in Elkridge, the same cemetery where they had convened in 1974 to pay respects to tradition and dead loved ones.
That day, some parishioners had left eggs on graves, an offering to their loved ones. “It symbolizes new life,” Father Mark Odell explained.
The Sun interviewed Joseph G. Brittle, who was born into a German family but converted to Russian Orthodox when he got married. “The Russian people don’t forget the dead, even though it’s a picnic,” he said. “They are with them. It’s a happy time.”
Recipe:
- 1 whole, smoked ham about 12 lbs
- .5 Cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon mustard powder
- 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 8 oz package of softened cream cheese
- .5 Cup cottage cheese (I used farmers’ cheese from the Polish store)
- 4 Tablespoons mustard, prepared
- 7 hard-cooked egg whites
- green strips pepper
- pitted sliced ripe black olives
- lemon leaves if desired
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Trim ring and all but one-quarter inch of fat from ham. Place ham fat side up on rack in shallow roasting pan. Mix sugar and dry mustard in small bowl; blend with mayonnaise to make a thick paste. Spread paste on top and sides of ham. Bake ham 1 hour. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees; bake until brown, about 30 minutes. Remove ham from oven; cool slightly. Refrigerate covered until cold. Beat cheeses and prepared mustard in small mixer bowl until smooth; spread cheese mixture on top and sides of chilled ham. Press egg whites through sieve; sprinkle on cheese mixture. Garnish with green pepper strips, olives and lemon leaves. Refrigerate ham at least 1 hour before serving.
Recipe from Favorite Recipes, Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church. 1992.
