Gooseberry Cream Pie

Makes 8 serving slices

2 prepared rolled out pastry pie shells

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon softened butter

2 beaten eggs

3 cups canned gooseberries, packed in light syrup

Directions:

Arrange bottom pie shell crust in a 9-inch deep pie pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, nutmeg, butter and then add eggs, mixing until smooth.

Pour gooseberries into pie shell.

Cover gooseberries with sugar and flour mixture and top with remaining pie crust, adding slits for ventilation.

Bake in hot oven at 450-degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake about 30 minutes.

The last time I visited across the table with Dan Urschel it was in July 2021 and served up with lively, fun and entertaining conversation with wife Joanne at a dinner party hosted by Mary Beth Schultz in her Valparaiso home.

COVID-19 precautions had eased slightly, and we were all ready to escape our social-distancing confines for a couple hours of great food and fellowship.

In the past two years friend and touchstone Joanne, along with Mary Beth, have kept me updated on Dan and his health journey.

Every Saturday night, while turned in to the weekly spooky movie selection hosted by Chicago TV icon Svengoolie, I always smile to myself knowing that Dan and Joanne were also likely tuned in (as long as the highlighted movie wasn’t too scary), knowing they too rank as fellow silly fright film fans.

Daniel R. Urschel, 85, of Valparaiso passed away Jan. 7 at the VNA Hospice Center.

Dan had remained with Joanne in their Valparaiso home until a short hospital stint in recent weeks and then the need for more controlled care.

Dan was born Oct. 19, 1938, and graduated from Valparaiso High School and then Valparaiso University before serving proudly with the Indiana National Guard.

And of course Dan served as part of the management team at Urschel Laboratories for more than 60 years before retiring as executive vice president of manufacturing.

Accomplished not only in his career but also a man who involved himself in various community affairs throughout the years, Dan always made time for family, including the beloved family dachshunds.

On Dec. 23, 1962, Dan married Joanne Montague, who will continue his family legacy along with their children Mark Urschel (Heather), of Indianapolis, and Danielle Urschel of Bloomington, Ind.; grandchildren Izabella Jarvis, Ben Urschel, Marcellus Jarvis and Sophie Urschel; and Dan’s siblings Elena Urschel, Cinda Urschel, Janet Gersh (Michael) and Bob Urschel (Nancy).

Dan was preceded in death by his parents, Joe R. and Gladys E. (nee Swain) Urschel, and one brother, John William Urschel.

Since my own parents have thorny gooseberry bushes at our family farm, Dan and Joanne have always taken smiling delight to remind me that it was a “gooseberry snipper” invented by Dan’s grandfather William Urschel that started the original family business, which is now an amazing global empire.

Built and patented in 1908, this dreamed-up idea followed the mantra “necessity is the mother to invention,” with the clever implement created to sell to Michigan canners as an easy and efficient device to remove stems and blossom ends from harvested tart and thorny gooseberries.

Today, it’s french fries, potato chips and anything associated with the slicing, dicing, shredding and milling of nearly any food product imaginable that defines the Urschel family name as the international multimillion-dollar industry leader in food processing.

Securely guarded and isolated in remote Porter County, Urschel Laboratories is the longtime Valparaiso-based company with a century-old Hoosier history translated as a world leader in the designing, manufacturing and selling of precision food-cutting equipment.

In 2015 the new $104 million, 350,000-square-foot Urschel Laboratories Inc. world headquarters and manufacturing building opened on 160 acres at 1200 Cutting Edge Drive in Chesterton. An expansive atrium lobby museum (not open to the public) showcases more than just the family history.

Displayed are the equipment models and the large selection of prominent brands dependent on Urschel’s innovative food processing technology, from the purée needed for Gerber’s line of baby food and Kraft’s fine shredded cheese to the tiny pieces of meats and vegetables on Red Baron frozen pizzas and Dairy Queen Blizzard’s crushed candy and confections mix-ins.

There is an extra added emphasis on the Urschel influence on the preparation of potatoes for the slicing needed to make potato chips or the uniform design desired for a crinkle-cut french fry as well as emphasized depth and pattern for waffle-cut fries.

The Urschel family and Urschel employees — the latter of which number more than 400 at the headquarters — can beam with pride considering the company’s equipment is used by every major food processing manufacturer in the United States and in more than 120 countries worldwide.

It’s the same cutting precision and technology as launched by founder William Urschel, and continuing long after his death in 1948 at age 68, that are key components for the success to create “perfect french fries and potato chips,” since the slicing of the potatoes has to be exact and uniform so that all of these potato products cook evenly at the same time for the highest quality desired final product.

After William Urschel’s death, it was Dan and his siblings’ father, Joe, who assumed the role of president, and immediately began working on a new machine patent to cut sweet corn from the cob.

In 1975 U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller presented the President’s “E” Award to Urschel Laboratories for “excellence in exporting in recognition of the company’s contributions to the increase of U.S. trade in foreign countries.”

After Joe Urschel’s death at age 82 in 1996, brothers Bob and Dan and their siblings assumed new leadership roles. Today, it is Patrick “Rick” Urschel, son of Bob, who has served as president and chief executive officer since September 2013.

Moeller Funeral Home of Valparaiso is working with Joanne and family to handle the arrangements for Dan since his passing was announced by Joanne last Wednesday. A private family burial will be at Graceland Cemetery, and in lieu of flowers Joanne and her family has asked that any donations be made to the Visiting Nurse Association of Porter County for their kind and compassionate assistance with Dan’s care in recent weeks.

I know the thought of any gooseberry recipe would bring a smile to Dan’s face.

In his honor, I’m sharing an ages-old recipe for a delicious gooseberry cream pie which can be made with canned gooseberries, which are more easily available than fresh berries in today’s changing produce picking landscape.

Since 1935, Oregon brand for canned berries, for example, has sold perfectly picked tart gooseberries packed in a light syrup, with their harvesting using the Urschel patent technology to gather and process the prickly crops.

Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa @comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.