If you go to the Kentucky Derby or otherwise find yourself in the vicinity of Louisville, you are apt to hear the name "Modjeska" bandied about in reference to a candy the Kentuckians urge you to sample and possibly purchase to take home with you.  At one time the name Modjeska was also associated with a hand lotion and a perfume, as well as a fine china pattern produced by the Noritake Company of Japan.   In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a theater is called The Modjeska. At one time couples danced to The Modjeska Waltz.

Who or what was Modjeska?, you might ask, and you would learn that she was considered one of the great classical actresses of her time.   Born in Krakow in 1840 as Helena Opid, she grew up to marry Gustav Modrzejewska, and took his name for her stage career, anglicizing it to simply Helena Modjeska.  A freedom-loving and outspoken woman, Modjeska was unhappy living in Poland under what was then a Russian regime, and fled with her second husband, Count Karol Bozenta Chlapowski and a group of Polish intellectuals to found a farming community in Anaheim, California in 1876.  It was a year of drought and depression, and when the crops failed, the actress sought an audition in San Francisco, was an instant success, and spent the next thirty years traveling the length and breadth of America playing roles from Shakespeare, Schiller, Victor Hugo and Dumas (pere and fils) in rural halls and city "opera houses" throughout America.

Between theatrical engagements, she and her husband, known in America as simply "Count Bozenta,"  lived in a secluded canyon with a home designed by Stanford White and called it "Arden," after the forest in Shakespeare's "As You Like It."

 In December of 1883 Modjeska opened at the McCauley Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, in a play she'd performed in Europe.  The play was an early version of "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen.   Titled "Thora," (not "Nora," as the role was named later ) it was the first time any version of the play was seen in the United States.  Shocking to conservative sensibilities, the play was severely criticized and Modjeska did not perform it again.

However, a candy maker named Anton Busath so enjoyed the performance that he asked Madame Modjeska if he might dedicate a confection in her honor.  He had in mind a caramel-covered marshmallow similar to a Polish candy and sometimes called a "caramel biscuit," although it is nothing like a biscuit made by a pastry cook.  Modjeska agreed to the use of her name, and Anton Busath began selling "modjeskas" in Kentucky soon afterward.  When the Busath candy store was lost in a fire in 1947, the task of making modjeskas was taken up by the Bauer family who had been making a "caramel biscuit" similar in quality to Busath's.   Today you can find Bauer's candy modjeskas in specialty stores, in Christmas catalogs and online at their website if you Click here.

Some candy makers dip "caramel biscuits" in chocolate and call them modjeskas.  In California the See's Candy company sell a similar item called "scotch kisses," with more of a butterscotch than a caramel flavor.  A  Louisville confectioner reportedly makes "modjeska eggs" at Easter time, rolling warm caramel-covered marshmallow eggs in chopped pecans.

A recipe is difficult to come by, but there are two online that are included here.
 

MODJESKA CANDIES
PLEASE NOTE:  ALLOW ONE FULL HOUR FOR PREPARATION AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY! DO NOT ATTEMPT ON A DAMP AND RAINY DAY.

Ingredients:
 A package of regular size (not miniature) marshmallows
2 cups white (granulated) sugar
1 cup white (Light) Karo corn syrup
1 large can evaporated milk
1 small can evaporated milk
1/2 lb. margarine
pinch baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

 Boil the sugar and Karo syrup in a saucepan until it reaches 254 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer.  Add the margarine and stir until melted.
Keep the syrup boiling.  Keep it boiling also as you add the milk a little at a time and stir constantly.  Add a pinch of baking soda and boil and stir until it reaches 237 degrees on the candy thermometer (the soft ball stage).
Without scraping the sides of the saucepan, pour the mixture into a buttered square or oblong cake pan.
Allow to cool until comfortable to touch.  Cut into one inch squares.
Take each square of caramel and stretch it out flat enough to fold around a marshmallow.
Wrap each piece of candy in a square of waxed paper.
 

The following recipe eschews evaporated milk in favor of cream.

MODJESKAS II

 Ingredients :
 2 c. sugar
 2 tbsp. butter
 1 1/4 c. white corn syrup
 1 tsp. vanilla
 2 c. heavy cream (do not substitute evaporated milk)
 Pinch of salt
 3/4 lb. marshmallows, cut in half
    with scissors

 Preparation :
 Combine sugar, 1 cup of cream, butter, syrup, and salt in a heavy
 3 or 4 quart saucepan.  Put remaining cream in a small pan and heat
 it separately.  Bring sugar-cream-butter mixture to boil, stirring
 constantly.  Wipe down sides of pan with wet cloth or cover with lid
 briefly to dissolve remaining sugar crystals.  When it begins a
 rolling boil, dribble the hot cup of cream into the boiling mixture,
 stirring.  Don't let the boiling stop.  Cook over medium heat,
 stirring as necessary to prevent scorching until thermometer
 registers 238 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Allow
 cooked caramel to stand 10 minutes before starting to dip.  Drop
 marshmallow half into caramel, then with fork, turn it over to coat
 completely and lift out, pulling the fork over edge of pan so
 surplus runs back into pan.  Place each piece on buttered or oiled
 surface, such as cookie sheets or waxed paper.  When set, wrap each
 piece separately in waxed paper.

 
Who Cooked That Up? is copyrighted 2000 by J.J. Schnebel
Revised 2006.
all rights reserved for your pleasure and enlightenment

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