Keeping the Traditions Strong

There is no denying some of the heavy culinary talent that thrives inside of the Knight’s kitchens all over the world on behalf of service to the Lord and their perspective communities. However, reviving some of the long-standing history and church events after the effects of the pandemic has been a tricky task to undertake in church communities all over Texas.

Over the last twenty years or so, the Knights of St. Paul Chong Hasang in Harker Heights, Texas, has always been committed to excellence when it comes to serving its local population with quality, top shelf cuisines. The Knights that consist of both St. Andrew Kim Council 9930 and Thomas P. Shields Assembly 2370 has provided its church community in the Central Texas region with brisket cookouts, burrito sales, monthly homestyle breakfasts and many other culinary banquets, and the summer of 2023 was definitely one for the history books!

Starting with the Council, the monthly breakfasts that are served on the first Sunday of every month came back to life after taking a summer break. The menu that consists of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, and homestyle waffles to order, was a tradition that began over twenty years ago in a tiny little parish kitchen in the early days of St. Paul Chong Hasang. What had started out as an opportunity for fellowship amongst the Knights has grown into a full-blown operation that now serves the entire St. Paul Chong Hasang Catholic community. One of the senior Knights mentioned that the smell of fresh bacon and eggs grabbed the attention of some of the parishioners as they were leaving Sunday morning mass and the Knights gladly welcomed them in to grab a plate and fresh coffee. Fast forward twenty years later, the Council breakfast tradition has served more than 12,000 plates with fresh homestyle breakfasts and continues to do so to the present date.

The Assembly also worked hard over the last few months to put together a very unique culinary experience of St. Paul Chong Hasang, the Schnitzel dinner. It was a dinner that had begun back in the late 1990s and was prepared using military surplus cookware and outdoor burners way before St. Paul Chong Hasang had a full-scale commercial kitchen. However, the senior Knights of the Assembly during that time were coming to an end of their service and were no longer able to continue on with the Schnitzel dinner. As a result, the dinner took a twenty-three-year hiatus before being revived on October 21, 2023. Using the original recipes and experiences as a baseline that some of the present-day Assembly Knights had experienced, a menu was put together that consisted of breaded and deep-fried pork loins smothered in brown gravy and mushrooms, Bratwursts, red cabbage, German style potato salad, coleslaw, and for dessert, homemade apple strudel.

What perhaps made all of these cooking events somewhat challenging is knowing how many people to possibly account for, and how much to invest without breaking the bank. It has been a very tricky scenario in bringing these traditions back to life after the effects of the pandemic, as well as applying the old traditions into today’s Parish community.

However, as a result of hard work and dedicated service from the Knights from both the Council and the Assembly, the parish community of St. Paul Chong Hasang has repeatedly echoed their praise and thanks for such a tremendous flavors and great fellowship that has been given by the Knights of Columbus.

It seems that the old kitchen traditions are in great hands and are looking pretty strong for the coming years!