2025, Food, History, Uncategorized

Old Mag Seasoning

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Husband and I made a trip to the Rock County Historical Society last week to look around and see what they had in the gift shop. I was delighted to find 8 oz bags of Old Mag Seasoning, an all purpose spice mixture for meat, eggs, and veggies developed by the rather rascally proprietor of the now defunct Magnolia Steak House and Bar in Magnolia, a little town about 6 miles east of Luverne. It was famous for decades as the place to go for the best steaks. I am really looking forward to putting it on our food at home. It smells wonderful. I have fond memories of the wonderful food I ate at the Magnolia Steak House when I was a kid.

AC Dispanet was ftom Estherville, IA, and opened the Steak House in 1938. He went by Ace or Claire. My dad grew up near Magnolia and graduated from High School there. For a while in the 1950’s he worked at the steak house as a bar tender. He got to know Claire pretty well. Claire worked for Al Capone in the 1920’s driving a beer truck on the North Shore. He quit and left the area after he had to phone Chicago to report one of the trucks was stolen and two guys he knew who had driven the truck were sumnarily executed by Capone. He started his own bootlegging business after that, and was arrested and put in Leavenworth Penitentiary for a few years. He lost his US citizenship due to that, and didn’t get it back until the 1950’s with the help of Hubert Humphrey.

My dad’s brother farmed near Magnolia and liked the clearly illegal high stakes poker games Claire allowed to operate after hours. My aunt got so mad at my uncle for spending so many nights away from home gambling that she threw a chair through a glass door at the bar when the door was locked and they wouldn’t open it to let her in. He stayed home more after that.

Claire’s wife was a very devout Roman Catholic. Claire was not. When he died in 1972 his wife had him buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Luverne as close to the grave of the former parish priest as she could arrange. My dad said she hoped Claire could grab onto the priests robes and get transported to heaven in the Resurrection.

In 2010 I wrote a post about the Steak House, so feel free to read that, too. I can’t believe it has been 15 years!

Tell about some noted rascals you knew or knew of. What are some of your favorite spice mixtures.

44 thoughts on “Old Mag Seasoning”

  2. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    This post puts me in mind of small-town, Midwestern Steak Houses that still operate. There is one in my home town that still operates, although the owners are my age, so the big topic in town is, “What is next for Archies?” Archies is also a James Beard Award winner. The original owner was Archie Jackson, grandfather of the present owner/managers, who started the establishment as a disreputable bar, according to my parents, but then developed it into a steakhouse of local and far flung renown. When I go back there, the visit usually includes a visit there for supper.

    Archies is not known for its spice blend. Rather it is known for the cuts of steak, especially the “secret” cut that no one/everyone knows about, The Benny Weiker. (We never got that–too expensive). Benny had some relationship to the Sioux City Stockyards, the mob, and running liquor. Renee, your story makes me wonder about the role of these steakhouses in organized crime which, history has it, started with the Prohibition Period. There were stories about Archie’s role in the mob that are similar to your Magnolia story. There is a confirmed (by historians) relationship among the nearby Sioux City liquor runners and the St Paul group. This was all run around the Iowa rivers (Missouri, Floyd, and DesMoines Rivers).

    Archie was a certainly a town character, if not a rascal. He was the subject of constant local gossip. I did not tune in to what the actual gossip was about, but I assume the usual small town topics of 1. Not attending church 2. Affairs 3. Alcohol use 4. Gambling. I remember him as a rotund smoker who died fairly young sometime in the 1960s. He had three or four daughters by two wives. Several of them took over the Steakhouse and ran it before this generation. The younger two daughters were known for the names he called them: Pidgeon and Punkin’. Punkin’s real name was Marilyn. No one in town can remember if Pidgeon was a given name or a nickname.

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  3. Reading the label on the Old Mag, I see it was “discovered” over 80 years ago. Where, I wonder, was it before that? Was there an Old Mag mine near Magnolia? Or was it one of those apocryphal accidents where Dispanet was making something entirely different and just happened to accidentally spill onion powder, garlic powder, dehydrated peppers and assorted spices together?

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      1. I think we might be able to debate this point. Because even if he “created it, you could also say he “discovered” that if he mixed this with that with this with that, it was pretty good. By the joy of the English language.

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  4. When I was a kid growing up on the northwest shore of Cannon Lake, there was an old man who lived in a tiny yellow- and orange-striped cabin two doors away. His name was Charlie and he was a raging drunk. Raging because Charlie was often all worked up over some (imagined) slight, especially toward my dad.

    Have I mentioned that as a child I spent as much time in the lake as I did on land? We swam constantly, even when it was windy and gray. My dad was an alcoholic too, and was frequently drunk, or nearly drunk, whenever he was home. Dad always accused Charlie of being a drunk, which he was, but whenever you point at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you.

    Anyway, my brothers and I were in the lake, of course, on a gray and windy day. We were in shallow water near the shore – a little over knee deep on a large adult. I noticed something that looked like stones skipping over the water between my brother and me. Suddenly dad was running down to the lake, running into the water. He pulled me out by my hair, yelling at my brothers and me to get into the house NOW! Then he grabbed his shotgun! And went over to Charlie’s! I could see bright flashes, and I heard the POP POP POP of shotguns. There was yelling, and a tussle. Dad came back, beet red, and yelled at Mrs. Beer to get off the party line RIGHT NOW! She complied, and he called the sheriff. Charlie got hauled away in the back of the sheriff’s car for shooting at us kids in the lake. No one ever explained to me why Charlie was shooting at us, except that he was drunk. Dad didn’t press charges, and Charlie was home in several days.

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    3. I am liking the story, not the content of the story. I remember hearing many “drunk with a gun” stories whispered by adults when I was a nosy kid listening in. As a therapist I heard some of these as well. Pretty traumatizing.

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        1. Yes, being yanked out of the water by your hair had to be pretty traumatizing, Krista. I get it, and I’m sorry that happened to you.

          My mother once, in a fit of rage, grabbed me by a handful of hair, lifted me off the ground and sung me around in our fenced in back yard until that handful of hair separated from my scalp and I went flying down the stairs to our basement. Miraculously I landed on my feet, but I had a big bald spot on my head for months. I was nine years old at the time. The ensuing curly permanent I had endure to cover it up, plus all the lies in explanation of what had caused the sudden hair loss left an indelible scar.

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        2. Thanks, PJ. I didn’t have to wonder why it was me that got the rough treatment and not my brothers. Dad told me that I was supposed to have been a boy. I was a disappointment to him and always would be. Of course, I’ve accepted it as an adult. I even told him once that it hurt to know that he felt that way about me. He was kinder to me after he began having strokes and I became his main caregiver. The last time I saw him alive, he told me he was sorry and that he loved me. He gave me a gift of a shoulder bag for work. I still have it although it’s worn out.

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        3. Wow, PJ! Your treatment was much worse than mine! I’m sorry that happened to you. I think we both turned out okay.

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  5. My favorite is Herbs de Provence. It’s just so good for soups. I discovered a Penzey’s blend that I like: Northwoods blend. It’s mildly spicy and works well on chicken or fish, or in egg or vegetarian dishes.

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  7. You can buy a lot of different spice mixtures, but in most cases, I prefer to mix my own.

    Curry mixtures are among my favorites, and there’s an abundance of them. Indian curries vary greatly depending on the region they come from, and they are quite different than curries from Thailand, Jamaica, Central Asia and so on. Some are mild and quite sweet, others are hot and spicy. I rarely cook anymore, but when I did, I would usually blend my own curries.

    The same is true with many other spice blends. I don’t think I have ever succeeded in making a pot of chili exactly the same way twice. I’m quite comfortable winging it depending on the ingredients I have on hand.

    Some people get hung up on the “authenticity” of a particular dish, I’m quite flexible about that. I’m definitely not a purist.

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      1. Unlike me, who is practically a saint. A little frayed around the edges, perhaps, but a damn saint nevertheless.

        Here’s to a little seasonal cheerful singing. Feel free to join in if you’re inspired, it just might give your spirits a boost.

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  8. What a great post! The characters we find in life, eh??

    We used to have a pizza place that made Focaccia seasoning for pizza topping and we always really liked that. It hasn’t occurred to me to try and find it or create it.

    We like garlic salt with parsley for garlic bread.

    There’s a question: who’s got a good recipe for garlic bread? All (most) of the places now do ‘Texas Toast’ and I don’t want that; I want the 1/2″ slice that’s both crispy and melts in your mouth. There’s one pizza place here in town that will make it if you ask for it special.

    I’ve tried baking, I’ve tried broiling, I’ve tried extra butter on both sides.
    If anyone went to Sandy Point, they had garlic bread like that. Maybe Mantorville’s Hubbel House still does…

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  9. I can’t think of any colorful characters, but my goodness, the Luverne area seems to have had its share!

    I do like Herbs de Provence, and have concocted my own version when I was out of it… Beau Monde is another one I have somewhere… and I have Old Bay Seasoning that I like on fish.

    I love Penzey’s Spice Co. for their irreverence toward the current occupant of the White House. Here’s one article I just found, from 2018: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/ceo-who-called-trump-racist-penzeys-spice-mix

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  10. I have never asked my cousins if they ever heard the chair story. It happened when they were very young in the mid 1950’s. It wouldn’t surprise me if they hadn’t.

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    1. I seem to be the keeper of family secrets. I was the only one who figured out my Boomgaarden grandparents had a shotgun wedding in 1921, just a few months before my dad was born. No one except me and my mom and dad even talked about it.

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  11. The town in which I grew up (it will never be my hometown) had far more than its share of characters and about its fair share of liars, and cheats, and frauds. However, I cannot think of any who fell in that area between that I would call rascals. Unless everyone who worked for the railroad was a bit of a rascal. Taking things from the railroad was just too easy. They decided to paint everything of theirs a distinct color of maroon and left many five gallon pails of it around. Soon garages and sheds all around the area were that color, including ours, but mostly on the back side. My father did not want to ruin his barn red paint scheme.
    There was a real character who worked for the city who raised piglets. I went with my father every spring to buy one. His house was a ramshackle and his yard was full of recycled materials he picked up around before anyone heard of recycling. People knew they could go out there and pick through it. Later the county ordered him to clear up his property for pest control. He wrote a letter to the editor which they printed in his clear chaotic style saying fair enough but he drove the alleys of town as part of his job and now people were going to have to clean up their yards. He was an anti-rascal. He was loud and boisterous and giving and kind and would not drink.
    At the U of Chi I worked with a rascal. He worked a 40 hour week as a janitor in various athletic buildings, much of which he slept in his various secret hiding places. He was Black. And “you I know how useless and lazy they are” his boss told me. I worked there too. He could play dumb slow-moving Black man to perfection. After he got to know me, the accent disappeared and he was like anybody else. He told me what was going on. He slept so he could drive one of his 3 taxis at night. He hired two drivers for the others. He owned a six unit apartment building. He took me home for Sunday dinner. All 4 of his kids graduated from college or were in college. His wife was a supervisor in a nursing home.
    He was my rascal
    Clyde

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  12. I’m a big Penzeys fan although I rarely go to the store unless I have a gift card. Luckily I got two gift cards for solstice this year so I will be making an appearance soon. I got turned onto their Justice spice blend about three years ago now. I haven’t found anything that I don’t like it on yet although I wouldn’t think it would do well on sweet things. According to their website it’s made up of shallots, garlic, onion, green peppercorns, chives, and green onion. Seriously yummy addition.

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  13. Penzey’s Fox Point blend makes a nice dipping sauce for bread when mixed with olive oil and vinegar.

    I used to love to ge get a holiday spice glat white at Starbucks for a special holiday treat. They discontinued it after just a season or two. Most of their holiday coffee frinks are too sweet for me. I still get a plain flat white now and then, though, and imagine it has the holiday spices in it.

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    1. Please excuse the bad typing, I have never been able to type accurately without looking at the keys, and the light is poor. Why can’t computer manufacturers make the letters on their keyboards more visible?

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  14. My sister worked for McCormick spices for quite a few years and we own stock in McCormick. On principle then, I hate buying any other brand, yet HyVee and Target seem not to carry all the McCormick spices.

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  15. There are a lot of characters in my family, enough to fuel a multigenerational epic novel. But I wouldn’t describe any of them as rascals.

    We get the majority of our spices at Penney’s, mostly individual spices but also a few blends like Northwoods, garam masala and other curry mixes, and chili powder. We make several on our own at home: Cajun seasoning, herbs de Provence, ras al hanout. Husband makes several signature spice mixes/rubs for grilling and smoking that are very good.

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