A Scagnoli specialty: Family's annual ravioli making keeps a longtime tradition alive
Nov. 24—They are a well-oiled machine, a family factory line that wraps around Barb Nies' kitchen.
They know their jobs. They know each other's jobs. When one steps away for a break, another fills the spot with no effort.
They have gathered on a warm November afternoon to honor their grandmother: Marfina Scagnoli. Their ages range from 70 to 80. And then there's Aunt Edie Hildebrandt, 95, and her husband, Al, who will turn 100 in February 2023.
What are they doing? They are making ravioli, a Marfina Scagnoli specialty. For the last decade, nieces and nephews, and one who called her mother, have gathered in their kitchens to create the Italian specialty in honor of their late matriarch.
This day is just the first shift. Several days later, another group will assemble and repeat the process, this time ranging in age from around 60 to 70.
Nies said that in 2021 they made over 3,038 pieces of ravioli. When this year's efforts are over, they will have made approximately 3,400.
The process
One person prepares the dough, one feeds it through a pasta roller.
At the kitchen table, one places the thin dough over a ravioli form, a metal tray with six holes and tiny spikes along the edges. They set a second tray, this one with six divots containing hamburger or sausage rolled into a plump ball, onto the dough. The top tray presses the dough through the holes, creating cups.
They flip the second tray and the meat drops perfectly into the dough cups. They cover it up with more dough, push a roller across it and the tiny spikes cut the dough into perfect ravioli pieces.
"I wasn't able to do this for years but now I'm retired and I love it," said Raybeth Siddall, one of the nieces.
Suzy Naumcheff remembered trying to learn how her grandmother made ravioli back in the 1960s, recalling her scooping flour from a bag with cupped hands, using a dowel rod as a roller. She spooned the meat into the pocket, covered it with dough and then crimped the corners with a fork.
Marfina Scagnoli's ravioli looked like apple dumplings when finished, Naumcheff said.
"She kept doing it, doing it and doing it," she said. "Can you imagine the labor? Look at all of us out here. That was just one lady making it unless one of the grandkids helped her."
"I think (this tradition) is recognition of all the folks who have gone before and all they did to help the family," said Joe Scagnoli, Marfina's grandson. "This is coming from a time when they were immigrants to the country and building the family from there. It's family. We are all together and we take some time out of our busy lives to be together a couple of times a year."
They split the ravioli amongst family. Nies will give her beautician a bag and also her doctor.
What made Grandma Scagnoli's ravioli so special?
It had a taste of its own, Nies said.
A brief family history
Edie Hildebrandt is the family historian and she traced the family's heritage back to Antonio Scagnoli, who has a tentative birthdate of 1790.
Her father, Giuseppe Scagnoli, was born in Montefortino, Italy, in 1884. Marfina Marocco was born in Castel Compagnano, Italy, in 1889.
Marfina was the first to arrive in the United States, landing at Ellis Island in 1902. Guiseppe arrived one year later on a ship that carried 1,259 Italian immigrants.
Both Edie Hildebrandt and Nies believed the couple wedded in an arrange marriage in Logansport in 1907.
They had 15 children, nine boys and six girls. Twelve lived to adulthood. Seven of the boys served in the military, said Hildebrandt, proud of her brothers' achievement. She believed five of them were in WWII, though other family members were not so sure.
The Scagnoli children and grandchildren recall Sunday lunches with their grandparents. The family was so big they took turns visiting, one group one Sunday, the other the next. Joe recalled even those limited gatherings were often standing room only.
The Scagnolis contributed to the Logansport community. Joe said his father, Guido, bought a bowling alley and named it the "Logan Bowlmor." It was originally located at 217 E. Broadway and was co-owned with Anthony Sundy, another Italian resident. Years into the venture his father added Marfina's Italian Villa Restaurant onto the bowling alley.
He recalled visiting his grandfather at the bowling alley and listening to stories about the railroads and the other Italian families on the East side of Logansport. Joe thought many Italian families came to Logansport through the Pennsylvania Railroad.
"We were part of a group of families that stretched from 5th Street downtown as you go down Erie Avenue," he said. "It would go all the way to 17th or 18th Street."
He also said his grandparents ran a grocery out of their Logansport home during the Great Depression, though many of the deals were struck through bartering with customers.
Edie's husband, Al, came from the Hildebrandt family, owners of the Hildebrandt Fish and Tackle company. The business began in the 1890s and remained in the family line for over a century before it was sold. Al was the bowling alley's accountant.
Her brother, Basil Scagnoli, owned Scagnoli Gravel and Stone.
"And the family continues to this day," said Joe Scagnoli. "It's still a fun time to get together and enjoy everybody's company."
Happy together
In the early afternoon the blender began whirling as Jim Arvin, an Ohio relative, started to make margaritas.
"Where are my strawberries?" he shouted over the din.
Some of the men took a break and walked out of the kitchen into the 70-degree November afternoon. Joe Scagnoli sat down at the table as Edie Hildebrant began a discussion about books, asked her nieces and nephews to find out who wrote "The Gentleman from Moscow."
Nies laughed as Edie's voice rose, a glass of margarita swirling in the 95 year old's hand. Nies turned to the sink, looked at the pile of trays and dishes waiting for a wash.
"And then there is the cleanup," she sighed. The smile on her face betrayed her frustration. No amount of clean up could dampen that moment with her family.
