Hungarian Heritage Review, 1988 (17. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1988-12-01 / 12. szám
jMungarTBuzxmsz feature FROM A KITCHEN TABLE TO A FACTORY: THE WEISS NOODLE COMPANY-By-STEPHEN W. PAULOVITCH In 1921, Gasper and Bertha Weiss left Hungary and arrived in the United States. Back in Hungary, Weiss’ father had owned an inn famous far and wide for its noodles — Tészta, Kluski, and Nokedli — dumpling noodles. But in the United States, hampered by a lack of knowledge of the language, the Weisses had a hard time getting by. Finally, in 1923, Bertha, working in her own little kitchen in Cleveland, Ohio, began making noodles as she had back home. She would give the noodles to her neighbors; Gaspar, in the meanwhile, canvassed local stores to interest their owners in handling this splendid, pure domestic product. After some slow going, things began to improve dramatically, especially when the store owners and particularly the owners of local restaurants tasted Bertha’s handiwork. “First,” recalls Mrs. Weiss, “we moved to making noodles in the attic. Then we had to use the basement, too, for drying. I put down our door screens and covered them with my tablecloths. That’s where we put the rolled-out dough to dry before we cut it.” The Beginnings Within a very short time — a few weeks, actually — they had to rent their first “factory” — a loft on East 123rd Street in Cleveland, Ohio — and they hired neighborhood women to help make the home-made noodles. Since the idea of “packaged” noodles was a new one at the time, sales began to rise. This was particularly true because of the large Hungarian and Slav population of the area. By 1928 the noodle making was removed from the Weiss’ home, and they set up a factory on Woodland Avenue in Cleveland. In order to keep up with the demand, an automatic noodle-rolling machine had to be specifically constructed. Interestingly, the one of the original models of this machine now stands in the foyer of the Weiss Noodle Factory in Solon, Ohio. A Growing Concern By the end of the 1940’s there were twenty people working in the factory, and the company was growing rapidly. A1 Weiss, the Weiss' son, and his wife Jane, began to run the company. One of their innovations was the introduction of packaged dry soup mixes, retaining the genuine spices and blends to preserve the true Hungarian flavor. When, in 1959, a fire totally destroyed the Woodland Avenue plant, A1 Weiss, now President of the firm, decided to relocate in the city of Solon, Ohio. Here he established a completely modern facility, equipped with “state-of-the-art” machinery. The secret of the Weiss’ success, however, is still that the noodles appear as though they were rolled, shaped and dried by hand. And, of course, they still contain the “secret” Hungarian ingredient, especially in the tészta (egg noodles) — which is simply plenty of eggs! A Modern Success Story The Weiss Noodle Company, now sixty-five years old, turns out more than fifty thousand pounds of noodles per day, and has distribution throughout more than forty-five states. A1 Weiss, President until his death in the late 70’s, was particularly proud of the “rolling” technique employed in the plant. ‘ ‘Rolling is part of the secret of a good noodle,” said Weiss. ‘‘It allows air bubbles to stay in the dough so the noodle puffs and is tender when you cook it. ” The Company, now under the ownership of American Specialty Foods, Inc., still has, as its premium brand, Aunt Bertha’s Noodles. An International Flavor Most of the packages of Weiss’ noodles contain American and foreign recipes. Noodles common to various nationalities are identified in several languages: the Egg Farvel is also egg barley, tarhonya, zecieki and egg drops. The short, wide noodle, called “Ha-Lush-Ka” is designed for such Jewish dishes as Lukshen, Hungarian-Slavic Káposztás, German-Swiss Nudel, and French Nouilles Antoine. These variations on the basic theme show how the Weiss Noodle Company remains on the cutting edge of modern culinary art, accepting A1 Weiss’ precept that, “The modern housewife is a much more experimental cook than her mother was.” The great success of the Company is a fantastic realization of Gasper and Bertha Weiss’ earliest hopes: “Sometimes it all still seems like a dream,” wonders Mrs. Weiss. And all of this remains yet another token of the creative and innovative force brought to this country by ambitious, hard-working Hungarian-Americans. Weiss Noodle Company 31313 Aurora Road, Solon, Ohio 44139 Tel: 216-248-4550 34 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW DECEMBER 1988
