Time Travel Kitchen

Rendered Suet

2012-01-13T10:50:00.001-08:00

Never before have I completed a recipe and quite so adamantly thought, "NEVER AGAIN." Okay, so suet is the beef fat that comes from around the kidneys. It is the purest fat from the carcass, and as such, was very popular for cooking. Kind of like the lard of beef. It is apparently the only thing to use for steamed puddings because of its particular melting point, and a traditional ingredient in pie crusts, mincemeat, and tallow candles.

If you are lucky enough to live in the U.K., you can get it in the form of innocuous pre-processed pellets . I do not live in the U.K.

So, when we bought half a cow recently, I asked the butcher for the suet. He asked what that was, and then said that they call it the leaf fat. He brought out a great big chunk to the yard, hacked off the meaty tendony bits into the Trash Can O' Animal Bits, wrapped it up for me, and said I could come back any time for the same. Usually they use it to mix into ground game meats.

Let's do this.

7:00 a.m- Looked at leaf fat. Resolved to make it into suet today.
8:00- Looked at leaf fat. Resolved to make it into suet soon.
9:00- Looked at leaf fat. Resolved to make it into suet soon.
10:00- Looked at leaf fat. Resolved to make it into suet soon.
11:00- Looked at leaf fat. Resolved to make it into suet soon.

12:00 p.m.- Convinced husband to cut it into chunks. Cut one chunk myself. Had severe hibbity jibbities. Vowed never to do it again. Husband asked if this was going to smell weird. I reassured him that it probably wouldn't. Possibly. Anyway, it'd probably just smell like beef.

12:15- Put it in the crock pot, with about 2 cups of water.

3:07- Does it smell weird in here? Not super weird, just a little weird?

3:11- It smells weird in here. Is it the suet? It is, isn't it. I should check.

4:00 Lifted the lid of the crock pot. IT IS THE SUET. It does not smell like beef. It smells like fish that has gone off. I hope this doesn't get worse. It isn't too bad as long as you don't open the lid.

4:46- Put crock pot in garage, to quench the smell of death.

5:54- I think it is following me. No. It's just residual.

7:01- suspect stench is infiltrating. Told Husband I was pulling the plug on this project, but he convinced me to try it just a while longer. Sigh.

8:27- The stench may be lessening... or I am just getting used to it.

10:09 p.m., next day- Fat still not entirely rendered. This is taking much longer than I thought it was going to. It doesn't stink anymore! Hooray!

1:43 p.m., the day after that- Looks like pineapple chunks in syrup. Smells... like beef! Admittedly not a super quality in something whose purpose is to go into desserts, but much better than Nasty Fish flavored.

1:48 p.m.: I'm tired of this. I'm straining it.

Gross.

Still kind of gross. But... less so?

This is after chilling. Creamy and delicious? I guess?

Now, to do stuff with it! Yay.

As a reward for getting through all those icky pictures:

***Edit: Please also visit this much more helpful article on rendering lard here.***

Next Time

2012-01-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the tardiness of the latest post, but it is something I have to work up to. I have not worked up the courage yet, but I will, I promise.

I can do it I can do it I can do it

American Mince and American Pinwheels

2011-12-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

We'll Eat Again [reprinted recipes from WWII]

I am American, and I have never had anything like either of these recipes. And yet, the British Ministry of Food says it is so. I suspect these recipes are American like nachos are Mexican. But less delicious. How about you, Other Americans? Anyone?

And just sit quietly, Canadians. I have a recipe for Canadian Bake that I'll get to in the future, never fear.

Or fear. Fear is probably the more reasonable response.

That's right, Mrs. Smith. We're getting a seventh of our meat now in corned beef--twopence in the 1s. 2d. as you might say. Lord Woolton's watching his stocks--he likes to be sure he's got a bit in hand. I don't mind telling you I was rather afraid the whole ration would be cut down. It's lucky for everyone there is this corned beef to help out with. Cold or hot, you can dish it up in a dozen different ways--and very tasty, too. No, Mrs. Smith, I don't want any points coupons, it's all part of the meat ration.

American Mince

Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
Quantity: 4 helpings

6 oz. corned beef, minced or finely chopped
8 oz. cooked pearl barley
1/2 pint tomato pulp or white sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 oz cheese, grated
1 oz breadcrumbs
1/2 oz dripping or margarine
2 tomatoes (if available)

For a while during the war, 1 oz. of cheese per week was the ration for one person

Method: Place the beef, barley, tomato pulp or white sauce, seasoning, cheese, and breadcrumbs in layers in a greased pie dish. Finish with a layer of cheese and dot with the dripping or margarine. Bake in a moderate oven for 25 minutes.

Yes. That is 1/2 oz. cheese there. Do you know how hard it is to make two layers out of 1 oz. of cheese? Answer: very.

Slice the whole tomatoes and spread over the top. Return to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes.

American Pinwheels

Pastry:
8 oz. flour
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
or 1 teaspoon baking powder
2 oz margarine
milk to mix

Chocolate mixture:
2 oz margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 dessertspoon Bournville cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Pastry: Put flour, salt, soda and cream of tartar in a bowl. Mix together, rub in margarine and bind to a stiff paste with milk.

Chocolate mixture: Cream margarine and sugar together, stir in cocoa, add essence, and if necessary a tablespoonful of milk; do not make too soft or the mixture will run during cooking. Roll out pastry into an oblong and spread with chocolate mixture. Roll up as for jam roll and cut into 3/4 inch rounds. Pack into a baking tin and bake in a moderately hot oven 20 to 30 minutes.

Verdict:

American Mince: Okay, first of all, this is corned beef from a can:

Yes. That speaks for itself. I also had to call my mom on the phone so she could tell me how to open a can with a key. The recipe calls for only half of it, so I put the other half thriftily away to use another day. Hooray! While I was measuring and putting out ingredients, Husband came by and tried to snitch a pinch of cheese. "NOOOOOOOO!" I said. "THAT IS ALL THE CHEESE WE GET PUT IT BACK PUT IT BACK WE ONLY GET AN OUNCE UNLESS YOU WANT TO HIT THE BLACK MARKET AND HELP HITLER DO YOU WANT TO HELP HITLER AHHHHHHHH!"

He put it back.

It took some careful placement to get two layers out of that cheese. In the end, you could not taste the cheese at all, and seeing the occasional shred just felt like a mockery. I would rather have just eaten my ration straight up. At least that way I could have tasted it.

It wasn't terrible though. It was kind of fine. Were I on rations, and corned beef in a can was what I could get, I'd make this. I'd feel kind of sad while eating it, but I would indeed eat it.

My sister came over that day, and I cleverly trapped her into eating dinner with us. This is her plate after dinner.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, KRISTIN. I'm telling mom.

American Pinwheels: Holy HECK is that a tiny amount of filling! It is almost impossible to spread it over all the dough. It does look bigger when it is baked though, which is something I suppose. These are dry biscuits with "essence of chocolate" to tease your mouth. My sister had an excellent idea for improvement, though!

Much better!

Now I need some nachos.

Save That Fat!

2011-12-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Shorpy.com

June 1942. "Why greases must be saved. A soldier of the home front -- and there's one in every American kitchen -- saves all waste fats and greases so that they can be processed into ammunition for America's soldiers on the battlefronts. Pan and broiler drippings, deep fats, renderings from bacon rinds: These are some of the fats which should be put through a strainer to remove meat scraps and other solids, and poured into wide-mouthed cans such as coffee or fat cans." 4x5 safety negative by Ann Rosener for the Office of War Information.

And if you don't give your leftover fat to the government, at least make a veggie-filled pastry!

Apple Bread

2011-11-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library [1971]

I usually try out more unusual recipes, but while going through my avocado-green recipe card file, I came across... this. It looked delicious. It was under "Recipes Children Can Make." It seems to be a member of the Upside Down Cake family. It involves butter. How could it go wrong? And I had Honey Crisp apples. Have you tried those? They are delicious. New favorite apple, guys. Besides, I made cake out of beets, so there is a sort of symmetry about making bread out of apples.

Anyway.

Apple Bread
Melt in baking pan, 9x9x2 inches . . 2 tablespoons butter
Mix with fork in small bowl . . . . . . 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sprinkle sugar mixture on melted butter in pan.
Cut into thin slices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 apple

Arrange apple slices in rows on sugar mixture in pan.
Sprinkle over apples . . . . . . . . . . . a few raisins

Stir together with spoon in large bowl . .
1 pkg active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
(105-115 degrees)

Add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Gold Medal flour*

Beat 2 minutes or until batter drops from spoon in sheets.
Add and beat until smooth . . . . . . . . . .1 egg
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups Gold Medal flour

Drop batter by small spoonfuls over apples and raisins in pan. Cover pan and let rise in warm place until double, 50 to 60 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until brown. Immediately remove cake from pan by turning upside down onto serving plate.
*If using self-rising flour, omit salt.

Verdict:

It's.... DELICIOUS. Thank you, Betty Crocker! This is fabulous! It's a dang apple upside down cake! I didn't have any raisins, so I used frozen blueberries. Highly recommended, for it was tasty times indeed. It was also super easy and fast, especially for a yeast-based food, so the awesomeness is compounded.

Husband and I polished it off within about 12 hours, and that was only because we were trying to be responsible. One of those servings had vanilla ice cream. Then we ran out of ice cream. :( It was more than tasty without it, though! It is at its best warm, so take that into consideration when you make it.

Because you will.

You will.

WWII Rationing: Mock Goose, Beetroot Pudding, and Mock Whipped Cream

2011-11-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

We'll Eat Again [reprinted recipes from 1940's]

Phew! Sorry about that break, but the kitchen of Time Travel Kitchen is now both larger, and closer to willing victims. HOORAY. I promised you goose, didn't I? I did. And you, poor things, have been waiting with bated breath. Wait no longer!

"Man-about-Kitchen"
Now that thousands of wives and mothers are helping in the factories, or evacuated to the country, many men are having to do their own cooking. No wonder they ask their women-folk for easy recipes! Here are a few suggestions. [Well, one.]

Mock Goose

Cooking time: 1 hour Quantity: 4 helpings

1 1/2 lb. potatoes
2 large cooking apples
4 oz. cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
salt and pepper
3/4 pint vegetable stock
1 tablespoon flour

Method: Scrub and slice potatoes thinly, slice apples, grate cheese. Grease a fireproof dish, place a layer of potatoes in it, cover with apple and a little sage, season lightly and sprinkle with cheese, repeat layers leaving potatoes and cheese to cover. Pour in 1/2 pint of the stock, cook in a moderate oven for 3/4 of an hour. Blend flour with remainder of stock, pour into dish and cook for another 1/4 of an hour. Serve as a main dish with a green vegetable.

Dig for your dinner
When salvage is all that remains of the joint
And there isn't a tin and you haven't a 'point'
Instead of creating a dance and a ballad
Just raid the allotment and dig up a salad!

Beetroot Pudding
Here is a new notion for using the sweetness of beetroot to make a nice sweet pudding with very little sugar.

First mix 6 oz wheatmeal flour with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. Rub in 1/2 oz fat and add 1 oz sugar and 4 oz cooked or raw beetroot very finely grated.

Now mix all the ingredients to a soft cake consistency with 3 or 4 tablespoons of milk. Add a few drops of flavouring essence if you have it. Turn the mixture into a greased pie dish or square tin and bake immediately in a moderate oven for 35-40 minutes. This pudding tastes equally good hot or cold. Enough for 4.

Reflect, whenever you indulge
It is not beautiful to bulge
A large, untidy corporation
Is far from helpful to the Nation.

Mock Whipped Cream
1/2 oz cornflour [cornstarch]
1/4 pint milk
1 1/2 oz margarine
3 teaspoons sugar
few drops vanilla essence

Method: Mix cornflour to a paste with a little milk, heat remainder and when boiling add to the blended cornflour, stirring well. Return to saucepan bring to boil and cook 3 minutes. Cream the margarine and sugar. Whisk in the cornflour mixture gradually. Add vanilla essence.

***

Verdict:

Mock Goose: In... in what manner is this a goose? The duck, the duck I could see. It looks sort of ducky, and there's meat. This? This is a DANG POTATO CASSEROLE. It wasn't cooked for long enough, so it was still kind of crunchy, and the vegetable broth did not thicken in any way. It was more like wet potato discs with oddly flavored apples and surprising tiny globlets of soggy cheese. Were it cooked for longer, the vegetable broth thickened, and more herbs added, this would probably be fine. Troll your vegetarian friends. Invite them over for dinner. When they arrive, tell them you made goose. Hilarity cannot fail to ensue.

Beetroot Pudding: Gahhh. I am undecided on this one. A list must happen.

Good:
*Beets are pretty sweet, so this actually sort of worked as far as sweetness goes.
*It's pink!
*It's really good for you

Bad:
*It was gritty. Like sand. And I like whole wheat.
*A shred of beet got stuck in my teeth.
*It's density is similar to that of brick.
*It's really good for you.

I will have to revisit this one, and see if it can be improved on. What made it quite palatable was the-

Mock Whipped Cream: Mmmmm. If you think about it, this recipe actually makes mathematical sense.

Given that:
Cream = Milk + Butterfat
Butter ≈ Margarine

Therefore:
Margarine + Milk ≈ Cream

Ta da! With the addition of some cornstarch, sugar, and vanilla, a reasonable approximation of whipped cream can be made. It's more like a pastry cream than whipped cream, but let us not quibble. A sweet, creamy topping can be made. Let he who is without Kool Whip among you cast the first stone. Besides, it helps the sandy pink beet grit slide down much easier.

***

Bonus propaganda! Have you wondered how much soy flour is needed to make a loaf big enough to fill Red Square? Wonder no longer.

Please Hold

2011-11-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

The kitchen of Time Travel Kitchen is being moved to a new house. Please hold. If you wish, you may play the relaxing music of your choice in the interim.

WWII Rationing: Golden Barley Soup and Mock Duck

2011-11-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

We'll Eat Again [1990, reprinted recipes from WWII]

Darn rationing. Darn war! Oh well. Onwards to victory!

It is once again my patriotic duty to try and make my family think they are eating tasty food, when they really aren't!

Can you give me a new soup recipe?
Here's a delicious one: Golden Barley Soup. Grate or mince 2 lb. of carrots, put with 1 small teacup of barley into 1 quart of water and simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Roll a piece of margarine the size of a walnut in 1 tablespoonful of flour and stir it into the soup. Cook fast for 8 minutes, season. Serves 4 or 5 helpings.

"I made duck for dinner, sweetie!"

"Neat! Where did you find duck??"

"No no, it is WWII duck."

"Wait. Wait, no! WHAT IS IT REALLY."

"...meat."

"WHAT IS IT MADE OF"

"Shhhhhh."

Mock Duck

Cooking time: 45 minutes Quantity: 4 helpings

1 lb. sausagemeat
8 oz cooking apples, peeled and grated
8 oz onions, grated
1 teaspoon chopped sage or 1/2 teaspoon dried sage

Method: Spread half the sausagemeat into a flat layer in a well greased baking tin or shallow casserole. Top with the apples, onions, and sage. Add the rest of the sausagemeat and shape this top layer to look as much like a duck as possible. Cover with well greased paper and bake in the center of a moderately hot oven.

Verdict:

Golden Barley Soup: Have you noticed that this is made of massive amounts of carrot, with water and barley? Guess what it tastes like? Massive amounts of carrot. With a little bit of water and some chewy bits of barley. Just... a great big pile o' carrot. Now, I like carrot, but really. Really?

I crammed down a few bites, then dumped a duck head in the middle of it to help it go down easier. It did not help. Even the tastiness of sausage did nothing. Besides the attractive goldeny color, this is a very depressing soup.

Mock Duck: Ha HA! You thought it was a real duck when you looked at the picture, did you not? Of course you did, no doubt due in no small part to my cunning carrot duck bill. Well it isn't! What it is, though, is... really really good.

WHAT.

Yes. A "mock" whatever from WWII is delicious. I could hardly believe it my own self. The oniony appley interior sounds a little strange (although not, of course, to fans of apples n' onions), but it is great! All parties in attendance agreed that this was so. I will even, contrary to all expectations, recommend this. It's about time those living under WWII rationing restrictions had a bit of cheer.

Tune in next week for the results of this conversation:

"I'm making goose for dinner!"

"Cool! Where'd you find a g... WAIT. IS THE GOOSE MADE OF GOOSE."

"Nope!"

"Well, at least it's made of meat."

"Nope!"

"..."

"...Chuck Testa?"

Bacon Strip Pancakes and Apple Butter Sourdoughs

2011-10-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, a reader requested I make these bacon strip pancakes, as seen on Mr. Breakfast (whom I adore). How could I possibly refuse? It is pancakes plus bacon. Hooray! Pancakes! Plus bacon! Hooray! What day is it?

HOORAY.

Bacon Strip Pancakes [1962, from the back of an Aunt Jemima pancake mix)
(4 servings)

12 slices of bacon
2 cups prepared pancake batter
softened butter
maple syrup

Just about the best breakfast that ever greeted a hungry family! And it's as easy as this: Shake up Aunt Jemima batter according to package directions. Place cooked bacon strips on the griddle and pour batter over each strip. Bake 'em golden brown on both sides. Couldn't be easier - couldn't taste better! How about Aunt Jemima Bacon Strip Pancakes at your house tomorrow!

Unfortunately, I was so excited by the prospect of pancake-coated pork fat (fried in pork fat), I did not read the instructions carefully.

No matter.

Mmmmmmmmmm.

Verdict: Have I mentioned that it is bacon, coated with pancake? Fantastic. One does feel a little wrong, though, with a plate of bacon pancakes fried in bacon grease that you then spread with butter and soak with syrup. So wrong, and yet... so right.

But let's not stop there.

Apple Sauce Sourdoughs [Alaska Sourdough, 1976]

On hot, well greased skillet drop Sourdough [sourdough pancake batter, but any pancake batter will work fine] making small pancakes. Dip a small teaspoonful of sauce in center of each cake. Add a few drops of Sourdough batter, covering the applesauce. Bake until bubbly. Turn carefully, cooking well on the other side. Serve hot on warmed plates. Dust Sourdoughs with powdered sugar.

Verdict: Instead of applesauce, I used apple butter. Because apple butter is delicious. HOW have I never done this before?? Is this something that everyone else knows about but me? Genius. Genius! (Hooray!) It is like the pancake version of jelly doughnuts. I'm trying this again with raspberry jam. And strawberry jam. And apricot jam. And whatever other kind of jam I can get my hands on. Husband demands that both of these recipes appear again. He will be obliged. Probably on Christmas morning. And several times before then.

Maybe Halloween?

Hooray.

Carrot Cookies

2011-10-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

We'll Eat Again [1990, reprinted recipes from WWII]

Back to WWII rationing once more! These cookies use no eggs, little sugar, and very little fat. It also contains something which every patriotic citizen should have in abundance in their Victory garden: carrots.

Did your mother ever tell you that carrots would help you see in the dark? It was a lie. But she may not have known that she was lying! During WWII, the British invented this rumor to cover up their development of radar technology from the Germans. "Carrots!" they said. "Our pilots just eat LOTS AND LOTS OF CARROTS."

This led to a whole generation of British, American, and German children alike being forced to eat truly outrageous amounts of carrots. Thanks a lot, BRITS.*

Carrot Cookies**

Cooking time: 20 minutes Quantity: 12-15 cookies

1 tablespoon margarine
2 tablespoons sugar and a little extra for sprinkling on top of the cakes
a few drops of vanilla, almond or orange flavouring
4 tablespoons grated raw carrot
6 tablespoons self-raising flour or plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

(To get a full tablespoon of margarine or fat, plunge the spoon first into boiling water, then cut out the fat with the hot spoon. In this way, a piece of just the right quantity will be obtained.)

Method: Cream the fat and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the flavouring and carrot. Fold in the flour or flour and baking powder. Drop spoonfuls of this mixture into small greased patty pans. Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake in a brisk*** oven for about 20 minutes.

Verdict: Okay, you see that spoonful of dough up there? Go ahead, scroll back and look. That is ALL the batter. That's it. This recipe only makes about 12 walnut-sized cookies. But what do you expect? There's a war on, gosh!

I didn't anticipate that these would be very good. But they are! Pleasantly crispy, pastry-like outside; tender, cakey inside. And such a beautiful color! Perfect for Halloween. They don't taste particularly of carrot, I think the carrot is just to stretch the flour and stand in for some of the sweetening. It tastes kind of like a interesting, pleasant sugar cookie.

Five minutes after they came out of the oven, I had eaten them all. Don't be a Judging McJudgerton, Husband was gone!

*I'm just foolin', I love carrots! Thanks, guys!
**Hey! Where's your insistence that cookies are called biscuits now, huh? Gotcha!
***About 375 degrees F. will do.

Yorkshire Meat Balls, Fruit Pudding Cake

2011-10-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Thrifty Cook: Tasty budget recipes by the food editors of Farm Journal [1974]

Whilst perusing my collection of cookbooks, I came across these two recipes for which I just happened to have ingredients. Serendipitous! The fact that Yorkshire pudding is one of Husband's most favorite things in the whole wide world, coupled with his love of cake, seemed to indicate that this would be a good day for him.

Or would it. *dun dun dun* I lacked but one ingredient,one which does not fail to strike fear to Husband's heart and send chills down his spine... fake cheese.

Yorkshire Meat Balls
Topping in meat balls tastes like Yorkshire pudding--an ideal main dish for company.

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 c. ketchup
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tblsp. parsley flakes
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 tblsp. water
1 1/2 c. sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
3 tblsp. melted regular margarine
Fast-fix Cheese Sauce

Thoroughly combine ground beef, ketchup, onion soup mix, parsley, pepper, 1 egg and water. Form mixture into 24 balls and place in 6 rows of 4 meat balls each in a well-greased 13x9x2" baking pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat 4 eggs until foamy; blend in milk and margarine. Add dry ingredients all at once; beat with rotary blender just until smooth. Pour over meat balls. Bake in 350 degree oven 45 to 50 minutes. Serve with Fast-fix Cheese Sauce. Makes 8 servings.

Fast-fix Cheese Sauce: Combine 3/4 lb. process cheese spread (Velveeta), cubed, 1/3 c. milk and 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until cheese is melted. Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Fruit Pudding Cake
Good inexpensive dessert. You can use leftover fruits instead of the fruit cocktail. Use 1 1/2 c. fruit and 1/2 to 2/3 c. of their juice.

1 (1 lb. 1 oz.) can fruit cocktail
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. sifted flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
Whipped dessert topping

Place fruit and juice in mixing bowl; add egg and vanilla. Sift flour, white sugar, salt, and baking soda over it. Beat with spoon until smooth. Pour into greased 13x9x2" baking pan. Sprinkle on brown sugar and nuts. Bake in 325 degree oven 40 to 45 minutes, or until pudding begins to pull away from the sides of pan. Cut into squares and serve with whipped dessert topping. Makes 9 servings.

Verdict:

Yorkshire Meat Balls: YES, "Meat Balls" is two words. I love Yorkshire pudding. This is much like meatbally toad-in-the-hole. The meatballs are a little salty from the onion soup mix, but other than that, it's really nice! Especially when bites are dipped in beef broth, an activity which transports Husband into raptures. BUT WAIT. There is NO beef broth there is, in its place... cheese sauce. But not just cheese sauce. Cheese sauce is fantastic. This, this here, is fake cheese sauce, the kind that instantly forms a rubbery skin both on its own surface and on the back of your teeth.

When Husband realized that one of his favorite things had been replaced with one of his least favorite things, his sadness was pathetic to behold. He gamely ate one pudding-imprisoned meatball with "cheese" sauce before sighing and making beef broth. After a few bites with "cheese" sauce, I joined him. The cheese sauce isn't bad, it's just not... not... right.

Fruit Pudding Cake: Tasty times! And better than eating straight-up fruit cocktail. Fruit cocktail is the worst. I don't even remember buying it! How did it get in my pantry? How does it always appear at the back of the pantry? I think bad wizards must put it there.

Anyway, this was moist and delicious, with a lovely topping. The grapes were still squidgy and unnatural, but really, one can only ask so much. It's a cake, not a miracle machine.

Stuffed Burger Bundles, Hot Deviled Potatoes, Blender Pots de Creme

2011-09-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

Jiffy Cooking [1967]

I think this may be my favorite cookbook. Such an assortment of oddities that take very little time! [Edit: Husband says, "That is not your favorite cookbook!" "What? What is my favorite cookbook then?" "I don't know, but NOT THAT ONE. PLEASE NOT THAT ONE."]

Menu
Stuffed Burger Bundles
Hot Deviled Potato or Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Cranberry Star Mold
Lemon Sauced Cake or Blender Potes de Creme
Coffee Milk

Stuffed Burger Bundles
1 cup herb-seasoned stuffing mix
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 pound ground beef
1 10 1/2 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon catsup

Prepare stuffing according to package directions. Combine evaporated milk and meat; divide in 5 patties. On waxed paper, pat each to 6-inch circle. Put 1/4 cup stuffing in center of 1 1/2 quart casserole.

Combine remaining ingredients; pour over meat. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Makes 5 servings.

Hot Deviled Potatoes
Packaged instant mashed potatoes (enough for 4 servings)
1/2 cup dairy sour cream [as opposed to...?]
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons chopped green onion

Prepare potatoes according to package directions. Heat sour cream (do not boil). Add mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and sugar; stir to blend. Mix into hot potatoes with onion. Immediately turn into 1-quart casserole. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired. Heat in a 350 degree oven about 10 minutes. Makes 5 servings.

Green Beans
Oops. I knew I was forgetting something.

Cranberry Star Mold [Dang it! I forgot two things. I can't think where my mind is these days.]

Blender Pots de Creme
1 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
1/2 cup hot milk
1 6-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups drained finely crushed ice
1 cup whipping cream

Add 1/4 cup cold water, gelatin, and coffee to blender container. Cover; blend few seconds on low speed. Add milk; blend till gelatin is dissolved. Add chocolate, sugar, dash salt, and vanilla; cover; blend just till smooth. Add yolks and ice; blend till smooth. While blender is running, add cream. Blend 20 seconds or till it begins to thicken. Pour into 5 or 6 small sherbets. Chill 10 minutes. Serves 5 or 6.

Verdict:

Stuffed Burger Bundles: Oh, lawsie. Please check out that raw picture above. Yes. It... looks a bit grim. "But wait!" you say, "What about my heart's desire to have a close-up picture of the finished product suitable for conversion to a desktop background?" I hear you, dear readers, I hear you.

With that stunning visual, the taste was... fine. Not good, no, not good at all, but... adequate? Salty, greasy, and offensive to the eye, but not too bad. Perhaps with another sauce, this would be slightly above adequate. It does need a sauce, though, just to help conceal the ugliness. It looks like corporeal despair. Or you could just serve it under a paper bag. Or in the dark!

Hot Deviled Potatoes: Weirdly acrid. It shouldn't taste like it does, and yet it manages. I thought they were unpleasant but reasonably edible, Husband called this an abomination and looked very very sad. Maybe... maybe with real potatoes?

Cranberry Star Mold: I'll make it some other time! It looks pretty okay, it involves cranberry sauce and ginger ale. And this meal needs something colorful. Well, a color other than brown.

Blender Pots de Creme: I left out the coffee, so my opinion may not be 100% reliable. It's weird stuff though. The chocolate isn't melted at any point, so it is like mousse with teeny bits of gritty chocolate, like jello-y chocolate chip ice cream. The first bite doesn't seem quite right, but it grows on you after a few. Then after a few more, it doesn't taste quite right again. So confusing.

Sweetmeats of My Lady Windebanks

2011-09-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ah, finally the payoff from this post! What has our friend Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight served up for us this time?

Sweetmeats of My Lady Windebanks
She maketh the past of Apricocks (which is both very beautiful and clear, and tasteth most quick of the fruit) thus, Take six pound of pared and sliced Apricocks, put them into a high pot, which stop close, and set it in a kettle of boiling water, till you perceive the flesh is all become an uniform pulp; then put it out into your preserving pan or possenet, and boil it gently till it be grown thick, stirring it carefully all the while. Then put two pound of pure Sugar to it, and mingle it well, and let it boil gently, till you see the matter come to such a thickness and solidity, that it will not stick to a plate. Then make it up into what form you will. The like you may do with Raspes or Currants.

Method and Verdict:

"Apricocks" here means "apricots." Since peeling apricots is for suckers, I instead scored the skin, dropped them in boiling water for a little bit, then shocked them in cold water, much as one does tomatoes. Then I put them in a double boiler, which converted them to a smooth paste. Well, okay, I got bored halfway through and used a stick blender. But it would have worked.

After adding sugar, I cooked and cooked and cooked the bejeebers out of it, until a drop of it on a greased plate stayed solid instead of being runny. I tried a few methods of making tasty bits out of it, but the thing that worked best was putting dollops on a greased jelly roll pan and letting it dry for days in the refrigerator, then folding them over and rolling in sugar, as you see.

They are tasty! Much like a combination of fruit leather and cotlets. They do taste most quick of apricots. I recommend, but only if you have lots of time to burn. Lots... and lots... and lots of time.

And patience. Massive amounts of patience. Or servants! Lots of servants.

So in conclusion, I won't be making this again!

Milk

2011-09-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

From Advice to a Wife [1880]:

Passion is injurious to the mother's milk, and consequently to the child. Sudden joy and grief frequently disorder the infant's bowels, producing griping, looseness, &c.; hence, a mother who has a mild, placid, even temper generally makes an excellent nurse, on which account it is a fortunate circumstance that she is frequently better-tempered during suckling than at any other period of her life; indeed, she usually, at such times, experiences great joy and gladness.

If the mother or the wet nurse be good-tempered, the milk will be more likely to be wholesome, which will of course make him more healthy, and consequently better tempered. While, on the other hand, if the mother or the nurse be of an irritable, cross temper, the milk will suffer, and will thus cause disarrangement to the system; and hence, ill-health and ill-temper will be likely to ensue.

Verdict:

Approved.

Preview

2011-08-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

I made a recipe from our old friend Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight. It didn't work like I thought it would, so it's presently aging in my refrigerator for a few days in hopes that it will magically fix itself. Check back and see what happens!

Here's a preview.

Peach Upside Down Cake

2011-08-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

[1963]

Peach Upside Down Cake

Company coming? Upside down cakes are always popular--and this one's so pretty, too.

1 package (12 ounces) Birds Eye Sliced Peaches, thawed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar [1/2 cup is plenty.]
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup slivered blanched almonds
1/4 cup maraschino cherries, halved
1 1/2 cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
2 teaspoons Calumet Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, unbeaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Drain peaches, measuring 1/2 cup juice. Combine peaches and lemon juice and set aside. Place 1/4 cup butter in 9-inch round cake pan. Heat in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) until butter is melted. Combine brown sugar, flour, and 1/2 cup peach juice. Stir into the melted butter. Arrange peach slices, slivered almonds, and cherries in butter mixture.

Measure sifted flour, add baking powder, salt, and granulated sugar, and sift together. Cream remaining 1/4 cup butter until softened. Add dry ingredients, milk, egg, and vanilla. Stir to moisten all the flour; then beat vigorously 1 minute. Pour over fruit mixture in pan. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) about 45 minutes, or until cake springs back when pressed lightly. Cool about 5 minutes. Invert onto serving plate and let stand 1 minute before removing pan. Serve warm or cold. Top each serving with whipped cream or prepared Dream Whip Dessert Topping or ice cream, if desired. Makes about 8 servings.
Prepare-Ahead Hint. Make ahead and serve cold or reheat in slow oven just until slightly warm.

Verdict: This is what angels eat in heaven for breakfast. So good. So, so good. For those who say, "It has a whole stick of butter! Of course it is delicious!", I invite you to browse the archives of this site. While eating this cake. It's... it's just so delicious. Frozen Foods Cookbook, I don't care what other things you may do to me in the future. This recipe alone atones for any culinary crimes you may commit.

I used my own frozen peaches, so they are not as attractive as they could be. But I am okay with that. I also had to bake it 20 minutes longer, and had some trouble smooshing the cake batter over the top. It works best to put dollops over the top and them sort of smooth them together.

Seriously, guys. It's fantastic.

Rice Croquettes with Cream Beef Sauce, Buttered and Spiced Beets, Orange Shortcake

2011-08-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Brought to you by Runkel's All-Purpose Cocoa!

"I never grate chocolate anymore!"
I give my icings, fillings, and puddings "that chocolaty taste" of Runkel's without bothering to grate chocolate. Runkel's All-Purpose Cocoa is the finest quality chocolate, already a powder, all ready to use!

And, of course, by Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book: Numerous New Recipes Based on Present Economic Conditions by Mrs. Mary A. Wilson (Mrs. Wilson's Cooking School, Philadelphia); Formerly Queen Victoria's Cuisiniere and Instructor Domestic Science, University of Virginia Summer School, Charlotteville, Virginia; Instructor of Cooking for the U.S. Navy; Third Printing [1920]

SUPPER
Rice Croquettes with Cream Beef Sauce
Cole Slaw [replaced with Buttered and Spiced Beets]
Orange Shortcake
Tea

RICE CROQUETTES WITH CREAM BEEF

Mould well-seasoned cooked rice into croquettes; then dip and flour and brown in hot fat. Make a cream sauce as follows: Place in a saucepan

Two cups of milk,
One-half cup of flour.

Stir to dissolve the flour and then bring to a boil and cook slowly for five minutes. Add one-half pound of dried beef, prepared as for breakfast, and serve with the croquettes.

BUTTERED AND SPICED BEETS

Cook the beets until tender and then drain and cut into slices. Now place in a small saucepan

One tablespoon of butter,
Two tablespoons of vinegar,
Two tablespoons of hot water,
One teaspoon of salt,
One teaspoon of paprika,
One-eighth teaspoon of mustard,
Tiny pinch of cloves.

When boiling hot, pour over the sliced beets.

ORANGE SHORT CAKE

Place in a mixing bowl

One cup of flour,
One-half teaspoon of salt,
Two teaspoons of baking powder,
Five tablespoons of sugar,
One-half cup of water.

Beat to a stiff dough and then spread on a well-greased and floured layer-cake pan, making the dough higher at the sides than in the middle of the pan. Cover with sliced oranges, cut into small pieces with a sharp knife. Now place in a bowl:

Six tablespoons of brown sugar,
Two tablespoons of flour,
One-half teaspoon of nutmeg.

Mix well and then spread on the shortcake and bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. Much of the actual preparation of the menu can be prepared on Saturday.

Use yolk of one egg for making dressing for coleslaw. For orange cake use

White of one egg,
One-half glass of jelly.

Place in a bowl and beat until mixture holds its shape. Pile on orange shortcake.

Verdict:

Rice Croquettes with Cream Beef Sauce: Oh my gosh, so salty! As salty as a sailor of suspicious character. Even Husband (who went through a period of his life where he believed that you should eat as much salt as you can choke down because it will help you "absorb water"*, and thus ate his food sheathed with what closely resembled the Bonneville Salt Flats) declared it too salty for consumption. I even rinsed the beef with warm water, as directed on the bottle!

Rice is also really hard to make into croquettes. Probably because I used long-grain white rice, but I don't think Mrs. Wilson had access to sticky rice. The experience was much like herding cats. I recommend this dried beef recipe instead. Oh, and "well-seasoned" means "with salt and pepper", so don't get cheeky and start adding herbs and whatnot, you sassy thing.

Buttered and Spiced Beets: These remind me of Harvard beets, or very lightly pickled beets. Tasty. I can recommend, especially if you just microwave the sauce.

Orange Shortcake: Husband and I had differing opinions. I think it is tasty times. I should have sliced the oranges more thinly, the bites with paper-thin orange slices were nicer. Both easy and festive. Leaving the rind on made it sort of marmaladey, and the brown sugar mixture on top combined with the juice from the orange to make a delightful crusty brown sugary crust of crusty sugar. Husband didn't like the moisture from the oranges that soaked into the cake below, and also felt there was way too much sugar on top.

You will notice that although the recipe calls for whipping an egg white and mixing it with jelly for piling on top, I did not do so. This is mostly because I am a wimp about raw eggs, unless concealed in cookie dough or cornbread batter. Raw eggs really are pretty safe though, unless you are a very small child, pregnant, elderly, or have immune problems. So if you are not one of those things, try it out why not.

*Lesson: Do not trust the medical advice of drill sergeants.

Dear Readers

2011-08-01T21:48:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

You may notice a slow-down in posting frequency and complicatedness for the near future here at Time Travel Kitchen. This is because I am currently busy making a super-cool thing that will be done in a few weeks. Namely, a person. In my tummy.

Be not alarmed.

Boy's Coffee

2011-07-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book [1850]

I am sure that, like me, you are fascinated by temperance beverages and children's drinks, as you do not drink alcohol, tea, or coffee. No? Well tough cookies to you! It is time for some Boy's Coffee.

Green tea and coffee, as ordinarily used, are very injurious to very many constitutions. They contain but very little nourishment, except what is added by the milk and sugar, and training a family of children to love them (for no child loves them till trained to do it) is making it probable that all of them will be less healthful and comfortable, and certain that some will be great sufferers. Training children to drink tea and coffee is as unreasonable and unchristian, as training them to drink foxglove and opium would be--the only difference is, that in one case it is customary, and the other it is not; and custom makes a practice appear less foolish and sinful.

There is no need, at this period of the world, to point out the wickedness and folly of training children to love alcoholic drinks.

Boy's Coffee.

Crumb bread, or dry toast, into a bowl. Put on a plenty of sugar, or molasses. Put in one half milk and one half boiling water. To be eaten with a spoon, or drank if preferred. Molasses for sweetening is preferred by most children.

Verdict: Meh. It's basically cambric tea, but with molasses (sorghum, of course) and bits of bread. Not bad, really, but not very good, either. Much like a bland breakfast cereal. It reminds me of that (very) old breakfast classic, warm milk poured over bread. I'm fairly certain that most modern children would just look at you incredulously if you served this to them, but that theory remains to be tested.*

*on unsuspecting nieces and nephews. Ah ha ha ha ha ha.

Effervescing Jelly Drink

2011-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book [1850]

I am on a roll! Let us try again at effervescing beverages.

Effervescing Jelly Drinks.
When jams or jellies are too old to be good for table use, mix them with good vinegar, and then use them with soda, or saleratus*, as directed above.

Verdict: While better than the Effervescing Fruit Drink, still not great. The sugar in the strawberry jam helped somewhat, as did my adding of much, much less vinegar. It does fizz entertainingly, though. I shall experiment sometime with some sort of fruity syrup in a last attempt to make this tasty.

*The naturally occurring form of baking soda.

Effervescing Fruit Drinks

2011-07-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book [1850]

Another temperance beverage!

Effervescing Fruit Drinks.
Very fine drinks for summer are prepared by putting strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries into good vinegar and then straining it off, and adding a new supply of fruit till enough flavor is secured, as directed in Strawberry Vinegar. Keep the vinegar bottled, and in hot weather use it thus. Dissolve half a teaspoonful or less of saleratus*, or soda in a tumbler, very little water till the lumps are all out. Then fill the tumbler two-thirds full of water, and then add the fruit vinegar. If several are to drink, put the soda, or saleratus into the pitcher, and then put the fruit vinegar into each tumbler, and pour the alkali water from the pitcher into each tumbler, as each person is all ready to drink, as delay spoils it.

Verdict: GET IT OUT OF MY MOUTH GET IT OUT GET IT OUT AUGHHHHHHHHH

Brrrrrrrrr. All right, have rinsed my mouth out now. But it lingers. Oh, how it lingers. Did you notice the lack of sugar? Because I didn't, until I actually started making the recipe. I was concerned, but thought the strawberry might somehow take the edge off, or that the alkalinity of the baking soda would nullify the acid. Not so. Not so. Also, that's a full 1:3 ratio of vinegar to water. I was also silly and added the vinegar to the glass while at my kitchen table. A quick sprint to the sink while yelling, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" was necessary when strawberry vinegar-y foam started pouring over my hand in a seemingly never-ending cascade.

So, the taste. It is like chugging a mouthful of burning, fiery vinegar that is also alive, like some sort of shrieking monster clawing its way down your throat. Have a lemon shrub instead.

*Salaratus is the naturally occurring form of baking soda.

Cambric Tea/White Tea

2011-07-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Being a Temperance supporter as I am, I am pleased to recommend Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book [1850]. Miss Beecher has devoted a whole section of her book to temperance drinks that all may avail themselves of without being subject to the Demon Liquor.

Children's Drinks.
There are drinks easily prepared for children, which they love much better than tea and coffee, for no child at first loves these drinks till trained to it. As their older friends are served with green and black tea, there is a white tea to offer them, which they will always prefer, if properly trained, and it is always healthful.

White Tea.

Put two teaspoonfuls of sugar into half a cup of good milk, and fill it with boiling water.

Verdict: Really nice! It sounds bland and watery, I know, and two teaspoons does not sound like very much. But, surprisingly it is... nice. Just sweet enough, and incredibly soothing, much like feeling a warm tabby cat curl up on your stomach. The first time I used skim milk, and that was lovely. The second time I added a shot of half-and-half, and that was even lovelier. The third time I used honey instead of milk, but it just wasn't the same. Perfect for a soothing warm drink, a means to decrease your tea consumption, or a tea party with children.

***
Cambric tea and white tea are the same thing. A splash of actual tea is optional, as in the following:

The cold crept in from the corners of the shanty, closer and closer to the stove. Icy-cold breezes sucked and fluttered the curtains around the beds. The little shanty quivered in the storm. But the steamy smell of boiling beans was good and seemed to make the air warmer.

At noon Ma sliced bread and filled bowls with the hot bean broth and they all ate where they were, close to the stove. They all drank cups of strong, hot tea. Ma even gave Grace a cup of cambric tea. Cambric tea was hot water and milk, with only a taste of tea in it, but little girls felt grown-up when their mothers let them drink cambric tea. ~The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

WWII Rationing: Bacon Turnovers and Mock Apricot Flan

2011-07-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

We'll Eat Again: A collection of recipes from the war years", selected by Marguerite Patten

Rationing time once more! This time, hopefully with better results.

Bacon Turnovers
Cooking time: 30 minutes Quantity: 4 helpings

Pastry
12 oz self-rising flour or plain flour with 3 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
3 oz cooking fat or bacon fat, see method

Filling
4 oz fat bacon rashers
2 cooked leeks, finely chopped
8 oz cooked potatoes, diced
1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method: Sift the flour and salt, rub in the cooking fat. You could use the fat that runs from the bacon if it is allowed to become cold instead of the cooking fat. Bind with water. Grill and chop the bacon rashers, cool then mix with the leeks, potatoes, and parsley. Roll out the pastry and cut into 4 large rounds. Put the bacon mixture in the centre of each round; moisten the edges of the pastry with water. Fold over to make a turnover shape and seal firmly. Bake in the middle of a hot oven for 25 minutes until crisp and brown. Serve hot or cold.

Mock Apricot Flan
Method: Line a large 9 inch pie plate or flan dish with shortcrust pastry or oatmeal pastry or potato pastry, see recipes left and right. Bake without a filling in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes until firm and golden.

Meanwhile grate 1 lb young carrots. Put into a saucepan with a few drops of almond essence, 4 tablespoons of plum jam and only about 4 tablespoons of water. Cook gently until a thick pulp. Spoon into the cooked pastry. Spread with a little more plum jam if this can be spared.

Note: The carrots really do taste a little like apricots.

Oatmeal Pastry
Sift 6 oz self-raising flour with a pinch of salt. Rub in 2-3 oz cooking fat, then add 2 oz rolled oats. Mix with water and use as ordinary shortcrust pastry.

Verdict:

Bacon Turnovers: Reasonably tasty! And yes, I used the bacon fat in the pastry. Mmmm. These serving sizes are massive! One of these would have made a good dinner for DH and I with a couple side dishes. It did not taste very much of bacon though. It's mainly potato and leek. That's all right though. It was much like really nice hash browns inside pastry, and as such, was vastly improved with a little bit of ketchup.

Mmmmm... hash browns in pastry.

Mock Apricot Flan: This tastes... kind of like apricots. Yes, really. Not spot-on, obviously, but a reasonable facsimile. Surprising! Husband and I agree; the first bite is kind of all right, but then as you're eating it, it grows on you. As a bonus, you feel really virtuous while eating it because you are eating a massive amount of carrots. The oatmeal pastry is also reeeeeaaaaaally good. It makes it taste a little bit nutty. I would happily use the pastry recipe again!

Automobile Picnic

2011-07-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service [1924]

picture from Good Housekeeping, September 1929

Automobile Luncheons

These may be easily packed in ready-made kits obtained at almost any price, or in a suitcase partitioned off at home for the purpose. All dishes should be of paper, folding knives, spoons, and forks may be carried. The points to be considered in planning the menu are to select foods that may be easily transported and to balance the meal.

A course meal may be provided if desired, soup carried in a hot-cold bottle. Meat loaf, fried chicken, broiled chicken, sliced roast beef or ham may act as the main course, or a meat or egg salad may take its place, lettuce being carried separately.

If desired, a substantial course may be made of sandwiches. (For suggestions see chapter on Sandwiches.) The dessert may consider of fruit and any cake or pie that is not sticky. Or use cookies, gingerbread, plain or jelly doughnuts.

Menus for Informal Outdoor Meals
Park, Roof or Piazza

I
Cold Broiled Chicken
Potato Salad
Pickles
Bread-and-Butter Sandwiches
Apple Pie and Cheese
Coffee

II
Sliced Meat Loaf
Potato Chips
Sliced Tomatoes
Nut Bread Sandwiches
Jelly Doughnuts
Peaches
Tea

III
Boston Baked Beans
Buttered Brown-Bread Sandwiches
Tomato-and-Lettuce Salad
Peach Ice Cream
Coffee

WWII Rationing: Stuffed Cabbage and A Sweet for the Children's Party

2011-06-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dear readers, it is war time once more. As patriotic citizens, it is our duty to abide by rationing restrictions! Luckily, the Ministry of Food has provided us with nutritious, filling recipes using ingredients that make the best use of our ration books. To victory!

First up, Stuffed Cabbage!

Stuffed Cabbage
Cooking time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Quantity: 4 helpings

1 medium cabbage
Stuffing
8 oz sausagemeat
1 onion, grated
4 oz. soft breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
pinch mixed herbs
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
salt and pepper

Method: Put the whole cabbage into boiling salted water and boil for 5 minutes. Remove; retain 1/2 teacup of the liquid and carefully fold back the leaves, which will by now have softened.

Mix all the stuffing ingredients together and put a little of the mixture between the leaves, folding them back as they are filled.

Put into a casserole, adding 1/2 teacup of the vegetable water and covering first with a well greased paper and then the lid. Bake for 1 hour in a moderate oven. To serve, open out the leaves again.

A Sweet for the Children's Party
Peel, core, and cut 1/2 lb. apples and simmer until tender in 1/2 teacup water. Sweeten with about 1 dessertspoon honey and flavour with cinnamon or ginger, whichever is liked. Whip the mixture until it is light and frothy. Add half a packet of tablet jelly--strawberry or raspberry is prettiest--and stir well, until it is thoroughly melted. When cool turn into a wet mould. Miniature meringues or ratafia biscuits make a simple decoration for this sweet.

Verdict:

Stuffed Cabbage: *quiet weeping*

So bad. So, so bad. It looked like some sort of squidgy sea creature. It tasted neither of sausage, nor of cabbage, but of flatulence. Robust, enthusiastic flatulence. Worst of all, after I choked down a few bites (for victory!), I noticed that we had cut the cabbage with a Henckels knife. Aughhhh! Sneaky Germans!

A Sweet for the Children's Party: It was okay! Just enough for the two of us. I can see this making for a party of sad, sad children, though. Of course, vitamins being the key to victory in this great war, I made sure not to waste the skins.

Take that, Hitler!

***

Courtesy of "We'll Eat Again: A collection of recipes from the war years", selected by Marguerite Patten

Porcupines, Baby Green Limas, Festival Peach Salad

2011-06-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

[1972]

Porcupines
Baby Green Limas
Festival Peach Salad
Chocolate Parfaits [not made]

Yes, it is time for the 70's once more! How I have missed them.

Porcupines
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup uncooked rice
1/4 cup milk or water
2 tbsp. chopped onion
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
dash of pepper
1 tbsp. shortening or drippings [I used... olive oil drippings.]
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Mix beef, rice, milk, onion, and seasonings. Form 4 medium balls. Fry in melted shortening, turning frequently, until light brown (but not crusty) on all sides. Add tomato sauce, water, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well. Cover; simmer 45 min. over low heat. Add a small amount of additional water if liquid cooks down too much. 2 servings.

Baby Green Limas

You'll need about 1 1/2 lb. Lima beans in shells. Snap pods open; remove beans. Or cut thin strip from inner edge of pod with knife; push beans out. Cook, covered, in 1/2 to 1" boiling salted water 20 to 30 min. Season with butter, salt, and pepper. 2 servings

To save time, use 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen Lima beans. Cook as directed on pkg.

Festival Peach Salad
1 fresh peach or 2 canned peach halves
1/4 cup small curd cottage cheese
1 tbsp. toasted slivered almonds
1 tbsp. chopped maraschino cherries, well drained
1 tbsp. flaked coconut
lettuce leaves [yes, yes, I know, I failed on this one!]

Peel, halve, and pit fresh peach; sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Mix cottage cheese with almonds and cherries. Fill centers of peach halves with cottage cheese mixture; sprinkle with coconut. Serve on lettuce leaves. 2 servings.

Chocolate Parfaits
Alternate layers of ice cream and Quick Chocolate Sauce (p. 85) in parfait glasses.

Quick Chocolate Sauce
1 pkg. (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 can (5 1/2 oz.) evaporated milk
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. peppermint flavoring (not oil of peppermint), if desired

Melt chocolate over hot water. Beat in milk and salt. Blend in peppermint. Serve hot or cold. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Verdict:

Porcupines: Delicious! Yes, yes, I know the picture is reminiscent of rather more unappetizing things, I've got a family recipe for this, but it uses tomato soup, is baked, and makes a ton. This is far more manageable for my family, and I think it tasted better as well. They are called porcupines, see, because the rice is like quills on a porcupine. Try this one out! It is delightful. But cut down on the salt.

Baby Green Limas: Oh my word lima beans are foul. I saved time by using that new-fangled freezer section you've heard so much about, and followed the package directions exactly. Did you know you're supposed to microwave those suckers for 10-12 minutes?? They were pasty and horrid. I choked down about 4 beans, and chucked the rest in the garbage after Husband had scraped the rest of his back into the bowl.

Festival Peach Salad: This tastes weird. Separately, I like all these ingredients. Combined, it is just... weird. Not terrible, just really odd.

Chocolate Parfaits: Still recuperating from the breakfast parfaits.

Rys

2011-06-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

Time for some more medieval culinary shenanigans! It's a beautiful word, shenanigans. This offering comes from the 1400's, the tail end of the medieval period.

Rys.
Take a porcyoun of Rys, & pyke hem clene, & sethe hem welle, & late hem kele; þen take gode Mylke of Almaundys & do þer-to, & seþe & stere wyl; & do þer-to Sugre an hony, & serue forth.

Rice. [Revised]
Take a portion of rice, and pick them clean, and seeth them well, and let them cool; then take good milk of almonds and do thereto, and seethe and stir well; and do thereto sugar and honey, and serve forth.

Rice. [Further revised]
Make some rice, and let it cool. Add almond milk, and simmer until thickened. Add brown sugar and honey to taste and serve. If it thickens more than you'd like after it cools, stir in some more almond milk until it is the texture you like.

Verdict: Very nice indeed! Surprisingly nice, for how few ingredients there are. The almond milk gives it a lovely, subtle flavor, as does the honey. Lots of recipes using honey overwhelm it so as you can't even taste what variety of honey has been used. Not so here. Consequently, this is an excellent application for your fancypants honeys. If you just drizzle the honey over the top, it soaks down through the mixture and leaves you with the most delicious few honey-syruped bites at the end. I don't think it needs anything added, although I might try a touch of vanilla some time. Husband declared he wouldn't mind if it showed up again.

No, I did not get authentic medieval almond milk. I obtained mine from the refrigerated section, being both blessed with a refrigerator and cursed with laziness as I am. In the medieval period, when there was a serious lack of refrigerators, almond milk is preferred over cow's milk out of necessity. Cow's milk goes off pretty quickly, whereas almonds are shelf-stable. You don't want to risk sending a lovely, expensive sugared dessert such as this to the lord of the manor and have it taste of sour milk, do you? Indeed not.

*Thanks to Gode Cookery*

Orange-Nut Ring

2011-06-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

This glorious Orange-Nut Ring, originally from this post, is now the official letter "O" of the 2011 Picnic Game at Months of Edible Celebrations. Why? Because every party should have a trashy, somewhat disreputable member! And this I have provided.

Orange-Nut Ring [1967, Jiffy Cooking]

2 packages refrigerated orange or cinnamon Danish rolls with icing (16 rolls)
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Separate rolls and arrange 1 package (8 rolls) flat side down, around bottom of ungreased 6 1/2-cup ring mold. Stagger remaining package of rolls on top of first layer, covering seams of rolls on bottom layer.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes. Invert on serving plate while warm. Spread top and sides with frosting included in packages. Decorate with nuts. Serve warm with butter [Don't actually do this, please. Please. I can't be responsible for the results]. Makes 8 servings.

Serve with sliced Canadian-style bacon browned lightly in a skillet.

A: Apricot Cobbler
B: Banana Cream Pie
C: Cherry Bars in a Jar
D: Diva Doggie Bites
E: Emeril's Strawberry Lemonade
F: Fingerling Potato Salad w/Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette
G: Gugelhopf Twister
H: Honey Graham Roll-up
I: Incredible "Rabbit" Pineapple Tarts
J: Jam Jewels
K: Kirschmichel
L: Lime Cranberry Fizz
M: Mint Sundae Brownie Squares
N: Nice Mini Biscuit Sandwiches
O: Orange Nut Ring
P: Pan Bagnat
Q: Quick Lemon Bread
R: Rhubarb Ruguh-Love
S: Salmon Salad
T: Tequila Truffles
U: Unique Flan
V: Venus Is Out Tonight Radish, Black Olive, and Feta Salad
W: White Chocolate Cherry Almond Sour Cream Scones
X: Xerem
Y: Yummy Blueberries Hill Cupcakes
Z: Zucchini Salad

Ladies Brunch: Canadian-style Bacon, Orange-nut Ring, Berry-cereal Parfaits

2011-06-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Jiffy Cooking, by Better Homes and Gardens [1967]

This book has served me reasonably well in the past, save for the unfortunate orange-cherry cobbler incident. I am beginning, however, to notice a distinct tendency towards the use of massive amounts of sugar. This menu is no exception. My tummy hurts.

Orange-Nut Ring
2 packages refrigerated orange or cinnamon Danish rolls with icing (16 rolls)
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Separate rolls and arrange 1 package (8 rolls) flat side down, around bottom of ungreased 6 1/2-cup ring mold. Stagger remaining package of rolls on top of first layer, covering seams of rolls on bottom layer.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes. Invert on serving plate while warm. Spread top and sides with frosting included in packages. Decorate with nuts. Serve warm with butter. Makes 8 servings.

Serve with sliced Canadian-style bacon browned lightly in a skillet.

Berry-Cereal Parfaits
1 quart vanilla ice cream
2 10-ounce packages frozen sliced strawberries, partially thawed
2 cups sugar-frosted corn flakes

In each tall parfait glass, layer about 1/4 cup vanilla ice cream, about 3 tablespoons partially thawed strawberries, and 1/4 cup corn flakes. Top with another 1/4 cup vanilla ice cream and garnish with fresh strawberry halves, if desired. Makes 8 servings.

Verdict:

Orange-nut Ring: This is a thing of beauty! Look at it, it is glorious! It takes like 5 minutes of effort, total, and you get a beautiful ring of pull-apart pastry covered in orange glaze. It doesn't even stick to the pan! If I ever have to make a dessert and have 5 minutes to spend on it, I am SO making this again. AWESOME.

I rebelled and did not arrange the rolls in the manner prescribed, nor did I use a 6 1/2 qt. ring mold. I used a much smaller pan, and arranged the rolls thusly:

I feel my method is superior in attractiveness and ease of eating. You can just pull off a piece of pastry! So delightful. Three of the rolls didn't fit, though, and had to be cooked separately.

One thing though. The butter. If you recall, in the recipe, it says to serve with butter. The picture has an attractive bowl of butter balls. WHY? There is no good reason for this nonsense! Just... just... why would you even... I don't...

Berry-cereal Parfaits: Upon first glance, I know this looks reasonable brunch food. You may think this has yogurt in it, having not read the recipe carefully. If you have not, go back now. I will wait. .... Done? Good. Now take a moment to cease your weeping, nutritionists. Yes, this is a brunch parfait made of ice cream, sugar-coated cereal, and THREE TABLESPOONS of strawberry. The only fruit or vegetable in this entire meal does not even make up 1 serving. I cheated and did not use the proportions listed, because I was just feeling too guilty. Even with rather a lot more strawberry and rather less ice cream, this... this just isn't right.

All together: I don't feel good. Kind of jittery. Want steak. Or broccoli.

Just for fun, I plugged in the information for this meal to Livestrong's MyPlate program. For 2 small rolls, 1 parfait, and 2 slices Canadian bacon (i.e. not very much, actually):

704 calories
36g fat
39 g sugar

Breakfast: Indian Slapjacks, Pork chops, Eggs and Apples, Graham bread

2011-06-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

A great variety of dishes are unnecessary for breakfast, but see that what you do have, is nicely cooked, and properly served. Unless sickness or some other circumstance prevents, the mistress of the house should always add the finishing touches to the breakfast room, and the breakfast table. The most experienced servant will fail in producing just the right degree of light and sunlight, in getting rid of the last speck of dust, or the latest evidence of ashes, and never thinks at all of transferring a branch of rosebuds, and geranium from the garden to the mantel piece; these belong to the gentler thought, and more refined instincts of the cultivated lady, and such duties are not at all beneath the dignity of the highest in the land. -Jennie June's American Cookery Book: Containing Upwards of Twelve Hundred Choice and Carefully Tested Receipts; Embracing All the Popular Dishes, and the Best Results of Modern Science... Also, a Chapter For Invalids, For Infants, One on Jewish Cookery; and a Variety of Miscellaneous Receipts of Special Value to Housekeepers Generally.[1870]

Bill of Fare:
Indian Slapjacks
Pork Chops cut thin and fried brown
Fried apples
Graham bread

Indian Griddle Cakes --1
Mix together one pint of Indian meal, one cup of flour, a table-spoonful of molasses, a tea-spoonful of saleratus*, a little salt and ginger, and sufficient sour milk to make a stiff batter. Bake on the griddle.

Pork Cutlets
To broil or fry these, cut them half an inch thick, trim them into neat form, take off part of the fat. To broil them, sprinkle a little pepper on them, and broil them over a clear and moderate fire a quarter of an hour, or a few minutes more; and just before taking them off, sprinkle over a little fine salt. For frying, flour them well and season with pepper, and salt, and sage. They may also be dipped into an egg, and then into bread crumbs mixed with minced sage; if for broiling, add a little clarified butter to the egg, or sprinkle it on the cutlets.

Eggs and Apples
Beat up the eggs as for omelet, pare and slice the apples, fry them in a little butter, take them out, and stir them in with the eggs. Melt a little butter in the pan, put in the eggs and apples; fry, turning over once and serve it hot.

***

Verdict:

Indian Griddle Cakes: Kind of dry and gritty, but not bad. They work astonishingly well for soaking up syrup, possibly up to 3x their weight in syrup. I do not know what property of this recipe is the cause of this, but it is awesome.

Pork Cutlets: So very tasty. I bolded the part of the recipe I followed, and they were fab. Nice and crusty outside, tender and juicy inside. Delightful.

Eggs and Apples: Surprisingly delicious! I used a small apple, three eggs, a splash of milk, a sprinkle of salt, and about 2 T. butter. Butter is important. You wouldn't think this would be as pleasant as it is. I can't quite describe how it tastes, so you'll just have to try it out.

Graham bread: I used 9-grain bread, hoping that the Rev. Sylvester Graham would approve.

All together: The best part about this menu is that you only have to use one pan! Fantastic. To keep the food from getting cold while you make everything, throw everything in the warming oven** as you make it. If you do not live in the 1800's and thus do not have a wood stove, turn your oven to its lowest setting, let it come to temperature, turn it off, and then throw in your tin foil covered food.

After eating everything, I was well satisfied. You may notice, however, that everything is brown. This may be why Jennie June suggests putting flowers on the table! As indeed I did (although they are not in the picture), as I have the refined instincts of a cultivated lady.

*Saleratus is the naturally-occuring form of baking soda. It was gathered up off the ground, where it forms a sort of crust. Early settlers to the western United States were often thrilled to find deposits of saleratus. Like pure baking soda, it has to react with an acid in order to leaven stuff. This is why the recipe above calls for sour milk, which I've talked about before. Fresh milk will not work! To substitute for sour milk, add 1 tsp. vinegar or lemon juice to every 1 cup of milk.

**The warming oven is the part of a wood-burning stove that is right above the range. It doesn't get hot, it just stays... you know... warm. Because of this, it is marvelous for keeping food warm, raising bread, keeping the bread warm after it is baked so that butter melts into it deliciously hours later, and keeping premature babies and sickly lambs in. It is not, as some might quite wrongly believe, for storing pots and pans in. This is a waste of good cookie-storing space.

On Family Recipes

2011-06-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

I speak in praise of family foods. Not just the things that appear once a year on holidays, but the things that you think of when you are far from home. The things you crave when you've eaten restaurant food for a week straight. The chicken-and-dumpling soup (made with the leftover chicken carcass, of course), the new potatoes and peas, the Sunday morning waffles, the raisin snack cake. That thing that no one seems to understand the deliciousness of outside your family. There are things you don't want to admit to for fear of snobbish judgment: things with cream of chicken soup or Velveeta or prunes or potato chip topping.

You take them for granted. Your parents or grandparents make them, so you don't need to. There may be better recipes; recipes that are either more elaborate or easier, but not quite the same. But grandmas don't last forever, and neither do moms. The food that reminds you of them will be lost.

***

*If your parents and grandparents are still alive, get those recipes soon. Today would be ideal.

*If you have children or grandchildren, write down your recipes and get them each a copy.

*Answer: What foods remind you of home? What were the foods you ate most as a child?

Rhubarb Fool

2011-06-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Jennie June's American Cookery Book [1870]

I may have neglected to mention this before, but I love cream. So much. If you enjoy cream a tenth as much as I do, you will love fools. No no, the desserty kind. A fool is a fruit sauce folded into cream (whipped or unwhipped) or custard. For this recipe, I chose to replace gooseberries with rhubarb.

RHUBARB.—This is one of the most useful of all garden productions that are put into pies and puddings. It was comparatively little known till within the last twenty or thirty years, but it is now cultivated in almost every British garden. The part used is the footstalks of the leaves, which, peeled and cut into small pieces, are put into tarts, either mixed with apples or alone. When quite young, they are much better not peeled. Rhubarb comes in season when apples are going out. The common rhubarb is a native of Asia; the scarlet variety has the finest flavour. Turkey rhubarb, the well-known medicinal drug, is the root of a very elegant plant (Rheum palmatum), coming to greatest perfection in Tartary. For culinary purposes, all kinds of rhubarb are the better for being blanched. -Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management

Gooseberry Fool
Put into a deep dish some green gooseberries, a quart or more if desired, after baking them in the oven until quite soft [I simmered on the stovetop], pulp them through a colander and add pounded sugar to taste. When it is cold, mix in a gill* of cream to each quart of berries, and serve in a glass dish.

Verdict: Another triumph of an extremely short list of simple ingredients. Rhubarb, sugar, cream. Yum. The cream mellowed the rhubarb a little bit, rendering it even more delicious than before. Such an easy dessert! And so tasty. Plus, it is attractively pink. Now go! Try this with whatever fruit your heart fancies! I'm sure it will be fantastic, because you made it.

*5 oz.

Rhubarb, or Pie-Plant Pudding

2011-05-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

The White House Cookbook: A Selection of Choice Recipes Original and Selected, During a Period of Forty Years' Practical Housekeeping, by Fanny Lamira Gillette, [1887]

IN presenting this book of recipes to the public, I do so at the urgent request of friends and relatives. During forty years of practical housekeeping, it has been my custom, after trying and testing a recipe, and finding it invariably a success, and also one of the best of its kind, to copy it in a book, thereby accumulating a considerable amount of reliable and useful information in the culinary line.

Rhubarb, or Pie-Plant Pudding
Chop rhubarb pretty fine, put in a pudding-dish, and sprinkle sugar over it; make a batter of one cupful of sour milk*, two eggs, a piece of butter the size of an egg, half a teaspoonful of soda, and enough flour to make batter about as thick as for cake. Spread it over the rhubarb, and bake till done. Turn out on a platter upside down, so that the rhubarb will be on top. Serve with sugar and cream.

Verdict:

Another name for rhubarb is "pie-plant", because of rhubarb's excellence in pie making. I think this is outstanding. Any produce so intimately connected with the manufacture of pie can only be a source of good in the world.

This was quite tasty! Kind of like a rhubarb upside-down cake, except that the cakey bit wasn't sweetened. That was all right, because the sweetened rhubarb made it just sweet enough. That, and the cream and sugar on top. I would have just drizzled the cream on, but I've got all this unsweetened whipped cream in my fridge from a failed butter-making attempt.** Besides being tasty, it was also quick and easy to make. Consequently, I'll probably be making it again some time. Next time, though, I shall add a little bit of sugar to the batter, some vanilla, and some nutmeg. Mmm. Delightful.

This is a great recipe to practice on if imprecise recipes make you nervous.

*For every cup of milk, add about 1 tsp. of lemon juice or vinegar and stir it around. If you lived in the days before pasteurization, you'd be drinking milk that gradually soured due to bacterial formation. Pasteurized milk does not do this. It just goes nasty. The reason for using sour milk instead of fresh milk is not economy; it is cleverness! You need some acidity to react with the baking soda to leaven the batter, making your end result light and fluffy instead of dense and brick-like. This is why you must add acid in the form of lemon juice or vinegar to achieve the same result.

**Remember this post on butter-making? It is much easier with a stand mixer in a room-temperature house than on a chilly day in 1917 with a hand-cranked churn.

Square Dance Special: Pizza Doggies, Raw Vegetable Tray, Doughnuts, Cream Soda Shake

2011-05-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

A Campbell Cookbook: Cooking With Soup [1960's-1970's]

Everyone has this cookbook. If you don't, your mother does. If she doesn't, your grandma does. Look in your local thrift store. At least one of these will be there, if not more. The same book, with the same dubious looking dish on the front. They will find you. But enough. Let us see what delights await us therein!

Wheeee!

This is a menu from the section "Teen Soups and Snacks", and is perfect for extremely busy parents of teenagers who would love nothing more than to throw a square dance themed party for their tons of square dance enthusiast friends. Who among us, as a teenager, has not felt that urge?

Pizza Doggies
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) condensed tomato soup
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/4-1/2 teaspoon leaf oregano, crushed
8 frankfurters, slit lengthwise
8 frankfurter bugs, slit
6 ounces sliced Mozzarella cheese

Cook garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Add soup, water, parsley, and oregano; cook over low heat 15 minutes. Stir often. Place frankfurters on buns in large shallow baking pan. Fill franks with sauce; top with cheese. Place under broiler about 1 minute or until cheese melts. 8 servings.

Raw Vegetable Tray
I used cucumber, jicama, cantaloupe, and pineapple. Yes. I know two of those are not vegetables.

Doughnuts
Bavarian cream-filled. Awesome.

Cream Soda Shake

Verdict:

Pizza Doggies: The two tablespoons of oil floated on top of the soup like a glistening film until 15 minutes of simmering and stirring finally helped it to absorb. I guess the pizza-ness is supposed to come from the minute amount of oregano to the soup, much as the "Sloppy Josés" on the facing page are sloppy joes made Mexican by the addition of a light dusting of chili powder. Hold on now, Campbell's soup! Don't get too crazy!

Despite my best efforts at filling, the slit-open hot dogs insisted on snapping shut whenever I took my hands away, spewing forth tomato soup. The small quantity that remained inside shot out over my hands in a cascade upon the first bite. Luckily it was just lukewarm, as was the hot dog. I assume the Campbell's test kitchen found some magical window of time in which the hot dog can get properly warm before the bun blackens, but I did not.

They were okay, though. There were two apiece; I ate both of mine and Husband made it through one. I picked the melted cheese off the last one (it's melted cheese!) and chucked the rest. In the garbage, not... you know.

Raw Vegetable Tray: Hey teens! Your choices are melted cheese on meat, doughnuts, soda and ice cream, or raw vegetables!

Doughnuts: I love that this menu has doughnuts on it! It is a strange and somehow liberating experience writing "doughnuts" on one's weekly shopping list. "Yes, let's see... bread, eggs, milk... doughnuts."

Cream Soda Shake: I put mango gelato in cream soda. It was weird. Don't do it.

Bean Croquettes, Pickles, and A Dainty Dessert

2011-05-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Armour's Monthly Cookbook [1913]

Baked Beans- A National Dish

To many people baked beans means just one thing—baked beans, served hot or cold. To the woman, however, who is really interested in furnishing variety in diet, and this in a very economical way, baked beans offers boundless possibilities. First of all, she lays in a stock of Veribest Baked Beans—Veribest, because she knows that in this particular brand the beans are even more thoroughly cooked than she herself could do them. There are two kinds of Veribest Baked Beans, plain, and with tomato sauce, and with both the mellow richness of the bean is preserved with all its natural flavor, making it a most toothsome dish as well as nutritious and economical. Having a good stock to draw from the economical housewife proceeds to serve baked beans to her family every day for a week, varying the dish each day.

Following this paragraph is a helpful guide for serving beans once a day for a week. Hoorayyy!

Monday: "New England Supper", beans and brown bread.
Tuesday: bean croquettes
Wednesday: mashed bean sandwiches
Thursday: bean, celery, and mayonnaise salad
Friday: beans in beet shells
Saturday: some kind of soup made by mixing pureed beans with milk. And a couple spices.
Sunday: bean loaf

That is variety in diet indeed. Since I am not totally lacking in compassion, I did not subject Husband to the entire week. Instead, you only get one. As you will see, this was entirely for the best given the tragic results that followed.

Tuesday, for lunch.—Bean Croquettes. Drain Veribest Pork and Beans (without tomato sauce), and pass them through a colander. Measure and allow one teaspoon of dry bread crumbs to each cup of beans. Season with cayenne pepper and a little minced parsley. For a pint of the mixture, beat one egg. Save enough of the egg to dip the croquettes in, and add the remainder to the beans. Mix and form into small croquettes, or balls, then roll in fine bread crumbs. Dip them in egg and again in the crumbs, and fry in deep boiling Simon Pure Leaf Lard. Border with slices of dill pickles or sweet green peppers.

Although a meal satisfies your hunger you should have dessert, because the educated palate craves that particular spice as a proper finish. Scientists tell us that a dinner digests better because of a tasty dessert, which, they say, gives the final stimulus necessary to dispose of the food previously received.

A Dainty Dessert
Lemon and grape juice frappé is another cool dessert that is also light. To make it, boil a pint of water with two cupfuls of granulated sugar for ten minutes and cool it. Then add a little cinnamon and half a cupful of lemon juice, and lastly a quart of Armour's grape juice. Freeze and serve in cups, with a little of the grape juice.

Verdict:

Bean Croquettes: These were so frustrating to make! I must not have drained the beans very well, because they were still pretty liquid. I tried making a patty and dipping it out of the dribbly mixture, but it did not work well. I added a ton more bread crumbs, and then it worked better, but it was still annoyingly messy. I will confess I used olive oil instead of lard. I ended up with ten or twelve.

I ate a couple. They were fine, just kind of bland. The pickle is absolutely necessary, though. It complements the bean croquettes to an extent I did not think possible. Husband thought they were reasonably tasty with ketchup, mustard, and pickles, and ate the rest of the batch like they were chicken nuggets.

Ten minutes after dinner, he threw them up. He did say that they were just as good coming up as going down though so... no. No. That... does not make it any better. On the plus side, this is a landmark first in Time Travel Kitchen history! Hooray! I guess!

A Dainty Dessert: Tasty! We both liked it very much, but felt it would be better and easier in a popsicle application. The cinnamon was quite nice.

Rejected: Many people find it difficult to take raw eggs when recommended by their doctor. This difficulty is removed by breaking the egg into a glass of Armour's Grape Juice. The egg is swallowed easily and in addition to the nourishment obtained there is the tonic value of the rich fruit from which the grape juice is taken.

Mother's Day Breakfast: Strawberries in Cream, Pop's Quick Pancakes, Hot Orange Sauce, Milk

2011-04-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Safeway meal plan pamphlet collection, 1960's

This is one holiday that will not catch me unawares! I am fairly awful at dates, possibly as a result of frequent time travel. Or general oblivious silliness. You know what, let's go with the first one. Besides, even if it's still a while until Mother's Day, it isn't too early to start gestating in preparation. At least for me. Anyway, a lovely menu for Mother's Day, presumably perfect for serving in bed!

Mother's Day Breakfast
Strawberries in Cream
Pop's Quick Pancakes
Hot Orange Sauce
Milk, Coffee

Strawberries in Cream
No recipe given. Drizzle cream on strawberries, sprinkle with sugar.

Pop's Quick Pancakes (Serves 4)
In a medium size mixing bowl combine 1 cup sifted KITCHEN CRAFT flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup LUCERNE milk, 2 egg yolks. Mix slightly. Beat 2 egg whites until stiff and gently fold into flour mixture until smooth. Ladle onto hot greased griddle. Serve with Hot Orange Sauce or heated maple syrup and plenty of LUCERNE butter. Good!

Hot Orange Sauce (Makes about 3/4 cup)
Cream 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) LUCERNE butter in small bowl until soft; add 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar gradually, creaming after each addition until well blended. Combine grated rind of 1 orange, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and cointreau or Curacao, if desired in small saucepan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat; simmer 1 to 2 minutes. Stir hot orange mixture into creamed butter and sugar. Serve hot.

Milk
No recipe given. Pour milk in glass. Drink milk.

Verdict:

Strawberries in Cream: I love cream. I just... I just love cream. Have I told you this before? Because I do. So much.

Pop's Quick Pancakes: Gah! Weirdly salty! There are faster and more delicious pancake recipes that don't require whipping egg whites. Make one of those. I do love how the recipe declares its alleged goodness at the end, though. More recipes should do this. "Zucchini/Canned Tomato/Onion/Soggy Saltine Casserole. blah blah instructions blah. Nasty!" Perhaps they are trying to convince us?

Hot Orange Sauce: Mmmm. Orangey. Kind of buttery, but who am I to complain? Butter is basically concentrated cream, you know.

Milk: An especially appropriate beverage for the day. Now you feel a little weird, don't you?

Thanks, mom! I am glad you are my mom, and that you gave birth to me and raised me to adulthood. Also, thank you for not allowing me to switch to eating my breakfast cereal with 100% heavy cream after I got back from grandma's house that one time and was under the impression that it was some kind of super-fantastic milk.

1914: Opera singers cook too!

2011-04-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Original at Shorpy.com

This is Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Margarete Ober, with a rib roast. I like rib roast, especially if it has got Yorkshire pudding with it. Her apron looks super effective.

Salmon, Roast Pigeons, Vegetables, Macaroni Pudding

2011-04-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

Things a Lady Would Like to Know [1876]

Remember this book? Oh yes. The one with the edifying quotes. Today's menu is for July 25, with this accompanying quote:

Consider everlasting consequences, contemplate approaching judgment. -Rev. James Fordyce, D.D.

Oh, Reverend Fordyce. You are as cheery as ever. You may remember this fellow from such books as Pride and Prejudice, where he is mentioned as a favorite author of Mr. Collins.

Salmon
Roast Pigeons
Vegetables
Macaroni Pudding

Salmon.—Take 2 slices of salmon, and lay them in a baking-dish; put some pieces of butter over them; add salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg, half a tea-spoonful of chopped parsley, 1 shalot, rubbing a little of it into the fish. Baste frequently. Take out when done (in about three-quarters of an hour); drain it; lay it on a hot dish, and pour over it either tomato or caper sauce.

Roast Pigeons.—Pick, draw, and truss them, keeping on the feet. Chop the liver with some parsley; add crumbs of bread, pepper, salt, and a little butter; put this stuffing inside. Slit one of the legs, and slip the other through it; skewer and roast them for half an hour; baste them well with butter. Serve with brown gravy in a boat, and bread sauce.

4. Maccaroni Pudding.—Simmer 1 or 2 oz. of the pipe sort in a pint of milk and a bit of lemon and cinnamon till tender; put it into a dish with milk, 2 or 3 eggs, but only 1 white; sugar, nutmeg, and a half glass of raisin wine, or table-spoonful of brandy. Bake with a paste round the edges. A layer of orange marmalade or raspberry jam in this pudding, for change, is a great improvement; in which case omit the almond water, or ratifia, which you would otherwise flavour it with.

Verdict:

Salmon: Wayyyyyy overcooked. I pulled it out of the oven at 20 minutes, and it was still overcooked. Three-quarters of an hour would render it into salmon jerky. Other than that, I really liked it. The preparation and ingredients were very simple. I didn't do a tomato or caper sauce, and I don't think it needed it. I can recommend this recipe, as long as you don't cook it as long as I did.

Roast Pigeons: Pigeons were unavailable, but luckily a couple cornish game hens were happy to step in as stunt doubles. And they were delicious. I now love cornish game hens. Not a very interesting preparation, but it is pretty fun to eat an entire bird in one go, especially with some fantastic gravy made with the drippings. Husband made the stuffing, using a slice of bread per bird, and also tried really hard to attach the legs together as instructed. This did not succeed. Probably because some thoughtless butcher had cut its feet off. The same butcher also failed to include the tiny wee livers. Shucks!

Macaroni Pudding: The original menu had tapioca pudding on this day, but this looked more entertaining. In place of raisin wine, brandy, or ratafia, I used vanilla and a little orange flower water. I thought it was lovely! Think of it sort of like a custardy rice pudding, but with macaroni instead of rice and also in a pie shell. The marmalade was an excellent touch. Husband thought the flavor was good, but couldn't get over the bouncy texture of the macaroni, so unexpected in a sweet application. Boo sucks to him, that means I get to eat the rest!

Step-Saving Kitchen of 1949

2011-04-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics demonstrates a space-saving, efficient U-shaped kitchen. What features would you like in your kitchen? Would you rather have a large but inefficient kitchen, or a small but efficient and organized kitchen?

Oven meal: Company Chicken, Oven-Fried Potatoes, Buttered Carrots, Chocolate Brownie Pie

2011-04-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

It is 1959, and Indianapolis Power & Light wants to make sure you can cook... electrically. Thus, The Electric Cook Book, "your complete guide to cooking electrically." During the 40's and 50's, with the rise of larger and better-equipped ovens, came The Oven Meal. Oven meals are menus wherein all the dishes are put in the oven at the same time. Genius. Plus, I got to use the divided dish I borrowed from the 50's.

Company Chicken
Oven-Fried Potatoes
Buttered Carrots
Chocolate Brownie Pie
***
Temperature: 350 degrees F.
Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 6

Company Chicken
1 package EACH frozen chicken breasts and thighs
Flour, salt, and pepper
Shortening
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 4-ounce can sliced mushrooms

Flour and season chicken. In skillet, brown thoroughly on all sides in shortening on SECOND to THIRD heat. Place chicken in large casserole. Add soup to pan in which chicken was fried; stir to pick up drippings. Add curry and mushrooms. Pour over chicken; cover and bake.

Oven-Fried Potatoes
Pare 6 potatoes; slice 1/4 inch thick; toss in 1/2 cup melted butter to coat thoroughly. Put in baking dish; salt and pepper; pour remaining butter over potatoes. Bake.

Buttered Carrots
Peel and slice carrots into casserole. Salt and pepper, top with butter, add 1/4 cup water. Cover, and bake.

Chocolate Brownie Pie
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3/4 cup pecans
1 9-inch unbaked pastry shell

Melt chocolate and butter [I used a microwave, about 15 seconds at a time]. Add eggs, sugar, and corn syrup, beating thoroughly. Mix in pecans. Pour filling into unbaked pastry shell. Bake with oven meal.

***

Verdict:

Company Chicken: Ehhhh. The sauce is really not great. Canned mushrooms are rubbery and horrible and they JUST TASTE BAD. That, combined with undiluted, curried cream of chicken soup was just overwhelming and gloppy. It's okay, certainly entirely edible, but not something I'd serve to company. Or again. Husband thought it was reasonably tasty.

Oven-Fried Potatoes: Quite nice! Very simple ingredients, tasty result. The butter was a little excessive (not that I mind...), and I think you could get good results from halving the butter, using olive oil, or going 50/50. They were cooked perfectly.

Buttered Carrots: Also cooked perfectly. Yum. I think I liked these the best, actually, with the exception of...

Chocolate Brownie Pie: Golly. I thought this was going to turn out like a chocolate pecan pie as there is no flour in the filling, but I was wrong. This is like... brownies distilled. Husband felt that it was more like brownies than brownies. I would not go quite that far, but it is not "brownies in a superfluous pastry crust", as you are thinking. It is essence of brownie contained by pastry for easier transport to your face. Warm from the oven, thanks to your skillful time management made easier by the wonders of electricity, vanilla ice cream melting in slowly trickling rivulets. ggghgghhhhrrrrrghhh.

All together: A meal well worth making for the novelty and convenience of making it all at the same time in the oven, if you alter the chicken recipe. If I did this again, I'd either rub some chicken thighs with a tasty seasoning mix or figure out a sauce that didn't involve cream of chicken soup. An actual curry sauce, perhaps.

A Gentleman's Lunch

2011-04-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Original BYU Special Collections

This is J. Stanley Anderson, enjoying lunch al fresco in 1900. This is also the very place where he was bumped out of a flying meat wagon on his neck. Poor guy. Nice lunch.

Imperial Roman: Aliter Offellae, Aliter Porros, Patina de Cucurbitis, Mel et Caseum, Dulcia Domestica

2011-04-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Our recent trip to Imperial Rome was both delightful and educational! Of course we were unable to get pictures of anything but the food, but I'm sure you can appreciate why photography in 400 A.D. is inadvisable.

Apicii librorum X qui dicuntur De re coquinaria quae extant, by Apicius [app. 400]
or
Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, by Apicius

Aliter Offellae: recte friguntur ut paene assae reddantur. Liquaminis sumis cyathum, aquae cyathum, aceti cyasothum, olei cyathum. simul mixtis et immissis in patellam fictilem, frigis et inferes.

Revised: The balls or cutlets are properly fried in the pan, nearly done. Next prepare the following: one whole glass broth, a glass of water, a glass of vinegar, and a glass of oil, properly mixed; put this in an earthen baking dish. Immerse meat pieces, finish on the fire, and serve.

Further revised: Pan-fry pork cutlets until they are nearly done, and place in a baking dish. Whisk together equal amounts broth, water, vinegar, and oil. Pour this over the pork cutlets and bake until meat is done.

Aliter Porros: opertos foliis cauliculorum [et] in prunis coques, ut supra, et inferes.

Revised: After having boiled the leeks in water, [green string] beans which have not yet been prepared otherwise, may be boiled [in the leek water] principally on account of the good taste they will acquire; and may then be served with the leeks.

Further revised: Boil leeks in water until done. Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon, and boil fresh green beans in the water the leeks have so recently vacated. When done, drain beans and toss with leeks.

Patina de Cucurbitis: cucurbitas elixas et frictas in patina compones, cuminatum superfundes, modico oleo super adiecto, fervere facias et inferes.

Revised: Squash pie is made thus; stewed and mashed squash is placed in the pan, seasoned with a little cumin essence. Add a little oil; heat, and serve.

Further revised: Cook and mash some winter squash. Smoosh it into the pan, sprinkle with cumin, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake until heated through.

Mel et Caseum: Prepare cottage cheese either with honey and brine, or with salt, oil, and chopped coriander.

Revised: Drizzle some honey on cottage cheese.

Dulcia domestica: palmulas vel dactylos excepto semine, nuce vel nucleis vel pipere trito infercies. sale foris contingis, frigis in melle cocto, et inferes.

Revised: dates are stuffed, after the seeds have been removed, with a nut or with nuts and ground pepper, sprinkled with salt on the outside and are candied in honey and served.

Revised: Stuff pre-seeded dates with walnut fouths. Cover the bottom of a pan with honey and heat slowly until honey liquifies. Dump dates in, turn up the heat to medium, and toss them with the honey. When the honey is foamy and the dates are coated, take the dates out and let them cool separately. Don't let them touch, or they'll be bonded together forever.

Verdict:

Aliter Offelae: The vinegar is pretty strong, which is good if you are trying to cover up the taste of meat that has gone off because you don't have a refrigerator and you live in the Mediterranean. It's not bad though, and one member of our party really liked it. Apple cider vinegar was used here, but I imagine red wine vinegar would be really good, and probably much better as it has a lower acidity. I encourage someone to try this and report.

Aliter Porros: The beans did not absorb a detectable amount of leek flavor. They might absorb more if, as some cultures prefer, the beans were cooked for several hours. It did look bright and springy, but I didn't enjoy eating forkfuls of leeks.

Patina de Cucurbitis: It tastes about like you'd expect, like squash with cumin and olive oil. The cumin and olive oil on top reminded me of hummus.

Mel et Caseum: Mm. I like cottage cheese. I prefer mine savory, but this was tasty. Brine was not used, as the cottage cheese was already salted.

Dulcia Domestica: These... these were fantastic. Really, really good. I don't like dates. I'm ambivalent towards walnuts. But together, and then candied in honey, they somehow combine to be fantastically delicious. I recommend this recipe without reservation! One diabetic member of the party abstained, but the rest of us ate every single last one.

1911: 143 Hudson Street

2011-04-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Original at Shorpy.com

New York, December 1911. 143 Hudson Street, ground floor. Mrs. Salvia; Joe, 10 years old; Josephine, 14 years old; Camille, 7 years old. Picking nuts in a dirty tenement home. The bag of cracked nuts (on chair) had been standing open all day waiting for the children to get home from school. The mangy cat (under table) roamed about over everything. Baby is sleeping in the dark inner bedroom (three yrs. old).

Geeeez. Judgemental, much? Perhaps the author's purebred cat spends its days sitting primly on a satin pillow, and his baby sleeps in a brightly lit window.

To me, they just look like a happy family.

***

Next time: Traveling back farther than ever before!

Gourmet Steaks, Sweet Peas di Florencia, Orange Pineapple Salad, Chocolate Easy Loaf Cake, Milk

2011-03-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

A lovely lovely reader [thanks, iamspartan!] sent me a cookbook! It is a collection of meal plans produced by Safeway in the 1960's, by Jane Ross, Home Economist. It is pretty sweet. It may be my new favorite.

Also, I wonder if I can start adding H.E. after my name. This merits investigation*.

Gourmet Steaks
Sweet Peas di Florencia
Orange Pineapple Salad
Chocolate Easy Loaf Cake
Milk, Coffee

Gourmet Steaks
1 pound ground round
1/2 bulk pork sausage
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon CROWN COLONY parsley flakes
1 teaspoon CROWN COLONY ground oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup SAFEWAY grated parmesan cheese
1/4 loaf, 15 oz., day old French bread, soak, squeeze dry
1 package, 4 oz., Birds Eye frozen French fried onion rings, baked

Combine all the ingredients except the onion rings in a mixing bowl. Mix with wooden spoon until well blended [and then smoosh with your hand because that spoon is never going to get the job done properly]. Form into four steaks. Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a shallow skillet or griddle. Fry steaks as you would hamburgers [probably 'cause they are]. Remove steaks to a warm serving platter. Garnish with French fried onion rings.

I did not make this, but I provide the recipe so that you may. As of course you will.

Sweet Peas di Florencia (Serves 4 to 6)
1/2 cube LUCERNE butter
1/2 medium onion, sliced thin
1 can, buffet, TOWN HOUSE tomato sauce
1 medium potato, cubed
2 tablespoons cooking or olive oil

Melt butter in a 1 1/2 quart size saucepan. Stir in onions. Cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until sauce becomes thick. Meanwhile heat cooking oil in small skillet. Stir in cubed potatoes. Cook on low heat until half done and remove from heat. To the tomato sauce mixture add 1 can, No. 303, TOWN HOUSE sweet peas, undrained and the half-way cooked potatoes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Orange Pineapple Salad (Serves 6)
1 cup boiling water
1 package, 3 oz., orange-pineapple gelatin
1 can, No. 211, LALANI crushed pineapple, drained
1 can, buffet, TOWN HOUSE mandarin orange segments, drained
1 cup combined drained pineapple and orange syrup
1 firm banana, sliced thin
1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup cold water

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in drained fruit syrup. Chill until slightly thickened. Pour lemon juice and water over banana slices to keep slices from discoloring. FOld drained orange segments, crushed pineapple, and banana slices into the slightly thickened gelatin. Pour into 6 x 10-inch shallow dish. Chill until set. Cut into squares and serve on chilled salad plates garnished with crisp lettuce leaves.

Chocolate Easy Loaf Cake
Sift 1 1/2 cups cake flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt into mixing bowl, cut in 2/3 cup shortening.

Add 1 cup buttermilk or thick sour milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat 200 strokes (2 minutes by hand or low speed of electric mixer). Add 2 unbeaten eggs; beat for 2 minutes more.

Bake in greased and floured 9x5x3-inch pan at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.

Remove from pan; cool and frost with a mocha or a fudge frosting. Serve with plenty of LUCERNE vanilla ice cream.

Verdict:

Gourmet Steaks: "Guess what, Husband! This week for time travelly meal, I am making you Gourmet Steaks!"

"...They aren't steaks, are they."

"The recipe's name is 'Gourmet Steaks.', honey. Gourmet Steaks."

"I am filled with suspicion."

Indeed, they are by no means steaks (unless you hail from Salisbury), but they are certainly an above-average hamburger. Husband, once he got over the disappointment caused by the recipe name, felt that this recipe should be used to make grilled hamburgers this summer. The French bread was a little fussy, and a little much. When I make this again (Yes, "when." It's always a pleasant surprise on this blog, isn't it?), I'm going to use a smaller amount of pre-packaged bread crumbs. Future Jana said it turned out great anyway, but she could be lying just to mess with me. If this turns out to be the case, I'm eating an entire carton of ice cream to pay her back.

Sweet Peas di Florencia: I hate canned peas. We had frozen green beans. I used the excuse of not knowing what a "buffet size" can is, but that didn't stop me from making the salad recipe below. I think it is just a regular sized can. If one of you wants to make this recipe and send me a picture and review, I will happily fill in this gap. I would be disappointed in Italy for this, but I did make (and yes, enjoy) those pizza potatoes, so I guess I shouldn't cast stones. They probably aren't responsible anyway. Sadly.

Orange Pineapple Salad: Jello is a traditional dish of my people, and oh my heck, this one is pretty good as Jello goes. I really love mandarin oranges. If you don't have a time machine, you probably won't be able to find orange-pineapple Jello. That is okay. Just use orange. It will be all right.

Chocolate Easy Loaf Cake: Either I failed, or the recipe did. For the sake of the shreds of dignity I have left, I will say it was the recipe. The piece of cake in the picture above was the end piece. The piece of cake in the picture below came from the middle.

Such shame I feel. Perhaps it is better to think of it as a trencher of cake to hold large amounts of chocolate whipped cream. There are no mistakes, only discoveries.

Milk: Lots of meal plans include beverages, for some reason.

*Oh hey, I forgot, I'm a B.H.E.! Awesome.

Country Kitchen: 1936

2011-03-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Original at Shorpy.com

This woman is making butter. And lucky her, she's got a crank butter churn! The butter I churned in the 1870's took a lot longer. I churned butter on a farm in WWI, and they had an awesome butter churn with a gear ratio of 3:1, thus making the chore 3x faster than the effort I had to expend.

Next time: A full-meal post, to include cake. Hooray!

Picnics and Luncheons.

2011-03-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Woman's Favorite Cook Book [1900's]

Some of these foods look tasty. Some do not. Pressed beef... and eggs. Jellied veal. I... I... look how happy that family is in the top left-hand corner! I want to live in that picture.

Tarte of strawberyes

2011-03-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic guest post! This time from Anje of Kitchen Historic.

***

I have a good friend who went on a summer trip to England a few years ago and she brought me back this wonderful book, A Recipe Book in the Tudor Fashion. In this book is a Tudor recipe for a strawberry tart, taken from the cookbook A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye. Books dating this far back can be a little difficult to decipher, but luckily the book did all the work for me. I halved this recipe because it's just me and Mr. Man and I didn't want to make too much, however this recipe only makes enough for two 18-inch pans, so it's really not a lot to begin with.

To make short paest for tarte.

Take fyne floure and a cursey of
fayre water and a dysche of swete butter and
a lyttel saffron, and the yolckes of two egges
and make it thynne and as tender as ye
maye.

To make a tarte of strawberyes.

Take and strayne theym wyth the yolkes
of foure egges, and a lyttle whyte breade
grated, then season it up wyth suger and
swete butter and so bake it.

The Verdict:
The taste was not necessarily bad, however the texture of the strawberries inside was a little strange for me. I also think I should've baked my tart a bit longer, so that may be part of it. I much prefer my strawberries at least partially intact. This tart was not very sweet either, but I've come to find that a lot of historical recipes are not very sweet. Probably due to changing tastes, I imagine. Anyway, this is okay, but I would not make it again. I'd rather eat a strawberry pie.

Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye)

Pastry Crust
250 grams PLAIN FLOUR
100 grams UNSALTED BUTTER, softened
pinch of SAFFRON (for color, omit if desired)
2 EGG YOLKS, beaten
4 tablespoons COLD WATER

1. Grind the saffron to powder (use the back of a spoon if you don't have a mortar and pestle) and add to the flour.
2. Add the flour to the soft butter and rub it between your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add the egg yolks and some water if necessary to create a dough which sticks together.
4. Roll out thin and use to line a greased 18cm flan tin.

Strawberry Tart
250 grams STRAWBERRIES
3 EGG YOLKS, beaten
50 grams WHITE BREADCRUMBS
3 tablespoons SUGAR
25 grams UNSALTED BUTTER, softened

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Puree the strawberries in a blender and pour into a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
2. Pour strawberry mixture into the prepared (unbaked) tart crust and decorate the top with the trimmings.
3. Use milk or egg yolk as a glaze and bake until the pastry is golden.

***

That is a fine looking tart, is it not? Also a very attractive picture.

Chicken a la King

2011-03-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today's guest post is from Alison, The Domestic Engineer. I have found that the 1970's has a mysterious allure. Alison is not immune, and her recipe comes from the 1974 edition of the Campbell's Soup cookbook.

Chicken a la King
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken, ham, or turkey
2 tablespoons diced pimiento
Dash pepper
Toast

Cook onion and green pepper in butter until tender. Blend in soup and milk; add chicken, pimento, and pepper. Heat slowly; stir often. Serve over toast. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

The recipe is called Chicken a la King and sounds fancy even though it's just a mixture of cream of chicken soup with chicken, onions, and green peppers and served over toast. Not too daring of a recipe really but it was out of an old cookbook and a big hit with the family that my husband wants it again! I should be more daring next time though and try something even older or bizarre sounding.

Also, now that I think of it, this recipe really is pretty much like Hawaiian haystacks but on toast rather than rice and without the extra toppings. I'm going to try and branch out further next time because this is kinda fun! I'll also keep my eye out for some cool old cookbooks at Goodwill!

That is some nice looking Chicken a la King, Alison! I would eat it.

Food Furnished by the Sea, Lakes, and Rivers

2011-03-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Woman's Favorite Cook Book [1900's]

All right, I'm usually first in line to say how fab these pictures are... but... I'm just not feeling it on this one. I'm just happy for the urchin brat at the top. She looks really pleased that she gets fed tonight.

WWII Rationing: Chocolate Cream

2011-03-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

It is WWII! And you know what that means. Rationing. If you're in Britain, each person gets 1 fresh egg a week* OR one packet of dried eggs a month. Since a packet makes 12 eggs, the dry eggs may be a wiser choice. Furthermore, the Ministry of Food is here to give you helpful suggestions on how to use them!

I love custard.

Dry Egg Custard
2 T. dried eggs**
1 T. sugar
2 C. milk
nutmeg

Mix the dry ingredients together, taking care to get all the lumps out of the dried eggs at this stage. Press them through a fine sieve, if you have one, or rub the powder between the finger-tips till all the lumps have gone. Blend the dry mixture with a little of the milk to make a smooth cream. Boil the rest of the milk and pour slowly on the mixture, stirring well all the time. Then return to pan, and boil very gently for five minutes. It's important not to boil hard. Finally add the nutmeg.

You can use this custard recipe in a great variety of ways. It's excellent for a trifle, or for a fool made with whatever fruit is available. Or you can use it to make a lemon or orange "cream" by adding the grated rind of a lemon or orange and serving in individual glass dishes. Another idea is to add four level tablespoons of cocoa (and possibly a little more sugar) to the mixture; this make a lovely Chocolate Cream.

Verdict: I mixed the dry ingredients together, added cold milk, and whisked it all together until it was smooth before cooking. It worked fine. Since I was using sweet ground chocolate instead of unsweetened cocoa powder, I did not add more sugar. That would be unpatriotic.

It was really not good. Mainly because of the absurdly small amount of sugar. Seriously, 1 T. for 2 C. of milk? I would rather save up my sugar ration and use it at once on something good. It also tastes weirdly eggy. The non-chocolated version might be all right with a little vanilla and used as suggested in a fool***.

*Unless you are me. I get two.

**If you do not have access to a time machine, dried eggs are available at emergency supply stores and online. If you do have access to a time machine, it is best to trade fresh eggs for dried ones, so you do not drain the local resources and disrupt the economy. Shopkeepers will be confused; just tell them you're doing it for King and country.

***Fold together the custard and stewed or fresh fruit. My grandma makes a fantastic version from her dairy farming days in Alaska involving heavy cream, sugar, and lowbush cranberries. Oh man. I wish I had that instead.

Thanks to The Midnight Watch

Delights For the Old and Young

2011-03-08T05:00:00.002-08:00

Woman's Favorite Cook Book [1900's]

Look at this! Oh my golly but these pictures are beautiful. Even the jelly mold that suspends what appears to be a whole cluster of grapes looks appetizing. What I really really want, though, is the cornstarch pudding with candied cherries. The little girl in the top left corner has been left on her own, and has therefore determined that of all the sneaky, naughty things she could do, she shall make a pastry.

This is a much better idea than playing with matches. She probably read this cautionary tale and found pastry a wiser alternative.

Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug
The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches

Victorians didn't mess around with cautionary tales.

TV Dinner

2011-03-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

As you may recall, the time machine has been malfunctioning lately. I thought for a while the dampers might be the problem, as there were some very inconvenient problems with queasiness. That seems to be getting a bit better, but now the automatic wardrobe adjustment circuit is having increasing issues with fit, especially around my midriff. I believe I have found out the underlying cause of all this, but it should still take some time for matters to resolve themselves. Anyway, the call for guest posts is still open!

On to TV dinners! Hey, give me a break, here.

TV dinners were developed in 1953 by Swanson, but really hit their stride in the 60's and 70's. The original TV dinner was $0.98, and consisted of turkey, cornbread dressing, peas, and sweet potatoes.*

When I told Husband of the plan for this post, he was understandably wary. Upon arrival in the frozen foods section, we were both surprised and disconcerted to discover that Banquet frozen dinners are still $1. He chose chicken fried steak, I chose Salisbury steak. We both avoided the "boneless pork ribs" made of "shaped meat patty."

Chicken Fried Steak Meal
Microwave 3 minutes. Stir potatoes around. Microwave 2 1/2 minutes.

Salisbury Steak Meal
Microwave 3 minutes. Stir potatoes around. Microwave 2 1/2 minutes.

Verdict:

Chicken Fried Steak meal: I think the chicken fried steak is mainly Things That Are Not Meat, but it was okay. Husband was dubious, but claimed the mashed potatoes were several steps above MRE mashed potatoes. So that's something! He also said that although the meal wasn't great, when it was finished he kept wanting to eat more if it.

Salisbury Steak meal: On the box, the Salisbury steak has grill marks and there is a small mountain of corn. These were lies. The corn was the best part, followed distantly by the mashed potatoes. I've had worse instant mashed potatoes. The Salisbury steak was like a meat-flavored sponge in a sea of oddly glutinous, glistening gravy. Every bite of it filled me with a great sadness.

*Thanks, Wikipedia.

Fresh Fruits and How to Serve Them

2011-03-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Woman's Favorite Cook Book [1900]

Click to embiggen

Do you remember that part of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where they see the beautifully colored wallpaper that you can lick and it tastes like fruit? One of my sisters has a thing for a particular shade of yellow paint. It makes her think of lemon pudding and she wants to lick it. This is how I feel about this page. I want to lick it.

I also like to think about how in 5 seconds, this little girl is going to cram that banana into the doll baby's face.

Something New in Cake Making

2011-02-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Woman's Favorite Cook Book [1900's]

Click to enbiggen

So gorgeous. No idea what that little girl is pouring on the cake "just like Mamma." Hopefully it is not the demon rum. The marguerites are suspiciously colored, but the orange vol-au-vent, perfection cake, and strawberry souffle look mouthwatering. I don't even know what the little boy is chowing down on, but I want some.

Beef Roly-Poly, Onions-Boiled, Carrots-Mashed, Baked Berry Roll

2011-02-21T19:29:00.001-08:00

This guest post is from Bethany, also known as my sister and Captain of The Good Ship Lollipop. She did a guest post for me once before -HERE. I look forward to seeing more guest posts from all you other loyal readers out there!

I have been planning to guest post for my sister for several weeks, but finding the perfect recipes turned out to be quite the tall order. Between my list of criteria and hers, it took me awhile to find something:

It had to be historical.
It had to be interesting.
It had to be something that 4 kids ages 6 and under would try.
It had to be free of eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and dairy (unless baked into the product)

Not an easy task I tell you! I finally settled on The White House Cookbook from 1887. I found the title quite deceiving. I thought for sure that it wold be recipes from the White House cooks. Not so. The author is simply a fan of the wives of the Presidents, and dedicated the book to them. Though reading through some of the recipes, it made me wonder what she REALLY meant by dedicating the book to them . . . if you know what I mean.

Beef Roly-Poly
One quart flour, two teaspoonfuls of cream tarter mixed with the flour, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a teacupful of milk; a teaspoonful of salt; do not use shortening of any kind, but roll out the mixture half an inch thick, and on it lay minced chicken, veal or mutton (I used ground beef, okay?! I wasn't about to go to the work of mincing my own chicken, veal or mutton when I had ground beef in the freezer). The meat must be seasoned with pepper and salt, and be free from gristle. Roll the crust over and over, and put it on a buttered plate and place in a steamer for half an hour. Serve for breakfast or lunch (I served it for dinner), giving a slice to each person with gravy served with it.

Onions - Boiled
The white silver-skins are the best species. To boil them peel off the outside, cut off the ends, put them into cold water and into stew-pan, and let them scald two minutes; then turn off that water, pour on cold water, salted a little and boil slowly till tender, which will be in thirty or forty minutes, according to their size; when done drain them quite dry, pour a little melted butter over them, sprinkle them with pepper and salt and serve hot. An excellent way to peel onions so as not to affect the eyes is to take a pan full of water, and hold and peel them under the water.

Carrots - Mashed
Scape and wash them; cook them tender in boiling water salted slightly. Drain well and mash them. Work in a good piece of butter and season with pepper and salt. Heap up on a vegetable dish and serve hot.

Baked Berry Rolls
Roll rich biscuit-dough thin, cut it into little squares four inches wide and seven inches long. Spread over with berries. (I used blueberries) Roll up the crust and put the rolls in a dripping pan just a little apart Put a piece of butter on each roll, spices if you like. Strew over a large handful of sugar, a little hot water. Set in the oven and bake like dumpling. Served with a sweet sauce.

Sweet Sauce
Into a pint of water stir a paste made of a tablespoonful of corn-starch or flour (rubbed smooth with a little cold water); add a cupful of sugar and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Cook well for three minutes. Take from the fire and add a piece of butter as large as a small egg; when cool, flavor with a tablespoonful of vanilla or
lemon extract.

Verdict:

Beef Roly-Poly - The weird part of this is that it was steamed. The texture of the dough turned out very much like the dumplings in Chicken and Dumpling Soup. My husband and I both found this quite bland. My 6,4, and 2 year olds all ate it up. My 4 year old even had seconds. We also doused theirs with a heavy layer of ketchup. Ketchup makes everything go down easier. My 10 month old happily gnawed on the bread part and didn't seem to object too strongly to it. My husband objected the most and I thought I heard whispers about Taco Bell.

Onions - Boiled - Yummy! If you like the onions that are cooked with roast beef, then you will like these onions. My husband had thirds of them - but they might also have been the only thing on the table that he found edible. My 6 year old at two - but she also dislikes onions in general, so I was pleased with her spirit of at least attempting them.

Carrots - Mashed - These were like baby food. My baby ate them like baby food. Except for he isn't a fan of mashed carrots anyway, so he took two bites and went back to the Beef Roly-Poly dough. Everyone kind of picked at these. It is weird because they tasted and were seasoned just like I make carrots normally with butter, salt, and pepper. So it must be something about that mashed texture.

Baked Berry Rolls - These were good enough. They would have been quite bland without the sugar sauce. Nothing to write home about but the kids ate them all up. Of course I suspect that everyone still had empty spots in their stomach from dinner. So who knows?

Overall we have concluded that either our family's food limitations weed out the good stuff, or the people of 1887 ate very bland stuff indeed. Now I'm headed to Taco Bell.

Listen to the Penguin.

2011-02-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

Coldspot Freezer Informational Booklet [1952]
Listen to the penguin! He knows whereof he speaks. Except about the bananas. Frozen bananas are great. Especially in smoothies, and banana ice cream. Also the milk. Frozen milk is fine. And the celery. You can throw it into soup, it'll be grand. And tomatoes. For sauce.

Actually you know what? Penguins are not known for their expertise in the culinary fields. They mainly eat bait fish. Don't listen to the penguin. He's full of it.

Rabbit Ragout, Hot Buns, also watermelon

2011-02-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

A couple sundries from Aunt Babette's Cookbook [1889].

The rabbit has most assuredly died.

Rabbit Ragout (Sweet and Sour)
Prepare as usual. Set on to boil with one onion, a bay leaf, a few whole peppercorns, some cloves and stick cinnamon. Boil until tender, not forgetting the necessary salt.

Add half a teacupful of vinegar and the crust of a rye loaf.

When tender, remove the rabbit to a heated platter. Keep covered until the gravy has boiled down quite thick, adding brown sugar and ginger snaps to thicken the gravy.

Mmmm, buns in the oven.

Hot Buns
Dissolve one piece, or two cents' worth of yeast in half a cupful of lukewarm milk, add a pinch of salt and a little sugar; let this raise. Mix a dough (soft dough) with three cups of milk and sufficient flour to make it just thick enough to roll. Next morning roll, cut round or mold into half-moons. You may add half a cup of butter and sugar, if you wish them extra nice. Let them raise again, about half an hour after putting them in the pan, and when half baked brush them with beaten egg.

Watermelon: Because I felt like it.

Verdict:

Rabbit Ragout: Better than the jugged hare recipe I made, actually. The gravy was pretty good, too. I'm afraid I'm still not a rabbit fan, though, even though it does taste like chicken. The joints... are just so slightly wrong. I did not eat very much. I will also be honest here and say that my mother actually took care of this recipe, as looking at it was making me feel ill.

Hot Buns: Tasty! I didn't add the butter or sugar that would've made it "extra nice", but still just fine. It is just a soft white roll recipe. There was some lovely homemade raspberry jam that went with them delightfully. What is the difference between a roll and a bun, anyway?

Watermelon: I swallowed a watermelon seed.

Coldspot Freezers dance!

2011-02-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Coldspot Freezer Informational Booklet [1952]

You can dance if you want to!
You can leave your friends behind!
'Cause your friends don't dance with freezers
And if they don't dance with freezers
Well, they're no friends of mine!
FREEZER DANCE.
FREEZER DANCE.
Everybody freezer dance!

Coldspot Freezers are Spiffy!

2011-02-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Coldspot Freezer Informational Booklet [1952]

"Well honey, this way, I only have to bake one birthday cake a year!"

My grandma always keeps the booklets that come with her appliances. This is such a booklet.

I really really want to buy this freezer so that I can wear a ruffly red polka-dot apron with ric-rac trim. If I had a daughter, doubt not that she would have a matching one.

Worm Castles

2011-01-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

This guest post is from nali (also known as "my mom"), who informs us about hardtack. Splendid! Hopefully this is the first of a few guest posts. Try out those recipes and send them in, readers!

When the traveler must travel in space as well as time, life-sustaining travel food is a necessity. A food staple of the Civil War soldier was hardtack, also sometimes called worm castles due to the infestation of ‘worms’ living in the hardtack. During the war, most hardtack was made in government bakeries, but it could also easily be made at home.

The objective with hardtack is to make a food that will not spoil or mold before it is eaten. It must also last a long time. I have made hardtack that was perfectly edible after a year in storage with no refrigeration. So what is the downside? It is bland....horribly, horribly bland. Still, it will sustain life. The secret to its long life is the lack of ingredients which are prone to spoilage.

Mix together:
5 cups of flour
1 cup of water
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Sometimes it is necessary to add just a bit more water, but don’t put in much! Knead the ingredients until they hang together enough to roll out with a rolling pin. I usually put the dough in a pastry cloth to help it stay together while I work on it. Roll the dough out until it is about 3/8 inch thick. This is not as simple as it sounds. This dough is rather dry and doesn’t roll easily. You’ll give your arm muscles a really good workout!

After it is rolled out, cut it into 3 inch squares, then use a fork to poke lots of holes into the hardtack.

Next the hardtack must be baked until all moisture is gone. I have tried it two different ways. Way #1 is to bake it at 400 F for 30 minutes. I found it did not get quite dry all the way through. Way #2 is to bake it at 225F for about 2 hours. Whichever way you choose to do it, make sure it is completely cooked.

Once it is cooked, it is almost ready to eat....or saved for traveling.

Like soldiers anytime in history, Civil War soldiers were inventive with the ways they ate their ration of hardtack. Eating it plain is just an invitation to break a tooth. Here are 3 ways to use your hardtack. First, put your hardtack on a hard surface and use your rifle butt to crush it.

Once it is crushed you are ready to begin to prepare your meal.

1. Hardtack Mush: Mix hardtack crumbs with hot water until softened. Eat.

2. Hardtack Pancake: Mix hardtack crumbs with hot water until softened. Form into a little pancake and cook in pan over fire. If you can find some syrup or jam, that would go well with it.

3. Hardtack Pudding: Mix hardtack crumbs with hot water until softened. Mix in a little bit of brown sugar before serving.

For a verdict, we enlisted the services of two actual soldiers in order to get a genuine reaction. To my surprise, they both ate all three items and cleaned their plates. Maybe a true soldier will just eat everything. One commented he’d had worse and he’d had better.

The least favorite was the mush. This was just warm, soggy hardtack crumbs. Still, if a person were hungry enough, it IS edible.

The easy favorite was the pancake. The crispiness from cooking made a nice texture. I’m sure the maple syrup also helped.

The pudding with the brown sugar wasn’t too bad either. In a travel situation, it would probably be easier to prepare than the pancake as it doesn’t require extra cooking.

Happy Trails to you!

Mom for President! With the help of milk.

2011-01-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Carnation's Easy-Does-It Cookbook [1958]

We Vote YOU 8th Vice President!!!

Take a tip from your husband. Run your home as efficiently as he runs his office! Over 1,000 meals a year makes you a B.H.E. (that's short for Big Household Executive) in your kitchen.

Personalize your office (the kitchen, that is) with gay, attractive curtains and colorful accessories. There are so many inexpensive ones these days! You can afford to change them often.

Organize your work space. No home or apartment kitchen is perfect, but you can store your equipment near the logical food preparation, cooking, and serving areas to make your work easier.

Periodic reorganization isn't just for office efficiency experts. (Or, are you the exceptional woman who remains sweet-tempered when the mixer "conks out" midway through angel cake batter?) Periodically, devote a day to maintenance. Have the knives sharpened, straighten kitchen drawers and shelves, scrub the can opener. Surprising how much difference it makes!

Yayyyyyyy! I'm a Big Household Executive! Yayyyyyy!

Scalloped Turkey, Brown Bread Sandwiches, Lettuce Salad, Cheese Straws

2011-01-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

Boston Cooking School Cook-Book [1896]

With the progress of knowledge the needs of the human body have not been forgotten. During the last decade much time has been given by scientists to the study of foods and their dietetic value, and it is a subject which rightfully should demand much consideration from all. I certainly feel that the time is not far distant when a knowledge of the principles of diet will be an essential part of one's education. Then mankind will eat to live, will be able to do better mental and physical work, and disease will be less frequent. -Fannie Farmer

From the quote above, you may be thinking, "Ha! We have learned nothing and we eat more terribly now than ever before!" We certainly do eat terribly, which is why there is so much obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. However, there are now far fewer cases of rickets, scurvy, and general malnutrition because of the year-round availability of vegetables and increased knowledge of nutrition. So that's something. Furthermore, nowadays you can get gout even if you are not filthy rich! Viva la Revolucion!

Discuss: How do you feel about that quote? In what ways have we gotten better, and what ways have we gotten worse? How would Fannie Farmer feel about eating habits and nutritional education today?

Wow, that sounds just like a writing prompt I would have been given in 9th grade English. Maybe it is the inner need for responsibility and organization after having just been through the 60's and 70's. Come to think of it, that explains a lot about my English teacher as well.

Scalloped Turkey.
Make one cup of sauce, using two tablespoons butter, two tablespoons flour, one-fourth teaspoon salt, few grains of pepper, and one cup stock (obtained by cooking in water bones and skin of a roast turkey). Cut remnants of cold roast turkey in small pieces; there should be one and one-half cups. Sprinkle bottom of buttered baking-dish with seasoned cracker crumbs, add turkey meat, pour over sauce, and sprinkle with buttered cracker crumbs. Bake in a hot oven until crumbs are brown. Turkey, chicken, or veal may be used separately or in combination.

Brown Bread Sandwiches.
Brown Bread to be used for sandwiches is best steamed in one-pound baking-powder boxes. Spread and cut bread as for other sandwiches. Put between layers finely chopped peanuts seasoned with salt; or grated cheese mixed with chopped English walnut meat and seasoned with salt.

Cheese Straws.
Roll puff or plain paste one-fourth inch thick, sprinkle one-half with grated cheese to which has been added few grains of salt and cayenne. Fold, press edges firmly together, fold again, pat and roll out one-fourth inch thick. Sprinkle with cheese and proceed as before; repeat twice. Cut in strips five inches long and one-fourth inch wide. Bake eight minutes in hot oven. Parmesan cheese or equal parts of Parmesan and Edam cheese may be used. Cheese straws are piled log cabin fashion and served with cheese or salad course.

Verdict:

Scalloped Turkey: It is turkey bits, in gravy, with cracker crumbs surrounding it. That's... pretty much it. I ate a few bites and really didn't feel like finishing it. Husband ate all of his and the rest of mine, declaring it to be the perfect soup. ("But it isn't soup!" "It is like stew with all meat. And crackers!") He found it even better when saturated with cheese straws. ("What... what..." "It is like stew with all meat, and crackers, and cheese straws!")

Brown Bread Sandwiches: Another example of sandwiches having fillings before a certain point in time rather than ingredients. Tell a person in the 1890's that you want a ham sandwich with cheese, pickles, and lettuce, and they will look at you oddly, chop them all up into a paste and spread it on. It is frustrating. Anyway, the key to getting the filling to stick the sandwich together is to mash down the cheese really well. It tastes of cheese and walnuts. Not altogether displeasing, but not something I shall ever crave. Husband thought it was good, and said he'd prefer it grilled. Grilled cheese sandwiches are fantastically delicious. Try one with walnuts, why not.

Lettuce Salad: I made lettuce into a salad. Hooray!

Cheese Straws: Why has no one told me about these before? First of all, "paste" here means "pastry." Puff paste, in historical cookbooks, can either mean "puff pastry" or "pie crust", but more usually the latter. I made pie crust and used Parmesan cheese. They were delicious. Pie crust + Cheese = Awesome. As it is written, you can use cheese straws to build a little corral for your salad. So festive!

If you make these, grate your own Parmesan cheese, moisten the surface you are going to put cheese on slightly for better sticking, and don't use store bought pie crust. 1.) Store bought pie crust is terrible 2.) Making pie crust is easier than you think and 3.) The more pie crust dough is handled, the more the gluten develops. The more the gluten develops, the stiffer and harder to work with the dough becomes, thus making it really difficult to roll out thinly. This particular recipe, because of all the folding, re-rolling, and laminating with cheese, makes the dough pretty stiff to roll out by the end, and that was using dough I had handled as gently as if it were a basket of kittens. Store-bought dough comes to you already sharing many characteristics with cardboard.

Carnation Can-Can

2011-01-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

Carnation's Easy-Does-It Cookbook [1958]

Vegetables Continental will spark the tired vegetable appetite, or intrigue the most sophisticated guest! Try these intriguing new ideas!

"By Jove! She is a corker!" *monocle pop*

Am I wrong, or is this the flimsiest excuse ever for a picture of a monocle and top hat wearing, bow tie sporting gent ogling a can-can dancer ever? I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.

Additionally:
*Where are those sparkles coming from?
*Why does the woman in the right back have no body?
*Have her companion's legs been replaced with tentacles?
*Where is Monocle Man sitting?
*The dancer's ankles. Those bows seem suspicious. They may have malicious intent.

I suspect the involvement of the Green Fairy in this work.

TTK wants YOU... to guest post.

2011-01-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

Some of you may be wondering why the time machine has not appeared in a while. This is because it is malfunctioning. Until I can get it tweaked, posting for the next while may not be as timely as usual.

Consequently, I would be delighted to have a guest post from you! Try something out, and send pictures and your thoughts to: timetravelkitchen AT gmail DOT com. In return, you will receive the glory and admiration of the internet!

Rules:
*Nothing after the 1980's
*It has to be something you haven't done before.

Sources:
*Your cookbook shelf
*Your library's cookbook shelf
*Your parents' or grandparents' cookbook shelf
*Feeding America (highly recommended)
*Project Gutenberg: Cookery Shelf (highly recommended)
*Things A Lady Would Like to Know [1876]
*Mrs. Beeton's
*Advertising Cookbook Collection
*Food Rationing Pamphlets

Pizza Potatoes and Lemon Butter Peas

2011-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library [1971], Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cookbook [1972]

I think this will be the end of the 70's for a while. And none too soon, either. Yeeeeesh. The 1970's was not the most wonderful of times in culinary history. I tell you what though, time travelers, they are fun. Just avoid the food and drink lots of water.

Trivia Question: What baked good, invented in the late 60's, became so popular in the 70's that almost every one of you has eaten it?

Hint: One of the main ingredients is green.

Sometimes, one is in the mood for potatoes. Sometimes, one is in the mood for pizza. But what does one do when both moods strike at once? The 70's would not leave us hanging on such an important question.

Pizza Potatoes
A pre-measured time saver that's easy on the budget, too!

1 package of our [Betty Crocker's] scalloped potatoes
1 can (16 ounces) tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 package (4 ounces) sliced pepperoni [Thank you, Betty, I was going to drop a whole pepperoni sausage on top. My face, how red it would have been.]
1 package (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Empty potato slices and packet of seasoned sauce mix into ungreased 2-quart casserole. Heat tomatoes, water, and oregano to boiling; stir into potatoes. Arrange pepperoni on top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes. 4 servings.

Hamburger Pizza Potatoes: Substitute 1/2 pound ground beef, browned and drained, for pepperoni; stir into potato mixture.

Sausage Pizza Potatoes: Substitute 1/2 pound bulk pork sausage, browned and drained, for pepperoni, stir into potato mixture.

BUTTERS FOR VEGETABLES

Almond Butter: Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; stir in 2 or 3 drops almond extract.

Almondine Butter: Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; add 1 tablespoon toasted slivered almonds.

Lemon Butter: Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Mustard-Dill Butter: Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; add 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard and 1/4 teaspoon dill weed.

Olive Butter: Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; add 1 tablespoon sliced or chopped ripe olives.

Oriental Butter: Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; stir in 1 teaspoon soy sauce.

Seasoned butter: Melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; add 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt and dash pepper.

Enough for 1 package (9 or 10 ounces) frozen vegetables or 1 can (16 ounces) vegetables.

Verdict:

Pizza Potatoes: Like many things 70's, slightly overwhelming. The processed, pre-made seasoning mix, plus the pepperoni, plus the cheese made it really salty, probably about the same level as ramen with two packets of seasoning. Like other people have done when they were teenagers. Not me. Other people. If it weren't for the saltiness, though, and the anathema I feel towards buying anything packaged that I can make 10x better and cheaper (I am here referring to the boxed scalloped potatoes), I'd make it again. There was sauce, cheese, potatoes, and pepperoni. I have weaknesses. I tried making it again with sliced, boiled potatoes, but the magic was gone. Further research must be done.

Husband loved it, and did not think it was salty at all. However, Husband regularly eats food provided by the military. Let this factor in your judgment.

Lemon Butter Peas: While eating them, I retraced my steps to make sure I had put the lemon juice in. I had. They did not taste of lemon. They tasted of peas. I am intrigued by some of these other variations, though. Almond extract? Soy sauce?

Carrots make your hair curly, I guess

2011-01-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

From Carnation's Easy-Does-It Cookbook [1958].

This little girl is having none of that nonsense. Or is it nonsense? How many carrots has this lady eaten??

I also enjoy that her bosom has a jaunty bow, or possibly a propeller. It seems as if it is about to take flight.

Chili Enchiladas and Carrots Bouillon

2011-01-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library [1971], Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cookbook [1972]

This time, I went crazy and just pulled out two recipes from Betty Crocker instead of making a set meal plan. I know! Nutty. But there you are. Sometimes one wishes to make extraordinarily unfussy food, and the 70's is prime real estate for that sort of thing. It was a time of using lots and lots of processed food. especially if your name is Betty Crocker.

This recipe used the other half-package of American cheese I had gotten for the Hot Dog Cheesies. Husband felt very sad. I reminded him that he himself had picked this recipe from a list of options I had pulled from the recipe card file. He said he should have looked at the ingredients instead of just looking at the pictures. I expressed surprise that he had not. He declared this to have been a foolish decision. I concurred. And promised ice cream.

I then inquired as to whether or not he had looked at the ingredients for the Pizza Potatoes he had also picked out. He had not. Oh dear.

Chili Enchiladas
2 cans (15 1/2 oz. each) chili without beans
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cups shredded process American cheese (about 8 ounces)
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/4 cup cold water
Cornmeal

Heat oven up to 350 degrees F. Mix 1 can chili, 2 tablespoons of the onion and 1 cup of the cheese; set aside. Stir baking mix and water to a soft dough. Gently smooth dough into a ball on floured cloth-covered board. Knead 5 times.

Divide dough into 8 equal parts; shape each part into a ball. Roll each ball into a 5-inch circle on board dusted with cornmeal. Bake on hot ungreased griddle about 1 minute on each side or until light brown.

Spoon about 1/3 cup of the chili mixture on center of each enchilada. Roll up; place seam side down in ungreased baking dish, 11 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. Spoon remaining chili over enchiladas; sprinkle with remaining onion and cheese. Bake uncovered 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. 4 to 6 servings.

Your own soft tortillas rolled with chili, onion and cheese. Accompany with shredded lettuce and chopped red tomatoes.

Carrots Bouillon
1 can (16 oz.) carrot slices
2 teaspoons instant minced onion
1 teaspoon instant beef bouillon
1 bay leaf

In covered saucepan, heat carrot slices (with liquid), onion, bouillon and bay leaf to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes.

4 servings.

Substitutions:
For instant onion: 2 tablespoons minced onion.
For instant bouillon: 1 beef bouillon cube.

Verdict:

Chili Enchiladas: There was a lot of American cheese in this. It continues to grow on me in a strange way, and I think I could really get to like it if I ate it more. There was a lot though. It was everywhere, like stringy plastic. The "tortillas" made of Bisquick were maddeningly difficult to make. Cornmeal was absolutely useless to prevent sticking. I have made tortillas before. These were 100 times harder to make than actual tortillas made of flour and shortening. Husband really liked how they were a little crunchy, though. Sadly, this same crunchiness made them so frustrating to fill and roll. In the end, each one snapped into three pieces with cold chili sticking them together. By the time I had it put together, I was starting to realize that I could have picked a better "unfussy" recipe. Just because it's processed doesn't mean it's easy.

The taste, though, was kind of all right. It was basically chili with biscuit pieces in it and 'cheese' on top. I will endorse this recipe for your use, if you replace the tortillas with tortillas and the cheese with cheese.

Carrots Bouillon: I foolishly assumed the recipe used fresh carrots instead of canned carrots, and did not realize the truth until I was making dinner. So, to substitute for the canned carrots, I overcooked the carrots. They were good though! Except for the overcooking, of course. It was like carrots from beef stew. If they had been canned carrots, this would have been wayyyyy too salty. And gross. It's an easy recipe that dresses up carrots a little bit, so I will not hesitate to recommend it. Just use fresh carrots, and don't overcook them! Oh, and in case you did not know, whoever finds a bay leaf in their food gets a kiss from the cook. So there's that.

Next Time: Is it pizza? Is it potatoes? Who can say.

Vermicelli Soup, Jugged Hare, Vegetables, Bread and Butter Pudding

2011-01-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

Things a Lady Would Like to Know [1876]

This book is excellent for menus, with a bill of fare for every day of the year! Even February 29. So many year-long cookbooks forget poor February 29. It also has a huge selection of improving quotes.

Daughter, the happiness of life depends
On our discretion, and a prudent choice:
Look unto those they call unfortunate,
And, closer viewed, you'll find they were unwise.
Some flaw in their own conduct lies beneath;
And 'tis the trick of fools, to save their credit,
Which brought another language into use. -Young

Er..... yes. That... hm. Well. Let's get on with the food. Perhaps it will be better. I subtracted a dish (made of eels) from the menu and swapped the dessert, but the type and number of dishes in the meal is still accurate.

Vermicelli Soup
Jugged Hare
Vegetables
Bread and Butter Pudding

Vermicelli Soup.--Soak for half an hour a 1/4 lb. of vermicelli (broken into inch lengths) in cold water, then drain it. Put it into a stewpan with 3 pints of boiling hot stock, 2 table-spoonfuls of grated Parmesan or Stilton, a tea-spoonful of fresh-made mustard, a salt-spoonful of loaf sugar, a salt-spoonful of salt, and simmer gently for good three-quarters of an hour, stirring frequently. Add another quart of stock, and a wine-glassful of Marsala or 1 1/2 of sherry. Boil slowly about eight minutes longer, and serve with a separate dish of parmesan or Stilton cheese.

Jugged Hare.--Skin the hare, and cut it in pieces, but do not wash it; dredge it with flour, and fry it a nice brown in butter, seasoning it with a little pepper, salt, and cayenne. make about a pint and a half of gravy from the beef. Put the pieces of hare into a jar; add the onion stuck with 4 or 5 cloves, the lemon peeled and cut, and pour in the gravy. Cover the jar closely to keep in the steam; put it into a deep stewpan of cold water, and let it boil four hours; but if a young hare, three hours will be sufficient. When done, take it out of the jar and shake it over the fire for a few minutes, adding a table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, 2 glasses of port wine, and a piece of butter rolled in flour, with some fried forcemeat-balls. Serve with red currant jelly.

3. Bread and Butter Pudding.—Boil gently for five or ten minutes a pint of good milk, with the peel of half a lemon, a little cinnamon, and a spoonful of almond or orange-flower water*, then sweeten with good sugar;

break the yolks of five eggs and the whites of three into a basin; beat them well, and add the milk; beat all well together**, and strain through a hair-sieve; have some bread and butter cut very thin, put a layer of it in a pie-dish, and then a layer of currants, and so on till the dish is nearly full; then pour the custard over it, and bake it half an hour.

Verdict:

Vermicelli Soup: So good. I love cheese. Vermicelli is a noodle that is thinner than spaghetti, but thicker than angel hair. I used spaghetti. I will admit to you now, to my shame, I did not boil it for 45 minutes, nor did I soak it. I know. I'm sorry. But I wanted at least one thing in my dinner that I was reasonably sure would taste good, and other recipes in the book for vermicelli soup didn't have it cooked for that long. I also subbed grape juice for wine, for because as I have said before, I am a teetotaler. It was all yummy and warm and cheesy and good. Mmmm.

Jugged Hare: Rabbit tastes just like chicken! Really. Husband cut up the rabbit, because raw meat with bones makes me feel squiggly. Cooking in a jug, in liquid, with very low heat for several hours, is directly comparable to using a slow cooker. You may come to your own conclusions about with method I used. I also did not add in forcemeat balls (they are garnish, anyway) nor the spoonful of mushroom ketchup. My jugged hare recipe choices were limited, so I did the best I could. Most of them involve cooking the rabbit in its own blood. The flavor was really nice... except for the lemon. It was far, far too much lemon. If you make this, please use only a couple slices of lemon. That much lemon made the meat so very, very sour.

Bread and Butter Pudding: Fantastic! It tastes just like bread pudding should. I used orange blossom water, which made it gently floral. It does use a large amount of egg, more than you'd see today. As such, it is solid at room temperature. This is excellent if one does not have a refrigerator, as one lives in the 1870's. Because of its thickness, however, it doesn't run between the layers and soak in as well as it might. This problem would be easily rectified by adding custard between the layers right after the currants rather than pouring it all on top. If you do have a refrigerator, fewer eggs would not go amiss either. Two or three would be sufficient, I believe.

*Look in the drink mixer section of the grocery store
**This is tempering. It prevents the egg from cooking too fast and becoming scrambled egg. Slowly drizzle the hot liquid, a little bit at a time, into the eggs while whisking. Then, when the temperature of the eggs has been brought up, dump them back into the hot mixture and heat slowly and gently until thick.

Happy Carnation Family

2011-01-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

[1958]

I want a pink fridge. And... suddenly, more Carnation milk products. LOTS more. Carnation sour cream, Carnation cottage cheese, and most of all, Carnation heavy cream. Cream is good.

Microwave Cooking: Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Cinnamon Honey Biscuits

2011-01-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

[1987]

What need for an oven when one has a wood-paneled microwave? Throw away that outdated appliance! Embrace the future of microwave cookery. Excelsior!

Dang, their plate is tiny.

NOTE: Every single step in these recipes has a corresponding instructional picture. These I have omitted. As with all the recipes on my blog, if you are confused at any point, let me know and I will help you out. However, if you need help with these particular recipes, I will feel sad. I'm not saying you can't still ask, I'm just saying that you will break my heart. Do what you think is right.

Scrambled Eggs, Family Style
Makes 3-4 servings

You Need:
6 eggs
2 tablespoons of margarine
1/2 cup (79 ml) of milk
1/2 cup (50 g) of your favorite cheese, shredded

Get out: [Right now. Run! Run!]
2-quart (2 L) casserole dish
Wire whisk or large fork
Wax paper

1. Break 6 eggs into a 2-quart (2 L) glass casserole dish.
2. Mix in 2 tablespoons of margarine and 1/3 cup (79 ml) of milk
3. Whisk all the ingredients together well or stir them briskly with a large fork.
4. Cover the casserole dish with wax paper.
5. Microwave on MEDIUM HIGH for 6 to 8 minutes. Stir the mixture every 2 minutes.
6. Mix in 1/2 cup (50 g) of your favorite shredded cheese.

Bacon
Makes 1-2 servings

You Need:
4 strips of bacon

Get Out:
Oblong glass baking dish
3 to 4 white paper towels
Fork
Serving plate

1. Place two paper towels on an oblong glass baking dish
2. Arrange four strips of bacon on the towels.
3. Cover the bacon with one paper towel.
4. Microwave on High for 2 1/2 minutes or until the bacon is crisp.
5. Place one paper towel on a serving plate. Remove the bacon from the glass dish with a fork. Place the bacon on the plate.

Cinnamon Honey Biscuits
Makes 8 rolls

You Need:
8 refrigerator buttermilk biscuits
1/4 cup (60 ml) of honey
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup (25 g) of crushed nuts
Margarine

Get Out:
9-inch (23 cm) glass pie plate
White paper towel
Measuring cup
Small mixing bowl
Measuring spoons
Wax paper

1. Spread some margarine on the bottom of a pie plate. [With a butter knife, in the picture. This seems futile.]
2. Place 8 buttermilk biscuits in the pie plate. Cover the pie plate with a white paper towel.
3. Microwave on MEDIUM HIGH for 3 minutes.
4. Mix together 1/4 cup (60 ml) of honey and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small mixing bowl.
5. When the biscuits have cooked, remove them from the oven.
6. Drizzle the honey mixture over the biscuits. Sprinkle 1/4 cup (25 g) of crushed nuts over them.
7. Cover the pie plate with wax paper and return it to the oven for 3 minutes on MEDIUM HIGH.

Verdict:

Scrambled Eggs, Family Style: As you can see in the picture, these are anemic and in no way scrambled. The key is to cover them with cheese so you can see neither of these facts. My microwave is probably more powerful than a 1987 microwave though, so that could be why they didn't have time to get scrambled. Husband thought they were good, and said they were better than army eggs. I was flattered momentarily, before realizing that I had hit a point wherein I was pleased that food I had made was a notch above military mess hall.

Bacon: This bacon recipe is strangely similar to Rachael Ray's recipe for Late Night Bacon. A more suspicious-minded person might accuse Ms. Ray of plagiarism. Hmmmmmmm.

Cinnamon Honey Biscuits: You can cook biscuits in the microwave, who knew? Can you cook them well? No. No you can't. A few minutes after leaving the microwave, they hardened into rocks. I gnawed off about half of one, then licked the honey sauce off the bottom before chucking it.

All together: Maybe you shouldn't throw away your oven just yet. There are some things, many things in fact, that are just better (and just as easy) in the oven.

As a bonus, here is a recipe for hot chocolate. I have not tested it, but it seems like it will be okay. Be sure to follow the directions carefully.

Click to enbiggen

Hot Dog Cheesies and Vegetable Soup

2010-12-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library [1971]

70's. We meet again.

Hot Dog Cheesies
Drop into a saucepan of boiling water (2 cups).....8 frankfurters
Lower heat; cover and simmer 5 to 8 minutes.
Spread 1 side of.................................................8 slices bread
with..................................................................soft butter
....................................................................prepared mustard
Place bread slices on baking sheet.
Top each slice with............1 slice process American cheese

Place a frankfurter on top of each cheese slice. Fold over to make a triangle shape. Fasten with wooden picks. Melt in small pan over low heat
.............................................1/4 cup butter

Brush each triangle with the melted butter.

Set oven control at broil and/or 550 degrees F.
Broil sandwiches with tops 4 to 5 inches from heat about 2 minutes or until golden brown. 8 servings.

Serve with mugs of piping hot vegetable soup.

Verdict: I made this right after the cocky leeky, because we were hungry and sad. I like hot dogs, I like cheese, I like bread, I like melted butter, what could go wrong? Answer: really not very much. They are absolutely fine. The melted butter soaked into the bread and made it delicious, and the hot dogs got a little burned (as hot dogs should properly be). The only fly in the ointment was the cheese. I remember liking American cheese as a child, but it is kind of awful. Husband said it was the worst thing I had asked him to eat as part of this project, and that is saying something! Feels kind of plastic-y in the mouth. While eating it, I also recalled that we called it Barbie doll cheese, because of its resemblance to melted fashion dolls. Were the cheese to be replaced with, you know, cheese, these would be really good, actually. The serving size is accurate, though. One of these is enough. After eating two of them, one feels slightly wrong.

Also, canned vegetable soup is terrible.

After cocky leeky, hot dog cheesies, and canned vegetable soup, we felt we deserved ice cream. Later that night, I felt ill. The next day, I ate American cheese straight, because it sounded delicious at the time. And it was. Weird.

Feel free to comment on how nice Husband is. Because he is.

Betty Crocker's Prize Sheep

2010-12-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

Last installment of Betty Crocker's New Cooking for Two Cookbook [1972]! I hope you have enjoyed them.

Children, I'm sorry to say that your pet prize sheep, Ramsey, got a little sick while you were at school. We tried everything, but we just couldn't save him. We had to take off the fleece so we could see what the problem was better, then your mother spent minutes and minutes rubbing an herbal salve onto every inch of him. Finally, we had to amputate his legs. Because of the illness. Didn't work, so we had to keep amputating. In the end, I'm afraid he just didn't make it.

Lucky for us, and for him, we have this home cremating machine, so we could send him off in honor. He should be just about done now.... oh, look at that. Terrible! Just didn't get hot enough. He's not burned at all! Just a little... crispy... Tell you what though, we can put him here and make it like a Viking funeral! We'll just place some of his favorite things around him so he can have them in the happy sheep afterlife, where he eats tasty grass and frolics in daisies all day long. You know how much he loved cabbage. And... noodles. And mother's spicy raisin cupcakes and pineapple-cheese salad.

Barbecued Lamb Riblets
Hot Buttered Noodles
Panned Cabbage
Pineapple-Cheese Salad
Spicy Raisin Cupcakes

***Thanks to Mitchell and Webb. :D (warning: mild language)***

Cocky Leeky... soup?

2010-12-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Poor [1852]

Ah, Charles Elme Francatelli, LATE MAÎTRE D'HÔTEL AND CHIEF COOK TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. He had such good intentions. He was so concerned for the welfare of the poor people, he wrote them a whole cookbook. His Yorkshire Pie-Clates were quite tasty. His No. 3 Economical Pot Liquor Soup, less so. Which dish shall break the tie, perhaps redeeming his cookbook for the deserving poor on this, Christmas Day?

Oh. Oh dear.

Cocky Leeky.
I hope that at some odd times you may afford yourselves an old hen or cock; and when this occurs, this is the way in which I recommend that it be cooked, viz.:—First pluck, draw, singe off the hairs, and tie the fowl up in a plump shape; next, put it into a boiling-pot with a gallon of water, and a pound of Patna rice, a dozen leeks cut in pieces, some peppercorns and salt to season; boil the whole very gently for three hours, and divide the fowl to be eaten with the soup, which will prove not only nourishing but invigorating to the system.

Verdict: Just... just give me a moment. Okay. All right. Don't make this. Really, really don't make this. Rice... was not meant to be boiled for 3 hours. It is an abomination. There was too much stuff for it to be a soup, so instead it is a mucusy sludge. It is a strange, squiggly feeling, watching it slither off one's flatware. The rice/leek mucus does not taste very much like chicken, more of faintly onioned watery rice.

The chicken was just fine, but had the distressing tendency to sink beneath the surface of the rice/leek mucus like an alligator in a swamp. Every time I tried to get a good bite of chicken, it was sucked into the mucus and slimed.

Now that that's over with, hey! Look at this cool leek!

It's curly inside! Neato! Have you ever seen a leek do this?

Now go. Enjoy Christmas! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, celebrate the 25th of December by not making this.

Sourdough Pancakes

2010-12-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, you're thinking "Hey, those are just pancakes. I know about pancakes." But wait! Hold on to your phaeton, because I am about to lay down for you some knowledge. Knowledge about sourdough.

*Sourdough has been used for ages by many world cultures to raise bread.
*It is basically slow-acting liquid yeast.
*Not all sourdough tastes the same. Each culture has its own unique taste. You have probably tasted the San Francisco strain, which is sort of tangy. There's a Bahrain strain that tastes of almost nothing. I don't get the point, but people who hate the taste of sourdough like it.
*It is like having a pet [or, technically, billions of pets] that isn't messy, smells nice, and periodically gives you fresh bread.
*It self-replicates if you feed it. After you take some out for a recipe, stir in some flour and water. Result: infinite sourdough starter. It is basically like owning a tribble.
*You can buy starters online, get some from a friend, order it for free from here, or grow your own. I got mine from the Pioneer Foodie.

In the 70's, as part of the get-back-to-nature Mother Earth sort of movement, sourdough got a little spike of popularity. And for good reason.

Sourdough Pancakes
2 cups sourdough starter
2 T. sugar
4 T. oil
1 egg
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

Mix sourdough starter, sugar, egg, and oil. Dilute baking soda in a little bit of warm water, and stir in gently just before you are ready to cook the pancakes. Cook the pancakes.

Husband said these are his new favorite pancakes. I had to add chopped blackberries so they would not float away, so light and fluffy were they.

Merry Christmas to mothers!

2010-12-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is from a recipe booklet from Coldspot Freezers from 1952.

Click to enbiggen

Now Mother Can join in the Christmas Morning Fun

Thanks to her Coldspot Freezer, mother is no longer shackled to the kitchen while the rest of the family enjoys Christmas fun. The day-long labor of preparing holiday feasts--long taken for granted as woman's lot in life--is now a thing of the past. Mother can have any holiday meal prepared, by simple easy tasks spaced out as suggested by the typical schedule at the left. On Christmas morning--with Christmas dinner store away in her Coldspot Freezer, all ready to cook and serve--a worry-free mother can join whole-heartedly in the gay celebration around the tree.

Summary of Aforementioned Schedule:
*July: Freeze peas and carrots
*August: Freeze melon ball salad
*September: Make and freeze candied sweet potatoes
*October: Make and freeze mince pies
*November: Freeze turkey
*December: Make and freeze rolls

All right, I know, I should wax cynical about who on earth starts cooking Christmas dinner in July, and about what poor mother starts prepping Christmas dinner at the crack of dawn Christmas morning instead of enjoying with the kids, but honestly... this just sounds like a fantastic idea. I mean, sure, 5-6 months ahead of time is excessive, but on the whole, this is genius.

Plus, look at that family. My heart is all soft and syrupy just looking at them. Aren't they adorable? Golly gosh. Also, I want that dressing gown. It is fancy.

In the Christmas spirit, as my gift to you... Melon Ball Salad.

Melon Ball Salad.
Freeze watermelon and honeydew melon in balls. Arrange on lettuce leaf when partly thawed. Red and green melon balls make an attractive holiday salad.

Venyson Y-bake A-nother manere

2010-12-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is the final part in my three-part Medieval Venison series. Hurrah and huzzah! This week's recipe is Venyson Y-bake A-nother manere, from somewhere in the 1400's. This is also known as a pie with venison in it. Be sure to visit Gode Cookery, it is a great site for medieval cooking.

Now, there is a great deal of debate as to whether medieval pie crust was simply a hard, inedible container for cooking foods inside, which one would discard or give to poor people after one had scooped out the good stuff, or was delicious and edible as today's pie crusts are. The problem arises from there being no pastry recipes from the time, as it was assumed that cooks already knew how to make it.

However, since I am a time traveler, I can now settle this once and for all. The answer is: it depends. On some occasions it is one, and on some occasions it is the other. There. Done.

For this recipe, I combined two recipes. I also decided to use a non-delicious pie crust recipe that consisted of 1.) flour and 2.) water.

That was after it was baked. Fat is important to browning.

Venyson Y-bake.
Take hoghes of Venyson, & parboyle hem in fayre Water an Salt; & whan þe Fleyssche is fayre y-boylid, make fayre past, & cast þin Venyson þer-on: & caste a-boue an be-neþe, pouder Pepir, Gyngere, & Salt, & þan sette it on þe ouyn, & lat bake, & serue forth.

Venison Bake- Revised
Take hocks of venison and parboil them in fair water and salt; and when the flesh is fair boiled, make fair paste, and cast the venison thereon; and cast above and beneath, powder pepper, ginger, and salt, and then set it on the oven, and let bake, and serve forth.

Venison Bake- Further Revised
Take hocks of venison and parboil them in water and salt, and when it is boiled, make pastry dough, put the venison in it. Sprinkle with pepper, ginger, and salt, cover with more pastry, bake it, and serve it.

A-nother manere.
Take fayre porke y-broylid, & grind it smal with yolks of Eyroun; þan take Pepir, Gyngere, & grynd it smal, & melle it with-al, & a lytel hony, & floryssche þin cofns with-ynne & with-owte, & hele hem with þin ledys, & late hem bake, & serue forth.

Another Manner- Revised
Take fair pork broiled, and grind it small with yolks of eggs; then take pepper, ginger, and grind it small, and mix it withal, and a little honey, and flourish the coffins within and without, and [?] then with the lids, and let them bake, and serve forth.

Another Manner- Further Revised
Take nice pork, broiled, and chop it up with egg yolks, then mix in pepper, ginger, and a little honey and put in a pie crust, cover it with more pie crust, bake it, and serve it.

Verdict:
It was okay. The spices and honey were actually the best thing about it, the meat was incredibly dry and chewy. The crust was not delicious, but the serfs seem happy to have meat-flavored baked library paste rather than non-meat flavored baked library paste. I can't recommend this one. It's just dry and boring.

Dreamsicle Trifle

2010-12-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

Just this once, I will tell you some things about the future. Usually I would not do so because of the terrible, horrifying consequences that could result from disrupting the time line, but this dessert is really good. So keep it under your hats, but right after the cupcake phase has waned, puddings will rise. The recent history of above-average cakes and puddings will then lead naturally into a resurgence of the trifle.

I will let you in on this particular trifle recipe both because it is fantastically delicious, and because it seems to date back to right now. So that's all right!

Dreamsicle Trifle
2 large cans mandarin oranges
1 small pkg. orange gelatin powder
1 pint orange sherbet
1 cup whipping cream, whipped (no sugar or vanilla, just whipped.)
1 angel food cake, cubed
whipped topping

Drain 1 cup liquid from mandarin oranges. Bring to a boil in the microwave. Add gelatin, and stir to dissolve. Cool until just warm. Add orange sherbet, and mix until melted. Gently fold in whipped cream. It is okay if there are uneven streaks, just don't smash those fluffy whipped cream bubbles. Put half the cake cubes in the trifle dish (or other dish that is not as fancy), cramming them together so they will stay in a tight layer. Pour half the orange mixture over the top, cover with a thin layer of whipped topping, and top with half the oranges. On top of the oranges, put the remaining of the cake cubes in, pour over the remaining orange mixture, cover with the remaining oranges, and cover with whipped topping. Refrigerate.

Bonus Garnish Tip:
For attractive orange curls, use a tool like the one shown below (or skill with a knife) to make a long strip of orange peel.

Wind it around a drinking straw, secure the ends with tape, and freeze overnight.

The Delights of Christmas Time

2010-12-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is from A Woman's Favorite Cook Book [1890's-1900's] , which I have made food from before. Isn't this gorgeous?

Click to enbiggen

I mean, I never thought I'd want to dig into a whole pig, but suddenly it looks so festive and enticing! I also love the little boy's sailor suit, the long baby dress, the candles on the tree... although that little girl should probably watch where that baby's hands are reaching. This could end in tears.

Look at that selection of gorgeous, beautiful food though!

Devonshire Junket II

2010-12-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

Do you remember Attempt #1 at Devonshire Junket? I failed miserably. But I shall not be defeated! Upon careful reading of the directions, I discovered that it doesn't work if you use canned milk. Which I was, oddly enough. It was on sale. Please do not judge me.

From A New System of Domestic Cookery, Formed Upon Principles of Economy, and Adapted to the Use of Private Families [1807].

Devonshire Junket.
Put warm milk into a bowl; turn it with rennet; then put some scalded cream, sugar, and cinnamon, on the top, without breaking the curd.

Not actually very hard to find at the grocery store.

More Helpful Directions:
2 cups milk
1 Junket Rennet tablet
1 T. cold water

1. Have 4 individual dessert dishes ready.
2. Heat milk to lukewarm while stirring (110 degrees F.). Dissolve rennet tablet in water by crushing. Add to warm milk and stir for a FEW SECONDS ONLY. Pour at once, while still liquid, into dessert dishes.
3. Let stand UNDISTURBED for 10 minutes. Chill.
4. Drizzle cream over and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Don't stir it in, leave it alone and eat it by spoonfuls. The more the curd is broken, the more the structure breaks down and releases whey, looking unsightly.

Verdict: This is totally easy! Really, about the same difficulty level as Jello. As long as you don't use canned milk. And it is pretty delicious, too! It is sort of like a cross between Jello and custard. I did this a couple times more, once with vanilla mixed into the milk, which was delicious, and and once with orange flavoring. And yet, my favorite is still brown sugar and cream. Yum. An accurate flavoring for the time period would be rosewater or orange blossom water*, which I think would be delightful, and intend to try.

If you're having a Regency party, or just in the mood for a unique dessert, you should try this. It is super easy and unique.

*Which, I have discovered, can be found near the drink mixers at the grocery store.

Potage of Venison

2010-12-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

The English and French Cook [1674]

Now for the second part of my venison series!

This would probably make poor Mrs. Kellogg cry.

Potage of Venison.
Take a Haunch of Venison, and cut it into six pieces, and place them in the bottom of a Pan or Pot, then put in no more Water than will cover it, let it boil, then scum it, after that add to it a good quantity of whole Pepper; when it is half boiled, put in four whole Onions, Cloves, and large Mace, some sliced Ginger, Nutmeg, three or four faggots of sweet Herbs,

I had no faggots of sweet herbs. :'(

let it boil till the Venison be very tender, and a good part of the broth be wasted; after this pour out the broth from the meat into a Pipkin, keep your Venison hot in the same Pot by adding other hot broth unto it; then take a couple of red-Beet roots, having very well parboil'd them before, cut them into square pieces as big as a shilling, and put them into the broth which is in your Pipkin, and let them boil till they are very tender, add unto the boiling four Anchovies minced,

Yes, I really did. For science.

then dish up your Venison on Sippets of French-bread, then pour on your broth, so much as will near-upon fill the Dish, then take your roots by themselves, and toss them in a little drawn Butter, and lay them all over the Venison; if the Beets be good, it will make the broth red enough, which you must have visible round about the Dish sides, but if it prove pale, put to it some Saunders: This is a very savory Potage.

Verdict:

The peculiar blend of flavors (to modern taste buds) makes it taste oddly of pickled beets with red meat. I could taste the anchovies not at all, which was actually kind of a let-down after being brave enough to throw them in. It was so very dry and tough, but that is not necessarily the recipe's fault. When simmering meat, the longer you simmer it, the tougher it gets until a certain point, when it gets more and more tender. Unfortunately, I was impatient and impetuous, qualities which lead to the ruination of many dishes. If you are an impatient and impetuous type who wishes to recreate this dish, I highly recommend the use of a slow cooker.

The quality of this dish which occasioned the most comment was the color. The beets turned the sauce a deep, rich, gorgeous red. Disturbingly, however, it was also precisely the color of fresh blood. When poured over the meat, the color made it seem like it was almost raw. The speedy absorption caused by the dryness of the meat made it look like it was oozing blood, a quality you cannot fully appreciate in the pictures. In person, it looks almost precisely like very very rare meat swimming in coagulating blood.

Not bad though, in the end, if you like pickled beets. Which I do. I can recommend it as long as you 1.) take the time (or the slow cooker) to cook the meat until it is tender, ignoring my bad example and 2.) are not a person turned off by the description above.

Betty Crocker's Gelatin Foolishness

2010-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

More from Betty Crocker's New Cooking for Two Cookbook! [1972]

Ah, an arrangement of complementary foods nestling together harmoniously. Gelatin, pears, tomatoes, radishes, and peas, all melded together in a jellied loaf.

Wait a second, back that truck up.

To roest Veneson/To bake Veneson

2010-12-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

A Propre New Book of Cookery [1545]

Readers, both gentle and common, I have for you today roasted venison with sauce, the first in a three-part series about medieval venison, which you can read about in this informative article. "But Jana!" I hear you say. "Where can get venison in case I want to replicate this recipe?" Never fear. I have a list of options:

*Get a hunting license
*Find a friend who hunts
*Buy it from specialty shops for large amounts of cash
*Find a butcher that processes wild game for people. Sometimes people do not come back to pick up their meat, because they no longer want to pay for the service.
*Time travel to medieval England for authentic venison (only recommended if you are a smooth talker, the medieval penalty for poaching the King's deer is a hand or your life).

To bake Veneson.
Take nothing but pepper and salte, but let it have inough, and if the Veneson be lene lard it through with bakon.

To bake Venison- Revised
Take nothing but pepper and salt, but let it have enough, and if the venison be lean, lard it through with bacon.

To bake Venison- Further revised
Sprinkle healthy amounts of salt and pepper on the roast. Lay strips of bacon over the top, and bake until it is done to your liking.

To roest Veneson
Rosted Veneson must have vinegre suger and sinamon and butter boyled upon a chafyng disshe with coles, but the sauce maie not be to tarte and then laie the veneson upon the sauce.

To roest Veneson- Revised
Roasted venison must have vinegar, sugar and cinnamon and butter boiled, upon a chafing dish with coals, but the sauce may not be too tarte, and then lay the venison upon the sauce.

To roest Veneson- Further revised
For a lovely sauce for the baked venison, melt 1/2 cup butter in a pan over low heat. Stir in about 1 t. cinnamon and 1 T. sugar. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar until it is tangy, but not sour. I found about 1 T. worked well. Heat until bubby and hot. Pour into a dish, then serve the venison on top. An even better idea would be to put the venison on a dish and then pour the sauce over the top.

Verdict: I will admit that before making this recipe, I was really disparaging about medieval people's love of sugar and meat together. It sounds wrong. It sounds stupid. But in this recipe, it is soooooooooo right. It's... it's really good. Now that I've had it, I understand why it works so perfectly when it doesn't sound as if it should.

First of all, the bacon. Wild game is very very lean. If you lay bacon across the top before cooking, the fat from the bacon will slooooooooowly melt and be absorbed into the meat, making it more tender and delicious. It is like an automatic basting device.

Second of all, the sauce. It's sort of the same principle as sweet and sour sauce, but better. Instead of a sticky pink goo (which I like, by the way), it is a smooth buttery sauce that absorbs into the meat, which desperately needs a little extra fat. Yes, fat. Don't look at me like that, this is not a cow that has been standing in a field and napping for all its life, this is a wild deer. The vinegar (I used a strawberry infused apple cider vinegar) adds just a little bit of tang. You will have to trust me on this, the sauce was really delicious. Husband said he would very happily eat it on steak, and I think it would go fabulously on pork. Pork goes well with a little bit of sweet, and 21st century pigs are ridiculously lean compared to the pig breeds of the past.

Syrup of Pippins

2010-12-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

Remember Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight? Maker of the incomparable Savory Tosted or Melted Cheese, as detailed in his cookbook The closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened [1669]? So cool that men wanted him to impregnate their wives?

Well. Another of his rare recipes that is not comprised mainly of booze is his "Syrup of Pippins."

SYRUP OF PIPPINS
Quarter and Core your Pippins; then stamp them in a Mortar, and strain out the Juyce. Let it settle, that the thick dregs may go to the bottom; then pour off the clear; and to have it more clear and pure, filter it through sucking Paper in a glass funnel. To one pound of this take one pound and an half of pure double refined Sugar, and boil it very gently (scarce simpringly, and but a very little while) till you have scummed away all the froth and foulness (which will be but little) and that it be of the consistence of Syrup. If you put two pound of Sugar to one pound of juyce, you must boil it more & stronglier. This will keep longer, but the colour is not so fine. It is of a deeper yellow. If you put but equal parts of juyce and Sugar, you must not boil it, but set it in a Cucurbite in bulliente Balneo, till all the scum be taken away, and the Sugar well dissolved. This will be very pale and pleasant, but will not keep long.

You may make your Syrup with a strong decoction of Apples in water (as when you make gelly of Pippins) when they are green; but when they are old and mellow, the substance of the Apple will dissolve into pap, by boiling in water.

Look I made a swan!

Take three or four spoonfuls of this Syrup in a large draught of fountain water, or small posset-Ale, pro ardore urinæ to cool and smoothen, two or three times a day.

Verdict: So nice! Instead of stamping pippins [apples] in a mortar, straining them, etc., I bought some apple cider. If you wish to try stamping pippins, you may do it with my blessing. The resulting syrup is delicious, and is exactly like apple-flavored honey. Think of the delightful applications! It is delicious on oatmeal and drizzled on fresh fruit. The beverage is really nice too. Sweet, cold, and appley. Yum. Those that drink ale should try this and report.

Betty Crocker's Festive Culinary Dragon

2010-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

This festive culinary dragon accompanies a recipe for Chinese Beef and Rice. As much as this does not make sense on first glance, think about it! How handy would it be for wok cookery to be able to shoot super-heated flames out of your nose?

However, upon Googling, it seems that the only reason for a Chinese dragon to shoot fire out of its face would be as a sign of divine displeasure, for punishing evildoers. This can only mean that this dish has incurred the wrath of God.

Chinese Beef and Rice
2/3 cup rice
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 bouillon cube
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups diced cooked beef

Cook rice in hot oil over medium heat until golden brown. Add salt, water, bouillon cube, and soy sauce. Cover; simmer 20 min. Add rest of ingredients. Cover tightly and simmer 10 min. more. (It may be necessary to add a little more water.) All water should be absorbed at end of cooking time. If not, remove cover and allow liquid to evaporate. 2 generous servings.

Fresh Fruits, Rolled Oats in Cream, Baked Sweet Apples, Macaroni with Cream Sauce, Whole-Wheat Puffs, Stewed Peaches, Caramel Coffee

2010-11-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there was a man named John Harvey Kellogg. He was a big fan of vegetarianism. He ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where one of the treatment methods was feeding patients an all-vegetarian diet. Another method was giving patients yogurt enemas. But let us dwell instead on the fact that he invented Kellogg's Cornflakes there. Meanwhile, his wife wrote a whole cookbook based on the foods they served to the patients.

SCIENCE IN THE KITCHEN.
A Scientific Treatise on Food Substances and their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes, by Mrs. E[lla]. E[rvilla]. Kellogg, A.M. [1893], Superintendent of the Sanitarium School of Cookery and of the Bay View Assembly School of Cookery, and Chairman of the World's Fair Committee on Food Supplies, for Michigan

Her titles, they could be a little more snappy.

A little less than ten years ago the Sanitarium at Battle Creek Mich., established an experimental kitchen and a school of cookery under the supervision of Mrs. Dr. Kellogg, since which time, researches in the various lines of cookery and dietetics have been in constant progress in the experimental kitchen, and regular sessions of the school of cookery have been held. . . . During this time, Mrs. Kellogg has had constant oversight of the cuisine of both the Sanitarium and the Sanitarium Hospital, preparing bills of fare for the general and diet tables, and supplying constantly new methods and original recipes to meet the changing and growing demands of an institution numbering always from 500 to 700 inmates.

Baked Sweet Apple Dessert.—Wash and remove the cores from a dozen medium-sized sweet apples, and one third as many sour ones, and bake until well done. Mash through a colander to make smooth and remove the skins. Put into a granite-ware dish, smooth the top with a knife, return to the oven and bake very slowly until dry enough to keep its shape when cut. Add if desired a meringue made by beating the white of one egg with a tablespoonful of sugar. Cut into squares, and serve in individual dishes. The meringue may be flavored with lemon or dotted with bits of colored sugar.

Macaroni with Cream Sauce.—Cook the macaroni as directed in the proceeding [1 C. macaroni] , and serve with a cream sauce prepared by heating a scant pint of rich milk to boiling, in a double boiler. When boiling, add a heaping tablespoonful of flour, rubbed smoothed in a little milk and one fourth teaspoonful of salt. If desired, the sauce may be flavored by steeping in the milk before thickening for ten or fifteen minutes, a slice of onion or a few bits of celery, and then removing with a fork.

Whole-Wheat Puffs.—Put the yolk of an egg into a basin, and beat the white in a separate dish to a stiff froth. Add to the yolk, one half a cupful of rather thin sweet cream and one cupful of skim milk. Beat the egg, cream, and milk together until perfectly mingled and foamy with air bubbles; then add, gradually, beating well at the same time, one pint of wheat berry flour. Continue the beating vigorously and without interruption for eight or ten minutes; then stir in, lightly, the white of the egg. Do not beat again after the white of the egg is added, but turn at once into heated, shallow irons, and bake for an hour in a moderately quick oven. If properly made and carefully baked, these puffs will be of a fine, even texture throughout, and as light as bread raised by fermentation.

Caramel Coffee.—Take three quarts best bran, one quart corn meal, three tablespoonfuls of molasses; mix and brown in the oven like ordinary coffee. For every cup of coffee required, use one heaping tablespoonful of the caramel. Pour boiling water over it, and steep, not boil, for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Verdict:

Fresh Fruits: They were pears.

Baked Sweet Apples: Gahhhhhhh. It is like eating leathery gloop. It was almost inedible. Eventually, we discovered that the trick to eating it is to put a massive scoop of ice cream on top that completely overshadows the apple gloop.

Then, you scrape the ice cream to the side and eat the ice cream, then skoosh the apple flavored leather gloop a little bit so the melted on ice cream drips off and eat that, then toss the apple gloop in the garbage.

After scraping the excess leathery apple gloop up, we then timed it to see how long it would cling to the spatula. It was a full minute and a half. How we laughed! Ladies, gentlemen, this is how we spent Friday night. Donations of moving picture tickets accepted.

Macaroni with Cream Sauce: SO BLAND. Notice there is no salt or seasoning of any kind, just milk (with a bit of onion simmered in it and then removed because that might have flavor), then flavored with paste. And put on another flavorless thing. So... bland blandy bland blanding bland bland blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.

Whole-Wheat Puffs: In theory, these work kind of like whole wheat cream puffs. In practice... let me illustrate this with an informational picture.

We tipped them in the garbage. They clanked.

Stewed Peaches: Well, canned peaches.

Caramel Coffee: I don't drink coffee, so I have no basis of comparison. So, if coffee smells of burned popcorn and tastes like licking rusty iron bars, it's perfect!

All together: Husband feels that, contrary to Mrs. E.E. Kellogg's claims, this menu was specifically formulated to make him insane. He rated this meal as the worst ever. He was right. There is something terribly, terribly wrong with a meal in which you carefully hoard your last bite of oatmeal.

Parsnip Fritters

2010-11-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Every sort of culinary vegetable is much better when freshly gathered and cooked as soon as possible, and , when done, thoroughly drained, and served immediately while hot. ~White House Cook Book: A Selection of Choice Recipes Original and Selected, During a Period of Forty Years' Practical Housekeeping, by Mrs. F. L. Gilette [1887].

Parsnip Fritters
Boil four or five parsnips; when tender take off the skin and mash them fine; add to them a teaspoonful of wheat flour and a beaten egg; put a tablespoonful of lard or beef drippings in a frying-pan over the fire, add to it a saltspoonful of salt; when boiling hot put in the parsnips; make it in small cakes with a spoon; when one side is a delicate brown turn the other; when both are done take them on a dish, put a very little of the fat in which they were fried over and serve hot. These resemble very nearly the taste of the salsify or oyster plant, and will generally be preferred.

Verdict: Parsnips look like white carrots, and taste like either carroty potatoes or potatoey carrots. These smelled great when they cooked! Husband sneaky snuck in and nabbed one in the midst of picture taking, so tasty did they smell. The taste, however, was just kind of fine. They tasted exactly like the fried combination of potatoes and carrots. I cannot say how it compares to salsify, however, as I haven't been able to find any salsify.

Salsify is a root vegetable which used to be popular, and apparently tastes like oysters. Thus, it was used to make mock oyster stew a lot. Many more root vegetables used to be popular, actually. Now we're basically down to potatoes, carrots, and onions. Possibly beets, as well. When is the last time you ate salsify, parsnips, rutabagas, Jerusalem artichokes, or turnips?

I figure that when the only vegetables you eat during the winter are those you can store in your root cellar, you want to grow as much of a variety as you can. Since we can get pretty much any vegetable any time we want, a wide variety of root vegetables is no longer a priority.

Amazing Juggling Cow

2010-11-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Another installment from the Betty Crocker New Cooking for Two Cookbook [1972].

Ta daaaaaaaaaa! What a talented cow! But you may ask: why is the cow juggling? For that, let us look to the menu.

Roast Beef au Jus
Browned Potatoes
Tomatoes Vinaigrette
Hot Rolls
Ice Cream with Raspberry-Currant Sauce
Brownies

I present two options. You may choose your favorite, or come up with a different one.

1. The cow is super pleased to be a part of dinner! It is juggling the side dishes to show its pride and satisfaction at finally realizing its life purpose. "Hooray!" the cow exclaims. "I will be the freshest most succulent delicious part of this meal. I have been eating extra food and taking many naps so that my flesh might be highly marbled and tender, that I may please the humans who shall partake of me."

2. "Look! Look! I can juggle! I can juggle, see? See? You can't eat a juggling cow, can you? Can you? I'm ever so entertaining!" "No. We will eat you because you are delicious." "But I stepped in my own poop today! And I've just hooved all the side dishes! Now they are fouled with poop. So you can't eat me after all I guess! Ha ha!" "Hm. That is true. We cannot eat poop rolls. We will just have to make do with what's left." "Yes! Yes! WAIT." *snick blurble*

Oh, you silly jolly cow!