Bacon Strip Pancakes and Apple Butter Sourdoughs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.