Cambric Tea/White Tea

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

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

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

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

[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

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

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