 I’ve been posting some hand-written recipes in my grandmother’s 1931 issue of the Rumford Cookbook as I am trying them out, myself. It is just too neat to see my grandmother’s penmanship on favorite recipes and to know that I am mixing what she used to mix up for her family, including my dad and my Aunt Lois. In my last post, I gave you a little tidbit of my father’s memories as recorded in his book, Sailing Down The River Of Memories. I thought that I would post a few more of those memories here, that I thought you might enjoy: “We churned our own butter. Lois and Dad liked the buttermilk, but I never developed the taste for it. We never used Oleo margarine (called Oleo) although we sold it in the store. During the thirties, oleo came in a clear sack and looked like white shortening because the butter industry had a law passed to keep it from being colored yellow and looking like butter. A small package of yellow food dye was included in the package. The oleo had to be kneaded with the dye until it turned yellow. Sometimes a person didn’t do a good job kneading it because there would be reddish-yellow streaks throughout the oleo. Some mothers didn’t take the time to color it so it looked as if they were serving lard. As I said, we had butter to go with Mom’s jellies and jams as well as wild honey. I don’t remember anyone in the community with a bee hive, but Dad or some farmer might find a bee tree down by the river that they cut down and then divided the honey among friends. Wild honey was dark, strong and delicious on hot biscuits… Mom was a woman ahead of her time. During the summer of 1940, she got the idea of freezing strawberries so she wrapped a couple of quarts in waxed butcher paper and put them in the ice cream freezer [at the store]. Then, she served them for Christmas. Why was this ahead of her time? Because frozen food didn’t come to the rest of the country until 1945 when frozen orange juice and Swanson and Sons frozen chicken and turkey came to market. People really thought she was smart. Oh yes, one winter we put some snow balls in the freezer and had a snow ball fight the next summer. Unfortunately, they got icy and never thawed out, so they sort of hurt when we got hit… Eating in a restaurant was a big event because we didn’t do it very often, but when we did, we went to family types, not the more expensive ones. Dad and I ate at the stockyards where we took cows and hogs. We ate at the ‘dime store’ such as Woolworth or Kresses or Newberry when Mom took us to Joplin. My favorite was the ‘blue plate special’. It was sliced roast beef on a slice of bread with mashed potatoes covered with gravy, slaw and a coke. A real special was a three-decker club sandwich at the Crown Drugstore. Man, was that good. Down at Pawhuska we went to a pig stand for pork bar-b-que and limeaid or coke…The first fast food place I remember was in Joplin out on Seventh and Maiden Lane during the late 1930’s. It was called “Chicken in the Rough” and had a logo of a rooster with a golf club. We got a paper plate with fried chicken, shoe string potatoes, a dish of honey and hot rolls. We sat in the car and ate it with our fingers which is why it was called “in the rough”. The Checkerboard Cafe’ with the outside walls painted red and black like a checkerboard was noted for coney islands. We sometimes ate at Chili King who served the best chili but he would not serve milk to drink because according to him, it would make a person sick. Oh yes, we did not drink milk when we had fish either. Why? Because. That was explanation enough!” There are 362 pages of memories, geneologies and photographs for us to cherish! And as I posted last time, one of the recipes that my father mentions as a favorite, was my grandmother’s Red Devil Food Cake. I found it in the tattered pages of the Rumford Cookbook, written quickly and precisely. However, there are no baking instructions at all! I had to elaborate on my own. In looking in our family cookbook, I saw that my Aunt Lois also included this recipe and with the note, “(The cake I learned to bake as a child and it was served often at family get togethers)…Note: There are no baking instructions included in my recipe” So here is the recipe and my decision to bake the cake layers at 350º for 20-25 minutes. 1/2 cup sour cream, lard or butter 2 cups flour 1 egg 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 tsp soda 4 Tbsp Cocoa 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk 1/2 cup boiling water chopped pecans (optional) Sift together flour and soda and set aside.  Place sour cream, butter or lard into a mixing bowl. I decided to try sour cream. Next time I am going to try butter.  Add sugar  Cream until smooth  In a mixing cup, place cocoa and whisk as 1/2 cup boiling water is slowly added to dissolve. When the mixture is nice and smooth, add to the creamed mixture.  Add flour/soda mixture and stir and then add buttermilk or sour milk. You can sour milk by adding 1 tbsp vinegar into a mixing cup and then pour 3/4 cup milk into the vinegar. Allow to stand for 20 minutes and it will curdle. Pour out 1/2 of the thickest curds.  Add one egg and mix until batter is smooth and uniform  Add vanilla and mix. Unlike the batter in the last cake recipe, this batter is runny. My dad and his family also referred to it as “gravy cake”.  Divide the batter between two greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350º for 20 – 25 minutes. Use a toothpick to check for doneness at 20 minutes to make sure you do not over bake. Invert pans onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely. Ice with recipe in the last post or use your own. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.  Here’s something neat. I am keeping the cake in my Grandmother T’s cake keeper in which she used to house the same confection! And generations of cooks continue on!  |
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Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’
Cooking in the 1930’s Part III
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
Vintage Cooking Pt. III
Monday, January 16th, 2012
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I have been doing a series of posts from my grandmother’s high school, 1914 edition of “Domestic Science” and visualizing working in a vintage kitchen with wood cook stove and Seller’s or Boone kitchen cabinet complete with sifter and flour drawers. Included in each lesson have been etiquette rules that follow each recipe in the book. Many of these rules have been passed on to the children of today, (I hope!!) but there is one issue of etiquette that I know they did not consider back then. That rule concerns the public use of cell phones.  Friday, I was sitting in the waiting room of a certain preventative testing clinic for women, minding my own business and not really caring about anybody else’s, when the woman sitting across from me accepted a call on a cell phone that was playing some really annoying jingle. She was on oxygen and so her conversation was a series of loud words stilted by the short gasps of her oxygen machine. In a voice equal to what we used to call an “outdoor voice” she carried on a conversation with the person on the other end and gave all of us in the room the inside scoop of what she was planning for the day. Meanwhile, the cellphone of the women to my left and right simultaneously whined different songs and both women loudly answered, “Hello?” Then the woman to my left said, “You’re going on a cruise?! When are you leaving? Alrighty! They kind of keep everything in and she’s the one asking about the birds and she’s just going to snap. I’m at the place to get a mammogram.” Oh my. That word and the picture it paints. Is nothing secret anymore? All three women continued to converse in mucho decibels when the Latino man across the room, waiting on his wife, made a call and in Spanish yelled over the other voices to explain something. I caught “Mañana” and “ocho” but that was the extent of my eavesdropping since the only other language I know is French. The other bored husband in the room accepted a call, about that time, and made an order for decking and something else in frustrated tones. But it was when the lady to my right took it up a notch and put her phone comrade on speaker phone that I almost lost it in gails of laughter at how ridiculous this situation was. I couldn’t hear myself think and it amazed me that these people could concentrate on what they were saying with all of the other conversations going on. I stifled a giggle as this woman said, “Oh, you know. She told us that her father kicked her out, but I found out that was a lie. I think she must be drinking.” (we REALLY needed to know that!) And the lady on the other end squawked out a reply. But I guess the fact that I was taking notes by that time, thinking, “Blog material!!”, that I got noticed because the speaker phone got cut off quickly. My name was called at that point and I sauntered into the tiny dressing room, still snickering at the sitcom into which I had just been dumped. I sat to wait my turn because I was in that place to get a you-know-what (I still have Victorian limits). A muffled voice came through from the dressing room next door, “Oh I know!! You should have seen what she made. She didn’t do it the way she was supposed to, but it turned out cute. Looks like snowflakes. I’ll show it to you tomorrow.” I had to smile at that one. Obviously a young mother or a grandmother proud of her little daughter or granddaughter. And so, before I move on to the next vintage recipe, which is to die for, by the way, I will insert a modern code of manners into the mix by reminding all that while we like to stay connected, there is a limit to that connection when it comes to public places. Those around us really don’t care about our personal lives – unless they are robbers who are taking down your plans. There is a reason for texting!! Mr. Fix-It insisted that I try this recipe next. Oh my gosh. Incredible doesn’t even come close. As I looked at the amount of chocolate used, I thought that it couldn’t be enough. I realize that back then, chocolate was really, really special and expensive and so I upped the amount a tad. Also, while I am including the original hard sauce recipe, I decided to use MY hard sauce recipe that’s a bit – harder – shall we say? Yes, it has rum in it, but it’s cooked and it made an already wonderful dessert, something to brag about. Here you go: 2 cups dried bread crumbs or 4 slices 3/4″ thick bread, dried and sliced 4 tblsp butter (1/2 stick) 3 cups scalded milk 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup melted chocolate (I used 1/3 cup chocolate chips) 2 eggs 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla dash of cinnamon Hard Sauce 1/3 cup butter 1 c powdered sugar 2/3 tsp vanilla Sauce Directions: 1. Melt and cream the butter thoroughly. 2. Very gradually add the sugar, creaming constantly. Add the flavoring and set aside to cool. My Hard Sauce 1 stick butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg beaten 1/8 tsp vanilla 1/2 to 1 jigger of rum according to taste Directions and photos to follow..  Melt butter in a skillet.  Dredge bread crumbs or sides of bread stips in the butter until all butter is gone. Note: I am using homemade whole wheat bread here. I toasted 4 thick pieces, sliced and then put in the oven on 200º for about 30 minutes to dry it out. This really made a good pudding because the bread has such body. And you can convince yourself that this is healthy because there is fiber?!  Place the bread on a plate and set aside  In a large double boiler (mine is too small so a stainless steel bowl over a pan of boiling water works great) pour the milk and scald to just under boiling.  Pour bread into milk and allow to soak until bread is soft.  The directions say to spoon the bread into a buttered or greased ‘pudding dish’, but I looked up what that would be and I do not have one. It is made of ceramic or pottery and can be either oval or round and has a design on the bottom. So, I used the tried and true Corningware casserole dish! I sprayed my dish with spray olive oil.  Pour leftover milk into a bowl and set aside. Place chocolate into the bowl.  Melt chocolate or chocolate chips in the bowl over boiling water.  Add just enough of the scalded milk to the melted chocolate to blend into a smooth mixture.  Add rest of the milk and blend. Add dash of cinnamon.  Add half the sugar and blend  In another bowl, beat two eggs and add salt, sugar and the rest of the sugar and beat until creamy  Gently pour, little by little, the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture whisking continually to keep the eggs from curdling. Stir until the mixture is smooth.  Pour chocolate mixture over bread pieces in the baking dish. Now this is where I had to do some guessing because it said, “Bake in a moderate oven until done.” I figured 350º for 45 minutes. That worked great. I have to remember with these recipes that the old stoves were more of a guess than a thermostat!  Test with a sharp knife or toothpick to come out clean. Allow to stand for a few minutes. The sides of the pudding will pull away from the sides of the dish. Serve warm with warm hard sauce that follows.  In a clean bowl over boiling water, or in a small double boiler, melt butter and add sugar and vanilla.  Stir until mixture is smooth and then gently add beaten egg, whisking continually to keep the egg from curdling.  Add rum and stir.  Cook for about 10 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and sauce is thick and smooth  Spoon each serving of warm chocolate bread pudding in a bowl and ladle sauce over it. I promise, you will sit there and just sigh with joy. Leftovers of both sauce and pudding may be reheated. Table Manners:
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No Gluten – No Sugar – Yeah, Sure
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
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This is more information than you probably need, but my spine looks like an “S”. Now back in grade school, it was a really cool thing to say, “I have SCOLIOSIS!” and grin as friends looked at me with the admiration of comrades who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. But now, it isn’t so cool and my back can give me fits. No more horseback riding, no more high impact aerobics, no more motorcycle riding – ok, so I’ve never gone motorcycle riding but you get the point. Now, my days are spent in the office of Dr. Ryan Hanson, chiropractor extraordinaire and I have to say, I AM getting better. The goal is to straighten me out even though Mr. Fix-It has devoted his life to that project. I’m thinking that he’s going to find that even after Dr. Ryan has done his job on my back, I still won’t be straightened out in Mr. Fix-It’s world! Dr. Ryan’s office (we call him Dr. Ryan because he is in with his dad, the other Dr. Hanson), is totally devoted to a healthy lifestyle that includes healthy eating. Every so often, on customer appreciation days, his lovely assistants provide snacks for us patients. Now I am relatively new to the office and so I was shocked at my first customer appreciation day to see chocolate cupcake muffins adorned with tiny mounds of whipped topping and a fresh raspberry. Health-conscious fanatics don’t eat chocolate muffins with tiny mounds of whipped topping and a raspberry. Well, that is unless it’s carob. Yuck. Dr. Hanson encouraged me to be sure and grab a muffin before I left and I was assured there was no carob in the recipe. I went through my regular routine, and then, as I was preparing to leave, grabbed a cupcake and headed to the car. Sitting in the seat, I gently pulled back the cupcake paper and gingerly sampled a tiny bite. Oh my. It was sweet, chocolate heaven with a firm, white cloud on top. And so, after savoring the rest, I ran back into the office and demanded the recipe. Anything that good, that was supposedly healthy (which I doubted seriously) had to have an available recipe for my dessert repertoire. I got back to my car with recipe in hand, got situated, turned on the car and just glanced over at the recipe. The first thing on the ingredients list was black beans. BLACK BEANS?? What?? I searched for flour. None. I searched for sugar. None. There was no way in the world that the chocolate treat I had just inhaled was made of black beans. I had to go home and give it a try to prove the recipe to myself and to surprise Mr. Fix-It. I have this mean streak in me that likes to play tricks on my husband. I made them and they were a success – until I told him about the beans. He still had to admit that they were good, though. I even shared them with a friend. She wasn’t too keen on the fact that there were beans in the making either, but she admitted that they were good, as she licked the last crumbs from her fingers. So if you are trying to lose weight or eat more protein, cut back on sugar or cut out gluten, these little jewels are just for you. They are wonderful for kids’ snacks and healthy as all get out. But they taste sinful!! Here’s is the recipe. Try them and let me know what you think!! 1 – 15 ounce can of unseasoned black beans drained Coconut Milk Whipped Cream Nutritional Info  I must begin with an explanation that the recipe called for all kinds of separate actions like beating the eggs, etc and then adding to the bean mixture, but I am a lazy cook in many ways and I just tossed all those ingredients into the blender and blended the fire out of them. First, I added the beans. And they were cheap beans.  Next I added the 5 eggs  …and salt  I used coconut oil, but I bet butter is awesome too  Then I added the xylitol and stevia which can be purchased at any healthfood store or online  Next came the cocoa, baking soda and baking powder  …and the water. Then I blended and blended and blended until I had a smooth, consistent batter.  I put cupcake papers into muffin tins for 18 cupcakes and carefully poured the batter in to fill about three fourths full. Bake at 350º for 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean  Top the cupcakes with either the coconut milk whipped cream or the chocolate frosting and garnish with a raspberry. At first I thought that I liked the chocolate topping best, but I realized that you have to let the cupcakes with the whipped cream set up in the frig before eating. Makes the topping harden up and I decided that I like it better than the chocolate at that point but they are both good. To make the whipped topping, open a can of coconut milk that has been refrigerated overnight. The water will have separated from the solids and you will have a big chunck of white solid in the can. Drain out the water and add the solid to a bowl. Add xylitol and whip until well mixed. Put about a half to one tablespoon onto each cupcake. To make the chocolate icing, place xylitol into blender and blend until it is powder. Cream xylitol and butter together. Add salt and vanilla and then slowly add cocoa. Slowly because it will explode into a big poof if you don’t. Add coconut milk and then slowly add regular milk until a good consistency to spread. You can add the egg yolk if you want a more traditional, glossy icing. Spread on top of the cupcakes. |
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Old-Fashioned Southern Chocolate Pie
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
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Friday, I had the pleasure of seeing the movie, “The Help”, at our incredible Warren Theater in Moore, OK. The Warren Theater is a step back into the nostalgic mid-1900’s of Art Deco, complete with plush curtains over the screens, raised at just the right moment in pleated velvet splendor, personnel dressed in brass-buttoned waistcoats, taylored pants and white gloves and even a large balcony dinner theater for dinner and a movie. One can spend a Fall afternoon in that particular entertainment venue, munching on hotdogs and chips while watching an OU football game live on the big screen. “The Help” is a wonderful combination of humor, drama, tears and intrigue all wrapped up in a visual treat of 1960’s decor (“Oh look!! There’s our family’s old coffee table!”), vintage cars, 5¢ bottles of coke and amazing home cooking. Without revealing too much, I’ll just say that a central theme throughout the movie kind of revolves around one character’s chocolate pies. Minny is portrayed as the best cook in town and her pies are a specialty. I left the theater wanting an ice cold coke in a bottle and a piece of old timey Southern chocolate pie. Yesterday, I could stand it no longer and so, while I didn’t get that coke, I did get that chocolate pie. Rich!! Oh honey. You can only eat a small slice. But yuuuuumy!! Mr. Fix-It is now stuffed with pie and ready to go see the movie, himself, so I get to see it again! So here you go with a recipe for after you see it. Oh! And you can use my first recipe for pie crust found here, or you can use your own favorite pie crust recipe or I have provided a new one below that was given to me by a friend, Kathy.
 In a bowl, place 3 cups of flour. I am using home ground whole wheat pastry flour here, but you can use all-purpose and that is great.  Add shortening to the flour.  Add salt to the flour and shortening and cut in the shortening with either a mixer and blade or with a hand pasty cutter.  In a separate bowl, combine egg, water and vinegar and whisk until beaten. Add to the flour mixture and stir or mix until a ball forms.  Divide dough into two equal balls. (I use a scale and weigh) One will be used for a large pie shell. Store the rest in the frig for another shell. Or for small pie pans, you can get three single pie shells from this recipe.  For a slightly sweet desert crust, sprinkle powdered sugar on the bottom of the pie plate or tin  Roll the dough on your Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ to just a little smaller than your pie pan. Place the crust into the pie pan and then press to mold into the pie pan and leave an edge.  Flute the crust using a knife and forcing the crust edge between two fingertips. Place the pie pan and crust into the frig while you prepare the pie filling.
 In a small sauce pan, place chocolate chips  Add canned evaporated milk  Add butter. Heat on medium heat and stir until all ingredients are melted and incorporated into a smooth sauce. Remove from heat and cool slightly.  In a separate bowl – I’m using my McCoy bowl to go right along with the movie. Look for one just like it in one of the scenes – add sugar, flour, nuts, salt and vanilla.  Stir ingredients until nuts are coated.  Slowly stir in chocolate and mix until all dry ingredients are incorpoated with the liquid ingredients.  Whisk in egg quickly until smooth  Pour batter into prepared pie shell and bake at 375º for 40 minutes or until firm.  Cool completely  Cover with either whipped cream or meringue. (I use whipped cream. Not a big meringue fan) |
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