THROWBACK RECIPES

Dorothy & Francis Portfors (siblings), 1927

Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Kraft Foods, Better Homes and Gardens, etc. – It seems as though they’re all touting recipes like your grandmother made. My expectation is to see some recipes from the era of my grandmothers, even my mother, whereas, they’re really talking about ME! Yes, I am now grandma. But the recipes I feature here are mid-century or before.

The following three recipes were delicately written by my mother on a piece of scratch paper. I can't help but wonder about the circumstance that saw her writing recipes onto scratch paper. Whatever it was, she decided not to copy the one for "smothered chicken."

She decided against smothered chicken.

Bran Muffins

·      At night, mix well:

1 ¼ c bran

3 T melted fat

1 well-beaten egg

·      Add: ½ c raisins and 1 c milk; cover; store in refrigerator.

·      Also mix and sift:

¾ c flour

4 t baking powder

2 T sugar

¼ t salt

·      Cover.

·      Grease muffin pans. Cover.

The next morning, stir dry and moist ingredients together just enough to combine. Fill muffin pans 2/3 full and bake in hot oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes.

Brown Betty

(Yes, here’s another recipe for Apple Brown Betty, somewhat different from the previous one I posted.)

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After breakfast, melt ¼ c butter and stir in 2 ½ c soft bread crumbs. Place a layer of crumbs in the bottom of greased shallow baking pan. Arrange a layer of thinly slice apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Repeat process. Add ½ c water. Finish with a layer of bread crumbs and set in refrigerator. Before dinner, bake in a moderate oven (350) about 40 minutes or until apples are tender and top is browned.

Baked Ham

Place ham in a roaster. Add 2 c water and cover roaster. Bake in a slow oven (325) at 25 minutes per pound. When ham is done, remove from oven. Lift off rind. Score surface and dot with cloves. Rub with mixture of ½ c brown sugar and 1 T flour. Brown uncovered for 20 minutes in a moderate oven (400). KW

OATMEAL FRUIT-NUT DROP COOKIES

We are “as well as usual,” blessed phrase! – Ina Dobson, January 1935

With his left arm in a cast, Mike can do almost everything for himself except buttoning buttons and tying his shoes. Saturday night, we discovered we had no hot water, and he managed to light the pilot, though it wasn’t easy. But – he does have pain, and that wears a person down.

Another pseudo-holiday has come and gone. Super Bowl Sunday doesn’t matter much to me – I’m just there for the snacks, the commercials, and the associations – but it has become a benchmark in my year. It’s time to get on with things.

There’s no question but that the groundhog saw his shadow. Moderate temps on Friday and Saturday turned colder on Sunday with a hard freeze overnight. It’s sunny but cold today, so let’s turn on the oven and bake some cookies.

Mother wrote this recipe for “Oatmeal Fruit-nut Drop Cookies in pencil on a piece of scratch paper, so it’s faded and yellow. I don’t know – if you’re going to copy down a recipe, why wouldn’t you write it on a card? Maybe she hadn’t tried it yet and wasn’t sure she wanted it on record in her recipe box. At any rate, I’ll give it a try and see what I think.

I say that, but I already know what I’m going to think. I find that most – I say, “most” – oatmeal cookies are rather heavy and tasteless. Maybe I’m in the minority here because oatmeal raisin cookies are in demand at our P.E.O. cookie sale. Still, I make them now and then, and I do feel that oatmeal cookies have more food value than some others. Don’t they?

OATMEAL FRUIT-NUT DROP COOKIES

Barely legible

·      Mix thoroughly:

1 cup soft shortening (like Crisco)

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs

·      Stir in:

½ cup sour milk or buttermilk

·      Sift together and stir in:

1 ¾ cups sifted flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

·      Stir in:

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup cut up raisins or dates

½ cup nuts

·      Drop rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned.

Temp: 400

Bake 8-10 minutes

About 5 ½ dozen

I baked at 400 for 9 minutes.

“So, what do you think?” I asked Mike as he tried one of these cookies.

Not one to mince words, Mike said, “Tastes like every other oatmeal cookie you bake.”

Hahaha! Isn’t that what I just said? Most every oatmeal cookie comes back to the same slightly sweet little mound. I must add, though, that the batter was lovely. KW

GOOD EATS

Not a pretty book

I’m amazed that organizational fundraiser cookbooks, composed of recipes submitted by the members, have been around for so long. Good Eats is the name of a cookbook published by the Rebekah Assembly of Idaho in 1929, the year my mother and her first husband were married. I don’t remember her using it, but it’s well-worn and falling apart, so obviously she had used it and quite a lot. Perhaps it was the only cookbook she had when she started married life. And filed inside its pages are various clipped recipes. It’s another treasure trove of vintage cooking.

As I looked through Good Eats, several simple recipes took my eye.

DELICIOUS DESSERT

Whip cream, add peanut brittle ground and pour over angel food cake.

HEAVENLY DELIGHT

1 pt. of whipped cream, 1 t vanilla, 1 sponge cake crumbled, 1 20-cent can maraschino cherries, 50-cents worth of English walnuts, chopped. Mix cake, cherries, and nuts, and last the whipped cream. Pack in freezer for 4 hours, without turning crank, and serve on slice of pineapple.

PINEAPPLE TAPIOCA

Soak 1 cup of pearl tapioca overnight. In the morning drain and put it in a double boiler with 1 ½ c hot water, ½ t salt, 1 c sugar, ½ can shredded pineapple, the juice of 1 lemon and 1 large orange. Cook until clear, fold in the stiffly-beaten whites of 2 eggs, cook 2 minutes longer and serve cold, with or without cream, as preferred.

Or – you could just add an 8-ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained, to prepared tapioca pudding. Chop up some maraschino cherries and add those, too, if you like. KW