Mrs. Ian Erskine's Deviled Eggs

This is not your standard Deviled Egg. The recipe comes from The Royal Blue and Gold Cookbook produced as a fundraiser by the Marchioness of Cambridge in 1974. The cookbook is long out of print. This is another glorious library book sale find.

Before World War II, Dorothy Hastings Cambridge had an idea of making a cook book using recipes from dinner parties she and George had given for their friends and guests. The Marchioness had interesting friends like Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. Dorothy was supported in this effort by Queen Mary, who donated many recipes. The book did not get published until 1974. Proceeds were donated to the Royal British Legion Women's Section. 

This recipe is verbatim. I will provide one or two of the Marchioness's creative recipes also in another section. Enough typing for this morning.

Devilled Eggs

Ingredients to serve 4

1 tablespoon Butter or Margarine

1 ounce Butter (editor's note - you may use Margarine here as well)

4 Eggs

2 tablespoons Milk 

Salt

Cayenne Pepper

1 and 1/2 teaspoons prepared Mustard

1 tablespoon Chutney

2 tablespoons Capers

2 Eggs

Preparation

Melt the butter or margarine in a frying pan and fry the eggs carefully until the whites are set, but not hard. Meanwhile, melt the 1 ounce butter in a saucepan. Add the milk, the salt, and the cayenne and bring to a boil. Add the mustard, chutney, and the two eggs, well beaten. Stir the mixture over a low fire, until the sauce is like thick cream, never allowing it to come to a boil. Add the chopped capers and pour the sauce over the fried eggs. The dish may be warmed slightly under the grill or in a very hot oven for a few minutes, as it must be served very hot.

Halloween Gets Devil Sauce and a Soul Fondue

I have a charming small cookbook entitled The Gourmet Fondue Cookbook by B. Arthur Paull. This cookbook was written in the 70s during the Fondue craze. It was sold at Fante's here in Philly.

I am bringing Fondue back for my private little Halloween Party.  Mr. Paull's recipes are not long on quantities and procedure. They are terse. I produce them verbatim. The intrepid Foody will not be deterred. These two are adventurous and very good.

This is a savory Fondue in which the bits of food (chunks of bread, shrimp, cheese, tofu, veggies etc.) are individually cooked by the diner.

Soul Fondue

1/2 cup pureed Chicken Liver
1 minced Onion
1 teaspoon Cayenne
1/4 cup Brandy
1/2 cup Butter
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup Tomato Paste
1/2 cup Cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt to taste.

Pan fry onion in butter. Add flour and stir fry 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, salt, cayenne, Worcestershire, chicken liver and cream. Stir constantly for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and add cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Add brandy.

Devil Sauce

Combine tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, horseradish and garlic. Pour into a serving dish, cover and chill.

Fifties Football Food

I love my library book sale. I found a copy of Pillsbury's 10th Grand National Bake-Off Cookbook. The cookbook cost 25 cents in 1958. A recipe for this decadent bread was in it. Nobody worried about cholesterol in the Fifties.

The whole cookbook was chock full of yeast dough recipes I will never make. The Bubble Loaf was hidden at the end under "Busy Day" Short-cut Recipes. Meets my requirements: easy to make and tastes good. And you get to pull the loaf apart with your fingers.

Upon reading the recipe, I imagined eating this Bread with cold Beer, a Cheese Board and Apples while watching football in front of the TV. I can imagine this with Soup too. And I think this loaf might be excellent done with Salami. Then you would not have to cook all that Bacon. I have one of these yummies in the oven right now.

Bacon Cheese Bubble Loaf

2 cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Biscuits
1/2 pound cooked Bacon, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup Green Pepper, chopped
1/4 cup Onion, chopped
1/2 cup melted Butter or Margarine

Combine Bacon, Cheese, Onion, Green Pepper in a large bowl. Cut the Biscuits into quarters. Dip Biscuit pieces into melted Butter and drop into the Bacon mixture. Mix until well blended. Turn into a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake in a moderately hot oven (400 degree) oven for 30-35 minutes. Loosen edges. Cool 3 minutes before removing from the pan.

Note: I did this recipe in a loaf pan, and found the middle does not bake well. I liked the way it tasted (yummy) but it did not turn out well. Then the light dawned. The refrigerated biscuits of the 50s and 60s were about half the size of current refrigerated biscuits. You only need ONE PACKAGE of biscuits. Duh.

The Other French Onion Soup

It is icy and cold in Philadelphia. I want hot comforting soup. January is National Soup Month so I am republishing this easy Soup recipe.

This onion and cheese soup is simple to make, really tasty, and does not require any special cooking skill at all.  The quantity is infinitely expandable, just maintain the proportion of  equal weights of onion to potato. Serves 2 to 4 people.

3 large potatoes
3 large onions
8 ounces Swiss Cheese (quantity to taste)
Garnish of Minced Celery Tops

Peel onions and potatoes and place them in a deep soup pot. Be generous about removing outer layers of onion that are too tough to cook. Add enough water to cover the vegetables plus one inch above them. Bring water to a boil, then turn down and simmer until onions and potatoes are very soft. Grate the cheese. Mash the vegetables in their own broth when tender. Season with Salt and Pepper. Stir the cheese into the hot soup and serve. Garnish with minced celery tops.

Note: Do not overcook or it will be glue. Cook only until the vegetables can be pierced with a fork. You want some texture in your soup.

You may wish to substitute another cheese or garnish (minced parsley, bacon bits, etc.).  I prefer the combination above, as taught me by an elderly French woman whose surname I never learned. She was Madame Sophie always. A little green salad and some good bread and I feel a happy well fed person.

365 Days a Year - Course Dinner in 15 Minutes by Mabel Claire

I sing the praises again of my library book sale. I found a copy of Mabel Claire's The Busy Woman's Cookbook - Course Dinners in 15 Minutes published in 1925. Consider that all the machines and products that are sold today as labor and time saving did not exist in the 20s and 30s. This book can still be found at $20.00. I spent $0.50.

Vintage cookbooks are an educational peek at American culture of the period. I give you one of Ms. Claire's "15 minute course dinners" verbatim. This menu is delicious and quick. Just what a busy person needs when they have to cook dinner 365 days a year.

MENU - Serves 2

Ham and Eggs
Tomatoes, Peppers and Onions
Bread and Butter
Baked Bananas with Cream
Coffee

SHOPPING LIST

Slice of Ham
Four Eggs
Two Tomatoes
Three Green Peppers
Half Pint Cream
Four Small Bananas
Loaf Bread
1/4 Pound Butter

HAVE READY

3 Frying Pans
Fork
Tablespoon
Knife
Sugar
Butter
Cinnamon
Salt

Light the gas oven. Light two gas burners. On one put frying pan with a tablespoon of butter. On the second burner heat the frying pan for the ham.

When the butter in the frying pan is hot, peel and slice into it the onions, next the peppers cut small with seeds removed, last the tomatoes, cut in dice. When these are not, cover closely and cook over moderate flame until wanted.

When the frying pan is hot for the ham, brown the slice on both sides. Cook 8 minutes. Dish on to a platter and put into the oven.

Break four eggs into the pan the ham has cooked in and cook until done to taste, about 5 minutes.

Heat the third frying pan and melt in  it a tablespoon of butter. Peel and halve lengthwise the four bananas. Saute on both sides. Sprinkle over these a large tablespoon of sugar and a dusting of cinnamon and let this melt into them. Cooking time about 3 minutes. Remove the bananas to the oven to keep hot until wanted for dessert.

Turn off the oven. Prepare the coffee. Set the table, five minutes. Ms. Claire points out that doubling this recipe for a larger family does  not increase the cooking time.

Spinach Casserole for the Vegetarian in Your Life

Spinacia oleracea in Flower

It is challenging to come up with a vegetarian entrée that even meat eaters will enjoy. This casserole is The One. It is simple to make and tastes delicious. I serve this to my Vegetarian on holidays every year.

Spinach Casserole

2 Eggs, well beaten

6 tablespoons Flour

1 package chopped frozen Spinach, 10 ounces

1 1/2 cups Cottage Cheese

1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Thaw Spinach and drain thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and flour in a bowl until smooth. Stir in Spinach, Cheeses and Salt. Pour into a greased 1-quart casserole. Bake for one hour. That is it. Eeezy Peezy. Enjoy.

Egg Money

photo by Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post

It is not so easy being a Chicken farmer. This young woman is doing it. Shelby Grebenc has been raising chickens for both eggs and meat at her family's Adams County farm. In this 2011 photo, she holds Chipmunk, one of her Americana hens.

http://www.denverpost.com/style/ci_21967690?source=pop

You may be tired of reading about Chickens but I am probably not going to stop. Hey, it is my Blog.  My Babcha helped raise a family of six with her chicken and egg money in the early 1900s. All they had was an acre in the country. I think I really may get some Hens. Ever had a fresh country Egg? Delicious. 

Ms. Shelby has plenty of peppery and wise things to say about Life, Salesmanship and Chickens like this:

"If you want sustainable, wholesome, pasture-raised organic, hormone- and antibiotic-free food, you have to support it. You can not get these things by talking about it and not paying for it. The next time you shop at a farmers market, think about what it cost me to grow it. Don't ask me to take less and then tell me you can get it cheaper at a big-box store. I know you can — but it will not be as fresh or as good as what I have, and you won't make me cry."