Another cake for history.

For the final presentation of the History SIG (Special Interest Group), I decided to make a pecan cake based upon this recipe:

The substitution is simple:  10oz of slightly toasted pecan pieces in place of the black walnuts.  I think that pecans must be lighter than black walnuts, because that is a LOT of nuts in the batter.  It resulted in two pretty cakes, plenty for whoever is at our closing session.

And once again, I didn't stop for photographs, although I took one of the circular cake after it cooled:

My mother and I went to Chicago for a week, spending time seeing relatives and old friends (including all three of my remaining godparents), and I was too busy enjoying people to photograph the food.  Except this, my dessert one night:

The "Amarena Cherry Panna Cotta" - 
vanilla panna cotta, amarena cherry gelee,
compressed cherry (a bit alcoholic), pistachio

Of course we ate plenty of Chicago specialties, such as deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dog (my mother and I split a footlong at a White Sox game, which they sadly and badly lost to the d@mn Yankees, but ended up splitting the series with them - then the Cubs began a series with a close loss and a solid win, before another close loss), Irish soda bread from the Hearts & Flour Bakery tent at the Daley Center Farmers Market, true bagels and lox at a family brunch, and lots of excellent meals at friends' favourite restaurants around the city.  We brought local chocolates to the neighbors and are still nibbling our way through the cookies a friend gave to my mother.

Muster Gingerbread

For tomorrow's history group presentation, which focuses on the northern part of the colonies, I decided to make "Muster Gingerbread" from the Plimoth Colony Cook Book.  It is easy, has a good story (although I think more from the 19th Century than the 18th, but no provenance was given), and makes many pieces.

I forgot to take photos when I started the process, and just have one showing how I propped up the molasses jar to drain as much as possible.  Then I went for a walk.  After I returned, I added the melted butter and buttermilk, then mixed - very carefully, because the bowl was overfull.

That might be, in part, because I was doubling the recipe.  However, I used only a cup and a half each of molasses and butter, because the proportions seemed awry if you want cookies.  Too much liquid.  And I was right as I ended up with a fluffy batter, a bit thick but definitely more for cake than cookies:

Photo taken about fifteen minutes into baking.  The chemical reaction between the baking soda and the acid in both the molasses and the buttermilk caused the rise.  My other change was to increase the ginger to a full tablespoon each, and add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon per recipe.

[Historical note:  Baking soda is a modern addition, having first been isolated in somewhere between 1791 and 1801, but not available generally until the middle of the 19th Century.  It is more likely that pearlash was used, but even so, that might be post-Revolutionary War.  I decided to bake this recipe even though I have other gingerbread/gingerbrede receipts that would be more historically accurate, because I think the group won't care and they'd like the name and find it appropriate to the discussion.]

The gingerbread baked well but took longer than the recipe said, of course, since it was written for cookies.  I would have had to add a LOT of flour to make a cooky-rolling stiffness, and I didn't want to make THAT many cookies.  Maybe if I had thought to scale everything else to 1.5 times, or even doing just a single batch with more flour.  Experiments for another day.

These came out quite tastily:

The decorative pan made distinct designs which are not terribly visible except on the bottom right quadrant of the photograph, but the cake is a bit crisper than the ones baked in the other two pans.  I now have a high-piled platter of pieces of gingerbread for people to enjoy tomorrow.

A Rich Seed Cake

I'm attending a series of history presentations around the American Revolutionary War, from the events leading to it, to the actual years of the conflict (which were several after 1776, if you didn't know), and early days of the new Republic.  Since I haven't been able to participate substantively, I asked if they would be interested in having some cakes or cookies baked from period recipes - and the organizers eagerly accepted.

For the first one, I chose a Georgian era recipe from The British Museum Cookbook, reprinting Mrs. Raffald's recipe for a "Rich Seed Cake".  I made a few changes in process, because I wanted to take advantage of my stand mixer, and it has only one bowl:

I started by whipping four egg whites stiff, and
moved them to a separate bowl to wait.

Same bowl, I was lazy and did not wash it.
Softened butter (one cup) and white sugar
(three-quarters of a cup, can be one cup).

Butter and sugar whipped until light.
I stopped to scrape the sides a couple times.

Adding the egg yolks one at a time.

Adding (possibly too many, I estimated) anise seeds, plus one
teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg.

I added two cups of  flour one half-cup at a time,
alternating with the whipped egg whites.

I probably should have started with the egg whites and mixed
them in completely but I thought this might keep more of the air
in the mixture, since that is the only raising power in this recipe.

I decided to use a fancy pan for the baking, and forgot to take a photo before putting it into the oven.  I also forgot to tap the pan to knock out any air bubbles before baking.

While the oven was on, since I'd been successful in foraging for blackberries, I made a batch of muffins which were shared with (very appreciative) neighbors:

I used a friend's blueberry cake recipe, but instead of layering
the batter and berries, stirred the berries in and scooped.

Final results, before I packaged up the muffins to deliver to neighbors:

Of course I sampled before delivery.  All reports are that the 
muffins - which are not too sweet - are very yummy.

I wrapped the cake in clingfilm to stay moist and mellow overnight:

Pockmarked by the air holes, and hopefully not too dry or dense.

My house smells wonderful.

I might try her recipe for "Wiggs" if the presenters are talking about the similarly-named political party.

Also this week, I went to a local group's gathering, and wanted to take something interesting but not too complicated.  So I started a shawl, using sock yarn doubled.  The colours are not ones I usually like, but this will be nice and a bit of warmth, and if somebody wants it I won't be sad to pretend generosity.

The yarn was dyed by the "Little" of a local dyer in Texas, and is called "Space".  The stitch markers are leftover Turtle Tokens that I give to people who join the daily walks at some conferences I attend.  I've since seen the dyer's Fallen Moon Drops pattern and one colourway is similar to this, so since it's just been a weekend's knitting I am tempted to frog and reuse the yarn - but I am desisting.  I have another skein or two of her yarn that I can use, or of course some other.

Like a Day in August 1942

Well, not quite.

Catching up on some magazines, I read an article in my university alumni's summer issue about meal planning during WWII.  In addition to information about Meta Given and The Modern Family Cook Book and her meal planning and "diet pattern" (this from the days when "diet" meant "how you eat overall" and wasn't automatically a slimming plan), it includes a sample menu for a day in August.

I decided it looked interesting, and wanted to try using it for a day's meal planning.  Not wanting to wait until August, I decided to use what I have on hand.  In addition to these accommodations, I don't drink either coffee or milk, the two beverages listed, so you'll see glasses of cold tea (I don't like ice in it at home, as it dilutes the drink unnecessarily, and I have a pitcher in the refrigerator) with the meals.

The next problem was that at least one meal includes a cooked item for which I need a recipe - which cookbook to choose?

After a quick perusal of my cookbooks of approximately that era, I decided The Joy of Cooking made the most sense as a homemaker might have received a copy as a bride, and would still be using it.  I have a facsimile of the 1931 edition, so that's close enough.  I found a YouTuber who used the 1943 edition, which might be closer given the dates in the article, but the recipes she made require ingredients I don't have and the ones I need doesn't appear to be things that would change much in 10-11 years.

Breakfast does not need recipes:

• White grapes
• Prepared Cereal with Top Milk (= cream)
• Toast with Butter, Jam
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

This is mine:

I did not have grapes, so substituted a banana, on Raisin Bran.  Glass of green tea at right; I am finishing the pitcher so haven't made a more standard tea they would be likely to have in the 1940's.  Yes, my toast has butter on one side and peach jam on the other, because that is how I felt like eating it today.  I don't generally like having both butter and jam on the same piece of toast.

The peach jam is a nod to the original menus (peaches show up at supper), and is an old-fashioned style from the farm in Connecticut that hosted my first CSA shares.

I don't have much milk so decided to put orange juice on the cereal.  I like the combination, which I started using in college when the milk machines failed and we didn't have milk for a while.  That's also what put me off drinking milk.

Lunch required some cooking, but not much:

• Creamed Eggs on Toast
• Sliced Tomatoes and Lettuce Wedges, French Dressing
• Fresh Pears
• Hot or Iced Tea
• Milk for Children

This required a recipe for "creamed eggs".  I didn't know whether it would be hard-cooked eggs in a cream sauce (I have something similar to that for curried eggs, and have seen variations for ladies' luncheon menus), or eggs scrambled with cream, or what?  It turns out they are shirred eggs with white sauce:

I buttered the cup and sprinkled in seasonings, then added two eggs in the cup since there was room (Meta Given recommends one per day, or 3-4 per week, and since I haven't had any this week, I splurged), to make a heartier lunch.  I don't have parsley or celery, but remembered some fresh spinach, so tucked a few leaves (washed and torn) into the cup:

    

Left is at the beginning; sorry it's blurry.  On the right is the cooked eggs and they are blurry because of steam.  I didn't check the timings.  While they cooked, I made white sauce:

I made half the recipe, so one tablespoon of butter and a bit less than a tablespoon of flour, melted and stirred together.  Then a half-cup of milk (I had a bit less, so increased with water), stirred until it got thickish, then added seasonings.  Since I forgot the nutmeg in the eggs, I added it here.

The cookbook includes two recipes for French Dressing, and in the interest of time I'm doing the simpler but will try the other at some point:

So this is the final result, without sauce, showing the seasonings from the bottom of the egg cup:

I have romaine lettuce, so it's slices/shreds instead of wedges.

Now I have added a few spoonfuls of sauce to the eggs - not very photogenic, sorry:

The salad is lightly dressed, so the dressing is not visible, especially as it's a vinaigrette.  Not shown is the glass of cold tea.

It was a fairly tasty lunch but more fussy than I usually do; if I were to have eggs on toast, it would be something quicker like fried or scrambled.  The white sauce is very nice and I thought I'd cook the rest of the spinach and blend them together to make creamed spinach for lunch tomorrow.

Dinner menu required several adjustments:

• Cold Sliced Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt
• Corn on the Cob
• Creamed Turnips
• Grated Carrot, Apple, and Orange Salad
• Bread and Butter
• Fresh Peach Tarts
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

I almost never eat pork, so substituted the last couple slices of some deli roast beef.  The reason the menu refers to "Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt" is that this distinguishes it from smoked or cured pork butt.  It is actually part of the pig's shoulder, the blade roast.  In case you wonder how to cook it:

I do not have turnips or oranges, and peaches are not in season.  Since Meta Given includes a serving of potato in her daily food group, I thought that would be a natural substitute for the turnip.  I looked up a few recipes to figure out substitutions.

When I read the last line, I remembered the leftover cream sauce from lunch.  So I boiled a small potato, cut into chunks, in the same pot with the corn on the cob.  After they were done, I fished out the corn, drained the potato chunks (realizing too late I should have retained some of the water), and stirred them into the leftover sauce.  It had thickened in the refrigerator, and the ratio of potato to sauce didn't leave much for being soppingly creamy, but it was sufficient and disposed of leftovers.  So, no creamed spinach tomorrow.

While those boiled, I looked up carrot salad recipes; there weren't any for apple salad.

Not helpful given the menu description.  So I simply diced the carrot and apple into small bits, since I could not find my box grater, and added a splash of orange juice instead of French dressing.

I did get some plums at the weekly farmstand, but didn't feel like doing a crust and tart for one person.  So I finessed it with a fresh plum and shortbread cooky, which I thought is fairly close to pie pastry in terms of ingredients and being baked.  This is my result:

Clockwise from the top:  Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Juice; leftover roast beef; fresh boiled Corn on the Cob; Creamed Potato; fresh plum, shortbread cooky, and bread and butter, which looks oddly-shaped as it's the rest of the slice from lunch, from which I'd cut the round bit to toast.

Overall the meals were good and more variety than I usually include in my menus.  For a family it makes sense to have multiple dishes; I often will eat more simply, as a sandwich or salad at lunch, and for supper I'd have about half the items the dinner menu included.  Bread and butter at every meal adds a filling item that would be easy to adjust in quantity for each person; I generally don't have it with a meal, I wouldn't have both cereal and toast at breakfast.

It's helpful to have menu suggestions when cooking a historical meal, as otherwise it's a bunch of recipes collated with my personal, more modern sensibility.  Now I am curious to track down a copy of The Modern Family Cook Book (she published other books as well, including a two-volume Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking) and learn more about Meta Given.

Apple Hash.

I finally got around to my resolution for cooking a historical recipe, although it's from a book I own, not one of the historical cooking channels.  So I have to catch up on two months of cooking from the YouTube channels.

This is a fairly simple recipe from 1711:

I followed it pretty much as written:

Apple peeled and cut crosswise, core removed.
I ate the peels and the top and bottom bits while cooking.

Butter melting in a pan, and whole wheat flour.

Apples, dipped in whole wheat flour, frying in melted butter.

Carefully turned, browning on the other side.

 Some of the butter and flour bits burned slightly between batches.  It didn't affect the taste, but might be visually unappealing.  I did add butter between the batches and a tiny bit after the flips.

Then I wiped out the pan and used the same one to make the sauce:

Butter and sugar and rosemary for the sauce.
About a tablespoon each of butter and sugar.

Pear wine added - about two or three tablespoons.
Also a couple good pinches of dried rosemary.

I don't currently have fresh rosemary, so made do with dried.  Quantities are guesswork, of course.  Then I simmered on a low flame to reduce the sauce, which made it a rather caramelly.

Pouring over the sauce, which was reduced to
about half its original volume.

And I realized after sampling that I had forgotten to sprinkle on some cinnamon before tasting, although I had it waiting by the stove.

Opinion?  Very buttery, not too sweet.  The wine and the rosemary cut the sweetness of the sauce nicely.  I didn't particularly miss the cinnamon, although I may try this again once I have live rosemary to see how it would be different.  I had a mild apple, and would like to see how something sharper stands up to the frying and sauce.

I did notice that butter leached into the dish, probably from the frying stage:

I didn't sop it up, but if you have bread handy it might not be bad.  All of the sauce was eaten with the apple slices, which were soft but not mushy.  Something of a comfort food or chilly rainy day dish, and today happens to be dreary and rainy.

This is the frontpiece of the book from which comes the receipt:

Quite light on recipes, and heavy on Remedies.  Range is 12th to 18th Centuries.

One week in.

It was a beautiful day for a ride, so I met a longtime friend at a halfway point, the Book Barn in Niantic.

Miraculously, we each managed to go away without anything new other than items we exchanged.  One of my gifts was a jar of bit congee, because I'd gotten a packet of it at a local farmstand and the recent cold and rainy weather seemed a good time to simmer things.

 

I used a quart of vegetable broth, a can of cocoanut milk, and a quart of water.  The end result looks unimpressive but tastes quite good - and made over a half gallon.  Hence the jar given to my friend.  I forgot to take a picture of the result; it's not very photogenic.  However, it is quite delicious.

Last night I made a recipe from To the Queen's Taste as a way to use up the last portion of a pound of ground lamb from the local farm.  I usually just do lamburgers but felt like eating something else.

Given that I had about a third of a pound of meat, I reduced quantities accordingly.

Broth with turnips and carrots added, because.

 

Meat with chopped dates and spices, before mixing.

  

Meatballs simmering in the broth.

Ready to eat!  A pretty Larsware bowl seemed appropriate.

I let the meatballs simmer a bit too long, but they were tasty.  I may try this again and watch the time more carefully.

Resolutions Report

I finished the second sock!

They are definitely not this pink in real life!

I also finished a blanket block for Warm Up America! and one of the UFO baby blankets that was in a bin in my stash:

The block for Warm Up, America!

I read The Game of Life and How to Play It, and while it is a bit "woo" for me, it has a lot about how to do more positive thinking.  I mentioned it in a discussion group at work, and a couple people said they read it every year, so at least one other is going to look for a copy.