Cookbook Focus. And Beetle Bread.

Today I want to share with you a cookbook that technically has Mum's name in the front. (Although to be honest I'm not sure how much "ownership" we can apply here.) It's been in our kitchen for as long as I can remember, and I used to and still do leaf through it for novelty's sake. I don't think Dad ever used it really, he was a chef, an actual professional one, but most of his recipes are on index cards (in good little Catholic schoolboy cursive) in the recipe box on the counter. There's one in there that tells you how to make Chocolate Mousse for 50 people.

ANYWAY. I dug it out yesterday for comfort reading and decided I would tell you all about it. So here we go.

The book is called The New American Cookbook, published in 1942 by the American Publishers' Alliance, New York.

Lily Haxworth Wallace is listed as the Editor-in-Chief, and underneath her name is this:

Home Economics Lecturer and Writer

Instructor, Household Arts Department, The Ballard School, New York City

Assisted by fifty-four leading Authorities on Domestic Science and the Art of Modern Cooking

 

Underneath that is a charming little line ink drawing of a woman standing over a stove wearing a ruffled apron and heels. It's 930 pages long, and is punctuated by delightful colour and black & white photos of place settings, decorative serving platters, and the ideal way to organise a "modern" kitchen with all the latest conveniences.

 

It's also got pages and pages of entertaining menus ("with servant", "without servant", "workers' box lunches", "bridge luncheons"), and menus for a range of household incomes (including a budget one for an annual income of $1,000 called the "Minimum Cost Adequate Diet.")

The captions on some of the photos read:

"This buffet service adds interest to the well-chosen viands."

"Table appointments help establish the hostess' reputation for taste."

"Soup and Smiles begin this guest dinner, without a maid."

 

I can break it down thusly:
 

Things Yankee housewives in 1942 were geniuses to invent:
Molasses Doughnuts
LITERALLY YOU GUYS something called "Doughnut Muffins"
Salmon Fondue
Fried Bacon and Apples
Potato Soufflé
Raspberry Mousse with Marshmallows
Boiled Icing (remember Bunny Cake? yep, this is that)
Indian Pudding (aka the best thing in the world, I will make this and highlight it. Proms.)

Things Yankee housewives in 1942 thought were a good idea to serve but really weren't:
Stuffed Avocado Ideale (for serious - this involves boiled crab and Russian dressing)
Orange Tomato Aspic
Tripe in Batter
Brains
Wreath Salad (pineapple, watercress, cream cheese, and pillow mints whatever the hell those are)
Banana Ham Sandwich

When you're deep in the MEAT section, you gotta remember that this was 1942. People didn't have much money, and you had to make do with what you could get. This is why you only do a rapid eye blink the first time you see recipes #1581 and 1582.

It tells you how to skin a Possum. Just in case I ever need to. So, in Doomsday Preppers speak, when I bug out, THIS is what I'm bringing to my bunker.

Needless to say, I don't reaallllyyyy use it for the meat or fish recipes. Too much cream sauce, too much aspic, WAY too much use of pineapple (for real. why?) and far too much calling, specifically, for "fat" to be added. But the baking section is great. They use a lot of dates, which are Beetle Friendly and a good sugar substitute, and most of the recipes, by token of their simplicity, are very easily adaptable for taste and Beetle stomachs. And let us not forget (see above) that us Yankees invented some pretty damn good dishes, many of which are woefully under appreciated and under-made in 2013. So perhaps I will start a 1942 baking resurgence. Hmmmm.

I will begin, perhaps, with #2427, "Mock Nesselrode Pudding", which is sugar, milk, raisins, crumbled macaroons, vanilla, and almonds, whipped with egg whites until stiff, then molded and chilled. Barring the last minute (ill-advised) addition of maraschino cherries, that sounds like a whole lot of amazing.

SWITCHING GEARS ENTIRELY

I made Beetle Bread on Sunday afternoon. Specifically I made spelt bread. We stopped at a store that had a great flour selection and I got some yummy dark spelt flour. And I decided to put it to good use.

SIDE NOTE: I seriously do NOT understand this obsession with putting honey in bread, it makes no sense to me. Sometimes it is warranted, but, you guys, bread is BREAD. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE SWEET. Making your own bread conveniently solves this problem. And it also 9 times out of 10 creates a loaf that is dense and satisfying, rather than one that dissolves in your mouth when you take a bite, as most commercial loaves, even the high end ones, tend to do. In my opinion, if you can't knock someone out by bashing them over the head with your chosen loaf, then you should put it back on the shelf and move on. Beetle bread, my new weekly thing to make, is bread in it's most basic form. Which. Duh. Why make it any other way?

Beetle Bread

• 4 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 2 envelopes of yeast dissolved in 350 ml of warm water
• 2 tsp salt

Mix flour and salt together in a bowl. Mix in yeast and water. Add either more flour or more water until you have a desired consistency, but make sure it's sticky when you're finished. I used a mixer with a dough hook this time, and beat for about 5 minutes.
Cover with a cloth, let rise for an hour.
After an hour, punch it down, put in a 9x5 inch loaf pan dusted with flour, cover again and let rise for half an hour.
Cook at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Turn out of loaf pan and let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. This is obviously the hardest part because instinctively since the dawn of time when we were Neanderthals living in caves the built in genetic response to the smell of freshly baked bread is to pick up the entire loaf and shove it in your face. There has never been any literature on this but I firmly believe it's imprinted in our DNA.

And voila!

Yummmmmm carb closeup.

I should point out in closing that there is significantly less of this bread currently in the bread bin than there was when this picture was taken. What can I say. This is one Beetle that loves her carbs.