May 15, 2011 by Tarrant Figlio
Can you get any more retro than a gelatin salad with cottage cheese and pineapple? Well, yes, but not much more.
Go on and give it a try. Remember though that you must use canned pineapple–fresh pineapple will not gel.
1 large can grated pineapple (translation for modern times: crushed)
2 cups sour cream
2 cups cottage cheese
2 packages lemon jello
1 cup hot water
Dissolve Jell-0 in hot water. Cool until syrupy. Add other ingredients. Chill until set.
Category Fruits, retro food, Salads | Tags: | No Comments
May 12, 2011 by Tarrant Figlio
Feeling hopeless that you will get everything done you need to get done this week? Don’t. The week will march forth perfectly for you. Not enough? then maybe you need a little Bob Hope for hope this week.
This recipe comes from my great grandmother’s collection. I have no idea where she clipped it from or when. I know it has been floating around since the 50s and perhaps earlier. Rumors say this was his mother’s recipe and Bob Hope’s favorite pie. This one has a nice option of skipping the meringue if you don’t want to fuss with one or if you just don’t like them.
3 tbs corn starch
1 cup plus 2 scant tbs sugar
4 tbs lemon juice
grated rind of one lemon
1 tbs butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups boiling water
5 tablespoons sugar for meringue (or sweetened whipped cream or dessert whip for topping)
Separate the eggs. One egg alone; three egg whites in a large bowl; all yolks together in one bowl. Beat egg yolks until thick. Combine with corn starch, sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind and butter in top of double boiler. Mix slowly. Add boiling water. Coook until thick, constantly stirring. Let mixture cool. Beat single egg white until stiff. After mixture coools, fold in the beaten egg white. Pour into a baked 9″ pie shell.
For the meringue: Beat remaining egg whites until almost stiff. Then gradually add 5 tablespoons sugar, beating until meringue is very stiff. Swirl over filling. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes.
Variation: Lemon Cream Pie–Pour custard mixture in baked pie shell. After baking cool and cover with sweetened whipped cream or dessert whip.
Category retro food | Tags: | 1 Comment
May 3, 2011 by Tarrant Figlio
Teen girl doesn’t quite understand the joy of horrifying food photography. She also doesn’t understand that the tempting pictures she sees on say…Epicurious are the stomach turning pictures of the future.
She also hasn’t ever lived in a time where these were tempting and the “fancy food” that we wished our mothers or grandmothers might tempt our stomachs with instead of liver and onions or beef stroganoff or pea soup. Ok, the tomato cup with chicken salad seemed to be the ultimate in grown up food. I may have rolled my eyes like my daughter at the ham mouse or macaroni salmon salad. I didn’t like bean salads as a child (and really don’t delight in most as adults) Macaroni-Salmon Salad and Hot Tuna Salad would have never happened. My father didn’t eat meat that didn’t oink or moo. My mother had an aversion to tuna and we would only rarely have tuna in any form. No matter what, I would have eaten what was served or at least enough of it to escape the notice of my parents.
So here is one of the pictures she found particularly horrifying in the Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook, 1961. I don’t know…the ham mousse might be worth trying. Which would you try? Or are you running to some pretty modern pictures of food?
Category retro food | Tags: | 1 Comment
May 1, 2011 by Tarrant Figlio
A couple of months ago, when we gathered the children’s textbooks and “weekend needs” from the other house, there was a cookbook with a note on it. I have flipped through it. I have smiled every time I have looked at it with its post-it.
But why is this a complicated family story?
My ex-husband is engaged to the woman who gifted me with the cookbook. (I really think there needs to be a vocabulary to succinctly describe such relationships, “my ex-husband’s soon-to-be third wife” sounds dreadful! It is worse than explaining that I love to visit my partner’s ex-in-laws and her ex-mother-in-law is one of my favorite people.) The ex’s fiancee reads my blog and says she enjoys it. From talking to her, I think she appreciates my love and amusement that I get from older cookbooks.
As Mother’s Day approaches, I give her a nod as she grows nearer to being an official member of as boy child called his group of parents when he was at middle school meet the teacher…the momtourage. I wish for her plenty of patience as she joins the family in what people dread about the teen years. I wish her the love and respect of three truly incredible children. In any case, I wish her peace, love and joy as she moves through this season of her life.
In the meantime, I thank her for this gift, Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cook Book, First Edition, Sixth Printing, 1961 (different from my other copy with fabulously fun new pictures of food!) In the coming days I will share some recipes but first the colorific cover!
Category retro food | Tags: | 1 Comment
