I saw on Face Book a picture of a red plaid, 1953 Better
Homes and Gardens cookbook with a caption,
“Who remembers this?” Many of the replies and comments stated what
my own feelings are:
I not only remember
it, I use it all the time and have since I was a bride in the 1960s.
I have versions of this cookbook in my
collection, starting in the 1930’s and going up to the 2002 12
th
edition.
Although I enjoy the 1953
version that I own, I actually use the 1962 edition even more—because it was my
young homemaking era.
With the huge number of standard cookbooks that are
available, what makes this particular cookbook so great? It begins with the homey, family-centered
feel of the book, from the pictures and illustrations to the recipes
themselves. Many of us oldsters remember
our own mothers and family mealtimes very much like the depictions in this
cookbook. My own mother used this
cookbook religiously when it was the “new, modern” cookbook of her time. Reading
through the “Meal Planning” section the menus could have been taken from our
family dinners.
The 1950s were a placid and tranquil time in our history
when domesticity was queen.
The illustrations show housewives in the proverbial
shirtdresses and high-heeled shoes.
Their cute pageboy haircuts and pin-curl dos harken back to that amazing
era of homemakers and, for many, a nostalgic sense of old-fashioned
homeliness.
What are the recipes and tips that all of us who love this
book turn to and use over and over?
Begin with the menu planning. Like
my mother taught me, all evening meals or dinners include 6 categories: meat, starch, vegetable, salad, bread and
dessert. People do not eat like that
very often anymore, except perhaps at a celebration meal. But we weren’t fat! When you have that much variety at one meal,
you don’t over eat one thing—a mental deprivation situation that I think is
prevalent today. When you have two
dishes for your whole meal—or even one—you mentally load up on that dish
because that’s all you’re having and we don’t like to feel deprived. The cookbook menu plans even include a
category “nice to serve” with foods like relishes, jams and jellies, pickles
and olives, fruit juices, appetizer soup cups for a few. I remember my Grandma always put a dish of
jelly or preserves (homemade, of course) on her Sunday table. It was there for the homemade biscuits,
naturally.
In the “Special Helps” chapter of the ’53 version the
opening photograph brings waves of nostalgia over me. The stove is identical to the one my Mom
had—the color of the cabinets, the shiny Formica countertops, the electric
percolator (makes the best coffee in the world), the canisters—even the dishes
are exactly right for the era. I can see
my best friend’s mother frosting a chocolate cake in her red and white kitchen
with an apron over her full skirt. That
was real—not just a commercial. This
book is a centerpiece for that era as far as cooking and homemaking go. The chapter has help for ingredients,
measurements, cooking shortcuts, spices, and storage of food. That’s pretty standard for a utilitarian
cookbook—even of today.
The bread chapter is really interesting because so much more
bread was baked at home then; although it is true this was the era of Wonder
bread—that cottony, fluffy slice of air that we all thought was
great—especially for toast or bologna sandwiches. But that was childhood (look what kids like
to eat now!!!) Does anybody remember
coffee cake? Sunday mornings were
reserved for pancakes or waffles or French toast, but an everyday treat that
often showed up on our breakfast table was coffee cake. Not as rich as coffee cakes today,
nevertheless, a really delicious treat.
Probably a muffin is the closest thing in today’s cuisine, at least as
easy and quick to make—it almost always had a streusel topping where you could
vary the ingredients to suit yourself.
Here is a typical and easy version from the 1953 version:
1 beaten egg
½ cup sugar
½ cup milk
2 Tbsp. shortening
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Combine egg, sugar, milk and shortening. Add flour sifted with baking powder and
salt. Mix well and pour into paper-lined
(or sprayed) 8x8x2” baking pan.
Sprinkle with mixture of ¼ cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon,
1 Tbsp flour, 1 Tbsp melted mutter, and ½ cup broken nuts. Bake in moderate oven (375) 20 to 25 minutes.
The 1962 rendition of this recipe has a few very good
revisions:
¼ cup salad oil or melted shortening
1 beaten egg
½ cup milk
1 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking power
½ tsp. salt
1 Recipe topping
Combine salad oil, egg, and milk. Sift together dry ingredients; add to milk
mixture; mix well. Pour into greased
9x9x2” pan.
Topping: Combine ¼
cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. melted butter, and ½
cup broken nuts; sprinkle over batter.
Bake in moderate oven (375) about 25 minutes or till done. Serve warm.
An updated, healthier version—every bit as good! Maybe Better!
1 beaten egg
¼ cup melted lard or coconut oil
½ cup milk
1 cup unbleached white flour
½ cup white whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 recipe topping
Mix egg, oil and milk; set aside. Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder
and salt.
Make well in dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients;
mix until just blended. Pour into
sprayed 8x8x2” square baking pan. Mix
topping and sprinkle over batter. Bake
in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes or until testing done.
Topping:
Combine ¼ cup (packed) brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon,
1 Tbsp. melted butter and ½ cup broken nuts (walnuts have the most omega-3);
sprinkle over batter.
The best waffles I have ever tasted come from this
cookbook—and you won’t find a recipe with these ingredients in a modern
cookbook because the amount of fat in this recipe is higher than we seem to use
now. Yes, that makes them more caloric
but what is the use of eating inferior food and feeling deprived or still
wanting something more? My philosophy is
to eat the food that tastes the best and if it’s fattening, eat less. A case in point is milk. I was raised on whole milk and, although I
drank it for years in my dieting days, I never really learned to like skim or
low fat milk. Whole milk has twice the
calories per ounce as skim milk. So—I
drink 4 ounces of whole milk instead of 8 ounces of skim and I really feel
satisfied and happy. This waffle recipe
is an example of the same theory. One or
even one half of a waffle that is this delicious is superior to two of the
low-fat kind. Try it yourself.
“Oh Boy” Waffles
2 ½ cups sifted enriched flour
4 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 ½ Tbsp sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 ¼ cups milk
¾ cup shortening (melted) or oil
Sift dry ingredients.
Combine eggs, milk and shortening.
Combine liquid and dry ingredients just before baking; beat till
smooth. This is a thin batter. Bake in hot waffle iron. Makes 8 waffles.
In the “Raised Rolls” chapter, is my standard go-to recipe
for caramel rolls, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls and all the variations of these. I do up-date this recipe by doing a few
different things which I learned as I baked frequently for the Bed and
Breakfast. I have several bread machines
in my house. Most of these I purchased at a thrift store for between $5.00 and
$10.00. They all work for what I use
them—which is to mix the dough, knead it and let it rise at the right
temperature so that I can shape it and let it rise again and bake it in the
shape and pan that I choose. I am
writing the original recipe from the 1953 cookbook, and then my changes:
Plain Roll dough
1 pkg. active dry or 1 cake compressed yeast
¼ cup water
1 cup milk, scalded
2 Tbsp. shortening
2 Tbsps. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 well-beaten egg
3 ½ cups sifted enriched flour
Soften compressed yeast in lukewarm water (85 deg), active
dry yeast in warm water (110deg).
Combine milk, shortening, sugar, salt; cool to lukewarm. Add softened yeast, egg. Gradually stir in flour to form soft
dough. Beat vigorously; cover and let
rise in warm place (82 deg) till double in bulk, about 2 hours. Turn out on lightly floured surface and
proceed as desired under variations.
Either the shortening or sugar or both man be increased to ¼ cup to make
richer rolls.
My Cinnamon Rolls
1 ¼ cups water
1 tsp. lemon juice or white vinegar
1/3 cup powdered instant non-fat milk
2 Tbsp. melted butter
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg, optional (I don’t use it)
3 ½ cups unbleached flour
1 heaping Tbsp vital gluten flour
1 scant Tbsp dry yeast
2 Tbsp. soft butter
¼ cup cinnamon sugar
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
¼ tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. melted butter
1 Tbsp hot water, or more to make spreading or glazing
consistency
Fill sprayed container of bread maker with water, lemon
juice, instant milk, melted butter, sugar, salt and egg, if using—in that
order. Put flour in next and top with
vital gluten flour and yeast. Put
container in bread maker and set on “dough” setting. Start machine. When machine beeps, dump dough out on floured
board and flatten to a rectangle 9x12"
Spread softened butter evenly over dough. Sprinkle entire surface with cinnamon
sugar. Roll up tightly, jelly-roll
style, from long edge. Cut into twelve
even slices and put into sprayed 9x13 pan.
Cover and let rise until double.
Bake at 375 degrees for 23 minutes or until golden brown on top. Mix frosting or glaze and frost rolls or pour
as glaze. Delicious!
The Casseroles and One-Dish Chapter reads like the menu of a
comfort food restaurant—but there’s a reason why most of these dishes are
classics—they’re good! There is a very
noticeable omission: slow-cooker recipes, because, of course, slow cookers were
unheard of in the 50’s. The closest thing to it was a delay oven mechanism
which was brand new. Many ranges still
have this feature wherein you can set your oven to turn on at a certain time
when you are not home. Problem: food has to be safe to sit in your oven until
time to turn on or risk illness.
How many of these dishes do you make for your family?: Chinese fried Rice, Shrimp Creole, Chow Mein,
Spanish Rice, Macaroni and Cheese, Italian meatballs and spaghetti, Chicken Pot
Pie, Hamburger Pie, Beef Stroganoff, Tamale Pie, Chili, Lasagna, Pizza (yes,
pizza was in the 62 version), Chicken Divan, Chicken Strata, Tuna Noodle
Casserole. Tamale Pie was one of our
favorites:
Tamale Pie
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
¾ pound ground beef
1 8-oz cans seasoned tomato sauce
1 12-oz can whole-kernel corn, drained
1 cup sliced ripe olives
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 to 3 tsp. chili powder
Dash pepper
1 ½ cups shredded sharp American cheese
Corn-meal topper:
¾ cup yellow corn meal
½ tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
1 Tbsp butter
Cook onion and green pepper in a little hot fat till just
tender. Add meat; brown lightly. Add next 8 ingredients. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes, until thick. Add cheese; stir till melted. Pour into
greased 10x6x1 ½-inch baking dish
Make Corn-meal topper:
Stir corn meal and salt into cold water.
Cook and stir till thick. Add butter;
mix well. Spoon over hot meat mixture in 3 lengthwise strips. Bake casserole in moderate oven 375 about 40
minutes Makes 6 servings. (I always put
some extra shredded cheese on top of casserole before baking).
My last post was about the Red Plaid Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. That cookbook, as I lay out
