A Recipe from Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking (1959)

About the Recipe

The request from my friend was to make a potato dish that would go well with ribs and a veggie dish – so potatoes fried with bacon it was! It’s so simple, but so delicious. I used an extra piece of bacon (because who doesn’t like more bacon?) and a well seasoned cast iron pan to cook the potatoes on the stove top, which worked just fine.

I blanched the potatoes this time around, resulting in the hash-brown look that you see in the photo. The second time around I’ll skip that part which should result in more crispy discs rather than more mushed.

Worth noting – these were also epic leftovers the morning after. Reheat them in the cast iron, and top with a fried egg for the best hangover breakfast.

About the Book

This book is a new acquisition to my collection – and I almost cried when I found it. There are nearly 1,500 pages of recipes gathered together in one spot.

Mary Margaret McBride was a radio show host that focused her content on keeping a good home. Initially these recipes were released in a series of books that were then all pulled into the big encyclopedia. I can’t wait to cook out of it again.

About the Platter

This platter belongs to my good friend at whose house we were enjoying our meal. It belonged to her great-great-aunt who had passed them down to her mother who promptly put it storage. Years later, after her mom had moved to England, the storage was cleared out – and here was this lovely old Wedgwood china!

It’s called Pink Bramble and it’s from about 1949. While not quite appropriate for our barbecue, it’s certainly lovely and might have been used for this very purpose a time ago. Thanks for letting me borrow it, Sara!

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon
4 large potatoes
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Directions:

Fry bacon in heavy skillet; remove and crumble.

Pare potatoes; slice very thin. Place in bacon drippings; add salt and pepper.

Fry until almost tender and quite brown. Then cover and move to edge of grill (or turn stovetop to low). Add bacon bits and fry until tender.