Tag: Old Town Blue

Blueberry Pancakes #2

Blueberry Pancakes #2

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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

About the Recipe

I woke up yesterday with an undeniable craving for blueberry pancakes. After a quick search through the MMMB, I came across this particular recipe. I took a look around for Blueberry Pancakes #1 – and did not find it. SO! Blueberry Pancakes #2, a delightfully over-complicated pancakes recipe it is!

Separating the eggs and beating up the whites plus the slightly high amount of baking powder makes for a wonderfully fluffy pancakes. They were well balanced between sweet, savory, and fruit. I would even make them again with different fruit or sans fruit altogether! Try a little lemon rind for a special twist if you’d like, but otherwise enjoy. And know that the extra 10 minutes or so to make them are definitely going to be worth it. Bonus points to the hubby this time around for helping to fold the egg whites!

I got to pull out my favorite Pyrex Frankenset and enlist the help of the hubby to fold in the egg whites. A wonderful way to kick-off brunch, indeed!

About the Book

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I love this cookbook. Not only is it a fantastic resource for any home cook looking for literally any recipe, but the illustrations and photographs are everything you’d look for in a mid-century cookbook. They look both appetizing and disgusting, all at once!

Check out more recipes in the Mary Margaret McBride Collection here!

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sifted enriched flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
3 T granulated sugar
3/4 t salt
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
3 T melted shortening
1 cup blueberries
Melted butter
Brown sugar

Directions:

Sift dry ingredients together. Beat egg yolks with rotary beater; combine with milk and shortening.

Add to dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir in blueberries. Then fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Bake on hot, greased griddle. Serve with melted butter, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Makes 12 3-inch pancakes.

Roast Duck a l’Orange

Roast Duck a l’Orange

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Simple French Cookery (1958)

About the Recipe

On an impulse at the grocery store with the fancy butcher shop, my husband and I decided to buy a duck. And from the moment I bought that duck, my husband started going on about how he wanted duck… a l’orange! So, I asked him to find a recipe and told him I’d make it happen.

This recipe is (as the cookbook title would suggest) very simple to make. Admittedly, I basted every 10 minutes, not every 5, both to give me a little bit of respite as the cook, as well as to allow the bird to actually cook. I’ve had too many Thanksgivings with enthusiastic basters make the turkey take 3 hours longer than it should.

I also used homemade turkey stock, leftover from simmering my Thanksgiving bird. If you have the opportunity to make your own stock, I highly recommend it. Otherwise, any good broth will probably work well.

Other than that, I followed the recipe to the letter. And my husband was all too happy to carve it up!

My husband, Michael gleefully carving the bird and anticipating the completed dish

About the Book

This is another (earlier) Peter Pauper book, and one of many many others. These little books are great additions to any cookbook shelf. The recipes are exactly as they promise – simple to follow – and the illustrations are just beautiful. If you see one, snag it!

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

Whole duck

Orange Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups stock
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup orange juice
2 T Sherry
1 orange rind, grated

Directions:

Dress, clean, and truss duck. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on rack in roasting pan; bake in 450* oven 12-15 minutes to the pound. Baste every 5 minutes in orange juice. A 6-pound duck will serve 4.

Orange Sauce:
Brown butter, add flour and salt, and stir until well browned. Add stock gradually and just before serving add orange juice, sherry, and rind. Heat thoroughly and pour over duck.

 

Pork Chops, South Seas

Pork Chops, South Seas

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Simple Hawaiian Cookery (1964)

About the Recipe

Pork chops are one of my husband’s favorite things to eat, and in truth this is the first time I’ve ever cooked them. This recipe, with its simple execution and easy to find ingredients felt like a good place to start. And actually – it was!

The slow cooking on the pork chops almost stews them so they come out super juicy. The fruit slow cooks into the chops themselves, bringing out a simple sweetness that’s so complimentary to the pork. Definitely a winner here.

One adjustment from me: I substituted half the water out for juice from the can of pineapples.

To make the gravy (just in case!) add about a teaspoon of flour plus a little more as needed and stir it in to thicken.

About the Book

I saw this book in a store and thought – how freaking cute! It’s part of a large (very large) set of cookbooks put out by publisher Peter Pauper in the ’60s. All of the books are this cute, with great illustrations and even better recipes. If you see a Peter Pauper book, snap it up! It’s a great addition to the shelf.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

4 loin pork chops
salt and pepper
Flour
4 slices canned pineapple
4 pitted prunes
4 carrots
1/3 cup water

Directions:

Wipe chops and season with salt and pepper. Dust with flour, and place in pan. Upon each chop place a ring of pineapple with a pitted prune in the center. Between chops, place whole carrots, and add water.

Cover. Cook slowly for 1 1/2 hours. Remove to hot platter. Make a gravy from mixture in pan. Pour over chops. Garnish with parsley. Serves 4.

 

Raisin White Bread

Raisin White Bread

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 4 Comments

A Recipe from Fleischmann’s Bake-it-easy Yeast Book (1972)

About the Recipe

After a request for raisin bread from my husband was compounded with a weekly challenge in my favorite vintage cookbook group asking for a dish out of a vintage advertising book, I knew exactly where to turn!

Like many folks out there, yeast breads were scary for me. Little by little I’ve been trying my hand at more loaves. While this one is a little bit quirky with the mashed potatoes and starchy water used as a base, it’s absolutely stunningly delicious. The crust is crunchy and the inside is fluffy.

I used golden raisins, which are my favorite to bake with. This recipe would be very easy to substitute any kind of dried fruit into with success. Also, if you’re like me and don’t keep margarine around, just use a little vegetable oil instead of the melted margarine and it’ll work just fine.

Oh! And since you don’t have the book, here’s are the instructions that are provided on shaping the loaf:

About the Book

This was another book from the Bonnie Slotnick grab bag, and she was so on point sending this my way. It has all of my favorite things – advertising, photographs, tried and true recipes designed to get you buying more! The recipes seem pretty simple and straightforward, and all of your favorite types of yeast breads are included. I can’t wait to bake from it again!

About the Glassware

I pulled out my Fire King Meadow Green loaf pan for this one. Something about milk glass just makes the best bread.

I plated on my Old Town Blue Corelle platter. This pattern was released in 1972, so perhaps mine’s not the first Fleischmann’s Bake-it-easy loaf to find its way on to this platter…

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup warm potato water (105*F – 115*F)
2 pkgs Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast
3/4 cup warm milk (105*F – 115*F)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm mashed potatoes
6-7 cups unsifted flour
2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup margarine, melted & cooled
2 cups dark seedless raisins

Directions:

Measure potato water into large warm bowl. Sprinkle in Fleischmann’s Yeast; stir until disolved. Add milk, 2 T sugar, potatoes, and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Cover; let rise until bubbly, about 1/2 hour.

Stir down; add remaining 2 T sugar, salt and 1 cup flour; beat until smooth. Stir in eggs and margarine. Add enough additional flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

Punch dough down. Turn out onto lightly floured board. Knead in raisins. Divide dough in half. Cover; let rest 5 minutes. Roll each half into a 14×9-inch rectangle. Shape into loaves. Place in 2 greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 50 minutes.

Bake at 350* about 45 minutes, or until done. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Ham ‘n Cheese Crescent Snack

Ham ‘n Cheese Crescent Snack

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Silver Anniversary Bake-Off Cookbook 100 winning recipes from BAKE-OFF 25 (1974)

About the Recipe

A simple, fun twist (or should I say fold?) on snack sandwiches, this recipe is a great use of the refrigerated crescent rolls. I know these days deviled ham sounds a little dubious, but it works really here. I can see these being a hit for kids and adults alike, olives and all.

I used cheddar cheese on mine, and substituted the Everything Bagel Seasoning again for the seeds. In the moment, I misread the teaspoon of topping for a tablespoon of topping, and while that doesn’t sound like a big change in theory, it was a LOT of topping. The end result for me was a bit saltier than some may prefer, but for me – heaven!

For more recipes in the Pillsbury Challenge, click here!

About the book

This sounds like an odd thing to note in a cookbook, but if you’ve looked at as many as I have in as short a span as I have it makes a massive difference – the index in the back of this book is finally arranged more closely to the modern indexes we see today. I can finally search for all things “Sandwich” and find all of the sandwich recipes. Joy!

I do love the closing sentence in the forward – “…one theme as remained the same since a quarter of a century ago — to hare with you the exciting world of cooking.” It’s so true, and I feel it every time I open one of these booklets.

About the glassware

My Old Town Blue Corelle platter at it again. An interesting history note – this pattern was developed for Corelle and there were Pyrex pieces created as a compliment instead of the other way around, which is usual. Must have been a popular pattern! And as it was released in 1970, it felt right to use with this ’74 dish.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

8-oz. can Pillsbury Refrigerated Quick Crescent or Italian Flavor Crescent Dinner Rolls
1 t prepared mustard
1/3 cup sliced stuffed green olives or pitted rip olives, if desired
4 1/2 oz. can deviled ham
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Swiss or Cheddar cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 t sesame seed, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*F. On ungreased 15×10-inch jelly roll pan, separate crescent dough into 2 large rectangles. Overlap long sides to form 13×7-inch rectangle; firmly press edges and perforations to seal.

In small bowl, combine mustard, olives and deviled ham. Spread ham filling lengthwise down center third of dough to within 1 inch of ends; sprinkle with cheese.

Make cuts 1 inch apart on each side of rectangle just to edge of filling. Fold ends of dough 1 inch over filling. Fold strips of dough at an angle halfway across filling, alternating from side to side. Brush with egg; sprinkle with sesame seed.

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Refrigerate any leftovers. About 1 dozen snacks.

.