First, look at the fabulous present I got from my Aunt Arlene this weekend:
It was published in 1946, and is filled with recipes calling for things such as "ground suet", and credited to women with names like "Mabel C. Hamlett", or "Mrs. Walter T. Palmer Jr."
Here is one of the more intriguing recipes - let me know if you have tried this one...:
Grape Juice Custard
- 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
- 2 Tbsp grape juice
- 1 1/2 tsp powdered sugar
Combine egg yolks and sugar. Add grape juice. Cook over hot water, beating constantly , until light and fluffy. Serve at once. 1 serving. -The Household Searchlight.
On to my red beans...
I never got to meet my Grandma F., but from what I've heard from everyone who did, I definitely missed out. My dad remembers her putting a pot red beans on the stove on Mondays (laundry day). This was to take advantage of the fact that the stove would be fired up all day, heating water for doing the laundry. My dad has been trying to duplicate her beans for awhile, and even though I never tried hers, I decided to give it a shot today.
Here is what I came up with:
- dried red beans
- chopped onion
- chopped celery
- spicy sausage (some piece of pork would be traditional, but spicy chicken or veggie sausage is valid in my book)
- chopped collard greens (my addition)
- celery seed
- bay leaves
- dried thyme
- dried basil
- dried parsley
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- maple sugar (or maple syrup)
- black pepper
- canned diced tomatoes
- cayenne pepper
- a dash of apple cider vinegar
- salt to taste
- Tabasco sauce to taste
Saute the sausage, then the onions and garlic, in the bottom of your soup pot. Then add everything except the vinegar and maple sugar. Simmer until done, then add the vinegar and maple sugar.
It turned out wonderfully, and I wouldn't change a thing. I ate it with generously buttered bread, and some mango chutney I had in the frig. I'm looking forward to the left-overs tomorrow.
I don't have a picture of my grandma, but here are dad, grandpa, and Uncle Gene:
5 comments:
Great post! I love looking at old cookbooks. I like seeing what type of food or cooking trends were popular.
That's a cool picture. I love old pictures of my parents and grandparents. It makes me want to live in their time period. I think I would fit into the 40's-60's, nicely.
The red beans sound very good. Especially with your special maple sugar you keep rubbing in my face.
That Jeena chick is leaving the same message on all of the blogs, and it's making me mad.
Oh, totally awesome! I can just get lost in books like this -- wondering who that Mabel C. Hamlett REALLY was...
I had a minor freak out when I read that you were gonna use sausage! Whoa mama! And then I saw that veggie sausage counts and that cracked me up. This reminds me of a game we used to play at camp: one person has to fill in the last word of a sentence anyone starts with the word "sausage", they can't smile or laugh. If they crack, they're out. So, the idea is to come up with the most insane sentences. Examples include "your grandma looks like. . . " "when I sit on the toilet for a long time and look in, I see. . .. " you get the idea. The game, unsurprisingly, is called "sausage." Try it. . . you'll like it!
P.S. .. sorry about that. . . it's late!
My Grandma had the very same cookbook! She stuffed it with a lot of her own recipes too. What a treasure you have. And the butter dish too!
Love your blog and will visit again soon.
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