A Flour Pudding

I was drawn to “American Cookery” (1796) by Amelia Simmons because it is rumored to be the first American cook book.  Upon closer examination of the book (provided by Project Gutenberg) I saw that Simmons' "American Cookery" is not only a culinary gem, but a historical one. Simmons, an American orphan, wrote a lengthy introduction to her cook book explaining the reasons for its publication. The cook book was "for the improvement of the rising generation of Females in America" especially those that had been orphaned and those that "are reduced to the necessity of going into families in the line of domestics, or taking refuge with their friends or relations, and doing those things which are really essential to the perfecting them as good wives and useful members of society." The rest of Simmons' cook book reads more like a piece of literature than a recipe book. She details the intricacies of making the best bacon, of preparing a good Gooseberry Tart, and mixing the perfect syllabub. (A syllabub is an English desert in which milk or cream is curdled with wine or cider. Traditionally, the cow was milked directly into the bowl of wine! I hope to attempt a syllabub in the future.)

When I came across Ms. Simmons' Flour Pudding recipe, I decided it was worth a shot. The ingredients were simple enough and although there were some details missing (for instance, at what temperature to bake the pudding) I thought I'd go with my instincts. The recipe is as follows: 

Seven eggs, one quarter of a pound of sugar, and a tea spoon of salt, beat and put to one quart milk, 5 spoons of flour, cinnamon and nutmeg to your taste, bake half an hour, and serve up with sweet sauce.

The verdict: So I've come to realize that when old--very old--recipes say to bake for a "half an hour" that really means bake for as long as it takes. It took me about an hour and a half for the small ramekins and slightly longer for the larger ones. But the wait was worth it! Flour pudding is good. It's simple enough but warm and yummy. Since I wasn't quite sure what "sweet sauce" consisted of, I used a bit of maple syrup on top which, I felt, was a good choice. 


Even if you do not feel like attempting an hours-to-bake pudding like this, I would definitely suggest taking a look at Amelia's cook book, "American Cookery." It has a lot of interesting recipes and the introduction (a lengthy message for orphans, women, and wives) makes this cook book stand out from the rest.


Happy adventuring!

Bacon Rolls

"Almost anything you like can be rolled in bacon, oven or pan-broiled and served on picks."

-The Encyclopedic Cookbook

How could I pass by a recipe that starts with a quote like that? Today I will be making Bacon Rolls, an appetizers fit for the fifties. I followed a recipe like the following:

8 strips of bacon

4 tablespoons of peanut butter

Spread the peanut butter on the strips of bacon. Roll tightly and secure with a toothpick. Broil until crisp.

Eight strips of bacon ready to be spread with peanut butter

Little bacon and peanut butter rolls

The finished product, broiled to a crisp

The verdict: Here's a tip--soak the toothpicks in water before you put them in the broiler! I made a smokey mess of my apartment because I didn't remember to do this. Even so, these appetizers turned out just like I expected. They were really tasty, but--I can't believe I'm saying this--it was just a little too much bacon for me. Because the bacon is rolled up tightly, only the outside gets crispy leaving the inside with a texture more like deli ham, which I don't really like. I appreciate the bacon and peanut butter idea so maybe I will try it again sometime in a sandwich version, which I hear is quite nice.

Happy adventuring!

Indian Pudding

While researching food articles for inspiration, I came across an article about Indian Pudding. The writer discussed Indian Pudding as a classic popular dessert that fell off the culinary radar which he describes as, "something of an American tragedy." Those are strong words to use to describe a dessert--this stuff must be good! So today I made a traditional Indian Pudding. The first place I looked for a recipe for the pudding was in my Encyclopedic Cookbook, and of course, the nearly 1,000 page cookbook had a traditional Indian Pudding recipe! It is as follows:


1/2 cup corn meal
1 quart milk, scalded
2/3 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cold milk


Add corn meal slowly to hot milk, stirring constantly until thick. Add molasses and salt. Pour into greased baking dish and add cold milk. Bake in slow oven (325F.) 3 hours. Serve hot with hard sauce, ice cream or plain cream. Serves 6


Once again, I began my culinary journey, stumbling through a recipe that I felt could be more detailed. First, I scalded the milk. I learned that to scald milk you must heat the milk until little bubbles form around the sides without letting it boil. Then, I added the cornmeal to the mixture--which became lumpy--and I stirred like a madwoman until the milk began to thicken. As I was stirring, I realized that I didn't know how thick "thick" should be. I wondered if women in the 1950's (when this book started circulating) knew the precise thickness of a proper Indian Pudding. Probably. 

My lumpy milk and cornmeal mixture

A beautiful measure of molasses

Molasses being mixed into the pudding

Topping the pudding with cold milk before putting it in the oven for three hours

The finished product, topped with cream

Inside the Indian Pudding!

The verdict: This stuff is good. While it isn't the most beautiful dessert on Earth, it is truly American. I cannot understand why it has disappeared from the table--especially at Thanksgiving, when it was most popular. I'm going to make it my goal to bring this one back onto the table and into the mouths of Americans everywhere!

Happy adventuring!

Rice Waffles

Today I decided to make Rice Waffles. I found the recipe in a cookbook called Fine Old Dixie Recipes which was published in 1936. Since I had never tasted (or heard of) Rice Waffles, I decided to give them a shot. The recipe is as follows:

This recipe (like most of the recipes that I attempt) was not very detailed, so I had to assume several things about the directions. For example, I did not know if the cooked rice should be cooled before adding it to the egg yolk mixture. Furthermore, the term "well-beaten" as applied to the egg whites could have been a little more specific--scrambled or stiff peaks? So I improvised.

First, I mixed the ingredients as described. I decided to cool the rice before I added it to the egg yolks so that I didn't end up with scramblers.

Then, I mixed in the egg whites, which I beat with a fork. Afterwards, the mixture was still very dry, so I added a few splashes of milk until I could spread the rice-specked dough across the heated waffle iron.

The waffle iron did the rest of the work, until I removed the cooked Rice Waffles and let them cool slightly.

The verdict: Since I had never eaten Rice Waffles before, I didn't know what to expect. I very much wanted these to be light and fluffy, but instead they were a bit tough. I think that if I beat the egg whites more (to form soft peaks) and then folded them in softly, that would make the waffles a bit lighter. The density of the waffles and the crunch of the rice made me want to top the waffles with butter more than syrup, making it serve more like a bread than a breakfast. I may attempt this recipe again, remembering to beat the egg whites more before adding them to the mixture.

Happy adventuring!

SPAMCAKES

Admit it, SPAM is strange. Even so, SPAM has become somewhat of an American institution since its debut in 1937. During World War II more than 100 million pounds of the canned ham product were shipped to allied troops overseas. By 1959, one billion cans of SPAM were produced and that number doubled to two billion by 1970, the same year that Monty Python’s Flying Circus (with its unforgettable SPAM sketch) debuted on television.

Today, over 7 billion cans of SPAM have been produced, with new varieties like “light SPAM” and “less-sodium SPAM” for those of us who are the slightest bit health-conscious. And, although most people tend to think of SPAM as a comical retro culinary oddity, today I will be eating it for breakfast. This is my very first SPAM experience! The recipe I will be using is straight from the source: www.spam.com, run by Hormel Foods.

The recipe is as follows:

1 1/2 cups pancake mix

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 tablespoon oil

1 can (7oz) SPAM® Classic, finely chopped

In bowl, combine pancake mix, milk, egg, and oil

Stir in chopped SPAM® Classic

Using 1/3 cup for each pancake, pour batter on greased griddle

Bake until browned on bottom

Turn and brown other side

Serve with syrup or honey

The verdict: SPAM is not the world's scariest food, but it is quite strange. Upon opening the can, I was met with an odor that I could only describe as canned dog food. And the gelatinous goop surrounding the meat was less than desirable. Having said that, SPAMCAKES were actually pretty good (I can just hear the gasps from my mother now) but I do not think that I would make them again. The taste was like a salty pancakes with moments of mushy meat, but the syrup created a nice little breakfast treat. If I were to make this again, I would only use half of the can of SPAM instead of the whole chunk. That way, it would be a little more pancake and a little less ham.

Happy adventuring!