The weather has finally moderated enough to put plants into the ground and so far the rain has been fairly generous. Yard sales are beginning to pop up with the promise of a lucky score. Last year I got a small magnifying stand with a light for only a quarter of the price I see online. The lamp with its magnifier will come in handy for my aging eyeballs when I come to do mending. This year I’m hoping to find a bundt pan that doesn’t have that nasty non-stick coating. Another item is a blocking board for the crochet projects I’m doing. I’ve seen some crocheters use those foam pads for infants when they’re playing on the floor, so I’ll see how I make out there.
The local recycling station has a shelf where people put old unwanted books. I’ve recently found the book below.
It’s a little beat up and the pages are yellowed, which isn’t surprising since the publication date is 1927, just shy of a century old. But the book is still quite readable. At a hundred years old, you won’t see any low fat, gluten-free or low cholesterol recipes. The recipes have a minimum of ingredients, meaning you don’t see the huge laundry list of items which go into making a supposedly easy recipe, something which has always irked me. The following looks interesting enough so I think I may try it at some point.
Savory Potato Balls
6 medium sized potatoes, 1 ½ tsp paprika, 1 tsp finely minced green pepper, 4 tsps butter, 1 egg, ¼ tsp celery salt and ¼ cupful cheese
Cook the potatoes until tender. Drain, dice and add salt, butter, celery salt, paprika, green pepper and beaten egg. Beat well, make into balls the size of croquettes. Arrange in greased pans, brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with cheese and bake in hot oven of 450 degrees until brown. Serves six.
I’m guessing that some of the beaten egg is saved to be brushed on the potato balls, though the recipe obviously isn’t clear about this. Also, it doesn’t say whether to peel the potatoes first or not. I suppose it’s your preference which to choose.
This one looks good too.
Celery Chowder
4 cupfuls finely cut celery, 1 quart milk, 1 large potato grated, 1 medium-sized onion, 2 Tbs fat, 1 Tbs of flour, 2 hard-cooked eggs, salt and pepper to taste.
Cook celery in water to cover until tender and force through a sieve, keeping the water as well as the pulp. Add milk and grated potato and cook five minutes. Chop onion fine and saute in one tablespoon of the fat. When delicately browned, add to the first mixture. Chop the hard-cooked eggs and add. Thicken slightly with one tablespoonful of fat and the flour blended together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Leaves and the tough outer stalks of the celery may be used. Serves six to eight.
One thing that caught my eye was the ingredient ‘fat’. The recipe is not specific on what fat should be used but since this book long predates modern obsessions with dietary fat and cholesterol, it is quite likely lard, though it could be Crisco shortening as well as that had been introduced in 1911 and was being heavily touted by its makers. Some of the recipes in the book did list shortening as an ingredient.
Another recipe, called English Monkey, took breadcrumbs, milk, egg, cut-up cheese and some seasonings to create a topping for crackers. I had never heard of this recipe before so did an internet search, discovering the existence of monkey bread (here’s a link to a recipe). The AI overview (which seems ubiquitous now on Google) states it is Hungarian in origin and was brought over by immigrants to America where it was quickly adapted into the sticky pull-apart treat described in the YouTube video.
Since preparation calls for a bundt pan for cooking, I’ve made the search for one at yard sales a goal for this summer. Wish me luck!
