Then I remembered that now we have the internet. Yes, I know we’ve had it for awhile now, but I have not been a comfortable user until lately—especially for recipes. I still have to add a note of warning—many of the recipes that I have found online are not very good. You must be willing to try a lot of them or be an expert discerner of what makes a great recipe. That is why I go to my cookbook collection so often—if I try a couple of recipes from a book and they are great then I feel confident to use recipes from that book—and, of course, the reverse is true as well.
Since some experts have debunked the George Washington-cherry tree story, I have abandoned the obvious cherry ingredient. Actually, I set out to find some recipes that were liked by many of our presidents. I quickly saw that the common denominator ingredients were corn and apples.
Abe Lincoln’s Rail Splitters
1 egg
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup yellow cornmeal
4 Tbsp. melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cold water
1 cup flour
4 tsp. baking powder
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an iron corn-stick pan or stoneware muffin pan or a dark metal muffin pan well and heat for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat egg well and add sugar, salt and cornmeal. Mix well and slow add melted butter that has been allowed to cool somewhat. Mix again and add buttermilk. Beat all together. Dissolve baking soda in cold water and add to the other mixture. Add flour and baking powder. Beat vigorously. Pour batter in sizzling muffin cups. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve piping hot.
Two recipes from George H. W. Bush are worth of printing (and eating!)
Corn Pudding
4 strips bacon, cut into small pieces
¾ cup onions, chopped
1 sweet bell pepper, diced
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
2 Tbsp butter
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup white corn kernels
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp flour
½ tsp thyme
1 ½ Tbsps chopped fresh parsley
Salt and white pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a frying pan, cook bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon and set aside. Add onions to pan and saute until transparent. Add pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Set aside. Heat milk and cream over low heat until warm. Add butter and heat until butter melts. Remove from heat and slowly add milk mixture to beaten eggs, whisking lightly to combine. Add corn, flour, thyme, parsley, bacon, onions and peppers and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into sprayed 1 ½-quart baking dish or 6 ramekins. Bake oval 1 hour, 15 minutes, ramekins 1 hour.
Apple-Cranberry Brown Betty
(10 servings)
8 large Granny Smith apples
1 tsp lemon juice
6 Tbsp butter
½ cup melted butter
3 Tbsp sugar
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup raisins, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes then squeezed dry
Zest of 2 oranges
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
¼ tsp mace
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups stale white bread coarsely crumbed, crusts removed.
Preheat oven to 375. Butter or spray a 2- ½ quart glass soufflé dish and then sprinkle with sugar. Peel, core and dice the apples in ½ inch dice. Reserve in a bowl. Sprinkle the lemon juice over apples and toss. In large frying pan, heat half the butter until hot and add half the apples. Sprinkle with 1-1/2 Tbsp sugar. Saute over high heat until apples are lightly caramelized. Remove apples and repeat process with second half. Combine apples with cranberries, raisins, orange zest, brown sugar, mace and cinnamon; mix well. Mix the bread crumbs with remaining ½ cup melted butter. Line bottom of soufflé dish with 1/3 bread-crumb mixture. Add ½ apple cranberry mixture, then sprinkle with 1/3 more of the bread crumbs. Add rest of apple-cranberry mix and top with remaining bread crumbs. Bake in oven for 1 ½ hours. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
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