Nostalgic Cooking

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the state of the world and, especially, the state of our country. Every time I turn on the news there’s another story of a worrisome or tragic nature. The shootings at Sandy Hook school are a prime example of the tragedies taking place around us, but the clamor to change the gun regulations as a remedy is an example of the worrisome type.


When are we going to address the root cause of our problems? The change in our values has affected every aspect of our culture and has resulted, I believe, in this stressful, sad, and frightening new world. I’m very aware that older generations usually decry the newest generation’s behavior and ideas—but I think it goes deeper than that. If we look over the last 70 years the cultural decay has changed us for the worse in every area: education, family life, work ethic, patriotism, individualism, modesty, respect for elders and each other, materialism, health, and above all others, belief in and reverence for God.

What can one individual do? I’m not an advocate of “head in the sand,” but I think that turning to a simpler, traditional way of life is a step in the right direction. Since food and cooking are my areas of interest and expertise (as well as my job), I elected to start there with my resolution to turn back the clock.

My own childhood was early post-WWII. We lived in a large Queen Ann red brick house on Russell Avenue in Minneapolis. Although my parents owned the house, it was divided into four apartments. When I was four we moved to St. Louis Park to a brand new house on Vernon Avenue which my parents built. I still remember what a feeling of “having arrived” we all had about that house. It seemed like a mansion. In truth, it was a three bedroom colonial with a one-car attached garage, a very small screened porch, one bathroom and an unfinished basement. Today it would be considered a nice “starter house.” My parents were in a first marriage (and only marriage—that lasted 67 years before my mom died); my dad worked for Honeywell as an engineer and my mom, who had taught school before she married, was a homemaker (or housewife, as at-home women were called then).

Mom considered her role as a “real” job and put herself into it with enthusiasm. She was an especially great cook. As a young teen she had participated in 4H and won a week’s trip to the State Fair (she grew up in Mankato) for her talented bread baking. She could whip up a tall, elegant, delicious layer cake from scratch, caramel rolls to die for, pies whose crusts were so tender and flaky they melted in your mouth—all without recipes and, seemingly, without effort.

Most nights we had supper in the dining room—occasionally in the kitchen at our “nook” table. But we ate together as a family every weeknight. Saturday night we usually had hamburgers either at home—or as a special treat—at the drive-in. The only one I remember back then was Porky’s on Lake Street. I remember getting Chinese take-out once in a while (always chow mein which came in a brown bag that held two small cartons of white rice, one large carton of chicken chow mein, one large carton of subgum chow mein, a cellophane package of chow mein noodles, several packets of soy sauce and a small cellophane package of roasted and salted cashew nuts) and on three or four occasions we went to what is now “uptown” to the Rainbow Café or to a place on Lake street near France Avenue called the Colonial Inn. Sunday we had dinner after church and then my mom would put out leftovers in the evening and let everyone help himself to sandwich makings or some soup ( if Dad made it).

Unfortunately, the fifties have a bad culinary reputation in today’s circles. That decade seems to be best known for canned soup casseroles and packaged-mix-every-things that were certainly “the rage” for awhile. After all, they were new and so were all the appliances and grills and available ingredients (especially foreign ones) to be had. But at our dinner table and most of those of my friends, wonderful, healthy and delicious meals were made from scratch. I love to go through my old Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks that my mother used when she did need a new recipe or to check herself on old standbys. I also have a collection of old magazines from that era that jog my memory on what we ate.

Before I share some of those recipes with you, I want to add a footnote. Our evening meal consisted of 6 elements every night: meat, potatoes (or a starchy food), vegetable (sometimes 2), salad, bread and dessert. When I started making dinner for our family (around age 12), I was instructed that each meal must contain all 6 elements. And we were not a bit fat!! We were certainly more active than today’s kids, but I attribute the fact that we were not fat and ate a lot of courses to two main things: we didn’t have soda or sugary snacks between meals and our portions were much smaller than today’s.

Sunday dinner was almost always a roast: roast beef, ham, chicken, or pork. Throughout the week the remnants of that roast became wonderful meals—casseroles for supper, sandwiches for lunch, hash for breakfast; it never seemed that we were eating “leftovers” which my Dad loudly protested. He never realized that was what we were eating.

Baked Ham
Scalloped Potatoes
Orange Glazed Carrots
Pineapple Salad
Relishes
Yeast Rolls
Great Grandma’s Golden Sponge Cake

Baked Ham

1 bone-in half ham, fully cooked (6 pounds)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
½ cup water or fruit juice
Whole cloves

Score fat side of ham in a diamond pattern. Mix sugar, mustard and fruit juice in a small bowl and spread over top of scored ham. Stick a clove in each diamond. Place ham on a rack in a shallow roasting pan; tent loosely with foil and bake at 325 for 30 minutes per pound (2 hours). Baste with remaining sauce last half hour.

Scalloped Potatoes

2 pounds potatoes (approximately 6 medium)
½ cup chopped onion (optional)
3 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
¼ cup butter
2 ½ cups milk

Pare potatoes thinly (should be about 4 cups). Spray a 2-quart casserole and arrange potatoes in 4 layers, sprinkling each of the first 3 layers with 1 Tbsp. flour, ¼ tsp. of salt, dash pepper and dotting each layer with 1 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. onion, if you are using them,. Sprinkle top with remaining onion, salt and pepper and dot with remaining butter. Heat milk to just below boiling; pour over potatoes. Cover; bake 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 60 to 70 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Orange Glazed Carrots

2 ½ pounds fresh carrots
½ cup butter, melted
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange peel
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Peel carrots; remove ends. Cut into strips. Place in sprayed square (8x8x2) baking dish. Stir together butter, orange juice and salt. Pour over carrots. Cover; bake 40 minutes until carrots are tender. (8 servings)

Pineapple Salad

Line small salad plates with crisp salad leaves. Place 1 canned, chilled pineapple slice on top of lettuce. Mound cottage cheese in center of pineapple ring. Top with a dollop of salad dressing (mayonnaise-type) and sprinkle with paprika.

Yeast Dinner Rolls

1 pkg. (2 ½ tsp.) active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water (105-115 deg)
¾ cup lukewarm milk
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
¼ cup melted butter
3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 heaping tsp. gluten flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, butter and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover let rise in warm place until double, about 1 12 to 2 hours. Punch down dough; divide in half. Roll dough into a rectangle, 13x9 inches and ¼” thick. Place in greased 9x13 baking pan. Score dough ¼ inch deep into 15 rolls. Brush with butter. Let rise 1 ½ hours. Bake at 400 degrees. Bake 15-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Great Grandma’s Golden Sponge Cake

1 ¼ cup sugar
1 cup water
7 eggs, separated
1 cup sifted cake flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla OR almond extract OR lemon extract (your choice)

Boil sugar and water until syrup reaches the thread stage (233 degrees or until syrup “spins a thread” when spoon is picked up out of syrup and a thread forms as it falls)

Meanwhile, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored (about 5 minutes). Slowly add hot syrup to yolks, beating all the while. Add cake flour. In separate bowl and with separate beaters, beat room temperature egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until stiff. Add flavoring and beat in. Fold carefully into egg yolk mixture. Turn into sprayed tube pan or bundt pan carefully and smooth top. Bake at 325 for 50 min to 1 hour. Cool completely upside down on funnel. Serve with sweetened fresh fruit or thawed frozen fruit and top with sweetened whipped cream.