Scariest Vintage Recipe #1: Crown Roast of Franks

This always elicits lots of groans when I show it at my talks. Yes - its the Crown Roast of Frankfurters! Scary on so many levels. I really want to see someone serve this one. Not in my home, but still...
Happy Halloween!

From Thursday, October 22, 2009: 
It's time to start celebrating Halloween on here. I've been wearing my Halloween jewelry for weeks, and as we all know there are plenty of scary recipes in my cookbook library here. This is from The Complete Holiday Cookbook, likely from the 60's. There are three Halloween menus. Here's Trick or Treat Supper:


Crown Roast of Franks (pictured) (seriously)

Boston Baked Beans

Potato Chips

Witch's Brew

Gingerbread

(Clearly, this was done by committee, or else it's some one's version of a Trick.)

Crown Roast of Franks

4 cups saltine cracker crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

1 can sauerkraut, drained

1 1/2 cups diced apples

2 tsp. caraway seed

1 1/2 pounds frankfurters (Yep, pounds)

Mix together cracker crumbs, butter, sauerkraut, apples and caraway seed. Shape into mound on baking pan. Stand frankfurters around stuffing, joining with cocktail picks near top. Bake in 375-degree oven for 40 minutes. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Now, unless my math is wrong - from this picture that's 3-4 frankfurters per person. That's no Treat.

Scariest Vintage Recipes #2: Santa's Nightcap

This is again one of those vintage recipes where I think they used whatever was left in the publisher's test kitchen.  I wouldn't want to see what Santa would leave if you left him this recipe...

 From December 21, 2009:
This photo and recipe is from the 1970 Ladies' Home Journal Handbook of Holiday Cuisine. There are lots of weird gems in this one. This doll picture freaked me out, though. She looks scared to be served those mincemeat pies - as I would be!


Or maybe she had some of this...

Santa's Nightcap

1 cup gin

1 cup light rum

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup maple blended syrup (I'm not kidding!)

Combine 1 cup gin, 1 cup light rum and 1/4 cup each lime juice and maple blended syrup. Stir well to mix; pour over crushed ice in cocktail glasses. Makes 2 1/2 cups.

Wow. Don't light any candles around that drink!

Scariest Vintage Recipes #3: Ketchup Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Good morning! Today I'm off to give a mini Vintage Cookbooks and Crafts talk at the LACONI showcase of performers. I pulled a few of my favorite slides, and lo and behold - one was the recipe I have ready to go for Sunday's Scariest Vintage Recipe! The rest of you will have to wait and see. In the meantime, enjoy my 3rd scariest vintage recipe, also from January of this year. Apparently I went on a disgusting vintage recipe jaunt then. This one elicited some strong reactions before. It is from a pamphlet cookbook from Heinz, possibly from the 60's. If you think this is bad, wait for #2 and #1...

What on earth could ketchup offer this recipe? I don't want to taste and find out, but you might!


Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/3 cup Heinz Tomato Ketchup

2 tsp. lemon juice

7 slices pineapple, well drained

1 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. double acting baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup hydrogenated vegetable shortening

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

Heat oven to 300F. Melt butter in 9-inch cake pan or skillet; stir in sugar, ketchup and lemon juice. Arrange pineapple slices on ketchup mixture. (That even sounds bad.) Sift together into bowl, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add shortening, milk and vanilla; beat 2 minutes. Add egg; beat 2 more minutes. Spread batter evenly over fruit. Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Invert onto serving plate. Let stand a few minutes; remove pan. Serve warm with whipped cream. Makes 6 - 8 servings.

Scariest Vintage Recipes #4: Banana Meatloaf

This is from January 22, 2010, and it is a recipe from a pamphlet cookbook on bananas given to me by Rosemary Harris, the terrific mystery writer.  Do you think the cow here would be so happy if it new it was about to be Banana Meat Loaf?

1 pound ground raw beef (mmmm, mmmm)

1 tablespoon ground onion

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 cup soft bread crumbs

3/4 cup mashed bananas

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Mix together meat, onion, salt, pepper and crumbs. Combine bananas and mustard. Add to meat mixture and mix well. Form mixture into a loaf and place into a well-greased baking pan (8.5x4.5x3) Bake in 350F oven for 1 hour.

Or you can bake the bananas and serve them separately. It suggests plating them around the meat loaf. Help.

Scariest Vintage Recipes #5: Macaroni Aspic

This one is from January 10, 2010. I know aspic is decidedly vintage, but this one was likely popular in NO era...

Kyle and I found this gem of an Antique shop in Wheaton, IL - MDL Sales: http://www.mdlsales.com which has lovely things with great owners. The store has a huge selection of vintage clothing and accessories but lots of kitchenalia and fascinating jewelry as well. One of the mother/daughter owner team found me this gem of a cookbook from 1934 about "Royal Aspic: The headliner in Today's Food News!" The second picture is of the back cover.


1 package Royal Gelatin Aspic
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cold water
2/3 cup Russian Dressing
1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
2/3 cup chopped white cabbage (Yes, I'm not even kidding!)
2 tablespoons minced pimiento
2 tablespoons minced green pepper

Dissolve Royal Gelatin Aspic in boiling water; add cold water. Chill until it begins to thicken. Beat in Russian Dressing. Add remaining ingredients. Pour in mold. Chill until firm. If desired, add few drops Worcestershire Sauce or onion juice. (As if it wasn't gross enough.)

Scariest Vintage Recipes #6: Corned Pig's Knuckles

Thanks to those of you who have been writing or offering me tips on what should make this list. Likely I could do a month of this from all the recipes I've posted. I think you'll be sufficiently scared by this one...Anyone want to make this for Oktoberfest?

From Mother's Day, 2007: 

I found my Meals With a Foreign Flair from 1963, Better Homes and Gardens. I found the 'Stout German Fare' and believe me, you'd be pretty stout after eating these.


This lovely picture shows us a 'Hausplatte':

Use a large oval plank or platter with a rim. (plank?) Border with Potatoes Duchesse. Fill center with Weinkraut; top with these: Corned Pig's Knuckles, Boiled Beef, grilled precooked Bratwurst, and cooked Knack-wurst.

Yum yum yum.

In case you want to try this at home, first buy some Tums, then try the recipe for Corned Pig's Knuckles:

Cover corned pig's knuckles (some markets will cure them for you) (Amy's note: these are not markets I wish to frequent) with fresh water, no salt. Add a small onion, cut in half and add a few peppercorns and bay leaves.

Simmer 2 1/2 - 3 hours or till tender; remove from water. Cook 30 minutes with Weinkraut. Allow 1 knuckle per person. (in case people are fighting over them?)

Scariest Vintage Recipes Countdown #7: Prune Spoon Up

Here is #7 on my Countdown to Scariest Vintage Recipe week:  Prune Spoon Up, first posted on Saturday, June 12, 2010. You all knew prunes would make this list. But of the many many scary prune recipes I've posted - this shake steals the show...

Enjoy this Prune Spoon-Up from the Good Housekeeping's Book of Ice Creams and Cool Drinks, from 1958.


1 cup pitted, cooked prunes

1 cup cold milk

1 cup crushed ice

In electric blender, combine all ingredients. Blend about 30 sec., or until smooth. Serve at once in glasses, with spoons. Makes 2 or 3 servings.


Wow. Oddly enough I am not finding photos of many prune dishes in my cookbooks - I wonder why?

Scariest Vintage Recipes Countdown: Halloween Doughberry Faces

In celebration of Halloween I could certainly cover the many many unusual pumpkin or fall recipes I have in my collection. For example, the Two -toned Pumpkin Pie whose instructions are "Get a Can Each of Mincemeat and Pumpkin." Seriously.

But no - instead, I'm going to pull the scariest recipes every reported here in this blog and count down for the next week. Which one is the scariest for you? 
Here's #8 in my list, originally posted Sunday, October 25, 2009:  Halloween Doughberry Faces:

This photo is from the Complete Holiday Cookbook, late 60's.  While I like the chocolate doughnut witch hats made with the ice cream cones here, the Funny Face things are very odd. They look cute, right? Wait until you see what is in them!


Doughberry Funny Faces, or as my husband puts it - the Ive Run Out of Ideas for Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Doughnuts, cut in half (That should be a crime.)

Cranberry sauce, chilled and sliced thin

Packaged Cheese Slices

Place doughnut half, cut-side up on plate. Top with cranberry sauce slice. Cut eyes, nose and mouth from cheese slices. Make hats, whiskers and hair from construction paper or strips of aluminum foil.

I'm wordless on that recipe. Food Perversion.

Can you stand more? #7 of what I think has been the scariest recipes posted here goes up tomorrow...

Mary Fioretti's Foolproof Minute Chocolate Cake

I've gotten to know Mary Fioretti, a great cook and quilter, through my brother David and his work on his local school board. Mary is also another community champion and I recently learned that she wants to write a cookbook. This recipe is a great start - thanks for sending it, Mary!-AA

Alrighty, this is my mothers fool proof leave-the-table-honoring-you-to-others chocolate cake. It's one of those cakes you can bake at 4:30pm for 6pm dinner. This is a double batch. You can half it and it makes a nice 9x9 cake.


Minute Chocolate Cake
Mix dry ingredients in your mixer.
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup hersheys powdered cocoa
1 tsp salt
2 tsp soda

Add to the dry mix.
2/3 cup salad oil
2 T vanilla
2T regular vinegar
2 cups water

Mix well and pour into 9 x 13 ungreased pan and bake. Should spring back when done but test with a cake tester or butter knife.
350 for 25 to 30 minutes

White Frosting Ingredients
Yield: Makes about 2 1/2 cups
1 stick butter, softened
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon mexican vanilla
2 to 3 Tbsp. half and half

Cream butter in your mixer at medium-high speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar until smooth. Beat in vanilla and 2 Tbsp. milk, adding additional milk, if necessary, for desired consistency.

Spread on a cooled cake in the pan. Cut into 2 x 2 squares and serve. Any extra frosting just use it with graham crackers - great snack for kids.

I hope your readers enjoy this.

Meals Go Modern Electrically

This 1940 cookbook with the above title is another gem from my writer friend Anne Ylvisaker sent me. It came with a vintage postcard and her following note, which made me laugh:

Hi Amy! Found these treasures at a local vintage shop. Priceless.  I particularly like "Oven Dinner for a Busy Day" which consists of 'baked halibut, oven-fried potatoes, buttered beets, celery hearts, pickle relish and creamy rice pudding.'  At my house 'Oven dinner for a busy day' consists of something flat and round at 450 for 18-20 minutes.  Sometimes Ben and Jerry pop over for a quick dessert. 

I would have to agree with Anne. Pizza has tomatoes - that sounds healthy, right?

Here is a fabulous recipe from this cookbook. We all know that aspics and ring molds were very beloved in past decades. This one is particularly scary, fitting for an October blog post:

Chef Salad in Tomato Cheese Ring
2 packages lemon flavored gelatin
3 cups tomato juice, heated
2 packages cream cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
Dissolve gelatin in hot tomato juice.  Mix cream cheese with mayonnaise, add to cooled tomato gelatin.  Mix and place in oiled ring mold.  Chill in refrigerator until firm.  When ready to serve, unmold and fill center of ring with Chef Salad (very complicated and silly chef salad recipe follows. Anchovy fillets, anyone?)

Author Kathleen Ernst: Chloe's Maple Blueberry Cake

Welcome again to mystery author and good friend Kathleen Ernst! I've had this lovely guest before, but for new readers:  I met Kathleen on a panel at Bouchercon several years ago and we discovered we both love history, mysteries and a similar sense of humor. She also knows I love maple and found me a wonderful recipe. We have met at many conferences since, and I am so excited that this award winning youth mystery author has a new adult mystery series out. I can't wait to read mine (or make this cake...)!  Kathleen will draw a winner from the comments so be sure to drop us a line! -AA

I’m grateful to Amy for allowing me to be a guest here on Vintage Cookbooks. And I’m grateful to readers! I love my work, and I’d be nowhere without you. Leave a comment here, and your name will go into a daily drawing for one free book. The winner can choose any of my sixteen titles. Old World Murder, one of my American Girl mysteries, a Civil War novel—the choice will be yours!


Chloe’s Maple Blueberry Cake

Chloe Ellefson, the protagonist of my new mystery Old World Murder, is not an autobiographical character. We do have a lot in common, though! She’s a curator at Old World Wisconsin, a large living history museum where I was once a curator. She attended West Virginia University; I’m also an alum.

And we both spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Like me, Chloe is a vegetarian who (when she’s not stressed and having popcorn for dinner) loves to cook and bake. And she’s a huge fan of local, organic ingredients.

This easy and luscious cake is a great way to celebrate the publication of a new book—or any other special event! I use whole wheat flour, farmers’ market blueberries, free-range eggs from a local farm, and maple syrup from my favorite sugar bush in Door County. Substitute as your options dictate; the cake will still taste great.

Chloe’s Maple Blueberry Cake
2 c. blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)
3 c. flour
½ c. butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
¾ c. maple syrup
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
6 oz. vanilla yogurt
2 T. lemon juice

Glaze (optional)
½ c. confectioners’ sugar
4 t. lemon juice

In a small bowl, combine blueberries and 2 T. flour. In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda, salt, and remaining flour.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add maple syrup, lemon juice, and vanilla, and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with the yogurt. When everything is well blended, fold in the blueberries.

Transfer to a 10-inch fluted pan well coated with butter or cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 65-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove from a pan to a wire rack.

If desired, whisk glaze ingredients until smooth and drizzle over cake.

Kathleen Ernst is celebrating the publication of her first adult mystery, Old World Murder (Midnight Ink). She has also written eight mysteries for young readers. Several have been finalists for Edgar or Agatha awards. For more information see her website, http://www.kathleenernst.com, or her blog, http://sitesandstories.wordpress.com.

Maple Nut Dessert

This is also from the Mirro Cookbook I used yesterday. This is the same company that makes the cookie presses you most often see in antique stores. I have one in its original box, but I enjoy using it every year for the holidays.

I consider Maple a favorite fall flavor. I serve Maple Bun Bars in my Fall Cookbook talks, and they are a popular item! I like them so much now I need to store them in a very inconvenient corner of the house so I'm not eating them constantly!

Try this recipe:
Maple Nut Dessert
1 1/2 cups hot milk
2 eggs, separated and beaten
1 tablespoon gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup nuts, chopped
Place hot milk and slightly beaten egg yolks in a Mirro Aluminum double boiler.  Cook over boiling water until the mixture coats a silver spoon (No doubt we all have lots of these handy, even if we weren't born with them haha). Stir constantly.  Sprinkle gelatin on cold water and let stand 5 minutes. Add to hot mixture and stir until dissolved.  Add the maple syrup and salt.  Cool in refrigerator, and when the mixture begins to congeal (yum), fold in stiffly beaten egg whites, vanilla and nuts.  Pour into serving glasses and chill.  Serve with custard sauce.  Brown sugar syrup may be used instead of maple syrup, adding a few drops of mapeleine if desired.  Serves 6-8.

What is Mapeleine? Has to be flavoring. Wonder where you can find that stuff now...

I am no good at these types of fudgey/meringuey recipes. See all of 2008 for evidence of that on here.

I had so much fun doing a scrapbook cookbook show at the Fremont Public Library District last night. That crowd is always great with lots of good stories and ideas.

Apple Dumplings

This is from the 1947 Mirro Cook Book, from Manitowac, WI. That is a beautiful town that I had the pleasure of visiting when I had a teen training there years ago. Right on the lake, it is filled with lovely parks, the restaurant where the hot fudge sundae was invented and tons of antique malls. What more could you want?

I found this Apple Dumpling recipe in here, next to the Liver Dumplings...

Apple Dumplings
Baking Powder Biscuit dough (Use a favorite recipe or just get premade biscuit dough in the tube...)
6 medium tart apples
6 tablespoons sugar
Cinnamon or Nutmeg
6 teaspoons butter
1 egg white, slightly beaten
Roll biscuit dough 1/4 inch thick and cut into 4 inch squares. Slice apples in center of each square of dough.  (?? Why not slice first?) Add 1 tablespoon sugar, a sprinkling of nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon butter to each dumpling. Brush inside edges of dough with egg white and fold dough up over apples; press edges firmly together. Place dumplings with folded side down in a buttered MIRRO Aluminum pan (of course).  Prick with a fork.  Bake 25 - 30 minutes at 350F.  Cool slightly.  Serve with cream or lemon sauce. 

Crispy Sweet Pickles

A lovely woman wrote this family favorite down for me at my Fox River Grove Memorial Library show last week on Preserving Family Recipes.  Her mother in law, Mary Taylor Martin, from San Antonio, TX, made this easy and fun recipe for popular Christmas gifts. I've always been afraid of canning before, but this sounds easy and fun!

Crispy Sweet Pickles
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup mixed pickling spices wrapped in cheesecloth and tied with string
1 quart sliced dill pickles - round sliced (Drain off liquid and discard)
3 cups sugar
Place vinegar and spices in a glass container that can be sealed.  Place pickles in glass container.  Pour sugar on top of pickles - but DO NOT MIX. Cover with lid.  Refrigerate for 10 days - yield 1 quart. 
For a second batch you may use the same liquid with spices adding 1 cup sugar only.

I actually love pickles. Any other quick canning techniques out there?

Banananog

Last day of the scary banana recipes my friend Anne Ylvisaker sent me. I was intrigued by the Convalescent Diet. If you weren't 'Convalescent' before eating this, you might be afterwards.
Banananog:  Add one egg to mashed banana and milk before shaking.

Er - salmonella city!

The Choconana shake sounds better:  Add 1 tbsp. chocolate sirup (that's how it is spelled) to banana and milk before shaking.

For the 'low-fat' diet:  Jamaican Tidbits:  4 bananas, 1 cup gingersnaps, finely crushed, 1/2 cup honey
Peel bananas and cut each banana into 5 pieces, crosswise.  Cover each with honey.  Roll in crushed gingersnap crumbs.

Hmm. I'm not sure that is low fat or Jamaican, but it sounds better than that Bananog.

Do you have a scary banana recipe lurking in your files?

Piquant Parfait

Here are a few more gems from the banana recipe set my friend Anne Ylvisaker sent me. In addition, here is a link to a story in the Chicago Tribune about my vintage programs.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/ct-food-1006-vintage-20101006,0,4892157.story

The author, Barbara Mahaney, was definitely a kindred spirit who enjoyed my offbeat humor about frankfurter recipes and my passion for all things vintage. The article ran yesterday, though not in my hometown or in my parents'. A friend put it up on the bulletin board at work, though! It was fun, and I feel grateful the paneling in my family room wasn't pictured. And there is actually 3+ bookcases, not 2, housing the cookbook collection, but I didn't want her to know how crazy I actually am.

Speaking of crazy - try the 'Piquant Parfait," from the back of the 'Weight-losing diet?' featured above.
1 egg separated
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Grated rind of 1 lemon
3 cups whipped topping made from non-fat milk solids (mmmmmm)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground mace
2 ripe medium bananas

Beat egg yolk, lemon juice and rind together.  Mix in half of sugar.  Cook mixture over low heat till it thickens, stirring constantly.  Add mace.  Cool.  Beat egg white to soft peaks; add remaining sugar, and beat till stiff peaks form.  Fold egg white and then whipped topping into cooled mixture.  Fill dessert dishes with alternate layers of mixture and sliced bananas.  Garnish with banana slices and dash of mace.  Chill, serve same day.
Now - how is this Weight-losing? Perhaps from the salmonella? Yikes.

I enjoyed going to the Fox River Grove Memorial Library on Tuesday night - my second visit there - for a scrap-cookbook program. The audience had wonderful and weird recipes and yet made beautiful albums. I truly feel like a welcomed friend in that library and can tell that the patrons do too. Tonight I'm off to the Lisle Library for Vintage Fall Flavors.  Time to go pick up the pumpkin doughnuts!

Molly MacRae Monday: Gas Station Food

Note from Amy: As it happens, I suggest to folks at my talks that they may find some interesting treats at gas stations, like Hostess Pudding Pies. I didn't say delicious, I said interesting. Enjoy Molly's usual fantastic humor and outlook on food!-AA

My husband and I just got back from a road trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw mule deer, pikas, marmots, magpies, chickarees, chipmunks, and hundreds of elk,. We also saw a bear, which might have been scary, but there were other people around who looked slower than us so we weren’t too worried. The aspens were turning golden and we were surrounded by russets and greens and a brilliant blue sky for two glorious weeks. The Rockies are absolutely gorgeous – everything John Denver ever sang about it (vintage music reference!)


But what does our trip have to do with vintage recipes? Not a lot, except that it explains why I’m late getting this blog piece to Amy.

Then again, it’s October, month of Halloween, perfect time for scary food of any kind, and we found ghastly stuff in spades at gas stations from Illinois to Colorado and back again. The “treats” they sell at filling stations/convenience stores give new meaning to the term “gas station.” Actually, some of the “goodies” given special placement near the cash registers look homemade, and I bet whoever makes them uses cookbooks Amy would covet.

Here’s a short list of what we avoided (like the plague): Rice crispy treats of every variety you can imagine; plastic-shrouded sandwiches; very large, dubious-looking cookies; hot dogs we could smell while still outside pumping gas; jerky made from any kind of animal with hoofs someone felt like shooting, fluorescent “juice;” soft drinks sold in cups the size of buckets; anything spelled with a k that should have been spelled with a c.

It was a great trip and now we’re home again, safe and sound. But wait, what’s that in the kitchen cupboard? Yes! There are still a few Moon Pies from the box Amy sent last month. Dig in!