40 ~ Wednesday, January 15, 1992 - North Shore News

FOOD

Useless old cookbooks still fun to read

I'M A cookbook collector. I’ve got hundreds and use most
of them. | buy five or six whenever I travel and have rarely
been disappointed — if a book gives me one good recipe I

consider it a bargain.

My biggest weakness is for up-
dates on old cookbooks — collec-
tions of zecipes dating back in his-
tory. Please understand that many
of these are downright useless —
the measurements are sketchy, the
instructions vague and the product
mystcrious. However, they're as
much fun to read as a novel.

I bought a dandy on a recent
trip to California: The Compleat
American Housewife — 1787 —
Being a collection of the most ap-
prov’d Recipes of the American
Colonies to which is added: Ac-
counts of Coloniai Life and
authored ‘‘By a Lady.”

The book gives a remarkable
picture of what life must have
been for the “lady of the house’’
in 1787. Instructions are included
on almost every aspect of house-
hold management: ‘‘How To
Chuse Butter Cheese and Eggs’’
and ‘‘To Chuse the Best Fish’’ go
along with advice ‘‘garlicks are
best used for medicine, not cook-
ery.”

This is a great reader for those
of us with excesses. Isn’t it
reassuring to be told that ‘‘coffee
accelerates. digestion, corrects
crudities (whatever they may be),
removes colic and flatulencies.”’ It
goes on to praise coffee as the
most remarkable beverage and a
“‘wonderful restorative to
emaciated constitutions.”’

. Clearly, none of us is drinking
enough of the stuff.

I know you'll all want to try the
Great Cake as made by Martha
Washington which starts with 40
eges, Separated. By the time
you’ve finished, you’ll need four

Barbara
WNicCreadie —

BUDGET BEATERS

pounds butter, four of sugar and
five pounds each of flour and
fruit.

One of the greatest happenings
in history must have been the
standardization of cooking
measures. I’d rather not have to
cope with a recipe that told me to
add a teacupful of this and a
spoonful of that.

When you got the iffy mixture
together you would be instructed
to “bake until it looks good.”
Lots of luck. Isn’t it great to set
your oven to an exact temperature
and set your timer for an exact
time?

Here are a few up-to-date reci-
pes for traditional foods. Most of
them are old-fashioned treats with
names you.might remember from
your grandmother’s day.

Pium Duff

This is a traditional steamed

pudding, especially familiar in the

Maritimes and New England
states. It’s easy to raake but re-
quires one hour steaming (instruc-
tions follow).

2 eges

1 cup brown sugar

Y2 cup shortening, melted

1 cup flour

V2 teaspoon calt

I teaspoon soda

2 cups cooked prunes, pitted and
snipped

Beat eggs, add sugar and
shortening. Beat well. Add flour,
salt and soda and stir in. Stir in
prunes. Turn into a buttered
four-cup mold with tight lid or a
small, deep Pyrex bowl.

if using a bowl, cover with sev-
cral layers of waxed paper, tied
firmly in place with string and
topped with tinfoil.

Set on a rack in a steaming pot
of water. Cover the pot. The
water should come halfway up the
side of the bow! and may need
topping during steaming. Don’t fet
the water boil hard — just sim-
mer. Steam one hour. Test with a
toothpick — it should come out
clean.

Serve hot with whipped cream
or custard sauce. This reheats well
in the microwave.

Gingerbread

A friend of mine tried this reci-
pe and swears that it is the most
delicious gingerbread she’s ever
tasted. It’s a very old recipe but
easy to make. Try it with vanilla

ice cream or apple sauce and

whipped cream. I’ve been making
this since I was a kid.

V2 cup butter

Ya cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup table molasses

2% cups flour

private party love,
lines

» DROP OFF

Name
Address

* MAILIN

Postal Code
Bus. Phone

68 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18

CLASSIFIEDS

ed wae 9 ant ar dE va med

1139 Lonsdale Ave.

North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4

144 teaspoons baking soda
V; teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Va teaspoon cloves

Ucup hot water

Beat the butter and = sugar
together until fluffy. Add the egg
and molasses and beat well.
Combine the dry ingredients and
add. Beat well. Add the hot water
and beat until smooth.

Turn into a buttered 9°° x 9"°
cake pan and bake at 350°F, 35
minutes.

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Priced: stewed tomatoes, 796 mL,
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Prizes will be awarded for
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* Subject to availability
* Expires April 30th, 1992

DEADLINE
12 Noon on Thursday, February 13