AN UPDATE ON THOSE INCOMPARABLE BROWNS: CORA, ROSE, AND BOB BROWN, COOKBOOK AUTHORS

(Originally posted February 13, 2011)

Back in 1965, when I first began collecting cookbooks, one of my first cookbook penpals was a woman in Michigan, Betsy, who has remained my friend to this day. I have been the happy recipient of many of her cookbooks as she began to downsize.

Betsy was the person who “introduced” me to the Browns – Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, authors of over a dozen really fantastic, outstanding cookbooks.  Betsy had some duplicates of the Browns’ cookbooks and sent them to me. Well, I was quickly hooked.  And it was the Browns’ “America Cooks” (published 1940 by Halcyon House), that really turned me onto church-and-club community cookbooks. (I was stunned to see “America Cooks” listed at $300 by an antiquarian book dealer. I bought an extra copy for $5.00 some time ago and gave it to someone who didn’t have a copy!)

Everyone of you who reads cookbooks like novels (and thinks you are the only person in the world who does this) would find “America Cooks” a most readable cookbook.  Since “America Cooks” was published in 1940, others have followed in the Browns’ footsteps with dozens of cookbooks with “America” in the titles.  None can compare with The Browns’ “America Cooks”.

In the foreword, the Browns wr0te, “We put in   twenty years of culinary adventuring in as many countries and wrote a dozen books about it before finding out that we might as well have stayed at home and specialized in the regional dishes of our own forty-eight states. For America cooks and devours a greater variety of viands than any other country. We’re the world’s richest stewpot and there’s scarcely a notable foreign dish or drink that can’t be had to perfection in one or another section of our country….”

“For many years we Browns have been collecting regional American cooking lore, gathering characteristic recipes from each of the forty-eight states (Hawaii and Alaska had not yet become states in 1940) with colorful notes on regional culinary customs. Our collection is complete and savory. It has been our aim to make this America’s culinary source book, a means whereby each state and city may interchange its fine foods and dishes with every other, from coast to coast and from border to border. Here are forty-eight different cookbooks merged into one handy volume—a guide to the best in food and drink that this bounteous country offers. Obviously, no one person nor three, can cover every kitchen, even with such enthusiastic help as we have had from several hundred local authorities. But we believe this is our best food book, and in order to build it bigger and better in later editions, we should like to swap regional recipes and gustatory lore with all who are interested…”

And seventy something years later, I think “America Cooks” remains the Browns’ best food book.  However, that being said, I found the most elusive cookbook of the Browns to be “THE VEGETABLE COOK BOOK”, subtitled “FROM TROWEL TO TABLE” by Cora, Rose and Bob Brown. Published by J. B. Lippincott Company in 1939—I only recently obtained a copy through Alibris.com and paid a whopping $25.00 for a copy. (I justified it by it having the original dust jacket and being a first edition—although to tell the truth, I rarely spend that much on a book. And it seems that other copies are going for much higher prices.

Cora Brown, Robert’s mother, was born in Charlotte, Michigan, graduated from the Chicago Conservatory of music, married and brought up a family. She took up writing fiction and in 1920 went to Brazil to become co-publisher with her son and daughter in law, Rose.  Cora lived with Bob and Rose in Japan, China, France, Germany, etc, becoming familiar with foreign customs and kitchens and collecting recipes with Rose. Cora is the author of “The Guide to Rio de Janerio” and co-authored ten cookbooks with Bob and Rose.

Rose Brown was born in Middletown, Ohio (not far from my hometown of Cincinnati), and graduated from Barnard College and Teachers College. She was a teacher, interior decorator, and journalist, contributing articles on cooking to Colliers, Vogue, This Week and other magazines. Rose was co-author with Cora and Bob on most of their cookbooks. One cookbook that does not list Cora is “Look Before You Cook” which shows Rose and Bob as authors. One cookbook authored solely by Bob Brown is “The Complete Book of Cheese.”  “Culinary Americana” was written by Eleanor Parker and Bob Brown—Eleanor becoming Bob’s wife after Rose’s death.

According to Lippincott, the initiation of Rose into the mysteries of cooking was over a camp fire with game and instruction by her father. During World War I, she worked as a writer for the Committee of Public Information in Santiago, Chile.  In Buenos Aires, Mrs. Brown became co publisher with Bob Brown of weekly magazines in Rio de Janeiro, Mexico and London.  Rose Brown had her own kitchen in a dozen countries and traveled all over the world, always pursuing her hobbies of collecting recipes and cooking lore—and going fishing with her husband. Rose Brown passed away in 1952.

Bob brown was born in Chicago and was graduated from Oak Park High School and the University of Wisconsin. He arrived in New York in 1908 to enter the writing lists, contributing verse and fiction to practically all the periodicals of the time.  One of his first books, written after the end of Prohibition, was called “Let There Be Beer!” He then collaborated with his mother and wife Rose on “The Wine Cookbook,” first published in 1934 and reprinted  many times. A 1960 edition was re-named  “Cooking with Wine” .

Robert Carlton Brown (1886-1959) was a writer, editor, publisher, and traveler. From 1908 to 1917, he wrote poetry and prose for numerous magazines and newspapers in New York City, publishing two pulp novels, “What Happened to Mary” and “The Remarkable Adventures of Christopher Poe” (1913), and one volume of poetry, “My Marjonary” (1916).

In 1918, Bob Brown traveled extensively in Mexico and Central America, writing for the U.S. Committee of Public Information in Santiago de Chile. In 1919, he moved with his wife, Rose Brown, to Rio de Janeiro, where they founded Brazilian American, a weekly magazine that ran until 1929. With Brown’s mother, Cora, the Browns also established magazines in Mexico City and London: Mexican American (1924-1929) and British American (1926-1929).

Following the stock market crash of 1929, the Browns retired from publishing and traveled through Asia and Europe, settling in France from 1929-1933. Brown became involved in the expatriate literary community in Paris, publishing several volumes of poetry, including” Globe Gliding” (1930), “Gems” (1931), “Words” (1931), and “Demonics” (1931), as well as “1450-1950” (1929), a book of visual poetry. While in France, Brown also made plans toward, and wrote a manifesto for, the development of a “reading machine” involving the magnified projection of miniaturized type printed on movable spools of tape.  Arguing that such a device would enable literature to compete with cinema in a visual age, Brown published a book of “Readies”—poems by Gertrude Stein, Fillipo Marinetti, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, and others, typeset in a manner appropriate to operation of his projected reading machine. Although Brown’s reading machine was never developed, his papers include letters and papers pertaining to its projected design and technical specifications, as well as a collection of his own published and unpublished visual and conceptual writing. (Bob Brown was way ahead of his time – today, we have the Kindle and Nook. I can’t help but wonder if someone came across his manifesto and ran with it).

In 1933, Brown returned to New York. In the 1930s, he wrote a series of international cookbooks in collaboration with Rose and Cora Brown. He also lived in cooperative colonies in Arkansas and Louisiana, visited the USSR, and wrote a book, “Can We Co-Operate” (1940), regarding the parameters of a viable American socialism. In 1941, he and Rose returned to South America. While traveling down the Amazon they amassed a substantial collection of art and cultural artifacts and collaborated on a book, “Amazing Amazon” (1942). The Browns eventually reestablished residence in Rio de Janeiro, where they lived until Rose Brown’s death in 1952.

After thirty years of living in many foreign countries, and following the deaths of Cora and Rose, Bob Brown closed their mountain home in Petropolis, Brazil, and returned to New York, where he married Eleanor Parker in 1953. Brown continued to write and ran a shop called Bob Brown’s Books in Greenwich Village and ran a mail order business until his death in 1959. Shortly after Brown’s death, a new edition of “1450-1950” was published by Jonathan Williams’s  Jargon/Corinth Press.

During his lifetime, Bob Brown authored more than a thousand short stories and thirty full length books.

The Browns appear to have used a number of different publishers for their cookbooks. While “Soups, Sauces and Gravies,” “Fish and Sea Food Cookbook,” Salad and Herbs” were published by Lippincott, “The Complete Book of Cheese” was published by Gramercy Publishing Company. “America Cooks” and “10,000 Snacks” were published by Halcyon House and “The European Cook Book” by Prentice-Hall, Inc. A few were published by companies I am unfamiliar with; “The Country Cookbook” by A.S. Barnes and Company, and “Most for Your Money Cookbook” by Modern Age Books.  “Culinary Americana”, co-authored by Brown Brown and Eleanor Parker Brown, was published by Roving Eye Press (Bob Brown’s own publication  name). For whatever reason, the Browns appear to have shopped around whenever they had a book ready for publication. (Or did they copyright them all first, and then shop for publishers?)

Recently, I began to rediscover the fabulous cookbooks written the Browns. Some unexpected surprises turned up—for instance, as I was browsing through the pages of “Most for Your Money” I found a chapter titled “Mulligans Slugullions, Lobscouses and Burgoos”—while I am unfamiliar with mulligans and lobscouses, I’ve written about slumgullion stew in sandychatter  and have received messages from readers from time to time, sharing their stories about slumgullion stews of their childhoods. It starts out “Jack London’s recipe for slumgullion is both simple and appetizing…” providing some enlightenment about the history of slumgullion.  (some other time, perhaps we can explore the obscure and mostly forgotten names of recipes).

And – synchronicity – I had just finished writing about sauces for my blog when I rediscovered, on my bookshelves, the Browns “Soups Sauces and Gravies” which simply reaffirmed my belief that the best cookbooks on sauces will be found in older cookbooks. This cookbook by the Browns was published in 1939.

The most complete list I have of the Browns’ cookbooks is as follows:

The Wine Cookbook, by Cora, Rose & Bob Brown, originally published in 1934, revised edition 1944, Little Brown & Company. In 1960 Bob Brown published a reprint of The Wine Cookbook with the title “Cooking With Wine” and under his Roving Eye Press logo.

The European Cook Book/The European Cookbook for American Homes is apparently the same book with slightly different titles. Subtitled The Four in One book of continental cookery, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France. I saw and nearly purchased on the internet an English version of the same book from a dealer in England. I already have three copies, don’t need a fourth! However, it should be noted that the original European Cook Book for American Homes was published in 1936 by Farrar & Rinehart. The 1951 edition with a shortened title was published by Prentice-Hall.

The Country Cook Book by Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1937 by A.S. Barnes and    Company.

Most for your Money CookBook, by Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1938 by Modern Age Books

Salads and Herbs, By Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1938 by J.B. Lippincott

The South American Cookbook (what I have is a Dover Publication reprint first published in 1971. The original was published by Doubleday, Doran & Company in 1939  – Cora, Rose and Bob Brown

Soups, Sauces and Gravies by Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1939 by J.B. Lippincott Company

The Vegetable Cookbook  by Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1939 by J.B. Lippincott

America Cooks by Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1940 by Halcyon House.

Outdoor Cooking  by Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1940 The Greystone Press (*notes that parts of this book appeared in Collier’s and Esquire magazines)

Fish and Seafood Cook Book by Cora, Rose and Bob Brown, published 1940 by J.B. Lippincott Company

Look Before you Cook by Rose and Bob Brown, published 1941 by Consumers Union of the United States, Inc.

10,000 Snacks  by Cora, Rose, and Bob Brown, published 1948 by Halcyon House—the format and chatty style of 10,000 snacks is quite similar to “America Cooks”.

The Complete Book of Cheese, by Bob Brown, published 1955 by Gramercy Publishing

Culinary Americana by Eleanor Parker Brown and Bob Brown is a bibliography of cookbooks published in the cities and towns of the United States  during the years from 1860 through 1960.  It is believed that the first fund-raiser cookbook was compiled and published during the Civil War, by women to raised money for the Sanitation Commission.  Culinary American focuses primarily on “regional” cookbooks, and notes that, “Certainly, it was after the War (i.e., the Civil War) that we find them printed in many states of the union,” writes Eleanor Parker Brown in the Introduction to Culinary Americana, “A survey of 200 cookbooks of our own collection, published at various times during this last century  in Massachusetts showed that they came from seventy-four different cities and villages. In the case of many of the smaller places, these titles constitute the only books ever printed in these localities, which makes them important landmarks in the history of bookmaking in the state.

The regional cookbooks are a treasure trove of original recipes, as well as a record of   old ‘receipts,’ reflecting the nationality background of the settlers of the community. Thus you will expect, and find, German foods in the old books of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Scandinavian receipts in the pamphlets of the Midwest, and Spanish dishes in the booklets published in the southwest…the little books, some in the handwriting of the contributor, often with signed recipes, gives us a glimpse of the gallant women who proudly cooked these meals and generously gave up their  secrets ‘for the benefit of…others…”

Eleanor Parker Brown also shares with us, in the introduction, “Bob Brown first got together a cookbook collection for reference when he began to write about cooking. He had 1500 volumes which were purchased promptly by a grocery chain store as nucleus for their research library. It was then necessary for him to start a new collection. This was the origin of an interest in cookery books which lasted, and grew, to the end of this life. Bob saw cook books as social and cultural history in America; particularly, those regional books which were so close to the heart of the country…”

Eleanor says that after Bob’s sudden death, she continued work o this bibliography.” Culinary Americana includes listings of all the regional cookbooks we could either locate or obtain information about. It runs the gamut from ‘fifteen cent dinners for families of six’ to the extravagant and elaborate collations of Oscar of the Waldorf….”

“Culinary Americana” is the kind of book that cookbook collectors simply drool over.

As an aside, I find it curious that the Browns flooded the cookbook market within the span of a few years; from “The Wine Cookbook”, published in 1934, to “Look Before You Cook” published in 1941, the Browns published eleven cookbooks. Then they appear to have gone on hiatus until 10,000 snacks was published in 1948.  However, given the extent of their travels and living in countries all over the world – it crossed my mind that perhaps all of these cookbooks were “in the works” while they lived abroad—and perhaps came home to get their cookbooks published.  I’m speculating, of course. The first time I wrote about the Browns (for the Cookbook Collectors Exchange in 1994) – information was scarce. Almost everything I wrote about was gleaned from the books or their dust jackets. Today, thanks to the internet, there is more biographical information available but not enough to satisfy my greedy soul. Of all the authors I have collected in the past 45 years, those by The Browns remain my all time favorites. I was stunned to discover Bob Brown had a bookstore and that he wrote over a thousand short stories and 30 full length books. Yowza – this trio did it all.

Another update!  Some months ago I was stunned to receive a message on my blog from Rory Brown—Bob Brown was his great grandfather; Cora Brown was his great-great-grandmother.  It isn’t the first time (and hopefully won’t be the last) that a descendant of someone I have written about on Sandychatter has written to me. It was with Rory’s assistance that I located a copy of the Browns’ Vegetable Cookbook. I’m not sure why this particular cookbook has been so elusive—possibly because it was never reprinted like some of the other cookbooks have been? The Brown descendants have mentioned the possibility of having the books reprinted—wouldn’t that be nice?

Meantime, here’s a bit to chew on from The Vegetable Cookbook – it starts out “Speaking of Spinach” and introduces us to Cora’s great-granddaughter, Sylvie—then age 4—at a Thanksgiving dinner of the whole Brown family “Last Thanksgiving” which I assume to have taken place in 1938, since the book was published in 1939. The Browns noted that “She possessed herself in patience until the napkin was knotted in place and the plate set before her. Surveying  the many good things, she made a quick choice, jabbed her fork into the beans with a forthright gesture, appraised the mouthful, wiped a buttery trickle from her chin, beamed around at everybody and gave a little squeal of delight—‘Oh, I just love string beans, don’t you, Bob?’” and the authors take it from there.

Well, I love Spinach and home-grown cooked green beans (aka string beans) and the Browns write that “Greens are only an appetizing nibble at our subject, for in Florida alone, the State Department of Agriculture lists more than sixty local favorites” which they go on to list. The Browns stated they had, for years, been ardent readers of seed catalogs and had gardens of their own whenever they had the chance.  It was from growing their own that they had the idea of writing The Vegetable Cook Book – from Trowel to Table”.  They wrote of being fed up with “woody turnips, wilted spinach, limp beans and peas that would give you some bruises on the gullet, frayed heads of cauliflower, broccoli and iceberg lettuce past their prime, as well as those terrible lopsided little scallions that are sold for spring onions by grocers nowadays, we got a head start with a compost bed and survey of half a hundred catalogs…”

I wonder what the Browns would think if they could observe the produce department in many supermarkets  more than seventy years later—the array is, admittedly, dazzling—but I find too often that whatever I buy fresh needs to be used almost immediately. A few days later, most lettuce and other greens has to be thrown out.

But returning to The Vegetable Cook Book – I was entertained (and reminded of personal experiences) as they wrote of their first vegetable gardens, forgetting what was planted where when the little sticks identifying various veggies would be lost or blown away and other hit-or-miss experiences…everyone who has had similar experiences will relate.  For almost 25 years, I had a house-mate also named Bob, who tended our compost and planted the veggie gardens at our home in the San Fernando Valley, until we moved to the Antelope Valley in 2008 and discovered the need to re-learn gardening in the desert.

But getting back to my favorite cookbook authors,  following their introduction and induction into vegetable gardening, the Browns move forward, alphabetically from Artichokes and Asparagus to Avocados (with a side-trip into the variables of vegetables that are a fruit, or fruits that are a vegetable, such as tomatoes and avocados). There are chapters on cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery and chives, Kohlrabi and parsley, parsnips, peas – and many more…all the way down to Yams. I suspect that possibly one reason why The Vegetable Cook Book is so difficult to find is that it’s a dictionary of sorts, listing all the vegetables available to the Browns—with ways to cook them—maybe it belongs with my reference books rather than the cookbooks! 

“The Vegetable Cook Book, From Trowel to Table” may pose a challenge for sandychatter readers to find a copy—but it’s sure to become a favorite reference cookbook if and when you do. (Cookbook collectors love the challenge of searching for a particular book).

—Sandra Lee Smith

HELEN’S COOKBOOK – THE UPDATE

Years ago, I acquired a handwritten cookbook compiled by a woman I never met and knew little about; but I knew her, I knew what she liked to cook and how she loved to entertain. I could tell you by the pages with the most stains and occasionally, an indication of scorched pages that may have gotten too close to the stove, which recipes were her favorites.

In the 1970s, while visiting a bookstore in Hollywood, the store owner said “I have a cookbook you may be interested in” and he brought out an old leather 3-ring binder measuring 5 ½ x 8 ½”. It was my introduction to what might loosely be referred to as a manuscript cookbook and I was hooked. I learned a lot about its creator by carefully reading through all the handwritten recipes and examining cards, newspaper clippings and other scraps of paper kept in a pocket on the inside of the cover. I knew that her name was Helen.

Manuscript cookbooks sometimes date back centuries (one of the earliest known manuscript cookbooks was written in 1390 and was compiled by one of the chefs who served England’s Richard II) while early southern plantation hostesses jealously guarded their treasured handwritten “receipts”. Martha Washington’s handwritten cookbook is another famous example of a manuscript cookbook that has survived generations of descendants and is now in the archives at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson also kept a recipe journal that remained in his family and was finally reproduced some years ago. Possibly the world’s most famous manuscript cookbook was kept by Queen Victoria for over 50 years.

I first wrote about Helen’s Cookbook in the Sept/Oct 2007 issue of iNKY Trail News (a newsletter for seniors and penpalers) and don’t want to repeat all that, except to note that my speculation, that Helen never had children (why else would this treasure end up in a dusty little bookstore?) was confirmed recently in a most unexpected way, by another ITN columnist.

A few years after writing the original story about Helen’s Cookbook, Anna Brooker (who writes “Sincerely Yours”for Inky Trail News) and I began penpalling…both emails and snail mail. Our friendship began when Anna sent me a small manuscript cookbook she had acquired in England, where she lives with her husband and son. The handwritten cookbook arrived one day in March accompanied by a charming letter.

Manuscript cookbooks (and cookbooks in general) occupied a portion of our correspondence and in one of my letters, I told Anna what little I DID know about Helen. I had a full name and address because a recipe had been written on a sheet of printed stationery. I knew that her husband’s name was Mart – because Helen was thrifty and often copied recipes onto the backs of envelopes or old greeting cards–sources that provided clues to who she was and how she lived. Gradually, it appears that Helen’s vision began to fail her. Her handwriting became scrawled and almost illegible. Judging from a message inside an old card, I thought her husband died first.

Then Anna turned my perspective of Helen upside down, writing the following “I had a rare moment of quiet this morning while my husband and son were doing some clearing so I thought I would do a little research on your Helen C*. I have a genealogy buddy who is also a distant cousin and she allowed me to use her access to some databases and I found a few things out for you. I must say, I think Helen is even more interesting now. Here is a brief history of Helen for you. You will notice that there are one or two minor discrepancies in the data but that is typical. The gist of the information jives beautifully.

Helen May U. was born on July 5, 1888, in Pottawatomie County, Kansas. She was the daughter of Charles U. born about 1856 in Wisconsin and died January 19, 1929 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, and Emma S. who was born July 12, 1865 in Minnesota. Charles and Emma were married in October of 1887.

Helen had a younger sister, Lois, born July 5, 1907 who died before 1910, so Helen was basically an only child. Her father was a physician and surgeon in Chicago and Helen followed in his footsteps in the medical field and later became a psychologist. On February 5, 1921, Helen married Mart C. As she married later in life, there were no children born to her and Mart. Helen lived with her folks and later, when she married, she still resided with her widowed mother, Emma, in Chicago, Illinois.

Helen seems to have taken to using the middle initial of “U” at some point in place of her given middle name of May, probably as an abbreviation of her maiden name.

Sometime after 1930, Helen and Mart moved to California and that is where they lived out their lives, residing at 548 East Valna Drive in Los Angeles. Helen died on January 20, 1971 in Los Angeles California, and as you know, Mart preceded her in death. He died on November 14, 1956…”.

*I have deleted the last names of these people, who, although deceased, are entitled to their privacy. Perhaps there is no one left who cares, but I have grown protective of the author of my first manuscript cookbook. Over the years I have acquired other handwritten cookbooks which are sometimes not strictly handwritten – but contain recipes clipped from magazines and newspapers, and pasted on the pages. And because of Helen’s cookbook I began compiling my own manuscript cookbooks.

I like to think that Helen’s spirit led me to her cookbook–and I know that it has influenced me enormously and led me to a passion for not just cookbooks, but especially manuscript cookbooks. So, thank you Helen…and thank you Anna for solving a thirty-something mystery about the author of “Helen’s Cookbook”.
**

THE COMMON THREAD

Part One

Note: I want to stress to all of my Sandychatter subscribers that I have only the greatest respect for ALL faiths and beliefs. It is not my intent to promote or criticize any of the religions about which I have written. However, I have always been intrigued with all religious beliefs, but especially those that played a part in the development of the United States. I hope no one is offended by an article “talking religion” – what I am hoping to convey is the impact all of these groups had on how and what we eat. Food was as important to them then, as it is to us, today. This, then, was the Common Thread.

When I first wrote THE COMMON THREAD for the Cookbook Collectors Exchange, we didn’t have the luxury of the Internet—especially Google, which has become my most useful tool when determining whether any of the information I had collected in the 1990s is still relevant. Consequently, and much to my surprise, I found an interesting article by cookbook author Marion Cunningham, written for Saver magazine a few years ago. I also found an article she wrote for the Los Angeles times in 1991—both about the Shaker religion. Ms. Cunningham visited several of the still existing Shaker villages – one in Pleasant Hill, near Lexington, Kentucky, and another at Sabbathday Lake in Maine. I found it curious that someone else was writing about the Shakers and their cooking—around the same time I was originally writing The Common Thread. One comment that Ms. Cunningham made that really caught my attention was her opening remarks in Saver magazine, where she writes “I am a file keeper. Bulging manila folders hold a lifetime of clippings, recipes, brochures…” – you could have knocked me over with a feather! Ms. Cunningham was describing MY bulging files!–sls

They were searching for Utopia, or heaven on earth. Most of them came to this Promised Land, inspired by a quest for religious freedom. Still others formed religious communities that were the result of an intense religious revival that spread through many of the Midwestern states in the early 1800s.

In her novel “THE BELIEVERS” (published by Houghton Mifflin, in 1957), Janice Holt Giles wrote “…it caught from the passionate zeal of two brothers…and quickly, with the heat, the rapidity and intensity of a forest fire, it spread all over the State (of Kentucky), throughout Tennessee and on into much of the rest of the south. It was called ‘The Great Revival’.

“Such preaching,” she wrote, “…had not before been experienced and people were caught up in its emotional raptures, taken with the jerks and shakes, dancing like dervishes, speaking in unknown tongues, weeping, wailing, barking like animals, crawling, rolling, going into trances. So great was the interest, so fast the spread, that within two years, crowds of ten, fifteen, twenty thousand, were gathering for the revival experiences. It created schisms in established churches and created new denominations…”

This great revival attracted the attention of leaders of the Shaker Church; they sent missionaries to investigate.

“Eventually,” explains Ms. Giles, “two communities (i.e., Shaker Villages) were founded in Kentucky. One was located near Harrodsburg, on Shawnee Run. It was called Pleasant Hill. The other was west of Bowling Green and was called South Union.”
It was after reading “THE BELIEVERS”, one of my all-time favorite books, that I became interested in religious cults as they developed in this country, and to what extent they influenced the development of the United States.

The Shakers weren’t the only ones searching for Utopia, however. According to Mark Holloway, author of “HEAENS ON EARTH” (Dover Publications, 1966) there were many others; the earliest religious community of this type in America is thought to have been the Labadists of Bohemia Manor, in New York State, named for Jean de Labadie, one of the most famous dissenting preachers of the 17th century. There were Rappites and Zoarites, immigrants of German sects who founded their community in 1805 (The Rappite Society lasted 98 years, the Zoarites 83): there was the community of Oneida and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or the Mormons, founded by Joseph Smith after he was visited by an angel for four years from 1823-1827; there were Amish and Hutterites, he Mennonites and the Inspirationists of Amama, a group that is with us today, having spent 170 years in successful communal living. Today, there are 1,450 members of this group, with 25,000 acres of land in seven different towns. They are all German and very prosperous.

Some of these religious communities, for a variety of reasons, splintered and fractured, and became other sects. Just as the Shakers were a splinter group from the Quakers, the Amish, Dunkards, Mennonites and Brethren were different sects among the Pennsylvania Dutch. Some came and went, hardly making a ripple on the surface of American history, others endured and prospered for a hundred years or more and a few are with us still today.

I have always found this particular subject fascinating—how the development of religious cults in this country influenced and helped develop the United States. For instance, did you know that the Shakers were the first to sell seeds commercially in this country? Not only were they first; their seeds were so superior that the Shakers became famous for them, enabling farmers throughout the country to grow better crops. They also invented numerous labor-saving devices for use in the kitchen and on the farm.

Now, I am not here to question whether any of these religious groups or sects were right or wrong in their quest for heaven on earth; what I would like to do, however, is explore a bit, and reflect on how these groups were formed and what part they played in the development of this great country. And then let’s see what kind of food they grew and prepared and what kind of cookbooks are devoted to them.

With the colonization of America, many groups immigrated to this country in search of religious freedom. Most famous of these, of course, were the Pilgrims.

Sometimes, communal living was initiated; sometimes for practical purposes, for survival and sometimes for religious reasons, to remain apart from “the world” and because of a belief in pooling all their resources for the common good. Mark Holloway tells us that even the Pilgrims at Plymouth made temporary experiments with communism for reasons of expediency. However, in the case of the Pilgrims, when the necessity for it had passed, communal living as abandoned.

The idea of communal living was not a new one. There were religious groups practicing communal living for hundreds of years in Europe. The earliest communistic society (in this interpretation, to mean any group of people who pooled all of their resources and lived and worked together, for the common good), of which there is any record is that of the Essenes, a Jewish sect, who flourished in Palestinian Syria sometime before the birth of Christ. They originated in the first or second century BC, and disappeared from bible history around the time of the Fall of Jerusalem In 70 A.D.. While they did not live together under one roof and were spread out in various towns and villages, the Essenes kept a rigid commune of property and followed strict religious observances. Like the Shakers centuries later, the Essenes practiced celibacy and counted on the continuation of their group through the adoption of children and converts.

Our intent, now, however is not to dwell on the history of the religious sects throughout the world but to remain focused on those that developed in this country, although nearly all had their roots in Europe and immigrated to the New World to escape persecution in their homelands. The Lutheran Anabaptists, the Mennonites and the Schwenkfelders all later established colonies in Pennsylvania and were to play an important part in the founding of American democracy.

By the nineteenth century, Mark Holloway tells us, vast numbers of religious sects were firmly established. In the course of the century (the 1800s) there were on hundred communities with a total membership of more than one hundred thousand men, women, and children. Some of their ideas were far more revolutionary than the democratic and working class movements in Europe that they were trying to escape. For instance, instead of trying to change society from within, they tried to set up models of ideal commonwealths, which they hoped would set examples to which the world would follow.

“The ideals they sought,” explains Mr. Holloway, “and often succeeded in achieving, included equality of sex, nationality and color; the abolition of private property, the abolition of property in people, either by slavery or through the institutions of monogamy and the family; the practice of non-resistance; and the establishment of a reputation for fair-dealing, scrupulous craftsmanship and respect for their neighbors” – all of this, bear in mind, taking place when slavery was becoming an accepted institution in this country, and women had no rights of their own, least of all the right to vote, and sometimes not even the right to own property.

Only a few of these communities lasted over a hundred years; many vanished within a few months of being founded. “But,” writes Mr. Holloway, “all have contributed something of value, not only to the fund of experience upon which succeeding experiments of the same kind have relied, but also to the history of American society. When they failed, going down before the advance of large-scale industry and scientific socialism, one of the most valuable qualities of revolutionary man suffered an eclipse from which it has not yet emerged. Socialists would be unwise to spurn the idealism which these utopians were endowed, for although it led them up strange backwaters and provided them with fantastic hallucinations, the heart of socialism lies in it. It is better, perhaps, to be slightly mad with a sound heart than to be sane without one”.

Of course, we know that not all of them failed and some of them are with us, flourishing, today. And even though many of these religious sects had different beliefs and practices, I did find a common thread that runs throughout most of these groups.

They almost all believed in good cooking. The exception may have been the Dutch-founded Labadists; according to Mark Holloway “(they)…began as a communistic settlement…newcomers were obliged to put all of their possessions and funds into the common stock…their meals began with chanting and ended with silent and spontaneous prayer. Men and women ate apart from one another. Any dish that excited or delighted the palate was forbidden, and anyone who was so foolish as to admit distaste for a certain dish was forced to eat it until his penance was complete. Household economy was so strict and the check on all individuals so detailed that a record was kept of how many slices of bread and butter were consumed by each person at each meal…”

Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the downfall of the Labadists, whose greatest distinction may have been being the first religious commune in the New World. Or it may have been because their leader didn’t practice what he preached—not only did he sell tobacco, although smoking was prohibited, he took up slavery and became a vicious slave owner. This leader of the Labadists died a rich man and was one of the first religious racketeers; five years after his death, however, the colony was extinct.

Interestingly, though, William Penn had met the founder of the Labadists, de Labadie, (not the leader who took up slavery in the new world) and even invited the Labadists to join the Quakers when Penn became the owner, sometime later, of a large piece of land midway between the New England and Virginia plantations, that had been named Pennsylvania in honor of his father. William Penn wanted to model his tract of land after Roger Williams’ Rhode Island (which Mr. Williams had created to offer religious freedom to ALL—a practice not being followed by the puritanical pilgrims), and so Mr. Penn invited persecuted sects of northern Europe to immigrate to this new land. Among those who gladly accepted were the German Quakers represented by the Frankfort Land Company; they bought from Penn a large tract of land. In 1683, the first group of immigrants founded Germantown. This group was followed by Mennonites and others, most of whom lived ordinary lives as settlers, marrying, and raising their families.

As a result of movements in Germany, small independent Baptist sects began to appear; they were not connected with the Mennonites or Anabaptists, but like them, they also immigrated to Pennsylvania. About 20 of these families arrived in Germantown in 1719 and soon formed the first German Baptist Brotherhood. This brought all the small Baptist sects together and they became known in the colony as the Dunkers, or Dunkards (from the German word DUNKEN, which means to dip, or baptism) and with them they brought their customs of the love feast, feet washing and the kiss of charity. Collectively, we know these people as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

William Woys Weaver (who, himself, is a direct descendant of Anabaptist martyr Georg Weber, and a member of an influential Mennonite family), in his fine book PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COUNTRY COOKING, explains that the Pennsylvania Dutch are a composite of immigrants originating from four major regions of Central Europe; the Amish,. He says, only represent about 8% of the total Pennsylvania Dutch community.

The Pennsylvania Dutch, of course, can’t be lumped together as a religious group; however, within the group of people we know as the Pennsylvania Dutch, there were numerous religious sects. Perhaps the best-known of these are the Amish.

The Pennsylvania Dutch, says Mr. Weaver, are a people of many beliefs, of many lifestyles, but they share one thing in common – their cookery is the product of their land. He calls them America’s “farmers next door”, kitchen gardeners to New York and Philadelphia. He also explains that theirs is largely a cuisine of one-pot meals, fare that is designed around ancient dish concepts, to provide convenience and to strengthen the art of eating together at table. He also says that their best cookery is their most private cookery, for it is family-centered, a style of cooking that evolved out of sharing from a common pot. Weaver explains that their best cooks still cook at home, that the Pennsylvania Dutch never developed a restaurant culture to go along with their good home cooking.

It became apparent to me, as I researched material for this article, that I could have limited myself to the Pennsylvania Dutch and not gone farther afield, but if you want to learn a great deal about the Pennsylvania Dutch and their origins, you will have to get a copy of Mr. Weaver’s book “PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COUNTRY COOKING” published in 1993 by Abbeville Press, Inc.

You may also own one of the many different booklet-style collections of recipes devoted to the Pennsylvania Dutch; I have several of these, the oldest with a faded green cover, published in 1934. In 1936, a replica of the older book was published by Culinary Arts Press. One feature of this booklet that makes it so appealing is that it contains, along with traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipes such as scrapple and Schnitz and Knepp (a recipe of apples and ham), and the more famous Shoo-fly pie, a collection of poems and homespun philosophy. I found a similar booklet, simply titled “DUTCH COOKBOOK” by Edna Eby Heller, which was originally published in1953, and THE PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COOKBOOK” b Gerald S. Lestz, published by Grosset and Dunlap in 1970. The latter contains what the author refers to as “an informal history of the Pennsylvania Dutch” and also contains a chapter on the Amish. (booklets such as these often turn up in antique stores or in boxes of booklets being sold for ten or twenty five cents each in used book stores).

Dover Publications published PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COOK BOOK by J. George Frederick, in 1971; this is an unabridged republication of Part II, “COOKERY” of the PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH AND THEIR COOKERY which was originally published in 1946. I also found, wedged amongst other booklets on my shelves, a red-covered cookbooklet titled “COOKING WITH THE PENNSYLVIA DUTCH” published by the Auran Press of Lancaster, Pennsylvania—what makes this booklet a bit different from the others, aside from being undated, is that it purports to be a collection of choice old time home and farm recipes. (Since most Pennsylvania Dutch cooking remains traditional and old-fashioned, it’s hard to see how this differs from most other cookbooklets devoted to this region—I think many of these recipe booklets are the type you can purchase, inexpensively, when you travel through the region.

Yet another book—hardcover—is titled THE NEW PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COOK BOOK by Ruth Shepherd Hutchison, published in 1958 by Harper & Row.

However, one of the finer books about the Amish is titled “THE BEST OF AMISH COOKING” by Phyllis Pellman Good. Pay attention to this author’s name—she has written a number of very good cookbooks, including THE FESTIVAL COOKBOOK. Ms. Good is a native of Lancaster County, PA and edits books related to both the Amish and Mennonites. She is co-author if FROM AMISH TO MENNONITE KITCHENS and 20 MOST ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AMISH AND MENNONITES.

My Michigan penpal, Betsy, who also collects cookbooks and has a keen interest in the Amish, provided the following list of cookbooks in her collection, which will give you an idea of what to search for:

THE AMISH COOKS ANNIVERSARY BOOK – Lovina Eicher

THE AMISHCOOK AT HOME also by Lovina Eicher*

(*Sandy’s cooknote: Ms. Eicher writes a weekly column that is in several US newspapers; to go website www.theamishcook. )
MENNONITE GIRLS CAN COOK – They also have a website

THE HOMESTYLE AMISHKITCHEN COOKBOOK by GeorgiaVarozza

LANCASTER COUNTY COOKBOOK – Louise Stoltzfus

FAVORITE RECIPES OF QUILTERS – Louise Stoltzfus

MENNONITE COMMUNITY COOKBOOK – Mary Emma Showalter

COOKING FROM QUILT COUNTRY – Marcia Adams

FROM AMISH & MENNONITE KITCHENS – Phyllis Pellman Good

TREASURED AMISH & MENONITE RECIPES – Mennonite Central Committee

SHIPSHEWANA COMMUNITY COOKBOOK – Indiana Amish Country

PLAIN COOKING – Bill Randle

AMISH COOKIng – a Committee of Amish Women

COOKING WITH MANDIE VOL 1 & W (She has a cooking column in The Budget, a weekly Amish & Mennonite newspaper)

HOME COOKING – Adams County Community Cookbook, Ohio

MORE TASTY RECIPES – Ladies of Maranathe Church, Dover Ohio

LITTLE COOKBOOK ON THE PRAIRIE – FROM LITTLE STORE ON THE PRAIRIE, Amish store in Decatur Michigan

AMISH QUILTING COOKBOOK – Quilt shop in Mt Hope, Ohio

COOKING WITH THE HORSE & BUGGY PEOPLE II – Amish Women of Holmes County, Ohio

SEASONED WITH POETRY, COOKED WITH LOVE, Dewey, Ok

TASTES OF TOWNLINE II – La. Grange. Indiana

AMISH COUNTRY COOKBOOK – Essenhaus Restaurant, Middlebury, Ind.

TASTE OF PINECRAFT – Amish Kitchens of Pinecraft, Fl.

COUNTRY FAVORITES, Middle Barrens School, Middlebury, Indiana

AMISHFRIENDS 1 & 2 – Wanda Brunsetter
www.amishrecipebox.com

Phyllis Pellman Good writes, “The Amish are a Christian group who trace their beginnings to the time of the Protestant Reformation in16th century Europe”. In 1525, a group of believers parted company with the established state church for a number of reasons. “Among them was the conviction that one must voluntarily become a follower of Christ and that that deliberate decision will be reflected in all of one’s life. Since baptism must symbolize that choice, the movement was nicknamed “Anabaptists” meaning re-baptism.

Eventually the group were called Mennonites after Menno Simons, one of their leaders.

Like so many others of their time, their beliefs were often misunderstood and frequently look upon as a threat to established religion—consequently, they were persecuted. In 1693, a young Mennonite leader believed that the church was losing some of its purity and beginning to compromise with the world—and so he and a group who agreed with him left the Mennonites and formed a separate following, which they called Amish, after their leader Jacob Amman. Today, the Amish consider themselves the most conservative of the Mennonites.

Most of the Amish who settled in Pennsylvania in the 1700s settled in the eastern portion of the state, but unlike other religious sects of this period, they did not live in sequestered communities; often they had neighbors who were not Amish. Also, it was not until the American Revolution that this group defined its beliefs and practices: it was at this time that they realized their objections to war and refused to take part in it. They also try to remain apart from a worldly society, preferring to farm and remain close to the land.

Some of the different sects among the Pennsylvania Dutch, including the Amish, have clung to old ways in dress and other customs. Old Order Amish, Phyllis Pellman Good tells us, do not own or drive cars. They live without electricity, have prescribed dress patterns, operate their own schools and speak Pennsylvania Dutch among themselves.

However, although they are highly disciplined and often thought of as austere, the two areas in which the Amish distinguish themselves are in their quilts and their food. They believe that to waste is to destroy God’s gift; to go hungry is to ignore the bounty of the earth—and that there is no reason eating should not be a pleasure.

I have discovered that many of the Pennsylvania Dutch foods and their method of preparation are as familiar tome as my grandmother’s kitchen, reflecting, I suppose, on my German Hungarian background. The Amish, for instance, are big on soups and one-pot meals, a kind of cooking I grew up with and frequently practice today (as I write this a pot of homemade beef and barley soup is simmering on the stove—my four sons grew up on a lot of one-dish meals.) Potato soup, Ms. Good tells us, still tops the list as the most frequently eaten soup in Amish homes. Some eat it with rivvels, (a kind of tiny dumpling made with flour and egg).

She says others flavor it with chopped celery and onion. Today, most people have never heard of scrapple –but my older sister made it frequently when she was alive. And the Pennsylvania Dutch practice of keeping a cruet of vinegar on the table, so you can splash it on vegetables (or in bean or pea soup) is practiced by most members of my family to this day and is as familiar to me as my grandmother’s kitchen table on Baltimore Street was, back in the day.

Most Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook authors agree that soups and one dish meals are a traditional part of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine.

Ruth Hutchison, in THE NEW PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH COOK BOOK writes “Soup was frugal, soup was filling. Whatever food was available could be dropped into the soup kettle, and soup with keep body and soul together for a while. Even if there was nothing but milk and flour to be had, they would make two kinds of soup: brown flour soup and RIVVEL soup. Milk, potatoes and onions would make two more kinds of soups: potato soup and onion soup. This is how the “milk soups” came into being. Sometimes the Pennsylvania Dutch called them “pour man’s soups…”

Along with pies, for which they have always been famous (and will eat even for breakfast), the Pennsylvania Dutch are renown for shoo-fly pie and apple pandowdy, apple butter andfritters, Philadelphia Pepper-Pot soup, my favorite lebkuchen (a kind of honey based spice cookie), Moravian cookies, Pfeffernusse, Sauerbraten (a pot roast made with meat that has been soaked in vinegar, which gives—along with the distinctive flavor—the meat a good tenderizing. They are also famous for Wiener Schnitzel and chicken pot pies – and, of course, sauerkraut and hot German-style potato salad.

Today, the Amish live in 28 states and one Canadian province, Ontario, totaling about 261,150 adults and children. In most communities over half of the population is under the age of 18. About two thirds of the Amish population live in three states – Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. **

Like the Amish and the Mennonites, the Hutterites trace their origins to the 16th century Anabaptist movement which began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1525. Anabaptists claims that the true church consisted only of devout believers who were voluntarily baptized as adults. This concept was considered extremely radical and its believers met with a great deal of persecution. During this period, Anabaptism spread to Austria and from there to Moravia (now part of Czechoslovakia) where they found tolerance to their beliefs. In 1528, one group of Anabaptists adopted the practice of communal living, of sharing all economic goods. Jakob Hutter was an early leader of this community and the group eventually became known as Hutterites. The Hutterites in Moravia grew during the 16th century, but then met with war, plague, and persecution—in 1622, Catholic rulers banished all Hutterites from Moravia—which led, eventually, to most of the Hutterites immigrating to Russia and from Russia to America in the mid 1800s, when the Russian government threatened to take away their exemption from military service and their right to conduct schools in the German language. Before this mass immigration took place, however, several Hutterite leaders were inspired to resume communal living. Several of these communities were founded in Dakotas; the largest of these was the Schmiedeleut, established in what is now South Dakota.

However, because of their pacifist beliefs, during World War I the Hutterites were treated severely by the United States government. Two young men who were imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with the military died in prison, from mistreatment. Due to this, most of the Hutterites moved north to Canada. The Hutterite community moved 17 of its 18 existing American colonies to Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. With the passage of laws protecting conscientious objectors, some of the Schmiedeleuf began returning to the Dakotas starting in the 1930s where the built and inhabited new colonies.

Today, most Schmiedeleut live in Manitoba and South Dakota with a few in North Dakota and Minnesota. What makes Hutterites distinctive today from other groups with whom they share similar beliefs, is that they believe in the community of worldly goods.

In 1988, there were 35,000 Hutterite Brethrenliving in 374 colonires, or Bruderhofs, which means “places of the brethren”. Most of these are in the great plains areas of the USA and Canada and practice large scale agriculture. Unlike the Amish, however, the Hutterites have no restrictions on the type of farm machinery they use. They have the latest farm equipment, automatied poultry and livestock operations.

To learn more about the Hutterite community, you may be interested in a cookbook by Joanita Kant, titled THE HUTTERITE COMMNITY COOKBOOK, published in 1990 by Good Books of Intercourse, Pennsylvania (yes, the very same Good people – no pun intended – who have published the books about the Amish and the Mennonites.
In the Hutterite Community, it is customary for the women to keep handwritten notebooks which have been handed down from generation to generation. It is a tradition amongst these people that each time a colony divides to form a new daughter community (usually when the population reaches 120 people), the wife of the newly elected boss is given a copy of the cookbook from the m other colony. She is usually elected to be the head cook in the new colony This collection of recipes is based on the main cookbook, as well as the canning cookbook used in the Sunset Colony in Eastern South Dakota (wouldn’t you just love to be able to look at some of these handwritten cookbooks! Be still my heart!).

The type of food eaten by the Hutterites reflects their central European origins. Meat is served in abundance; breads, buns and dumplings are made in a variety of forms, for breakfast, lunch or supper.

The whole community gathers at mealtimes, except for children 14 years of age or younger, who are fed separately. Although meals are eaten in near silence, explains Ms. Kant, and it is clear that food is regarded as a necessity, and not an art form, the food is nevertheless substantial and plays an important part in the communal lifestyle. Along with a printed recipe, Ms. Kant has provided facsimiles of the original handwritten recipes. This is a beautiful cookbook, illustrated by Mary Elmore Wipf. The book sells for about $14.00. **

The history of the AMANA Society began in Germany in 1714 under the name of the Religious Community of True Inspiration. Persecution and discrimination, imprisonment and forced relocation led the believers, after a prophecy in July 1842, to immigrate to the United States where they formed a community in New York State, near the city of Buffalo. About 800 members—men, women, and children—were amongst the original group to immigrate to a commune which they called Ebenezer, a 500 acre Seneca Indian Reservation that had been purchased by four of their leaders. Later, an additional 5000 acres of land was purchased but Buffalo was growing rapidly, land prices were increasing, and the leaders began to look westward for more land and a way to escape the worldly city life.

In 1854, a group went to look at newly opened government lands, first in what is now Kansas, and then in Iowa. A location along the Iowa River suited them and they bought 18,000 acres of land along both sides of the Iowa River in Iowa County. Here, the Community of True Inspiration, today known as the Amana Church, practiced communal living and prospered until 1932, when the holdings were reorganized into a corporation.

During Amana’s communal era, able-bodies men and women worked at assigned jobs on farms and in factories, in craft shops and kitchens, in gardens, orchards, and vineyards. They received no pay but were given an allowance for clothing and household items. Food, housing, medical care, and education were provided by the community, the Gemeinde–a German word for “community” or “village”. Each family was assigned a home, which they often shared with relatives. Community doctors and dentists were sent to a state university or to Europe for their education. Medicines were prepared by community pharmacies, and made available. Teachers were also educated outside the community and then taught all children from ages 5 to 14. At the age of 14, most boys were assigned work on the farms or apprenticed in the craft shops, while girls were assigned kitchen work until they married.
When small children were about 4 years old, they were placed in Kinderschule, a day of daycare, or cared for by grandparents, so their mothers could return to kitchen work or gardening. However, whereas the Hutterites focused primarily on farming, the Amana colony directed their attention into textile production which became perhaps their most successful endeavor. They gained a fine reputation for their woolens and calicos; their brightly colored blankets and wolen cloths were shipped to wholesale markets in the big cities such as New York and Chicago. Even so, the Amana communal kitchen system, at the height of the communal era, had 55 communal kitchens to serve the seven Amana communities. Each kitchen was assigned to 30 to 45 residents and were operated by the KUCHEBAAS (kitchen boss), her VIZEBAAS (assistant boss) RUSTSCHWESTERN (those who prepared the fresh vegetables for cooking) and two or three young cooks. These women ruled over the kitchens, kept chickens, made butter and cheese, bake cakes and pies, pickled and preserved foods and served 3 meals a day, every day of the year. The kitchen crews also prepared midmorning and mid-afternoon lunches, usually coffee, wine, bread and cheese for the farmers and gardeners and anyone else who needed extra sustenance. END OF PART ONE

CHILI – SOMEWHAT CHASEN’S

At the request of Cynthia, here is the recpe for Chili – Somewhat Chasen’s, as it appeared in Fern Storer’s cookbook. But, read on:

CHILI – SOMEWHAT CHASENS

Fern Storer, in her cookbook “Recipes Remembered/ a Collection of Modernized Nostalgia” writes the following under the heading “CHILI – SOMEWHAT CHASEN’s”

“When a Los Angeles friend sent me a newspaper clipping in 1974 giving vaguely the ingredients in the famous Chasen’s chili I made my own interpretation. Obviously other food writers* have made the same attempt – versions of the recipe now appear in numerous cookbooks. This one is not the authentic Chasen’s chili – that’s a well guarded secret—but it’s one we find especially good.

½ pound onions (about 3 medium)
2 large green peppers
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic
2 TBSP bacon fat or oil
1½ lbs ground lean beef (see Note1)
½ lb ground pork (see Note 1)
2 (14½ oz) cans tomatoes, preferably Italian style in tomato puree (see Note 2)
2 cups water (rinse cans)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 TBSP chili powder (more, if desired)
1 tsp powdered cumin (comino)
2 TBSP packed brown sugar
½ tsp hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco sauce) (or ¼ tsp hot pepper flakes)
2 (1 lb each) cans pinto beans (plain—not chili seasoned)
Use a 3½ qt stainless Dutch oven or other heavy cooking pot*, conventional range (*I use a cast iron Dutch oven—sls)

Note 1 I sometimes buy the 2 lb package of ground beef and pork sold for meatloaf—use any desired proportion of pork and beef.

Note 2 Or use a 29 oz can of Italian style tomatoes and a 6-oz can of tomato paste.

Chop onions, dice green peppers and mince garlic. Heat the fat in cooking pot on medium heat, add the onions and green peppers and cook, stirring often, until beginning to soften slightly—5 to 7 minutes. Scrape a place clean on pot bottom and add the garlic, cook 30 seconds and mix into the vegetables. Add the beef and pork, breaking it apart with a fork. Cook on medium-high heat stirring frequently, until no longer pink—about 10 minutes. While meat is cooking open the tomato and bean cans and set aside. In a glass measuring cup, mix together the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and brown sugar.

Add the tomatoes, water, mixed seasonings and hot pepper sauce or flakes to the meat mixture, stirring thoroughly. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat so mixture simmers gently; cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes. Add the pinto beans and their liquid and simmer 30 to 45 minutes longer, stirring occasionally with a straight-end stirrer or wooden paddle. Taste in last part of cooking and add more seasoning, if desired. Liquid should have a creamy consistency.

Note: I have written this recipe with less chili powder than is characteristic of many chili recipes. To add more, near end of cooking, stir a teaspoon or two of chili powder into a quarter cup of hot water and stir it into the simmering chili” – From Fern Storer’s RECIPES REMEMBERED

If you Google “Chasen’s Chili” you will get something like 14,000 hits and numerous recipes.

Robby Cress wrote the following in “Dear Old Hollywood” which I found on Google. The recipe appears to be the same one featured in The Los Angeles Times Cookbook.

Cress writes “From opening in 1936 until closing in 1995, Chasen’s was a Hollywood institution. The restaurant, which used to be located at the corner of Doheny Drive and Beverly Boulevard at the edge of Beverly Hills, hosted the greatest stars ever to appear on screen.

James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, Ralph Bellamy, Frank Morgan and the rest of their “Boys Club” would gather every Wednesday at Chasen’s during the forties to eat, drink, sing, and catch up after their busy days working at the studios. In 1939, after Clark Gable and Carol Lombard introduced the newly arrived director from England, Alfred Hitchcock, to Chasen’s, the director and his wife would have their Thursday night dinners at the restaurant. The Jimmy Stewarts, Don Ameche (who introduced owner Dave Chasen to his wife Maude), George Burns and Gracie Allen, Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jack Lemmon, Billy Wilder, David Niven, Fred MacMurray, Joan Crawford – well, nearly every major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood dined at Chasen’s.

One of Chasen’s signature dishes was their chili. Elizabeth Taylor loved the chili so much that in 1962, while in Rome on location filming for Cleopatra, she paid $100 to have the chili shipped to her on dry ice! I love chili and knew I had to try the Chasen’s chili if it really is that good. Although the restaurant has been long closed, the book “Chasen’s: Where Hollywood Dined – Recipes and Memories” by Betty Goodwin, contains the recipe for this famous chili.

With winter here I could think of nothing better to cook up than a hot bowl of chili, so I took a try at making this Hollywood classic. Here is the recipe and the results from my cooking:

Chasen’s Chili

Prepping the Ingredients

1/2 pound dried pinto beans
water
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups onions, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup butter
2 pounds beef chuck, coarsely chopped
1 pound pork shoulder, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup Gebhardt’s chili powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Farmer Brothers ground cumin

1. Rinse the beans, picking out debris. Place beans in a Dutch oven with water to cover. Boil for two minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand one hour. Drain off liquid.

2. Rinse beans again. Add enough fresh water to cover beans. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for one hour or until tender.

3. Stir in tomatoes and their juice. Simmer five minutes. In a large skillet saute bell pepper in oil for five minutes. Add onion and cook until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the garlic and parsley. Add mixture to bean mixture. Using the same skillet, melt the butter and saute beef and pork chuck until browned. Drain. Add to bean mixture along with the chili powder, salt, pepper and cumin.

4. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for one hour. Uncover and cook 30 minutes more or to desired consistency. Chili shouldn’t be too thick – it should be somewhat liquid but not runny like soup. Skim off excess fat and serve.
Makes 10 cups, or six main dish servings.

Cress recommends “For more of Chasen’s recipes I recommend picking up a copy of Goodwin’s book* In addition to the recipes are some intimate photographs of the stars who dined at Chasen’s as well as some fun anecdotes about the restaurant…”

*Sandy’s cooknote: Chasen’s Restaurant closed years ago but you may want to look for Betty Goodwin’s book “Chasen’s: Where Hollywood Dined – Recipes and Memories” I never ate there but I have friends who used to go there.

*Sandy’s Cooknote: Betty Goodwin is also the author of “HOLLYWOOD DU JOUR; LOST RECIPES OF LEGENDARY HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS” – which I have. However, Chasen’s Chili is not featured in this book, published in 1993 – it’s a fun read, anyway. The original Cobb Salad and grapefruit cake, both well known features of the Brown Derby Restaurant, are featured in this cookbook.

I found Chasen’s Chili also featured in “the L.A. GOURMET/FAVORITE RECIPES FROM FAMOUS LOS ANGELES RESTAUANTS” by Jeanne Voltz and Burks Hamner, published in 1971.

*Sandy’s cooknote—“The Los Angeles Times California Cookbook, (published in 1981 by Harry N. Abrams), one of my favorite recipe books in my California collection, offers a recipe similarly titled, “Chasing Chili” in which the authors note “For years we’ve been after the recipe for the real Chasen’s chili made famous by the Beverly Hills restaurant’s celebrated clientele. We finally caught up with one version that is allegedly authentic, but no one at Chasen’s will admit that it’s their recipe. Hence the name.

I collected S.O.S. columns from the L.A. Times for decades but stopped when the newspaper revamped their food pages to the point where I no longer recognized it or wanted whatever was being featured. But here is the Chasing Chili featured in the L.A. Times:

DEAR SOS: Please print the recipe for Chasen’s chili again. I bought your new cookbook, “Dear SOS,” but it wasn’t in the book.
–JOYCE

DEAR JOYCE: Unfortunately, the chili recipe was one of hundreds that landed on the cutting room floor because of the book’s space restrictions. We call the dish “Chasing” chili because we have never been able to convince Chasen’s proprietor to share the recipe.

The recipe is from a reader who clipped it, she said, from a publication crediting the source as a friend who knew a waiter who knew a chef, etc. At best, it’s a facsimile (a good one, we hope).
See if you agree.

CHASING CHILI

1/2 pound dry pinto beans
5 cups chopped tomatoes
1 pound green peppers, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 pounds onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup butter
2 1/2 pounds ground beef, preferably chuck
1 pound lean ground pork
1/3 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

In bowl soak beans in water to cover overnight. Drain. Cover with cold water and simmer until beans are tender, about 1 hour.
Add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes longer. Sauté green peppers in hot oil until tender. Add onions and cook until tender, stirring frequently. Add garlic and parsley.

In another skillet, melt butter and add beef and pork. Cook, stirring, 15 minutes, or until crumbly and brown. Add meat to onion mixture and stir in chili powder. Cook 10 minutes. Add meat mixture to beans along with salt, pepper and cumin seeds.
Simmer, covered, 1 hour. Remove cover and simmer 30 minutes longer. Skim fat from top. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

I hope you find your missing cookbooks, Cynthia. I know what it’s like to lose some treasured cookbooks–been there and done that! Sandy

A LOVE AFFAIR WITH DOLLHOUSES

(Originally titled “Something about Doll Houses 2006” and featured in the Inky Trail News Newsletter)

When I was a little girl, Santa brought me a dollhouse for Christmas one year. I think I was about five years old. It was one of those 40s tin-dollhouses, furnished with Bakelite furniture and a bendable family of four. I loved that dollhouse and spent many hours playing with it and rearranging the furniture. Then when I was about twelve, I came home from school one day to discover that my mother had given my dollhouse to an acquaintance for her daughter. I was horrified.

“You never played with it anymore!” my mother claimed. (It was the bane of my existence, as well as that of my siblings, that our mother would arbitrarily decide which of your possessions you could keep and which she would decide to give away. While she kept things like used envelopes (to make lists), all shapes and sizes of plastic containers, empty lipstick tubes and all string and rubber bands—she gave away my brothers’ baseball card collections and collections of comic books—or equally perversely, she would decide to burn those things. If something was in her basement or under her roof, it was hers to dispose of. That was my mother. One time my son Steve asked her if he could have a few of the comic books that were stored in the basement. She said no, and later got rid of all of them.)

She was mistaken about the dollhouse. I did play with it. I never tired of rearranging the furniture and moving the dolls around. I had a tiny little lamp that you could hold close to an actual light and then the tiny lamp glowed in the dark. (Needless to say, this dollhouse didn’t have real, working lights!)

I never quite got over my mother giving away that dollhouse.

Obviously, I was ripe for collecting dollhouses. I didn’t intend to collect dollhouses but I’ve heard that if you have more than three of something, it’s a collection.

I found the first dollhouse in a thrift store in Burbank. It was in five or six pieces and the price was ten dollars. A girlfriend helped me carry the pieces to my car. Bob put the frame back together and it sat on a coffee table in the living room for several years without any additional remodeling. We began collecting an assortment of tiny dolls and dollhouse furniture. My niece and nephews and grandchildren played with it whenever they visited.

But I wanted a Christmas Dollhouse. Bob began working on the dollhouse in his spare time. It became his hobby.

In 1997, we finally got the dollhouse up and decorated. It turned out too cute for words. We bought some strings of itty bitty lights and put up a Christmas tree in the living room of the doll house along with a Santa and his sleigh on the rooftop, taking off with his reindeer.

We spent two weeks adding fine touches; one night I was laying on the floor in front of the doll house, sticking furniture inside, and Bob was handing me pieces from a basket of “stuff” we had collected..when he suddenly says, “You know, we could be committed for this. Most people would say we’re crazy.” But we had such a good time with the dollhouse – not just the decorating and remodeling, but spending hours poring over miniature catalogs we received in the mail. It became our joint hobby.

Another time, he said to me, “You should take that bed out of the master bedroom” and I said “well, gee, then we wouldn’t have a BED in the master bedroom” and HE says “yeah, and then you wouldn’t have all those BABIES in the nursery.” (Our nursery had about 10 little babydolls in it. I think 3 are triplets. They started taking on a life of their own).

That house looked darling alongside the tree! The following year we began to finish off the 3rd floor, creating a teen-age girls room and a bathroom. One time I found miniature ball gowns at a shop in Disneyland—creations patterned after the various Disney princesses; I bought two of the dresses which I think were intended to be Christmas ornaments—and then decided that, since we had those dresses, the two teenage girls were going to a ball that night. Since the two teenage girls were getting ready to go to a dance, a girlfriend made petticoats for them to have on.

The Christmas doll house became an on-going project for many years. The dollhouse mother is in the kitchen putting finishing touches on a gingerbread house; the dollhouse father is about to eat a Dagwood sandwich and sits in the living room which has a Christmas tree and a lot of presents and toys – the babies are all snug in their beds while Santa Claus is taking off in his sleigh, on the rooftop.

Every so often I’d find something perfect for the dollhouse–one year a Hallmark ornament that is a refrigerator, just the right size for the dollhouse—another year a Hallmark stove.

The rooms light up and we calculate that some of the lamps, and the chandelier, cost more than some of our real household lamps. That Christmas dollhouse became our pride and joy.

But, I still longed for that 50s tin-dollhouse. Some years ago while on vacation and visiting relatives, we found one in an antique store in northern Ohio. Those tin dollhouses had tabs and could be taken apart and laid flat, so, we took it apart and laid it inside one of our suitcases to bring home. Meanwhile, a girlfriend found another tin dollhouse for us, complete with furniture, at a shop near her home and bought it for me. Ok, I now had three dollhouses. A collection.

Then another friend found “Grandma’s cottage”, a little dollhouse constructed from one of those kits. It was perfect for a grandmother’s house. Grandma is sitting in her rocking chair while two grandchildren play at her feet.

The piece de resistance is a huge, heavy dollhouse that we learned about from a doctor friend. It once belonged to the daughter of an artist who lived in the nearby Hollywood Hills. The artist had built it for his daughter. He had passed away; the daughter had outgrown the dollhouse, and her mother was moving to Santa Barbara. Did we want to buy the dollhouse? Of course we did! We lugged it home in the trunk of my car, tied down with rope.

This dollhouse shows obvious wear from being played with for so many years and requires paint, wallpaper, wiring—the works. The neat thing about this hobby is that it was a joint venture; Bob did all the actual work while I’d stand back and make suggestions. We’d both study hobby catalogs choosing wallpaper and bathroom tile flooring.

We acquired a respectable collection of books about dollhouses, including some that are hundreds of years old—fascinating! There are actually tours you can take to visit those dollhouses throughout Europe.

I searched constantly for just the right dollhouse furniture. Another neat thing is that now my best friend has gotten into dollhouses too—she’s refurbished and furnished one and is working on her second. When we are together, we can always go antiquing and search for anything suitable for our dollhouses. Another friend found some 1930s oak bedroom dollhouse furniture and gave it to me one year for my birthday. Another time a niece sent me a boxful of ornate dollhouse furniture that I have since seen featured in a Hobby magazine. Who knew?

And since the Christmas dollhouse was now furnished (expensively, I might add) it was no longer suitable for the grandchildren to play with. We solved this by first buying a Fisher Price Loving Family dollhouse for the kids to play with when they were here visiting. And, the tin dollhouses are furnished and children are allowed to play with them. The original children to play with our dollhouses were my sister’s children – now grown. Then along came my grandchildren, all of whom – including the boys – would make a beeline for the dollhouses when they visited. Now those children are “too old” for dollhouses … and we have two more little girls ready to play with these houses when they visit Grammy.

*This post was originally written some years ago, for Inky Trail News, a newsletter for women and seniors. Since writing the original version, Bob passed away, on September 22, 2011. That last dollhouse we purchased from the woman who was moving to Santa Barbara? It’s in Bob’s workshop, incomplete. He was shingling the roof when he became too sick to work on it anymore. Our oldest granddaughter says she is going to finish it but that may take a long time, considering how busy she is with school and other interests.

–Sandra Lee Smith

January, 2012, in memory of Robert Fend, who loved the dollhouses as much as I did.

JANE BUTEL’S COOKBOOKS & GREMLINS IN MY COMPUTER

I was working for several days to complete a list of Jane Butel’s cookbooks and trying to get them all in date order. SOMEHOW I lost the original list which should have ben included in Part 2 of Three Quite Unrelated Cookbooks and Seventy Years. I couldnt come up with 20 titles no matter how much I searched so I wrote to the author who graciously wrote back to me. The list now contains 22 titles! You will find this list useful if you decide to visit Amazon or Alibris and shop for some of Jane’s cookbooks.

She wanted me to let you all know what you can go to www.janebutelcooking.com and subscribe to Butels Bytes. I did some surfing around on Jane’s website over the weekend and was quite impressed. You might want to give this site a visit and perhaps become a subscriber (I am going to sign up). MEANTIME for my readers who like to know these things, here is a ist of Jane Butel’s cookbooks- and hopefully this is a complete list.(Thanks, Jane!) Sandy@sandychatter:

COCINAS DE NEW MEXICO, 1961
JANE BUTEL’S COOKBOOKS FAVORITE MEXCAN FOODS, 1968
JANE BUTEL’S FREEZER COOKBOOK 1977
JANE BUTEL’S TEX-MEX COOKBOOK, 1979
CHILI MADNESS, 1980
FINGER LICKIN’ RIB STICKIN’ GREAT TASTIN’ HOT N SPICY BARBECUE 1982
TACOS, TORTILLAS AND TOSTADOS 1982
WOMAN’S DAY BOOK OF NEW MEXCAN COOKING 1984
THE BEST OF MEXICAN COOKING 1984
HOTTER THAN HELL, 1987
FIESTA 1987
JANE BUTEL’S TEX-MEX COOKBOOK, 1993
HOTTER THAN HELL 1994 (REVISED AND EXPANDED)
JANE BUTEL’S SOUTHWESTERN KITCHEN 1994
JANE BUTEL’S SOUTHWESTERN GRILL (with Gordon McMeen) 1996
FIESTAS FOR FOUR SEASONS, 1997
JANE BUTEL’S QUICK & EASY SOUTHWESTERN COOKBOOK 1999
HOTTER THAN HELL, REVISED AND EXPANDED AND REWORKED WITH PHOTOGRAPHY, etc. 2005
REAL WOMEN EAT CHILES 2006
CHILI MADNESS, 2ND EDITION, REVISED AND EXPANDED, 2008
THE BEST OF MEXICAN COOKING 2009
REGIONAL MEXICAN COOKING FROM THE SCOTTSDALE FAIRMONT PRINCESS COOKING SCHOOL, 2009

“WHAT’S UNDER THE BED?” by the Retired Friends

COLLECTED BY SANDRA LEE SMITH

Elinor wrote:
About a third of all Americans do this just once a year. They should do it more often. What is it? It’s..Vacuum under the bed. Hmm, The housekeeper comes once a week but spends a limited time in each apartment. I have underbed storage containers under my bed. I’ve been here 3 years and I doubt that territory has been invaded by a vacuum cleaner.

Marge Sallee wrote:
That’s a new question we can bounce around. What have you hidden under your bed and why? Guess it if means we have to get down on our knees to really see what’s under there, it might take us a while to do the research. I remember when I used to clean under things, move large pieces of furniture almost every week. Now Dorman runs the vacuum most of the time, and I know he doesn’t move anything because his knees aren’t in such good shape either. To tell the truth, what we need is a good young person to do our housework the way we used to do it years ago. Seems like the cleaning agencies want a lot to do house clearning and have a long list of things they don’t do (THOSE ARE THE THINGS I REALLY NEED TO HAVE DONE).

Elinor, I think you are feeling pretty smug because some one comes in and cleans for you. I’m envious. I used to go to my great grandmother’s house next door every Saturday and cleaned her little house and wrote her letters to relatives for her. I loved doing it. The only teen aged girls in our family live in Houston, and boy could I keep them busy and in spending money if they lived closer. I’m not sure if they think it would be so wonderful though. ***__
Sandy wrote (in response to Marge N’s waxing and vacuuming her floors) hmmm. When waxing and vacuuming did you go under the bed??? (couldn’t resist asking). By the way, I keep all of our baggage—suitcases and tote bags and duffel bags – under mine & Bob’s beds. You can’t put anything under the trundle bed although I have stashed some boxes of things on the lower bed a few times. Out of sight, out of mind!

And Marge N. replied “NO!! I have so much stuff stored under the beds – about once a year I do take everything out and clean under there so I guess it fits right in with yesterday’s question. When I vacuum, mop, wax – I just go under the edge of the bed until I run into something! Boxes of stored items, games, gift wrapping paper, you name it – it’s under the beds!

Rosie first wrote:
I have a big, long, low box filled with lots of old Workbasket magazines. I have entire volumes (decades) of them, going back into the ’40′s and maybe even earlier. I collected them back in the 70′s and just never got rid of them. I keep thinking I’m going to go thru them and copy down some patterns (I have 2 cousins who had patterns published in the magazine). People keep telling me they’re probably worth money. Maybe so, but first I want to thumb thru them. Of course, I’ve only had them for 30+ years and still haven’t spent the time I want to go thru them! But I will – someday.

Then Rosie wrote:

I didn’t think about our guest room. Under the day bed is a collapsible twin bed.

I had someone clean my house for nearly 10 years when we lived in Chicago, in the 90′s. I just couldn’t clean that large a house with my arthritic condition getting worse by the year. When we moved here, I found someone to clean (a private individual as it was in Chicago) and then she quit to go back into nursing. That was okay, though, because our budget was getting tighter, but I wish I could still afford her. She was very good. I only had her come in every other week and she only charged $40. Of course, we live in an apartment with just 4 rooms plus bath and laundry room, and she was usually done in 3 to 3 1/2 hours. She did anything I wanted her to do. She’d of changed the bedding and laundry if I’d of asked her to, but we did that ourselves. But she did anything and everything else.

Sharon wrote:
As I mentioned before, I have a scale under the end of the bed but I just took another peek. Outside of the dust bunnies and a couple of dog toys which I have removed, that’s it. I used to shove the many photo albums underneath the loveseat in the living room and now I have stopped doing that.
Under the spare room bed are a couple of jigsaw puzzles which have been put together and glued and are ready to be framed. They were for family who are no longer here so I’m not sure what I will do with those.
Strange as it might seem, I have never been comfortable with someone else coming in and doing the cleaning of my house. When I was laid up with my broken leg a couple of winters ago, I had one of my nieces come and do a little vacuuming and clean the upstairs bathroom. She spent most of the time talking with me and drinking coffee lol.
My mother always had a housekeeper when she taught school because my dad worked long shifts in the canning factory during the warmer months. He came home at lunch for a hot meal every day plus my grandma lived with us and my brother and I came home from school for our lunches. In later years mom had someone come and help with the cleaning every second week.

Elinor wrote: So “Under the Bed” is another topic for retired friends? I should add that underbed containers are one of the ways to find extra storage space in an apartment, especially a studio apartment. I have suggested them in my retirement articles about downsizing from a house to an apartment. It may be necessary to raise the bed on risers to fit the the storage carts under the bed. But having the bed a little higher makes it easier to get in and out of. Underbed storage is useful for seasonal clothing, extra blankets, etc.

ANOTHER ARMFUL OF OLD CHURCH & CLUB COOKBOOKS – PART 2

As promised, here are another assortment of old church and club cookbooks.

One cleverly compiled and tastefully decorated cookbook is “MacCooking in MacKlamazoo”, subtitled “A Hotch-Potch of Scottish Recipes and Blethers from the Caledonians of Kalamazoo, Michigan—and it really DOES present many Scottish recipes that you may not find anywhere else outside of Scotland. From Hotch Potch or the more commonly used ‘hodge-podge’ (which means something mixed up) there is a fine lamb stew but you will also find recipes for Scotch Broth, Cock-a-Leekies, Lamb & Leek Casserole, Finnan Haddie, Potted Salmon, Scotch Eggs—and oh, so many more.

Amongst the biscuits, sweets and desserts you will find recipes for shortbread, marmalade, lemon curd (one of my favorites) and many others you may not be familiar with.

There is a well-prepared interested introduction, the likes of which you seldom find in a little church-and-club cookbook. The Caledonians are a Celtc/Gaelic/Scottish Heritage organization that was founded in 1986 by a group of Kalamazoo native Scots and those of Scottish descent. Why Caledonian? They are named after the people of Caledonia or Caledon, this being the ancient name of what we now know as Scotland.

There are a lot of native recipes in this cookbook—some you may never want to consider trying—but the Scots are famous for their Scottish Shortbread. To make Shortbread, you will need:

1 cup butter (margarine never appears in any of their recipes)
½ cup brown sugar
2 ½ cups all purpose flour.

Cream the butter with the brown sugar, then gradually add the flour, mixing lightly only until the dough resembles pastry dough. On a lightly floured board, gently press (do not roll) the dough to a thickness of abut ¾”. Chill the dough for about an hour, pick it all over with a fork, then place it on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake at 275 degrees for about an hour, or until the shortbread is very light brown.

(Sandy’s cooknote: all of the shortbread recipes I have ever encountered were shaped in a round cake pan, and when the shortbread has baked, would be cut into wedges. Another recipe in this cookbook bakes the shortbread in an 8×8” pan and then it is cut into squares while still warm.) **

Priscilla’s Pantry from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lodi, California, is another American church with a long history; work to establish the church in Lodi began in 1896. The church was then called St Matthew’s Mission but on September 13, 1906, St John’s Mission was established with services being held in the Odd Fellows building. The old church building, made of redwood, was erected in 1910.

In 2002, a new church was built – but I have been unable tO find out anything about Priscilla’s Pantry. Maybe a church member will enlighten me. Meantime, here is a recipe for Bobbie’s Oatmeal thins cookies on the most stained page (and evidently most often used) in the cookbook:

To make Bobbie’s Oatmeal Thins, you will need:

1 cube (1 stick = 4 ounces) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg slightly beaten
1 tsp almond extract or 1½ tsp grated orange peel

Melt butter in 2 quart saucepan. Add rest of ingredients. Grease and flour cookie sheets* drop by small teaspoon, well spaced (they spread a bit) and bake 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool slightly (about 5 minutes0 remove cookies to rack

(Sandy’s cooknote: if you use parchment paper, you won’t need to grease and flour the cookie sheets).

“WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN DISTRICT 23, Compiled by the Texas Graduate Nurse’s Association, in Borger Texas, was first printed in September, 1960, and has the distinction of ads from local businesses with telephones using a prefix instead of all numbers. Barney’s Pharmacy, Cretney Drug Stores, Jim’s Grocery and Market all have telephone numbers starting with BR (was the BR for Borger?) we may never know.

Here is a recipe for Sweet Potato Pudding made the way I like it (no marshmallows!):

To make Sweet potato pudding you will need

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar (or less, per your own taste)
½ cup melted butter

Blend the mashed sweet potatoes, butter & sugat. Then add & mix well:

2 eggs
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 cup evaporated milk

Blend well and pour into a greased baking dish; bake at 350 degrees* until hot and bubbly.

(Sandy’s cooknote: I changed the temperature of the oven and the baking time. I don’t believe in baking anything in a glass baking dish over 350 degrees. If you are using a pan, you can bake the sweet potato recipe at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. I also like to top the dish off with a sprinkling of brown sugar and chopped pecans.

COOKBOOK compiled by THE WOMEN’S GUILD OF ST JOHN’S EVANGELICAL REFORMED CHURCH, OF Nashua, Iowa, C. J. Weidler, Pastor, offers a lovely photograph of the church and still managed to get all the above title on the cover. It was published in 1955. Google failed me this time; I couldn’t locate the church and have no idea if it is still standing (Perhaps someone who knows will write to me). It saddens me to think this sweet white church may not still be around.

Here is someone’s recipe for Wacky Cake.

1 ½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 TBSP cocoa
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Sift the above ingredients into a ungreased pan. Make 3 depressions. Into one, put 1 TBSP vinegar. Into the second put 1 cup cold water, and into the third put 6 TBSP melted butter. Stir well. Bake at 350 r until it shrinks from sides.

Make an icing of:
1 tsp vanilla
3 TBSP cream
1 square melted chocolate
3 TBSP melted butter
½ lb powdered sugar

Mix well and spread on top of the cake (presumably after it has had time to cool) **

125th ANNIVERSARY COOKBOOK OF FRIENDS AND FAMILIES FAVORITES was compiled by the First Lutheran Church of Rural Ossian Iowa. The church was organized in 1850 by the first Norwegian pastor ordained in America. It chose its name because it was the first Lutheran Church in Fayette County and the first Lutheran Church of Norwegian descent in the State of Iowa. At its height, in 1884, there were 538 baptized souls.

Originally a log structure was built at the present cemetery site. The second building, located at the present site was built in 1870, was destroyed by a storm and rebuilt. The present church was built in 1924. The following recipe is that of a Norwegian Coffee Cake:

½ cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1½ cups flour
1 level tsp baking powder
¾ cup milk

Cream butter & sugar together; add eggs. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to mixture. . Bake in a shallow buttered 9” pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. **
“MEETINGHOUSE MANNA” was presented by the Ladies Benevolent Society to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the First Church in Weymouth, 1973. The cookbook was compiled by the Book Club in 1972.

“MEETINGHOUSE MANNA” was an industrious undertaking – it’s a thick cookbook that appears to have been compiled, completely, by the Book Club in observation of the church’s 350 anniversary in 1973. They also have one of the nicest, most interesting websites I’ve ever come across. Visit http:firstchurchweymouth@webs.com to learn more. Here is a church member’s contribution for making Corn Tomato Casserole:

3 TBSP butter
3 cups ½” bread cubes (6 slices equals 3 cups)
1 lb can whole kernel corn (about 2 cups)
#2 can tomatoes *
1 small onion, minced
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
½ cup grated American cheese (2 slices = ½ cup)

Melt butter, bread cubes, and toss lightly; reserve. In a 1½ quart casserole, place alternate layers of corn and tomatoes with two cups of the buttered bread cubes. Add cheese to the remaining 1 cup of bread cubes and sprinkled over top of mixture. Bake in moderate hot oven 375 degrees for 30 minutes

(*Sandy’s cooknote – how big is a can of #2 tomatoes? Does anyone know?)

One final note – I still have a stack of these old church and club cookbooks that deserve a second look. Will post some more as time permits!

Happy cooking and Happy cookbook collecting

Sandy

ELMORE LEONARD’S 10 RULES OF WRITING

Now, obviously I can’t quote all the content in this slim volume of a book that I found a while back—you need to find a copy of the book and buy it…but if you are an aspiring writer, you might find some of the tips useful.

My significant other reads all of Elmore Leonard’s books and a few months ago I was surfing around on Amazon.com and saw the title “Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing” with illustrations by Joe Ciardiello. My curiosity was piqued and the price was right.

Leonard says “these are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in a story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.

Leonard’s Rule #1 is “Never open a book with weather”

#2 is “Avoid Prologues” – I have to add Leonard’s comment “They can be annoying especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword.” – Leonard also says he likes a lot of talk in a book and he doesn’t like “to have nobody tell me what the guy that’s talking looks like.” Get on with solving the murder!)

#3 is “Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue”

#4 is “Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said’ ”

#5 is “Keep your exclamation points under control” (I can do that!)

#6 is “Never use the words ‘suddenly’ or ‘All Hell broke loose.”

#7 is “Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. (unless you are Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings).

#8 is “Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.” (My significant other gets really annoyed with authors who spend pages describing all the clothing the characters are wearing. He says he doesn’t care if she is wearing a blue dress or a black dress, matching high heels or whatever.)

#9 is “Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.” (for my significant other and I, this goes hand in hand with #8.)

And #10 is “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip”

Elmore Leonard says his most important rule is one that sums up the ten: “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it”

There’s a lot more so if you have any aspirations to write – you may want to get a copy of the book. You can read the whole thing while you are sitting in front of the computer wondering what to write about today. It’s a small book.
Publisher is William Morrow. Amazon.com has a bunch of copies, starting at pre owned for about $5.00 – but you can get a new one for $10.

So, you see, while waiting for inspiration on a new cookbook related post, I was able to come up with something for those of you who send me writer-related questions.

Happy cookbook collecting and happy WRITING.
Sandy

IN MY MOTHER’S KITCHEN (A POEM)

For Stephanie & all the other nieces & nephews who wonder about how their aunts & uncles (or mother or father) really lived…I put it into a poem for you.

IN MY MOTHER’S KITCHEN

In my mother’s kitchen
At 1618 Sutter Street,
We all sat around an old white wooden table
That was covered with oilcloth,
And it was there that my sister
And brothers and I
Did our homework,
While my mother did the ironing,
And a small Crosley radio
On top of the refrigerator
Was tuned to the radio “shows”
We listened to every night,
Shows like The Lone Ranger and
Mr. & Mrs. North,
The Shadow and
Lights Out,
And one of my favorites,
Baby Snooks,
My Friend Irma and
Our Miss Brooks;
These programs were on every day
And every night
Along with shows like Jack Benny
And Amos and Andy.
There were dozens of these programs
Which we listened to
While working on essays or
Our arithmetic lessons.
My Mother’s kitchen was not, actually,
A very large room
But along one wall, on the left side,
There was a stove, and a tall narrow cabinet
Where my mother stored spices
And bottles of things like vinegar and
Kitchen Bouquet;
Next to it there was a
Large built-in cupboard with
Curious stained glass in the upper cupboard doors,
And then an open space
Underneath which there was a drawer
Where all sorts of things were tossed, from rubber bands
To Wilson Evaporated milk labels (which could be redeemed
For free things like dish towels or pot holders),
As well as paper clips and crayons and bobby pins,
Pencils and erasers and old used envelopes,
My mother’s one and only cookbook, Ida Bailey Allen’s
Service Cookbook that she bought at Woolworth’s,
A pair of kitchen scissors and
World War II ration books for each one of us
That she kept long after the war was over.
Whenever you needed something like string or
A rubber band, you looked inside the kitchen drawer.
Next to this big build in kitchen cupboard
There was a narrow built in cupboard
Where canned goods and staples were stored
And where my father ingeniously cut a square
Hole into the floor so that my mother
Could drop soiled laundry collected
From the second floor bedrooms.
In the basement, my father built large
Cupboards, one of which contained
The laundry that had been dropped in the hole from above.
Once, my brother Biff got stuck in the
Hole when we were playing hide & seek.
There was a back door, outside of which
There was a box where the milkman
Left bottles of milk,
And a kitchen window that looked out
Onto the back yard. In the corner
Along that wall was the refrigerator
On top of which was the little radio;
There must have been
A window on the other kitchen wall,
The long wall opposite the great kitchen cupboard
But I can’t quite envision it. My mother had
A mangle ironer that she seldom ever used
And it was a catchall for things piled on top of it.
On the 4th wall, opposite the back door,
Was the kitchen sink
Where my sister and brother and I
Washed, dried and put away dishes
And learned the lyrics to popular songs
From a songbook Becky bought each week
For ten cents from Carl’s Drug Store.
This was my mother’s kitchen,
Where we ate supper every night
At six o’ clock sharp
And you did not eat
If you were not at the table.
I never missed supper
And sat to my mother’s right
At the kitchen table.
It was in my mother’s kitchen
That I learned to cook,
Studying recipes in the Ida Bailey Allen cookbook
And making sure we had all of the ingredients
In the pantry.
It was in my mother’s kitchen
That I began making muffins and brownies,
Peanut butter cookies and a cookie called
Hermits and another called Rocks.
If you could read directions, I discovered,
You could cook.
It was also in my mother’s kitchen
That I began to write stories
On an old under wood typewriter
That my father bought for my brother and me
To use; it was too heavy to carry upstairs
And so I typed, two-fingers, while sitting
At the kitchen table.
These are the things I remember about
My mother’s kitchen.
It was, I think, the hub of the house.

–Sandra Lee Smith