Valentine Luncheon Menus: Veal Croquettes, Sunshine Sauce, and Gay Garnishes!

Planning lunch for your honey on Valentine's Day? Here are a few menus suggested in Meals Tested Tasted and Approved, published by the Good Housekeeping Institute in 1933.

..... 1 .....

Tomato Bouillon

Jellied Crab Meat Salad

Clover Biscuits

Steamed Chocolate Pudding

Sunshine Sauce (Recipe at the bottom of this post)

Coffee

 

..... 2 .....

Fruit Cocktail

Veal Croquettes with Tomato Sauce

Baking Powder Biscuits

Celery stuffed with Cheese

Strawberry Ice Cream in Heart Molds

Cake

..... 3 .....

Chicken Bouillon

Creamed Scallops and Mushrooms on Toast

Pimiento Sandwiches

Radish Roses

Celery Hearts

Tangerine Tapioca

Sponge Drops

Candy Hearts

Coffee

..... 4 .....

Cream of Celery Soup

Croutons cut in Heart Shapes

Chicken Mousse

Green Peas

Potato Chips

Raspberry Ice Cream

Cake

Coffee

Sunshine Sauce

2 egg yolks
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy cream

Beat the egg yolks, add sugar and vanilla and beat together. Just before serving add the cream which has been whipped until stiff.

What IS it About Buffalo Wings?

It's time for a snack food revolution. Something new for sports-related high holidays such as the Super Bowl.

All the food Facebook pages, blogs, etc. are talking about chicken wings, so I'm trying to break down what makes them so darned popular. Not to mention delicious.

The wings themselves are crispy, unctious, chewy, salty, spicy, and vinegary. The typical accompaniament of blue cheese sauce adds creaminess, additional saltiness, and a touch of bitter tartness. Celery contrasts everything with its palate cleansingly cool crunch.

In other words, Buffalo wings provide every flavor profile except sweet. (Some versions even add that, though I can't approve of them. Nor should they include the word "Buffalo" in their name.)

Have a look at the birthplace of these tangy treats:

You can learn more about their history at the bar's website: http://www.anchorbar.com/.

When discussing Buffalo wings, you can't not talk about hot sauce. In this case, the king of hot sauces. Frank's RedHot Sauce.

Apparently some people put the stuff on EVERYTHING.

But back to my initial premise. The combination of hot, spicy, crunchy, tart, crispy, smooth, cool and creamy is obviously a winner.

Now to come up with an alternative and start the next big Super Bowl snacking craze...

No pressure. I've got four days.



All Things Chicken

I don't think Frank Marcello likes chickens.

Either that, or he loves them but applies the writing axiom that you have to let bad things happen to your favorite characters.

Just look at this series, apparently featuring Hanna Bell Lecter:

She chased him down, held him up like a victory bouquet, and then proceeded to get him drunk, meanwhile planning a coq au vin with some nice fava beans on the side.

And here he is at the last, bald scalp now covered by a hat, comb set aside for a garnish.

Bubbling away as if all is well, when clearly, that inner tube is not going to save him.

Poor chicken.

I wonder if Frank was a vegetarian, trying to make a point?

Country Eel Stew. You Know What it Tastes Like.

I love the earthy practicality of Common Sense in the Home. Here's another fine example:

Let's be honest: who hasn't been duped by one of those city slicker eel merchants? And who really has time to consider the diets of urban eels compared to those of more pastoral climes?

It's not just us. Even Freud had eel issues.

"Since eels do not keep diaries," the investigator, 19-year-old Sigmund Freud, wrote to a friend in the spring of 1876, the only way to determine gender was to cut and slice, "but in vain, all the eels which I cut open are of the fairer sex."

Poor Sigmund appears to be the victim of his own envy.

But I digress.

The advice is just so darned useful. For example, the suggestion about avoiding a three pound eel, despite the obvious draw.

(Three pounds is a big fella by anyone's reckoning.)

But I digress again.

So you start with a one pound country eel and THEN you add butter.

This affirms one of my culinary beliefs: add butter and anything tastes like chicken.

Stew that is.

Aunt Jenny Gems: Calvin's favorite chicken

Calvin also loves Jenny's crispy Spryed chicken!

What's for Lunch: Salad Marrakesh

Lunch today was what I'm calling a Moroccan salad. It started with Moroccan chicken and chick pea cakes, leftover from dinner last night. The cakes were based on an appetizer recipe which unfortunately I could not find online to share with you. I substituted cilantro for mint (because I had it), and added crushed sesame crackers to the meat mixture rather than using breadcrumbs as a coating. They were flavored with hot sauce and cumin. I sauteed them rather than deep frying followed by baking as the recipe specified.

I made a dressing from humus, lime and pineapple juice, and herb-flavored oil, with several dashes of cinnamon and cumin. The salad itself was simple; greens, bell pepper, and raisins. The cakes went on top and viola!

The flavors are interesting for a mutt of an American girl like me. Sweet and savory, spicy and tart, soft and crisp.

What's for dinner? Pizza!

FDR's Favorite Chicken

Turns out Franklin Delano Roosevelt liked chicken and he liked it curried.


Here's the story that goes along with the recipe, submitted by Alice A. Dunnigan, Chief of the Associated Negro Press' Washington Bureau.

If you should visit the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, you would see written on the kitchen wall over the oven: "I cooked the first and last meal in this cottage for President Roosevelt." This statement was inscribed on April 12, 1945 by Mrs. Daisy Bonner, who served as cook in the Georgia White House for twenty years. She recalls the breakfast menu the last day, and the choose souffle timed for 1:15 lunch but never eaten.

Mrs. Bonner kept a menu book on the meals served to the President on his last two visits to Warm Springs. "The President had many favorite dishes," said Daisy Bonner, "But the one I htink he liked best was y special Country Captain."

So many questions. Like, why didn't he eat the souffle?

And from the recipe itself, what the heck are "raisins in sauce"?

I was able to answer the first question. Turns out FDR had a stroke before luncheon was served.

Ooops.

Let me know if you have an answer to the saucy raisin conundrum.

Country Captain

1 hen or 2 fryers

2 or 3 green peppers, chopped

1 clove garlic

2 medium onions, chopped

1 can tomatoes

2 cups rice boiled until dry (use white, brown or wild rice)

1 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)

1 teaspoon thyme

1/3 cup raisins in sauce

1/4 raisins to garnish

1/4 cup almonds or any nuts (save some to garnish)

1 can mushrooms

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil chicken until done, and bone it. Saute onion, then add all sauce ingredients (everything except green peppers, rice, raisins and nuts for garnish). Add chicken to sauce and simmer 20 to 30 minutes. Serve over rice. Garnish with raw green peppers, raisins and nuts. Thin the gravy. Serves 6 or more.

Baked Chicken Not-so-Continental

This lady looks like a sophisticate to me. Check out her simple but chic hairstyle and circle necklace.

The artwork is also rather sophisticated. It has a certain elegant simplicity.

The recipe that follows sounds as if it would have a similar sophistication, but take a closer look. Can a recipe containing this many prepared American ingredients really be named "continental".

I think NOT.

Not unless you spell "continental" C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L-S.

Baked Chicken Continental

1 1/2 cups Minute Rice - put in buttered casserole.

Heat 1 can cream of mushroom soup and 1 can celery soup with 3/4 cups milk. Pour over the rice and mix well.

Lay chicken pieces on top (one chicken) and sprinkle with 1/2 package of onion soup mix. Cover with foil and bake 2 hours or longer at 325 degrees F. Serves four generously.

Hints: use a flat pan like a cake pan (large) or small roaster because it is better if the pieces of chicken are spread out and not on top of each other. If you double the recipe for a larger group, I suggest that you use two pans or one larger roaster so pieces can be spread out. For variety this dash may be prepared using only chicken breasts. This dish served with a vegetable and salad makes a very complete meal.

More recipes for ladies who lunched: Fonduloha

I'm starting to see why my Mom might have been intimidated by cooking for a ladies event. If the menus in the 1962 Betty Crocker's Cooking Calendar cookbook are any indication, ladies luncheons were not casual affairs. Clearly the menus were meant to impress.

Take the one below for example.

The name of the main dish alone is intimidating: Fonduloha. I can't pronounce it.

The book contains 7 or 8 ladies luncheon menus, and each of them is heavy on presentation. It must have been a lot of pressure.

Here's the recipe, in case you have a few friend's coming over later this week.

Fonduloha

Chicken Salad in Pineapple Boats

2 fresh pineapples

2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey

3/4 cup diced celery

3/4 cup sliced bananas

1/3 cup salted peanuts

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tbsp. chutney or 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 to 1 tsp. curry powder

1/2 cup shredded coconut

mandarin oranges

Cut pineapples into quarters lengthwise, leaving green tops on. Cut around edges with curved knife, remove fruit, and dice. Drain pineapples and pineapple shells very well on absorbent paper. Combine pineapple, chicken, celery, bananas, and peanuts in 3-qt. mixing bowl. In small bowl, blend mayonnaise, chutney and curry. Lightly toss mayonnaise mixture with pineapple mixture. Fill pineapple shells. Garnish with shredded coconut and mandarin oranges. 8 servings.

Turkey Divan and fear of pie-ing

When I was growing up, my mother was a competent cook who presented the simple, basic foods of the day. She didn't experiment much but stuck to her familiar repertoire. We had homemade sloppy joes, chili, boiled dinners, fish sticks, awesome potato and macaroni salads, and the occasional breakfast for dinner (which began my guilty love affair with Spam).

I still occasionally get a craving for macaroni mixed with sliced hot dogs and tomato soup or stewed tomatoes.

She occasionally made homemade bread, pickles, cinnamon rolls, and the best brownies I've ever eaten.

At the time I couldn't tell how she felt about cooking. It seemed like something that just needed to get done, and registered a sort of emotional neutral.

With two notable exceptions.

First, pie crust. For some reason making pie crust sent her into a tizzy. She had a primal fear of tearing. I eventually learned to leave the house when pie was in the making.

The results always turned out beautifully; the fluting on the crust looked like a picture from a magazine. I can't replicate it.

But was it really worth it?

Keep in mind, this was before the days of Xanax, and she wasn't a drinker. Where was all that angst supposed to go?

To this day, the legacy of crust avoidance continues. I still fear the pie shell. I can only pray that my children will break the cycle and step into tart freedom. But only time will tell.

The second example of Mom's emotional cooking was the day she made chicken divan for a ladies event.

My mother was never the kind of woman who attended bridge parties or things of that sort. She was too busy working. I'm not sure what event therefore prompted the divan debacle, but it did involve ladies. And so I couldn't help but notice the recipe below, the starring dish of a Ladies Luncheon menu.

Looking back I know that it wasn't the recipe itself that gave her agita. Especially now, when I see her making spinach souffles, marinated asparagus, complicated desserts and many other dishes.

It was Something Else.

I'm guessing her fear was all about expectations. She didn't want to disappoint anyone. Same as with the pies.

Luckily she no longer seems to be burdened with such unnecessary food fears. Cooking after all is about love, and sharing. It is a gift of self, and should be judged as such.

That being said, I don't think I've ever made chicken divan. Nor am I planning to.

But for those of you adrenalin junkies who like to live on the edge, here's the recipe from the book.

Turkey Divan

1 1/2 lb. fresh broccoli or 2 pkg. (10oz. each) frozen broccoli spears

6 slices turkey (about 1/4" thick) or 1 1/2 to 2 cups pieces of turkey

6 slices cheese

1 can (14 1/2oz.) evaporated milk

1 can (10 1/2oz.) mushroom soup

1 can (3 1/2oz.) French fried onion rings

Heat oven to 350 degrees (mod.). Cook broccoli to crisp-tender stage. Put turkey in bottom of oblong baking dish, 11 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 1 1/2". Cover with broccoli; top with cheese slices and cover with mixture of milk and soup. Bake 25 min. Cover with onion rings and bake 5 min. more. 4 to 6 servings.