Here I am again with another Vintage Menu Madness Meal. I do so hope you enjoy me sharing these Vintage Recipes as much as I enjoy preparing them.
I have always been interested in Vintage Cookbooks, recipes and cookery. I find the cooking of the past fascinating along with the history of food. I do follow a lot of Vintage Channels on YouTube which I really enjoy watching.
It was my thought that you might also enjoy these older recipes. That perhaps they might remind you of your mother's or grandmother's cooking. Perhaps of a happy childhood. I know they do me.
Truth be told however, I don't get a lot of feedback on these posts. I am starting to rethink things a bit. I had thought that perhaps you might find them as interesting as I do, but I don't really think that they do.
These posts are a lot of work to put together, but if you are not really interested in them, it may be that I shouldn't continue with them. I think this one may be my last one cooking a whole menu. I will still cook a Vintage Recipe from time to time, but as far as a whole menu goes, unless I am convinced otherwise, this will be the last one.
At any rate this is the last one for December.
I struggle so much with the lighting at this time of year. My little place is very dark at the best of times. Most of my food photos are taken by the front window on a small tv tray. I may have to invest in a good source of light in the new year. I have always tried to use natural light whenever possible.
I take the photos of the whole menu, with the dishes on their individual serving plates on my Dining Room Table. That is the only place I can get the whole thing in. Not ideal.
This week's menu was from a mix of places. The Pork Chops came from my Big Blue Binder. The Corn & Potato Scallop is something my mother used to make for us. The applesauce is my own and the dessert came from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (1953).
The Menu for this week is for a hearty pork chop supper with potatoes, a vegetable, pickles, homemade applesauce and a scrumptious date and nut pudding for dessert. Here is the menu in it's entirety.
HOMEMADE APPLE SAUCE
CORN SCALLOPED POTATOES
FRENCH STYLE GREEN BEANS
SWEET MIXED PICKLES
DATE PUDDING
Crumb Baked Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 1 bone in pork chop per person
- salt, pepper, dried sage and onion granules
- 2 TBS of fine dry bread crumbs per chop
- butter to dot
- fruit juice (apple, orange, cranberry, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Pat the pork chops dry and then place them onto a baking sheet with a raised edge, which you have lined with foil and buttered. The size of baking sheet depends on how many chops you are cooking. Obviously if you are only cooking one or two you will want a smaller baking tray.
- Dust the top surface of each chop with some salt, pepper, sage (rubbed between your fingertips) and onion granules to taste. Then sprinkle a tablespoon of bread crumbs evenly over top of each one. Dot with butter. Pour fruit juice into the baking tray evenly around the chops, trying not to disturb the crumbs on top.
- Place the tray into the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, checking to make sure the apple juice does not boil dry in the pan. Once the crumbs have begun to brown on top, remove the pan from the oven.
- Carefully turn each chop over without disturbing the crumb topping and repeat the process for seasoning and crumbing on the underside. If you need more juice in the pan, once again pour it around the chops.
- Return the pan to the oven and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, until nicely browned on top and the juices have thickened into a bit of a sauce. Check every 5 to 6 minutes or so to make sure the pan is not going dry and top up with more juice if need be. Serve hot with some of the pan juices spooned over top. Fabulous!
One thing which always goes really well with pork chops is apple sauce. I love applesauce with any kind of pork actually. It is great with a roast or with chops.
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 large cooking apples, peeled cored and sliced (about 3 cups)
- 1/4 cup (50g) caster sugar
- 3 1/2 TBS (50g) butter
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Tip all of the ingredients into a pan. Cover tightly with a lid.
- Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the apples are very soft and have broken down.
- Beat with a fork to break down the apples, or mash with a potato masher.
- Serve immediately or tip into a bowl, cover and chill until needed.
Corn Scalloped Potatoes is something that my mother used to make for us when we were growing up. We loved it. I used to make it for my own children as well.
Corn and Potato Scallop
Ingredients
- 1 large potato, peeled
- 1 small onion, peeled
- 1 can of creamed corn (you may not need it all)
- 2 TBS flour to sprinkle
- salt and black pepper
- grated cheddar cheese to sprinkle (about 4 TBS)
- a handful of buttered cracker crumbs
- milk as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a small (2 cup/1 pint) deep glass baking dish.
- Cut the potato in half lengthwise and then cut into thin half-moons cross-wise. Do the same with the onion.
- Place 1/4 of the creamed corn in the bottom of the casserole dish. Top with 1/4 of the potatoes and the onions. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with 1/2 TBS flour and 1 TBS of the cheese. Repeat 3 times until you have all layered in the dish.
- Pour the milk over top, using the tip of a knife to move things around a tiny bit in order to allow it to get down to the bottom. Do not fill more than 1/3 of the baking dish with milk. Scatter the buttered cracker crumbs on top and then cover tightly with a lid.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the potatoes are soft and everything is bubbling. Uncover and allow to brown for about 10 minutes.
- Remove and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
You may want to place the casserole dish on a baking tray just in case it bubbles over in the oven. Also, I sometimes start this in the microwave to help it cook quicker. About 6 minutes on high, and then pop into the oven as above. It should be done in 35 minutes or so.
.JPG "Date Pudding")
Date Pudding
Ingredients
- 3 large free range eggs
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 1/4 cup (35g) all purpose, plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup (151g) chopped, stoned dates
- 1 cup (116g) chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish really well. Set aside. Place a baking tin partially filled with hot water into the oven. It should be large enough to hold the baking dish comfortably.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar until very light and voluminous. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the dates and the nuts.
- Pour into the prepared baking dish. Set the baking dish in the pan of hot water in the oven.
- Bake for one hour until nicely puffed and set. Serve warm, spooned into bowls along with some whipped cream or ice cream.
After taking last week off due to my son being here, I am back this week with another Vintage Menu to Share with you. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed planning and preparing it.
I have always had a great love of Vintage Cookbooks and Vintage Recipes. I had quite a few vintage books when I was in the U.K, but had to leave them there when I came back to Canada. I have been trying to replace some of them since my return.
What is the point of having these books, however, if you never use them and so I am on a quest to cook a full menu from at least one of those books every week, and then share it with you on here. These old recipes remind me very much of my childhood and my mother's and grandmother's cooking! Maybe they will do the same thing for you!
I have taken the recipes for this week's menu from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. I had ordered the 1955 version as that was the year I was born, but ended up receiving the 1963 version. Its a good book.
I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't the 1955 version, but I am happy with it and it is in excellent shape. I will keep looking for the earlier version and hope that I can find it. Usually Thrift Books are pretty accurate in the books that they send.
In any case it is in excellent shape for a book published 60 years ago! I was only 8 years old when this book came out!
I tried to put together a real family meal this week, in fitting with what my mother would have made for us when I was a child. This week's menu consisted of:
SCALLOPED POTATOES
BAKED ACORN SQUASH
BUTTERED CARROTS
FRUITFUL COBBLER WITH CREAM
Do you remember in the old Good Housekeeping magazine they used to have a section dedicated to Susan's recipes? They were always excellent recipes. So just who was Susan?
From the book:
""Who is Susan? What is she. That all our readers love her" is Good Housekeeping's paraphrase of the famous old song. Susan is our perennial teenage cook. For nineteen years she has led by the hand, not only teenagers, but cooks and would-be cooks of all ages, through her step by step recipes make cooking a joy with dependable results."
I figured most people, at least on this side of the pond, would be quite tired of turkey by now and so I picked something which I thought would make a nice change from turkey or a roast dinner of any kind, and be comforting and delicious and a real family meal.
It doesn't more comforting or familial than Meat Loaf! The recipe for this meat loaf was noted inside the cover in the original owners handwriting, and the recipe itself was annotated with the words "very good." I don't think you can get a much better accolade than that!
The original recipe made 8 servings. I did not need 8 servings and so I cut the recipe in half to make four servings. It is your pretty basic meatloaf recipe, but with a few tasty twists. You can double this recipe to feed more people if you wish. It will take slightly longer to bake in that case.
My sister makes very good meatloaf. Hers uses Bisquick. That is her secret ingredient. My father loves it. I confess now that meatloaf was never my favorite meal when I was growing up. I was not fond of ground beef at all.
I did make it for my children when they were growing up, but I always used the recipe from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. That one I kind of liked. This version here today is very similar to that one and it is very good actually! I rather liked it a lot!
HINTS AND TIPS FOR MAKING MEATLOAF
1. Handle the meat mixture the least amount as possible. Your loaf will be juicier and more tender. Use a gentle touch when mixing and do not pack it tightly into the pan.
2. If you want a soft, moist exterior, bake the meatloaf in a loaf tin. Any juices accumulated can be used to make a gravy.
Meat Loaf
Ingredients
- 1 cup (60g) fresh soft bread crumbs
- 1/2 medium onion, peeled and finely minced
- 2 heaped spoons of green pepper, finely minced
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 lb. (453g) ground chuck
- 1 TBS of prepared horseradish
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1/8 cup (30ml) whole milk or evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup (123g) tomato ketchup, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Have ready a small roasting tin.
- Beat the egg slightly in a medium bowl. Add the hamburger meat and mix lightly together. Mix in the bread crumbs, onion and green pepper.
- Add the horseradish, salt, mustard, milk and 1/8 cup (32g) of the tomato ketchup. Mix lightly together and then shape into a loaf or oval shape in the roasting tin. Spread the remaining ketchup on top of the loaf.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Cut into slices to serve.
Old Time Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 cups (927g) pared and thinly sliced potatoes
- 1 medium onion, peeled and minced (2/3 cup/about 40g)
- 2 TBS plain all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 2 TBS butter
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) scalded milk
- paprika to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Butter a 2 QT/liter casserole dish really well.
- Arrange a layer of potatoes in the dish. Top with some of the onions. Mix the salt, pepper and flour together. Sprinkle some of this on top and then dot with butter. Repeat layers until you have used everything up, ending with butter.
- Scald the milk by heating it in the microwave for 1 minute. (in 1963 they would have used a saucepan) Milk is scalded when there are bubbles around the edge of the cup. Pour this over the potatoes in the dish.
- Sprinkle with paprika and cover tightly. Bake for 40 minutes, uncover and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer until the potatoes are tender and the top is beginning to brown a bit. Serve hot.
Because everything pretty much for this menu was baking in the oven at the same time I decided to do some Baked Acorn Squash to go along with the rest of the meal. If you time things right, everything should be finished about the same time!
Fruitful Cobbler
Ingredients
- 1 pint (2 cups/453g) peeled and sliced peeled peaches, sliced, pared and cored apples or sliced pitted plums
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 TBS plain all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (60g) corn syrup or honey
- 1/2 cup (60g) packaged baking mix such as Bisquick
- 1 TBS sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk or water
- 3/4 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Butter a 1/2 QT/liter casserole dish.
- Toss the fruit together with the flour, salt and corn syrup/honey. Pour into the baking dish.
- Whisk together the baking mix, milk, and 1 TBS sugar. Pour or dot this mixture over top. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
- Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown and the fruit is tender.
Notes
You can make a cherry variation on this by using 1 pint of drained canned red sour cherries for the fruit in the recipe. Use honey instead of corn syrup.
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