2/28/18 Cook’s Corner
Betty Kaiser
Someone recently asked me where I find all my recipes. Well,
some of them used to come to me in the mail. Snail mail! The hand-written kind
on recipe cards mailed with postage stamps. Back in the day, I was writing this
column weekly. One summer I remember asking readers for zucchini recipes. I was
inundated with mail from up and down the Oregon coast and California. I still use some of
those recipes.
Well, I recently received not one but two pieces of chatty news
and real-mail recipes. One was from a reader thanking me for last month’s
chicken pot pie recipe. She, like me, had been having trouble finding just the
right combination of ingredients. My recipe (courtesy of Maryana Vollstedt and
Betty Crocker) worked for her too. Yea! Thank you, my friend.
Then, a bulky letter arrived from Kitty, in So. California
that said, “I was thinking of you while going through my late, great-aunt
Mildred’s things and came across this.” Imagine my surprise when I unfolded a huge
yellowed newspaper sheet from the Portland “Morning Oregonian,” dated Sat.
April 20, 1929! The sheet is 17” wide X 23” long.
One side of the paper has West Coast and International news.
The other includes tidbits similar to what a former colleague and I worked on
reviving. It includes a cooking tips column, recipes, grocery ads, handy hints
from readers, social news—i.e. house-guests, fashion tips and more.
So, pour yourself a cup of tea, sit down and share this
blast from the past with me. Mind you, this paper was published before the
Great Wall Street Crash October 24, 1929. The average family income was less
than $200 per month but enough to put food on the table and set some money
aside for a rainy day. Income plummeted as the Great Depression set in.
Life was good in that pre-depression era and new-fangled
things like Tater Flakes were being introduced. You know, crisp, crunchy potato
chips! Frye’s Meat Guide was available for 3¢ postage. If you were having a
party you could order a birthday cake from the Bake Rite Bakery. On Saturday, a
three-layer Strawberry filled cake (regular 45¢) was only 38¢!
The MacMarr Stores had three locations in Portland and their
prices were enticing. i.e. Libby canned milk was 3 cans for 25¢; 1 pound of
coffee was 48¢ but 3 pounds was only $1.39; 19 POUNDS of sugar was $1; 2 dozen
eggs were 57¢; a fresh, 3 bulk pounds of pure lard was only 45¢; a large bottle
of Del Monte Catsup was 19¢ and a one-pound tall can of salmon was 20¢ each or
3 for 59¢.
Handy hints? A Grant’s Pass woman won a prize for her
kitchen shears suggestion. My favorite was a way to save time when sewing
buttons on a child’s coat or shoes (!). The suggestion was to pull the thread
through a piece of beeswax to strengthen it and hold the buttons longer. It still
works.
In “Expert Cooking
Now Made Simple” columnist Jeannette Cramer extoled the many radio programs, newspaper
and magazine articles that were now available to train women to become good
cooks. There were now resources and practical answers for budding homemakers.
Radio host Betty Baker was one of those sources. The
Oregonian printed 15 of her recipes! Whew. Recipes in tiny print cover half of
that huge page. They include Curried Spinach, Pork Threads, Baked Ham with New
Potatoes in Cream and several desserts. I chose the following for their
simplicity and similarity to ones that I have baked or eaten in my lifetime. Remember
cooking in a double boiler? Now we use the microwave. Enjoy!
LEMON CHIFFON PIE
1 cup sugar (divided)
3 eggs, separated
5 tablespoons hot water
Juice and rind 1 lemon
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 small baked pie shell
Combine ½ cup sugar and beaten egg yolks and then add hot
water. Mix thoroughly. Cook in top double boiler until thick. Add lemon juice
and rind. Beat egg whites until stiff and beat in second ½ cup sugar. When
thick, add baking powder and fold the first mixture into this (egg yolk
mixture). Pour into baked pastry shell and bake in moderate 350° oven. Garnish
with whipped cream.
CABBAGE with SAUSAGE—CREOLE
1 dozen sausages
½ pound fresh pork
1 large head cabbage
1 tablespoon oil
Salt
Red Pepper pod—1/2” long (or red pepper flakes)
(Betty’s note: Sauté some peppers and onions with the meat;
add some chicken broth)
Shred cabbage and cook in boiling water 10 minutes. Drain. Sauté
sausages and pork cut into very small pieces. When almost done, add cabbage,
red pepper and seasonings (and broth). Simmer 5 minutes. Serve hot with rice
and buttered corn bread.
Contact Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner at bchatty@bettykaiser.com
