Florentine Ring (Fish) - 1970s

It looks like a burnt curry, and its the latest card from that massive cardex that I acquired a few weeks ago.  Florentine is the name given to any dish that is paired with spinach, in this case its not obvious that this is a fish dish, but it is.

It has a cooking time of 1 hour, and will take 25 minutes to prepare.  Best to have an 8 inch ring tin handy and a sauce pan, and pre-heat your oven to 350f which is 180c.  Out of this recipe you'll get enough to serve three greedy gannets or six smallish portions.

2lb/1kg Fresh Spinach

White Sauce:
2 oz/50g butter
2 oz/50g flour
half a pint/275ml milk
seasoning
3 egg yolks
good pinch of nutmeg

Filling: 
1lb/0.5kg fish fillets
half a pint/275ml milk
2 oz/50g butter
2 oz/50g flour
3-4 oz/75-100g grated cheese
seasoning

Garnish:
1oz/25g grated cheese and tomatos

1. Cook spinach in a very little salted water.  Drain well and chop.

2. Make a thick white sauce in the usual way. (not sure how to make white sauce? see http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/whitesauce_1298)

3. Stir in the egg yolks and nutmeg.  Add the spinach, season well and blend thoroughly.

4. Pour in to greased ring tin.

5. Stand in a tin of water, bake until firm - 40 to 45 minutes.

6. Meanwhile simmer the fish in milk until cooked.  Drain and use liquid to make a white sauce with the butter and flour.

7. Season and stir in grated cheese.

8. When spinach ring is cooked, turn on to warm plate.

TO SERVE:
Fill centre of ring with flaked fish and pour over the cheese sauce.  Sprinkle with grated cheese and garnish with sliced tomatos.

Tollhouse Cookies - 1930s

So we made some Tollhouse Cookies from this recipe which is pretty well documented in nearly every single recipe book you could care to read that includes recipes for biscuits/cookies.  This recipe is pretty generic and very easy.

Here is an interesting thought.  Chocolate Chip Cookies come under the 1930s category because they were first developed at that point, only becoming popular during the war.  Well that is what the wikipedia article says.

180g/6.5 oz unsalted butter, cubed and softened
140g/5 oz soft brown sugar
110g 3.75 oz granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
280g/10oz plain all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
350g/12 oz dark chocolate bits
100g/3.5 oz pecans (or flaked almonds) roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 190C/375F and line two large baking trays with baking paper/greaseproof paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugars with electric beaters until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the egg, beating well after each addition.
4. Stir in the vanilla extract, then the sifted flour and bicarbonate until just combined.
5. Mix in the chocolate bits and pecans/almonds.
6. Drop table spoons of mixture onto the trays; leave room for spreading.
7. Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  When completely cold, store in airtight container.

Vinegar Cake (pre 1950s)

So it has been a few months since I've posted a recipe, so I thought I would kick off with something really appetising.

For Vinegar Cake you'll need...

1lb Flour
1/2 pound Sugar
1/2 pound butter and dripping
1/2 pound of currants
1/4 pound of stoned raisins
3 tablespoons of vinegar
1 teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda
1/4 pint of milk

1. Rub fat well into the flour add fruit and sugar.
2. Put the milk into a large jug and add the vinegar.
3. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with a little milk and pour it into the milk and vinegar quickly taking care to hold the jug over the cake mixture as it will froth up.
4. Stir into the flour, fruit etc and put in to a well greased tin and bake in a hot oven for the first half hour, then a cooler one until cooked.

Wimbledon Cake - 1950's

Here is one for cake lovers who have just discovered that the milk has gone off.  It is from Farmhouse Fare, so its a bit short on description but it sounds awesome.



1lb flour
1/2 lb butter
1/2 lb sugar
1/2 lb currants
2 ozs chopped candied peel
1 teaspoonful mixed spice
1/2 pint sour milk
1 teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoonful of syrup

1. Rub the butter into the flour then add sugar, currants, peel, and spice.
2. Warm the syrup and stir it into the milk, now add the soda and mix altogether.
3. Pour into a greased tin in a moderate oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Green Pea Cakes - 1950's

This recipe might be a lot older than 1950s.  It sounds delicious, and is an old Scottish recipe.  It involves pushing pease through a sieve, so make sure its a metal one.

The recipe comes from a book called The Scottish Cookery Book, by Elizabeth Craig.  Nowhere does it say to make them in to patties.  Do you cook it all in one or in small bits? What shape?
Again a really nice recipe but let down by a badly written methodology.  I would recommend cooking them in patties, it'll help cook even all the way through.


2 cups cooked dried peas
1 teaspoon butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 well-beaten eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 lb flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Rub peas while hot through a sieve.  Mix with the butter, salt pepper and eggs.
2. Beat well, stir in the flour sifted with baking powder.
3. Fry in rounds dropped from a jug into a frying pan containing enough hot fat to cover bottom of pan till bubbles form on top, then turn and fry on other side.  Serve with fried sausages for breakfast.

Golden Cheese Marbles - 1930's

Strangely enough, these appear in the 1936 edition of 'Cookery Illustrated and Household Management'.  These make excellent party appetisers.  This will serve three to four people.



1 and a half cupfuls of grated cheese (Cheddar or Edam)
2 tablespoons of flour
half a teaspoon of celery salt
2 egg whites
Paprika

1. Beat the egg whites till light but not stiff, add the flour, cheese, paprika and celery salt.
2. Roll mixture into the size of marbles and fry till golden brown in deep fat at 373F.

Serve on a hot dish lined with a lace paper d'oyley.

Fish in Dark Beer

Another dinner party favourite from the fifties.  This dish ripe for modification and some experimentation, try choosing different types of beer and vinegar to use.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

3 lbs of Fish (carp, pike or bass)
1 tablespoon of vinegar
2 chopped onions
4 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
5 whole peppers
2 ground cloves
1 teaspoon of Worcester Sauce
1 pint of Dark Beer (locally produced craft beer/real ale/stout maybe?)

1. Prepare the fish by cleaning it and scaling cutting it in to three inch slices.

2. Brown the onion in the butter, adding the flour and cook for three minutes.

3.  Add the beer and all other ingredients except the vinegar.

4.  Boil the sauce to the thickness of single cream.

5. Add the fish slices to the sauce, and continue boiling until the fish is well done.

6.  Finally add the vinegar and continue boiling for another two minutes.  Pour the sauce through a strainer and serve separately.

Related articles

• Shrimps In Beer (recipevintage.wordpress.com)


• Chicken Mischief (recipevintage.wordpress.com)

Chocolate Iced Cherry Cake

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

This is a traditional classic, Chocolate Cherry cake.  No frills, nothing too fancy and a fifties/sixties classic.

4 oz. whipped fat (margarine or butter?)
4 oz. castor sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
6 oz. Self Raising Flour
4 tablespoons of Milk
quarter of a teaspoon of salt
6 oz. mixed dried fruit
2 oz. glace cherries (cut in half)
1 oz. finely cut angelica
1 oz. chopped walnuts

Decoration
8 oz. icing sugar
glace cherries
walnuts
Egg Whites

1.  Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix for 1 minute and turn in to a greased 7 inch cake tin.

2. Bake in a moderate oven for about 1 hour

To decorate

Beat together the egg whites and icing sugar until it stands up in peaks.  Spread over cake, decorate with walnuts and cherries.

Related articles

• One Stage Chocolate Cake (recipevintage.wordpress.com)

Cornish Potato Cake

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

This is a tradtional Cornish recipe.  For this you will need:

Half a pound of boiled potatoes.
Half an ounce of butter.
2 oz. flour
Pinch of salt.

1.  Mash the boiled potatoes while hot with the butter and mix well together.

2. Add salt and sprinkle in the flour mixing evenly.

3. Roll out  very thin on a floured board and cut out in rounds about the size of a saucer.

4. Place on a hot griddle or greased frying pan.

5. Stab with fork and cook three minutes on each side.  Serve hot.

One Stage Chocolate Cake

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

4 oz.  luxury margarine or organic butter
4 oz.  sieved self-raising flour
5 oz. castor sugar
1 heaped teaspoon of sieved cocoa
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of milk

For the filling:

2 oz. Plain Chocolate
2 oz. luxury margarine or organic butter
2 dessert spoons of hot water
1 oz. castor sugar
1 dessert spoon of milk

 

1. Mix ALL cake ingredients quickly in a mixing bowl

2. Beat well with a wodden spoon for one to two minutes.

3. Put mixture into two 7-inch sandwich tins greased with margarine and the bottom lined with greaseproof paper.

4. Smooth tops and bake in the middle of a moderate oven 20 to 25 minutes.  Cool on a cake rack.

Filling

1. Melt chocolate carefully over hot water (don't let it get hot) then cool it slightly.

2. Whisk margarine, chocolate and castor sugar in a small bowl for one to two minutes.

3. Add water, then milk, then whisk.  Sandwich cakes together with chocolate filling.  Dust top with sugar.

 

Related articles

• Flourless Chocolate Cake (thesunbaker.wordpress.com)


• Gooey Carrot Apple Ginger Cake (alisonamazed.wordpress.com)


• Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake with Ganache or Chocolate Buttercream (recipes) (redglitterx.wordpress.com)

Cheese Straws

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption]

4 oz. Flour
2 oz. Margarine
2 oz. Processed Cheese (Cheddar will be fine)
teaspoon of water
Worcester Sauce
Cayenne Pepper

1. Rub some butter or fat into flour, add sieved processed cheese, pepper and Worcester sauce.

2. Mix with water until dough holds together.

3. Roll out one eighth inch thick. Stab with a fork and cut into fingers and put on greased trays or sheets of baking paper.

4. Bake in a very hot oven (200 to 180 celsius) until golden brown.

This cheese pastry can be used to make cheese biscuits too.

Related articles

• Cheese and Sweetcorn Fritters (recipevintage.wordpress.com)

Kentucky Corn Dodgers

http://seg.sharethis.com/getSegment.php?purl=http%3A%2F%2Frecipevintage.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php&jsref=&rnd=1324679164322

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoonful of salt


• 1 cupful of white cornmeal


• cold milk

Instructions

Mix the salt with the white cornmeal. Scald it with just enough boiling water to dampen it; then add enough cold milk to enable you to mold it. Stir it well together, and form it into cakes three quarters of an inch thick in the middle and oblong in shape. Use a tablespoonful of dough for each cake. Bake them on a greased pan in a hot oven for twenty-five minutes.

Originally appears http://www.vintagerecipes.net/books/century_cook_book/kentucky_corn_dodgers.php