The Recipe Vintage Newsletter

If you want to subscrible to the news RV Newsletter, pop in your email address and await the goodness!

Enter your email address:


A TinyLetter Email Newsletter

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.

Southern Casserole - 1960's

This is one of Marguerite Patten's classics from 500 Recipes for Suppers and Snacks.  A really hearty sixties meal with a lot of easy-to-obtain ingredients.
It is a little odd, with processed cheese consisting as one of the main ingredients.  Most probably something to stay away from if you don't like cheese.


8 small cocktail sausages
3 oz elbow spaghetti
1 creamed corn on the cob
1 oz butter
seasoning
6 - 8 oz of processed cheese

1. Grill fry or bake the sausages. Keep hot until needed later.
2. Cook the spaghetti until tender.
3. Strain and mix with the creamed corn on the cob and the butter
4. Season well/
5. Put a layer at the bottom of a casserole, cover with a layer of processed cheese, then a layer of corn on the cob mixture.
6. Top with a thick layer of cheese.
7. Cook for 15 minutes in a moderately hot oven, (400F - 425F, GM 5-6) until cheese melts.
8. Arrange sausages on top.

Aristocrat Sparkling Punch - 1950's

So last night, I sat down to write up this recipe in to my steaming blog-pot of recipes and felt that engulfing feeling of numbness overcome me completely.  So tonight, with a bit more energy I bring you a 1950's dinner party favourite.
I have neglected cocktails on this blog because they're not edible, but when I started this blog I had themed parties in the back of my mind.  So here is a little party favourite to think about for the weekend, and yes I know it is only Tuesday but let us look ahead.

1 bottle of burgandy
4 ounces brandy
1 quart sparkling water
2 bottles of champagne
1 cup cube sugar

1. Dissolve sugar in a cup of sparking water and pour into punch bowl.
2. Add burgandy and brandy, stirring well.  Place a block of ice in the bowl and add champagne and the balance of sparkling water.
3. Garnish the top of iceblock with strawberries or raspberries, or other fruit in season and float thin slices of two oranges on top of punch.

Beef Bake with Beer - 1980's

If you're in Exeter next week on the 21st January, the local CAMRA is holding their Winter Ales festival at the Exeter City Football ground in St James Park.  In tribute to this occasion, here is another beer related meal that can be experimented with and played around with.

15g Margarine
450g minced beef
1 x 225g packet of frozen mixed vegetables
200ml beef stock
300ml real ale
100g mushrooms, chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Topping:
2 tomatoes, skinned and sliced
salt
freshly ground black pepper
450g thinly sliced potatoes
50g margarine
300ml plain yoghurt
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
50g grated cheese

1. Melt the marge in a saucepan and saute the meat for 5 to 10 minutes until browned.
2. Add the mixed vegetables, stock, real ale, and mushrooms.  Add salt and pepper to taste and then simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Turn into an ovenproof dish and arrange the tomatoes on top.
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Fry the potatoes in the marge until softened and arrange over the tomatoes.  Combine the yoghurt and nutmeg and pour over the potatoes.
6. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in a preheated moderately hot oven (200C) for 25 to 30 minutes until top is browned.

Kofta Curry - 1980's

Here is a classic from the darker period of culinary creation, yet surprisingly nice as a concept.

225g mincd lamb
1 small onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon of garam masala
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 beaten egg
oil for frying
1 283g of curry sauce
a few mint leaves roughly chopped to garnish

1. Mix the meat, onion, garlic, spices and salt and pepper.
2. Add the beaten egg and mix well.
3. Shape in to 8 to 10 meatballs and fry in hot oil in a shallow pan on all sides until evenly browned.
4. Drain well, and then in a large saucepan, heat the curry sauce and add the meatballs, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve garnished with chopped mince.

Fig Parkin Gingerbread - 1950's

Figs are nice but not common.  If you can get your hands on some, then here is a little recipe that'd make a nice tea accompaniment or a quick fix for gingerbread-heads.

6 ozs. self raising flour
2 ozs. margarine
2 ozs. oatmeal
1 oz. sugar
4 ozs. figs
1 egg
1 teaspoonful of ground ginger
2 tablespoonfuls of syrup
Pinch of salt
little milk

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl.  Rub in the marge, add sugar, ginger, oatmeal and chopped figs.
2. Melt syrup and add with beaten egg and milk to make a soft dropping consistency.
3. Turn into greased and lined tin and bake in a moderately hot oven for about 1.5 hours.

Treacle Scones - 1930's

This comes from Farmhouse Fare, a book first published in 1935 and revised over the years.  I have the 1971 edition which contains lots of great recipes from over the years.  Some of these are older than the thirties, but for the sake of cataloging I am sticking to the date of first publication.
The ease of this dish would make a great little starter for beginners, or something quick to whip up at the last minute.  Again, with many of these recipes, timings are not exact and one has to use ones own instinct when it comes to how quickly they will take to cook.  This recipe also calls for a vintage ingredient, Cream of Tartar.  It is still available from supermarkets or online.  If you don't have it to hand, then white vinegar will be a good substitute.

8 oz Flour
1 oz sugar
1 oz treacle
1 oz margarine
1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda
Buttermilk or ordinary milk

1. Rub the margarine into the flour, add the sugar, cream of tartar and soda and mix to a rather soft dough with the treacle which has been been dissolved in half a cupful of buttermilk.

2. Turn out on to a lightly floured board, stamp quickly into rounds and bake in a fairly hot oven.

Ratafia Cream (1851)

I need to explain a few things with this recipe.  First of Ratafia is a type of liqueur or cordial flavoured with lemon peel, herbs in various amounts (nutmeg, cinnamon,clove, mint, rosemary, anise, etc.).  Thanks Wikipedia.


It is a classic recipe that appeared even in a 1789 cookery book entitled Cookery and Pastry by Mrs MacIver that you can access on Google books.  I have embedded the book below so you can see what other fantastic recipes exist.  It even has a search function!  This little drink would make excellent party appetisers or even a pudding course, depending on how thickly it turns out.




But this seems to be the non-alcoholic version.  By 1851 it had morphed into a concoction using Brandy and Ratafia, but if you don't have Ratafia to hand, then a good malt whiskey should do nicely.
The recipe calls for heating the mixture over boiling water, so in a similiar way that you would make a chocolate sauce with a bowl in a large saucepan.

1.  Gradually stir two glasses of Brandy in to a quart of cream.  Heat over boiling water stirring constantly, until hot but not boiling.
2.  Then gradually stir into 4 or 5 well-beaten egg yolks.  Return to the top of double-boiler and stir over hot water until thickened but do not allow to boil.
3. Flavour the taste with Ratafia or Noyeau (generic word for liqueur).  Add the strained juice of a lemon or a Seville orange can be stirred in as well before reheating.

Serve in glasses after chilling.

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.