More from Joyce Stubbs

[mme_hardy]

I think of 1972 as not so long ago. This is a mistake. Some of the general things I've noticed:

In the intro, she grumpily gives metric conversions "since Great Britain is soon to change to the metric system". Ironically, these are from metric to ounces, although the reader of this cookbook would probably be wanting to do the reverse conversion. At least this let me figure out that "a teacup" as she uses it is the same as a US measuring cup. The difference between a spoonful, a dessertspoonful, and a tablespoonful, is going to be tricker.

The cheerful assumptions about what your butcher will do for you. You can specify that you want a duck less than three months old. If your butcher doesn't know how to make up a crown roast of lamb, you can explain it to him and he'll do it, including wrapping strips of salt pork around the end of each Frenched rib to keep them from charring. Nowadays, I've always seen the ribs' char as part of the picture of the dish, although I know they used to sell, in the US, elaborate little party hats for the end of each rib in a crown roast. And your butcher will know whether he is selling Southdown or Welsh lamb.

"Dill. The dried seeds and fresh leaves are widely used on the continent, but it is mainly known in England for its pharaceutical use in dill water for settling babies' stomachs. The feathery leaves may be used instead of fennel, the flavour of which it closely resembles. It prefers a dry soil and grows well in a sunny corner of the garden." Er. What were they flavoring cucumber pickles with?

Her mayonnaise has 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 egg yolk, 1/2 pint olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice/wine vinegar.

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Oh, Lord. I was just doing a quick google to see what the real proportions should be and came on this gem: "Neutral Flavored Oil — By neutral flavored oil, I mean use an oil that is light in flavor. Quite a bit of oil is added to make mayonnaise, so it’s important to like the flavor of the oil you use.

For a clean tasting mayonnaise use something like grape seed, safflower, avocado or canola oil. Since posting the recipe, quite a few readers have asked about olive oil in mayonnaise.

You can use olive oil, but it can be a little overpowering so I prefer to use a brand that’s light and fruity. I think robust or spicy olive oils would be too much. You might also consider only replacing half of the oil called for in the recipe with olive oil and use something more neutral for the rest."

"Clean tasting mayonnaise" indeed.

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"Parsley sauce" looks incredibly dull. Make a rich white sauce; to 1 pint of the sauce add three tablespoons of chopped parsley and some butter. Serve.

As late as 1972 she has the horror of onions and garlic tasting too strong. Her tomato sauce recipe calls for two heaped tablespoons of minced garlic onion to two pounds of tomatoes, and cautions you to "put the grated onions into a heavy saucepan, barely cover them with water, and let them simmer for five minutes, by which time the water should nearly have disappeared. This takes the strong odour out of the onions but is not necessary if Spanish onions are used." The recipe is seasoned with 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of basil, and 1 stick of cinnamon.

She has a recipe for "Batter pudding" that's what my family called "Eggs David Eyre" from the New York Times Cookbook, and what other people call "Dutch Babies".

Brandy Cream

Simple but expensive to make this is a real party piece.
4 tablespoons icing sugar, juice of 1 large lemon, 4 tablespoons brandy, 2 pints fresh thick cream.

Strain the lemon juice over the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the brandy and stir in the cream. Whisk until stiff but not too stiff and serve cold in a glass dish or individual jelly glasses.

Comments

[movingfinger]

I always thought "a teacup" (as called for in many old recipes) was 6 oz!

The butcher remark makes me think of Julia Child, whose default butcher was Savenor's and therefore simply worlds away from what the average cook had access to then---let alone now.

I miss real butchers. There were still a couple very decent ones in the city who enjoyed doing a bit of fancy work on things like crown roasts or special cuts once in a while, but I dare say they're gone now. The training has to be matched by demand.

Recently I purchased new-old (ca 1960s) flatware with four spoon sizes, and I've been meaning to check the capacities.

[mme_hardy]

Yup. The first time I shopped at Savenor's a lot made sense. We ordered venison and showed up and it had been wrapped in lard and trussed.

[mme_hardy]

I am disappointed that nobody commented on serving pure whipped cream as a dessert.

[movingfinger]

btw I'm sure I've asked before but have you read Clementine in the Kitchen?

[mme_hardy]

No! Tell me about it.

[movingfinger]

Samuel Chamberlain was an oil company executive stationed in France in the 1930's. The whole family moves there with him. They hire Clementine to be their cook and bring her with them when they are recalled to Massachusetts due to the war. Some time later, Chamberlain published a series of Gourmet articles (under a pseudonym) about their life in France with her, illustrated (I believe in the magazine) by his own etchings. He was a talented amateur with a good eye, and his etchings are still appealing and findable.

Chamberlain published travel books after the war (Bouquet de France and A British Bouquet) to promote American tourism.

Don't worry, I'm just sending you this, you'll adore it!

[mme_hardy]

Awww, thank you.

[mme_hardy]

Oh! Have you read Joseph Wechsberg's Blue Trout and Black Truffles? If not, I'll send it to you. A New Yorker writer, an exiled Jew reminiscing about pre-1939 European cookery, especially in the Habsburg empire. The sections I'll always remember are the complexities of Tafelspitz in Vienna, and the restaurant that served "blue trout": taken fresh from a tank, slaughtered, and cooked immediately.

[movingfinger]

As far as I recall, I have NOT read this and it sounds very much up my alley! I thought truite bleu was an Alsatian specialty, still want to get there to eat my way through the mountains. The wines are so good and the cheeses of course are excellent...

[mme_hardy]

It is! The subtitle of the book is "The Peregrinations of an Epicure".

[mme_hardy]

Alsatian wines have been our favorites throughout our marriage; my father-in-law loved them and introduced them to the family. The one good thing about the Reagan years was the strong dollar; I bought brandies and wines I have never seen myself as able to afford since.

[tadorna]

Parsley sauce featured rather too heavily in my childhood. Specifically, boil-in-the-bag cod in parsley sauce. For variety's sake, sometimes it was cod in butter sauce. Happy days.

[thistleingrey]

Would the cucumber pickles have been only vinegar, sugar, salt?

[clanwilliam]

And pickling spice. Dill pickles were not a feature of my childhood.

[mme_hardy]

Huh. When I think "pickle" the first word that comes to mind is "dill".

[clanwilliam]

UK and Ireland, it's a little muslin bag full of exotic things like mustard seeds and peppercorns and bay leaves.

[mme_hardy]

Interesting! Over here, "pickling spice" has a lot of sweet spices. Mustard, peppercorns, hot peppers, yes. McCormick's is "Cinnamon, Allspice, Mustard Seed, Coriander, Bay Leaves, Ginger, Clove, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Cardamom, Mace"

I've used it in fruit pickles, but never in cucumber pickles.

[thistleingrey]

I see. Not mine, either--the German jar pickles I had as a child (made there, sold retail in US) had peppercorn, mustard seed, and coriander seed, and probably a few other things; no dill.

[muccamukk]

I'm fascinated by the idea that dill tastes anything at all like fennel.

[lizbee]

After my appendectomy, my mother made fish in parsley sauce, and it was the first full meal I had kept down in WEEKS. So it's absolutely something I love, but it's also. You know. Convalescent food.

[mme_hardy]

My husband feels the same way about "goldenrod eggs": chopped boiled eggs in white sauce. Again, what you want when you're feeling poorly: bland and familiar.

[neotoma]

Simmer onions in water before putting them into tomato sauce?! So they don't *taste* of onions, I presume?!

What was the tomato sauce going to be used for if it had a bay leaf, a sprig of basil, and an entire cinnamon stick?

[adrian_turtle]

My father made a tomato sauce with a bay leaf, dried basil, and a "cinnamon stick" about as wide as a matchstick. I think it had big chunks of onion that I never wanted to eat. (Then as now, I believe in mincing onions into unrecognizability, then cooking them to death.) The sauce tasted mostly of tomatoes, and was quite nice with meatballs that had ground lamb and mint

[mme_hardy]

That sounds very Greek to me, which might make sense with the author's previous book having been "Greek Cooking at Home". Cf. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_chili]Cincinnati Chili[/url], invented by Macedonian immigrants.

[garpu]

That sounds a lot like my mom's and her mom's cooking. (midwestern.)

[edenfalling]

What is even the point of garlic if you can't still taste it the day afterwards?