Old cookbooks | Gourmandistan

Deliciously dingy-watered finger-dirtying dill pickles

July 14, 2013 by Steve

Michelle almost didn’t take a picture of these pickles, even though they may be her favorite dill. It’s the Dill Pickles recipe from City Cuisine, the cookbook Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken wrote back in the Eighties before they became the “Too Hot Tamales” (befitting their rather spicy personal story). In addition to vinegar, salt, sugar (and of course, dill), the pickling spices include cumin, ginger and turmeric, which give the pickles a spicy, earthy, almost Indian flavor. The […]

Categories: Cooking, Cucumber, Food, Old cookbooks, Pickles, Recipes

Blueberry Surprise Cake: a tasty surprise witness to unbelievable testimony

July 3, 2013 by Steve

As an attorney, Michelle is keenly aware of the unreliability of eyewitnesses, preferring the certainty of written documents to sworn statements which often color fact with fanciful opinion. Steve, who has himself coached “testimonials” from video subjects (“Would you say this hospital is one of the finest in the state?” “Yes.” “I meant would you say that to the camera.”) can be troubled by “true stories.” Which is probably why he started to poke holes in Michelle’s childhood recollection of […]

Categories: Blueberries, Cake, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Some ’80s jams (mostly the strawberry kind) still rock.

May 27, 2013 by Steve

Being of a certain age means we Gourmandistanis often have to suffer what many in our cohort still call “Modern Rock,” as if the era which created Kajagoogoo ended hard-edged rockers forever. (Despite the nauseatingly endless careers of the Stones and Aerosmith, there are those who argued that it did.) We are also too often in close proximity to people who still believe crappy California surfer-style shorts look good on them. Some of these happen to be the same people. We feel especially […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Fruit, Jams & Preserves, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Strawberries, Vegetarian

Do do this ragout that we do so well.

May 20, 2013 by Steve

We’re not asking you join a great crusade to stamp out decency in the West. (After all, some would say there’s nothing left to do.) We’re simply asking you to start celebrating your fresh green vegetables with this simple, light “stew.” A while back, Michelle was hypnotized by some Whole Foods fava beans (a rarity in these parts), and found a recipe in Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Vegetables for Fava Bean Ragout. Alice indicated it was “great with Potato Gnocchi,” […]

Categories: Artichokes, Asparagus, Cooking, Food, Old cookbooks, Pasta, Peas, Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

(Re)iterating Bertolli’s baby artichokes, olives, meatballs and sage

May 11, 2013 by Steve

We found this recipe in Chez Panisse Cooking while looking for a creative way to use some semi-impulse-bought baby artichokes. (They were from Castroville and on special at Whole Foods. Even die-hard locavores couldn’t resist.) We were initially attracted by the interesting mix of ingredients, a step up from our previous effort. Then we were intrigued by Paul Bertolli’s perplexing introduction. Telling us his mother “used marinated artichokes and a type of green Spanish olive ” he “can’t find anymore,” Bertolli […]

Categories: Artichokes, Cooking, Food, Meatballs, Old cookbooks, Pasta, Recipes

Trompe l’oink

April 1, 2013 by Steve

This is not a post about how to treat your family to plump, juicy pork chops without frying. It is instead about Nut Cutlets—or “nutlets,” as Steve insists on calling them. We found this recipe in Kitchenology with Principia Friends, a 1933 cookbook written by “St. Louis mothers” as a fundraising tool for Principia College. Perhaps because of Depression-era budgets, the book has an entire section on “Meat Substitutes”—with ideas like Mock Veal Loaf (broken spaghetti, chopped walnuts), Cheese Rarebit […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Holidays & Events, Old cookbooks

Pee, pan-dairy pancakes & a pledge you should make

March 15, 2013 by Steve

Gourmandistan is not normally a territory enthused about the prospect of kidneys. Even a fan such as Jaques Pépin is forced to describe their flavor as “an assertive taste that some may not find inviting.” Putting it bluntly, kidneys pretty much always taste of urine, quite possibly because their primary function is producing the stuff. While we’ve received them in several whole animal purchases, we’ve usually (somewhat secretly and shamefully as nose-to-tail enthusiasts) allowed them to go to waste. Today, however, […]

Categories: Breakfast, Cooking, Family, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Bunny Bundt: Early Spring Marmalade Carrot Cake

February 13, 2013 by Steve

Not satisfied with making enough jam to slake Steve’s appetite for fruit-laced yogurt, last winter Michelle decided to also make Seville orange marmalade. After peeling, juicing, slicing and boiling, she’d produced several batches—exactly none of which met her stringent standards. Some seemed too thick with slabs of peel, others too runny and light. Steve thought they were all fine, especially the “blended” jars that Goldilocks-edly straddled the thick-thin divide. Unfortunately, Steve does not eat that much marmalade. He finds its […]

Categories: Cake, Carrots, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Jams & Preserves, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Ravioli, Tortelli, Mezzalune, a Marriage

January 14, 2013 by Steve

It’s an unseasonably warm mid-January afternoon in 1988. Michelle is stomping around Louisville’s downtown, where we lived at the time, in a wedding outfit. People are driving by, honking their horns and hooting congratulations. Michelle is angry. She is angry with Steve, who has both sets of keys. Steve took Michelle’s keys when he drove back to the apartment from the wedding site to get the marriage license, which he had forgotten. He then forgot he already had his keys […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Food, Italy, Old cookbooks, Pasta, Potatoes, Recipes