Banana Loaf Recipe - Flop-Proof Baking

My mother, Sandra, has had this Stork margarine baking book for many years, and in fact, it has stained pages from a lot of baking projects!

If you are in the mood for a delicious banana loaf bread - then try this recipe:

Banana Loaf (Flop-Proof Baking)

1/3 packet Stork Margarine (approximately 166 grams)
2/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup mashed banana
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat the oven to moderate (180 degrees Celsius)
2. Grease a loaf tin
3. Cream the Stork and sugar well
4. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well
5. Add the essence and mashed banana to the Stork mixture and blend
6. Sift the flour and salt
7. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and blend well

8. Bake in the prepared tin for 1 hour
9. Remove from oven and leave for 5 minutes
10. Turn onto a cooling rack and cool

Enjoy!

Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon - 1960

There is something comforting about a rainy night and a steaming bowl of Macaroni and Cheese!

Whoever invented the combination of tender tubes of pasta and gooey melted cheese, should be heartily congratulated!

My latest treasured cookbook was gifted to me by my mother Sandra, and I have been most eager to try it out.

The Ladies’ Home Journal Cookbook, published 1960, was compiled from recipes from the monthly Ladies’ Home Journal Magazine. Established in 1883, the magazine is still in existence.

Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon

1 (8 oz.) package macaroni (226 grams)

6 slices bacon cut in pieces

½ pound mushrooms sliced (226 grams)

1 teaspoon minced onion

2 ½ cups Thin Cream Sauce

2 cups grated Cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Cook the macaroni according to package directions. In the meantime, fry the bacon in a skillet until crisp. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towelling. 

Add the mushrooms and onion, and sauté until golden. Drain. Make a thin cream sauce [recipe below], using 2 tablespoons bacon drippings. Add the cheese and cook until thickened. 

Season with salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Mix all of the ingredients together. Pour into a 2 quart casserole and bake in a moderately hot oven, 375° (180 degrees), until golden and bubbly. Six to eight servings.

Thin Cream Sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup milk or half milk and half cream

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Melt the butter in a double boiler or saucepan over very low heat. Blend in flour. Add the liquid gradually, stirring constantly. Cook until well blended. Season with salt and pepper. Yield: 1 cup.

Enjoy!

The Vintage Kitchen

Eve's Pudding - 1930's

As our balmy summer afternoons change to the coolness of Autumn, my thoughts turn to a warming pudding as an evening treat.

Looking through my collection of vintage cookery books, I came across the bright red cover of "Reliable Cookery - Notes, Rules and Recipes" by Mrs Lawrie. The book is undated but is believed to be from the 1930's. Created as a school subject book, no doubt in home economics, it was published by McDougall's Educational Company Ltd, Edinburgh.

The preface reads:
"The need for a reliable cookery book for use in schools, which provides straightforward, clear, concise recipes, as well as notes and rules on the different methods used, has been a long-felt want.
In order to obviate the necessity for note-taking, which uses up valuable time so much needed for practical work, Notes and Rules have been provided as well as good variety of Recipes, and the scope of the book is such that it provides for a course extending over three or more years.
The book is compiled in such a way that girls should be able to follow its directions, and work with intelligence and self-reliance, and not depend on constant demonstrations."

Not much is known about the knowledgeable Mrs Lawrie, but she was clearly highly skilled in the domestic arts, as she originally the Superintendent of Domestic Subjects, Glasgow Education Authority.

From Mrs Lawrie's "Reliable Cookery - Notes, Rules and Recipes" I chose to make the delightful sounding Eve's Pudding:

Eve's Pudding

Ingredients

6 oz. flour (170 grams)
3 ozs. butter or margarine (85 grams)
3 ozs. sugar (85 grams)
pinch of salt
1/2 spoonful baking powder
grated lemon rind
1 to 2 eggs
milk to mix
1 lb apples (+/- 453 grams)
2 to 3 oz (57 - 85 grams)

Method

1. Have oven in readiness, and grease a pie-dish.

2. Wipe, peel, core, quarter, and slice the apples.

3. Place half the apples in the dish, then the sugar and the rest of the apples. (I added half a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of nutmeg to the sugar to give it extra flavour)

 

4. Mix the dry ingredients and lemon rind together, and rub in the butter.

 

5. Beat the egg and add enough milk to mix to a dropping consistency. 

6. Pour the mixture on top of the apples, and bake in a fairly hot oven till well risen and brown, 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

   Delicious served hot with custard! Enjoy!

                    The Vintage Kitchen 

Traditional South African Bobotie - 1936

It is not often that one comes across a tome of home assistance in the form of the South African edition of ‘Cookery Illustrated and Household Management’.

Published in 1936, this manual of the domestic arts was ably edited by the well-known cook, Elizabeth Craig. For distribution in the local market, Craig added traditional South African dishes.

One such traditional South African dish is Bobotie, a well loved favourite:

"Bobotie

2 lb. mutton or beef (cooked or fresh) [450g]

2 onions

2 tablespoons butter or dripping

1 slick white bread

1 cupful milk

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 eggs

Seasoning

Chopping almonds

A few lemon or bay leaves

Utensils – Mincer, 3 basins, saucepan, knife, spoon, egg-beater, fork, pie-dish. Enough for 6 persons.

Mince the meat. Soak the bread in half of the milk and mash it finely with a fork. Fry the chopped onions in the butter. 

Add to these the bread, curry powder, sugar, seasoning, lemon juice (or vinegar) and the minced meat. Mix well together with 1 well-beaten egg. Pour the mixture into a buttered pie-dish and bake in a moderate oven. 

After about half an hour, beat up the other egg with a pinch of salt and add to the rest of the milk. Pour this over the mince. Place a few lemon or bay leaves on the top and sprinkle over some chopped almonds. Return to the oven and bake for another ½ hour during which the custard will set. Bobotie is generally served with rice."

Notes: I added dried coriander to the custard mix, and threw in some country mix vegetables for extra colour and flavour. Baked 180 °C for +/- 45 mins to 1 hour depending on type of oven. 

Enjoy!

The Vintage Kitchen 

Vintage Lemon Sponge Pudding - The Sunshine Recipe Book

Continuing in our series of lemon, is a recipe from the noted South African cook and cookery researcher Hilda Gerber.

The esteemed Ms Gerber partnered with the Citrus Board to editor The Sunshine Recipe Book, a comprehensive volume of “350 ways to using citrus fruit.”

 If you love citrus as much as I do, you will certainly love the gems in this book.

Our featured vintage recipe is Lemon Sponge Pudding.

Lemon Sponge Pudding

A baked pudding to be served cold

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoonfuls flour

3 tablespoonfuls lemon juice

2 eggs, separated

1 cup milk

A pinch of salt

Sift together all dry ingredients.

Add lemon juice, egg-yolks and milk and beat well.

Add stiffly beaten whites.

Pour into a buttered glass baking dish. Set dish in pan of hot water and bake at 325 deg. for 1 hour.

Cool and serve with top milk, custard or whipped cream. 

Enjoy!

The Vintage Kitchen 

Lemon Meringue Pie 1959

The joy of hunting for vintage recipe books is coming across unusual books to add to my collection. One such book is the ‘Kenya High School Recipe Book’.

Dating from 1959, this book was produced as a fundraiser for the building of the Kenya High School Chapel.

"The Kenya High School had its beginnings in 1910 when a co-educational school called the Nairobi European School began in buildings designed for police Barracks. In 1931 the boys were separated from the girls. In 1935, the school was renamed The European Girls Secondary School and had its first Headmistress, Miss Kerby appointed. The buildings consisted partly of temporary wooden huts located on the compound of the present Nairobi Primary school, with whom the secondary school shared the present buildings. Staff housing was scattered in the vicinity of Protectorate Hill. In 1939, the school was renamed The Kenya High School." http://www.kenyahigh.ac.ke/

The fundraising was obviously successful as the school chapel was dedicated in 1959. 

(Image http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1001423&page=3)

One of the aspects I enjoy in vintage recipe books are the adverts:

  

For a quick and easy Lemon Meringue Pie, using a precooked pie shell, G.Baskin contributed this recipe:

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 cooked 9” pie shell

2 eggs

1 tin condensed milk

Sugar for meringue

½ cup lemon juice

Mix the condensed milk, egg yolk and lemon juice together. Pour into pie shell and top with egg whites beaten to meringue with sugar.

Place in oven for 2 to 3 minutes until the meringue is golden brown.

Delicious served with cream. 

Happy Baking!

The Vintage Kitchen 

Easter Recipe - Delicious Hot Cross Buns

Easter is just around the corner and what better bake is there than traditional Hot Cross Buns?

This recipe comes from one of my favourite recipe books, Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cook Book from 1959.

Hot Cross Buns

2 packages active dry yeast or 2 cakes compressed yeast

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup milk, scalded

½ cup salad oil or melted shortening

1/3 cup sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

3 ½ to 4 cups sifted enriched flour

½ to 1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 beaten eggs

2/3 cup currants

1 slightly beaten egg white

Sifted confectioners’ sugar

Soften active dry yeast in warm water or compressed yeast in lukewarm water. Combine milk, salad oil, sugar, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Sift together 1 cup of the flour and the cinnamon; stir into milk mixture. Add eggs; beat well. Stir in softened yeast and currants. Add remaining flour (or a little more or less to make a soft dough). Cover with damp cloth; and let rise in warm place till double (about 1 ½ hours). Punch down.

Roll or pat out to ½ inch on lightly floured surface. Cut in rounds with 2 ½ inch biscuit cutter; shape in buns. Place on a greased baking sheet about 1 ½ inches apart. Cover and let rise in warm place till almost double (about 1 hour). If desired, cut shallow cross in each bun with sharp scissors or knife. Brush tops with egg white. Bake at 375° about 12 minutes, or till done. Add confectioners’ sugar (about ¾ cup) to the remaining egg white. Use this as a frosting for piping crosses on warm buns. Makes about 2 dozen.

With love from,

Images courtesy of http://thegraphicsfairy.com/

Elizabeth Craig - A doyenne of home economy (plus her pancake recipe)

Elizabeth Josephine Craig (16 February 1883 – 7 June 1980) was a notable Scottish home economist, cookery writer and journalist. 

(Image courtesy of www.britishfoodinamerica.com)

Elizabeth wrote over 40 cookery books during her 97 years! She first began writing cookery books after the first World War and then continued on until 1980 - an impressive five decades!

Elizabeth starting cooking at the young age of 6, and also began collecting various recipes from the age of 12. Due to this background, she was well-versed in the art of cookery. True to her talent, she was able to create recipes according to the times, whether it was frugal recipes during war time or later years when refridgerators were common. 

I am fortunate to have a copy of Elizabeth's Craig's Home Cooking, a 1961 edition of the original 1949 publication. 

Shrove Tuesday has come and gone but I will feature Elizabeth Craig's Pancake Recipe as we are still nearing Easter! 

Pancakes

3/4 lb. flour
1 large egg
1/2 half pint milk
Pinch salt

Sift flour and salt together into a basin. Make a well in the centre, then drop in the egg. Stir in half the milk gradually, then stir in the flour from the sides by degrees. Beat well and add the rest of the milk, beating all the time. Stand in a cool place for one hour. When ready to fry, pour and scrape batter into a jug. 

 

To fry pancakes

Melt a walnut of butter or lard in the frying-pan. Remove pan from fire and pour in from 2 tablespoons to 1/4 pint of batter, depending on the size of the frying-pan. Move the pan a little to allow the batter to spread over the whole of the pan, then quickly place the pan on heat. Cook till lightly browned below, then toss, by jerking the pan upwards and towards you, or turn with a palette knife. Brown on the other side, then turn on to sugared paper. Dredge with sugar, squeeze a little lemon juice over, then roll up and keep hot while cooking the rest of the batter. Put a walnut of fat into pan before cooking each pancake. Serve arranged on a hot dish lined with a paper doily. Garnish with fingers of lemon.
  

Enjoy!

 With love from,