Betty Lives!

Betty Crocker’s All-Time Favorites

The best recipes-by popular demand 

1972

This just looked so snowy and beautiful in the book that I couldn’t resist:

It’s really a fruit salad that consists of one can of cherries (I got the all-natural Oregon brand, in water); two 13.5 oz cans of pineapple tidbits (I used fresh); three oranges, pared (I used one regular and two blood); and one cup miniature marshmallows (I substituted crushed meringues for texture and because I don’t like marshmallows).

The fruit is tossed with “Old Fashioned Fruit Dressing” which is made by combining two beaten eggs, two Tbl sugar, two Tbl lemon juice, two Tbl pineapple juice, one Tbl butter and a dash of salt.  The mixture is heated slowly until thickened, whisking as you go.  It makes what could be called a pineapple curd of sorts.  The curd is cooled and then folded into 3/4 heavy cream which has been whipped until stiff and then the dressing is mixed with the fruit.  Now for the questions.  Why is this listed as a “salad”, sandwiched between salads of cucumber and potato, instead of as a dessert?  And why does the whole thing need to be refrigerated for 24 hours when it would be perfectly delicious eaten right away?  For my salad, holding it for 24 hours meant that the blood oranges bled a bit into the dressing and turned parts of the bowl a lovely shade of pink.

It was tasty and I think if it were served after a heavy winter meal it would be fantastic.  I would love to experiment with the curd flavor.  Passionfruit? Strawberry for a summer salad? If we have some leftover could we call it a 48-hour salad tomorrow?

Helen Gurley Brown’s Single Girl’s Cook-book

1969

As much as I loathe reading Brown’s prose, I was on a hunt through my collection for “meals on a budget” that did not involve meatloaf.  Desperate times, desperate measures and I find myself back with Brown who has a chapter called “The Cheapest Little Dinners on Earth.”

I decided to have my way with this “recipe” and really develop it for a 2009 table.  Brown calls for four large potatoes, sliced thin and layered in a buttered casserole with two sliced onions (raw).  Flour, salt and pepper are sprinkled between the layers.  One and half cups of milk are poured over and then four large pork chops, browned in their own fat, get placed on top.  There is no reference to an oven temperature or cooking time all it says at this point is: “Cover and set aside until one hour before dinner.”  Curious.

I started by infusing the milk with a branch of thyme, a crushed garlic clove and a bay leaf, bringing it to a boil and setting it aside while I did the rest of the prep.  I took those two onions, added another one, sliced them thinly and caramelized them slowly with butter, a pinch of sugar and some chopped thyme.  Then I layered the sliced potatoes with the flour, salt and pepper and my caramelized onions and poured the herb-infused milk over the top.  Because these days our nearly-fat-free pork will take less time to cook then a pot full of potatoes, I stuck the casserole in a 350 degree oven.  Meanwhile, I brined my pork chops in a standard brine of 3 Tbl kosher salt, 2 Tbl sugar.  After the potatoes had cooked for 45 minutes I browned the pork chops on the stove top, stuck them on top and raised the temperature to 400 degrees. Another 15 minutes and we were good to go.

It’s not a bad idea - the pork lends a nice flavor to the potatoes.  I wouldn’t called The Cheapest Little Meal on Earth  - good pork is still pricey - but I appreciate Brown’s effort.

The Mike Douglas Cookbook

Mike Douglas and Dan Morris

1969

This book is similar in format to the Dinah Shore cookbook, although much larger and more varied.  I never, ever watched the Mike Douglas show but apparently he cooked with celebrities in each episode and this book contains all of those recipes plus additional ones contributed by his wife and his mother (Mother Dowd of the Yellow Rice).  There is an interesting Q&A with Douglas at the start of the book that is quaint in its political un-correctness.  He talks about falling in love with his wife when she was only 17 and getting married before her senior year in high school.  Then the doozy: “She did graduate when I went off for my Navy stint in 1943.  She should have gone to college really but I never gave her the chance.  I wanted her with me and she wanted to be with me.”  Blech.  I know I’m being extremely judgemental and I shouldn’t; by all accounts they had an extraordinarily long and happy marriage.

Mother Dowd’s Yellow Rice and Chicken is essentially an Americanized paella, albeit a good one.  One 2.5lb chicken gets cut up, seasoned with salt and pepper, and browned in oil on all sides.  At this point the directions say to add the vegetables to the pan (1/2 cup chopped onion, 1 cup chopped green pepper, 2 cloves crushed garlic) but I decided to remove the chicken first, pour out most of the fat and then brown the veg.  I also par-boiled brown rice which I have come to like much more than white.  I added the rice to the veg along with some salt, a bay leaf, 1 1/4 cups crushed tomatoes, 3/4 cup quartered mushrooms and 1/4 tsp saffron which I had dissolved in 3 cups chicken broth.  The recipe calls for canned mushrooms and water, not broth.  The chicken gets nestled in on top then you cover the pan and let it cook for 30 minutes until the water is absorbed.  I miscalculated the amount of liquid I needed for par-boiled brown rice and ended up having to uncover and cook it off, but it turned out fine.  At the last minute you add a cup of cooked peas (I used frozen Cascadian Farm brand).  Was it the most flavorful and fabulous paella of all times? No, but it was an excellent, inexpensive, one-dish family meal for a weeknight.

General Foods Kitchens Cookbook

1959

I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 70’s when New York in general, and that neighborhood in particular, were considered gritty and blighted.  But the community that lived there  - people the media liked to call “the Upper West Side Liberals” - knew something that suburbanites and Upper East Siders didn’t: our neighborhood was the best.  First off, there was the superb housing stock: turn-of-the-century brownstones and lush pre-war spreads.  Second, we were framed by parks to the East and also the West.  My neighbors, whom we knew, were an economical and racial rainbow.  My mother entrenched herself firmly among them and to this day two of her closest friends are women she met in our building.  “Shhh, don’t tell anyone!” we whispered.  “Stay put!”  “Our real estate values will go up!”  And, of course, they did and those that lived to tell have seen Zabar’s grow from the corner store to the behemouth that ate Broadway.  Woolworth’s and the greasy spoon diner have been replaced by Banana Republic and Tom Valenti.  It’s so fancy, it’s unrecognizable to me now.  So I moved to Brooklyn.

Geographic familiarity is comforting and when my daughter started pre-school 7 of the 12 moms in the class had grown up within ten blocks of my family.  Sadly, we were about 15 years too late to be pioneers here, but that doesn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the neighborhood.  Our housing stock of brownstones and pre-war apartments is without par.  We are blessed with a park that is even more beautiful than Central (in my opinion). My neighbors are an economical and racial rainbow.  Not only do I know them, I socialize with them.  Because like my mom, I believe in building community where you find it. Every year in early September we have a block party and the highlight for me is when, early in the evening, we drag our tables and chairs into the street and eat dinner together.  It’s such an unlikely sight in this vast urban landscape and it makes me feel blessed.

At this point you are no doubt wondering how this random post is related to the Betty Project.  Here it is: in my General Foods Kitchens Cookbook one of their entertaining ideas is a house-to-house dinner for you and your neighbors, so I proposed such a thing to my block.  Much to my surprise people jumped at the idea and soon we had hosts for hors d’oeuvres, first course, main course and dessert as well as plenty of alcohol for every stop.  We held it last Saturday night and I have to say (proudly) it was a huge success.  In keeping with the mid-century theme I made meatloaf and an updated green bean casserole (complete with fried onions).  It was a pleasure to be with my neighbors, some of whom I knew only marginally, and to see their homes and children.  In these uncertain times, when both peace and prosperity seem elusive, it is even more significant to build our communities where we find them.

Game Cookbook

Geraldine Steindler

1965

A truly unusual book by an author whose other culinary work is The Shooters Bible Cookbook.  There are tips and preparations for absolutely everything that humans have ever been able to shoot, trap or hook including doves, pigeons, coot, beaver, muskrat (”a dark-meated bonus from the trapper”), possum and porcupine.  She draws the line at crow which she believes make good target practice but are not fit for consumption.

Steindler is not a freak who lives in the woods and weaves her own blankets, she’s a sophisticated cook with a passion for hunting.  Although the bio does mention that her “arsenal now consists of shotguns, handguns and several target and hunting rifles”,  she writes articulately and possesses a refined culinary sense.

I’m trying to ease game into my kids’ diet and so far they’re ok with rabbit, duck and quail as long as I lie to them a little. “It’s just a mini-chicken!” The Quail with Cherry Sauce is a fairly standard preparation and I happen to like fruit sauces with game.  The quail is seasoned and then browned on all sides in butter and finished in a hot (400 degree) oven for 15 minutes.  The sauce is made by de-glazing the pan first with  1/2 cup veal stock then 1/2 glass port.  While the liquids reduce shredded lemon peel is added and after about ten minutes you whisk in 3 Tbl red currant jelly, 1/2 cup sour cherry compote and 1 Tbl lemon juice.  At this point I reduced the sauce a little further so it would thicken:

Although it didn’t call for finishing the sauce with a swirl of cold butter, in retrospect this would have softened the taste in a very good way.  As it was, it was nice but slightly too sweet.  I served it with wild rice that I had cooked with sauteed onions and porcini mushrooms and the combination was perfect.

Eat Italian Once a Week

Vernon Jarratt

1967

Doug and I joke that when we check out at Costco our cart always has the least amount of stuff of anyone who shops there.  When the kids were little I bought diapers, wipes, crabmeat, racks of lamb and, at Christmas, a rib roast.  Now it’s the same list minus the diapers and wipes. Occasionally I swap out a boneless leg of lamb for the racks. That’s it.  The lamb from Costco is from New Zealand and it’s terrific, I highly recommend it.  This is a very long way of saying that when I went to Costco last week I saw that they had Osso Bucco veal and because they almost never carry bone-in cuts, I bought it.

Jarratt’s recipe is very simple but it was all I could do not to change the order of how he cooks the ingredients.  In most stews the meat is browned and then the vegetables.  Then your saucepan, which should be nice and brown by now,  is de-glazed with liquid.  Jarratt’s recipe calls for browning 1 lb of fresh button mushrooms in 2 oz of butter, shoving them over, and then browning the veal.  I knew this was wrong but I just grit my teeth and did it his way. After the veal is browned the pan is de-glazed with one glass of “any good red wine” and then two cups of water and 1 lb of canned tomatoes are added.  Season with salt and pepper and cook, covered for two hours.

I thought that the lack of braising flavors (carrots, onions, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns etc…) would make for a rich and soulful sauce but actually it came out quite flat.  Also, the veal from Costco is not nearly as good as the lamb.  It was kind of chewy and tasteless.

The cauliflower, however, was amazing.  First steamed whole, broken into florets and served with the warm sauce over it, I loved it.  The sauce is made by cooking 3 Tbl wine vinegar, 5 chopped anchovy fillets, 4 Tbl olive oil, salt and pepper until the fillets dissolve. A note here: I am a HUGE anchovy fan but even for those that don’t partake, this sauce is very harmless due to the cooking.

Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two Cook Book

1958

I’m taking some solace this week in the tried-and-true recipes of my beloved Betty.  Chicken cooked by this method is remarkably crisp and tasty and served alongside some cream gravy and cranberry relish it cannot be beat.  Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees at the same time that you heat a heavy-bottomed cast iron skillet with 1/4 lb fat (I used half butter, half duck).  Combine 1 cup of flour with 2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1/4 tsp paprika in a a bag for dredging.  You can add whatever you like to the bag here.  I added powdered mustard, garlic and some oregano.  When the pan is really hot, dredge the chicken add it in, skin-side down.  Cook in the oven for 30 minutes then flip it over and cook another 30 minutes.  For the gravy you need to eye how much fat is left in the pan and add the same amount of flour (it’s usually about 2-3 Tbl).  Whisk to combine and then slowly add about a cup of milk, whisking as you go.

The batter buns were also easy and delicious.  Measure 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbl warm water into the bowl of a mixer, stir.  Add 1 pkg active dry yeast then 2 Tbl sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 cup soft shortening and one egg, combine.  Add 1 cup flour and beat 2 mintues on med. speed, scraping the bowl down as needed.  Then add 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbl additional flour and beat until smooth.  Shape lightly into balls (this makes about 9) and drop into a greased muffin tin.  Let rise until doubled and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Here is my beautiful chicken:

Buns:

The awesome sandwich I made with chicken, bun, a drop of gravy and cranberry relish:

When I think about how I eat sometimes I’m amazed that I’m not gigantically fat.