Ida Bailey Allen's Recipes (1952)

Let's have some fun.

Ida Bailey Allen's Step-by-Step Picture Cookbook (1952) has been sitting on our cookbook shelf for many years, and I just recently opened it out of nostalgia and curiosity. It brought back a lot of memories of the way families ate in Boomer times, and the way my mother cooked and we ate at my house in suburban Los Angeles too.

That way is not what's shown on the cooking shows on teevee. Far from it. Most of them seem to be obsessed with recreating at home the specialty dishes of various regions (a la Cook's Country) or high end restaurants that do crazy things (a la America's Test Kitchen).

That wasn't the approach in Ida's day.

Instead, most of her recipes are quick and easy, down to earth, using commonly and easily available ingredients, including things you would NEVER see on a cooking show (canned fruits and vegetables? Ack! Frankfurters? Get out!).

So here's one to begin: (I ate this when I was just a wee-sprout)

CREAMED FRIZZLED DRIED BEEF (aka "Shit on a Shingle")

Melt two tablespoons butter or margarine in a skillet.

Add a quarter pound shredded dried beef and slow cook about 2 minutes or until the edges curl

Sprinkle over 4 tablespoons of flour and blend. Remove from heat.

Slowly stir in 2 cups of whole milk.

Cook, stirring constantly over low heat, until smooth and thick. 

Serve on toasted English muffins, or squares of very thin "lightning corn bread," or on buttered toast.

I'm not sure you can even get dried beef (not jerky -- it came in glass jars) these days. But this meal was simple, quick and easy, and the result was filling and (usually) tasty.

Here's another:

BUTTER CAKES (something like English muffins, but a lot easier)

Ingredients:

 2 3/4 cups sifted enriched flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk or soured milk

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon melted butter

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda and sift together 3 times.

Make a hole in the center, add 1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with egg yolk. Add melted butter and remaining milk; stir till liquid is absorbed. 

Turn onto floured board. Knead with the hands until almost smooth. 

Pat 3/4 inch thick; cut into biscuits; cover with waxed paper. Let stand 2 hours. 

Slowly fry in shortening on a heated griddle; allow 10 minutes. Turn once. 

Easy peasy. One thing we don't do any more is to sift flour. Not sure why it fell out of favor but you hardly see it any more. Also, cup measure of flour is often replaced by weight measure. Assuming, of course, you went out and bought a kitchen scale.

Another:

CHILI TAMALE LOAF FOR LUNCH

(I know I said there were no Mexican or Asian recipes in this cookbook. I was wrong. This one is definitely "Mexican.") (And for what it's worth, yes, my mother fixed something like this from time to time when I was young.)

Ingredients:

1 cup cold water

1 cup enriched yellow corn meal

5 cups boiling water

1 teaspoon salt

1 (1 pound) can chili con carne

Mix corn meal with cold water; add to boiling salted water; cook and stir till thickened.

Reduce heat, cook 15 minutes.

Pour into a loaf pan and chill until firm.

Unmold in a shallow baking pan. Slice in half lengthwise. Spread chili con carne between layers and on top. 

Bake in a moderate oven, 375 ° F, for 30 minutes. Slice and serve hot.

As i say, my mother made something like this sometimes. On the one hand, she'd make the corn meal mush and serve it for breakfast, fried, buttered and drizzled with syrup. Loved it. On the other, she'd serve fried mush with canned chili for lunch or dinner. On occasion, she'd make what she called Tamale Pie, canned chili mixed with canned corn and black olive slices topped with corn bread mix baked in the oven. 

And then to wind up, an Asian dish. Or is it "Asian?"

PEPPER STEAK ORIENTAL

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 peeled section garlic, minced

1 pound round or flank steak cut in thin slivers

1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1/4 cup minced onion

2 green peppers cut in strips

1/2 cup sliced celery

1 (3 ounce) can sliced broiled mushrooms

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 cup well-seasoned chicken broth or 1/2 cup water and 1/2 chicken bouillon cube

Put oil in heavy frying pan. Add garlic. Place over moderate heat until fairly hot. Blend together Kitchen Bouquet, salt, ginger and sprinkle over meat. Add to frying pan and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently until the meat is brown, about 10 minutes. Add minced onion, green peppers, celery and mushrooms. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Blend together and stir in corn starch and chicken broth. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Serve with hot, flaky rice.

Some thoughts about this recipe. It's much more complicated than most of them. Many more ingredients and more complex cooking techniques. Obviously trying to Americanize wok cooking without actually acknowledging it. On the cooking shows, you'll occasionally see wok cooking, as well as American kitchen adaptations using skillets. 

The use of Kitchen Bouquet (when was the last time you saw or used it?) instead of soy sauce is interesting. No mention of soy sauce at all. I remember going out to a Chinese restaurant when I was a kid. I always had chop suey. And always on the table was a bottle of soy sauce, one of those roundish ones with pour spouts on each side of the red cap. I would load up my chop suey with soy sauce until I learned you didn't have to. 

Come to think of it, Kitchen Bouquet is similar in flavor. It's sweeter and much stronger, but perhaps in this dish you couldn't tell the difference. 

The "flaky rice" is a method of cooking. Basically rice steamed with somewhat less water than you would think necessary (1 1/2 cups water, 1 cup rice, 15 minutes.)

Here are Ida's instructions for cooking pasta and noodles:

For 4 persons, allow 8 ounces high protein elbow macaroni, short cut spaghetti, or noodles broken in 2 inch lengthsl or use 8 ounces shells or fancy shapes. (This amount will measure from 2 to 2 1/4 cupfuls.) Put 4 cups water in a 2 quart saucepan. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a rapid boil. Stir in the macaroni product. Cover and boil until tender to your taste, from 14 to 18 minutes. Stir at the end of 10 minutes. Reduce heat and cook slowly the remaining time. The macaroni will absorb almost all the water. Do not drain. Just add the butter or spaghetti sauce or other ingredients and heat. This method saves all the nutrients and full flavor. Saves time and trouble, too.

The Chef adds:

Add a 1/2 tablespoon of salad oil to the cooking water for macaroni products so the pieces will not stick together. 

(Heresy!)