SylviaLovegren

No, chicken used to be expensive, at least in North America. That's why Sunday roast chicken was a big deal and why "a chicken in every pot" was considered really spreading the wealth. Before battery farming. ETA: Should have read everyone else's answers first! Interesting about the dairy farms in big cities as the source for so much veal -- makes sense.

City Chicken was usually veal. Back then, veal was cheap and chicken was expensive. Ha. ETA: Norm and I seem to differ. The recipes I had for City Chicken and Mock Chicken gathered from old cookbooks from the 20s and 30s were usually veal -- maybe that changed into the 50s.

It's a beautiful book. The spine is shot on mine from so much opening and drooling.

Looking at the chef's carrot cake recipe, it sounds pretty much like any standard carrot cake. I'd head over and get the Rose Levy Cake Bible and use her recipe. Carrot cake is much more forgiving than other more traditional cake recipes and is a good starter project. ETA: after you've mastered a smaller carrot cake recipe, you can compare it to the humongous cake recipe and see if there are any flavor tweaks or proportions to adjust to get a replica of the chef's recipe.

I've always used the pry-er on my swing away can opener. Doesn't seem to do anything to the metal tops and is super easy, available and cheap. But maybe I'm not understanding the issue.

It also has to be remembered that so many of the older set don't really know how to tuse the GUI of their browser. (Internet Explorer and Firefox dominate the browser usage) They don't know hot to click "View" and drop down to "Zoom In" and enlarge the point size of the type so they can read it. This. I do know how to enlarge the type but I mostly won't bother to do it unless I REALLY want to see something. Usually a too small font or a difficult to read design (white on black, anyone? my eyes strobe) causes an instant backout. If the market is hip 20-somethings, then fine, be crazy. But if the market includes older folks, test out the design on a few people with older eyes, or use a designer who knows. ETA: And Huiray, that Andre website is AMAZING. Didn't even realize it was a restaurant until I somehow managed to click on a picture of some guys working in the kitchen. As to what is served at Andre, apparently it's bull puckeys.

I would not be going there based on the website because I was unable to read it. Typeface too small and also a difficult font. Not to mention the fact that things were zooming around. So unpleasant that it needed to be closed. Then there was the very irritating music... But perhaps we aging boomers are not the target customers for this restaurant.

LOVE the Pyromaniac's Cookbook. In fact, I loved it so much I put their recipe for "Baked Beans A Glo-Glo" (baked beans flamed with rum) in Fashionable Food.

Some of the once fashionable things are pretty good -- like Cherries Jubilee. Why not bring them back? A Knickerbocker Glory seems to be an exotic ice cream sundae in England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker_glory . I'd never heard of it but we were at a dinner party hosted by a British couple the other day and we were served an ice cream sundae in a tall glass -- layers of meringue, berries, jelly, and whipped cream. Very festive and old-fashioned. So maybe the Brits have a thing for sundaes.

You could always pick up a copy of my book, Fashionable Foods: Seven Decades of Food Fads http://www.amazon.com/Fashionable-Food-Seven-Decades-Fads/dp/0226494071/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411652679&sr=8-1&keywords=fashionable+food+seven+decades+of+food+fads It's got recipes for tomato aspic, beef wellington, veal orloff, green beans amandine, crepes suzette, fondue, rumaki, Grand Marnier souffle and loads of other similar things. Tomato aspic is jellied tomato juice, not a tomato in jelly. It was hugely popular at fashionable dinner parties, at least in North America, in the 50s and early 60s. I have yet to taste a tomato aspic that isn't vile, but maybe that's just me. A 50s sophisticated dinner: Martinis with cheese straws, olives broiled in bacon strips Boeuf Bourguignon, Garlic bread Endives salad with bleu cheese dressing Baked Alaska And a 60s dinner: Martinis replaced by wine Tomato Aspic Beef Wellington Green Beans Amandine Wild Rice with Mushrooms Grand Marnier Souffle or Cherries Jubilee A 70s dinner Harvey Wallbanger cocktails Quiche appetizers Crepes with chicken and mushrooms or spaghetti carbonara Spinach salad with cheese dressing Rum bundt cake Kahlua and coffee Cheers!

Thank you for a very interesting set of posts. I'd heard that Alaska sourdoughs kept their starter near their body heat, as well, and they probably did drink the hooch as hooch. And since the word "hooch" came from Alaska, it makes even more sense. (Doesn't mean it's true, but it sure sounds plausible, /pedant.)

Looks pretty good except for the pale crust. How'd it taste. Was this the rye starter? And I'm fascinated by the use of "hooch" for the alcoholic liquid thrown off by a hungry starter. Dictionary says "hooch" is from a Tlingit (west coast No. America) word and was first recorded in 1897. But no one says how it came to be used for the starter liquid -- did the Alaska gold rush folks call their starter liquid and their booze by the same name? Anyone know?

My dad worked in the apple orchards in Eastern Washington during the depression. He told me that if apple trees are allowed to fend for themselves, they'll have one year with lots of apples and the next year with hardly any. What the grower has to do is thin the crop on the heavy year when the apples are still very small, so that the tree produces a moderate amount of apples (those apples will be a bit bigger because they're not competing for nutrients so heavily). The tree will then produce a moderate crop again the next year and so long as it is thinned if it produces too many, the cropping should even out. We've had two wild apple trees in our lives, one in NJ and one here in Toronto, and they both followed the heavy/lean rotation, but I never was able to thin the crop to see if that helped the lean year crop.

Buns and meat, my favorite crowd buffet! But definitely have some vegetarian options. Where I live, I'd have some vegan options as well, but you know your friends and neighbors.

I LOVE Ice Cubes. You hardly ever see them any more. Also, I love American Hershey bars when I want a particular kind of hard chocolate hit. (The Canadian version doesn't have the same harsh flavor.) Other chocolates may be "better" but there are times when only a Hershey will do.

Had a corn salad yesterday with grilled corn shaved off the cob, red onion and basil, with a vinaigrette. Quite delicious. The best fresh corn dish I ever ate, though, was a corn pudding, without eggs to muddy the fresh corn taste. You need really good corn for this. 2 cups fresh corn scraped not cut off the cob (to get more corn juices flowing) 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 cup cream bit of salt Preheat oven to 325. Heavily butter a medium baking dish (I use a 9" x 9"). Spread the corn in the pan, dot the top with butter. Bake about an hour.

Sounds like Penn Dutch "pot pie" -- which is chicken soup with big fat slippery noodles. I got quite a surprise the first time I ordered it. Don't forget "tuna noodle casserole" for an iconic dish!

Yes, this is the cake I make -- from her blog, which I think heidih had pointed me to a while ago. It's unbelievably delicious. It's really more a pie than a cake, but quite different and really good.

There was rhubarb in a farm stand in Guelph, Ontario, this weekend, along with corn and blueberries! We've had a cool, wet summer -- does rhubarb crop twice in mild weather? Never had fresh in late summer. What we bought is now a part of an Estonian rhubarb cake, made by popular demand for son's birthday.

This one looks the closest to good ones I've had: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/mississippi-mud-pie-recipe.html Chocolate cookie crust, pecans or walnuts can be added; chocolate pudding center with hint of coffee flavor for a little bite; topped with whipped cream and some crumbled chocolate cookie crumbs,chocolate curls, chocolate sauce and chopped pecans

Bay has a very distinctive taste, to me. I like to put bay, garlic, lemon and peppercorn in the water for boiling artichokes. And sometimes I've been known to crush a bay leaf in my fingers before eating crusty bread -- love the aroma. I made a Cuban Cristianos y Moros (black beans and rice cooked together) the other day and thought that the bay flavor was a little strong,but I've got a fresh batch of Turkish leaves.

Shakes and smoothies are also fun. If you have frozen fruit on hand, you can make all kinda different flavors. Use juice, milk, ice cream or yoghurt depending on the mood. Since kids love straws, different kinds of drinks made with fruit juices, soda water, etc., can be exciting, too. Speaking of frozen fruits -- frozen bananas with "magic shell." Don't forget the best snack of all -- grilled cheese sandwiches.

Quick breads are good. I've been making banana bread (with whole wheat flour and 1/2 olive oil 1/2 butter, so very healthy ) and my kids (in their 20s) have been scarfing it up with thickly spread butter. Date bread with cream cheese is also very popular. Wheat tortillas folded over banana and Nutella, then sauteed in butter, sprinkled with a little cinnamon sugar = yummy. Or you can sub marshmallows and Hershey squares for a Mexican s'more. When our son was 8 or so, he was so proud of "making" Ranch dressing (using the little pack), and he loved eating it with using carrots, celery, zucchini, cukes, red peppers, etc. for dippers.

If you add coconut milk instead of cream and finish off with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro (haters can skip), it's excellent served over rice. ETA: I usually add a bit of hot red pepper while making the sauce and a squeeze of lime to finish. ETA: I can't believe you guys are done -- what will I read in the morning to make me laugh and to inspire? Thanks for another wonderful installment and really looking forward to the next one.

Of course you can cook them Asian style, but you don't have to. They're delicious cut up and sauteed in olive oil with onions until soft, then add some garlic and cook it, then finish off with a splash of balsamic vinegar and some fresh basil leaves. Lusciousness.