"Bush Family Cookbook"

[Jason Perlow]

Thanks very much, Daniel. If anything, my choice to make it this year it pisses a lot of holier-than-thou people off, and that's a reason as good as any to prepare it, I think.

Next year, I'm thinking about Ritz Cracker Stuffing. But I might have to succumb to the demand to make this again.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Next year, I'm thinking about Ritz Cracker Stuffing.

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Have you ever made the RC Stuffing? .. not Ritz-Carleton, I imagine ...

[Mayhaw Man]

Thanks a lot, Grandma Pierce's savory jello mold salad thingy, dressed with seafood, has sent me cowering under the bed with the ferrets and a bottle of gin again. I left Kansas to get AWAY from crap like that!

K

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My dear, Jello is everywhere. There is no escape.

[Jason Perlow]

Have you ever made the RC Stuffing? .. not Ritz-Carleton, I imagine ...

No, not yet, but I'd probably substitute pecans for walnuts, as Rachel hates walnuts.

The one I am actually considering is this one from Joan Hamburg and Arthur Schwartz:

http://www.thefoodmaven.com/diary/archives/00000073.html

But the nuts sound like a nice touch.

[tryska]

hmm...i would like to see Bandar Bush's recipes as well. I wonder if he dumbed the food down any.

Considering the various people i've had the pleasure of supping with, i'd have to say that I don't really consider this food Plebian. Easy maybe - but i've met alot of salt-of-the-earth good cooks. Who even do wonders with Jello. Had some good jello concoction that was called "green stuff" jsut this past weekend.

Grandma's ring mould doesn't sound good.

[Pontormo]

And now, a message from 10 Downing Street.

English-speaking countries unite over family-value meals?

[Jaymes]

I have seen a young soldier still dressed in fatigues standing in the aisle at Whole Foods pulling canned vegetables off the shelves and putting them in his basket, probably wondering why folk in D.C. pay so much for green beans.  I was tempted to go up to him and lead him back to the produce section where they cost less than half the price, but practiced restraint.  At least he was planning to eat a green vegetable.

Or perhaps put them into a box and mail them to friends overseas that do not have such ready access to fresh produce. Or take them to the local food bank. Or stock the cabinet of an elderly neighbor. Or a myriad of other possible uses for canned goods.

I think we should tread lightly when we assume we understand the actions, motives, intentions, habits, etc., of others whom we know not.

Edited November 28, 2005 by Jaymes (log)

[Pontormo]

I am actually referring to an incident that occured well before ongoing international situations. Please.

I think we should trea[d] lightly when we assume we understand the actions, motives, intentions, habits, etc., of others whom we know not.

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[bergerka]

Thanks a lot, Grandma Pierce's savory jello mold salad thingy, dressed with seafood, has sent me cowering under the bed with the ferrets and a bottle of gin again. I left Kansas to get AWAY from crap like that!

K

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My dear, Jello is everywhere. There is no escape.

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oh, Brooks, no no - jell-o the dessert is delicious, don't get me wrong. Watching it wiggle and seeing it jiggle has been one of the great joys of my life since birth, practically. Especially with whipped cream and maybe some sprinkles.

SAVORY Jell-o with tomatoes, horseradish and mayo, with or without seafood (but especially with), is sick, wrong, nasty, disgusting and nauseous. Ew.

K

Edited November 28, 2005 by bergerka (log)

[Jaymes]

I don't see anything wrong with a little jello every now and then.

How else are we gonna make congealed salads, for heaven's sake?

Like Rachel's heavenly rainbow mould.

Or southern tomato aspic made with lemon jello.

And without jello, what would we do with all them little bitty marshmallows. Have any of you snobs ever thought of that?

Edited November 28, 2005 by Jaymes (log)

[annecros]

Wow. All I can say is how political this whole, entire, ever loving thread became, and how quickly!

Sad. Thought I could retreat from the politics on this board, but oh well.

Obviously, those preparing and reviewing the dishes had some political agenda in the first two articles linked. Shock at thickening with egg yolks? Give me a break. Egg yolks have been used as a thickening agent forever. They work.

Cream? Somebody is bashing cream in a recipe? There are very few occaisions that I have witnessed in that cream did not improve flavor or texture. After all, cream is good stuff.

High fat? What about the thread here dedicated to lard?

And for those articles written by those who chose to prepare the recipes outside of specs because they had guests who were of a different political opinion, oh well that is just sad. As well as those that would cheerlead them.

If you undercook the chicken, the chicken will be undercooked. How is this supposed to have some parralell to the war against terrorism?

I am sorry I even clicked on this thread and read the two thirds that I did.

I will shut up now. Except that politics do not belong in the kitchen, any more than they do at the dinner table.

Annie

[tryska]

Maybe i'm either thick-skinned, or am not particularly politically atuned, but I fail to see where fellow posters have gotten particularly political at all in this thread?

i can understand your complaints with the articles - and everythign you seem to take issue with is within the articles - but I don't see where our fellow posters got involved one way or the other?

unless a dislike for fishy jello is somehow partisan.

[JohnnyH]

Wow. All I can say is how political this whole, entire, ever loving thread became, and how quickly!

Sad. Thought I could retreat from the politics on this board, but oh well.

Obviously, those preparing and reviewing the dishes had some political agenda in the first two articles linked. Shock at thickening with egg yolks? Give me a break. Egg yolks have been used as a thickening agent forever. They work.

Cream? Somebody is bashing cream in a recipe? There are very few occaisions that I have witnessed in that cream did not improve flavor or texture. After all, cream is good stuff.

High fat? What about the thread here dedicated to lard?

And for those articles written by those who chose to prepare the recipes outside of specs because they had guests who were of a different political opinion, oh well that is just sad. As well as those that would cheerlead them.

If you undercook the chicken, the chicken will be undercooked. How is this supposed to have some parralell to the war against terrorism?

I am sorry I even clicked on this thread and read the two thirds that I did.

I will shut up now. Except that politics do not belong in the kitchen, any more than they do at the dinner table.

Annie

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I haven't found this thread the least bit political. If it had become so, I'm sure Jason would have been as good as his word and deleted the offending posts.

[bergerka]

Maybe i'm either thick-skinned, or am not particularly politically atuned, but I fail to see where fellow posters have gotten particularly political at all in this thread?

i can understand your complaints with the articles - and everythign you seem to take issue with is within the articles - but I don't see where our fellow posters got involved one way or the other?

unless a dislike for fishy jello is somehow partisan.

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IF DISLIKING FISHY JELLO IS WRONG, I DON'T WANNA BE RIGHT.

Thank you, and good night.

And by the way, the words "congealed" and "salad" should NEVER go together. I don't give a rat's ass whose recipe it is. Ick, ick, ick.

Edited November 28, 2005 by bergerka (log)

[Megan Blocker]

Some WASP-y lockjawed New England old-money cookbook (which likely would have done very well in the Kennedy era) probably wouldn't resonate that well in this day in age with the American public, although I think that version is probably much closer to reality of the Bush family than Campbells condensed soup casseroles are.

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Ummmm...ok. How to begin. I am a WASP. Raised in Greenwich, CT, attended boarding school, the whole nine yards. Even had the same dog groomer as Bush Sr.'s mother for a while (she was really nice and told me all sorts of fun stories, all too political to relate here).

A few weeks ago, I had the bittersweet task of helping to clean out my grandparents' house in Connecticut (bitter because they're leaving the Northeast; sweet because it was neat to see all the cool old stuff that's been in the backs of closets for 30-odd years) and decided to go through the cookbooks. I found a few gems (Craig Claiborne's The New York Times' Food Encyclopedia , Julia Child's Julia and Company), but the real treasure was my grandmother's recipe box. I did not see a single card in there that didn't call for at least one can of Campbell's.

In my experience, it has really only been the baby-boomer generation of WASPy folk that has widely embraced good food (my mother among them). We Northeasterners (and, yes, the Bushes are from the Northeast, no matter what accents they've developed in recent years) were raised to save money, buy what lasts, and heat the house only as much as necessary. Yankees can be awful cheap in very odd ways (and, yes, I realize I'm stereotyping here). My grandparents certainly appreciate a good meal, but they would rather eat cheaply than well, no matter how well they've done for themselves over the years. I think it's generational, and this cookbook definitely seems to be put together by the chef to the older generation of Bushes...

ETA: They may not eat like this one a regular basis, but it definitely strikes me as typically greatest-generation-WASPy. My grandparents have graduated to other kinds of food, certainly, but their cookbooks never did.

Edited November 28, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Rebecca263]

...Wow. All I can say is how political this whole, entire, ever loving thread became, and how quickly!

Sad. Thought I could retreat from the politics on this board, but oh well...

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Saying that something is political does not make it so. And, BTW I looked over this book, I thought that it was a brilliant piece of , um, 'marketing'. I found most of the recipes in this book mainly really weird, and a bit frightening in their milieu of the nonexistent fantasy most people seem to have of the US in the fifties. Hmm, I suppose it would be political of me to say...I see the theme of the book, now? Perhaps it's not really about food, but is a metaphor for the desires of the presidency. I'm just saying.... it quacks like a duck, it looks like a duck, it lays duck eggs, but maybe I'm being political if I say it's a duck?

edited by me to add: Nothing wrong with ducks, either. Kiddle is roasting her first next week!

Edited November 28, 2005 by Rebecca263 (log)

[tryska]

IF DISLIKING FISHY JELLO IS WRONG, I DON'T WANNA BE RIGHT.

Thank you, and good night.

And by the way, the words "congealed" and "salad" should NEVER go together.  I don't give a rat's ass whose recipe it is. Ick, ick, ick.

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i'm with you sister. on both points - altho i think the mysterious "Green stuff" i had the other day might be a congealed salad.

Lime Jello, cottage cheese and orange segments were identifiable in it.

[Jason Perlow]

I did not see a single card in there that didn't call for at least one can of Campbell's.

Interesting to see the native perspective, Megan. I'm not exactly sure where this New England WASP affinity for convenience product comes from, but there has to be a reason for it.

[Megan Blocker]

IF DISLIKING FISHY JELLO IS WRONG, I DON'T WANNA BE RIGHT.

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I think you've found the lyrics for your own, personal theme song, Kathleen!

[annecros]

Wow. One more word, then I shut up, I promise.

Here is the quote:

"And, BTW I looked over this book, I thought that it was a brilliant piece of , um, 'marketing'. I found most of the recipes in this book mainly really weird, and a bit frightening in their milieu of the nonexistent fantasy most people seem to have of the US in the fifties. Hmm, I suppose it would be political of me to say...I see the theme of the book, now? Perhaps it's not really about food, but is a metaphor for the desires of the presidency. I'm just saying.... it quacks like a duck, it looks like a duck, it lays duck eggs, but maybe I'm being political if I say it's a duck?"

Wierd? Frightening? Have you never picked up a church fund raising cookbook? And then you say a cookbook is not a cookbook, but a "metaphor for the desires of the presidency"?

Yep, you got political.

There are good and bad cookbooks. I have found some very nice recipes buried in cookbooks that are generally rehashes of recipes that are so old they are worn out. But drawing a metaphorical theme from the recipes (point A) to the desires of a political office (point B) is yes, political.

Now, I must shut up and behave myself, and go stir my chile. I shouldn't have clicked on this thread again, I suppose.

MOO.

Annie

[jackal10]

Just what is it that many of us find so offensive about some of these foods? I'd be really interested in the social history of, say, the Jello salad, or the green bean casserole. How did these get into the culture, since we now agree they (mostly) taste awful. Maybe this spins out a separate thread.

I think there are several issues:

a) The use of a manufactured product where fresh are available, often better, cheaper and with no more hassle. Canned green beans, for example. Kool whip instead of cream. Margarine instead of butter.

It may have been that there was a time when that was all there was available, but not now.

It must also be derived from a fairly specific social environment. I'm not enough of a social historian to be specific, and I guess there will be some on this list who can correct me, however before, say, 1940 the beans would be home grown, and possibly salted or otherwise home preserved, and after, say 1980 distribution will have improved to ensure frozen or even fresh beans are as far as your nearest supermarket.

There is a fine tradition of excellent "peasant" food that has been supplanted - poor people have cooked delicious things from their own produce the world over. Where did this notion that manufactured food is somehow better? Was it a cynical promotion by the big food companies?

b) Nutritional values. Vegetables cooked until soggy and grey sadden partly for this reason. Its only quite recently that we have started worrying about the nutritional value of the food we eat. Partly its because we can now afford to, and partly its increased knowledge. That in turn derived from WWII research into feeding the population.

c) Travesty. Another thing that rankles is that the food is a travesty of what, perhaps, was once a great dish. Most dishes can be traced back to a court or a grand restaurant or patron, that then were adapted by cooks, and spread by migration, and later by books and newspapers and the like.

Seafood in aspic, or seafood mousse served cold and jellied has a long tradition - for example jellied eels, or even gefilte fish, and can be delicious. I've not tracked down how that evolved to a jello ring, and thence to jello salads, but I feel the ring shape is significant. Why is it almost always a ring?

Green or French beans date from about the 18th century. Before that only the seeds were eaten, not the green pods. Often they were just dressed with butter.

I have a copy of John Farley's "London Art of Cookery" of (my copy is 1796) where he gives a recipe for "French Beans ragooed" . The recipe could be made today, except I would use less nutmeg.

"Put into the pan a quarter of of a pint of hot water and let it boil. Take a quarter of a pound of fresh butter rolled in a little flour, two spoonfuls of ketchup, a spoonful of mushroom pickle, four spoonfuls of white wine, an onion stuck with six cloves, two or three blades of mace, half a nutmeg grated and a little pepper and salt. Stir all together for a few minutes then throw in the beans (quarter of a peck boiled). Shake the pan for a minute or two, take out the onion, and pour into your dish. This is a very pretty side dish, which you may garnish with what you fancy, particularly pickles."

Edited November 28, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[Megan Blocker]

I did not see a single card in there that didn't call for at least one can of Campbell's.

Interesting to see the native perspective, Megan. I'm not exactly sure where this New England WASP affinity for convenience product comes from, but there has to be a reason for it.

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I'm tellin' ya - the less fuel it takes to cook, the more us cheap Yankee bastards like it. We LOVE canned foods.

Thank goodness things have changed, though.

And, to be fair, fresh local produce was always a focus at my grandparents' house - blueberries, corn, tomatoes, etc. in the summertime. But, again - this was abundantly available and, therefore, cheap.

Oh, man, my mom is gonna read this and I'm gonna get in trouble for talking about her secret love of tuna casserole. Potato chips - not cornflakes - on the top.

[Megan Blocker]

To address one small part of your post, jackal10, I've always thought Jello salad was a way to bring the idea of a traditional aspic to the less skilled or motivated among us. Problem is, it doesn't taste like a good aspic at all (obviously).

That said, I actually like Jello, without gloppo in it.

Edited November 28, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[jsolomon]

That is certainly from the area of the world I came from... where spices found in grandmothers' kitchens hail from the time they got married.

I assure you, my grandmother cooks that way. If my parents had more active jobs, they would still cook that way.

That's how the people in the central part of the US, where the agricultural German immigrants (and many others) cook and eat.

bergerka, come on, you can't knock the jello with green olives and pimento like that can you?

[Jason Perlow]

A friend of mine, who is genuine Boston Irish -- certainly not WASP but a real New Englander -- has told me that during the 1950's, 1960's and 70's, it was extremely difficult to get fresh vegetables of any kind during the winter months, so they mostly ate canned or frozen. New Englanders use a lot of convenience product for that very reason, and I guess even though good veggies and fresh foods are now avaliable that time of year, they have a "taste" for canned vegetables and canned goods now, if you want to call it that, its now part of their DNA.