Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

This week's thread is about Cooking With Kids.

When I was in elementary school in the early 1960s, every year the school would hold a book fair; students could look at new books and pick some out to buy.

One year I bought 'Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls', originally published in the late 1950s. I loved looking at this book, and learned a lot using the recipes.

For a children's book, it's a surprisingly comprehensive guide to basic cooking, with a lot of interesting presentation ideas, and even some decorative crafts. AND it includes campfire cooking!

I wanted to post a recipe from it that has become a staple for us; and it struck me to try and find the book on Amazon, even though I was sure it was OOP.

I was surprised to find that there is a 'facsimile' edition available:

http://www.amazon.com/Crockers-Facsimile-Edition-Crocker-Cooking/dp/0764526340

Some of the reviews indicated that it is somewhat edited, and not entirely like the original. BUT: one of the respondents subversively indicated that the original is available on archive.org! I was thrilled to find it - scanned complete with cooking splatters - and to look at the wonderful retro drawings again:

https://ia600506.us.archive.org/12/items/bettycrockerscoo00croc/bettycrockerscoo00croc.pdf

I hope that some of you will remember it, and enjoy looking at it again.

A recipe that I have used from this book countless times over decades, is adapted from the recipe for Spanish Rice (page 151 in the original):

Spanish Rice

Prepare One Cup of Raw White Rice (to make 3 cups cooked)

Heat Oven to 400 degrees

Fry 6 slices bacon until crisp; drain and crumble

Pour bacon grease from pan, leaving about 2 T

Add 1/2 C. minced onion and ½ C. diced green pepper (I usually use 3/4 C. of each).

Cook until onion is yellow

Add in fry pan:

the 3 C. Cooked Rice

2 C. diced, canned tomatoes (one regular can)

1-1/2 tsps. Salt

and the crumbled bacon.

Turn all into greased baking dish. Sprinkle top with grated Cheddar Cheese (as much as you like :-)

Bake 25-30 minutes, or until cheese melts and begins to brown.

[Roos_Girl]

I was curious, so I looked it up and found this:

http://bakingbites.com/2011/03/how-to-pasteurize-eggs-at-home/

[Roos_Girl]

And this:
http://dawnviola.com/how-to-pasteurize-eggs-at-home-2-ways/

[JRandomFreeper]

All of the pasteurized eggs I used were commercially pasteurized using radiation. That was for the military in the food service area.

They were marked with a P on one end. ;)

/johnny

[bgill]

I have that kids’ cookbook in the kitchen right now. Yes, that was my first cookbook.

Don’t buy a cheap electric Rival ice cream maker from Walmart. The paddle scraps the aluminum bucket and gets gray into the ice cream. Nasty and unhealthy.

Can’t remember what the recipe is but it was low carb using home grown blackberries, cream and splenda. That was the best. One that rivals is cantaloupe ice cream but don’t have that recipe, either. The cantaloupe was from a San Antonio, TX ladies’ club fund raising book from 20 years ago. Every summer I try hunting down the recipe but no luck.

Oh! I figured out how to make something similar to McD’s honey mustard sauce. I had some Panda Express Hot Mustard in individual packets but any hot mustard should work. Anyway a couple of mustard packets, a spoonful of mayo and a big squirt of honey and viola! Great for dipping homemade KFC-style fried chicken.

[Roos_Girl]

Yeah, I’ve seen them before in the grocery. I get my eggs and milk locally now from a friend with a mini-farm. Yum!

[Grammy]

Johnny, I have learned one thing from all my baking years. When you mix egg yolks and sugar, move on to the next step promptly. If you leave sugar and yolks together for any amount of time, the sugar cooks the yolks and you end up with scrambled yolks.

So, for novices, the recipe should be followed as written.... heat milk first, then mix the sugar and yolks and then begin tempering the yolk mixture with the hot milk.

The other thing I learned about my machine is that I must freeze the container in my deep freeze. The regular freezer didn’t allow it to stay cold enough long enough to finish the job.

Hmmmm..... all this chat has given me a taste for home made ice cream. May have to make a batch and make a very happy Mr G.

[ApplegateRanch]

it seems kind of revolutionary for a book to have involved boys in cooking in 1957

I started learning my way around the kitchen in the early 50s, before kindergarten. At 11, due to my parents being overdue from a fishing trip, I had a full Swiss steak dinner ready to serve when they got home.

We all had to learn a modicum of 'girl stuff' such as cooking, cleaning, basic sewing, laundry, etc. Our sister had to learn certain 'boy skills', too, to insure she could also survive when a man wasn't near at hand at need. They're gifts that are undervalued at the time, but appreciated later. It was a revelation in barracks how few could actually replace a missing uniform button.

Dad worked several stints in the Pacific Islands, North Africa, Panama, and the Middle East, so had very eclectic tastes in food, which we also picked up early, as he introduced them to us at home.

There are some 'foods' I draw the line at, but not much I'm not willing to try at least once; the spousal unit is almost the same, but slightly pickier.

[outofsalt]

I taught my 14 year old son to make french fries. I have opened the door to Chaos.

This may be my biggest mistake since teaching my wife how to use power tools.

My kitchen is like a Kuwaiti oil field after the Iraqi Republican guard lit it up during Gulf War II.

I love my boy but I live in fear for my safety. Life was just fine up to peanut butter an jelly...

[outofsalt]

"We had two boys that used to watch me cook but had no interest in actually “cooking”.

Reminds me of our cat... That thing haunts me in the kitchen. Watching, staring, scrutinizing... Thank goodness it lacks thumbs. If cats had any measurable intellect not rooted in simple chicanery it would be a master chef by now.

[outofsalt]

"I do times and temps in my head now."

I do windage and elevation but.., not with my head...aw, heck, I don't really do much elevation anymore... (who am I kidding..?) I can calculate a 15% tip without asking my daughter.

[greeneyes]

I’ll have to look at that website. This year our oldest great grand daughter will turn 5. For Christmas she got a cook book for kids and good quality set of mixing and baking equipment and pans. So more recipes for kids would be good.

[greeneyes]

I bought an ice cream mixer, and made one batch of ice cream. The next time I tried to make it, I couldn’t get the darned thing to churn correctly.

I often just make a much smaller batch, because the freezer is too full to store it, we can’t eat a big batch in one day, and of course the issue with the machine.

So I put a couple of quart bags sealed into a gallon zip lock bag. Fill up the bag with ice cream salt and ice. Shake the bag and massage it, add more ice and salt as needed.

It takes less than 10 minutes to freeze to DQ soft serve stage. Enough for two or three servings.

[kalee]

Is taste of teaberry ice cream like the old teaberry chewing gum?

[kalee]

I have a cantaloupe ice cream recipe that is made with buttermilk.

[FlJoePa]

Pretty much. It’s a PA thing. When I moved away I just assumed everyone ate Teaberry ice cream. Even the soft serve places in PA used to have 3 flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, and Teaberry.

[momtothree]

She has NEVER liked seafood of any sort. Not even fish sticks. In fact, when she was about 3.. I took her to the store and was at the Deli. As we zipped by the seafood department, they must have steamed some sort of shrimp. She GAGGED and proceeded to throw up on my chest! Just from the smell!! All these people were looking at me and she said, “I told you fish is evil”. Needless to say, my shopping trip was the shortest one in history!

[pugmama]

This is a fun site:

http://www.cookingwithkids.com/cookbooks/

[bgill]

Cantaloupe Ice Cream (Can’t find it in the recipe box but this search is pretty close)

1 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, pureed
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C scalded milk

Combine eggs, sugar and milk. Cook in double boiler, stirring until thick. Cool and mix into the processed cantaloupe. Freeze in an ice cream maker.

It’s light and has a refreshing summer taste.

[bgill]

I taught myself to cook instead of suffering through Mom’s cooking. Holidays, we ask her to only bring the salad and it’s still inedible. Avocadoes in a fruit salad, ugh. And everything is always diced to nearly mush.

[bgill]

Here’s the fudge recipe on page 56:

Chocolate Fudge

Mix in sauce pan - 1 C sugar and 1/3 C cocoa
Stir in - 1/4 C butter, 1/3 C milk and 1 T light corn syrup
Bring to boil. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Take from heat.
Add immediately - 3 C sifted confectioner’s sugar, 1 t vanilla and 1/2 C chopped nuts
Stir until sugar is completely blended. Turn into 8” square pan and pat out with fingers. Cool. Cut into squares.

Also on that page is Wheaties Ting-A-Lings - Melt two 6 oz packages semi-sweet chocolate pieces (notice today’s packages are different weights from yesterday’s weight) over hot water (we always stirred in Gulf Wax to make it harder and shiny but some say that’s not healthy). Cool. Gently stir in 4 C Wheaties (or other cereal). Drop with tablespoon onto waxed paper. Chill until chocolate is set, about 2 hours. Makes about 42 clusters.