In a Polar Bear's Eye
Today was my mother's 86th birthday. I made a pineapple upside down cake and brought it over this afternoon. The other celebrants were my mother and father, my brother and his six-year-old son, and one of my sisters (the other sister lives in Boston; she called to say happy birthday while we were there).
The cake recipe was from the fabulous 12-volume Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, copyright 1965 (volume 2, Bea-Cas). My mother had this cookbook set when I was growing up, and the four of us kids used to spend hours on end flipping through its pages. I now have a complete set of my own, meticulously compiled, one or two volumes at a time, by my father a decade or so ago from numerous visits to various secondhand bookshops around Washington (at my request). My sister told us today that she has a complete set as well, recreated for her by Dad in the same way. My brother somehow ended up with the original set. I don't know if my sister in Boston has any at all. If not, we must all help her acquire one.
In this cookbook you will find recipes for Asparagus Souffle, Raspberry Shrub, Sesame Anise Cookies, and Philadelphia Fish House Punch. The categories range from Polish Cookery to Saffron to Canning to Bagels ("Bagels are seldom made at home. However, it can be done by the determined, as shown in the following recipe.") And more than 1,500 photographs, in slightly artificial-looking, color-saturated, mid-'60s splendor! As a child, I imagined myself being invited into the sparkling white kitchen that was the setting for the Western Breakfast, with a six-inch pile of buttermilk pancakes surrounded by bacon, ham, and sausage (this is back when I ate meat). Two stark, sleek Scandinavian Modern crystal cruets, which I would love to have in my cabinet today, hold two kinds of syrup--maple and boysenberry. (Boysenberry! The subject of another nostalgia posting at a later date! My favorite Baskin Robbins flavor at the same time in my life was boysenberry. I couldn't identify an actual boysenberry in a lineup, then or now.) At the other extreme were the pictures that were fascinatingly, revoltingly exotic. Even today, looking at the photo of Isbjornoye, in the Norwegian Cookery section (the "o's" in the recipe's name have those Norwegian slashes through them), I am at a loss to identify any of the components of a dish that looks like a mixture of chopped-up chunks of raw beef, cherry Jell-O, and red cabbage. The only recognizable element is a single egg yolk resting complacently in the middle. When I look it up on page 1,235, I see that Isbjornoye translates as Polar Bear's Eye. (Yum!) The ingredients are anchovy fillets, potatoes, onions, beet, and -- indeed -- raw egg yolk.
The pineapple upside down cake came out really well -- I made it with soy milk instead of regular (take that, 1965!), and you never would have known the difference. We ate every last piece. My mother had a nice time. If only every visit there were as jolly. I think the secret may be to bring a new recipe, each time I go over, from the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery.
The cake recipe was from the fabulous 12-volume Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, copyright 1965 (volume 2, Bea-Cas). My mother had this cookbook set when I was growing up, and the four of us kids used to spend hours on end flipping through its pages. I now have a complete set of my own, meticulously compiled, one or two volumes at a time, by my father a decade or so ago from numerous visits to various secondhand bookshops around Washington (at my request). My sister told us today that she has a complete set as well, recreated for her by Dad in the same way. My brother somehow ended up with the original set. I don't know if my sister in Boston has any at all. If not, we must all help her acquire one.
In this cookbook you will find recipes for Asparagus Souffle, Raspberry Shrub, Sesame Anise Cookies, and Philadelphia Fish House Punch. The categories range from Polish Cookery to Saffron to Canning to Bagels ("Bagels are seldom made at home. However, it can be done by the determined, as shown in the following recipe.") And more than 1,500 photographs, in slightly artificial-looking, color-saturated, mid-'60s splendor! As a child, I imagined myself being invited into the sparkling white kitchen that was the setting for the Western Breakfast, with a six-inch pile of buttermilk pancakes surrounded by bacon, ham, and sausage (this is back when I ate meat). Two stark, sleek Scandinavian Modern crystal cruets, which I would love to have in my cabinet today, hold two kinds of syrup--maple and boysenberry. (Boysenberry! The subject of another nostalgia posting at a later date! My favorite Baskin Robbins flavor at the same time in my life was boysenberry. I couldn't identify an actual boysenberry in a lineup, then or now.) At the other extreme were the pictures that were fascinatingly, revoltingly exotic. Even today, looking at the photo of Isbjornoye, in the Norwegian Cookery section (the "o's" in the recipe's name have those Norwegian slashes through them), I am at a loss to identify any of the components of a dish that looks like a mixture of chopped-up chunks of raw beef, cherry Jell-O, and red cabbage. The only recognizable element is a single egg yolk resting complacently in the middle. When I look it up on page 1,235, I see that Isbjornoye translates as Polar Bear's Eye. (Yum!) The ingredients are anchovy fillets, potatoes, onions, beet, and -- indeed -- raw egg yolk.
The pineapple upside down cake came out really well -- I made it with soy milk instead of regular (take that, 1965!), and you never would have known the difference. We ate every last piece. My mother had a nice time. If only every visit there were as jolly. I think the secret may be to bring a new recipe, each time I go over, from the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery.
posted by Billy at 2:35 AM
1 Comments:
Ha, awesome. Reminds me of a cookbook that Thom dug out of one of the kitchen cabinets last night. I think it was published around 1963, and it has recipes from different restaurants across the U.S. The photos are kitsch-fabulous.
Post a Comment
<< Home