250 Cookbooks: Hershey’s Cocoa Cookbook

Posted on August 16, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #124: Hershey’s Cocoa Cookbook, Hershey Chocolate Company, Western Publishing Company, Inc., USA, 1979.

CAN I REALLY HAVE SOMETHING THIS GOOD FOR BREAKFAST? Boy, that was my first thought as I took a bite of Chocolate Banana Bread early this Friday morning. This recipe that I tried from Hershey’s Cocoa Cookbook is a definite keeper!

Each and every recipe in this small cookbook features cocoa – the unsweetened powdered chocolate form of chocolate. I think I always passed over this book thinking it’s “just another chocolate cookbook”. But no, the recipes are all from scratch, and I always have cocoa in my pantry because it keeps so well. And this cookbook has all the basics: cakes (including red velvet cake), cupcakes, cookies (brownies), candies (fudge), pies (cocoa chiffon pie), frostings, sauces (classic cocoa sauce and hot fudge sauce), and beverages (cocoa from scratch). Plus many interesting recipes I’ve never seen before, like the Chocolate Banana Bread.

The back cover of Hershey’s Cocoa Cookbook states that this cookbook was “free!”. It probably came with a new box of cocoa. Today, I found it for sale online for about five dollars.

I chose this banana-based quick bread because as so often happens in the summer, I had very ripe bananas that needed to be used. I added the suggested raisins too. Here is the original recipe.

Chocolate Banana Bread recipe I decided to use unsalted butter rather than the shortening. And I added raisins. I felt that the batter would fit better into an 8×4-inch loaf pan (and I was correct). Instead of cutting in the butter with a pastry blender, I used a food processor. I used an immersion blender to mash the bananas because I like to get them really smooth. Below is my version of the recipe.

Chocolate Raisin Banana Bread
makes one loaf

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2-3 ripe bananas – enough for 1 cup mashed
2 eggs
1 cup raisins

Lightly grease an 8×4-inch loaf pan and heat the oven to 350˚.

Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple times to combine. Cut the butter into half-inch chunks and add to the top of the dry ingredients. Mix with 6-10 short pulses, until the mixture is in coarse crumbs. Do not overmix.

Mash the bananas by hand or use an immersion blender – whatever is your favorite method. Make sure the bananas measure to about 1 cup when mashed. Add the eggs and mix in well.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients in a bowl and add the raisins. Mix only until blended. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350˚ for 55-60 minutes, or until it tests done with a toothpick.

This dense, moist chocolate bread is delicious. It’s not overly sweet. The chocolate almost (but not quite) masks the bananas. I really liked the raisins. I really like this bread.

Breakfast though? Yeah, sometimes. It was also really good with vanilla ice cream and a little chocolate syrup for dessert. Yum any way or time you eat it!

250 Cookbooks: Bon Appétit Tastes of the World

Posted on August 10, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #123: Bon Appétit Tastes of the World, Bon Appetit, The Condé Nast Publications, Inc., NY, NY, 1996.

Now you can buy essays online fast!

This little cookbook has lots of interesting ideas for spicing up my cooking. I am pretty surprised at this! It’s just one of those “free gifts” that one gets when they subscribe to a magazine. I covered another such Bon Appetit cookbook in a previous post and wasn’t impressed. But this one – almost every page has a recipe I could try.

I decide to make Paprika Pork Patties for this blog. A nice change on ordinary hamburgers! First, pork instead of beef. And then, bacon! Since my daughter is visiting I decide to splurge on some bacon calories. How can one go wrong? And then, lots of paprika. Finally, chopped sauerkraut is mixed into the patties. Nice for both moisture and taste. Here is the original recipe:

I can’t find hot Hungarian paprika so I substitute a little hot chile powder. (But next time I am at Savory Spice Shop in Boulder I will look for it because I am curious.) I decide to grill these because it’s summer and we have company and it’s nice being outside with lots for my toddler grandson to do (like chase bubbles!). Below is my version of the recipe.

Paprika Pork Patties
serves 3-4

6 cloves garlic
1/4 pound bacon, diced
6 tablespoons water
4 teaspoons sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup chopped drained sauerkraut
garnishes such as more sauerkraut, onions, roasted red peppers, pickles, mustard, whatever are your favorites

Set up a food processor. With the motor running, drop the garlic through the feed tube until it is minced. Then, add the bacon, water, paprika, chile powder, salt, pepper, and allspice and process until a thick paste forms. Turn off the processor, add the pork, then pulse a few quick times until all is combined.

Remove the pork-spice mixture from the processor and stir n the sauerkraut. Form into six patties.

Heat a grill and set to medium high. Cook patties about 4 minutes per side. (You can also cook these in a skillet on the stove top.)

Serve on toasted rye bread with the garnishes of your choice.

These were enjoyed by all! I will probably make them again, although I tried a pork sliders recipe a few weeks ago that my husband and I liked a little better.

250 Cookbooks: Weeknight Grilling with the BBQ Queens

Posted on August 4, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #122: Weeknight Grilling with the BBQ Queens, Karen Adler and Judith Fertig, The Harvard Common Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 2006.

I love this cookbook. Weeknight Grilling with the BBQ Queens pulls me out of my cooking doldrums – I can’t count the times I have flipped through its pages for ideas. Such fresh tastes! “Grilled Pork Tenderloin Salad with Steamed Baby New Potatoes and Anchovy Caper Vinaigrette” is one of our favorites. Fresh herbs and interesting spice combinations abound in most of the grilling recipes. Polenta, orzo, couscous, hearts of palm, jicama, fennel, capers, endives, hummus, curry . . . vegetarian, pork, beef, chicken . . . sandwiches, meats, salads . . . variety galore in this cookbook. I especially like the summer salad recipes. The only type of recipe I haven’t tried are the grill stir-fries.

Weeknight Grilling with the BBQ Queens is also practical. I can easily find how to grill a pork tenderloin, for instance. It’s easy to mix and match ideas from different recipes. Instructions are always clear.

So this book’s a keeper!

Note that this cookbook was published in 2006. The authors, Karen Adler and Judith Fertig, are “The Barbecue Queens” (with the tiaras to prove it) and currently active in the commercial cooking community. Besides authoring numerous books, they have appeared on the Food Network, Better Homes and Gardens TV, PBS, and more. I plan to the BBQ Queens website for more grilling ideas.

I decide to make “Blackened Beef with Thai Chile Noodles, Mushrooms, and Baby Bok Choy” for this blog. Below is a scan of the recipe in spite of copyright issues (I think it’s okay) to show you the layout and style of this cookbook.

I’m going to vary this just a bit. For one, I think we want a little more meat. For three adults, I will use close to a pound of beef. The sirloin I have in the freezer is only about three quarters of an inch thick, but I’ll use it anyway. I want more garlic, but less hot chile.

I miss-read the recipe and added a couple drops of sesame oil to the noodles, and I liked it that way. When I served this, it begged for soy sauce, so we passed it at the table.

So. Below is my version (with a shortened title!).

Steak and Thai Noodles
serves 3-4

Noodles

8 ounces Thai-style rice noodles, cooked
1/4 cup olive oil
a few drops of chile oil (if you have it)
a few drops of (toasted) sesame oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic
part of a small chile (like a jalapeno), chopped fine – use an amount suitable to your personal taste
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped lightly

For the grill

sirloin steak, about 1 pound, thick-cut if possible
portobello mushrooms, about 4 large, stemmed and wiped clean
4-6 baby bok choy (leave them whole)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
a few drops of sesame oil
salt and pepper
soy sauce (optional; pass at the table)

For the noodles, combine the oils, vinegar, herbs, garlic and chile for in a large bowl. Add the cooked noodles and toss. Sprinkle the peanuts on top. You can do this before you start grilling, if you wish.

Combine the vegetable oil with the sesame oil, brush some of this mixture on the mushrooms and bok choy, then on the meat. Salt and pepper everything.

Heat your grill (in your usual way) and then set the burners to medium high. Grill the steak over direct heat for 3-5 minutes per side, until medium-rare or medium, as per your own preference. At the same time, grill the mushrooms and bok choy over direct heat for about 2-3 minutes per side. As stated in the BBQ Queens original recipe, you grill: “until you have good grill marks and the vegetables have begun to soften.”

To serve, slice the steak and mushrooms into thin slices and the bok choy into bite size pieces and put on top of the noodles.

Serve! We liked a little soy sauce on top.

Here are my ingredients:

And serving:

This was a definite hit and I will make it again!

250 Cookbooks: Whittier Wildcat Cookbook

Posted on July 26, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #121: Whittier Wildcat Cookbook, Whittier School Community, 19??.

“I have no idea where this book came from” reads my cookbook database. Nowhere in this book is a publication date. It is a “community cookbook” – compiled by the teachers, parents and students at an elementary school. (Here is the first community cookbook covered in this blog.) The introductory page thanks “Mary West-Smith” for typing all of the recipes on her word processor, so my guess is that it was produced in the mid-1970s.

“Whittier” at first calls to mind the city in Southern California. But no . . . “Whittier” is also an elementary school in Boulder, Colorado. A school on Pine and 20th.

Well, this all is starting to make sense. We lived in a dumpy old house on Walnut, full of character (and characters), for a couple years in the mid-1970s. We called the house “Walnetto”. What times. The Whittier school was just a couple blocks from Walnetto. Perhaps a child or parent was going door-to-door with this cookbook and I bought it from them? Quite likely.

And yes I googled this book. I found a couple references that confirm it was published in Boulder, Colorado – and the publication date is unknown. I could purchase it through AbeBooks.com for $22.90 (!).

Time to settle in and read. The recipes? Pretty good. Good homey main dishes for families (Pot Roast Breckenridge and Stayabed Stew). Salads for potlucks (7-Up Salad and Coco-Cola Salad). Breads and cakes and cookies and pies (Dump Cake and Turtle Cake and Monkey-Face Cookies). Many look so familiar they could have been in my own mother’s recipe box. Some are treasured family recipes:

Some are international recipes:

And special treats! Little kids contributed some of the drawings and recipes.

I am going to make a Mexican chicken casserole for this blog. The cookbook has two similar recipes:

(I also have a recipe for this casserole in my own collection – but I decide not to look at it until I am done cooking a Wildcat one.)

Below is a combined version of the Whittier Wildcats recipes, with a couple small modifications of my own.

Note: This casserole is a good way to use up leftover cooked chicken, but if you don’t have any around, cook one large boneless chicken breast for this recipe.

Mexican Chicken Casserole 1
serves about 4

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (optional)
6 corn tortillas
1 small onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 can green chiles (4 oz.)
1/2 cup green chile salsa (optional)
6 oz. grated cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon cumin
chopped fresh cilantro to taste

Mix the chicken with the garlic and some chopped cilantro and a little kosher salt and rub it all together. (This step is optional, but adds a good zip of flavor.)

Mix the cream of chicken soup with the chicken broth.

Put a little of the chicken in the bottom of an 8×8-inch baking pan. Layer with half of the tortillas. I cut the tortillas in half and layered them like this:

(I put another piece of tortilla to fill in the hole in the middle but I wanted to illustrate my method.)

On top of the tortillas, add half of the remaining chicken, half of the onion, half of the soup-broth mixture, half of the green chiles, half of the green chile salsa, half of the cheese, and a sprinkling of cumin.

Add another layer of tortillas, then top with the remaining ingredients. Put a little cilantro on top for flavor and color (if you like cilantro).

Bake at 375˚ for 35-45 minutes, until the whole top is bubbly (check the center).

This was a huge success. The garlic, cumin and cilantro perked up the original recipe(s) but did not overwhelm the dish. I baked for 30 minutes, but it wasn’t hot in the center yet, so I modified cooking time to 45 minutes.

Now it’s time to look at my own version of this recipe. Turns out I have two: one pretty much like the Whittier versions, except it adds chopped green pepper and a can of “Rotel” tomatoes with chiles; one calls for the addition of garlic, cumin, chile powder, and canned red enchilada sauce.

Which recipe do we like best? I think this new version without any red sauce at all!

250 Cookbooks: Chicken Cookbook

Posted on July 19, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #120: Chicken Cookbook, The Pillsbury Company, 1993.

I can see me standing at the check-out counter, flipping through this advertising cookbook, getting hooked by many chicken-cooking ideas. So I tossed it in my basket along with a pile of groceries (kids at home) and paid the $2.75 (along with a lot for the groceries).

Advertising cookbooks – love ’em and hate ’em. Their history I discussed in a previous post. I haven’t bought one in 15 years – probably because I go to the internet these days for new cooking ideas.

Not sure yet if I’ll keep this one. I see several interesting ideas for cooking chicken, although I don’t like all of the ingredients. Packaged crescent rolls, prepared pie crusts, frozen fruits and vegetables, canned fruits and vegetables, canned soups. I am more of a “from scratch” person. Still, I can use the ideas in this cookbook and substitute fresh ingredients as I like.

I decide to make “Plum Barbecued Chicken Kabobs” for this blog. It’s summer, time to use the grill! I like kabobs, although I am not a huge fan of the basic bell pepper and onion and potato and meat skewers. This recipe for chicken kabobs has grapes alternated between the chicken pieces: this should add moisture and some good flavor. I’ve never used grapes on skewers before – sounds interesting.

I can’t find any plum preserves! I checked several stores. Instead I bring home a jar of apricot preserves and also a jar of “plum sauce“, an Asian condiment. (I need the plum sauce anyway for a different recipe I am trying this week, one for grilled pork chops from my Weber’s Real Grilling book.) I’ll taste each and decide which to use in the Plum Barbecued Chicken Kabobs.

Chicken and Grape Kabobs
makes 4 kabobs, serves 2-3

1/2 cup plum or apricot preserves
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon dried sage, rubbed or leaves
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup (about) of large red or black seedless grapes

Combine the preserves, soy sauce, lemon juice, oil and sage in a small bowl – this is the marinade.

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Combine with the marinade in a baggie and put in the refrigerator at least 1 hour.

Soak 4-5 bamboo skewers (or use metal ones). Remove the chicken from the marinade – save the marinade for basting. Thread the chicken alternately with the grapes on the skewers.

Heat the grill to medium-high. Cook the kabobs for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is done. Turn them often and baste several times with the reserved marinade. (Toss the marinade when done.)

Serve. I set out the Asian plum sauce but neither of us used it.

These were great! Tasty and moist with a nice sweetness from the grapes and the marinade. I served them over raisins-mandarin orange-lemon couscous with Parmesan toast. Success!

250 Cookbooks: The Bread Basket

Posted on July 12, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #119: The Bread Basket, Standard Brands Incorporated, 1941.

“‘Baking day’ isn’t on the American housewife’s calendar any more. For at her bakery or grocery . . . fresh every day . . . is a profusion of breads, rolls, cakes and pastries that’s one of the world’s wonders.

“How tempting they are . . . how delicious . . . how cheap . . . and what a world of work they save!

“But there are times when women like to run up a batch of rolls of their own, or try their hand at a coffee cake, just to see if they can still do it!”

So begins this delightful 1941 cookbook. I smile as I turn the pages.

The breads in this cookbook are all yeast breads, and Fleischmann’s yeast is specified in every recipe. (Standard Brands was formed in 1929 by J. P. Morgan by a merger of Fleischmann’s and four other companies. In 1981, Standard Brands merged with Nabisco to form Nabisco Brands, Inc.)

The copy right has expired on this cookbook, so I am going to share with you a few of my favorite pages. Let the book speak for itself!

Bagles! And yes, the recipe below is for “bagels”, as we spell it.

I always google my cookbook titles. This time I find the Fresh Loaf website has reproduced a later version of The Bread Basket. The cover is the same, the layout is the same, but the content is different and refers to war rationing.

This was one of my mother’s cookbooks, but she didn’t make any notes in it, nor are their food stains. She must have got it soon after she was married.

I decide to make “Corn Meal Muffins” for this blog. The original recipe is in the picture just above. I think it might be interesting to use yeast as the leavening in corn muffins instead of baking powder! I hope they turn out.

A couple notes. The recipe calls for “scalded milk”. This is simply milk heated to just below boiling. This kills any bacteria that might interfere with the yeast and/or the taste of the bread. With today’s pasteurized milk, most (but not all) cooks consider this an unnecessary step.

“1 cake of yeast” probably means a 2 ounce cake of wet, compressed yeast. Although caked yeast is supposedly still available, I haven’t seen it in years, so I will use my usual active dry yeast. According to the Red Star website, 1/3 of a 2 ounce yeast cake is equal to 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry yeast. I am making a half recipe, so I should use 3 3/8 teaspoons of dry yeast. (I actually used 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast but would use more next time.)

Yeast Corn Muffins
makes 10

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
7/8 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast (note added later: too yeasty, so 1 1/2 teaspoons is my suggestion)
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour

Scald the milk, then stir in the butter until it melts, then stir in the cornmeal. Add the brown sugar and salt. Let cool to lukewarm, then stir in the yeast, egg, and flour.

Grease a muffin pan (you will only need 10 of the muffin cups). Fill each muffin cup half full. Let rise one hour, until light.

Bake at 375˚ for 22 minutes (or until they test done).

Comments

These turned out great! Unlike baking powder muffins, these did not crumble and fall apart a lot as we ate them. They were rough and chewy! The flavor was perfect. I think these might also be good with some cooked corn off-the-cob stirred into the batter. (Maybe with green chiles and chopped red bell pepper too.)

Here are the muffins just after I put the batter into the muffin pan:

Here they are after an hours’ rise. They look a little lighter or higher:

And here they are baked:

These weren’t really tall muffins, but this might be my mistake. I made a slight calculation error and only used 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast instead of 2 1/4 teaspoons. Next time they might turn out higher – but they were dang good as is! I liked them split and toasted and spread with cream cheese and jam:

250 Cookbooks: Baker’s Best Chocolate Recipes

Posted on July 5, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #118: Baker’s Best Chocolate Recipes, General Foods Corporation, 1932.

This small cook book had me totally fooled. Piled in a messy stack of booklets, I thought it was just another manufacturer’s cookbook from the sixties or seventies. The cover is missing. The recipes read “modern”, not dated. I find my mother’s notes on a few of the cake recipes, so it wasn’t mine. Finally I think to ask: “when was this published?” OMG, it’s from 1932! It should have been shelved with the vintage cookbooks.

I have found another treasure, albeit a little one.

Here is a photo of the cover that I got on the internet:

In a previous on the Mexican Cookbook, I wrote about the South American origins of chocolate. “The Spaniard ships that returned to Europe were laden with seeds and cuttings, which flourished in various climates.” By 1932, chocolate had been a part of American cuisine for four hundred years. Here’s a quote from the introduction of Baker’s Best Chocolate Recipes:

“Four hundred years of popularity. Few flavors have ever had the widespread popularity of chocolate. Rich . . . smooth . . . fragrant . . . its delightful flavor has appealed to everyone wherever and however it has been served.”

And about chocolate milk:

“Foamy, creamy-rich cocoa is a wonderful food with which to woo finicky child-appetites – an easy and delicious way of helping to include the daily quart of milk in their meals. Grown-ups welcome cocoa, too, as a way of building up run-down systems. And in this day of slimmer waists, cocoa is popular because it provides nourishment that is satisfying but not fattening.”

According to this book, the first chocolate mill in the US was built on the banks of the Neponset river in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1780 it became the establishment of Walter Baker and Company. We can still buy Baker’s chocolate today, although it is currently owned by Kraft Foods.

This excerpt from the book gives the story behind the logo:

I will definitely keep this cookbook. Not only because it is old, but because it has good basic chocolate recipes, like for a cocoa syrup if I run out of the bottled kind, and cakes and chiffon pie and eclairs and on and on. I decide to make the brownies for this blog. Sure, I have dozens of recipes for brownies, but this one is from 1932! I think one of my older cookbooks has the original brownie recipe, but that will be the subject of a later blog post.

Here is a scan of the brownies page and the facing page, just to show you the condition of this book:

Here is a larger version of the recipe:

That’s my mother’s “good” on the recipe. The photo of these brownies is on another page:

I made these just like the recipe, except I cooked them a little less. I even used Baker’s chocolate:

Brownies, 1932 Baker’s version

3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup butter
2 ounces Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Stir together the flour and baking powder.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan and let cool a bit.

Beat the eggs, then add the sugar and beat it in. Add the chocolate mixture, beating thoroughly, then add the flour mixture, the vanilla, and the nuts.

Bake in a greased 8-inch square pan for 30-35 minutes, until they test done with a toothpick.

Perfect brownies!

250 Cookbooks: Settlers’ Recipes and Remedies

Posted on June 28, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #117: Settlers’ Recipes and Remedies, Historic Boulder, Inc., 1978.

“Hiccups are immediately stopped by giving a lump of sugar saturated with wine vinegar.” “For a headache, peel and slice raw potatoes and bind them on the forehead in a cloth that reaches around the head.” “It will be bad weather if carrots grow deeper.”

Such is the lore of the first settlers in Boulder, Colorado. Settlers’ Recipes and Remedies includes small black and white photos of people and serving ware and a store and historic homes in Boulder. There are quite a few recipes – some basic, some interesting, some odd – but few very are practical for today’s cooks. No oven temperatures! No cooking times!

I must have bought this book used in a bookstore in Boulder, since “$3.00” is written in pencil on the first page. I’ve never used it as a recipe source. I can’t find any information about it online, except that the Denver Public Library has a copy. Historic Boulder has a current website, but they don’t mention this book.

I will cook “Wild Bill Hickock’s Smothered Beefsteak” for this blog. You take a thin steak, smooth a bread stuffing on top, roll it up, and cook it til done. Good basic foodstuff. Then, I will recycle this book.

Steak Roll
serves 2

one thin-cut steak, sirloin or round, about 12 ounces
1 cup fine bread crumbs
1 tablespoon soft butter
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon summer savory (or, use oregano or thyme)
salt and pepper
milk, about 1/4 cup
salt pork, about a tablespoon, chopped
beef broth, 1-2 cups, or use water
flour

Lay the steak out on a breadboard and pound with a meat pounder/tenderizer until it is smooth and flat.

Put the breadcrumbs, butter, herbs, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Add enough milk to make a “stiff” mixture (one that hold together when pressed with your hands). Spread this mixture over the steak in an even layer.

Roll the steak (from either side, your choice) and tie with pieces of string. Set aside.

In a pot on the stove top, brown the salt pork. Add the steak roll and brown on all sides. Add beef broth (or water); the roll does not need to be submersed in liquid, just have the depth of liquid at about an inch. Cover the pot and simmer 1 1/2 – 2 hours. Check about every 30 minutes and add more broth or water if it is evaporating away.

The roll is done when it is knife-tender. Remove the roll from the pan and set aside. Add a tablespoon or two of flour to the gravy in the pot and mix in; add water until the gravy is as thick or thin as you like.

Slice the roll and serve with the gravy.

We liked these – good comfort food. They were excellent with mashed potatoes and peas!I think the salt pork added a lot of flavor. If you can’t find it, use a piece or two of bacon. I was able to find salt pork at Whole Foods. Part of the current movement to bring saturated fats back into the US diet, I guess!

250 Cookbooks: Weber Charcoal Barbecue Kettles

Posted on June 20, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #116: Weber Charcoal Barbecue Kettles, Weber-Stephens Procuts Co., Arlington Heights, Illinois, circa late 1970s.

“Pork tenderloin surprise packages on p. 15, but missing that page!” That is what I wrote in my database when I entered this small instruction and recipe booklet. And that recipe is all I think about now when I pick up this booklet to find a recipe for this blog! None of the other (remaining) recipes are anything I want to make.

What are pork tenderloin surprise packages? Well, as I recall, you take some bacon and wrap it around a thick slice of pork tenderloin topped with – something else – and toothpick it all together. You put it on the grill and cook it – at some temperature – until done. Cheese enters the picture at some point. We loved these back in the day but I haven’t made them in years.

On a hunch, I googled “pork tenderloin surprise packages” and hit the jackpot. I guess I’m not the only fan of this recipe! I found several very similar versions of the recipe online. Yay!

Here is a photo of the original recipe (1972 edition, not the same as my little booklet) from the Let’s Talk BBQ site. Visit that site for great photos of the steps for making Pork Tenderloin Surprise Packages! Cooks.com has a version that is a little easier to read. Saz’s site’s version suggests mozzarella cheese and specifies “indirect heat” and a cooking time of 55 minutes (not 45 minutes like the original) and a doneness temperature of 170˚. I like this version too; it suggests that you can cook them in the oven.

I am tickled to find the original recipe, but I still have some work to do: I need to work out how to cook these on a gas grill, both time and temperature.

I know that the bacon grease will drip off these little packages – so I begin by making sure the drip pan at the bottom of my gas grill is clean and wiping off some of the chunks of build-up on the inside of the BBQ. My grill top has a temperature gauge; while cooking these packages I will nudge the burners to get it to read 350-375˚. I’ll put them over indirect heat. Starting at 40 minutes, I will check the temperature of the pork with an instant-read thermometer. When the temperature is about 160˚, I’ll add the cheese to the top and check every couple minutes until the cheese is melted. Ready, set, go!

Here is my version of the recipe.

Pork Tenderloin Surprise Packages
this is written for one; multiply as necessary

These work best with the pork in a thick chunk. Pork tenderloins have both a skinny and a fat end. I found that I could cut a 2-inch thick slice from a skinnier end and flatten it to 1 1/2-inch if necessary.

1 slice of pork tenderloin, 3-6 ounces (depending on appetite); thickness about 1 1/2-inch
seasoning (salt and pepper; but you barely need salt if the bacon is salty)
2 slices bacon
1 slice of cheese: aim for 1/4-inch thick
1 slice of tomato: aim for 1/2-inch thick
1 chunk of bell pepper
1 slice of cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

Cross the two slices of bacon and put the pork tenderloin in the center. Add the onion, then tomato, then bell pepper. Fold the bacon ends in and secure with a toothpick.

Heat your gas grill to about 375˚. I did this by turning on all the burners to get the grill good and hot. Then, on my Weber gas grill with three burner strips, I set the front one to “high” and turned off the other two. I found that this maintained the 375˚ temperature for the duration of the cooking.

Put the pork packets on the grill over indirect heat: on my grill, I put them over the back two unlit burners. Close the BBQ.

After 40 minutes, begin checking the temperature of the pork tenderloin. Cook the meat to 160˚. (Mine took 45 minutes.) Add the slice of cheese to the top of the package and cook only until the cheese melts – about 5 minutes.

Serve!

Preparation steps:

These are really easy to make. I served them with artichokes and fresh sourdough bread.

Slice and stack! An X marks the spot.

And here is one of the grilled pork tenderloin surprise packages:

Yes these were fatty but who cares! The onion was soft-cooked, the tomato perfect, and the bacon – well, if you like bacon, you know that bacon makes everything taste great. I’m glad I found my old recipe and made these again. The missing pages from this booklet may show up tucked in one of my other cookbooks, but it doesn’t matter anymore, I have the recipe I want. Now I can recycle the remains of this booklet.

250 Cookbooks: Pasta

Posted on June 16, 2015 by admin

Cookbook #115: Pasta, The Good Cook Series, by the Editors of Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, 1982.

This is a great reference for anyone who loves to make – or eat – pasta. The photos of pasta varieties and preparation are gorgeous and helpful. I am sure I used this book when I was learning the techniques of making fresh pasta. The information is this book is still applicable, and I will definitely keep it!

Recipes in this book? My note to myself about this book is “most of the recipes are rather high calorie, have lots of cream, or include frying”. In my older age I am a bit more lax on (good) fats in my diet, especially having just read “The Big Fat Surprise”. I will keep this book out for awhile, and explore the recipes I noted before: macaroni and cheese, stuffed pasta, dumplings, gnocchis, pasta pies, fried noodles, and oriental pastas.

The first half of this book is all about making, cooking, and saucing pasta. The second half is an “Anthology of Recipes”. I was sort of surprised that this is collection of previously published recipes – not ones developed specifically for this book. The recipes were written by world-renowned chefs or copied from out-of-print or foreign books. It is a very interesting collection to peruse.

For this blog? I’ll make one of the macaroni and cheese recipes. I don’t make macaroni and cheese a lot. Granted, it’s a great comfort food – but it doesn’t often fit in my menu plans. We almost always eat meat at dinner, and macaroni and cheese is a bit too rich as a side dish. When I do make it, I make a white sauce plus cheese, then fold in cooked macaroni. A few times I have made the macaroni from scratch using my pasta machine, and it was really delicious. (This was a good main dish when my daughter was in a vegetarian phase.)

The recipe I choose to make from the Pasta cookbook is a baked variety. It is rich with cheese, but not the added butter of a white sauce. The suggested macaroni is whole wheat, so, added fiber and lower glycemic index. I plan a meal of grilled sirloin steak, steamed broccoli, and “Mom’s Macaroni and Cheese”.

Note the credit for this recipe: “Julie Jordan, Wings of Life”. Here is an interview-article on Julie Jordan (Cabbage Town Chef), a woman of about my age who ran a vegetarian restaurant. She mentions “Mom’s Mac and Cheese” in the interview. I love the way she writes in the above recipe: “lots of parsley”. Yes! Cooking is not about following a recipe to a tee.

Here is the whole wheat macaroni I found in a local store:

I made a few small modifications. Below is my version.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Whole Wheat Noodles
serves 4

1/4 pound whole wheat macaroni
1/2 pound extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/4 cups hot milk
1/2 cup bread crumbs (preferably from whole wheat bread)
1 small onion, chopped very fine
2 tablespoons finely chopped bell pepper
parsley (to taste, maybe 1/4 cup chopped)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
paprika

Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Do not overcook it: it needs to be done but still firm.

Put the bread crumbs and cheese in an appropriately-sized casserole and pour the hot milk over the mixture. Add the onion, bell pepper, “lots of parsley”, and salt. Stir in the eggs, then mix in the cooked macaroni. Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 350˚ for about 30 minutes, until the top of the casserole is golden brown. Serve!

Yum. This macaroni and cheese earned a thumbs up from both of us. I will make it again!

Patty's Cooking Blog

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