Have you ever looked at the meat cuts chart in your favorite cookbook and thought to yourself, “okayyyyyyyy…this isn’t really helpful?”  I . . . → Read More: Theatrical Thursday: Know Your Meat (c. 1945)]]> I’m back.  The most pressing family issue has been resolved (for the time being, at least) and my husband’s aunt and uncle are on their way to my in-law’s home after their short visit here.

Have you ever looked at the meat cuts chart in your favorite cookbook and thought to yourself, “okayyyyyyyy…this isn’t really helpful?”  I have.  For most of our married life, our primary sources of animal protein were hamburger, chicken, eggs, and cheese. I would occasionally try cooking a roast in our slow cooker but it always turned out bland and overdone.  Since ours was a mostly animal protein-free diet, I really didn’t worry too much about it.  That all changed when I started to collect the vintage cookbooks in earnest and discovered that it wouldn’t take me all day to cook fabulous meals.

But to make a fabulous meal, we also need to know not only our meat but the meat grade.  You may discover, like I did, that even though your grocery store makes it sound like they are selling only the very best beef, they may in fact be selling you “meh” beef.  As you will see in the video, all meat in the United States is inspected and assigned a grade.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Quality Grades for Beef:

• Prime grade is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. It has abundant marbling and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking (broiling, roasting, or grilling).
• Choice grade is high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful and are, like Prime, suited to dry-heat cooking. Many of the less tender cuts, such as those from the rump, round, and blade chuck, can also be cooked with dry heat if not overcooked. Such cuts will be most tender if “braised” — roasted, or simmered with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan.
• Select grade is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Only the tender cuts (loin, rib, sirloin) should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or braised to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.
• Standard and Commercial grades – are frequently sold as ungraded or as “store brand” meat (my emphasis added).
• Utility, Cutter, and Canner grades are seldom, if ever, sold at retail but are used instead to make ground beef and processed products (my emphasis added).

You can imagine my surprise when I realized that my grocery store was selling a lower quality meat than I thought they were.  I hadn’t paid attention to what “Select” meant because I thought it was an advertising gimmick.  I mean, come on!  This is the 21st century, don’t we have the technology and resources to only have the top grade in our meat cases?  Apparently not.  According to AskTheMeatMan.com, “Select” is the grade that Walmart sells. And, the bottom grades just reinforce my practice of grinding my own meat at home.  No wonder it is always full of cooties and being recalled!

I found this wonderful video produced by the U.S. government’s Office of Price Administration during World War II to help educate homemakers on the various cuts of meat and how they can help ensure that everyone is doing their share to keep prices low.  The grading system they describe is a little different than the one currently in place but you will be able to get the gist of it.  My favorite thing about this video, though, is that they walk us through the butchering process so that we can see exactly what we are getting with each cut of beef.  It is a little dry, in parts, but well worth hanging in there to watch the entire film.

Know Your Meat (c. 1945) (Approximately 20 minutes)

Click here if the player does not work for you

I could not find the roast for last night’s dinner in the refrigerator.  I looked in one drawer and then another and behind my husband’s collection of grapefruit and cranberry juice bottles.  Where could it be???

I finally found it.  In the freezer.  Frozen solid.  It was not in any . . . → Read More: The Plan B Dinner]]>

The sauce looks better in person...trust me.

I could not find the roast for last night’s dinner in the refrigerator.  I looked in one drawer and then another and behind my husband’s collection of grapefruit and cranberry juice bottles.  Where could it be???

I finally found it.  In the freezer.  Frozen solid.  It was not in any condition to be roasted for an hour so that we could have dinner at 7:00.  I sighed at my absent-minded-professor-ness (combine that with being blonde and it is a wonder that I have accomplished what I have!).  Now what will we have for dinner?  I had the week all planned out.

Being the modern retro woman that I am, I sprung into action.  Tonight’s dinner was supposed to be a broiled Cornish Game Hen, split between the two of us.  The hen was thawed out so I decided we’d have game hen for dinner last night instead of tonight.  I wasn’t in the mood to turn the broiler on in this heat so I pulled a random cookbook out of my collection.  The winner was: The Fannie Merritt Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook (1959). I was inspired by a “Mexican Chicken” recipe.

The great thing about building one’s cooking confidence is that you can draw inspiration from a recipe without having to follow it exactly.  For example, the recipe called for 8 canned pimientos (also called pimentos).  Well, I didn’t have canned or jarred pimientos but I remember reading a recipe that said roasted red peppers could be used if pimientos weren’t available.  I didn’t have any roasted red peppers but I did have a bag of frozen bell pepper strips in the freezer.  It may not be what they came up with in the test kitchen, but dinner turned out great!

Mexican Chicken (Adapted from The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, 1959)

Brown the hen in the oil.  Finely chop the pepper strips with a food processor–almost to the point of a puree’ (since it is frozen, the puree’ will not have the usual liquid-y consistency).  Blend the salt, pepper puree’, onion, and garlic.  Pour the mixture over the hen when it is done browning.  Add enough water to cover hen.  Cover and cook until the hen is tender (about 1 hour).  Put the hen in a serving dish.  Melt butter in a small saucepan; remove from heat and add the flour, stirring until smooth.  Add the butter-flour mixture to the juices in the pan to make a gravy.  When thick and bubbly, pour over the hen and/or mashed potatoes.

How about you?  Have you any Plan B dinner victories where you whipped up something from seemingly nothing?  Share it with us!

The more I learn how to eat like my grandmother, the more I am amazed at the portion sizes–and how satisfied I feel eating less food.  I was reminded, once again, how little meat we really need to eat while I was making some hamburgers to barbecue on July 4th.

I’ve . . . → Read More: Deviled Beef Patties]]>

Hamburger Press: So Simple, Yet Efficient

The more I learn how to eat like my grandmother, the more I am amazed at the portion sizes–and how satisfied I feel eating less food.  I was reminded, once again, how little meat we really need to eat while I was making some hamburgers to barbecue on July 4th.

I’ve never been very good at forming hamburgers.  They always ended up looking like rocks.  And they felt like rocks when we tried to bite into them.  And then I went through a period where I couldn’t stand touching raw meat/poultry.  I don’t know why, but I was just was totally creeped out by it.  As a result, The Mister took over the responsibility of forming the hamburger patties on those rare occasions when I would serve him something other than beans and rice.

Because we had been away, The Mister was playing catch-up with his projects and had to go the studio to work for a little while on July Fourth.  That left me with the task of forming the hamburgers.  Now, since I’ve started cooking like my grandmother, I’m not creeped out by raw meat anymore.  I’m not afraid to stick my hand into a bowl to mix everything up.  But, I was still concerned about forming the hamburgers.

And then I remembered it.

One of the gadgets I had inherited from my grandparents was a “hamburger press.”  It works like a charm!  I just filled the press with the hamburger mix, turned the knob and out came a perfectly formed hamburger.  Out of curiosity, I decided to weigh a few of the patties individually.  They all weighed 4 ounces almost to the T.  It was amazing to me.  In my grandparents’ day, that would have been considered an enormous hamburger.  To put it into perspective,  in the olden days of my teenage years, these hamburgers would have been considered McDonald’s largest hamburger–The Quarter Pounder  (the Big Mac has two 1.6 ounce hamburgers for a total of 3.2 ounces of meat).  McDonalds’ original hamburgers have 1.6 ounces of meat.  That’s it.  To put even more perspective on it, McDonalds’ smallest hamburger is roughly the daily protein portion recommended by the American Heart Association for a 150 pound person (not the 40 pound children that we feed them to–see the Modern Retro Woman post on the topic of protein requirements).

A few years ago, I found a recipe for Deviled Beef Patties in the Better Homes and Gardens 1972 edition of Eat and Stay Slim. I know this cookbook is beyond my 1960 cut-off date, but it belonged to The Mister’s grandmother so I snagged it when I got the chance.  I have since seen many recipes called “Deviled Something” and, of course, there  are the very popular “deviled eggs.”  My unscientific research has led me to believe that anything called “deviled something” means that there is going to be mustard, for sure, and often horseradish, too.  If anyone knows the etymology of it, please share it with us.  I’m guessing that the mustard (and horseradish) are supposed to make the food spicier and “hotter,” thus the reference to the devil.

Because these hamburgers are so moist, be patient when cooking them.  If you try to flip them too soon, they will disintegrate.  If you are cooking them stovetop, that isn’t necessarily a problem if you don’t mind crumbly hamburgers.  But on the barbecue, a good portion of the hamburger will fall between the grill rungs (and, for the sake of my marriage, I will refrained from telling you why I know this to be true…).

I make up a double or triple batch, form the patties, wrap the uncooked extras individually in plastic wrap and then wrap a group of them together before freezing them.  The plastic wrap aids in separating the frozen patties from each other.  I just cook them in the pan from frozen and it takes only a few minutes on each side.  Yummy!

Deviled Beef Patties

Combine 1 pound ground beef, 1 egg, 1/4 cup chili sauce, 1 teaspoon prepared mustard, 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and dash pepper.  Mix well.  Makes four 4-ounce patties.

At home, I have a gas range.  I grew up using gas ranges.  My mother-in-law has an electric range.  I just want to say for the record that I hate electric ranges.  I like the control that my gas range gives to me and any adjustments I make are immediate. When . . . → Read More: The Electric Anniversary Dinner]]>

Live Better…Electrically (PG&E Motto)

At home, I have a gas range.  I grew up using gas ranges.  My mother-in-law has an electric range.  I just want to say for the record that I hate electric ranges.  I like the control that my gas range gives to me and any adjustments I make are immediate. When using my mother-in-law’s range, I either end up burning or undercooking the food (not that it never happens with the gas range, but it doesn’t occur as often).

When homemakers were beginning to get rid of their wood burning stoves, the gas and electric utility concerns were going out of their way to convince women that their mode of energy was the better one for cooking.  They hired a full complement of home economists to teach homemakers how to use their new appliances.  They weren’t stupid.  They knew that women would develop an allegiance to a particular way of cooking and would pass that preference on as they taught their children how to cook…which meant more profit for the utility in the long run.

On my way up to Northern California to my in-laws’ house to tend to sick relatives, I stopped at my favorite antique mall and discovered a cookbook published in 1960 by “The Home Economics Department, Pacific Gas and Electric Company.”  The opening paragraph told me that The Electric Cookbook “has been planned and written especially for you — the homemaker whose first interest is in her family, who loves to please her husband and children, whose heart grows warm when they like what she cooks.”

Saturday was my in-laws’ 55th wedding anniversary.  Since two family members weren’t well enough for a restaurant celebration, I suggested to them that I prepare a meal highlighted in the cookbook.  They agreed that it was an excellent idea.

Menu:

Braised Spicy Steak

Dredge steak with flour mixed with seasonings; pound in slightly.  Melt shortening in skillet; brown meat on both sides on SECOND TO THIRD heat.  Put in baking pan.  Mix catsup and water; pour over steak.  Top with thinly sliced onion and lemon; green pepper, and cloves.  Cover with foil, and bake.

Steamed Rice in Consomme’

Brown 1 cup uncooked rice in 3 tablespoons butter in skillet on THIRD heat.  Put in casserole.  Combine 1 can consomme’, 1 can water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; add to rice.  Cover and bake.  (Note: It is almost impossible to find consomme’ these days so I usually substitute broth for it…they aren’t exactly the same but they are close enough for the substitution to work)

Green Beans and Scallions

Cut stems off 1 bunch scallions, and finely chop 2 inches of stems.  Cook in covered casserole with 2 packages frozen green beans, salt, butter, and 1/2 cup water.

Fresh Berry Pie

Line a 9-inch glass pie plate with pastry.  Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon; mix lightly through prepared berries and put into a pastry-lined pie plate.  Dot with butter.  Cover with top crust.  Bake in 425º F. oven for 35-45 minutes, or until nicely browned and juice starts to bubble through slits in crust.

***

There were some hits and misses with the dinner.  The meat department at the grocery store didn’t have any round steak set out so I had to ask the butcher for it.  He said he would get me some but that it is for London Broil which set off alarms for me because it is a less tender cut.  He suggested a sirloin steak, instead, because it would be easier for my over-eighty in-laws to eat. We picked out a beautiful looking steak.  What I had forgotten was that I would be braising the steak by steaming it in the catsup/water combination, so the round steak would have been tender anyway.

Even with forgetting to add the cloves, the flavor of the onion, lemon, green pepper, and catsup permeated the steak.  I recommend this combination as a flavor enhancer for lower priced steaks and roasts.  That said, the steak ended up being “well done” instead of medium-well.  Thankfully, the steak was so tender and juicy, it didn’t matter.

The green beans cooked all right but were floating in too much water by the end of the cooking time.  I think a couple of tablespoons of water would have been sufficient since the beans were frozen and would emit their own steaming water.

The rice, though, was a frustration.  At the end of the 50 minutes, the rice was nowhere ready to eat.  I don’t know if this is because I used brown instead of white rice but I had to cook it for about 15 minutes more on the stovetop to try and bring it within palatable range.  Even then, I poured off about 2 cups of liquid.  This makes sense because a very rough ratio is 2:1–two cups of liquid for every cup of brown rice.  A regular-sized can of broth will have slightly under 2 cups of liquid and the recipe had me add another can’s worth of liquid.  It isn’t the end of the world to drain off extra cooking liquid but the flavor would have been more concentrated if I had just used the broth.

The pie was a hit.  But that wasn’t because of anything I did.  It was Mother Nature reminding us how delicious her bounty can be.  I was able to buy strawberries from a grower around the corner that were smaller and sweeter than the large strawberries usually available at the supermarket.  The bonus was that they had been picked Saturday morning.

There were some hits and misses from the food part of the meal but the most important feature of their anniversary dinner was when my in-laws started sharing memories from when they met all of those years ago.

Priceless!

For some reason, for me, there is also . . . → Read More: Favorite Meat Loaf]]> Meat loaf conjures up images of tables laden with “comfort food.”  It seems to me that one of the reasons it is so popular is because of all of the ways it can be made to avoid monotony while stretching the food dollar to feed six or more people.

For some reason, for me, there is also something very soothing about making meatloaf.  And so, here at my relatives’ home to take care of them, in a kitchen where I don’t know where anything is and in a grocery store totally foreign to me, I found Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy cookbook from 1954 crammed into a bookshelf in the kitchen and I proceeded to make meat loaf for dinner.

This is a very easy recipe that goes together in just a couple of minutes and takes an hour of “go off and do something else in the house” baking time.  I will admit that the RN arrived while I was mixing everything up and I forgot to include the Worcestershire sauce when I got back to the mixing.  Not a problem.  The meatloaf was delicious even without the Worcestershire sauce.

I think a key to good tasting meat loaf is the combination of meats.  My early-marriage meatloaf adventures were ground beef only and they always seemed to be missing something.  Now, I mix up the meats and have even made meat loaf with sausage in it when I couldn’t get ground pork.  Also, if the recipe says to use fresh bread crumbs, tear up slices of day-old bread into small pieces.  Don’t use the dried bread crumbs from the supermarket.  The day-old bread helps keep the loaf light whereas the dried crumbs make it kind of dense and a little dried out.

Favorite Meat Loaf

Heat oven to 350º.  Tear bread into large mixing bowl; add milk and egg.  Add meat and seasonings; mix thoroughly.  Form lightly into loaf and spread chili sauce over the loaf.  Place in shallow baking pan.  Bake 1 hour. 6 to 8 servings.

Today’s recipe can be filed under “Oh, those crazy home economists!”  The recipe is called “Mock Chicken Pie” . . . → Read More: Mock Chicken Pie]]> Now that I’m on summer vacation, I can catch up on posting all sorts of interesting recipes that I’ve tried over the past few months.  That is, of course, if I can remember where to find the original recipes!

Today’s recipe can be filed under “Oh, those crazy home economists!”  The recipe is called “Mock Chicken Pie” because it is made with canned tuna.  That’s right!  Tuna!  I guess this is where the confusion over “chicken of the sea” originated…

Interestingly enough, there is a recipe from the Betty Crocker Your Share pamphlet that is almost identical to this one that really does use chicken.  Perhaps that recipe was quite popular and this is a variation of that older recipe.  Regardless, it is quite filling and you can get more than the six substantial servings from this casserole.

The foundation of this recipe is our beloved White Sauce. Throw in some leftover peas and carrots (although I’ve been known to just buy the frozen peas and carrot package and cook them–it only takes five minutes, if that) and a couple of cans of tuna and you’ve got the heart of the casserole.  Top it with some biscuit dough.

Now, the biscuit dough is the make-it-or-break-it component.  Just make a half-recipe of Rich Biscuit dough and roll it out thin to put on top.  Trust me on this one.  I got all uppity the first time I made this and thought I knew better than those crazy home economists.  I made a full recipe.  And, decided to add a little extra milk so that I could just make drop biscuit dough to put on top.  You know.  I was going to triumphantly tell you that I figured out how to make the recipe quick and easy.  Yeah, you know what’s coming.  It’s just like when you yell at the girl in the bikini running through the graveyard in high heels in those campy horror movies to take the darn shoes off before she falls down.  You know it can lead to no good.

Making a full recipe of biscuit dough caused the casserole to turn into a giant biscuit with some remnants of the peas and carrots stuck to the bottom.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.  Bless My Honey for bravely eating it…even in the leftover stage (“Really, Julie, it really IS good cold for breakfast!”  Makes you wonder about his taste in other things, too).  If you decide to buy those refrigerator biscuits to use on this recipe, I’d only use about 1/3 to 1/2 of them.

Roll out the dough until it seems almost too thin.  It will expand and make a great top crust, reminiscent of those old-style pot pies.

Mock Chicken Pie (Adapted from The Picture Cookbook)

Make the white sauce.  Add the tuna, peas, and carrots to the white sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.   Heat until mixture bubbles.  Pour into a greased 2-quart casserole (about 8″ across) and cover with 1/2 recipe of Rich Biscuit Dough.  Bake for 25 minutes at 450º F.  Makes 6 servings.

Rich Biscuit Dough (1/2 recipe)

Round up on lightly floured cloth-covered board.  Gently knead about 20 times.  Roll or pat out to about 1/2″ thick.

Cover casserole to make the top crust.

As you know, I’m trying to encourage people to eat wholesome mid-century foods because I believe it is a healthier option all around.

But not all mid-century food is edible…and it might even be considered chemical warfare.  Fortunately, we have a guide who will show . . . → Read More: Friday Find: Mid-Century Menu]]>

Retro Ruth's Mid-Century Menu experiment: Ham Banana Casserole; Photo courtesy of NoPatternRequired.com

As you know, I’m trying to encourage people to eat wholesome mid-century foods because I believe it is a healthier option all around.

But not all mid-century food is edible…and it might even be considered chemical warfare.  Fortunately, we have a guide who will show us the way…

I first encountered Retro Ruth’s wonderful sense of humor on Twitter.  And then I had a “duh!” moment and realized that the “No Pattern Required” blog that I had been enjoying was written by the very same Retro Ruth from Twitter!

While I’ve been running around collecting vintage cookbooks for serious cooking, Ruth has managed to unearth the quirkiest cookbooks that cause us to ponder “What WERE they thinking???”  Luckily for us, Ruth has a long suffering husband who is willing to be the guinea pig for Ruth’s weekly Mid-Century Menu experiment where she tries out some of the more questionable recipes.  This week’s experiment was a ham-banana casserole (smothered in mustard).

There was a dark side to mid-century cooking and Retro Ruth does a fabulous job of bringing it to light so that the rest of us can cook safely.

Go!  Look!  Read!

Last weekend, the guys that my husband works with/for on various sculpting projects decided to have a barbecue and I was told to bring vegetables.  I brought . . . → Read More: From the MRW Archives: Carrot-Cabbage-Raisin Salad]]> This was originally posted on August 5, 2009 on my Modern Retro Woman blog.  I love how easy this salad is to make–especially with the assistance of a food processor!

Last weekend, the guys that my husband works with/for on various sculpting projects decided to have a barbecue and I was told to bring vegetables.  I brought corn still in the husk to roast on the grill (soaked them for a couple of hours and then plopped them right on there) and this salad.  Both were a hit!

Enjoy!

____________

Over on Facebook, Ellen wanted to know what she could do with a head of cabbage–none of her “go-to” recipes were thrilling her this morning.

For Ellen, I want to share one of my new favorite salads: Carrot-Raisin Salad from 1963 McCall’s Cookbook.  It is different than traditional carrot salads because it incorporates cabbage.  It is more than a regular cole slaw and it is tastier than a regular carrot salad.

I actually prefer it without the lemon juice and I’ve used lower-fat or canola mayo in it without any loss of taste.  I always have to double or triple the recipe because it really goes in a flash (and this is where my full-size food processor really proves its worth).

Carrot-Raisin Salad

(Makes 4 servings)

1 cup grated raw carrot

1 cup shredded cabbage

1/4 cup seedless raisins

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup mayonnaise or cooked salad dressing

1.  Lightly toss carrot, cabbage, raisins, salt, lemon juice, and sugar until well combined.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

2.  Just before serving, toss with mayonnaise.

Isn’t this an easy recipe?!  And it is easy to make it good for you, too.  I also think that non-vegetable lovers will also love the texture and flavor of this salad.

Enjoy!