Aunt Sammy’s radio desserts
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
A few weeks ago we took a look at Judy Patton’s 1931 cookbook “Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes Revised.”
This was a 15 minute radio show broadcast five days a week by the USDA Bureau of Home Economics and devoted to the latest information for the nation’s homemakers.
Aunt Sammy was Uncle Sam’s wife!
Like any good pre-WWII homemaker, Aunt Sammy knew how to make desserts. There are five chapters devoted to sweets of one kind or another. In the “Fruits and Puddings” chapter, apple and apricots mingle with figs, pineapples and rhubarb!
RHUBARB BETTY
4 Tbsp. melted butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1 quart fine, dry bread crumbs
cinnamon or nutmeg
1 quart sweetened rhubarb sauce or 2 quarts raw sliced rhubarb with sugar to sweeten
Mix the fat and the salt with the crumbs. Place the rhubarb and the crumbs in alternate layers in a greased baking dish, and sift the cinnamon or nutmeg over the top. Bake the pudding in a moderate oven. If rhubarb sauce is used this will require about 20 minutes. If raw rhubarb is used, cover the baking dish at first and bake for 25 minutes, or until the rhubarb is tender. Serve the pudding hot with or without hard sauce.
What’s a hard sauce, you ask? It’s a concoction of creamed butter and sugar that could be used as is or enhanced with a tiny bit of sherry, brandy or ground nuts. The only recipe I could find calls for 1/3 cup of softened butter and 1 pound of powdered or light brown sugar along with a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Just mush it all together over heat and use it as an icing.
I looked up Bavarian cream (Crème Bavaroise) because I wasn’t sure just what that meant. Evidently it is a combination of Crème Anglaise (vanilla egg custard) and Crème Chantilly (vanilla egg custard whipped with liqueur or fruit puree). It’s served cold, either spooned into dishes or molded in one of those things you might have hanging on the kitchen wall.
PEACH BAVARIAN CREAM
2 Tbsp. gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 quart sliced fresh peaches
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pint cream, whipped
Soak the gelatin in the cold water for 5 minutes. Mash the peaches with the sugar, rub through a sieve, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the fire. Add the softened gelatin and salt, and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Chill, and when the mixture begins to thicken, fold in the whipped cream. Place in a wet mold, let stand in a cold place until firm, and turn out on as serving platter.
If you just can’t wait for your tomatoes to ripen, you might try this next dessert. It certainly is different!
GREEN TOMATO PIE
6 medium-sized green tomatoes
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 lemon, sliced
2 Tbsp. cornstarch 1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. butter
pastry
Wash the tomatoes, remove stem and blossom end, and cut into thin slices. Cook the tomato, water and lemon until the tomatoes are almost tender and drain. When the tomato liquid has cooled add the cornstarch, which has been mixed with the sugar and salt, and cook until thickened. Add the tomatoes, cinnamon, and butter, and mix thoroughly. Pour the hot mixture into a baked pastry shell, add the top sheet of dough and bake in a moderately hot oven (375º to 400º F.) for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
There are a bunch of frozen desserts in Aunt Sammy’s collection, which would have been hand-cranked in an ice cream freezer until done. I thought this recipe sounded great — I wonder if it’s where Ben & Jerry got the idea for Chunky Monkey?
BANANA ICE CREAM
3 ripe bananas, or 1 cup banana pulp
1 quart cream
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
Skin and scrape the bananas and press them through a fine sieve to form pulp, add the lemon juice, the sugar and salt, and mix well. Stir in the cream. Use a freezing mixture of 1 part salt to 4 to 6 parts ice. Turn the crank of the freezer slowly. After freezing, remove the dasher, pack the freezer with more ice and salt, and let the cream stand for an hour or more to ripen.
I thought this last recipe had a curious title, so I looked into it. The tradition of an election cake dates back to Colonial times. Men were required to “muster” every now and then in a central location and learn how to “bear arms” for the protection of the colonies. Since so many men had to be fed, a fruit cake was pressed into service to help sustain them. It could be baked in large quantities and stored for weeks without going bad!
Once America became a democracy and held election days where people had to travel from all over to a central polling place, the muster cake became the Election Cake. Members of society vied for the honor of having baked the best cake of the season. This recipe is pre-baking powder, so it uses a sponge to make the cake rise.
ELECTION CAKE
Sponge:
1/2 yeast cake
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup tsp. sugar
Cake:
1/2 cup butter or other fat
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cusp sifted flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped raisins
1/2 cup chopped figs or dates
To make the sponge, soften the yeast in the lukewarm water, add the flour and sugar, and beat well. Put aside in a warm place to lighten for about an hour.
In the meantime mix the fat and sugar and add the beaten egg and the milk. Sift together the flour, spices and salt. Then combine all the ingredients including the sponge and mix well. Pour the batter into a well-greased tube pan. Cover and stand in a warm place to rise for 3 or 4 hours. Bake for 1 hour in a moderate oven. (350º F.)
All American desserts for your Independence Day/Emporia Sesquicentennial celebrations! Hope you enjoy this trip through the past — we’ll have a few more in the coming months.
That Murphy’s Menu Quick Bread Cook-Off is this Saturday! I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone at the market, and tasting the great breads you bring. If you want to compete, please bring a loaf of quick bread (banana nut, zucchini, chocolate chip, etc.) and the recipe to the kiosk at the Emporia Farmer’s Market, 7th & Merchant, between 7:30 and 8 a.m.
When the market opens at 8, patrons will have the chance to taste all of the entries and vote for the favorite. Sometime around 9:30 we’ll tally the votes and announce the winner! If you have any question, please call me at 342-4800.
We’re not publishing on July 4, so the food page gets a holiday. Our challenge, though, for July 11th, is something really neat. If you’ve ever been up close to one, you have to wonder how the Native Americans managed to bring them down without an elephant gun: The BISON! They’re a Kansas native species, and, July being National Bison Month, I’d like to see what recipes you have for preparing buffalo meat. From jerky to burgers, how do you like your bison?
Send that recipe to Murphy’s Menu, The Emporia Gazette, PO Drawer C, Emporia or e-mail to murphysmenu@yahoo.com. The deadline is 5 p.m. July 2. Let’s get cooking!