1970's recipes - Retro Food For Modern Times

16
Feb
2025

Marillenkuchen

categories: 1970's recipes, Austria, Cake, Good Housekeeping World Cookery

Hello friends. Welcome to the final part of our Austrian culinary adventure. Today, we’ll savour Marillenkuchen – Austrian for Apricot Cake. I was more excited about Austrian desserts than the savoury dishes. Austrian cakes and pastries are world-famous, and Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery offers an enticing array! Initially, I struggled to choose between Sachertorte, the most famous, and Linzertorte, my favourite. However, when visiting my greengrocer, I saw a display of breathtaking apricots. Consequently, all thoughts of other cakes vanished instantly.

Unlike its more fancy counterparts, Marillenkuchen is a simple cake. But as the saying goes – the simple things in life are often the best! Tilly Pamment, author of the excellent baking book “The Plain Cake Appreciation Society,” says:

The Plain Cake Appreciation Society is a club for connoisseurs of uncomplicated cakes, seasonal bakes and the general appreciation of pausing (often) for tea and cake

I think Tilly would approve of the Marillenkuchen! As do many Austrians! Marillenkuchen holds a special place in Austrian culinary tradition. It’s often enjoyed during the summer months when apricots are in season. It is a perfect treat for picnics, garden parties, and afternoon tea.

Marillenkuchen – The Recipe

Apologies for my scribble about how much my eggs weighed!

A Fun Fact About Austrian Apricots

Did you know there was an Austrian apricot that is famous throughout Europe? I had no idea! The Wachau Apricot is a key ingredient in jam, brandy, and various liqueurs. The EU protects this fruit. Only apricots originating from the Wachau region can be called ‘Wachau Apricots. Furthermore, the Wachau region, nestled along the Danube River, looks stunningly beautiful! An apricot festival appears to take place annually in July. If I ever have the opportunity to visit, I will plan my trip accordingly

Today we bid “So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen goodbye” to Austria. Our next stop is Belgium. Have a wonderful week!

02
Feb
2025

Frankfurter Roka

categories: 1970's recipes, Blue Cheese, Chorizo, Salad

Hello friends, I’m shaking things up today with a vintage recipe from Good Housekeeping’s Cooking for Today. Firstly, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This was a 13-part weekly magazine. The recipe for Frankfurter Roka comes from issue #2. I have a few of these, which I intend to cook from this year, so we will definitely be hearing more from this mag in the coming months!

Moving on, I’m channelling my inner Beatles and “Hey Jude”-ing a vintage recipe for Frankfurter Roka. Meaning, my aim is to “Take a sad song and make it better.” Just substitute “song” for “salad” and we’re there!

The Original Recipe for Frankfurter Roka

Here is a picture of the old and the new!

My Changes To The Original and Why

The original recipe promised a vibrant salad brimming with flavours I adore: tangy blue cheese, briny olives, and earthy potatoes. However, there were two ingredient that simply had to go. First up was the frankfurters. The mere thought of them makes me gag. Consequently, I had a delicious replacement in mind: finely sliced, pan-fried chorizo, adding a delightful smoky depth to the dish.

Whilst canned potatoes don’t give me the same visceral reaction, I would never willingly eat them! So, out with the convenience, in with the fresh! I opted to boil some lovely new potatoes and then pan-fry them in the aromatic oil left behind from the chorizo.

Now, the dressing presented its own challenge. The original recipe called for Kraft Roka Blue Cheese Dressing, a product sadly unavailable in Australia. No worries! I decided to channel my inner Nigella Lawson and whip up her “Universally Useful Blue Cheese Dressing.” While I skipped the HP sauce (personal preference!), I added a touch more Worcestershire sauce for an extra kick.

Finally, I decided to serve the Frankfurter Roka in large lettuce leaves. Consequently, everyone can choose their favourite bits and the amount of dressing they prefer. Furthermore, these could then be wrapped up and eaten using your hands, similarly to how you would in a Vietnamese restaurant when you get to wrap your spring rolls in lettuce and herbs. This makes for a fun shared plate to eat with family or friends! Here’s my updated recipe!

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Frankfurter Roka, Updated

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My take on a vintage salad. These amounts will serve 2 people as a light meal.

Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale

1 chorizo sausage
4–6 new potatoes, peeled and cut into a 1cm dice
1 Serve of Nigella Lawson’s Universally Useful Blue Cheese Dressing, or if it is available in your country, some Kraft Roka Blue Cheese Dressing
12 stuffed olives
A pile of large lettuce leaves to serve – Cos / Romaine or Iceberg are ideal

1

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Instructions

Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are just tender (about 10 minutes) Drain.
Slice the chorizo and place in a frying pan. You do not need to heat the pan or add any oil. Cook the chorizo over medium heat until they are nicely browned.
Remove the chorizo slices from the pan. Add the potatoes. Fry the potatoes in the oil left by the chorizo until they are golden and crisp.
Place your lettuce leaves on a serving platter.
Mix the chorizo, potatoes and olives, sprinkle with the parsley.
Serve the blue cheese dressing on the side.

To eat, load your lettuce leaves with the chorizo and potato mix. Pour as much or as little of the blue cheese dressing as you desire over the top.

Enjoy!

I loved my updated version of Frankfurter Roka! I hope that you will also think that I’ve taken a sad salad and made it better…better…better…

Have a great week!

26
Jan
2025

Veal with Cream Sauce

categories: 1970's recipes, Austria, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meat

Hello Friends, today we’re continuing our journey into Austria in 1972. We started with some Eggs in Sour Cream a few weeks back and that was a great dish! Now, I’m sure some of you might be expecting a Wiener Schnitzel as the main course. However, as I have already shared a fancy version recently, I thought I would choose something a little different. So today, we are dining on a dish of Veal in Cream Sauce. This recipe sings to my soul! Capers, mustard, lemons. As they say in Austria, a few of my favourite things!

However, the Good Housekeeping World Cookery chapter on Austrian cuisine, gives us, a world of hearty peasant fare for mains. Now, don’t get me wrong, I adore a good, wholesome dish, but let’s be honest, ‘hearty peasant fare’ doesn’t always translate to the most Instagrammable plate.

As Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers so eloquently put it, ‘brown food is the enemy of the photographer.’ Therefore, I implore you, dear reader, to feast your eyes on the words, not the pictures, for this dish is a revelation

The cream sauce was glorious! Honestly, I could bathe in it. Furthermore, it worked perfectly with the veal, but I could see it gracing chicken, fish, and shellfish. In fact, I would have eaten it with just the potatoes and the broccoli, never mind the veal! To accompany the veal, I served steamed broccoli, a vibrant green counterpoint to the rich sauce, and Nigella’s divine Salt and Vinegar Potatoes, a perfect accompaniment. Finally, as the good Doctor Seuss might say, ‘I would eat this on a plane, I would eat this on a train, I would eat this in a box, I would eat this with a fox!

This is how eating this made me feel!

Veal In Cream Sauce – The Recipe

As a total aside, can I say how hard it is for me to type “Austria”? My fingers automatically move to “Australia”! I have had to correct this so many times in these posts! I, for one, will be glad when I hit the chapter on Belgium, so that I don’t have to keep correcting my spelling!

Have a great week!

19
Jan
2025

Pebbles on A Peruvian Beach

categories: 1970's recipes, 500 Recipes for Quick Meals, Cheese, Eggs, Potato, Recipe Fail, Recipe Revamp

Hello friends and retro food lovers! Remember back in your school days when you got marks/grades for effort? Alternatively, does the phrase “the soul was willing, but the heart was weak” resonate with you? Well, they will indicate how I feel about the recipe for Pebbles on The Beach, which I’ve renamed Pebbles on a Peruvian Beach.

I understand what they were trying to do here…it just didn’t work! This recipe was also an anomaly because, so far, everything else I’ve made from Marguerite Patten’s 500 Recipes for Quick Meals has been great! Remember the Sardine Toadstools? (It’s still my favourite thing from last year)!

Pebbles on The Beach – The Intent (I think)

So, I assume that in this recipe the tops of the eggs and the potatoes would poke out of the cheese sauce like pebbles on a beach! If pebbles were white and pink and the sea was a cheese sauce. So, even then, the analogy has problems. Pebbles on the moon? Pebbles in the desert? These may have been more accurate visual descriptions of this dish.

Pebbles on The Beach – The Actuality

Without it’s Peruvian flavour bomb, this dish was as bland as could be. Potatoes don’t have much flavour nor do eggs. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of these ingredients but even combined with a cheese sauce this was dull. My best description would be nursery or invalid food. It even looks dull without its garnish!

The second is that the recipe requires you to take eggs that are already hard-boiled and then cook them for another 20 minutes. Those eggs were rock-hard!

Oh!

Surely that was not why they called this dish pebbles?

The cure for the blandness was to serve the Pebbles on the beach with some Peruvian Salsa. We last saw this salsa paired with some Croquetas de Carne almost exactly two years ago, in January 2023.

The cure for the eggs? Maybe keep them raw and cook them in the cheese sauce? I don’t quite know how to fix that one. And, to be honest, it wasn’t tempting enough, even with the Peruvian Salsa to give it another go! Honestly, if you want a really good tasty combination of potatoes and eggs, then I would recommend Roseanne Cash’s Potato Salad over this any day of the week!

Oh well, you can’t win ’em all….here’s the recipe in case you have any bright ideas or want to feed a three-year-old or an invalid.

Have a great week!

22
Dec
2024

Eggs in Sour Cream

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Austria, Eggs, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, World Cooking

Guten Tag, friends! Today, we embark on a culinary journey through Europe, guided by the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. Our first stop? The enchanting land of Austria, where the hills will soon be alive with the delightful aromas of delicious food. We’re starting with a simple yet elegant dish: Eggs in Sour Cream.

As the holiday season approaches, life often becomes a whirlwind of activity. It’s during these hectic times that simple, comforting meals become invaluable. Eggs in Sour Cream is the perfect solution, providing a quick, easy, and delicious meal that requires minimal effort. This Austrian dish resembles the French Ouefs en Cocotte, both involving eggs baked in a creamy mixture.

I’ve loved Ouefs en Cocotte, ever since my aunt introduced me to them during my primary school years. Discovering this Austrian variation was a delightful surprise, offering both familiarity and novelty. The tangy sour cream and the light, creamy texture create a truly divine experience. The crunchy breadcrumb topping adds a delightful textural contrast, elevating the dish to new heights.

Paired with a fresh green salad, Eggs in Sour Cream make for a perfect lunch or supper. It’s quick, easy, and incredibly cost-effective, making it a win-win. Feel free to experiment with different herbs to suit your taste preferences.

This dish was a pure comfort, a tranquil oasis after a long, busy day. While I opted for a simple green salad to accompany the eggs, you can also serve it with roasted vegetables, crispy bacon, or a slice of crusty bread. The endless possibilities allow you to customize the dish to your liking.

So, let’s dive into the recipe and experience the magic of Eggs in Sour Cream for ourselves. This dish promises to warm your soul and satisfy your taste buds, making it a perfect addition to your culinary repertoire.

Eggs in Sour Cream – The Recipe

Happy cooking, friends! Have a great week!

Category: 1970’s recipes

Marillenkuchen – The Recipe

A Fun Fact About Austrian Apricots

The Original Recipe for Frankfurter Roka

My Changes To The Original and Why

Frankfurter Roka, Updated

Ingredients

Instructions

Veal In Cream Sauce – The Recipe

Pebbles on The Beach – The Intent (I think)

Pebbles on The Beach – The Actuality

Eggs in Sour Cream – The Recipe