Good Housekeeping World Cookery Archives - Page 5 of 7

Category: Good Housekeeping World Cookery

25
Sep
2021

Melktert

categories: 1970's recipes, Africa, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Pastry, World Cooking

My recipe for Melktert comes from the South African chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery and it is a baked custard tart. It is called Melktert because the day before the recipe for the OG Milk Tart went to print, someone broke into the printing press and stole all bar one of the vowels.

Some people would tell you that it is a dish that originated in Holland and it kept the Dutch spelling when it came to South Africa. However, we at RFFMT prefer not to allow truth to get in the way of a good story. Besides the visual image of a never say die printer triumphantly adding e’s to where the i and a had been, humming a prototypical version of The Shamen’s 1992 hit Ebeneezer Goode as he did so was too good not to share.

I pondered whether in homage to the melktert, I should also write this post using the letter e as my only vowel.

That idea lasted all of about 5 seconds – I got as far as “Here. Melktert. Sweet” and gave up.

The Melktert was delicious! Just the right amount of sweetness and the almonds on top gave a nice crunch. There was a lot of the filling mix leftover so I think next time I make it I will try a deeper dish which would also mean there would be more of the slightly cinnamon-y custard which could only be s a good thing! The recipe does state a deep pie dish!

Melktert :The Recipe

That’s all folks, nothing much else to say except:

Melktert – Excellent? Yes!

Enjoy your weekend!

04
Apr
2021

Eggs Hamine

categories: 1970's recipes, Africa, Easter, Eggs, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, World Cooking

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it! At Maison de la retro foods, we are supplementing our chocolate eggs with some North African Hamine Eggs. These came to us via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. The book offers two versions of this recipe. There is the traditional way:

In Egypt there are special shops selling them; there, after the eggs have been cooked for 3 or 4 hours, they are put under the ashes of a fire and left for as long as 8 hours – this makes them as creamy as butter”

– Good Housekeeping World Cookery

Never mind the pyramids and the Sphinx. Get me over to Egypt pronto for some of those buttery eggs!!!

Eggs Hamine – The Recipe

The non-traditional version of these eggs is so easy!

Put the brown outside skins of some onions into a saucepan of ocld water with the eggs and boil for 2 hours or as long as possible. The onion skins turn the shells of the eggs and the whites brown. Shell and halve the eggs and serve hot or cold with lemon wedges, salt, pepper and mixed spices”

I cooked my eggs in the slow cooker for a full 8 hours.

Pre – Water

4 hours – One of the eggs cracked during the cooking but did not ooze out like they do when they crack during normal boiling.

Eight hours!

Note, if you decide to make these in your slow cooker, the onion skins will stain your slow cooker brown along with the eggs. Get ready to soak and scrub to remove it!

Eight hours and fifteen minutes!

I sprinkled my egg with some salt and some dukkah and dug in! It was delicious. There was a faint taste of something – not exactly onion but slightly savoury to the egg which was different to a normal boiled egg. I would not say that it was buttery but the white seemed more delicate than a normal boiled egg.

I was also very surprised to see that the onion skin dye had penetrated not only into the white which became a gorgeous soft caramel colour but also the yolk! This was startling because it is so strange to have a monochrome egg!

These were nice and an interesting experiment but for me, it was a long time to wait for a fancy boiled egg so I will probably not make them again. If I ever do get to Egypt though, I will be making a breakfast beeline for the Hamine Eggs shops!

Making these eggs might be a fun thing to do with kids for Easter or for a science project on osmosis.

Happy Easter everyone!

14
Mar
2021

Raiff of Cheese

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

Hello Globetrotters and food lovers! Given we can no longer travel in actuality I guess the next best is to travel virtually via our tastebuds. And today, we are turning the page in Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery to a whole new continent! And what better way to celebrate anything but with some cheesy pastries otherwise known as Raiff of Cheese!

So, where are we off to? Here’s a clue:

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation

Yes, my friends, we are going to be blessing the rains down in Africa for the next little while. And I, for one, am here for it! Africa is a real knowledge gap for me in terms of food. I have cooked tagines and couscous, I have eaten Doro Wat and Injera in an Ethiopian restaurant and I have read about Bunny Chow and Sosaties. But that’s pretty much it for what is a massive continent! So, this will be a journey of exploration for me. Not that I am expecting Good Housekeeping from 1972 to provide any 100% authentic recipes but I”m hoping it will be enough to give me a taste of African food!

These cheese pastries or Raiff of Cheese come from the North African section of World Cookery. I chose to cook these because they reminded me very much of the Cheese Pastries we love at our local Syrian restaurant. Believe me, I could sit and eat plate after plate of their Bourak B’jebneh! I was also inspired by the menu at Shaam to use haloumi as the cheese in my pastries.

Raiff of Cheese – Recipe and My Variations

I used bought filo pastry because life’s too short to make homemade filo. If you do want to do that, here’s a recipe and good luck to you! I do want to try to make my own haloumi one day though. I think it would have been nice (but maybe not very North African) to sub in some mozzarella for the haloumi to give the pastries some lovely melty cheesy stretchiness. Next time maybe!

Another little change I made to the recipe as given in GHWC was to add in a little sauteed leek and the very last of the chervil from my garden. This combination features in many of the other North African recipes and it just so happened that I had half a leek in the fridge. I had no idea that either of these were used so extensively in North African cooking. Like I said, journey of exploration!

Finally, to serve my cheese pastries, I added a little drizzle of pomegranate molasses – the sweet-sour of this being a perfect counterpoint to the salty haloumi and some toasted sesame seeds to add some nutty crunchiness. Any chutney or relish would be good with these.

I’m not sure how authentically North African these cheese pastries are but they were really tasty. And as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti I’ll be making these again!

Have a great week!

22
Dec
2020

Salami on a Sushi Platter?

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Fish, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Japan, Rice, Salami, World Cooking

Kon’nichiwa friends! Today we are making Sushi but not any old sushi. Today, I am using the recipe for O’Sushi contained in the Japanese chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). It’s mostly sushi as we know it with one notable exception. Yes, that is salami in the middle of the plate!

For this recipe, I wanted to put myself into the shoes of a housewife from 1972 who had never tasted or seen sushi before. So, for the purposes of this post, this is me, using my new-fangled microwave to zip up some delightful treats for the kids.

And later tonight when they are in bed I am going to make some fancy pants Japanese food for date night with the hubby because we like walking on the wild side. Just look at the massive pocket on my denim overalls dress. If that doesn’t scream living on the edge, I don’t know what does. Except for maybe my cork platform sandals.

O-Sushi The Recipe.

Boil some rice in the usual fashion. Prepare a sauce of vinegar, sugar and salt whilst it is cooking, using 2 tsps sugar to 1 tbsp vinegar.

How much salt Good Housekeeping? And what do you mean boil rice in the usual fashion? I’ve never boiled rice in my life. Good lord, step one and already I need to phone a friend?

Sheila? I’m making the sushi…su….shi…It’s Japanese. Only I don’t know how to boil rice or how much salt to add to the sauce? What do you mean my hair, face, clothes and kitchen seem different? I’m not interested in continuity I’m interested in salt and getting laid tonight! This is date night sushi Sheila so quit with the comments and help me with the rice…oh…ok…thanks.

The rice should be dried and cooled quickly and the juice is shaken over it whilst it cools.

WTF? Where am I supposed to get juice from? Oh…the vinegar sauce is the juice? Why did they suddenly decide to call it juice? And how quickly does this rice need to be dried and cooled? Maybe I’ll just pop it in the fridge and shake the juice / sauce over it from there? Will that work?

Ok, next step.

Form the rice into small flat rolls or cakes and garnish with any of the following: Boiled prawns

Smoked Salmon

Raw Fish

Tinned fish; Anchovy fillets; ham or any other cold meat thinly sliced;

A thin omelette seasoned with salt and sugar, edible seaweed, or any salad vegetable

Place the garnish on top of or around the rice cakes. Alternatively, cylindrical cakes can be made with a filling in the centre and and thin layer of egg, seaweed, etc around the outside.

Well, mercy sakes alive, it looks like I’ve just made proper some Japanese O’Sushi….I really hope hubby likes it!

The Following Day – The Sushi Wrap Up

Hello Sheila? I”m just calling to fill you in on date night last night. Yes, it went very well. The food was all very tasty but we both agree. Raw fish will never really catch on here…it’s just too out there for most people! The salami sushi though? That was the bomb! I can see people lining up in the streets for some of that! …. The sex? No, nothing, I caught a cold from standing in front of the open fridge for and hours and shaking juice on the rice and had to go to bed early.

Have a great week!

PS – For a real insight into the art of making sushi, watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

17
Sep
2020

Chinese Pancake Rolls

categories: 1970's recipes, China, Good Housekeeping World Cookery

Today I am sharing another recipe from the China chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. Pancake Rolls (aka Chun Guin) are a version of a Spring roll. Originally a pancake filled with fresh spring vegetables, Spring Rolls were a welcome change from the preserved foods that people had to eat during the long Chinese winter. Well, it is spring in Australia now so I thought why not celebrate the change of season with some traditional fare?

In retrospect, I should have celebrated by ordering some proper Spring rolls from The Imperial Garden because, to be honest, these weren’t great!

These were a lot of work – make the pancakes, make the filling, wrap and roll and then deep fry. It all took a good few hours and for not much payoff. I considered using spring roll wrappers for these but the recipe said pancakes, so I made pancakes. The problem was, the pancakes did not really crisp up enough during the frying process. And surely one of the delights of the spring / egg roll is that great crunch you get when you bite into that crispy pastry – just before the boiling hot contents ooze out into your mouth!

The filling was also disappointing. Something containing chicken*, crabmeat, mushrooms and leeks should be bursting with flavour. These really didn’t taste of much at all. *You will note the recipe calls for pork. I do not like the taste of pork so I subbed in some chicken. Maybe this accounts for the blandness?

Pancake Rolls – The Recipe

It’s here if you want it… but seriously there are better ways to spend your time! And that’s coming from someone living under one of the strictest coronavirus lockdowns in the world. All I have is time and I wouldn’t spend it making these again.

All was not entirely lost though. Some members of the household really enjoyed the leftover Pancake Rolls!

One great recipe from this chapter and one meh….do I call it a draw or make one more as a decider?

Decisions, decisions!!!

Have a great week!