Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

26
Dec
2021

Saratoga Torte

categories: 1980's Food, Australasia, Desserts

You may be thinking that the recipe for Saratoga Totre comes from the American chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. It does not. I found this recipe in the October 1986 issue of the Vogue Entertaining Guide I had never heard of Saratoga Torte and assumed it was an American dish. I was very surprised to learn that it is actually an Australian recipe. There is a small town called Saratoga on the Central Coast of New South Wales so it may have originated there.

Madelaine’s Saratoga Torte

Technically this recipe is called Madelaine’s Saratoga Torte however, as there is no mention of who Madelaine is or how her Saratoga Torte differs from anyone else’s, I am taking the liberty of dropping her name. The recipe comes from an article entitled “Anyone for Tennis?” focussing on mother and daughter entertainers Maria and Helena Law.

This is also the same edition of Vogue Entertaining that gave us this recipe for crumbed lamb cutlets.

Sao Biscuits

Sao (Say-O) biscuits are key to making Saratoga Torte. These are a savoury cracker biscuit that have been made by Arnott’s biscuits since 1906. Sao is possibly an acronym for Salvation Army Officer as one of the Arnott’s Brothers was indeed an officer in the Salvation Army.

If you are not in Australia and you want to make a Saratoga torte I would suggest substituting water crackers. However Sao’s are quite large so I would use double the number of water crackers.

Also, if you happen to be researching Sao biscuits stay away from any mentions of the soggy Sao. This is a practice apparently indulged in by groups of teenage boys. As with most things done by groups of teenage boys it is highly unsavoury.

You have been warned. Proceed down that path and anything that comes at you is on you. Which is potentially a very bad choice of words.

Let’s swiftly move on!

What is Saratoga Torte?

Imagine if you made a meringue mixture and you added crushed-up crackers and crumbled walnuts to the mixture. Then you baked that and topped it with whipped cream and flaked chocolate.

That, in essence is Saratoga Torte.

And it is delicious!!!

The nutty meringue with a little hit of salt every now and again from the crackers is so good! And the cream and little hints of chocolate are the perfect foil. A little hit of Amaretto or Frangelico in the cream would also not be entirely out of keeping.

This was a bit sweet, the next time I make this I will drop the sugar down to 3/4 of a cup and not a whole cup. The key to a lovely thick and glossy meringue is to add the sugar quite slowly and to make sure that each spoonful melts before you add the next one.

The Recipe – Saratoga Torte

Saratoga Torte is utterly delicious, very easy to make and also a little bit out of the ordinary. Why not make it as part of your New Year’s festivities?

Also, if anyone knows the origin of Saratoga torte or who Madelaine might be, please drop me a note in the comments!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

I’m on holiday from work so hope to have another post for you before the new year. Whatever you are up to, I hope you have a wonderful week!

19
Dec
2021

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

categories: Christmas, Dining With The Dame, Poirot, Pudding

Season’s Greetings crime readers and food lovers! Today we are reading the Poirot short story, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and eating that exact thing! This is the first time I have ever made plum or Christmas pudding. I chose this recipe, which comes from an October 1993 issue of Home Beautiful because it had apricots and no fruit peel in it. I further tweaked the recipe to remove the raisins and figs which I am not fond of and replaced them with dried strawberries and blueberries. The fruit was then soaked for two weeks in a combination of Pedro Ximenez sherry and brandy!!!

The Adventure of The Christmas Pudding – The Plot

As mentioned, this is a short story – it is only 44 pages in the edition that I read so it is something that can easily be read in around an hour. However, for such a short story there is a LOT going on!

We open with someone called Mr Jesamond, trying to persuade Poirot to take on a case. Poirot is not so keen.

Mr Jesamond interrupted “Christmas time,” he said, persuasively. “An old fashioned Christmas in the English countryside.”

Hercule Poirot shivered. The thought of the English countryside at this season of the year did not attract him…he had suffered too often in the historic country houses of England”

Eventually, Poirot agrees to take the case. A young potentate from an unnamed country has been visiting England to have some of the family jewels re-set by Cartier in order to give them to his bride to be. However, the young man, away from his conservative homeland, has done what young men away from their conservative homelands are wont to do. Even worse, he allowed his new lady friend to wear the family ruby one night. Needless to say, she and the ruby vanish.

In order to avoid a scandal, Poirot is called to visit Kings Lacey, home of the Lacey family to find the thief and the ruby!

We have:

Sarah, the granddaughter of the Lacey’s who has taken up with a bounder whom she has brought home for Christmas, along with his sister who is recovering from an operation and is confined to bed
Several mentions of the bounder’s tight black jeans! (Ooh Aggie!!!)
Someone sneaking about Poirot’s bedroom at night
Drugs in the coffee
Some delightful snarkiness about Poirot’s nightcap (sadly missing from the adaptation)
Something that is definitely not a sixpence in the Christmas pudding!

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding – The Covers

The covers here nearly all show a Christmas Pudding. I do like the one where Poirot’s hat takes the place of the pudding and I also very much like the one where the Creme Anglaise on the pudding takes on the skull and crossbones. There is a very stylish French cover, except you can’t tell because apparently there is no French translation for Christmas Pudding (hint, it is the black and yellow on).

There is also a Spanish cover that does Poirot no favours! I mean at no point do we ever hear that Poirot is particularly handsome but oof..too cruel, Spain, too cruel!

Unflattering depictions from Spain aside, I am saving my most, my worst level of scorn for the cover on the bottom right. I mean. WTAF unknown publisher? The book is called the Adventure of the Christmas Pudding not The Adventure of the Blueberry Layer Cake!!!

The Recipe – Christmas Pudding

On a silver dish the Christmas pudding resposed in its glory. A large football of a pudding, a piece of holly stuck in it like a triumpant flag and glorious flames of blue and red rising around it. There was a cheer and cries of “ooh – ah:.

Hercule Poirot merely surveyed the portion on his plate with a rather curious expression on his face. A result, no doubt of finding a cryptic note in his bedroom which had read,

“DON’T EAT NONE OF THE PLUM PUDDING.

– ONE WHO WISHES YOU WELL

Agatha Christie, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

Other Food Mentioned in The Adventure of The Christmas Pudding

For such a short story, there is a HEAP of food mentioned here:

Oyster Soup
Two turkeys – one boiled, one roast
Elvas Plums, Carlsbad Plums, almonds, raisins, crystallised fruit and ginger
Scones, crumpets, sandwiches and three kinds of cake
Tea
Hard Sauce
Brandy
Mince Pies
Christmas dessert
Christmas cake
Cold supper
Chestnut Stuffing
Eggs and bacon (ALWAYS)
Coffee
A tisane

We usually have brandy butter and custard with our Christmas pudding but this year I am going to give hard sauce a go! It sounds delicious!

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding is not much of a mystery. It is very obvious who the wrong ‘un is. Having said that, it is an absolutely delightful and charming Christmas story so well worth a read! It is one of the few Poirot adaptations that is not available on Youtube but the Audiobook, which is read by Hugh Fraser who plays Hastings in the series is available.

Dear friends, I hope Santa brings you everything you want and you have a merry, happy and safe holiday season!

12
Dec
2021

A Man’s Barbecued Chicken?

categories: 1970's recipes, Chicken, Chicken & Poultry, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, United States of America

When I first saw the recipe for A Man’s Barbecued Chicken, I assumed it was so called because it had a hefty slug of booze, most likely Bourbon, in the barbecue sauce. Because God forbid that the women of 1973 were getting sozzled on Maker’s Mark while cooking chicken. Then I read the recipe and there is no alcohol at all in it. So that theory went down the gurgler. I am actually baffled as to why this would specifically be a man’s barbecued chicken.

This was really delicious. I particularly liked the sauce. I find a lot of barbecue sauces far too sweet for my palate but this had a lovely balance of sweet and sour. The recipe does contain that mysterious ingredient “piquant table sauce” which a couple of readers have suggested will likely be A1 steak sauce. I still don’t have any of that so I used Worchestershire Sauce.

I used skin-on thigh cutlets instead of quarter chickens and tomato passata instead of the tomato juice in the recipe.

The sauce really did become finger-licking good! Hmmm…Is that why it’s A Man’s Barbecued Chicken? Maybe the women of the 1970’s didn’t lick their fingers?

The method of cooking the chicken was weird, you put it in the dish skin side down for the first half an hour then turned it over. The chicken stayed very moist – I am not sure if that was this method of cooking or the frequent basting with the sauce that did that but either way, it worked!!!

I served this with a very simple potato and watercress salad and some of the additional sauce on the side. Corn would also be a great accompaniment as would a green salad.

A Man’s Barbecued Chicken – The Recipe

We here at Retro Food for Modern Times believe that one of the joys of food is the sharing of it with our friends and fam. So, today we are changing the game on A Man’s Barbecue Chicken by changing the name.

Cook it, eat it with people you love, or share it with strangers. Either way, you and everyone else who eats it will be happier, even just for a few sticky-fingered moments.

Have a great week!

And if you have any insight into the original name, drop me a note in the comments!

05
Dec
2021

Cabin Casserole

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meat, United States of America

The very name Cabin Casserole conjures up something hearty and comforting. Something the Ingalls family might have eaten on Little House on The Prairie. And the recipe for Cabin Casserole from the American Chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery did not disappoint. For my readers in the Northern Hemisphere who are heading into winter and who are looking for an easy tasty meal, this one needs to go onto your rotation list ASAP.

What is Cabin Casserole?

Cabin Casserole is layered tomato and onions with bacon and chops that have been sprinkled with curry powder and salt. I used lamb chops for my casserole but pork chops would also work. Also, don’t stint on the salt. I only used a little salt because I thought the bacon would bring enough but I had to add salt at the end. Having said that, for a recipe with so few ingredients, this is really tasty!

I also did not use dripping to fry my chops, I fried the bacon first then used the bacon fat to fry the chops.

I served my cabin casserole with little potatoes wrapped in Proscuitto and a sage leaf and some grilled zucchini with feta cheese. The Cabin Casserole would be super with mashed potatoes!

Little House on The Prairie – The Lost Cabin Casserole Episode

Further to my mention of Little House on the Prairie, I can almost imagine the episode which would be called “Give them curry, Laura”. The Olesen’s start selling the very exotic ingredient of curry powder in the Mercantile. Nellie teases Laura that her family is too poor to ever even taste it. A fight ensues a little like this one. Just substitute “Your pa’s too poor to buy curry powder” instead of smelling like a horse.

Laura is required to go to the Mercantile and apologise to Nellie. She also has to help out in the store for a week. We see in a store work montage that she works very hard and is so polite to the customers that through the week she makes a little tip here and there.

At the end of the week, she has enough money to buy herself some candy or maybe a toy. Instead, she asks for some curry powder which she takes home and gives to Ma.

That night the Ingalls family feast on Cabin Casserole.

The moral of the story is that hard work and not giving someone curry is the key to getting curry.

Here’s the recipe

Have a wonderful week!

28
Nov
2021

The BLT – An American Classic?

categories: Bacon, Classic Recipes, Sandwiches, United States of America

I was very surprised recently to learn that what I thought was a quintessentially American sandwich was actually British in origin!!! Taste Atlas says that the BLT first appeared in British cookbooks in the 1920’s but that it only gained popularity in the U.S.A in the post-war period. It further surprised me to learn that the BLT was, in 2019 ranked as the UK’s favourite sandwich but only came in 6th in the United States!

I guess though, for anyone who is new to Earth…first, hi, welcome, glad you found me! Second, BLT stands for bacon, lettuce, tomato being the three key ingredients of this sandwich.

I LOVE a BLT and it’s avocado-ey cousin the BLAT.

I was hoping to find a classic BLT in the American chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. Not that I need an excuse to make one. However, I was simultaneously delighted and horrified to see their idea of a BLT. Here’s their recipe:

The GHWC BLT – The Pros

You will notice that Good Housekeeping calls it a Bacon, Tomato and Lettuce Sandwich. Which if you look at my picture above is actually my preferred way of layering. I don’t understand why you would go to the bother of getting nice bread and toasting it, only to have the tomato making it all soggy and gross half way through eating it.

My preferred version – from the top-down: toasted bread, bacon, tomato, lettuce mayo, toasted bread. So, thank you Good Housekeeping for getting the order correct!

An potato chips and pickles on the side are always a good idea!

I am ambivalent about whether or not you have a double or single decker BLT. I do think though that the second piece of bread requires either another condiment or another dab of mayonnaise. My preferred option is some Dijon Mustard.

I made my BLT on holiday and we only had some very hefty olive sourdough which normally would not be my choice for a BLT. This was a very heavy bread so double decking my sandwich was not an option – the bread would have overpowered everything. (The olives did make a tasty, if not traditional, alternative!).

The GHWC BLT – The Con

In the words of Amy Winehouse, what kind of fuckery is this?

Who puts processed cheese on their BLT?

You may as well just take a dump on it.

A little bit of Brie, some vintage cheddar? I”m here for it.

Processed cheese?

A Few BLT Questions For You

Do you love a BLT? Or do you prefer a BTL?

Double or Single Decker?

What’s your preferred bread?

Iceberg or fancy lettuce?

What degree of crisp of the bacon? I like my bacon so crisp it is snappable!

Mustard?

Avocado?

Other additions? (If you say processed cheese, you’re dead to me)

Is the BLT the best sandwich ever? Or only the 6th best?

If not your number one, what is better?

Leave your answers in the comments!!!

Have a great week!