Retro Food For Modern Times - Yesterdays Recipes, Cooked Today

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!

13
Sep
2020

Chocolate Coconut Truffles

categories: Chocolate, Classic Recipes, Sweets

I was in dire need of comfort food this week. And not just any sort of comfort food – I was after the kind of comfort tthat only chocolate and condensed milk can give! It was definitely time to make Chocolate Coconut Truffles!

These little babies are a stalwart of the school fete or bake sale because they are not only delicious but have only four ingredients and are incredibly easy to make! Now that’s a win – win – win! It really is a marvel how anything with just four very simple ingredients can taste this good! Mind you, they are a pretty good four ingredients.

The love of condensed milk runs deep in my family. I have been known to eat it off a spoon directly out of the tin. The biggest lover of condensed milk in my family was my grandfather. When he passed his bar exam, his parents were, of course delighted and said that he could have anything he wanted as a present. They were thinking trip abroad, motorbike or some other big-ticket item. Papa thought long and hard and then asked if he could have a can condensed milk all to himself.

Isn’t that just the sweetest (no pun intended) thing you have ever heard? All that sugar didn’t hurt him either. He went on to be a Supreme court Judge in Sri Lanka and in his spare time discovered a species of fish.

Sweet Treats For a Sh*tty Week

Why I was in need of chocolately, coconutty comfort food this week? At the moment, we are allowed outside of our houses for one hour each day for exercise. One measly hour. So, during one of these hours, I was walking through the local park with the fussiest eater in the world and the dogs. All of a sudden I felt the most terrible pain in my head. I was being attacked by a wasp!!!! The worst thing, apart from the blinding pain, was that it got all tangled up in my hair so the FEITW couldn’t even get it away from me for AGES during which it just kept stinging me!!!

Then, on top of that I had an episode where I couldn’t breathe – might have been the mask I was wearing, might have been a panic attack, might have been a result of the sting as I have had allergic reactions to bee stings before.

All up, it was an incredibly painful and terrifying experience. I had to go straight to the doctor and I am still taking medication to bring the swelling down and have had raging headaches, bouts of sleeplessnes, and dizziness.

I told one of my friends this tale and after the requisite sympathy she said “There you are minding your own biz and something comes out of the blue and totally f*cks everything up. If that isn’t a perfect metaphor for this year, I don’t know what is. It would only be better if it stung you in the arse” I think she has a point.

The point of both of these stories is that sometimes, the simple things are all we need to bring us joy.

And wasps are arseholes.

Here’s the recipe!

Chocolate Coconut Truffles

Print Recipe

A tasty treat that is simple to make and delicious to eat! Perfect for a bad day or an emergency bake sale!

Author: Taryn Nicole
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 20 1x

Ingredients

Scale

250g plain biscuits. I used Morning Coffee but any plain biscuit will do.
395g can of condensed milk
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 tbsp cocoa
Extra coconut for rolling

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Crush the biscuits into crumbs
Combine all ingredients except the additional coconut into a bowl and mix together.
Roll mixture into walnut-sized balls.
Roll balls in extra coconut.
Place in fridge for half an hour to firm.
Enjoy!

Notes

The mixture will not stick to your hands if they are damp when you are rolling the truffles into balls.

Have a great week friends and bee safe!!!!

PS. This probably comes close to what I looked like in the park as I was being stung!

via Imgflip

08
Sep
2020

London Peculiar

categories: Great Name, Soup

I love food that has an evocative (or just plain weird) name. So, when I found myself with a large ham hock in my freezer and some green split peas in the pantry, London Peculiar was top of my list of things to make! Who wouldn’t want to eat London Peculiar rather than plain old pea and ham soup?

London Peculiar, (aka London Particular) takes its name from the thick “pea-soup” fogs that used to cover London. You would think that these noxious swirling greeny grey fogs were a thing of the long distant past. Surely they were from the times of Dickens and Jack the Ripper? Not so! There was actually a “fog event” as late as 1952!

The 1952 Fog

The fog in ’52 was so dense and so intrusive that the opera La Traviata had to be stopped because people at the back could not see the stage! Even if they could, the actors and other audience members were coughing so much no one could hear anything over the noise. On the Isle of Dogs, the fog was so thick, people could not see their own feet!

12, 000 people died from the fog, which was full of toxic chemicals.

Just like today, (but more eerie because of the fog), the people of London took to wearing masks to protect themselves. Then, as now, wise advice was to stay home when you can and wear a mask if you couldn’t!

And of course, when times get tough, there is nothing like a warm bowl of soup to soothe the soul! There is an old Jewish proverb that says “Worries go down better with soup than without”. So true!

Soup is cheap to make, quick to reheat, and usually fairly healthy. It is great working from home lunch food but also perfect for a cold winter evening. It is also a great way to hide veggies if we have little people or even big people, who don’t love their greens! Watch the salt in this one though, ham hocks can be quite salty so I would not add more salt until you had tasted the soup to check.

London Peculiar – The Recipe

I found my recipe for London Peculiar in the July 2010 edition of Delicious Magazine. You can find that same recipe here.

PS The amazing pictures of London in 1952 and the factoids I used came from here and here. These are both amazing articles that are worth reading in full too.

Stay safe and stay peculiar friends!!!

And enjoy Shirley Bassey singing about history repeating!

03
Sep
2020

Chicken Salad Pie – Pieathalon 7

categories: 1960's recipes, Bad Retro Food, Chicken, Cook A Long, Pie, Pieathalon

Hello friends and pie eaters!!! Welcome to Pieathalon 7 – that very special time of year when bloggers from all over the world get together and celebrate the weird and wonderful world of vintage pies. And oh boy did it get weird this year! Surly over from at Vintage Recipe Cards sent me a hybrid concoction which much like my detested chocolate cheesecake takes two things that separately are wonderful and combines them into a Franken-monster Chicken Salad Pie!

Are you ready, are you ready for this? Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

Glorious is it not?

Before we even get to the eating of it, let me tell you that Chicken Salad Pie was an absolute BASTARD of a thing to make! Even before that though, let’s start with possibly the only positive to come out of this which is the perfect late ’60’s styling of the original recipe! Perfection! I want that leaf plate so, so much. And those gold glasses!

So, you’ll notice that my pies are a lot more round that those in the recipe. Let me tell you why.

Chicken Salad Pie: Hours 1-3

I finished work at around 6 and started cooking. Given that I now mostly work from the dining table, I probably started making the Chicken Salad Pie at around…6:01. Put the chicken on to poach. Start cutting the pastry into the right size of rounds. Oh, yeah, did I mention I was doing this on the Tuesday night before we posted today?

6:30: Everything on track. The chicken was poached and was cooling. The pastry had been blind-baked and was also cooling.

6:45 The broth, salad dressing, onion, lemon juice and salt were in the bowl waiting for the pimentos. Oh. That’s right. We don’t have pimentos here. So, in order to get pimentos, I bought a jar of stuffed olives and picked them out of the olives using a kitchen skewer.

How long does it take to pick out a peck of pickled pimentos?

Too damn long.

Especially if you eat half the olives you are meant to be picking.

7:15: Pimentos were picked. Gelatine was added. Mixture was beaten and left to chill.

8:15: Has the mixture thickened? I don’t think it’s thickened. Better give it another half hour.

8:45: The mixture has definitely not thickened.

8:50: Research what do to if gelatine does not set.

Chicken Salad Pie: Hours 3-6

9:00. Tip the mixture into a saucepan and heat it. Add more gelatin.

9:20: Place mixture back into the fridge. Wonder why you chose this week of all weeks to be alcohol-free.

9:45: Mixture shows no sign of thickening. But it was warm so it will probably take longer right?

10:15 Still not thickening. Realise you have not had dinner. Eat some olives.

10:45 It’s like water. Pour runny gelatine back into the saucepan.

11:15 Add more gelatine to the rewarmed mixture. Have a glass of wine. This is not the week to quit drinking.

11:30 Put the mixture back into the fridge. Curse the non-specificity of vintage recipes. How much gelatine was in an envelope of gelatine in 1968? And how does that translate to spoonfuls which is how I am measuring mine. Wonder why you leave everything to the last minute. Vow to change. Eat more olives.

Midnight: The mixture is thickening!!!! REEEEE-SULT! Add the chicken and celery

12:15: Still thickening but still too runny to pour into the pie shells. Because as they keep telling you on The Great British Bake-off, no one likes a soggy bottom! Decide to pour the mixture into teacups, allow it to set inside them and turn them out ~~the following day~~….later that same day.

CHICKEN SALAD PIE – THE VERDICT

Cutting into the chicken salad pie was reminiscent of cutting into that jellied loaf style of dog food which was a real hurdle to overcome when tasting it. I did have a tiny bit and it wasn’t….awful. It tasted and smelled mostly of the dressing. But the association with dogfood was enough to prevent me from eating any more.

So in summary, no sleep, no dinner and a pie that looked like Pedigree Chum. It was certainly no winner, winner chicken dinner. I can’t even feed it to the dogs, who would love it due to the onions! This one, sadly, is going straight into the trash.

Pieathalon 7

Thanks as ever to Yinzerella for organising Pieathalon 7! You’re the best!

Thanks / Curses to Surly for the recipe. It was very fun to make despite it taking forever and being the closest thing to dogfood I have ever eaten.

I really hope Wendy from A Day In The Life on The Farm fared better with my recipe for Cherry Blossom Pie!

To see how Wendy went and to check out all the other pies, please click on the links below. If they are not all up at the time of posting, I will update during the course of the day.

Yinzerella from Dinner is Served 1972 made a Betty Crocker Sombrero Pie. Ole!
Camilla went on a culinary adventure with a Lattice Pineapple Pie
Dr Bobb cooked an Empenada Pescado? Marisco? Mariscada? Something like that anyway!
Kelly from The Velveteen Lounge whipped up a Chocolate Mint and Prune Pie. Fresh breath and healthy bowels!
SS from A Book Of Cookrye made a honey of a Honey Fruit Pie
Batterburg Belle from Kitchen Confidence treated us to a Sour Cream Apricot Pie. Sounds delish!
Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers celebrated with a Party Pink Pie.
Surly from Vintage Recipe Cards made a Crumb Pie. It would be crumby of me not to wish her well. Even though she sent me dogfood pie.
Kari from the The Nostalgic cook made Lemon Pie Reliable. I hope it was Kari!
Poppy Crocker from Grannie Panties made Avocado Lime Pie. I’m there for it!
Judy from the Book Club Cookbook made Pumpkin Pie with a Secret. But don’t tell anyone!
Greg from Recipes4Rebels made an Apple Crumb Pie. Let’s hope it was (red) delicious

Okay friends, stay safe and most importantly…eat pie!

30
Aug
2020

Mother in Law’s Tongues

categories: Baking, Crackers, Great Name, Italy

I was finally able to find some yeast ! After maybe four months, there were packets of yeast on the supermarket shelves last week Don’t hate me for buying two packets – I have MONTHS of baking projects to catch up on, Starting with these delicious crackers called Mother in Law’s Tongues!

These crackers get their name because Mother in Law’s Tongues are said to be very long. All the better for the malicious gossiping! Called Lingue di Suocera in their native Italy, they are a great addition to any snack plate. t was so delicious!!!!

These crackers are great! Even the fussiest eater in the world was impressed. “These taste like something you’d buy in a fancy shop” was the exact comment.

They are a bit fiddly as you have to roll out the dough as thin as possible but I think these are worth taking a little extra time on. They have a lovely “snap” to them and are the perfect carrier for other flavours such as pesto, burrata, guac, hummus…

As you may have noticed, these are not crackers for the perfectionist. Each one is different in their size, shape, rise and colour. Personally, I love the variety and think it makes for a more interesting snack plate but if you are one of those people that wants everything just so…these may not be the one for you!

Mother in Law’s Tongues – The Recipe

Huge disclaimer here! This recipe was in my folder of copied and cut out recipes. There was, however, no notation as to where they originally came from for me to give proper credit. I have googled to no avail. However, if you are the writer of this recipe, or know who was, please let me know and I can give proper credit where it is due!

You can also play around with the flavours on the crackers themselves – I made poppy seed, sesame seed, nigella, black pepper and parmesan, and sea salt but could see the flavour combos being extended almost indefinitely depending on your preference or what you intend serving them with. I’m thinking you could do a lovely swirl of pesto through the dough if you were going to serve with Joe’s burrata. Or maybe some dukkah for hummus. Chilli flakes and lemon zest for guac? One word of caution though – I found the plain salt ones to be a little too salty for my taste but that my own fault for sprinkling too liberally. Next time I make these I am going to do an everything bagel version which I think will be amazing!

Now, excuse, me, I have a snack plate to devour!

Have a great week and don’t stop talking about these crackers!