Skilled Hands

I have a few vintage crochet booklets to go with my cook books. I love the delicate edgings, though when I make them they look rather industrial strength instead. I have a shoebox full of old doilies that I’ve picked up at garage sales over the years but I really don’t have a use for them. I’ve been told that my grandmother was quite the crocheter and I have two doilies that she made.

I suppose, given the astonishing capacity to pick up cat hair the brief time I had them out, I could use them to de-fur the furniture but that’s about it. My house will never be dainty enough for doilies. Still, when I see a bag of doilies, or embroidered pillowcases, or any of the handwork that occupied women in the past, I’m compelled to buy it. I like the connection to other women in other times, a connection strengthened by my own experience doing the same crafts. I know how much skill, care, and time they spent on these items and it pains me to see them practically given away as useless junk. Where are all the great women artists of the past? They were making everyday life beautiful, creating the ambience, the food, the comforts of home that we romanticize when we think of the past. They were busy even in the evenings with their workbasket beside them.

Here’s a copy of one of my Workbaskets: Home and Needlecraft for Pleasure and Profit. This issue if from August 1953, and the original owner, Mildred, made note of the recipe for stuffed peppers on the cover so she could find it easily. Must be tasty.

Stuffed peppers

½ lb. ground beef

½ lb. ground pork

1 small onion, chopped

1 quart tomato juice

1 or 2 eggs

3 T uncooked rice

Salt and pepper and paprika to taste

Select and clean 8 to 10 green peppers and stuff with above ingredients which have been mixed together. Place in covered pan, pouring one quart tomato juice over all. Cook slowly until peppers are tender and rice is done. Brown 4 T flour in about 2 T bacon drippings. Take peppers out of tomato juice and add juice and sufficient water for a gravy to the browned flour, stirring smooth. Season to taste. Replace peppers in gravy and serve.

The Workbasket says it pays $2 each for recipes for your family’s favorite dish published in these columns. Mrs. Orange C. Walker, Texas was $2 richer thanks to her peppers. You can insert your own Walker, Texas Ranger joke here.

There’s also a recipe in this section for jelly-based frosting that looks interesting. Aside from a ganache, I don’t think I’ve ever cooked frosting before but, based on my collection, that used to be the norm. Then came the rise of butter-cream. I wonder if there’s a food historian that earned their doctorate explaining the shift.

Jelly Frosting

½ c tart jelly

1 unbeaten egg white

Dash of salt

Place in a double boiler. Beat constantly with a rotary beater until jelly disappears. Remove from heat and continue beating until mixture stands in peaks. Makes a delicately sweet pastel frosting.

This once was sent in by Helen Parker, Massachusetts. $2 to her to buy more crochet thread.