The Wages of Sin

I've got one more post about the recipes in The Perfection Stove Company's cook book and that has to do with this section on recipes for sick people and invalids. I know there was a time when people believed that sickness was the consequence of sin. Well, this would be the purgatory: eating gruel and beef tea.

Reading the recipe, I can see that beef tea is really just a beef broth but something about the idea of meat "tea" gives me the willies. I'm not sure what soaking the meat in cold water is in aid of. At first, I was afraid that it was going to be meat sun tea: put the raw meat in there awhile, take it out, and then boil the water. Mmmmm, meat tea.

Beef Tea
Secure 1 lb. steak from top of round; wipe, cut in pieces, removing fat, and soak 15 minutes in 1 pint of cold water. Put meat and water in a glass fruit jar and cover jar. Place in a kettle of cold water, allow water to heat slowly, then cook for 3 hours. Strain, season, and heat again before serving.


I assume the tea is a nice beverage with the arrowroot gruel listed above it.

Arrowroot Gruel

Use 1 t arrowroot to each half cup of boiling water. Mix with cold water to make a thin paste, adding a bit of salt; then add boiling water and cook 10 minutes. Cream or milk may be added if desired.

Arrowroot? The one thing on the planet with less taste than cornstarch, for when you can't even keep your own spit down. Oh wait, let's make it even more like spit by mixing it with cream or milk so it's slimey. There, now you don't have to go to the trouble of puking; it's already in the bowl.

300 Ways to Serve Eggs

Culinary Arts Institute, 1940

"Eggs have always been popular as food but it is only in recent years, since biochemists and nutritionists have presented us with the results of their careful and thorough research, that we are fully awake to the fact that eggs are an indispensable food. We know now, that they carry in their golden hearts every food element the human body needs and especially vitamin D which occurs so rarely in our everyday foods. Our only problem is to eat enough of them.

For the mother of growing children as well as for the hostess there is the need of acquiring enough really toothsome [bring back that word toothsome!] and attractive ways to serve eggs so that the total quantity is a actually increased.

Many think of eggs entirely in terms of breakfast or possibly as a substitute for meat at luncheon. [Bring back luncheon as well. When did we get so busy that we couldn't even take a proper break to say the whole word, much less leave our desks to eat it.] The least thorough paging through this book will prove to the alert homemaker [but not those who've already had their morning martini] that she may use eggs as the theme of any course from appetizers to dessert and add to those the between-meal beverages. "

So how to get people to eat more eggs?

The direct approach:

Eggs with Black Butter
8 fried eggs
5 T butter
4 t sherry
Remove eggs from pan to hot platter. Place butter in pan and heat until browned but not burned. Add sherry and pour over eggs.

The frightening way:

Egg Noodle Ring
1/4 lb noodles
3/4 c cream
3 eggs, slightly beaten
fine dry bread crumbs

Cook noodles in boiling salted water. Drain; add cream and eggs. Butter a ring mold and dust with crumbs. Pour noodles mixture into a mold and set in pan of hot water. Bake in moderate oven (350) for 45 minutes. Unmold on hot platter and fill center with creamed eggs, creamed fish, or fowl. Serves 6.

The I-have-to-try-this-cuz-I-love-the-soft-creaminess-of-a-poached-egg way, and it gives me options, I like options:

Poached Eggs on Potato Cakes
4 large potatoes
2 T butter
2 T grated cheese
salt and pepper
fat for frying
2 onions, sliced
3 tomatoes, sliced
6 poached eggs

Pare and boil potatoes until tender. Mash, add butter, cheese, salt and pepper. Shape into flate cakes and fry in hot fat. Prepare a sauce by browning onions in fat and adding the tomatoes; simmer slowly for twenty minutes. Cover fried potato cakes with sauce and top each with a poached egg. Serves 6. Use 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes and 2 cups minced cooked ham. Omit tomato sauce and serve with horseradish sauce. Use corned beef hash for patties instead of potatoes.

The stealthy ninja way:

Chocolate Eggnog
1 egg, beaten
1 T sugar or honey
salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 t vanilla
2 T chocolate syrup
Combine egg with sugar and salt. add milk and vanilla. Serve cold in tall glasses. Top with whipped cream and grated chocolate. For a fluffy eggnog, separate egg, beat white until stiff then fold into egg yolk mixture. May be served hot or cold. For one.

The only-a-ninja-would-be-brave-enough-to-drink-that way:

Egg Lemonade
1 egg, beaten
3 T lemon juice
3 T sugar
1 T crushed fruit (pineapples, peaches, or berries)
2/3 c plain or carbonated water

Combine chilled ingredients and shake or beat thoroughly. For one.

the All-Family Drink

When I was very young there was always an emergency bottle of 7-Up in the fridge. My mother had certain sovereign remedies for things: 7-Up for stomach flu and any digestive discomfort, Noxema on all skin conditions, liberal applications of Vicks and flannel for lung conditions. Consequently I have always associated the taste of 7-Up with vomiting.

I have heard from others that I’m not alone in this. Perhaps they were unfortunate enough to have a mother who read this little brochure of ideas and decided to try:

"Mix chilled 7-Up and cold milk in equal parts by pouring 7-Up gently into the milk. Do not stir. The addition of 7-Up gives the milk (white or chocolate) a new flavor appeal especially pleasing to children."

The fact that it didn’t curdle is only proof of how very little lemon/lime is actually in it.

This advertising brochure has tons of other recipes in it that basically involve switching 7-Up for the water in pie crust, jello, cake mixes, etc. Then there's the ones about basting various meats in 7-Up or soaking fruit in it. Fair enough. I can see how adding carbonation to a cake mix might make a lighter angel food cake. Might be worth trying. And thanks, don't really need to hang onto this "cookbook" to be able to do that. However the previous owner found the need to mark this recipe for future reference:

 Who doesn’t know how to pour a bottle of 7-Up over sherbert to make punch?

Actually there are a few real recipes in here. I adore cheese blintzes so this one might be worth a try:

2 cups ready-mix for pancakes

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups 7-Up

2 T melted butter

Combine eggs and 7-Up. Add to pancake mix, stir lightly and fold in butter. Cook like regular pancakes on a griddle. Fill with cottage cheese, roll, and top with strawberry preserves and powdered sugar.

Maybe this weekend, with a bottle of 7-Up on the side, because "more and more women are serving 7-Up with food..."[italics in the original] as opposed to over the toilet bowl. Though it does say 7-Up is at home anywhere!

Why is the guy behind them doing a 'gun finger' with his left hand? Is this a painting bomb?