Eggs and biscuits

Sometimes one acquires leftover odd ingredients from an experiment that isn’t likely to be repeated. In my case, it’s a box of sugar cubes leftover from building a replica of the Washington monument for a 5^th grade project. (Used a sander to shape the sides--powdered sugar flying everywhere. It was sure fun getting that tower glued to wobbly poster board into the building. Ever notice that when your kids have a project, YOU have a project? We got an A on that one.) 

So it’s been awhile, and I still haven’t had enough ladies over for afternoon tea to put a dent in it, and sugar doesn’t go bad, does it? So I think I’ll be trying this recipe from the Glenwood Cook Book, 1933. Maybe for an evening snack tonight with some caffeine-free tea. 

Orange biscuits

2 cups flour

4 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 T shortening

1 T grated orange rind

3/4 cups cold water

orange juice and cube sugar

Sift dry ingredients, work in shortening and add grated orange rind moistened with 3/4 c water. Roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into biscuits. On half the rounds place a cube of sugar which has been moistened with orange juice. Cover the sugar with another round of dough and press together gently. Spread the tops with powdered sugar slightly moistened with orange juice, sprinkle a fine grating of orange rind over them and bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Here’s another recipe from the same cook book I want to try. I do essentially the same thing with shrimp and feta cheese in place of the eggs and American. That with some nice crusty homemade rosemary bread to sop it up with. Hmmm, maybe that would be good tonight too. Could sneak some zucchini into it.

Spanish Eggs

2 T salad oil

1 onion

1 green pepper

2 c tomatoes

1 t sugar

1 T Worcestershire sauce

4 T dry bread crumbs

American cheese

1 t salt

Put oil into saucepan and in it sauté, until golden brown, the onion and pepper, finely chopped. Then add tomatoes and bring to boiling point. Add remaining ingredients and cook until onion is soft. Pour into an oiled shallow baking dish, and break into it as many eggs as desired. Season eggs. Cover with grated cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Here it is: with summer squash added to the vegetable saute, and feta instead of American cheese.

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.

Italian paste

I never ate the paste in kindergarten. But I will admit that there was something about those squat little jars with the stick in the orange lid (that was actually worthless for spreading the paste) that always warranted a deep lingering sniff. I also love the smell of crayons. Perhaps my paste-eating compatriots were merely confused by growing up in a home with recipes like the following:

ITALIAN PASTES (from Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, 1918, vol 1)

To produce the Italian pastes, the wheat, from which the bran has been removed, is ground into flour. This flour is made into a stiff dough, which is rolled into sheets and forced over rods, usually of metal, or made into a mass and forced over rods, and allowed to dry in the air. When sufficiently dry, the rods are removed, leaving slender tubes, or sticks, that have holes through the center. Because of the manufacturing processes involved in the production of these foods for

market, they are higher in price than some cereals, but their value lies in the fact that they are practically imperishable and are easily prepared and digested.

MACARONI WITH EGGS.--Since macaroni is high in protein, it takes the place of meat in whatever form it is served, but when it is prepared with eggs it becomes an unusually good meat substitute. Therefore, when eggs are added as in the following recipe, no meat should be served in the same meal.

MACARONI WITH EGGS

(Sufficient to Serve Six)

1 c. macaroni

2 qt. boiling water

2 tsp. salt

1-1/2 c. milk

2 Tb. butter

2 Tb. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

4 hard-boiled eggs

1/4 c. crumbs

Break the macaroni into inch lengths, add it to the salted boiling water, and cook it until it is tender. To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, salt, and pepper, stir until smooth, and gradually add the milk, which must be hot, stirring rapidly so that no lumps form. Cook the cream sauce until it thickens. When the macaroni is tender, drain it and arrange a layer on the bottom of a baking dish, with a layer of sliced, hard-boiled eggs on top. Fill the dish with alternate layers of macaroni and eggs, pour the sauce over all, and sprinkle the crumbs over the top. Then place the dish in the oven and bake the food until the crumbs are brown. Serve hot.

My mother: "I think that in the past, food really didn't have much flavor."

Eggs of Doom

All I wanted was a simple sunny side up egg. I worked late, came home, and warmed up some casserole in a bowl for dinner. All I wanted was a simple egg to top it off. I cracked an egg over the top of the leftovers and gently poked a hole in the yolk to release steam, nuked it, and took it out of the microwave when the white was just cooked and the yolk was still gooey. It looked perfect. All I wanted was a comforting egg. I ground some pepper on top and went to put a fork in the bowl before carrying it into the other room to eat.

The second I stuck the fork in, the egg exploded. I mean a BANG that brought everyone else in the house running to the kitchen and sprayed me, the cabinets, and even the ceiling with my dinner. I was so stunned it took a few seconds for me to realize that I had boiling yolk glued to my face. The second degree burns across my upper eyelid would have been a much worse prospect had the yolk landed one centimeter lower.

Apparently, the steam vent had not stayed open. Now before you say, duh, know that I had been using this following recipe for many years without incident when I wanted a quick cozy breakfast. While it isn’t old enough to be ‘vintage’ for the purposes of this blog, I’m going to include it as one that is definitely retired. I’ve never made it since the day the eggs fought back. Try it at your own peril.

Eggs in a Basket

1 slice toast

1 egg

1 slice cheese

Salt and pepper

With a small glass, remove a 2 ½ inch circle from the center of the toast. Break and egg and slip into the center of toast. Pierce yolk three times with a toothpick. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover with wax paper and cook on medium one minute or til white is almost set. Place cheese on top and cook 30-45 seconds til melted. 

Come to think of it, I do have a pair of safety goggles now...

Milk Toast

Whenever I got sick when I was very little, my mom would try to feed me milk toast. My refusal to eat it had nothing to do with disease and lack of appetite and everything to do with yeeeechh! As I recall milk toast was simply that: plain toast with milk poured over it to make it mushy, maybe with a little butter or sugar, but generally just mush. My 1940 copy of The Hamilton Ross Modern Cook Book by Camille Den Dooven has a recipe for milk toast that involves making a white sauce instead.

Milk Toast
2 cups milk
2 T butter
2 T bread flour
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
Add enough milk to the flour to make a thin smooth running paste. Bring the rest of the milk and sugar to a boil; when boiling, add the flour, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened, then add the salt and butter and cook for about two minutes. Dip slices of toast in sauce and when soft remove to a serving dish. Serve with the remainder of the sauce poured all over.

Compare that to the next recipe in the book which is for French Milk Toast.
3 eggs
2 T sugar
1/4 t salt
1 cup milk
Beat the eggs with a whip, add salt, sugar, and milk; then strain in a flat dish. Cut six slices of stale sandwich bread, soak the bread in the mixture until soft, and bake on a well greased hot griddle, or in a frying pan, until nice and brown, then turn the bread on the other side and brown again, and serve. This may be served with a sauce for a dessert course.

Sounds like French Milk Toast would be plain ol' French Toast these days. This helpful book also has a recipe for Buttered Toast (Cut a slice of bread, remove the crust, toast on each side, butter it.) and Bran Flakes a la Reine (Place some bran in a dish, slice a banana on top, sprinkle with sugar, add milk: I'm summarizing here.)