Weekend Cooking: My Visit to The Chew and Daphne Oz's "Blow Your Mind" Baked Chicken Wings"

And now for something completely different on this blog:

This is actually the ticket they give you for your turn to enter the studio,
not my ticket to get in to see the show (I lost that)

On the the morning of April 5th, I went on an adventure. I hopped on the downtown then crosstown buses and arrived at the ABC studio on West 67th Street pretty early for a taping of The Chew. I work at home now and watch The Chew most days while I eat my lunch. And I've gotten some wonderful recipes from it. I should mention that even with a ticket, getting in is first come, first served, so if you ever go, get there early.

After standing on line outside for about an hour, we were led through the security check, and into a holding room where there were free water and chips for people, and, naturally, Chew merchandise to purchase. We sat there for a long time and I discovered that there are people who regularly attend tapings of all the NYC TV programs. And they even come from far away to do it.

On line to go into the studio

Eventually, we were led into the studio, and along the way, we passed tall storage cabinets that contain all the cooking and eating paraphernalia you would need in a kitchen, pantry, dining room, or backyard picnic. 

I sat off to the side (not in front of the tasting table), but in the front row. Surprisingly, it was very difficult to see much of where the chefs work because of all the cameras, even though it looks so clear on TV when they show the audience. And picture taking was very limited, none allowed when the stars are on the set, there wasn't much time between segments, and then they darkened the set in between taping, as you can see in the one below:  

When I was there, they were taping several "beginnings" and "endings" and nothing in-between. For the first taping, everyone was there - Mario Batali, Michael Symon, Clinton Kelly, Carla Hall, and Daphne Oz. Before they began, Daphne came and shook hands with everyone in the first rows, the others pretty much ignored the audience except for the people who were participating in segments - not cause they were being mean, but it was clear it was the only way to get things done in a timely way.

The whole time I sat there, there is someone telling you when to clap or laugh, how loudly or softly to do it, and who made all kinds of jokes in between segments - there was a lot of down time for us.  I can't remember all the segments we were the audience for - but Daphne was only in the first one. And I do know they are going to air in late June and early July. 

I left the studio around 2:30 PM and was home by 3:30. It was a lot of fun and part of my new plan to do things in NYC I never do because I live here and actually have an occasional Wednesday free - next up, the Circle Line.

We use a lot of the same recipes from The Chew over and over, and one of our very favorites is Daphne Oz's "Blow Your Mind" Baked Chicken Wings (I snuck three chicken legs into this batch that was made last Sunday and they were delicious):

"BLOW YOUR MIND" BAKED CHICKEN WINGS

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons coconut oil

3 garlic cloves (minced)

1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger

3 scallions (sliced, whites & greens separated)

1/4 Cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 Cup honey

2 limes (juiced)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons chili flakes

2 pounds chicken wings (separated at joint, tips removed)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

step-by-step directions

In a small bowl make a slurry by stirring together he cornstarch and a tablespoon of water. Set aside.

Heat a few tablespoons of coconut oil in a sauté pan. Toss in the garlic, ginger and scallion whites, cooking for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Stir in the soy sauce, honey, lime juice, sesame oil and chili flakes. Whisk in the cornstarch slurry and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes, until sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Season chicken wings with salt and pepper, place in a rimmed baking dish. and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and carefully pour the sauce over the wings. Return the dish to the oven for 20 minutes, or until wings are cooked through and sauce is sticky.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Garnish with reserved scallion greens.

Tip: The sauce can be made a few hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator.  

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. As always Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #29: Victory through M&M's - Happy 75th Anniversary

This year M&Ms turn 75 years old. And one of the things I always wondered about them was why, given all the American and British magazines I had to go through for my dissertation that were published during World War II, I never saw an ad for M&M's (and also, why M&M's had an apostrophe).

So when I walked into my local Walgreen's to pick up a prescription and was greeted with a large 75th anniversary display for M&M's, I decided to finally find the answers to my questions.

M&Ms are made by the Mars company, founded by Franklin Clarence Mars (1882-1934).  Frank contracted polio when he was young and, although he recovered somewhat, he stayed home with his mother, a woman who loved to bake.  To keep Frank busy, she taught him how to make candy.

Eventually he married, had a son, Forrest Mars, and got divorced.  Forrest was sent to Canada to live with his mother's parents.  Frank was beginning to be successful in the candy business, and founded a company called Mar-O-Bar that made a candy bar by the same name.  He didn't see his son Forrest years and by now Forrest was working as a traveling salesman.  He was arrested in Chicago for illegally posting ads on buildings, and his father came to bail him out of jail.

While sitting at a soda fountain and talking, Forrest suggested his father make a candy bar that tasted like the malted milk shakes they were drinking and the Milky Way was born.  Father and son began working together, and it didn't take long for them to become Mars Inc., and to begin producing Snickers and 3 Musketeers bars.

Frank died suddenly in 1934, while Forrest was in Europe with his wife and son trying to establish Mars Ltd there.  While in Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, he noticed soldiers eating small pieces of chocolate candy that didn't melt in their hands because they had a hard sugar shell coating. Once World War II began, he remembered those candies from Spain and decided to produce something similar.

In 1939, Forrest met with William Murrie, president of the Hershey Chocolate Company.  Forrest wanted Hershey to provide the chocolate for his new candy and agreed to call them M&M's - M for Mars and M for Murrie, and making the apostrophe a possessive one.  In 1940, M&M LTD was formed and began to produce their version of little chocolate candy pieces coated in a shell that wouldn't melt.

And it didn't take long for these candies to find their way into the soldier's C-Rations in a convenient cardboard tube. And they were quite a hit with the soldiers they were given to. During the war, the candy coating only came in brown, and they were only available to the military, which is why there were no magazine ads between 1939-1945.

M&M's may not be included in C-Rations anymore, but they do still support the military in different ways, as you can see in this 2005 ad:

Today, M&M's come in a variety of colors and kinds, represented by 6 lovable spokescandies.  

And even though they don't really melt in your mouth and not in your hands anymore, they still taste mighty fine. 

FYI: Most of my information Frank and Forrest Mars came from a book called The Mars Family: M&M Mars Candy Makers by Joanne Mattern.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. As always Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #28: When a war ends...or how I discovered the best peach cobbler ever

Most of us probably like to think that when a war ends the survivors go home and pick up their lives where they left off.  But of course, deep down we know that isn't how it happens. Soldiers come home wounded and often suffering from PTSD, families are torn apart, children are displaced and everyone must still deal with all kinds of loss, and, as you saw in The Seagoing Cowboy, people living in ravaged countries are starving.

After World War II ended, Americans were asked to revive their Victory and Community Gardens in order to help meet the needs of a post-war Europe and Asia.  As Henry Wallace told the National Victory Garden Conference in 1946 "...probably more persons will go hungry during the next four months than in any like period in the world's history."  By then, most Victory Gardens were no longer being used so the 18,500,000 gardeners who has gardened for war were a little surprised when the call went to for them to now garden for peace.   Did Americans rise to the challenge?  You bet they did.

The Christian Science Monitor, March 29, 1946

Besides asking Americans to revive their Victory Gardens, President Truman also called for the production of Emergency Flour.  The idea was to conserve wheat making more of it available to Europe.  What that meant was that all-purpose flour would now contain more bran and wheat germ, both of which are normally not found in flour.  Because Emergency Flour didn't behave the same way all-purpose flour did when used for baking, companies began to put out recipes that were tailored to it:

I've tried these two recipes, though not with Emergency Flour, and they were OK, but my favorite, my absolute favorite is the 1946 Better Homes and Gardens recipe for Crusty Peach Cobbler.  I love Peach Cobbler so much, I started canning my own peaches so I could have it year round.  I found the recipe over at a blog I read called Retro Recipe Attempts and I have been using it ever since.  

As you can see, it has a nice thick biscuity or crusty top layer, which I really love.    

Crusty Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

6 cups fresh peaches (about 3 pounds), peeled, stoned, and thickly sliced

1/2 cup sugar

Grated zest of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons pure almond extract

Biscuit Dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/2 cup milk, plus additional drops, if necessary

1 large egg

2 tablespoons sugar, for sprinkling (I don't do this, I don't like the biscuit to taste sweet)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400º.  Arrange the fruit in a greased shallow 9-by-13-inch rectangular baking dish or 10- to 12-inch oval ceramic gratin dish. Toss with the sugar, zest, lemon juice, and almond extract.

Place the fruit in the hot oven 10 minutes while preparing the shortcake.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a medium mixing bowl.  Cut in the cold butter with a fork or electric mixer until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Make a well in the center and add the milk and egg, mixing until just evenly moistened; do not over mix (I use a Danish dough whisk, one of my favorite tools, for this).  Working quickly, drop the dough by large tablespoons over the hot peaches so that the edges do not touch the sides of the dish and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Immediately return to oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool at least 15 minutes to serve hot, or cool to room temperature and reheat to warm. 

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. As always Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #27: Remembering Marguerite Patten

Marguerite Patten 1915-2015

I haven't written a Weekend Cooking post in a while, but this week, while I was reading the NY Times the other day, I came across a familiar face in the Obituary section.  It was a photo of Marguerite Patten, the lady who taught Britain how to cook despite rationing in WWII (and you may recall, rationing lasted there until 1954).  Marguerite passed away on June 4, 2015, at age 99 years.  I discovered Marguerite long before I started blogging, and during my first year of blogging, I did a post about her and some of her recipes.  I thought I would repost it today in homage to all that she accomplished with food when there was very little of it to be had.

From March 6, 2011:

Weekend Cooking #5: We’ll Eat Again: A Collection of Recipes from the War Years by Marguerite Patten – Dropped Scones

Talk about celebrity chefs - Marguerite Patten was a celebrity chef as early as World War II, long before the term was even coined.  During the war, Marguerite worked for the British Ministry of Food, where her job was to teach housewives how to making good meals despite rationing. In 1944, she began working on a radio program for the BBC called Kitchen Front. To date, Marguerite has written over 170 cookbooks, has been honored by the Queen and, at 95 years of age, she is still (relatively) going strong.

Next to Welsh Cakes, scones were my favorite tea food, much better than the bread and butter tea we usually had. My dad worked in the Museum of Natural History and he came home around 4 every afternoon. As kids, we were required to be home than for tea, unless we has something related to school to do. It was my favorite time of day, and a ritual I never gave up. So today I have drop scone recipes. These come from Marguerite’s book We’ll East Again, published in association with the Imperial War Museum and can be found on page 84 of that book.

Drop Scones aka Scottish Pancakes (as it was written)

Sift 4 oz. plain flour with 2 level teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Add 1 tbsp dried egg powder then beat in 1 pint milk and 2 tbsp water.

Grease and heat a heavy frying pan, electric solid hotplate or griddle. To test if the right heat, drop on a teaspoon of batter, this should turn a golden brown on the bottom in 1 minute. Put the mixture in tablespoons on to the plate and leave until the top surface is covered with bubbles then turn and cook on the second side. The scones are cooked when quite firm.

Potato Drop Scones (this one sounds like something my dad may with leftover mashed potatoes on Mondays)

Rub 2 oz mashed potato into 4 oz flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Make into a stiff batter with half a beaten egg and ¼ pint milk. Allow to stand for a time. Sift in the small teaspoon of cream of tartar and a small level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and ½ oz sugar just before cooking. Cook in spoonfuls – as for Drop Scones – on a greased griddle or in a heavy frying pan. Serve with a little hot jam.

Coffee Potato Scones (this one sounds intriguing)

Sift 6 oz plain flour, 2 level teaspoon baking powder and ½ tsp salt into a basin. Mix thoroughly with 4 oz mashed potato. Rub in 2 oz fat with the tips of the fingers. Blend to a soft dough with ½ teacup strong, milky, sweetened coffee. Roll out to ½ inch thickness on a floured board and cut into rounds. Glaze the tips with a little milk. Bake on greased baking sheets in a hot over for 15 minutes.

I still make drop scones for tea, but I have to confess, I use Bisquick for them. Apparently the Queen likes them too. I found this bit in a 1965 book review from the New York Times. The review was for a book by Dwight D. Eisenhower called Waging Peace: 1956-1961.

For more on Marguerite Patten see
MailOnline
The Sunday Times
Celebrity Chefs

In 2007, Marguerite received a Lifetime Achievement Award and you can was it here:

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. As always Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #26: Victory through Sheila's Pickles

I reviewed this week called Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff, in which the protagonist's German-born grandfather grew cucumbers in his Victory Garden every year during World War II and then he would pickle them.  This was something a lot of people did then, who, unlike this grandfather, only did it during the war.

I was telling my friend Sheila about it because she also makes pickles.  Her pickles, however, are bread and butter pickles.  She calls them Christmas Pickles because they are green and have some red in them and because she gives them out to people at Christmas.   Everyone else calls them Sheila's Pickles and she has developed quite a fan base over time, so that every year she finds she must make more and more jars of pickles.

And yet, making Sheila's Pickles is not difficult and she has volunteered her recipe for anyone who wants to try their hand at it.

Sheila's Bread and Butter Christmas Pickles

1 gallon small firm cucumbers (about 35 firm kirbys or small firm zucchini, or a combination*)
2 red peppers
8 small white onions
1/2 cup pickling or kosher salt

For the Pickling Syrup:

5 cups of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon celery seed
2 tablespoons mustard seed
5 cups white vinegar

1- Select crisp, fresh cukes or kirbys.  Wash, but do not pare.
2- Slice cukes or kirbys and onions paper thin and cut peppers into fine shreds.**
3- Mix salt with the vegetables and bury pieces of cracked ice in the mixture.
4- Cover with an inverted weighted lid (so the salt and ice pushes as much moisture out of the vegetables as possible) and let stand for three hours.  Drain thoroughly.

5- Mix the dry ingredients with the vinegar and pour over vegetables.  Place over low hear and paddle occasionally with a wooden spoon.
6- Heat the mixture to scalding, but do not boil.
7- Pour in hot sterilized jar and seal.
8- Process the jars in a water bath for at least 10 minutes

Makes 7 to 8 pints

*Sheila uses small firs kirbys and I think they are better than either small cucumber or zucchini, but that would be a matter of taste.

**a mandolin makes slicing the cukes or kirbys much easier and faster.

If you have never done a water bath for preserving food, here is a short video that tells you how to do it.  You really don't need all the equipment they show, but it is nice.  For year, Sheila did her water bath in a large pasta pot.

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #25: My Chocolate Year: a novel with 12 recipes by Charlotte Herman

There was just no way a chocoholic such a myself could pass on reading a book called My Chocolate Year.  And I am glad I did.

It is September 1945, the war is over and Dorrie Meyers is starting fifth grade.  And the best part is that her best friend Sunny Shapiro is in her class and their teacher is the very popular Miss Fitzgerald.  Popular because each year, Miss Fitzgerald has a Sweet Semester, in which each student thinks up a dessert to make, writes an essay about it and in January they all bring in their entries and a prize goes out to one winner dessert and one winning essay.

Dorrie loves chocolate passionately and is very excited about Sweet Semester, except for one problem - she has no idea how to make anything, let alone a prize winning dessert.  And this year is a special Sweet Semester because not only will family members be invited, but the winners will also get their pictures in the Chicago Daily News.  In addition, since there are now so many orphans in Europe as a result of the war, the class will has a donation jar set up to collect money to send to a charity which cares for the orphans.

The subject of orphans soon hits home for Dorrie.  Her grandparents had all migrated to America, but there were still relatives who had remained in Lithuania.  No one knew what happened to them after war.  Since they were Jewish the worst was feared and Dorrie's mother has been making inquires to find them.  Then, one November morning, good news arrives.  Victor Dubin, son of Dorrie's Aunt Mina and Uncle Joseph and grandson of Dorrie's Bubbie, was found living in a Displaced Persons camp.  No sooner found, than arrangements begin to be made to bring Victor to America.  Sadly, no other family members survived.

Victor, now an orphan, and orphan jar in school get Dorrie to thinking about the Margaret O'Brien and the movie Journey for Margaret, about a young girl orphaned during the London Blitz.  How, Dorrie wonders, did she play such a convincing orphan?  So she writes a letter to the actress to ask.

Meanwhile, Dorrie and Sunny experiment with different possibilities for Sweet Semester.  The first idea, Chocolate Covered Gum, dissolves into a chocolaty mess.  Their chocolate  covered nuts and raisins clusters taste delicious, but was that all chocolate in them?  Oh, and when you add flour to brownies using the electric mixer, it is much easier if you turn the mixer off.

It is really beginning to look like Dorrie isn't going to win that Sweet Semester competition despite the fact that  both her mother and Buddie are excellent bakers.  She just doesn't seem to have a natural instinct for baking.  She really needs a miracle...could that miracle come in the form of both real and movie orphans?

This is a lovely story about the strength and importance of family.  It is told in Dorrie's voice and even though it is not written as a diary, it reads like on.  The book follows the year though all the Jewish holidays, starting with Rosh Hashanah and Dorrie explains the story and Jewish customs for celebrating each holiday for the benefit of readers who may not be familiar with them.  She also talks about the war and it's effect on her family, and when Victor comes, we hear his story in detail, but not so much detail that it would be too much for the targeted age of intended readers.  This is a book, after all, that is written for kids who are beginning to learn about the Holocaust.

Now, the 12 recipes.  Not all are real recipes, but some are and they are made from scratch.  My 10 year old budding chef liked that idea, since she is a cooking purist.  We actually make Dorrie's Sweet Semester entry, which was so good that when I went to take a picture, they were all gone.  Lesson learned - don't leave good tasting stuff unattended with kids in the house and without telling them hands off.  

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #24: Victory through the Ministry of Food: Christmas Pudding

After my dad immigrated from Wales to the US, there were two things my dad always asked my mom to make at Christmastime that represented home for him.  One was a mince pie which he couldn't get enough of, and the other was a nice Christmas Pudding, or pud as he always called it.  I probably haven't had a Christmas pud since my dad passed away, but even though I never really developed a taste for it, I still miss it at the holidays.  In fact, I miss all the steamed puddings my mom used to make for us, but, alas, I never felt very drawn to making any myself.

So I found myself pleasantly surprised when I was going through my Food Facts file for my first post on Victory Through the Ministry of Food prompted by my review of The FitzOsbornes at Way by Michelle Cooper, to find that I had saved a number of saved articles on Christmas puds.  

My favorite is the gay Ministry of Food leaflet for a Christmas Pudding from 1945.   The war had officially ended in September1945, but rationing was still in effect.  However, by Christmas, some things were finally more plentiful and so the Ministry of Food published this leaflet especially for that first peacetime Christmas to help make the holidays somewhat nicer than they had been for the past six years.  

Ingredients that had been missing in wartime Christmas Puddings were back in.  No more grated raw potato in lieu of breadcrumbs, no more grated raw carrot instead of the usual amount of dried fruit and finally there was some more spices, real sugar and even some rum.  Unfortunately, orange marmalade was still being used in place of dried citrus peel, but things were definitely looking up

.  

December 1945 Food Facts Leaflet No. 284

But despite the appearance of improved conditions, Christmas 1945 wasn't quite what it could have been. Granted the blackout was over and bombs were no longer being dropped, but promised shipments of foods failed to meet expectations.  According the news reports, of the three shiploads of oranges that were due to arrive, only one ship made it to port and most of the oranges were bad.  Christmas turkeys, which couldn't be stuffed anyway, were available, but mostly on the black market at outrageous prices.  Shipments of wine and alcohol also didn't come through.  But large gifts of toys, plum puddings and sweets were sent to Britain from Australia, South America and South Africa, so that Christmas 1945 was not without some treats.

And of course, the biggest and best Christmas present of all that year was the end of the war.  

To everyone, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #23: Victory through Cranberries

I was telling a friend of my about a 1941 ad I found in which Ocean Spray had offered a red plastic turkey shaped cranberry cutter that could be gotten with only a label and a dime.  She started laughing heartily.  Her grandmother had apparently sent in the required label and dime, and had received her cranberry cutter.  Many years later, the cutter had been passed on to her mother and it became my friend's job every Thanksgiving to cut out the cranberry turkeys - year after year.

Back in 1941, it must have seemed like kind of a fun, festive addition to the traditional Thanksgiving table.  No one suspected that in a very short time America would be drawn into the war that was already being fought in most of the world after being attacked.

With the country had been at war for a while and things were scarce.  In 1942, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was cancelled for the first time.  Turkeys and all the trimmings were scarce and places at the table left empty by family members serving their country were filled with other members of the armed services invited to share a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner.  But while tables at home may not had had the kind of abundance they had in previous years,    overseas the troops did have a full Thanksgiving dinner, no matter where they were.  And with women off working in factories and munitions plants, often there was no one home to make the dinner.

Amazingly, despite shortages, the cranberry turkey cutter was offered again in 1943, but this time with a difference.  Metal was needed for the war effort, so the familiar cranberry can was replaced with a glass jar, but not just any glass jar.  By now, Ocean Spray, like every other company in the US,  had caught Victory fever and so its new glass jar was a victory glass jar, with the same cranberry contents as before, but also with many reuses.

But with things getting scarcer and scarcer amazingly enough, cranberries were still available, but now at a much higher price than the year before.  And, of course, with war plants again staying open on Thanksgiving, many woman many women were either working or just didn't have the time or energy to make a Thanksgiving dinner.

By 1944, the food that make up a traditional Thanksgiving dinner were really

in short supply, with cranberries being the scarcest.

But, in1945 Americans were celebrating their first peaceful Thanksgiving and the cranberries were abundant, the turkeys were plump and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was back.

 

Nevertheless, some nice cranberry recipes were still being offered to cooks during the war.  I found this one in a 1943 article about Thanksgiving dinner in New York Times and I am planning on trying it this year.

Spiced Cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 two-inch sticks cinnamon
1 teaspoon whole cloves
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Grated rind of one lemon
4 cups fresh cranberries

Combine the sugar, water, spices, lemon juice and rind, and boil together
for five minutes.  Add the cranberries and cook slowly, without stirring, till
all the skins pop open.  Chill thoroughly before serving.
(Makes one quart)

During the war, the Red Cross did a lot to help not just servicemen and women, but also refugee children and their families, those left homeless from bombings and prisoners of war.  Thanksgiving 2012 will be a difficult time for so many who lost everything in Hurricane Sandy.  While you are giving thanks for your blessings, please remember those who are not so fortunate at the moment.  If you feel like you want to help, you can text REDCROSS at 90999 to make a $10.00 donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief.

And I hope everyone has a happy, cranberry-filled Thanksgiving.

Weekend cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #22: Victotry through the Ministry of Food

This week I reviewed The FitzOsbornes at War by Michelle Cooper and it prompted me to revisit one of my old Weekend Cooking posts, Victory through Carrots.  You see, in this book, Sophie FitzOsborne, 18, get a job in London with the Ministry of Food as a way of doing her bit for the war.  I really chuckled to myself when I came to Sophie's journal entry for 23rd November 1939 and read:

"...my department is in charge of Food Education.  It's our job to inform housewives how to cook a week's worth of meals with only four ounces of butter and twelve ounces of sugar, and to convince the British public that turnips and carrots and brown bread are far more delicious (and patriotic) than steak and bananas and chocolate cake.  There is still debate about how we are to achieve these seeming impossible goals, but the plan is that there will be official "Food Facts" articles printed in the newspapers..."

I had just finished doing some work on the Ministry of Food and, as you can see, Food Facts did indeed begin showing in newspapers all over Britain in 1940.  The idea was to help women feel that they, too, were doing their bit for the war by being part of the "Kitchen Front"while feeding their families healthy, nutritious meals despite rationing, which lasted in Britain for 14 years.

Times of London September 5, 1940

Times of London November 18, 1940

Naturally, root vegetables like carrots, potatoes and parsnips factored heavily into the Kitchen Front because they could be easily planted in allotments, on top of Anderson Shelters and even in small tubs.  And they were never rationed because there always seemed to a good root vegetable crop.

A woman waters her garden on top of her Anderson Shelter

In 2010, the Imperial War Museum, London, has an exhibition devoted to the Ministry of Food.  Below is a short video by James Taylor talking about the role of the Ministry in World War II.

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #21: Victory through Doughnuts

I read this 1944 book called Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl last week.  It's a novel about a young woman who joins the Red Cross Canteen Corps in World War II in her hometown.  It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it did get me to thinking about how the Red Cross is always there for people whenever and wherever they are needed.

And they were certainly there in World War II providing the men and women in the Armed Forces with so many of the things they needed.  For example...

No sooner had the US entered the war and American soldiers were unfortunately sometimes taken prisoner.  In 1942, the Red Cross vowed to send one care package per week to every American POW.  In the first year of the war, they actually shipped out more that 1,000,000 care packages to the POWs.

That same year, the Red Cross collected over 1,000,000pints of blood and were asked if they could collect at least 4,000,000 in 1943.  I have no doubt they succeeded.

in the US, and later in Britain, the Red Cross opened and maintained clubs where soldiers could go to relax, have some refreshments, play some games, dance a little and chat with other soldiers and the volunteers.  These same volunteers would faithfully meet troop trains with coffee, sandwiches and doughnuts whenever they stopped at a railway station.

Clubs were so successful, that in 1942, the Red Cross introduced the clubmobile, a mobile canteen, for the servicemen and women stationed in Britain and coffee and doughnuts were always available.

Clubmobiles were important and very welcome throughout the war, especially at the front.  In fact, by July 1944, shortly after the Normandy Invasion, there were already 16 clubmobiles right on the beachhead serving coffee and doughnuts to tired, weary servicemen and plans for more.

Not surprisingly, by October 1944, there were a total of 84 clubmibiles close to the front lines, serving an average of 100,000 cups of coffee and 150,000 doughnuts every day.  The women volunteers who ran these clubs had to sleep in bedrolls underneath their vehicles at night.   

So, were the doughnuts really so good or was it the company that made them taste that way?  Now you can be the judge...

Red Cross Doughnuts

1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/4    tsp    baking soda
1/4    tsp    salt
1/4    tsp    butter or substitute, melted
1/4    tsp    ginger
1/4    cup   molasses
1/4/   cup   sour milk (buttermilk)
1       egg   well beaten

Combine half of the flour with the soda, salt and ginger.
Combine the egg, molasses, sour milk and melted butter or substitute.
Blend with flour mixture and stir until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
Add remaining flour to make dough of sufficient to be rolled.
Roll, on floured board, to thickness of 1/4 inch.
Cut with a donut cutter.
Fry in deep hot fat (360 degrees) until lightly browned, about 2 03 three minutes.
Drain on brown paper.

This recipe came from the online American Red Cross Museum, which you may want to visit to learn more about what the Red Cross did in WWII.  And just in case these doughnuts put you in a party mood, there are also detailed instructions for having a Red Cross Canteen Party.

And Better Late Than Never...
On May 23, 2012, the Senate passed Resolution 471 "commending the efforts of the women of the American Red Cross Clubmobiles for exemplary service during the Second World War."

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

   

Weekend Cooking #20: What You Might Like to Serve on the Occasion of Your Diamond Jubilee

This coming Tuesday, June 5, 2012, is the official day for celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 60 years as the Queen of England.   She has led an long, interesting life as Queen, wife, mother and grandmother, but before all that, she was just Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York, later King George VI, and his wife Elizabeth.

Being a queen is a pretty big deal, being a queen for 60 years is an even bigger deal, but did you know that Queen Elizabeth is the only head of state who served in uniform during World War II and is still living?

Princess Elizabeth was only 13 when World War II broke out in September, 1939.  Beginning in 1940, she and her sister, Margaret Rose, lived at Windsor Castle, 30 miles from London, for the duration.  It is kind of hard to be a princess and live an ordinary life, but they did what they could. At the tender age of 14, the future heir to the throne gave her first public speech on BBC's Children's Hour program, which was broadcast to the children who had been evacuated overseas (you can listed to it here)

Elizabeth had already joined the Girl Guides at age 11, and continued with guiding during the war, earning badges, camping, knitting socks and rolling bandages and just doing her bit for the war. At 16 she became a Sea Ranger, the branch of guides for girls with a strong naval interest.  Then, in 1945, at age 18, Elizabeth joined the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) and trained to be a driver and mechanic, even learning how to repair heavy vehicles.

In 1953, now married and the mother of two children, the 25 year old Princess became Queen Elizabeth in the first  coronation to be broadcast on television to the world.

Left to Right: 1942 as a Girl Guide; learning first aid; victory gardening with Margaret Rose; 1943 as a sea ranger; 1945 learning to change a tire in the ATS

So what does a princess eat when she becomes a queen, with the whole world watching and wartime rationing still in effect? What else, but Coronation Chicken.  So I looked up the original recipe and decided to give it a try.  And it was absolutely delicious


Coronation Chicken (as created by Constance Spry in 1953)

Ingredients:
1 x 5 lb. chicken, poached.  (I used 5 lbs of boneless chicken breasts)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion
1tbsp curry paste (I increased the amount of curry I used)
1tbsp tomato puree
4 oz. red wine
1 bay leaf
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 canned apricot halves (I used 3 fresh apricots)
1/2 pint mayonnaise
4 oz. whipping cream
Salt and pepper
Watercress, to garnish

1- Remove the skin from the chicken and cut into small pieces.  Place under the grill and cook until golden brown.  Allow to cool.

I actually just poached the boneless chicken breast in cream in the over and skipped the grilling step.

2- Meantime, finely chop the onion.  Heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan and add the onion.  Cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes, until the union is soft and translucent.  Add the curry paste, tomato puree, red wine, bay leaf and lemon juice to the onion.

3- Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until reduced.  Strain the contents and set aside to cool.

4- Finely chop the apricot halves and puree them through a sieve or in a blender.  Place in a bowl and mix in the mayonnaise.  Add the cooled sauce and mix well.

5- Whip the cream to stiff peaks and fold this into the mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.

6- Fold in the grilled (poached) chicken, making sure all the pieces are well coated.

7- Garnish with watercress.

Serves 8

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Weekend Cooking #19: Victory through Colman's Mustard and The Three Mustardeers

When I was growing up, we always had Colman's Mustard on the table.  It was always the dry kind that had to be mixed up in order to use it.  And it went on everything.  So, naturally, when I struck out on my own, I continued to use Colman's Mustard because sometimes the apple just doesn't fall that far from the tree.

Funny thing, though, the other day I was going through some old girl's magazines looking for something completely unrelated to mustard, when I came across an ad that I knew was there but never really paid attention to.  Turns out, it was a very short story involving three kids - Jim, Mary and Roger.  They were The Three Mustardeers, who solved crimes and at the end of the story there was a plug for Colman's Mustard.   The magazines I own were published during the war, so, as one might expect, there were new war related stories every month.

I tried to find out more information on this advertising campaign involving this crime-fighting trio, The Three Mustardeers, but found nothing.  I do know that besides the Girl's Own Paper, these ads appeared in other children's publications, like the Boy's Own Paper and The Children's Newspaper and they continued for a while after the war.

There was always a central villain, The Man with the Twisted Finger, who managed to get away each month, just as the The Three Mustardeers exposed his latest attempt to help the Führer defeat England.

I have included three stories below to give you an idea of what they were like, but first some Colman's trivia:

1928 The Mustard Club advertisement 

In the 1926, Dorothy Sayers was working in advertising and created an advertising campaign for Colman's Mustard called The Mustard Club, which became immensely popular for a while.  And yes, a similar campaign showed in Murder Must Advertise for Whifflets Cigarettes and tells his friend "It'll be the biggest advertising stunt since The Mustard Club."

Apparently, Dorothy was also responsible for creating a Colman's Mustard slogan that went "Come on, Colman's, light my fire."

And if you are ever in Norwich, England, be sure to visit the Colman's Mustard Shop and Museum.

Now, some adventures of The Three Mustardeers:

GOP May 1943

GOP November 1943

GOP December 1943

Now, I want a nice corned beef on rye with lots of mustard - Colman's, of course!

Weekend Cooking, one of my favorite memes, is hosted weekly by Beth Fish Reads.