recipes Archives - Page 57 of 58

Pizza Chicken, Mrs. William Strieber

March 30, 2015January 13, 2019

Well let me preface this with some (ugh) personal facts.

I live with this fellow burgersub. He is allergic to chicken.

That is weird, right?

But I made this recipe as a family meal so I got some fake chicken patties and went for it, ‘his and hers.’

So anyway, Maryland is all like ‘crabs oysters blah blah blah’…

But in truth, as of the last century, Maryland has distinguished itself with a robust poultry industry.

(It may be that same poultry industry had an effect on our once-famous seafood industry…)

Up until this year, the big public event of the MAryland (and DELaware, and VirginiA) poultry industry was the annual Delmarva Chicken festival.

According to the source:

“The National Chicken Cooking Contest was the first of the big national food contests having been started in 1949. Delmarva poultry industry people originated it as a highlight for the Delmarva Chicken Festival that year. It was devised as a replacement for a then ensuing national contest to develop a better breed of chicken.

In the early years, participants were just from the tri-state area. Later, the entire northeast.. became involved. Now, interest in the Contest has expanded until it has become an important chicken promotion for all broiler producing areas throughout the United States.”

“Pizza Chicken” represented Maryland in the 1971 cooking contest, whose winners by state were published in the annual booklet of recipes (also containing prize-winning recipes from previous contests.)

According to the bio of contestant Mrs. William R. Strieber aka Shirley, she “cooks to please her family” and combined their loves of pizza and chicken. Shirley is not a Maryland native; she was from Iowa, her husband a vet with the USDA. “Hobbies include cooking, reading, bicycling, gardening and bird-watching.” I wrote a letter to Shirley in AZ but she passed away on March 21, 2015. She was 88 years old.

This is 1971 but the booklet still has a pretty strong mid-century vibe. For the most part the cooks are self-described home-makers, although there are a few men and teens as well.

The pizza craze is reflected in a handful of other recipes, as is a lot of pineapple for “exotic appeal,” and a lot of smothering chicken in some special sauce and baking it.

Shirley did not take home the first prize – that honor went to Norma Young of Arkansas.

Norma Young, Baltimore Sun Photo. I am sorry I can’t buy these but YOU can!

Still, the all-expenses-paid trip to Ocean City and the thrill of competition in an era before the bevy of miserable competitive cooking shows had to be a memorable experience.

Shirley Strieber, Baltimore Sun Photo

Somewhere between 1950 and 1971, the requirement to use some Mazola Corn Oil was added. I used some other kind of oil.. I also used chicken breasts because a broiler-fryer seemed like a messy hassle to eat.

Recipe:

1 chicken, broiler-fryer
1 Teaspoon salt
.125 Teaspoon black pepper
.25 Cup Mazola corn oil
10.5 oz pizza sauce
1/3 Cup water
2 Tablespoon grated Parmesan Cheese
1 medium onion, sliced
1 green pepper, cut into rings
4 thin slices Mozzarella cheese

Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet; add chicken and cook until brown on all sides. Place browned chicken in a medium shallow baking pan (about 13 x 9 x 2 inches). Combine pizza sauce, water and Parmesan cheese; pour over chicken. Add onion and green pepper rings. Cover and bake in 350°F (moderate) oven 45 minutes. Remove cover and place cheese slices on top. Return to oven for 15 minutes or until chicken is tender and cheese is melted. Makes 4 servings.

2014 was the last ever Delmarva Chicken Festival, but we will soon revisit the festival, their super-large gigantic frying pan, the booklets of chicken recipes, and other winners including a beloved Baltimore character.

Until then let us gaze upon fellow 1971 contestant Beverly Chiles, who represented her home state in cooking as well as in hairdo.

Cheddar Chowder, Mrs. Janet Gadd Doehler

March 16, 2015January 13, 2019

First Published in 1962 by The Episcopal Church Women of St. Paul’s Parrish in Queen Anne’s County, this spiral bound cookbook is of a type I come across frequently – the church or fund-raiser “community” cookbook. Usually spiral-bound, printed by various specialty companies, and containing home-grown illustrations if you’re lucky, these volumes are a great resource of recipes of ordinary people throughout several decades of the 20th century. They are also a huge source of frustration to a completist such as myself.

This recipe was contributed to “Queen Anne Goes to the Kitchen” by a Mrs. Janet Gadd Doehler. Mrs. Doehler resided on the historical Sidney Gadd farm in Centreville Maryland, described in this Maryland Historical Trust document as “a very plain mid-19th century three bay; two and one half story frame building. It is unusual for that date in that the original kitchen was in the basement where there is a cooking fireplace.”
It seems possible that Janet is still alive – google turns up an award winning gardener in that general area and a ‘Janet and Sydney Gadd Doehler’ as supporters of Adkins Arboretum, also in that general area. I feel remiss that I did not get in touch with her – when working with newer recipes I sometimes forget that the involved parties may still be available.

Sidney Gadd Farm, Maryland Historical Trust

The first thing that most culinary historians will encounter in the older “receipt” collections or cooking texts is the lack of instructions by modern standards. “Cook it ’til it’s done,” is sometimes the extent of it. As cookbooks progress on to modernity, recipes get more and more informative. Yet even here we see examples of assuming a basic knowledge of cooking skills. “Make a white sauce with margarine, flour, and milk” is part of the instructions.

I used what I had on hand, substituting shallot for onion and cooked thick bacon for ham. Pretty liberal I guess. I also used butter instead of margarine because I don’t F around with the latter. I guess I ought to go post an angry review about how it didn’t turn out.
Actually it turned out tasty and hearty. In fact, using what you have on hand is often an accurate way to get in the spirit of older recipes. I also used stock instead of boiling water because I have to keep the constant kitchen scraps stock cycle going infinitely.∞

2 Cups boiling water or stock
2 Cups diced potato
.5 Cup sliced carrot
1 Cup celery
.5 Cup chopped onion
1.5 Teaspoons salt
.25 Teaspoons black pepper
.25 Cup butter
.25 Cup flour
2 Cups milk
2 Cups shredded Cheddar cheese
.125 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Cup cubed, cooked ham

Add water to vegetables, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Do not drain. Make a white sauce with butter, flour, and milk. Add cheese and soda; stir until melted. Cool the stock and vegetables to lukewarm. (Be sure vegetables are not hot. If cream sauce is added to the hot mixture, it will curdle.) Add ham and un-drained vegetables to cream sauce. Heat. Do not boil. Serves 6 to 8.
Variation: Omit ham and substitute 8 slices of crumbled bacon or 1 cup of cooked shrimp.

Recipe Adapted from “Queen Anne Goes to the Kitchen”

Sweet Potato Croquettes, Miss Eliza Thomas

March 9, 2015January 25, 2019

I enjoy discussing and learning about history, as well as cooking, but since I am not an actual expert at either I feel like these blog entries are like.. enjoyable term papers. As though someone went to college and liked it. That someone is ME.. So let me get my “scientific method” of historical food blog entries together and enjoy this educational experience. Before your very eyes…

~~~~ {artistic visual segue}~~~~

Introduction: Croquettes appear in many forms throughout my various sources. I had two sweet potatoes left over from something else and thought I’d give this recipe a try. It also gave me an opportunity to use my neglected Kitchenaid grinder.

So… Fun* facts… the Wikipedia page for croquettes is unexpectedly** substantial and full of photos of delicious** fried things.

Unwelcome personal anecdote… these sweet potato croquettes reminded me of the “sweet potato sticks” that they used to sell at the Fireman’s Carnival in Chincoteague, VA. I love sweet potatoes and I always loved this annual treat – warm creamy center in a crispy, greasy** fried exterior.

Cooking details… My one regret is following this recipe too closely and adding the full called-for amount of salt. Too salty. Cooks at home: salt to taste! Always! But I keep making this mistake.

Historical background, the “meat” of ‘Old Line Plate’.. as for Miss Eliza Thomas, I could only find some facts indicating she is an heiress, inheriting lands from her husband’s grandmother, and maybe other family members? Research is complicated by the fact that several of her relatives share her name. She lived in Baltimore but inherited lands on the Patuxent, known as “Trent Hall,” here lamented to be in a state of neglect along with its super cool tombs.

“Colonial mansions of Maryland and Delaware” by John Martin Hammond asserts that she also inherited another estate on the Patuxent known as Cremona: “Among the charming homes in Saint Mary’s County Maryland of which an extended story has not been told… another Key house Cremona which has been inherited by Miss Eliza Thomas of Baltimore”

“Cremona Farm: Jewel of the Patuxent River” by Jamie Haydel

Outside of the above article I only found this photo of the interior, from the Baltimore Sun.

Recipe:

2 cups cooked peeled sweet potato
1 Tablespoon butter
Salt to taste
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon of white pepper
1 egg
breadcrumbs
fat

Run sweet potato through a vegetable mill or grinder. Add butter, salt, sugar and white pepper; mix thoroughly. Form into cylinders, dip in egg, then in bread crumbs and fry in smoking hot fat.

Recipe adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland

*the actual definition of fun is subjective

**TO ME

Celery Soup, Mrs. J. Alexis Shriver

March 1, 2015January 13, 2019

This is a recipe for a cold and rainy day when you have nothing better to do but force the most notoriously fibrous of vegetables through a sieve. You will then mix it with cream and salty stock and annihilate that whole negative calorie thing that celery is famous for.

There was a time before celery was the vegetable of misery, and it made its way into pot pies, chicken salads, and in this case into stock which, in a fiber-free double-whammy, goes back into this soup containing more celery. Well this was sort of a pain in the @%$ to make. Tasty but I’m not sure if it was worth the effort. If I had a more sturdy strainer maybe I’d reconsider. I also would have made this with more celery. Mrs. Shriver is very vague about the amount of celery to use despite being very particular about other things. For instance, a double-boiler was called for. I ignored this – double-boilers were often necessary for hearth cooking but hardly so on my gas range.Sadly I did not find much information on Mrs. Shriver. Instead, I read all about her husband, as is often the case with the misseses of “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland.”

James Alexis Shriver was a passionate historian. We apparently have him to thank for a lot of the first Maryland historical markets, including many of the “George Washington ___ here” variety.

J. Alexis Shriver installing the ‘John Brown’ marker in 1938

“James Alexis Shriver was born in 1872. A Baltimore resident during his early years, Shriver moved to near Joppa in Harford County after graduating from Cornell in the early 1890’s. Born of a wealthy and well-known Maryland family… Just after the turn of the century, Shriver became very active in the Harford County Historical Society…. He caused a number of cast iron road markers to be raised along the highways and byways of the state. Most were concerning with Washington’s well-documented journeys, and all were unveiled with as much ceremony as could be gotten from the situation.” – MDHS

Recipe:

celery
1 pint chicken or veal stock
I Tb butter
2 Tb flour
black pepper
salt
1 Cup cream

Boil celery until soft, then press through a sieve. Discard the fiber. In a pot over medium heat, add the celery to the stock. Rub a tablespoonful of butter into two tablespoonfuls of flour, and add to soup to thicken. Season with pepper and salt, and strain again so the soup will be perfectly smooth. Return to low heat and add cream.

Recipe adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland

Olney Inn Sweet Potatoes

May 8, 2011January 17, 2021

I need a scanner

Recipe from the historic Olney Inn via Maryland’s Way (yet again).
Here’s a really great link about the Olney Inn with recipes, including the apparently more famous “Olney Inn Sweet Potato Souflee”. Came across that one all over the web. I’ll have to try it sometime.

“It was a wonderful place to dine and had been a staple of success in Olney since 1926 when Clara May Downey opened the restaurant with 3 tables. Dignitaries, Congressman, and Presidents and their families dined in the beautiful Olney Inn.”

A few more Olney pictures here.

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The dish: