One thing that I found quite charming about recipes in my copy of Myrtle Beach Cookin' (United Methodist Women of First United Methodist Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 1977, though mine is from the 1994 fifth printing) is that some of the recipes have titles that almost tell a story. The "Men's Corner" chapter includes this recipe for Dinner for Twenty Teenagers.
I love how the title suggests that dad got talked into catering some kind of teenage get-together and wasn't sure what to do, so he just made a ton of foil packets, filled them with whatever was in the pantry, and dumped them in a coal-filled pit (mostly because he wanted an excuse to make a coal-filled pit). I'm not sure how excited teenagers are likely to get over packets of barely-seasoned potato, carrot, and onion cubes next to packets of barely-seasoned ground beef, but at least dad had an excuse to play outside. (I jut hope he dug the 3-foot-deep hole first, rather than leaving the prepared foil packs out in the sun while he prepared the pit to cook them in.)
Speaking of playing, the "Candies and Cookies" chapter offers up "Grandaughter Tea Party Quickies."
It's certainly not hard to imagine grandma realizing she doesn't have much that would make suitable refreshments for her granddaughter's impromptu tea party, so she piled whatever sweet ingredients she had on hand on top of some saltines, ran them under the broiler so they'd seem fancier, and ta-da! Sweet, delicate nibbles for the tea party were ready.
As much as I make fun of old cookbooks for having terrible recipes, I really am fascinated by them in part because of the stories they suggest. I'm just not used to the stories being quite so explicitly suggested. It's fun to get little glimpses into those long-ago lives...
Dinner for 20 teenagers sounds like a parent who got talked into hosting a party they didn't want to host. How do you make sure that you're not the hangout house? Serve bland food that's hopefully cooked all the way through from a pit in your yard. Bits of charcoal in your food are good for you. In 40 years people will pay big money for consumable items with charcoal in them.
ReplyDeleteI'm also impressed that Grandma made refreshments for a tea party instead of having pretend food like most children did. I do wonder if those would be better with graham crackers rather than saltines, but I suppose that grandma didn't have any of those on hand.
Our grandma would have had graham crackers! And she wouldn't need an excuse like a tea party to bust them out.
Delete