Make-Your-Own, Louisville Style

Here's the second in my ongoing series of books from the mystery shipment! The Farmington Cookbook (the historic Farmington house in Louisville, Kentucky; original date, 1968; mine is fifth printing, 1979) is fun because of its emphasis on home cooks making their own alterations to recipes to suit their own diners. 

The book actually includes a series of explicitly "Make-Your-Own" recipes, so we're going to examine them today.

Luckily, the "Make-Your-Owns" focused on just the types of recipes I love to peruse anyway, like casseroles.

In the make-your-own version, it's your fault if you end up with stinky tuna and hard-cooked eggs in a sea of Chinese noodles, mayonnaise, water chestnuts, sherry, and croutons. Nobody said you had to try combining those. (I'd probably go for Tofurky "ham," mushrooms, rice, cream of mushroom soup, almonds, chopped green pepper, and cheese.) Maybe it's just me, but I love going through the list and considering all the possibilities. 

You might notice that this first casserole formula doesn't insist too hard on including veggies. You could easily follow the instructions and skip veggies entirely, or give them only a very minor role. If veggies are lacking, supplement the main dish casserole with a Make-Your-Own Vegetable Casserole.

Once again, it's up to you whether you want canned peas in cream of asparagus soup with canned small onions, sliced olives, mustard, and cornflakes or fresh sweetcorn in cream of mushroom soup with buttery crackers, crumbled bacon, a bit of Tabasco, and a cozy blanket of cheese. (And yes, you're picking up on my fondness for cream of mushroom soup and CHEESE.)

No 1970s menu is complete without a molded salad, so of course, the book offers the make-your-own option.

I appreciate that this starts with plain gelatin to avoid the fight against sweeteners that might not really fit a salad. At least, I did until I saw the quarter cup of sugar, so... the formula is not as forward-thinking as I originally thought. This is also by far the most lenient of the make-your-own recipes, suggesting that you can add "1 1/2- 2 cups of whatever you wish to mold to each cup of liquid." I guess this is an implicit concession that people put pretty much anything in gelatin molds back then. Shrimp, grapefruit and cheese? Ham, eggs, pickled peaches, and olives? I guess the Louisville ladies figured readers couldn't think of a combination that was weirder than what was already out there...

My favorite title by far is the one for the make-your-own dessert recipe, though. 

I can't help but love anything called "Make-Your-Own Marshmallow Whatever." A Marshmallow Whatever is apparently marshmallows melted in a flavorful liquid, briefly chilled, then fluffed up, mixed with whipped cream, and topped with whatever strikes the cook's fancy. It seems like the kind of light and airy dessert that would have made its rounds in ladies' luncheons (especially if it was made with sherry).

Many of the regular recipes offer variations too, but the "Make-Your-Owns" are my favorites. The homey creativity is much more in line with my style than the 1000-course fancy breakfast for your two dozen closest friends featured in the Derby section! (And Derby Day is coming, so watch this space.)