Today we have The Calumet Baking Book (new edition, 1931). I'll admit that it's kind of boring, as it mostly has pretty standard recipes for baked goods that mostly sound just fine. I couldn't resist though because it was $1, and I loved the very soothing and old-timey illustrations of cakes, muffins, cookies, etc.
There's just something about slightly misshapen cookies and cinnamon rolls or cakes that appear to be just a big old pile-o'-frosting that I find so charming. I love that food in old cookbooks tends to look like, well, actual food, and not like something only semi-edible that has been styled with tweezers and glue for a couple hours in a studio with a few hundred styles of tableware to choose from.
The recipes, though... Pretty boring, like I said. There's a whole chapter on baking powder biscuits that seemed emblematic of the book. The biscuits are mostly incremental changes of the base recipe-- things that would barely even count as a variation in another book.
Want to know how to turn these basic Baking Powder Biscuits into Afternoon Tea Biscuits?
If you thought it would be something exciting like adding a bit of sugar-- nope! Add slightly more butter (or other shortening). Plus cut them with the half-size biscuit cutter.
I thought that the Emergency Biscuit Recipe at least might be interesting, as emergency recipes tend to be the version cooks could make if they were completely out of (or at least desperately low on) some necessary ingredient. Maybe this one would tell how to substitute cake flour for all-purpose or make do without milk?
Nope. The recipe should have been called "Biscuits for When You Have Slightly Less Butter Than Is Ideal," as they use slightly less butter and slightly more milk than the original recipe to make drop biscuits instead of cutouts. Big whoop.
At least I got a free hand-written recipe card for BEEF LOAF in the booklet!
This seems to be written by someone who did not need a bunch of nearly identical recipes for baking powder biscuits, as she was not too precious about measurement, allowing for 2 to 2-1/2 cups of cornflakes, specifying that the heat should be reduced "some" after the first half hour of cooking, and noting that the cook might want to "Add a little water if necessary before carving meat." No word on how the cook would know if it was necessary. If you know, you know. If you don't know, then you're the type of person who needs to be told to use slightly more milk if you have slightly too little butter for the biscuit dough.
For some reason I'm entertained by the idea of carving a meat loaf. I mean beef loaf. Carving meat implies some sort of skill, like carving the turkey, or even carving a roast - you should pay attention to the grain of the meat. Meat loaf has no grain, has no bones, and requires no skill to carve. Just whack off a hunk and eat it. If you don't have a knife, it would be pretty easy to break up into pieces with your hands if necessary. Now go find your half size biscuit cutter for dainty entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI'd recommend waiting until the meatloaf cooled down before trying to break it up with your hands.
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