Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #13 -- Ethnic Foodways: my great-grandmother's biscotti.

Soft Biscotti.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

The Challenge: #13 – Ethnic Foodways. Foodways and cuisine are at the heart of every ethnic group around the world and throughout time. Choose one ethnic group, research their traditional dishes or food, and prepare one as it is traditionally made.

My family is half Sicilian and a quarter Calabrese (from Calabria in southern Italy), and traditional (for us) Italian holiday food includes a few types of cookies.  When my grandmothers were alive, we usually bought our cookies at the Italian bakery, or from the supermarket (Stella D'oro brand used to carry some of our favorites), but now, purchased cookies are less available to us, so in the last several years I've started researching and making some.  This has also helped me enjoy all our Italian cookie favorites, since my nut allergies have made most traditional Italian cookies not an option for me (lots of almonds and hazelnuts). 

The issue with re-creating historic Italian cookies is the fact that literacy has not been a common skill in Italy and Sicily for many years – really only since World War 2.  My own grandparents were the first literate generation in their families; their parents were illiterate, and so was the rest of that generation, so their recipes have been passed down by mouth and by example, rather than being written down.  With that oral tradition comes the tradition of each person making the recipe slightly differently, according to their own tastes, which makes it hard to trace it back to the "original" version! 

Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge: The Frugal Housewife, with Shrimp Curry from 1942.

ingredients for the Shrimp Curry (with trout).
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

The Challenge: # 9 The Frugal Housewife

Throughout history, housewives and housekeepers have kept a close eye on their budgets and found creative ways to pinch pennies while providing delicious and nutritious food. Create a dish that interprets one historically-documented method of frugal cooking.  

I chose to interpret frugality as a way to use pantry staples, including canned meat, to pull together an easy dish.  You could also use leftover fish from another meal in this recipe!

The Recipe: (where did you find it, link to it if possible)

Found in my grandmother's cookbook, Burnt Toast Recipes: Victory Edition, published in Los Angeles in 1942, this recipe for Shrimp Curry takes advantage of pantry staples to make it economical as well as tasty.  The recipe book is a collection of recipes put together by the Women's Auxiliary to the Women's and Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, which took care of the wives and families of servicemen who were stationed in the area during WW2.  My grandmother worked as a candy striper at the hospital during the summers, taking the train out from Omaha, NE where she lived and taught school during the rest of the year.

California seemed to be lucky in comparison to other areas, because of our climate enabling food to be grown year-round, as well as the large number of dairies and poultry farms, and everyday residents who kept a cow and a few chickens around for butter, eggs and milk.  Fish were being caught and canned in Monterey throughout the War, and while much of it was sent to other parts of the U.S., and overseas to our armed forces and our allies, there was still quite a bit of food available, with or without food rationing.  This recipe is frugal in its use of butter and imported spices, and makes good use of canned fish.  Although it calls for shrimp, any canned fish can be used.  (Ignore the mushrooms in the photo above -- they were part of another recipe but mistakenly got into the photo for this dish.)  

Shrimp Curry
Sautè 1 small minced onion in 2 tablespoons butter until onion is soft but not brown.  Stir in 1 ½ teaspoons curry, 2 teaspoons flour and ½ teaspoon salt.  Simmer tightly covered for 20 minutes, then add 1 can shrimp (cleaned and shredded), 2 teaspoons lemon juice.  Simmer for 5 minutes and serve with browned rice.  – recipe from Alberta Austin.

World War 2-era gingerbread for the new year!

Image from http//clipart.edigg.com

 Happy New Year!  While I didn't get Mrs. Beeton's Christmas Cake made this season, I did do a batch of my gluten-free cuccidati for my aunt and cousin, my rum-soaked fruit cake, and one of the recipes from my grandma's World War 2-era cookbook Burnt Toast Recipes: Victory Edition.  I have to be careful when making the recipes from this book; sometimes they're great (like the fruit cobbler recipe), but sometimes they're weird (like the mashed baked bean sandwich recipe) ... This one is a good one.  Of course, I didn't have all the ingredients so I had to improvise a bit, but it turned out a really yummy gingerbread that puffed up nicely in the oven (although it sank down once it cooled), and smells and tastes nice.  Here's the recipe [with my alterations in brackets]:

Vintage recipe for chocolate birthday cake.

Hopefully my mom's cake will look nicer than mine did!
If I can't find the recipe for the chocolate cherry cake that my mom wanted, I'll probably be using this one, also from her mother's 1943 cookbook. It even has its own recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting!

Chocolate Cake with Butter Frosting
2 1/2 cups flour (after sifting)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (add soda)
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, separated
4 squares chocolate

Sift flour and baking powder. Cream butter and sugar, add chocolate (melted), vanilla, and beaten egg yolks. Add flour and buttermilk alternately. Fold in beaten egg whites. Makes three layers.

Butter frosting
1/4 pound sweet butter
1 pound powdered sugar
1 egg
6 level tablespoons cocoa

Mix cocoa and sugar. Add butter and cream together. Add whole egg and a little milk or coffee.

I have some cherries in the freezer, and I can always pit and sugar them, and put them in the bottom of the cake pans ...

Baking for my mommy!

It's my mom's birthday today, but she's stuck in First Aid and CPR training classes all day. I usually make breakfast for her on her birthday, but since she didn't have time to eat breakfast today, I'll be doing the birthday breakfast tomorrow, and probably also cooking dinner for the family when they come over. I'm also making the cake today. My mom requested a chocolate cherry cake, and a raisin and cream cheese bread pudding -- both of which recipes are at her house -- but for dinner, I'm using a recipe from her mother's 1943 cookbook.

My mom's family is Sicilian, but she grew up in the Central Valley around tons of other Mediterranean people, and one of the dishes that became a tradition in our family is actually Armenian. There used to be an Armenian deli in a nearby town, and they made the most delicious, tender lamb shish-kabob, which we always had -- alongside the pasta and garlic bread -- with the turkey, ham or whatever holiday food we were eating for as long as I can remember. When the owner decided to retire and close the deli, we asked to buy the recipe from them but they wouldn't sell it, and we've been trying to re-create the flavor and tenderness of this lamb dish ever since! We've got the flavor pretty close, but the tenderness is still elusive.

Well, in my grandma's cookbook is a recipe for Skewered Lamb with a marinade that sounds similar to the one we've been trying to re-create. If I tweak the marinade recipe a bit and marinate the meat overnight, hopefully it will work. It would be better if I could marinate the meat for a few days, but I hope that the trick will be cooking the meat at a low enough temperature, for 30 minutes. Here's the recipe:

Skewered Lamb
Shish kabobs (skewered lamb) are made by putting 4 to 5 cubes of marinated lean lamb on long metal skewers and grilling 30 minutes or longer. The night before the barbecue, the meat from a leg of lamb (about a 5-pound leg) should be trimmed of fat and gristle and cut into 2-inch cubes. Put in a large bowl and mix with a sauce made by blending 1/2 pound onions, peeled and sliced, 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 cup sherry wine, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon regoni.

I don't have any regoni, which I've never heard of but I assume is a cooking herb or spice. I notice that there's no rosemary, garlic, or mint in this recipe, and I know that it was part of the marinade for the shish-kebab that I ate as a child, so I'll be adding it -- plus more black pepper -- to this recipe. I don't know if my mom has sherry, so I'll be adding some other red wine, but I have high hopes for this vintage recipe!

Fun things to do in San Jose.

Elizabeth Urbach. Tatting shuttles and lace on display at History Park.












1. Go to a World War 2-era living history event!

Third Annual Day of Remembrance: Saturday, August 8, 2009. Noon to 5 p.m. History Park, 1650 Senter Rd., San Jose, CA 95112. Free admission. “Keep the Spirit of '45 Alive! Where were YOU when World War II ended? Join us for an exciting fun-filled afternoon as we honor the legacy of America’s “greatest generation” by commemorating the end of World War II in August 1945. * Parade at 1 pm * Special guest, Edith Shain, the nurse from the famous "VJ Day at Times Square" photograph * Visit the Home Front exhibit in the Pacific Hotel Gallery * Share where YOU were when the War ended * Dance to music of The Swing Solution * Visit World War II Living Historians * Singing Blue Stars of the USS Hornet. Bring the whole family and help make history! For more information call 408.918.1042.”

2. See a great exhibit of local 19th century textiles before it closes!

She Made It!: The Tradition of Women’s Arts and Crafts in Santa Clara Valley – exhibit extended through August 16, 2009. Leonard & David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House, History Park, 1650 Senter Rd., San Jose. Friday through Sunday, 12 noon - 5 pm. “‘She Made It! The Tradition of Women’s Arts and Crafts in Santa Clara Valley’ is an exhibition of over 35 handmade items that explores the transition of women’s craftmaking from that of utilitarian production or social development tool to a form of art and individual expression. Mostly selected from History San Jose’s collection, the exhibit includes quilts and samplers, clothing and accessories, baskets and hair work, many of which are on display for the first time. Three generations of hand-made wedding dresses provide visual cues of how times have changed from 1895 to 1982. ... The San Jose State Textile Program was once a component of the Home Economics department. Students were instructed in clothing and fabric design, and produced many of the artifacts that will be on display. Although this department dissolved in 1987, instruction in weaving and textile arts can still be found on campus through the School of Art & Design.”