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Pickles, anyone? Here's our annual pickle bulletin. Take your choice. And along with the pickle and relish recipes, other recipes are included in this months bulletin we hope will help you collect the compliments due a good cook when you serve your family some of the dishes contributed to the Open Line each month by mail or by phone.
Along with the first recipe this month, came a jar of these pickles. Best I've ever tasted. You'll say the same.
MRS. HUSKAMP'S COMPANY PICKLE CHUNKS
10 medium cucumbers
8 cups sugar
2 tablespoons mixed pickling spices
5 teaspoons coarse medium salt
4 cups cider vinegar
Cover cucumbers with boiling water. Let stand till next morning. Drain. Repeat this procedure three more mornings. On fifth day, drain and slice in ½ inch pieces. Combine remaining ingredients. Bring to boil and pour over cucumbers. Let stand two days. On third day, bring to a boil and seal in hot sterilized jars. Makes seven pints. (Mrs. Homer Huskamp, Cedar Rapids)
Ever since last year's trip to the Scandanavian countries, recipes like this one have a favorite spot in Open Line bulletins.
SCANDINAVIAN CABBAGE
Medium head of cabbage
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Shred cabbage as you would for cole slaw and cook in boiling water. (Use a small amount if cabbage is the new green variety). Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until tender but still crisp. Drain well. Mix with sour cream, caraway seed, salt and pepper. Place over boiling water and cook 19 to 20 minutes longer. (Mrs. John L. Knapp, Avon, Illinois).
The next two recipes were called in by a "Mystery Chef" here in Cedar Rapids. And they taste as good as they sound.
SHRIMP CRAB MEAT PARMESAN
Prepare each serving in individual dishes. The small aluminum pie tins are made to order. Buy fresh (or frozen) shrimp the size for frying. Hull and clean shrimp. Butterfly shrimp. Arrange six on each side of the aluminum tin. Sprinkle fresh crab meat down the center of the shrimp. Top with melted margarine or butter, adding garlic or garlic powder if desired. Sprinkle dish with parmesan cheese. Top cheese with additional butter or margarine: Sprinkle with paprika. Broil until shrimp tails are pink. Serve in aluminum tin.
OYSTER PARMESAN
Use aluminum crab shells or suitable substitute. Lay about four fresh oysters in crab shells. Top with melted butter or margarine (garlic is optional). Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Add more margarine or butter and sprinkle on more cheese. Broil until oyster opens.
Last month's bulletin provided the directions for making bulk sauerkraut. Here's the way sauerkraut is made in Mount Vernon, Iowa by an Open Line Listener.
MOUNT VERNON SAUERKRAUT
Shred kraut. Pack firmly, but not too tight in sterilized fruit jars. Pack up to neck of jar. Add one tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and boiling water to fill the jar. Seal with Zinc lids. (Note: Because of the expanding process of kraut, the heavier lid is required).
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A request for a recipe using chicken in a meat loaf produced three different ways to serve a "chicken loaf". The recipes were sent in by Mrs. M. Conrad of Hiawatha.
CHICKEN LOAF # 1
1½ cups cooked diced chicken
1 cup soft bread crumbs
1 cup broth or milk
2 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
¼ teaspoon celery seed or
celery
2 tablespoons butter
Bit of Onion (if desired)
Mix well and pour in well greased baking pan. The parsley may be omitted. Bake 30 minutes or longer in moderate oven Makes 6 servings. (Roxy Wheeler, What! So Ever Cook Book, Oakland Presbyterian Church, Morning Sun, Iowa)
CHICKEN LOAF # 2
Meat of one chicken, ground
3 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups bread crumbs
Season as for dressing with salt, sage and celery. Add enough stock to make a soft mixture . Bake one hour in slow oven. (Lydie McConahay, same book as above)
CHICKEN LOAF # 3
Clean chick, cut meat from bones and grind fine through meat chopper. A large chicken will make 3 cups raw meat to which add one and one-half cups cracker crumbs one-half cup ground nut meats (if desired, two well beaten eggs, two teaspoons each of salt and sage, one half teaspoon pepper, and one half cup milk. Mix and form into a loaf. Cover the bones with cold water and simmer one hour. Use this broth and a large tablespoon of butter to baste the loaf while baking. Bake about one hour, thicken gravy in pan with two tablespoons floor, made into paste with a little water. (Mrs. Minnie Walsh, The Catholic Women's Club Kinross, Little Creek)
FREEZING CORN WITHOUT BLANCHING:
Cut 20 cups sweet corn off cobs. Mix with 1 cup sugar, ¼ cup salt and 5 cups ice water. Stir all together. Put into containers and freeze. (Miss Faye Rainier, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Here's two ways to make an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. They even wrote a song about it some years ago.
SHOO-FLY PIE
¾ cup molasses or corn syrup
¾ cup boiling water
½ teaspoon soda
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1½ cups flour
¼ cup shortening
½ cup brown sugar
Nine inch pie crust, unbaked
Mix first eight ingredients together. Set aside. Crumb flour with shortening and brown sugar. Set aside. Make a nine inch pie crust. Start with a layer of crumbs in bottom of pie crust. Then add 1/3 of the liquid mixture. Then another layer of crumbs, alternating layers of liquid mixture and crumbs with final layer of crumbs on top. Bake 375 degrees for 35 minutes.
BUCK CREEK SHOO-FLY PIE
1 nine inch pie shell, unbaked
¾ cup molasses
¾ teaspoon soda
¾ cup boiling water
2¼ cup flour
6 tablespoons shortening
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
Mix all ingredients but the pie shell together, pour into crust and bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes.
All recipe files should contain a never fail pie crust. Try this one.
NEVER FAIL PIE CRUST
2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons salt
¼ cup cold water
¾ cups shortening
Sift flour and salt. Take out 1/3 cup of flour and mix with cold water to form a paste. Cut shortening into remaining flour. Then add flour paste to shortening and flour mixture and mix with fork until dough comes together. Will make enough crust for a two crust pie.
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And now for the catfish bait formula. Here's two different catfish baits. Both were on the Open Line and both interested our listeners very much. But then again, who isn't interested in a big fresh catfish steak?
CATFISH BAIT # 1
1 quart rough fish, ground up
1 small box of quick oatmeal
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons brown sugar
1 pound linseed oil meal (dry type)
Grind up fish (using the complete fish). Let set in non-metallic container, cover for one week. Do not use a glass jar with lid. It is best to use a crock and cover with plastic. After fish has set for a week, add salt and let set for two more days. Then add remaining ingredients, adding the linseed oil meal last. This serves as a waterproofing material so your bait won't dissolve in water. Linseed oil meal can be purchased at some feed stores. Store bait in air tight containers until ready for use. Use in small bait balls about the size of a 25 cent piece.
CATFISH BAIT # 2
1 cup cold water
1 level tablespoon sugar
2 heaping tablespoons of Quick
Quaker Oatmeal
1½ cup yellow Quaker corn
meal
Use small deep pan such as a double boiler that holds about 1½ quarts. Use strong spoon, plywood or strong board 1 by 8 inches long to stir. To make bait, put 1 cup cold water in a pan. Add sugar, oatmeal and 1 cup of the corn meal. Place on medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until it works into a stiff ball. Remove from heat and add ½ cup of corn meal and work it into mixture. When cool enough to handle, place dough on wax paper or board and knead until well mixed. Form into ball and let cool. Then knead again to remove crust. Wrap in wax paper and put in plastic bag. Can keep a while if put in tight container.
FOR FISHING IN THE DARK:
Mix 4 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoons corn meal 1 egg and ¼ teaspoon vanilla. Should not be slippery, if so add a little more flour.
HINTS AND HELPS
To use hard brown sugar, grate it on a grater or a shredder.
TO prevent aluminum pans from turning dark inside when boiling water, and heating water to cook something add a bit of cream of tartar. Use about ¼ teaspoon to one teaspoon, depending on the amount of water being used.
To cook custards on top of stove, fill custard cups and set them in a pan of water that nearly reaches the top of the custard cups. Cover pan tightly, and heat until water starts to boil. Then turn off heat, and let set for 6 minutes.
Mix flour and corn meal together to roll your chicken in. Chicken will be nice and crisp and gravy will have a different flavor. It is also good for fish, too. Use equal amount of flour and corn meal or less of corn meal if preferred.
Try mixing coffee grounds with dirt for geraniums. Some say it increases growth and blooms if geraniums are set in this mixture.
TO PREPARE SOUR CREAM AT HOME:
Measure ½ cup light cream into a pint jar, add 3 teaspoons buttermilk cover and shake vigorously. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours.
To remove cucumber smell from covered plastic containers, try storing left over gravy in the closed container for 24 hours.
FURNITURE CLEANER FOR FURNITURE WITH AN OIL FINISH: Mix one part boiled linseed oil, one part vinegar, and one part turpentine. Mix well. Rub on with a soft cloth. Rub off with another clean, soft cloth. A sufficient amount may be mixed at one time, stored in a well capped bottle.
Give your baked beans an unexpectedly delicious flavor by adding slivers of orange rind and the juice of the fruit.
Add a teaspoon of baking powder to potatoes when they are about to be mashed followed by vigorous beating and they will be light and creamy.
When making a cake, add 2 tablespoons of hot water to the shortening and sugar when creaming and you will have a much finer textured cake.
And here are the pickle and relish recipes that attracted so much attention last month on the Open Line. I'm sure we'll have many more this month for next month's bulletin.
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And here are the pickle and relish recipes that attracted so much attention last month on the Open Line. I'm sure we'll have many more this month for next month's bulletin,
MRS. MAU'S GREEN TOMATO RELISH
4 green sweet peppers
2 red sweet peppers
2 pecks green tomatoes
2 medium heads cabbage
12 large onions
2 cups plain salt
white or dark vinegar
3 pounds brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon celery seed
2 teaspoons mustard seed
Cut up peppers and remove seeds. Grind in food chopper with tomatoes, cabbage and onions. Mix all together. Add the 2 cups salt and let stand overnight. Next morning squeeze out all the liquid you can with your hands. Cover with cold vinegar until it shows through on top. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook and stir five minutes until it is heated through. Pour into sterile jars and seal. (Mrs. Walter Mau, Waterloo).
TO KEEP CUCUMBERS UNDER BRINE FOR PICKLES: Place a clean scrubbed rock inside a cloth bag. Put the cucumbers in with the rock and tie securely. Immerse into brine in stone jar or crock. Any mold that collects will be on bag or crock and your pickles will stay under brine. (Mrs. Mau)
THICKENED MUSTARD PICKLES
2 gallons cucumbers, sliced
½ cup salt
2 quarts onions, sliced
2 red sweet peppers
2 quarts vinegar
5 pounds sugar
4 teaspoons mustard seed
5 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons turmeric
Slice cucumbers in thin rings and sprinkle with salt. Let stand until morning and drain. Slice onions and chop peppers. Mix vegetables together. Combine sugar, spices, flour and turmeric. Add vinegar. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened. Add mixed vegetables and bring to boiling point. Pack in jars and seal. (From the Mennonite Community Cook Book sent in by a West Branch listener).
DILL PICKLES
Scrub medium size cucumbers with brush and pack into quart jars. To each quart, add 2 heads dill, one piece of alum (about the size of a small grape), and 1 teaspoon mustard seed. Fill jars with hot brine made from 1 cup vinegar, 2 cups water, and 1 teaspoon coarse salt. Seal. (From an old Better Homes and Garden Cook Book).
SENF GHERKIN
Yellow cucumbers
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon mixed spices
Salt
Sliced onions
Slice long yellow cucumbers lengthwise into slender slices. Soak in water overnight. Make syrup of vinegar, water, sugar, mustard seed and mixed spices. Bring syrup to boil and add prepared cucumbers. Boil three minutes. Pour into quart jars with 1 teaspoon salt and one half slice of onion. Cover with boiling syrup and seal at once.
BANANA PEPPERS:
Wash but do not stem peppers. Pack in jars. Add 1½ teaspoon salt for each quart. Fill jars with cold solution of equal parts of water and light vinegar and seal tight. Zinc lids must be used.
BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES
5 medium cucumbers
¼ cup salt
½ teaspoon celery seed
½ teaspoon mustard seed
½ teaspoon ginger
3 medium onions
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon turmeric
Wash cucumbers, slice thin. Peel and slice onions. Add ¼ cup salt to onions and cucumbers and let stand two hours. Heat remaining ingredients to a boil, add cucumbers and onions and simmer until tender. Pack in hot sterilized jars.
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