Home made egg noodles and Doctor Who
(...wait for it...)

I remember Mom making these egg noodles to go in the chicken soup.  I had always thought they were an old family recipe, from her grandmother perhaps.  But when I finally got her to transcribe them for me I found out she got the recipe from a 1975 TV Guide.  Not so much heirloom, but no less tasty!

To make these delicious noodles, you will need:

4 C All purpose flour
1 t salt
2 eggs
2 T oil
1 C boiling water

Mix flour and salt.  Make a hole in the center of the mixture and add eggs and oil.  Pour in water and stir quickly until a stiff dough is formed.  Knead dough for 10 minutes.  Cover and let sit for 1 hour.

Dough ball to sit for 1 hour, covered.

Now divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and roll out to desired thickness.  I roll one piece on an 12"x 18" cutting board.  The dough is opaque--you can see light through it if held up.

Now you can see the resemblance to Cassandra the "Last Human" from Doctor Who?  But really, the noodles are much less annoying.

Moisturize me before I'm cut into noodles!

Let the dough sit and dry out for at least 1 hour.  Now you can cut the noodles.  I use a pizza cutter masquerading as the USS Enterprise.

Going where no man has gone before...into the Omega Dough system.

I cut the dough into strips then across to equal noodles approximately 1" x 1/4".  Remember, these will swell when you cook them approximately 2.5 times. 

Add the noodles to hot, simmering soup and cook at least 15 minutes.

You can add these to any soup.  Instead of chicken last night, I made Italian sausage and spinach soup...with noodles. 

Spinach and onions in the soup courtesy of my garden.

I use half the recipe per pot of soup.  I cut out the second batch and freeze for another day.

Today's picture is from haying time in Iowa at the family farm outside Glidden.

Ammonia Cookies

The Master of the House (also known as my husband, Eric) has an unfortunate propensity for using ammonia to clean the house.  I'm torn;  while I'm grateful he cleans it, I'm not thrilled that the house smells like urine.  Ammonia therefore seems an unlikely component of food given its stench.


But in my forays through Leta's notes I found a recipe for ammonia cookies.

Ammonia cookies (Leta)

Transcribed:

4 eggs
4 c of sugar
2 C of lard
2 C of sweet milk
5 cents worth of bakers (sic) ammonia
5 cents worth of lemon oil

Let stand [for] 24 hours before eating.

OK, so first of all the ammonia.

According to Wikipedia, baker's ammonia, or ammonium bicarbonate is used in the food industry as a raising agent for flat baked goods, such as cookies and crackers, and in China in steamed buns and Chinese almond cookies. It was commonly used in the home before modern day baking powder was made available. In China it is called edible or food-grade "smelly powder". Many baking cookbooks (especially from Scandinavian countries) may still refer to it as hartshorn or hornsalt (e.g., NO: “hjortetakksalt”, “salt of hart’s horn”) In many cases it may be substituted with baking soda or baking powder or a combination of both, depending on the recipe composition and leavening requirements.

Well, ok.  So ammonia is a legitimate baking ingredient--baker's ammonia anyway.  A quick google search reveals multiple recipes for ammonia based cookies.

But these?  Tell me,  how much is 5 cents work of baker's ammonia?  How about 5 cents worth of lemon oil?  And it is likely that these figures are from the 1930s or 40s.

So, dear reader, I will not be making this recipe soon.  But for you, I will try another version that seems close from Cooks.com:

2 1/2 C sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 C shortening
3 T baker's Ammonia
2 C sweet milk
2 t oil of lemon
1 t salt
5 1/2 C flour

 

Dissolve ammonia in milk. Cream shortening and sugar, add eggs, and remaining ingredients using additional flour if necessary to make it stiff enough to roll. Roll out, cut out and bake 12 minutes. Note: I bought oil of lemon and baker's ammonia at the drug store. They keep well and the flavour improves with the keeping. I also add a little sugar on top of each before baking.

 

It still doesn't sound very good to me.  Thoughts?

Dave, Lloyd, Anita and Ron (my dad) Steininger c. 1950

 

 

Pulled Pork

Who loves pulled pork?  We do!

I first experienced the wonderfulness of pulled pork when my BFF and her husband were in Raleigh NC while he worked off his 7 years of indentured servitude as a post doctoral candidate in neurobiology.  I looked for recipes to make it myself, but they all called for hours of time over a hot grill.
I live in Las Vegas.  The desert.  The scorching hot desert.  Right now its 99F and climbing.  I will NOT be standing over/next to/in front of a grill for hours while I get heat stroke.  Not even for pulled pork.

What to do?  Well, several modified recipes later I have developed a pulled pork recipe that calls for minimal time on the grill.

You will need:  
3-6# pork shoulder picnic roast (bone in)
2-3 onions roughly chopped
1 bunch of celery roughly chopped
Apple cider vinegar
kosher salt
brown sugar
ground black pepper
paprika
garlic powder
red pepper flakes to taste (I don't use any for now--Things1&2 can't take the heat yet)

In a large crock pot, place the onions and celery.  Add vinegar to a depth of about 1 inch and turn on low.
Mix the dry ingredients together and rub it into the pork until it is well coated.

Turn on the grill (or wait while the charcoal gets hot) and place the seasoned meat in the center of the grilling surface.  Sear for ~10 minutes and turn over.  Baste generously with vinegar.  Sear that side for ~15 minutes (to cook the same amount will take slightly longer because you don't have the benefit of a freshly heated grill).

Remove the meat from the grill and place in the slow cooker on the bed of onions and celery.  Pour ~1 C more vinegar over the meat.  Cover and cook on high, turning over every 30-60 minutes until done.   Baste frequently with the cooking juices and vinegar This seems to be about 45minutes per pound.  Bone in cuts of meat cook faster due to the heat conduction along the bone, cooking both from the outside in and the bone out.

Once the meat is fully cooked, not only to a safe internal temperature (160 F) but when the meat is shredding away when you manipulate the roast, remove the meat and place on a cutting board or other working surface to rest for ~15 minutes.
After the meat has rested for ~15 minutes, pull the pork using your hands (I use a pair of dishwashing gloves that are dedicated to cooking) or bear claw "pullers".    Serve with the cooking juices or "sop" on the side.  You can use your favorite barbeque sauce too, and I won't even judge you, Philistine.

This post is dedicated to my paternal grandfather Lloyd, the best cook I ever knew.

  Lloyd cooked in a restaurant when he and Leta were first married and ran an Army kitchen in Fort Riley KS during WWII.

Lloyd's boys at Ft Riley.  Note the Japanese Americans from the internment camps.   Uncomfortably interesting, eh?

While Leta had all the recipes, he was the cook.  He used to say "Leta cooked for the first 50 years we were married, then it was my turn".  They were married 73 years.

Marinated Mushrooms

there's a fungus among us

Mary Sharon

Here's my mom ca. 1989, isn't she pretty?
She's a darn good cook, too.   I spent a lot of time watching and learning from her growing up.  One of the first recipes I appropriated from her is for marinated mushrooms.  According to her the original recipe was sourced from the 1979 Cr***o Oil Salad lover's Cookbook  (I'm not sure about copyright stuff, so we'll be cagey, ok?)

You will need:

2 # small button mushrooms, washed and trimmed.
1/4 C salad oil
3 T red wine vinegar
1/3 C tomato juice
1 t salt
1 t paprika
1/2 t ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced

Place the mushrooms in a large jar or plastic storage container and cover with the other ingredients.  Mix well.  Store in the refrigerator for at least 48 hours turning several times for best flavor.

YUM!  (we're having some tomorrow, jealous?)

Texas Sheet Cake

 Here's a picture of Leta Gay Myers, my paternal grandmother, in her wild youth.

And here she is with my paternal grandfather, Lloyd.  She is about 75 here and Lloyd is about 68.  Younger man, rrooww!


My all time favorite recipe of hers is Texas Sheet Cake.

You will need:

1 stick of butter (1/2 c.)
1/2 C vegetable oil or shortening
4 T cocoa
1 C water

Mix in a saucepan and bring to a low boil.

Then in a bowl mix:

2 C flour
2 C granulated sugar
1 t baking soda

Add hot mixture to bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.

Then add:

2 eggs lightly beaten
1t vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk**

Beat all ingredients 2 minutes and pour into a greased and floured cookie sheet.

Bake 15 minutes at 400 F.

For the icing:
 Take
1C butter
4 T cocoa
6 T buttermilk
Mix together in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add one box powdered sugar (3 1/2 C), 1 t vanilla extract to melted mixture.  (at this point you can add ~1 c chopped pecans or walnuts if you desire and I won't even judge you, Philistine)  Spoon over cake after it has cooled for ~15 minutes.

Cool completely before eating.  In fact, it is really best chilled in the refrigerator.

And I have no idea why its called Texas Sheet Cake.  Maybe the recipe is Texan?


**If you are like me and never remember all the ingredients you need when you shop, you can make an adequate substitute for buttermilk thusly:


Pour 1 scant cup of milk into a jar and add 1T lemon juice or white vinegar.  Cap and shake vigourously then let sit for at least 5 minutes.  Voila!  Buttermilk.

Fern Mae Myers Peanut Brittle

Fern Mae Myers

Fern Mae was my great aunt--my paternal grandmother's younger sister.  A number of my inherited recipes came from her.  I remember this peanut brittle in the winter, around the kitchen table at the farm while we played Hawaiian Rummy (or Screw Your Neighbor).

 Here is her recipe for peanut brittle from Leta's recipe box:





More legibly this reads:

2 c white sugar
1 C white corn syrup
1/2 c water
2 C peanuts
2t baking soda
2T butter
Put [the sugar, corn syrup and water] in a non reactive pot and cook until it "trizzles like a bell" (wtf? I am not sure about the writing) but essentially:  cook until soft ball heat on a candy thermometer.

Add 2 C of peanuts and cook until light brown.  Add 2 level teaspoons of [baking] soda and 2 T butter.  Take off and pour out onto a buttered sheet until [desired] thickness--(pull out).  Cool and "crack" the baking sheet to shatter the brittle.  Store in airtight containers.  It can be frozen for long term storage.

Note:  This can be made from other nuts.  My daughter--Thing 1--is allergic to peanuts, so I use almonds.

Quick garlic dill refrigerator pickles

You will need:

1 1/3 C Sugar
1 1/3 C white vinegar
4 T kosher or canning salt
1 t turmeric
1 t celery seed
2 t mustard seed
2 t black peppercorn
4 cloves of garlic (to taste)
2 qt pickling cucumbers, sliced 1/4" (2-3mm)
fresh dill
hot peppers to taste



Wash and sterilize 2 quart canning jars (or 4 pint jars), lids and rings.  Place in warm water bath to heat while preparing the other ingredients.

Place peeled and split garlic cloves and dill sprigs in the bottom of the jars.  You can also put some hot peppers in for extra zing.  I dried many habenero peppers last year and have used these for that purpose.

 Fill jars with the sliced cucumbers.

In a non reactive pot, mix sugar, vinegar, salt, turmeric, celery seed, mustard seed and black peppercorns.  Heat to boiling. 

Pour into jars covering cucumbers, garlic and dill leaving ~ 1/4" (5mm) head space.  Seal with heated lids and rings.  Once cooled (about an hour) place in the refrigerator.  Let set for at least a week for best flavor.  Can be kept for at least 3 months in the refrigerator.  If they last that long. 

I also use some blue food coloring in my sweeter pickles, like these.  My family always put some in and the funky teal color indicated the sweetness, straight dills or sour pickles were green/yellow only.  YMMV.

Today's project:  Vidalia Onion Relish.

You will need:

For the relish:
5# Vidalia onions (or other sweet onions:  Maui, Walla Walla)
2 large red bill peppers
1/4 C kosher or canning salt
1 C granulated sugar
1 C light brown sugar (packed)
1-2 t ground turmeric
2 C cider vinegar
1-2 t mixed picking spices (I use the Mexican brand "Tampico" for a little extra    heat)
2 t mustard seeds
2 t black peppercorns

For canning and preserving the relish:

Enough jars to preserve 4 pints of relish (and lids and rings) washed and sterilized.

A large non reactive pot to cook the ingredients.

A very large pot to process the canned/jarred relish.   This pot needs to be large enough to submerge the full jars and cover with at least 1" of water.  The jars can not sit directed on the bottom.  You can use a canning rack, or a steamer bottom if you need to jury rig something else.

A good starter set for a beginning canner can be obtained from many online sources.  This Ball starter set is a good choice, it includes a large enamel canning pot, a jar sized funnel, a magnetic lid lifter, a jar lifter, a canning rack and a device for measuring head space and removing bubbles.

To make the relish:

Peel and chop the onions (pieces should be no larger than 1/4 inch). 
Wash and chop the bell peppers, removing the stems, seeds and ribs first.
Put the chopped onions and peppers in a colander lined with cheesecloth.  Cover with the salt and toss.  Suspend the colander over a large bowl, cover and set aside to drain for 1-2 hours. 


In the non reactive pot, combine the vinegar, sugars and turmeric.  Place the pickling spices in a pickling bag, or tie into a pouch of cheesecloth

 and add to the pot.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes.

Using the cheesecloth, gather up the onion and pepper mixture and squeeze gently to remove any more liquid. By sweating the onions an peppers with salt and draining the liquid, it makes the final mixture much crisper.  

Now put the onions and peppers in the pot with the spices and vinegar/sugar mixture.  Simmer for ~30 minutes.

Meanwhile, fill the canning pot with water to the height of your jars.  Bring to a simmer and place the jars, lids and rings in to heat.

When the relish is cooked, remove it from the heat and remove the bag of pickling spices.  Remove and drain the jars from the water.  While still warm/hot, put ~1/2 t each peppercorns and mustard seeds in the bottom of the jars.  Then fill with relish and liquid enough to cover leaving ~1/4 " head space.  Use the head space tool to remove any bubbles and insuring appropriate head space.

Wipe the jars clean with a hot cloth, then place the warmed lids on the jars.  Now secure using the lid rings.  Tighten them, but don't try to screw them down so tight that you need a he man to open them again.

Using the jar lifter, place the jars in the canner and into the boiling water of the canning pot.  Process (boil) as directed.  This is usually determined by a combination of materials being preserved and the altitude.  A chart can be found (and one of my favorite canning resources) at National Center for Home Food Preservation .  I am in Las Vegas NV at ~2100' and this is a pickled relish therefore I process for 10 minutes.

Remove the jars from the boiling water and set aside to cool.   As the jars cool the lids will "pop" and become concave.  This assures the seal and preservation.  If the lids don't pop, you can either reprocess or just store in the refrigerator.

YUM!

Store the appropriately processed jars in a cool dark place.  This relish is good for at least 1 year past canning, though the color may darken slightly. 

Do not EVER eat any canned good that has a convex lid, mold on the surface or an "off" smell when opened.  Yuck.