Homemade bread? A snap!
A quick trip to the store for the mix, some liquid, Mr. Bread Machine and voila!Or bake loaves the hard way: Choose a cookbook. Thumb through the chapters and pick a recipe - focaccia, perhaps.
Open the fridge and gather the ingredients.
Pulse fresh herbs in the Cuisinart; and blend it all together in a cobalt blue Kitchen Aid mixer.
Melt the butter a la microwave . . .
Then whine about spending the day "home on the range."
For the Utah pioneers, their home WAS the range - and we're not talking Hotpoint.
Food was foremost in their minds. Nourishment for the soul, feed for their livestock, and sustenance for their families.
An early settler's journal entry reveals the stark reality of living in Utah in the mid-1800s.
"Because of the hardships suffered in crossing the Plains, the people arrived here very ragged and many barefoot. The homes were very humble; and as large families were in order, the board was meager. The pioneer women were known for their capabilities in homemaking. They made their own soap from home-rendered fats and lye from wood ashes."
"They dried or salted their meats, and some smoke-cured them, using corncobs for fire. They preserved fruits, using molasses skimmings for sweetening. Later when bees were brought here, they used honey for canning. Their bread was made of coarse flour with salaratus, and was used to make what is known as salt-rising bread. To get the soda they would go in dry weather down to the lake bottoms where the salaratus had come up white on top of the water-soaked land, then dried, leaving little cracked thin cakes of dried mud covered with this white soda. They would scrape the soda from the top of the mud cakes. When using it they put it in some water, let the dirt settle, and pour off the top in which the soda had dissolved."
While the Mormon pioneers were settling throughout the valley, the rest of the country was enjoying sophisticated improvements in the area of agriculture and food processing.
In 1847, as wagon companies of Latter-day Saints rolled into Salt Lake City:- John Deere built a factory in Moline, Ill., to produce his self-polishing steel plows.
- A stamping process was developed to make tin cans cheap enough for wider sale (other than factories).
- Canned tomatoes were put up in small tin pails with soldered lids by the assistant steward of Lafayette College near Easton, Penn.
- Boston confectioner Oliver Chase invented an automatic lozenge cutter - the world's first candy-making machine.
- The first ring doughnuts were introduced by Camden, Maine, baker's apprentice Hanson Crockett Gregory, 15, who knocked the soggy center out of a fried doughnut. (By some accounts, Gregory was a schoolboy who complained to his mother that her deep-fried cakes were undercooked in the center. He suggested that she poke a hole in the middle; the small cut-out centers were fried separately and given to children.)
- Cadbury Brothers, roasting and grinding cocoa since 1831, perfected a process to prepare sugar-sweetened chocolate powder and French eating chocolate.
Back in Utah, pioneer homemakers were "making do" with what basic staples they had.
Fortunately, family recipes handed down for generations had survived the long and arduous journey West, and soon brightened the family fare.
Our present-day local cuisine stems from these mother-to-daughter instructions. The recipes that follow have traveled pioneer paths, with attached stories that seem sweeter than the food.
- Maple Sauce: A recipe that had belonged to "Grandmother Mortensen" became a family favorite for pouring over steamed puddings. Not only is the sweet topping delicious . . . but has become the basis of fond recollection. "Grandmother had walked across the Plains and helped push a handcart in an early party of pioneers."
- Velvet Chicken Soup: a recipe passed down for generations from "Grandmother Lambert," who was a convert to the Mormon Church from England. It made the long journey with her, her mother and father and brothers and sisters as they crossed the Plains.
- Quilter's Potato Salad: "Grandma always served it to the ladies who came to quilt or to sew carpet rags."
- Bachelor Pudding: Handed down from a grandmother who used to say the pudding was easy on "even delicate digestions." Grandfather had a large apple orchard that most likely inspired many of her cherished apple recipes.
- Molasses candy: A pioneer favorite. Molasses was a primary sweetener in early days.
- Grandma Kennard's ice cream: In pioneer times, refrigerated freight was unheard of, and special treats, like ice cream, were limited. Fortunately, even in the smallest town, usually someone had an ice house. Ice cream was the accepted "fancy food."
- Danish Banana Black Walnut Cake: This tasty sweet came from "Grandmother and Grandfather Ole Nelson," who arrived from Copenhagen as converts to the Mormon Church. Hidden away in their worldly possesions was the start of a walnut tree brought from Denmark. Although very poor, the couple managed to purchase land in Box Elder County. The plot of land was rocky and full of gravel.
"With Grandma's care, the tree flourished, and in later years bore the walnuts she used in the wonderful banana-nut cake her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have all loved."
Here's a Days of '47 homework assignment: Find a recipe in your favorite cookbook or chat hungrily with a grandmother or grand-father.
Betcha they can recall some long-forgotten food memories.
Memories that you can make.
*****
RECIPES
QUILTER'S POTATO SALAD
For salad:
3 large potatoes
3 hard cooked eggs
4 tablespoons minced onion
Salt and pepper to taste
For dressing:
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup hot vinegar
1 cup cream, whipped
Cook potatoes with their jackets on. Cool, skin and dice. Add chopped hard-cooked eggs, onion and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside a few minutes before adding dressing. For dressing, mix mustard, salt and sugar. Beat up eggs with melted butter and hot vinegar. Cook over boiling water or low heat until thick. Cool thoroughly. Combine with whipped cream and mix with potatoes. Serves 8.
- Each serving contains 217 calories, 10g fat, 27g carb, 374mg sodium, 103mg cholesterol, 40% calories from fat.
- From "Pioneer Recipes" (Myrtle S. Lees)
VELVET CHICKEN SOUP
3 or 4 pounds chicken
3 quarts cold water
1 tablespoon salt
6 peppercorns or 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped celery
1 pint rich milk or cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper
2 eggs, well beaten
Thoroughly clean chicken and cut into small pieces. Put in covered kettle to cook with cold water and salt. Allow to come to a boil quickly and cook until tender. Remove meat from bones when tender (and save meat for use in croquettes, pie, etc.) Return bones to soup stock to simmer. Add peppercorns (or white pepper), chopped onion and chopped celery. Simmer together until a little more than a quart of stock remains in pan. Strain, cool and remove all fat. Add rich milk or cream. Bring to a boil and thicken with cornstarch that has been mixed smooth with a little cold water. Add butter and season to taste. Beat eggs with a little cream. Pour a little soup over the egg mixture, stirring constantly, then pour egg/soup mixture back into soup, stirring constantly. Serve hot in soup dishes, adding bite-size croutons if desired. Serves 12.
For croutons: Remove crusts from stale bread, butter each slice, then cut into squares or cubes and brown in the oven.
- Each serving contains 458 calories, 27g fat, 4g carb, 921mg sodium, 183mg cholesterol, 53% calories from fat.
- From "Pioneer Recipes" (Mrs. A. J. Terry)
BACHELOR PUDDING
2 cups chopped apples (Jonathan)
2 cups soft bread crumbs
1 cup dried currants or raisins
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup candied lemon peel, cut very fine (optional)
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoon butter
Dash nutmeg
Combine apples, bread crumbs, currants or raisins, sugar, nutmeg, and candied lemon peel. Add beaten egg, melted butter and nutmeg and stir until blended. Put into greased mold and steam for 2 hours. Cover with cream or simple sauce. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
- Each serving contains 176 calories, 2g fat, 39g carb, 71mg sodium, 5mg cholesterol, 11% calories from fat.
- From "Pioneer Recipes" (Mrs. Walter H. Moore)
MOLASSES CANDY
1 cup brown sugar
1 quart molasses (4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup butter
Combine molasses, butter and sugar in a kettle. Boil over a slow fire, stirring to prevent burning, until it is thick. Test for hard crack. Add baking soda. Stir well. Pour onto buttered cookie sheets. Cool until easy to handle and then pull with buttered hands until the candy is a whitish yellow. Cut with scissors into desired shape. Makes 48 pieces.
- Each serving contains 87 calories, 1g fat, 19g carb, 54mg sodium, 3mg cholesterol, 13% calories from fat.
- From The Daughters of Utah Pioneers
GRANDMA KENNARD'S ICE CREAM
2 quarts (8 cups) milk, heated
1 cup flour
4 to 6 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups cream
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Combine a small amount of cold milk with flour and stir until smooth. Heat remaining milk and stir flour mixture into it, stirring until slightly thick. Beat eggs and sugar together, then stir into hot milk mixture. Cool mixture and add salt, vanilla, cream and lemon extract. Freeze in 6-quart freezer. Serves 16.
- Each serving contains 336 calories, 11g fat, 52g carb, 338mg sodium, 29% calories from fat.
- From "Pioneer Recipes" (Mrs. Gladys B. Kennard)
DANISH BANANA BLACK WALNUT CAKE
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup finely chopped black or English walnuts
2/3 cup mashed banana pulp
3 tablespoons buttermilk
Cream shortening thoroughly and add sugar gradually, creaming well. Add the beaten eggs and beat well. Stir flour with salt, soda and baking powder and mix with walnuts. Combine mashed banana and buttermilk and add alternately with the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. Pour into greased layer cake pans nd bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes. Serves 12.
- Each serving contains 221 calories, 11g fat, 28g carb, 321mg sodium, 1mg cholesterol, 45% calories from fat.
- From "Pioneer Recipes" (Mrs. Edward E. Meyer)
MAPLE SAUCE
1 tablespoon (rounded) butter
2 tablespoons (rounded) flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Melt butter, add flour, and when melted together, add water and stir until thick. Add brown sugar and lastly vanilla, and serve on any steamed pudding. Makes 11/2 cups.
- Each 1/4 cup contains 234 calories, 2g fat, 56g carb, 41mg sodium, 5mg cholesterol, 7% calories from fat.
- From "Pioneer Recipes" (Mrs. Heber H. De Priest)