A Cuppa … What?

I’m not sure I’m so crazy this time. I just went shopping because I needed a new coffeemaker. Have you shopped for one lately? The market seems to be about half and half right now between drip and Keurig style. And about half the drip makers are higher end.  In fact, the coffee aisle seems to share that same division.

Okay, here’s a secret about me … I used to sell high end coffee. I really did. I was a barista too. It taught me that coffee can be an expensive pursuit but in the long run it doesn’t matter much. A good clean pot with some decent mainstream coffee can do just fine. Believe me. It can. Don’t get me wrong, I like really good coffee but I do just fine with standard coffee most of the time. Those expensive drinks? That is what they are, expensive drinks. Most are also calorie bombs. Splurge, if you want, but let’s get down to brass tacks … when y ou want coffee, what you really NEED  is some caffeine.  That’s why I like to go regular and if you are interested in saving money, all the better. What we all seem to need in the long run is convenience and CAFFEINE.

Okay, to clarify, I was shopping for a new drip-style. We still have a Keurig we got a couple of years ago. It makes great coffee. I also have one of those little single cup jobs to fill with my own coffee … it makes good coffee although I don’t think it is better than a good pot of drip.  But most people love the pods.  They are convenient, and the coffeemaker is fast. It should be, since a low end Keurig  costs as much as a high end drip coffeemaker.

But the coffee is gonna cost you.    Okay, I bought a big container of loose coffee that “says” 240 cups. Those are five ounce cups (another measurement that should go out the window IMHO). So figure 120 real cups of coffee (your mileage may vary). Divide that by 18 – most boxes contain 18 pods (but some boxes in the grocery stores carry 12 or even 10 – best to check what you buy, it will increase the resulting calculation). That gives us 6.667 boxes of Keurig style coffee. The “240 cup” container cost me $6.99 on sale. Boxes of 18 cup pods usually cost $9 to $13 so for theoretical purposes, let’s say $10.  Use some simple math:  for the same number of cups you are spending $66.67!

I shop around for pods and the absolute best price for them I’ve found is about 34 cents each, and that is if you are lucky … most standard brands hover around the 50-60 cent per cup mark. That same coffee I make with the drip maker comes out to 17 cents a cup. I figure using that same coffee in the little reusable pod is just a little more … using maybe one or two cents added, so that does save some money. But some of those are a pain to clean so right away, to save a little money, and you lose the convenience factor.

People used to do a major freak out if coffee went up at the store. That’s why you almost can’t buy a pound anymore … In the seventies manufacturers started skimping the size to reduce the sticker shock. They started by going down to 14 oz. Then the wholesale price of coffee went up again and they dropped it to 13oz. Now, that “formerly known as a pound of coffee” container is 11.5 oz. Sometimes 10.5!  I’m pretty sure that in the 1970s that 240 cup container was a  THREE pound container!  Now it is about a pound and a half.
So I would love to ask the manufacturers, why keep reducing the sizes if people are willing to shell out almost seventy bucks for seven bucks worth of coffee?  I propose the following promotion:  NEW, we now sell coffee in one pound cans?  Hey, we could make Coffee Can bread and cakes again.
I know, some people will say they prefer the pods because they want a choice, they want variety. Having sold gourmet coffee I say BEANS to that.  In my experience, ultimately most people tend to find something they like and stick with it.

One last word about convenience … it is all in your perception. Yeah, rinsing the pot and making a fresh pot takes a little effort. Usually one or two minutes. After that, the next several cups are MORE CONVENIENT than any Keurig. Just point and pour.

I did see one lonely percolator on the shelf when I was shopping. When I was a kid, THAT was pretty much your home option. You know what? Don’t let anybody fool you … they still make good coffee.  My mother still uses one and when I went to stay with them when my dad was still alive … gotta admit that first morning, the coffee was pretty awful. I took a look in the pot and it was disgusting … well, I’m not blaming them, they both are legally blind. I cleaned the heck out of that pot. Next batch: good coffee. Scratch that. Great coffee.
That’s the key, get that old crappy coffee residue out of anything, including drip baskets, drip pots, or even the Keurig funnel. The worst thing people can do is just rinse out the drip pot and use that to refill the reservoir.  All that yucky burned oil residue gets recycled into the innards of the machine.  Blech.  Use something else to pour your water.

Hey, I haven’t even touched on the issue of waste but I will say this: the next time you hear someone complaining about rising costs or the dangers of environmental disasters … ask to see a picture of their coffeemaker.  That will tell you something about the value of their viewpoints.

(A note on the picture … it just one I happened to have in my gallery.  You want gourmet coffee in 1880’s Houston?  I think that was your place.  Likely it was, uh, er, just coffee, but you can bet it was freshly roasted.  That was from an ad in a vintage Houston cookbook I reviewed a while back)

 

 

All Scrambled Up

Ever wonder about the origin of scrambled eggs?   Me either. 

  But here’s the deal. I like to make what I call camp style scrambled eggs.  Camp style means you don’t dirty another dish … you break the eggs into a gob of melted butter in the hot pan and … well … you scramble them up. 

So that’s not how they teach it in culinary school?   Too bad.  Saw a chef on Worst Cooks complain about the eggs not being mixed well enough. When I make them the yolk/white incorporate quite nicely, thank you very much. 

If I’m making a lot, I still dutifully whip them in a bowl, but if I’m just scrambling eggs just for me, heck, I just SCRAMBLE them. 

Old School — Again?

Last weekend was yet another twenty-five cent book sale.  I missed the month before because we had an ice storm that weekend.  But I was tempted!

Anyway, the pickings were slim this time but I was happy to find this one.

Jane Brody’s Good Food Book.  Good old Jane, the long-time health and nutrition columnist for the New York Times.  She sort of rode the bandwagon as a big deal in the 80s as the stalwart champion of high carbohydrate living.  A lot of people hold her in less esteem these days for that very stance.

But I like this book for a number of reasons.  For one, it is full of good general information about food.  All kinds of food.  Fats, proteins, vegetables, grains, herbs.  If you want to know about food, this is an excellent reference book.  And it has good recipes too.  Sensible recipes.  Tasty recipes.  I’ve heard a number of people talk down about her and this book because she trumpets high carb lifestyle.  Okay, fine.

Here’s the deal.  She advocates moderation and exercise and advises people to stay away from processed foods and too many sugary sweets and instead make food from scratch using whole grains and natural ingredients.  We live in a world of fad diets.  I have always struggled with weight and for me, the only way I seem to be able to lose and keep it off is Atkins.  Low Carb.  Sure.   I can do it.  It gets boring but I like meat, I like salads and veggies.  Not as much as I like biscuits and cake but I can get by, for a while.  You hear about Paleo.  Frankly, I figure Atkins basically IS paleo.  I have a book somewhere called Neanderthin … same deal.  But the thing to remember when you want to tend away from grains and such is this: people who truly LIVED  paleo, didn’t really live that long.  Sure

But the thing to remember when you want to tend away from grains and such is this: people who truly LIVED  paleo, didn’t really live that long.  Sure Saber-tooth cats jumped out of trees but that only indicated that they ate simply because life was hard.  Civilization didn’t come around until, guess what, they started growing grains.  All this grain stuff didn’t just pop up in the last few dozen years, this grain lifestyle has been a predominant part of human existence for THOUSANDS of years.  We didn’t start advancing as a civilization until we started growing and harvesting and sustaining ourselves with grains.

This isn’t  bad stuff, really,  but we’ve degraded.  Sugars and genetic engineering and oddball fats and trans fats and … the worst of all … corn syrup derivatives (goes back to sugars, I know but they are much worse).  I cringe every time I see somebody pick up a jar of “reduced fat” peanut butter at the store … because I know it has been processed with a hefty dose of corn syrup.  Geeze, I want to tell them, pure peanut butter isn’t that bad.  Check for evidence of trans fats but you don’t want that corn syrup.  It is used to augment so many products, especially products being marketed in some way to make them appear healthier — when in fact, they are much worse.  People are trickle fed corn syrup in alarming quantities — and then they wonder why diabetes seems to be on the rise.

Hmmmm, maybe growing grains isn’t good for civilization after all, maybe the faddists are right.

With Jane, you get none of that stuff.  Back to basics.  Portion control.  A little of this, a little of that.   Take a walk.  Why do people vilify her?  Because she’s an outspoken woman?  I dunno.

I already had this book, BTW.  I just picked it up because it was signed.  As we all know, a signed copy is a “must buy” for that crazy cookbook guy.

A Question of Convenience

I don’t even know where I got this book. I was shifting some boxes and it just fell out. That’s the problem with being a Crazy Cookbook Guy … I’ll pick these things up and forget about them sometimes. It is not even the sort of collectible cookbook I usually buy, I mean, it is too new (2005). It might have been a gift, but frankly I just don’t remember where I got it. The “$1” sticker is a strong indicator that I might have found it at a yard sale, but sometimes the twenty-five cent sale books have old yard sale stickers, so it is hard to tell. Most of those books end up clumped together though … in one of the growing number of tubs I have.  Anyway, fate put it back in my hands and now I feel compelled to share it with you, my dear and loyal readers.

Mini-Mart à la Carte by Christopher Rouser & Victoria Traig is actually an interesting little book. As the title implies, it presents a number of recipes based upon things you could buy in your neighborhood convenience store. I have to admit, a lot of thought went into this book. Years ago I envisioned something along these lines for fanciful recipes, like using so many packets of sugar or salt, or my favorites, or making a quiche with x number of small half and half creamers. That’s about as far as I got.  These guys take that idea and moved it to an entirely new level. They should go on Chopped.

Now some of the ideas are just silly, like The Kevin Bacon where the chef is instructed at one point to sculpt a brick of cream cheese into a likeness of Kevin Bacon. I mean, it doesn’t even have bacon in it, just Bac-O’s. Other “recipes” are decidedly simple, like their version of franks & beans, something they call Weiner Bean Bucket. Poop on a Pringle is very simple, and awful sounding … bean dip on a Pringle topped with a piece of Vienna Sausage. Mmmmmm.

A couple did catch my eye, though. The Trojan Horse is very interesting indeed. If I ever go on Hell’s Kitchen I will serve a variation of this to Chef Ramsay as my signature dish! Basically, you trim and hollow out a brick of Spam and sculpt pieces to resemble a … Trojan horse.

There are no Greek warriors inside, you stuff it with Cheese Whiz. Pure Genius. And look at it … a veritable piece of art.

 

 

 

Another dish that I thought was cute, albeit simple, was the Corn Dog Kabobs.

You cut away sections of the corn dog and using the stick as a skewer you separate sections with tater tots. I mean, what a great idea! And Kids would love these!

 

This book runs the gamut … 100+ pages of this stuff, including Pigs in a Poncho (hot dogs in a tortilla), New England Spam Chowder, Sardines Rockefeller, Fish Sticks Amandine … it goes on and on. Drinks include The Pink of Health (Smirnoff Ice and Pepto-Bismol) and The Mickey Rourke (Mickey’s Malt Liquor and Strawberry Soda). Desserts are not left to chance with Ho Cakes (made with any Hostess product, whipped cream and almonds) and Creamed Candy Corn (candy corn and butterscotch topping). I’m just scraping the tip of the iceberg off my shoe here folks. This blog would be as long as the book itself if I continued.

It’s a fun read … and even has some fun convenience store trivia. For instance, it claims that 1 in 9 people in the US will eat at least one hot dog in a convenience store every year. That’s a scary thought. Some of those people can vote too … and serve on juries. Think about THAT while you’re pumping your gas.

Dealing with Pressure

A few weeks ago my trusty 40-year-old MirroMatic failed.  Oh, I’m sure it is repairable, there are like three things that can go wrong with a pressure cooker and two are easily repairable and even the third can be repaired.

Ah, but the thing about it is, pressure cookers have come a long way in 40 years.  So I asked for a fancy new electric cooker appliance for Christmas.  The Instant Pot combines ostensibly six functions in one.  Realistically, it is probably like three or four, but we’ll let them have a little leeway with what they claim.  It can function as a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, a rice cooker and a steamer.  I forget what the other two are supposed to be, saute and something else I think.  I don’t care.  Four items are good.  There is a newer model that covers seven functions but near as I could tell, the seventh function was as a yogurt maker … didn’t really need that so I went cheaper.

I have to say, it functions pretty well as a pressure cooker.  It also does the job as a slow cooker.  Haven’t tried the other functions but did use saute to brown a brisket prior to slow cooking.  It has a really nice stainless-steel pot that seems very durable.

This leaves me to find new recipes … and sadly, due to a lapse in my organizational abilities, your crazy cookbook guy can not easily find his pressure cooker cookbooks.  I sought out some facebook groups … they are a trip.  Mostly new owners, like me.  Well, not like me because I am a seasoned pressure cooker user.  Yes, it has a lot of fancy pre-timed buttons for cooking soups, stews, poultry … that sort of thing, but it also has a manual setting where you can set the timer yourself.   With that, you can use any pressure cooker recipe … which is what I have been doing.  Most of these other newbies seem more obsessed with things like hard boiled eggs and oatmeal.  Who needs to do those in a pressure cooker?  I mean, I do old-fashioned rolled oats in the microwave at 80% power for four minutes.  They’d cook in three minutes but they tend to boil over so I opt to lower the power so it cycles on and off and the bubbles die back down.

Anyway, I delved into my old MirroMatic pressure cooker manual, which already has more recipes than the book that came with the Instant Pot.  I found the first recipe I ever cooked in the old pressure cooker, Porcupine Meatballs.

I found the first recipe I ever cooked in the old pressure cooker, Porcupine Meatballs and made that as my first Instant Pot dish.  They were delicious and came out about as pretty as they ever did in the old one.  Maybe prettier.

 

Holiday Recap …

My family always complains that I am hard to buy presents for.

Who … Me?

I’m That Crazy Cookbook Guy … what’s so hard?

Well, I guess some of them have managed to crack the code.  I received  eleven cookbooks this year for Christmas.  It is a win/win situation.  I get to open a lot of presents and most of the givers get to save money because what I like the best are used cookbooks … my wife gave me most of them and she knows where I like to shop.  I love you, honey!  I have to tell you, the wrapping paper was wadded up knee deep around me … that’s why I call it pre-trash.

Let’s start with the biggest … a gift from two of my sisters, Alton Brown’s book on baking, I’m Just Here For More Food.  Talk about cracking the code … this one is signed!   I like Alton but do his books always have to be so big?  Still. it is nicely done and it has a lot of excellent information.  I’ll be pouring over this one.  And signed, for me, is a must-buy.

Speaking of signed … my daughter’s fiance is well on the way to buttering up his future father in law … he snagged a signed 1979 fundraiser called Dining With The Daltons … put together by then first lady of Virginia Edwina Dalton for a charity she was funding.  It not just signed, it is even personally inscribed.

This same prospective son-in-law sweetened the pot by giving me another quite unusual cookbook put together by an Iowa group to commemorate artist Grant Wood, The American Gothic Cookbook.  It even has recipes used by Grant Wood himself, as well as from the family and even from the the models he used for the famous painting, along with a lot of good Midwestern fair from Iowa natives and notables. The models were his sister and his dentist, by the way … a tidbit I picked up from the book.  Unusual–I like it!

  Speaking of unusual, The Original Show World Cookbook does not have a flashy cover, but it was put together by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Showmen’s League of America.  As I thumbed through this 1974 book I realized that could only mean one thing:  Carnies!   How cool is that?  It is just the sort of offbeat fundraiser I like.  People like to call them church cookbooks but, seriously, there are fundraiser cookbooks from a wide variety of sources and organizations. Even Carnies.

I got two Fanny Farmer selections.  One was a 1965 edition of her famous cookbook that originally dates back to the 1890’s.  I have a paperback but did not have a hardback until now. 

I also received a 1972 reprint of her 1905 Fannie Farmer’s Book of Good Dinners. Both lack dust jackets but they are in excellent condition.

My interest in Bi-Centennial cookbooks was addressed by a small book called The Old Farmer’s Almanac Colonial Cookbook. This is another sub-collection … one that grows and grows because it was a very popular commemorative item in the mid-70s.  For me Bi-Centennials are a must-buy.

A 1980 fundraiser called Vermont Grange Favorites was a good choice. For a source of good home-style cooking the combination of the Grange and Vermont can not be beat.  Looks awesome.

Top Secret Recipes Classics is another one that might be a repeat, but it is a hard bound copy of one I think I might have in paperback.  It is chock full of clone recipes for many well-known brands and products.

The 1978 book, Eudora Garrison’s It’s Not Gourmet-It’s Better, is a winner as well. She was a long-time food editor at The Charlotte Observer.  I have a sub-collection (or have planned one) of tv/radio/newspaper personalities’ books.

Finally, I received E. Mae Fritz’s Prairie Kitchen Sampler – Sixty-Six Years of a Midwestern Farm Kitchen.  Part cookbook, part oral history … marvelous book.  Can’t wait to spend some time reading the stories along with the recipes.

Hard to buy for?

Me?

Hahahahaha!

One Reason I Collect Old Cookbooks

This article by Megan McArdle from last Friday’s Bloomberg View is essentially a primer on why I like old cookbooks.  I don’t have permission to reprint it, so I’m just sharing the link for you to enjoy.

The short of it:  we may have more sophisticated ingredients and better equipment these days, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t wisdom or learning from the past.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-30/friday-food-post-the-economics-behind-grandma-s-tuna-casseroles

Is That Kosher?

You bet it is.  Jewish Cooking In America by Joan Nathan  is one of my rare recent cookbooks.  Hah.  Recent?  It was first published twenty years ago and as near as I can tell it is still in print.

Marvelous cookbook, but it is so much more.  It is a history of the various waves immigrations.   Okay, here’s a tidbit about me.  I have a degree in History.  Sure I love food, but I also love history.  History of Food?  I’m in heaven.  I’ve barely glanced at this, but I plan on reading it cover to cover.   There is way too much information to relate in any detail, but I’m not actually reviewing most of these books, just trying to give you a brief glimpse into why I found it collectible.

Odd things attract me.  For instance, I opened the cover and there was a greeting card stuck inside, a Mother’s Day card for a Grandmother that started “If they had a Grandma Hall of Fame You’d Be There …”  and the card completes the thought.

Awwww … then off to the estate sale as soon as you are gone.  I am always amazed that families get rid of things like this.  Maybe everybody already had a copy?  It’s a great book, really.   And Grandma kept the card!

One of the really cool features is inside the front and back covers … a collage of ads in Hebrew.  Really interesting with a few identifiable products to those of us who don’t read Hebrew.

These ads complement some of the wonderful pictures inside the book, referencing past times and the origins of products and traditions and reflecting the history.  Yes, I’ll say it again. There is a lot of history in this book.  And there is a wonderful section with a lot of menus suggestions.

Here is one for an Eastern European Friday Night Supper.  What time should I show up?

I wish the wonderful interior pictures were of a quality that I could share, but I tried.  The cover photo is a good example, but most of the pictures in the book, although informative and a good supporting tool for the text, were grainy and did not work for this blog.  I guess you’ll have to buy the book.

My one other complaint, and this directly related to this blog mind you, it has nothing to do with the book, I mean, not really, is the fact that even the recipes have a great deal of historical lead-in.  The only recipes that don’t take a full page run over to the next page.  And most of the recipes are on the facing pages.  It makes it hard for me, your Crazy Cookbook Guy, to take a good picture of one of the recipes to share.  Small complaint.  I have the book to refer to.

Still, I managed to find a couple I could try to include but they may be hard to read in the photos I take.

Jerusalem Hummus needs no introduction.  I mean, who doesn’t like Hummus?  Well some people, but I love it and it fit and it has a good leading story.  So, buy some chick peas, and some tahini and enjoy!

I picked the other recipe to help illustrate the depth and breadth of this book.  It covers the entirety of Jewish immigration.  I mean, who knew Sephardic Jews came to New Orleans via Jamaica in the 1860s?  I didn’t.

If you ever come across a copy of this delightful book, I hope you pick it up. The history and recipes weave a story of struggle and success and faith and family.  Even though I got it for a quarter, I think I would have picked it up in almost any used bookstore I frequent, it is that good.

Chili! That Crazy Cookbook Guy and A Bowl of Red

Today’s entry is not really a cookbook, but it is a fun read and an interesting addition to any cookbook collection.   A Bowl Of Red by Frank X. Tolbert is, as the subtitle says, “The Classic Natural History of Chili con Carne with Other Delectable Dishes of the Southwest.”

Understand this:  Frank X Tolbert pretty much invented Chili Cookoffs, along with the other legendary chili master Wick Fowler.

It was first printed in 1953 and this edition was from 1988. I already had a copy of this but picked this up primarily for the inscription.  I mean, it was a quarter, right?  I think a goodly number of these sale books are from estate buyouts.  If you have mementos and  keepsakes remember this: no one but you has the same sentimental value.

Check out the inscription … this meant something to somebody.  Heck, if I won anything at any chili cookoff I’d think … wow, I won, and I’d cherish anything, even if it was just a book.  I hope he or she read it.

You should remember something else.  Since it is going to one day drop into my hands, please tell us what Chili CookOff and where it was?  Please?  Silly me, I actually spent an hour trying to look up chili cookoffs.  Sigh.

No recipes in this but it is chock full of deep and insightful historical fact and folklore.  I loved the stories and the country wit.  Many tales make my mouth water, like the one of Early Caldwell, legendary tamale maker in Athens TX,  How I wish I could have tasted even a bite of one of his tamales.

The book goes through many stories like that, making it a quick read, albeit with breaks for the many meals it requires to get through.  It follows the culinary history of the southwest.  I love the quote in the “prologue.”  It is a good indicator that the source material fits the subject matter … at that point (probably in the 40s or early 50s) Cap Warren had been cooking for cowboys for fifty years.

In short, if you can enter a chili cookoff and win a copy of this book, please do.  If that seems a bit far-fetched, trust me, if you can find a copy by more normal means, it is a good read and you’ll be glad you read it.

A Nautical Look At Motor City

At first I thought to myself, “yeah, right,” when I saw the title The Detroit Yacht Club Recipe Book.  It was published in 1978.  If you, like me, have never even been to Detroit, the idea of  a Detroit Yacht Club might seem a bit incongruous at first but when you think about it, Detroit is basically surrounded by water, just relatively short hops to both Lake Erie and Lake Huron.  As I quickly scanned it, I also realized that 1978 was still the heyday of big Detroit, the automotive capital of the world so I bought it.

It is a nice little cookbook, published via a commercial cookbook publisher, but it gives no indication that it was created as a fundraiser.  Not that it wasn’t, but it doesn’t say so.  Still that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a community project.  Some organizations put these sorts of cookbooks together for pure local enjoyment.

I looked it up.  The yacht club still exists and still has the same imposing building.  According to Wikipedia, it was built in 1924.  The club is located on an island that skirts the border with Canada, providing easy access to either of the two big lakes (plus other bodies of water).  Apparently it is a popular wedding venue.

All the section dividers have original art and interesting sailing terms applied, like Dry Rot-appetizers, and Main Sheet-Meat Casseroles.  These are all trumped by my favorite … Gunkholing – Soups & Stews.  Ha!  Even funnier … gunkholing is in my spell checker.  Wow.

The recipes are pretty standard fare for 1978, but there are some fun items.  One of the most fun?  There was a freebie tucked inside for a “Strawberry Jelly Salad.”  Why is it fun?  This is an exact copy of one of our regular Thanksgiving family recipes.  Exact.  I’ve seen some close before, but not this one in just this form.  In fact, it is a Strawberry Jello Salad with bananas and strawberries mixed in, divided, and molded in two stages with a thick layer of sour cream between the layers.  Good stuff.  If you want to see this one, ask and I’ll post it in a comment.

Anyway, I picked four different other recipes to share … just showing some of the depth of the inclusions.

Peanut Blossom Cookies just sounded kind of fun.  Sort of a budget Reeses?  This looks like a good recipe.  Or maybe I’m just hungry.

Not sure I like the thought of Applesauce Meat Loaf, but it is unusual.  Might be good.  The applesauce mixture is placed in a ‘crater’ you make in the middle of the loaf.  Never seen anything quite like that before.  This was the first recipe in the “main sheet” section.

The Eggplant Mediterranean is looks like a really nice vegetable casserole.  Just sounded good to me.

Same with Swiss Eggs.  Not sure what they mean by “coffee cream” — light cream?  Glad they gave a substitute.  I guess like “Hawaiian” meaning it’s sure to have pineapple, in this case, “Swiss” means it has to have Swiss Cheese.  I am fond of baked eggs, so I’ll probably make this sometime soon.

It is an interesting cookbook from an interesting place, certainly not your usual fundraiser but any community is a community I guess, even the Yacht Club community.