Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Esate Sale Finds (Holly Court) ~ BRAG Book and The Williamsburg Art of Cookery

Our BRAG (Best Recipes from Athens GA) Book, published in 1984.  All recipes were compiled by the Congregation of the Children of Israel Temple, in Athens, Georgia.

Appetizers are up first with dips (artichoke, anchovy, hot broccoli or spinach), blintzes, cheese wafers, a caviar cream cheese mold, seven vegetable egg rolls, empanadas, herring salad, knishes, meatballs or sauerkraut balls, while Soups and Salads offer cabbage soup, gazpacho, hot & sour soup, steak soup, a cranberry raspberry salad, Chinese slaw, spinach salad and a Korean salad (made with bean sprouts).

Moving onto Breads, we are treated to banana date nut, cranberry nut, a cream cheese loaf, fruit tea loaf, poppy seed, oatmeal, German pretzel and a Jewish style rye bread. Vegetables consist of artichokes with lemon mayonnaise, carrot pudding, fruit compote, apple kugel, potatoes Romanov (cottage cheese, sour cream & chives), sweet potatoes with apricots, pineapple acorn squash and wild rice with snow peas.

Dishes in Entrees include beef burgundy, Hungarian goulash with dumplings, pot roast, brisket, stuffed cabbage, moussaka, fish roll-ups, flounder Florentine, lime or honey chicken, Yorkshire chicken (sage, eggs, milk & parsley), plum duck, lamb curry and liver & onions, with Dairy offering blintzes, cottage cheese pancakes, souffles, kugel, quiche and noodle pudding.

Of course the Desserts chapter is extensive, encompassing cakes: apple, banana split, chocolate chip banana, honey orange or carrot, plus cheesecakes (amaretto, raspberry), a jelly roll, pound cakes (chocolate, chocolate chip, apple or coconut pecan), brownies, cherry blossom cheese tarts, a chocolate torte, chocolate waffle cookies, powdered sugar doughnuts, mandel bread, rugelach, chocolate mousse pie and flan. There are a few Jewish Holiday Specials as well ~ challah, latkes, Gefilte fish, charoses, matzo balls, popovers and sponge cake.

We end with Etc. which are miscellaneous dishes ~ brittle, peppered pecans, granola and cabbage relish.

The Williamsburg Art of Cookery, published in 1938.  Subtitled The Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion. There are over 500 recipes in the book with the first half of the book originally printed in 1742.  The recipes are written in a narrative style with no discernible measurements ~ common for the era. The titles of each chapter are pretty amusing.

In Observation Upon Soups, we are offered asparagus soup, Scotch barley broth, calf's head soup, chestnut soup, chowders (catfish or clam), mulligatawny, pea (dry, split or green), okra soup and a snail broth, plus a few sauces ~ savory jelly, curry sauce or mincemeat sauce.  Of Flesh and Fish introduces sirloin of beef, beefsteak pie, Yorkshire pudding, beef rolls, steak & kidney pie, smothered chicken, pilau (India or chicken), chicken pudding, roast wild duck, wild goose, spice ham, jugged rabbit, kidney stew, lamb fricassee, pigeon pie, sausage & fried apples, BBQ squirrel, oyster & sweetbread pie, stuffed eggs, pickled herring, oyster loaves and turtle soup.

The options in Of Bread include biscuits, Madison cakes (made with potatoes), crumpets, potato rolls, Sally Lunn muffins, waffles, hoe cakes and cracklin bread, while Of Garden Stuff consists of asparagus in French rolls, stuffed cabbage, stewed cucumbers, pumpkin fritters, a jowl & turnip salad and potato balls. a few of the dishes in Of Pastry are caramel pie, lemon cheesecake, crullers, Damson pie (similar to a chess pie), molasses pie and snowballs (apples filled with marmalade - then baked).

Of Preserving and Pickling dispenses apricots (or cherries) in brandy, celery vinegar, pickled figs, orange marmalade, candied orange or lemon peel, sweet pickled peaches, quinces, walnut catsup and pickled watermelon rind, with Confectionery dishing out almond cakes, currant squares, Dutch gingerbread, macaroon cakes, shortbread and Shrewsbury cakes (made with coriander & brandy).

In the chapter Of Cakes,there are an assortment of yummies ~ black walnut, glazed coconut, dried prune, lemon jelly, orange wine, spice, sponge and pound cakes, plus a Robert E Lee cake and a pork cake, with Of Desserts supplying apple fritters or dumplings, blanc mange, puddings (bread, carrot, coconut, frozen plum, Dutch puff and Carolina rice), cream puffs, floating islands lemon ice cream and trifle.

Winding down, Of Healthy Drinking offers cherry bounce, apple toddies, eggnog, punches, mint juleps, shrubs, quince wine and syllabub. The final chapter, Of Christmas in Virginia, expands on the traditional feast with roast turkey or pig, fruitcake (5 varieties), mincemeat pies and plum porridge.

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