Easy Spoon Bread -- one of my Most Favorites

I like to reserve my last post of the year for sharing one of my favorite recipes.  Previously I have given you my Spiced Cranberry Sauce, Sweet-n-Hot Mustard, and Sweet Potato Apple Souffle.

This year I want to give you a recipe out of the same book the souffle recipe is in:  The Mount Vernon Cookbook.

ISBN 0-931917-13-1

I obtained this book in 1999 when on a family trip to East Coast of the United States.  We were visiting mostly Colonial American sites (but of course we visited Hershey, PA) and my souvenirs tend to be cookbooks!  It more like a Ladies' Group cookbook as not all the recipes are considered from the colonial period but they certainly are proven and loved by other home cooks.

I first tried this recipe in April 1999 when I left a note saying, "We love this more than cornbread!"  I have made it many times since.

Easy Spoonbread (page 157)

1 cup self-rising corn meal*  
1 teaspoon shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs, well beaten

And water.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine first 3 ingredients with 2 cups of water in saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until smooth and thick, stirring constantly.  

Stir in milk.  Add eggs and beat well.  Pour into greased baking dish.  Bake 30 minutes or until set.

My Notes

*I don't normally keep self-rising corn meal around so I put 1 teaspoon baking powder into a 1 cup measure and then add corn meal to fill the cup.

For a greased baking dish I used a greased cast iron skillet.  In the past I have used various dishes and they all work well, as long as the batter doesn't fill it too close to the top.

I think it is "set" when there are some golden brown areas on the surface and a knife inserted into the middle comes out somewhat clean.  The middle shouldn't jiggle much when the pan is shaken, either.

The puffy parts tend to fall while the spoonbread is cooling.

Keep in mind this is a very moist dish and not like your usual cornbread.

The Verdict

Success!  This is a "most favorite" because it is good!  It is moist, creamy, and pretty neutral in overall taste so it makes a good accompaniment to meats and stews.  It is also excellent as a breakfast mush, served hot with butter, syrup, jam, or a good gravy.  Sometimes I pour milk on it, too.

The only failures I have had were when I didn't cook the first three ingredients until "smooth and thick", so the middle of the spoonbread never set.  Well, we just ate around the liquidy parts.

One teaspoon of salt makes the dish taste a little salty, so if you don't like that, consider using less. I usually think about what I am serving it with and decide if salty is appropriate or not.  In this case I used the full amount because I was serving it with a lovely chicken and vegetable stew.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can modify to being a perfect side dish.  Add herbs, spices, peppers, or crumbled cheese just before putting it in the oven.  It could even be a meat-free main dish with the right sauce.  Well worth trying and playing with.

Enjoy and I wish you an excellent 2016!

Seer Torshi, Revisited and Challenged

Last April I tried the "quick" method for producing Seer Torshi or Persian Pickled Garlic.  You can read about it here:  http://historicalrecipes.blogspot.com/2015/04/seer-torshi-persian-pickled-garlic.html

It has been more than four months so I gave it a try:

The Verdict

I found the cloves of garlic to be tender (but not mushy), sour with a touch of sweet, and with a mellow garlic flavor that made me happy to eat it instead of blasted away and worried that others would smell it on my breath.

Really quite tasty with an added boon that the cloves slipped easily out of their peel with a gentle squeeze.

My guest taster and I had them as an accompaniment to a dinner of pulled pork and coleslaw, and that was a good call.  My guest taster enjoyed them even more than I did, I think!

So they certainly are labeled as a success!

But next came the true challenge....

I shared some of the seer torshi with a Persian friend, someone who has had the really good stuff (aged fourteen years!) and knows what true seer torshi is supposed to taste like....

I crossed my fingers and hoped he didn't find it wanting as he took it home and tried it....

His response:  "Your seer torshi was better than Persian seer torshi."

Wow!  We agreed that he was being honest, not polite, and I was pleased to hear him say that I had done a good job on it.  He mentioned that the soft cloves made him think they had been aged a long time.

Then he gave me some of the seer torshi he buys in the Persian markets to do my own taste comparison.  This is not the well-aged version as that type is very expensive.

I thought it was acceptable but I felt that mine was better for these reasons:

The purchased torshi did not always slip out of the peel easily, and it was messy to pull the peel off with my fingers.

The vinegar flavor was harsh to my taste buds.

The cloves were harder and the garlic flavor almost too strong for me.  

Comparison shot.  Mine on the right.

My guest taster liked them both but I found myself going back to my homemade version more often than the store bought.

Definitely a success!  And good enough that I want to make a bunch of jars to give as gifts.

I am also intrigued with the idea of making a jar that has to age for years and years.  I'm not sure that is an option but it is fun to think about.

These were good as a side dish (really a condiment) to the main course.  I think they would also be good as an appetizer with other items, like cheeses, olives, pita bread pieces, and something a little salty.

Syllabub, Overdone

It is hot outside.  Not a situation conducive to cooking or really to do much of anything requiring motion or energy.  This means my post for today is simple, cool, and easy!

I recently acquired Everlasting Syllabub and the Art of Carving by Hannah Glasse.  It is an extraction of Mrs. Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, which I already own but I wanted to compare the copies to see if anything had changed between them.  Besides, it was on sale and I was buying other books, too. (wink!)

ISBN 978-0-241-95789-9

Anyway, The Art of Cookery was originally published in 1747 in England.  I love the very beginning (page 1) where she addresses the reader:

I believe I have attempted a branch of Cookery, which nobody has yet thought worth their while to write upon:  but as I have both seen, and found by experience, that the generality of servants are greatly wanting in that point, therefore I have taken upon me to instruct them in the best manner I am capable; and, I dare say, that every servant who can but read, will be capable of making a tolerable good cook, and those who have the least notion of Cookery cannot miss of being very good ones.

If I have not wrote in the high polite style, I hope I shall be forgiven; for my intention is to instruct the lower sort, and therefore must treat them in their own way. ... So in many other things in Cookery, the great cooks have such a high way of expressing themselves, that the poor girls are at a loss to know what they mean:  in all Receipt Books yet printed, there are such an odd jumble of things as would quite spoil a good dish; and indeed some things so extravagant, that it would be almost a shame to make use of them, when a dish can be made full as good, or better, without them.

I like her attitude!  Write the recipes so that most anyone can understand and follow them and don't go crazy with the ingredients or quantities.  My kind of cooking.

What I selected to try was the recipe in the title:  Everlasting Syllabub.  A dessert!

A short scamper through the Internet tells me that syllabub has been popular since at least the 1570s (this I knew) but that the standard method of beating cream with an acid to thicken it was replaced in the 18th century when gelatins were more common.  The word "syllabub" is based on "syllable" because the mixture separates into layers (syllables) upon standing.  The gelatin (in this recipe, calf's-foot jelly) stabilized it, making it "everlasting."  I see the advantage here in that you could make this dessert in advance, which is good considering Mrs. Glasse says you need to beat the mixture by hand for one half hour.

To Make Everlasting Syllabub  (page 39)

Take five half pints of thick cream, half a pint of Rhenish wine, half a pint of sack, and the juice of two large Seville oranges grate in just the yellow rind of three lemons, and a pound of double-refined sugar well beat and sifted; mix all together with a spoonful of orange-flower water; beat it well together with a whisk half an hour, then with a spoon take it off, and lay it on a sieve to drain, then fill your glasses:  these will keep above a week, and are better made the day before.

She goes on to give some advice on the "best way to whip syllabub":  "have a fine large chocolate-mill, which you must keep on purpose, and a large deep bowl to mill them in:  it is both quicker done, and the froth stronger."  What she probably means is what we call a molinillo:



Hot chocolate as a beverage was new and popular in Mrs. Glasse's time and so having a chocolate-mill was the "in thing."  But using a whisk is fine, too.

Did you notice there is no mention of calf's-foot jelly?  That is for the second part of the recipe, which I will get to later.

My Redacted Version

I didn't want to make such a large quantity so I reduced the cream to one pint and adjusted the other ingredients accordingly.  My orange was not the bitter Seville variety, and my sack was cream sherry, which is a bit sweet, so when I converted the sugar quantity I rounded down.

1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup Gewurztraminer
1/2 cup sherry
1 large orange, juice only
1 lemon, zest only
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon orange flower water (or to taste)

Mix all ingredients in the bowl of the electric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until thick and creamy.  Follow the directions above regarding removing, draining, and serving.

My Notes

I started off with the mixer on "stir" to give the sugar a chance to dissolve.  Once the liquid seemed thicker, I bumped up the power level to the next notch.

Just starting

I watched the progress of the liquid as it got thicker and creamier but I wasn't sure when to stop the mixer.  And then, suddenly, the creamy mixture became grainy and very yellow.

Too far!  You can see the lemon zest in the butter base.

Oh no!  I had beaten it too far and turned it to butter.  It tasted pretty good but looked weird and I knew I had not achieved the desired result.  So I put most of it in a covered bowl to refrigerate but set up a quick, light dessert with the rest.

I took some Old-Fashion glasses and alternated layers of fresh, hulled-and-quartered strawberries with a few spoonfuls of the syllabub.  Then I sprinkled on a crumbly top, which was the left over crust mix from the versatile cheese tart I wrote about earlier.  It looked good!

Layers and separation and crumbles all displayed.

The Verdict

I count this as a failure because of my mistake in beating the mix.  I achieved some success because of adlibbing a dessert from it anyway.

The overdone syllabub was tasty although I didn't like the grainy butter texture.  The flavors of the wine and sherry were dominant and a good complement to the strawberries.  The citrus flavors were a pleasant understatement and the overall sweetness was low (just right). 

I was glad I put on the crumbly top -- the crunch was a good counterpoint to the cream and strawberries -- and I wished I had put some between the layers, too.

There was some separation which meant the strawberries at the bottom of the glass had "marinated" a bit in the liquid.  This was not a problem!  My guest taster and I both liked that. 

I wish I had chilled it a while before serving.  I would like to try this dessert again when the syllabub is cold.

So what about the whole "everlasting" part and the calf's-foot jelly?  If I had done the first part right, I would have gotten to that.  Of course this means I have to try the recipe again (yippeeeeee!).  Stay tuned for attempt number two!

Next day:  I tasted the chilled syllabub and, although I still didn't like the grainy texture, I liked the flavor and that it was cold.

Another Gadget Post -- A Pasta Cutter

I have this fun looking gadget in my kitchen that looks like this:

Note the orientation

How strange!  I thought about it and its parts to get a clue on what it does and decided it cuts pasta dough into strips.  My daughter searched the internet and confirmed my suspicions:  you can find it for sale listed as a vintage rotary pasta cutter or vintage noodle cutter.

The wheel width is not adjustable like some brands but if you aren't demanding a variety of noodle widths, you might be happy with this.  I wasn't quite sure how to use it but we decided to give it a try.  Of course that means we needed pasta dough!

I turned to my faithful The Great Food Processor Cookbook by Yvonne Young Tarr.

ISBN 0-394-73284-7

On page 365 you will find a simple recipe labeled

Pasta Dough

Yields enough to serve 4 to 6

3 cups flour
1 1/3 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup water

And water.

Combine flour and salt and sift together into container; turn machine quickly on and off twice.

Turn on machine and add eggs, 1 at a time, until both are well incorporated, then start the machine again and add enough water in a thin, steady stream to make a soft, well-formed, but not sticky dough.  Cover dough and set aside for 30 minutes.

Knead dough according to directions for your machine until it is smooth and elastic, then turn out onto a lightly floured pastry board.

Divide dough into 4 equal-size pieces; roll out, one piece at a time, into very thin, even sheets of pasta.  Sprinkle each sheet lightly with flour and cut into desired pasta shape.

No pastry board but a floured counter top worked great.

My Notes

I used my mixer with a dough hook to do most of the kneading and found I had to add a little more water to make the dough soft instead of stiff and hard.  Once I got the right amount, the kneading looked "right" in that the dough was being manipulated by the hook instead of just bouncing around the bowl.

To use the pasta cutter, I tried holding it and dragging it across the dough in a variety of ways.

This is wrong!  : )

This picture shows me using the cutter upside down.  Not intentionally but I realized that the metal "V" acted as a shield to keep the cut noodles from staying between the wheels as it rolled.

There were several other issues I had to deal with.  One was that the wheels didn't really roll well; this was fixed by a bit of cooking oil dribbled down the shaft and the wheels rotated by hand until they turned smoothly.  The other is that the shield kept rubbing against the wheels; that was just a matter of wiggling it back and forth until it fit over the wheels and snapped into place without touching the wheels at all.

To get it to work well, I had to push it hard against the dough and it still didn't always cut the dough through.  I suspect the wheels need some sharpening, which I didn't do, but I found the noodles separated easily with a gentle pull from my fingers.

After the noodles were cut, I hung them on a wire rack to air dry for at least 30 minutes (as recommended by the cook book instructions for cutting fettuccine).

For the second batch, we put the rack horizontally and let the noodles hang below.

The cook book recommended that we fix the noodles by cooking them "for 5 minutes in a large amount of salted water", which we did.  After they were drained, we dressed them with browned butter and minced Seer Torshi (see this previous post and the next one!).

The Verdict

I liked how it cut noodles into a sensible width and made many at one time.  It worked much better after I oiled the axle and properly aligned the shield over the wheels.  Oh yes, and it worked much better when I held it in the correct position!

The noodles themselves were tasty:  tender not chewy (I cooked them al dente) and with a mild flavor that showed off the sauce well.

Success!  I would use this gadget again, just making sure it is oiled and properly aligned.  The finished noodles are a good width for my needs and I think they would be excellent in a soup as well as with other sauces.

Medieval Makeover -- A Versatile Cheese Tart

The other day I was in a hurry.  I needed a dessert for company but I needed something that wasn't sweet.  I knew one member of the company preferred cheese and fruit at the end of his meal.  Also I wanted to try something different.

These thoughts came together to desiring something like a cheesecake but not too rich and with a good cheese flavor.

Okay, so I needed a crust.  I didn't want a pie crust; I was thinking more like a graham cracker crust.  But I didn't have any graham crackers!  So what can I do instead?  Bread crumbs!  Sweetened and spiced and buttered.

What about the filling?  I turned to a fun book, How to Milk an Almond, Stuff an Egg, and Armor a Turnip by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook.  I have previously referenced the authors when I wrote about my Strawberry Tarte post and another on Icelandic Chicken.  Mr. Friedman is known in the SCA as Cariadoc.  By the way, as of this writing, the strawberry tarte post is one of the most popular at over 1000 page views.

ISBN 9781460924983

In the Milk an Almond book I found a recipe, "For Tarts owte of Lente" (page 42) which is basically a cheese filling between two pie crusts.  What I liked is that the filling was simple, without sugar or spices.  I hoped it would bake correctly without being encased in dough.

For a topping I had fresh strawberries and some delightfully tart pomegranate jelly. (Thanks to Mrs. R and her kitchen!)

That settled it:  I knew what I needed to do.  Now to figure out the details!

So I mixed bread crumbs with vanilla sugar and spices, then mixed that with melted butter until the mix held together when I squeezed some in my hand.  I patted that mixture into my rectangular tart pan.

Then I put cream cheese, eggs, butter, and milk into the blender and whirred it until it was smooth. I poured the filling into the crust, spilled a bunch of the filling while moving the pan into the oven, and baked it until it was light brown and set in the center.

Once the tart cooled I arranged strawberry halves on top and brushed the surface with melted jelly.  The whole thing went into the refrigerator until it was time to serve it.

I only had time to take a picture of the result

Success!  It was tasty and tart and only a little sweet.  The cream cheese flavor came shining through.  It was like a cheesecake but a simple and pleasant follow up to dinner.  The crust was a little crunchy, which was nice, and with enough sweetness and spice to make it interesting.

The last bit left; saved for my daughter!

This got me to thinking about other cheese and fruit combinations that might be good.  And then my daughter came home with a desire to cook and practice taking food pictures...

Our combined efforts produced a cheddar cheese tart with spiced apple topping.

******

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

All the ingredients together:

Separate as specified

Crust:

1 1/2 cups dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
a few scrapes of nutmeg
1/16 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Mix the crumbs with the sugar and spices, then pour in the butter and mix until the crumbs stick together easily when squeezed in your hand.  You may need to add some extra butter to achieve this.

Pat into the tart or pie pan, trying to keep the thickness even along the bottom and remembering to press the crumbs up along the sides and into the corners.  Avoid making the crumbs too thick in the corners.  Set aside.

Push firmly

Filling:

7 1/2 ounces cheddar cheese, cut in chunks
3 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
(note:  Cariadoc's recipe calls for 1 T butter and 1 cup cream, which I did not have.  So I used 1 cup reduced fat milk with one extra tablespoon butter.)

Place all the ingredients in a blender, close tightly, and blend until smooth. 

IMPORTANT:  Put the tart pan in the oven and then pour the filling into it, thus reducing the chance to spill it all over!

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is lightly brown and the center is set.

Allow to cool.

The spot in the middle is loose crust that floated upward.

Topping:

2 tablespoons butter
2 medium apples, cored and chopped into chunks
1 tablespoon sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a few scrapes of nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Melt the butter in a pan and slowly saute' the apples in it.  As they are cooking, sprinkle on the sugar and spices and stir well.  If the mixture looks a little dry, pour a spoonful of water on it, stir, and then cover the pan to contain the steam.  

Note:  This makes heavily spiced apples, which my daughter and I both like.  If you don't like spices as much, reduce the quantities to as much as a half to make it more subtle.  We were thinking the spices would balance out the sharpness of the cheddar cheese.

Cook until apples are tender.  Let cool.

Yum.

Pulling it all together

Once the tart and the topping are cool, spoon the apple mixture over the top, aiming for an even spread of apple chunks across the surface.  

More yum.

Put the whole thing in the refrigerator until well chilled.

The Verdict

Yes, it is good!  The cheddar flavor was luscious, the filling was not oily (as I worried it might be, using cheddar), and the apples were spiced strongly enough to balance off the cheese.  The crust had some crunchy parts, which complimented the smooth filling and tender apples.  Success!

In some ways, it was not as good as the cream cheese and strawberry version.  The cheddar made the filling denser, more like eating a piece of cheese rather than like a piece of cheesecake.  Perhaps replacing some of the cheddar with cream cheese would make that better.  The strawberries were the perfect accompaniment to the cream cheese flavor as they were juicy and sweet.  The apples were very good with the cheddar, however our taste buds were asking for smaller chunks and a wetter topping; more like chunky applesauce.  If we did this again, we would aim for that topping goal.

We also thought about other flavor combinations that might be good, like

• blue cheese with fig jam
• bacon bits in a cheddar filling with a caramelized onion topping
• blue cheese with apricot jam
• brie and fig jam
• goat cheese and poached pears (use the ones poached in spiced wine, as in here?)
• goat cheese with lemon curd, garnished with raspberries

I would adjust the spices in the crust to best match the flavor choices.  I might not even sweeten the crumbs at all, or just very lightly.

Let me know what you try!

This could also be a very good breakfast dish...

More on Liquamen - Oh Wow!

Last May I wrote about my experiments with the Roman condiment called "liquamen."  You can read about it here:  Liquamen.  I was working from the book Cooking Apicius by Sally Grainger.

I didn't make it from fermented fish but used a more convenient recipe involving reduced grape juice and premade fish sauce.  My taste test showed that the best ratio of juice to fish sauce was 7 to 1.

Well, that turns out to be a good ratio if you are tasting the sauce from a spoon.  When it comes to using it as a base for a sauce, Ms. Grainger's recommendation of 3 to 1 is much, much better.

I have been experimenting with using the liquamen as a base for a variety of uses.  My favorite so far is as a steak sauce.  Another good use is as a dressing for steamed green beans.

Liquamen in a Sauce

Reduced grape juice and a purchased fish sauce or liquamen made from fermented fish
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper

For the steak sauce, I used

6 tablespoons grape juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Mix well in a bowl and serve with a ladle so your guests can pour on the amount they want.

For the green beans dressing, I used

3 tablespoons grape juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Mix well in a bowl and then pour over the hot, steamed green beans.  Toss to coat.  Good to toss them again before serving.

Very peppery

The Verdict

The steak sauce is very thin and runny.  I liked it poured over the steak, using enough to have the sauce make a puddle around the meat.  It is amazingly tasty and inspires the eater to want more!

In analyzing the flavors, I would say it touches all five of the tastes our tongues can sense.  It is salty, it is sour from the vinegar, it is sweet from the grape juice, it is bitter from the pepper, and the fish sauce makes it richly umami.

I wondered if the spices I used on the steak influenced my interpretation of the sauce.  Probably they do as I use a salt-free blend with black pepper, garlic, onion, brown mustard seeds, lemon peel, chile pepper, allspice, coriander, marjoram, and oregano.  Hey, I use this blend because it tastes good on the steak!  But the steak is even better with the sauce.

One of my guest tasters smoked a tri-tip and tried my sauce on it.  He said he couldn't get enough of the sauce once he started putting it on the beef.  He was surprised at its flavor because he expected it to taste fishy and it didn't.  He was also surprised at the pleasant sweetness.

And the wine!

The dressing stuck to the green beans because of the olive oil.  I liked the stronger pepper flavor and the other tastes, most of which were like the steak sauce.  I think the dressing might be even better with some vinegar in it, like an oil-and-vinegar dressing.

These mixtures are so much of a success that, once the meat and beans were eaten, we cleaned up the rest of the sauce on our plates with the pesto crescent rolls.  A simple and yet very tasty meal.

I have the ingredients to make more liquamen, so I will post updates if I find any other uses.

Celebrating the 100th Post with a Hundred-Year-Old Recipe

I was truly astonished when I realized that this is my 100th post for this blog.  How should I celebrate it?  What would be appropriate?  I struggled with that for a while.  Should I do something spectacular?  Something on the 100th page of a randomly selected cookbook?  Even though my work levels have dropped, I still have other responsibilities than cooking, so what I chose had to be reasonable in its demands.

What I settled on was using a 100 year old cookbook, which turned out to be an excellent decision for an historical recipe blog.  You see, I live in California and this year is the 100th anniversary of the Panama Pacific International Exposition, a world's fair, which was held in San Francisco.  If you know the history of that city, you know that a major earthquake followed by huge fire had ravaged the city in 1906.  The Exposition was a chance for the city to rebuild and to show to the world how wonderful it could be.  San Francisco pulled it off with style only nine years after its devastation.

http://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/images/lightshow.jpg

The fair committee created a beautiful "Jeweled City" with representations from countries around the world and from various U.S. states, along with displays of technology, agriculture, geographical wonders, and (of course) an amusements and concessions area.  You can view pictures and documents at the San Francisco Public Library website:  http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000041101  and learn even more about its history at http://www.ppie100.org/  (Their "Stories" page has a video with actual footage taken at the fair!)

One of the exhibitors was the Sun-Maid Raisin company and they published a book of raisin recipes, the Souvenir California Raisin Recipe Book, which they sold for 25 cents.  I found a copy of it on their iPad website, sunmaid.com, where they offer a selection of their raisin cookbooks from the last 100 years, available for individual download.  (Update 2024:  You can find the book by clicking here.)

If you go to their non-iPad/iPhone website, http://www.sunmaid.com/book/, you can get their PDF book and read a lot about the history of the company, including the discovery of Thompson Seedless grapes, the woman who became the face on the box, and how the Exposition lead to the company's widespread recognition.  It has recipes but not the historical ones.

On the introductory page of the 28 page souvenir booklet, the dedication is " 'To Mother' who in addition to her many other responsibilities is vitally interested in providing 'Good Things to Eat'..."

They point out that the recipes contained within are all prize recipes:  "We have eliminated all those that are commonplace.  We have printed in this book only those that produce the most delicate and most palatable foods."

I was amused at their blatant sales propaganda, under "The Economy" section:

Raisins, then, are economical because they supply the body with needed food-properties.  Nothing that is food is waste.  Raisins are not a luxury.  Economize by doing without other edibles that do not produce health, strength, and energy.  Never be without raisins.  Keep them always in the house.  Give them to the children after school in place of questionable candy.

There are several categories of recipes in the booklet:  bread, cookies, cake, candy (I guess they aren't of the questionable type), pie, puddings, miscellaneous dainties, and miscellaneous raisin dainties.

I selected "Raisin Puffs", which appears twice!  Once under puddings and once under raisin dainties.  I suspect some proofreading was neglected before publication but I am not bothered by this at all.  I liked it because it is a steamed pudding.

Raisin Puffs

Two eggs; 1/2 cup butter; 3 teaspoons baking powder; 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 cups flour; 1 cup milk; 1 cup Seeded Raisins, chopped fine.  Steam 1/2 hour in small cups.

<Note:  the other recipe says "1/2 package Seeded Raisins", which would be about 8 ounces by weight.>

Today's boxes are only 15 ounces, not the 16 ounces they used to be.

Yes, that is the entire recipe right there.  No other explanations given, I suppose because "everyone knows how to make a steamed pudding."  I decided to use my basic muffin batter mixing skills, that is, I beat the eggs and milk and sugar in one bowl, added the butter and mixed the liquids until the butter was broken up into small bits, then mixed the flour and baking powder in another bowl.  I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stirred until blended.  Then I folded in the finely chopped raisins.

Finely chopped using my ulu knife!

The batter was evenly divided into seven small glass bowls which were well-buttered.

Pre-steaming

The wok turned out to be the most convenient way for me to steam the puddings.  I had to do a balancing act to get the bowls all in and the cover on but it worked.  Once the water inside was boiling, I set the timer for 30 minutes and turned the heat down a little to generate steam without so much bouncing.  At 13 minutes left, I refilled the water supply with hot water and brought it back up to a boil.

After the time was up, I tested each puff with a toothpick to see if it was cooked in the middle.  They were all ready and I put them on the counter to cool.

Post-steaming

They looked for all the world like muffins, except they weren't browned from baking.  They slipped easily out of their bowls after I ran a small knife around the sides.

Before tasting them, I decided they needed a glaze, and what better to represent California than lemon juice mixed with powdered sugar?  I decided to glaze only four of them so the taste testing would include the original recipes.

The Verdict

My guest taster and I each tried an original puff and a glazed puff.  We both liked what we were eating:  the puffs were not too sweet and had a moist, dense texture with a mellow raisin muffin-like flavor.  I thought they needed a little salt in the batter but he, who eats much more salt than I do, did not feel it was necessary.

A closeup of the middle

Success!  I think the puffs would be a good substitute for muffins if you were camping or otherwise did not have an oven available.  I liked that they only steamed for 30 minutes, rather than the several hours a full-sized steamed pudding requires.

The glaze added a little bit of excitement but not as much as I had hoped for.  I enjoyed the puffs with and without the glaze.  I was worried at first about them not being cooked enough despite the toothpick test because the tidbits off the bottom of the bowls tasted a little doughy and floury.  However that was not the case once the puffs had cooled.

I would definitely do them again.  For variation, I would add some lemon or orange zest to the batter, and maybe some spices like cloves or cinnamon.  But they are fine as is and good for dessert, breakfast, or with a cup of coffee or tea.