Huevos con queso - Eggs with Cheese, a Pinedo recipe

It's time for a Pinedo recipe!  If you are new to this blog, I translated Encarnación Pinedo's 1898 cookbook, El Cocinero Español (The Spanish Cook) and am attempting to get it published.  In the meantime, I cook from it and post the attempts here on the 15th of the month.  I also publish them on my Pinedo-only blog, "The Spanish Cook Without Equal", found here:  https://pinedo1898.blogspot.com/ 

Today's recipe is on page 127, "Huevos con queso" or "Eggs with Cheese."

My Translation

Keeping in mind that she was cooking over fire; the idea of browning with a hot fire is equivalent to broiling in an oven.

My Redaction

Per serving:

butter

1 slice bread

1/4 to 1/3 cup shredded cheese

1 egg

ground pepper

ground nutmeg

The butter asked politely to be included.

Melt butter in frying pan.  Add slice of bread, sprinkle most of the shredded cheese on the bread, break open the egg, and gently let it sit on top of the cheese.  Sprinkle the egg with the rest of the cheese and then with pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Set heat to low, cover the pan, let cook for 6 to 10 minutes or until egg is cooked almost to your liking.  When the egg is nearly cooked, place pan under the broiler for a minute or two to finish melting the cheese and brown it a little.

My Notes

She didn't say to use butter on the pan, but I did anyway.

I used mozzarella cheese, although I think a stronger flavored cheese would be good, too.

I tried this twice.  The first time the heat was 2 of 10, I did not cover the pan, and after nearly 45 minutes, the egg was not cooked and the bread was toasted too much.  I put a lid on it and let it cook a few minutes more before broiling it.  The result was an egg that was overcooked (I like runny yolks) and dry toast.  Not exciting.  My guest taster didn't realize that there were any spices on it, and I had trouble tasting them even though I knew they were there.

Build the bread stack in the pan.

Bread and cheese

Bread cheese egg.

Bread cheese egg cheese spices.  Use more spices.

After about 30 minutes of cooking.  The cheese melting but the egg is still uncooked.

After cooking under the lid for about 10 minutes.  Egg is cooked.

Under the broiler for less than two minutes.

Overcooked, in my opinion.

The Verdict

The second time the heat was set a little higher, 4 of 10, and I covered the pan.  After 8 minutes the egg was nearly done but the toast was burnt (ugh).  I didn't broil it because I didn't want to cook the toast any further.

I also used more spices, but not too much.  

What I got was an egg that was cooked just right and toast that was blackened on the bottom and not tasty.  I could taste the spices, which I liked.

Attempt #2, after about 8 minutes cooked under the lid.

Egg is just right.  Toast is burnt.

My conclusion:  use the lower heat and cover the pan.  No one wants to wait 45 minutes or more to eat their egg and toast.

So success?  Almost but I'm not sure I can really count it as such yet.  With a little practice I could get the timing just right and really enjoy it.

I think this would be a good meal to serve a crowd with these modifications:  Heat the oven to 350 degrees F, use a cookie sheet and set up each serving on the sheet so you can cook a bunch at a time.  You might not need to broil them but the broiler is right there if you do.  While one batch is cooking, set up the next.  

This also seems like a good camping recipe, since you get toast and an egg with one pan (and a lid!) and one cooking run.

Cranberry Calavo Salad - Addendum!

I was wandering around one of my favorite parts of the internet:  archive.org AKA The Internet Archive.  Since my interest lie in historical cooking, this site is a treasure trove of resources.  It is fascinating to explore!  Sometimes what I find is what I hoped to find, other times I find something completely unexpected.

This adventure was learning more about Genevieve Callahan and the columns she wrote while food editor of Sunset Magazine.  In looking for those, I stumbled across the recipe and description of the Cranberry Calavo Salad.  What is exciting is that it is given as pictures!

Here it is, as found by clicking this link.  Note that their scan of the pages cut off the title.

Cut calavos length-wise; peel and dress with lemon juice-

With French cutter, cut balls from canned cranberry jelly --

Peel and section oranges; cut segments in halves -

Pile cranberry balls and orange pieces in calavo shells --

Add French dressing, and serve on lettuce.

So I was close in my rendition.  I did one big spoonful of cranberry sauce, not balls.  (I used whole berry sauce, so for balls I think you would need the jellied cranberry sauce that was uniform in consistency.)  I also sliced my calavo halves instead of using them as a bowl.  I did not cut my orange segments in two.

But I also loved the way my presentation looked, I think I would like it better than hers.  (I'm just a little biased on that point!)

While looking around even more, I found variations that skipped the orange segments and used smoked turkey pieces or ham with the avo and cranberry.  These recommend putting the French dressing on the side.

What fun!

Cranberry Calavo Salad - a recipe from the 1940s

It is the beginning of another New Year.  And again, I am astonished that I have been successfully maintaining this blog.  This is the start of my 15th year of food blogging!  I would not have predicted that I would keep it going, but it is so much fun to explore the worlds of food and food histories that writing the posts are not a burden.  They are a joy!  I love picking out a recipe, shopping and planning for it, then cooking and serving.  

One thing I've learned is that many historical recipes are very forgiving.  As they often don't have measurements associated with the ingredients, it is understandable that to be successful does not require a lot of nitpicky measuring and preparation.  Use your tastebuds, your observations (visual and olfactory), and your prior cooking experiences to help you get it right.  It doesn't always work out, but more often than not, it does.  

If you have an interest in being an historical cook, fear not!  Jump in and try it.  And have a contingency plan if the recipe just doesn't seem right.  I have, in the past, added an uncalled-for ingredient, cooked it longer, started over, adjusted the amounts called for, and well, thrown it out and ordered take out (or opened a can of soup).  Just be careful when you experiment on friends -- they need to understand the challenge you are facing and be willing to give it a try, as well as give very honest feedback.

As of this writing, the blog has had over 280,000 page views and this is my 340th post.  

Previously I wrote about several persimmon salad recipes from Genevieve Callahan's 1946 cookbook, The California Cook Book for Indoor and Outdoor Eating.  (You can search the blog for "Callahan" or "persimmons" to find them.)

For Indoor and Outdoor Eating

I've been learning more about Ms. Callahan and her influence on California cuisine, including reading a detailed thesis called "The evolution of Sunset Magazine's cooking department: The accommodation of men's and women's cooking in the 1930s" by Jennifer Hoolhorst Pagano.  Click here to see view it.

Callahan used her editorial position at Sunset Magazine to help people who lived in the West learn about interesting foods and how to prepare and serve them.  One salad that caught my attention was called "Cranberry Calavo Salad."  It is described rather than given as a recipe with specific measured ingredients:

A typical "salad" topped with French dressing and served on a lettuce leaf, but composed of canned cranberry jelly, California avocado halves, and California orange sections.

Intriguing!  I wondered how I would compose and present this salad, so of course I had to give it a try.

My Redaction

Cranberry Calavo Salad

Per person, as served on a small salad plate:

two small decoratively cut or torn lettuce leaves to cover the plate

1/2 ripe avocado, cut into slices

1 large spoonful canned cranberry sauce

5 orange segments

a significant drizzle of French dressing

Wish-Bone dressing, a taste from my childhood

Put the ingredients decoratively in layers on the plate:

Lettuce, then avocado slices (tilted slightly to the side).

Spoon the cranberry sauce into the middle of the avocado.

Arrange the orange segments in a star formation around the avocado.

Drizzle the dressing around the edges of the cranberry.

Serve with a knife and fork!

See how I tilted and spread the slices?

My Notes

I used green leaf lettuce because that looked fresh and inviting in the store.  In the 1940s, I would imagine that iceberg lettuce would be the more common choice simply by availability.  I have not researched it but am relying on my personal experience in the 1960s.

I had homemade cranberry sauce in my kitchen, but I stuck to the recipe and used canned, whole berry sauce.  

My orange was a Naval because who wants seeds?

The French dressing poured out faster than I expected but I don't think I over did it.

The Verdict

First, look at how pretty it is!  The colors are inviting, eye-catching, appealing.

I served it with a knife and fork (as the side salad to the main course) because you want to cut up the lettuce and the orange segments.  My goal for the first few bites was to get avo, orange, cranberry, and dressing on the fork, and maybe a little lettuce, too.  I wanted to see how those flavors combined in my mouth.

Wow!  They did well together, and I was impressed with how fresh the salad tasted.  My guest taster and I really enjoyed the combination.  I felt it was a light, refreshing accompaniment to the chicken and potatoes main dish.  After several bites, the idea of getting some of each flavor on my fork was over and that was not a problem.  I also enjoyed the extra dressing on the lettuce.

Success!  Easy to assemble and serve, looks great, tastes wonderful.  I recommend it for a small dinner party.  It would certainly be easy on the host to prepare.

Happy New Year 2026!!