Cook like it's 1945

I'm the world's best blogger.  Said me, never.  I have had great intentions of posting something new at least once a week on this blog and of doing series of dishes and meals so the blog isn't just a random compilation of recipes.  I had intended to and promised my faithful handful of followers I would follow along with America's Test Kitchen's "The Feed" and complete all of the "Cooking through the Decades" challenges in order as they came.  I didn't.  Once I saw the recipe from 1933 for Chicken in  Pot, I hit a wall.  I just couldn't bring myself to prepare a chicken that looked as anemic and bland as the one in the picture.  So, I skipped it.  Also, five months into motherhood, I just wasn't quite getting the hang of doing it all like so many super-moms somehow manage to.  With the title of 1945's challenge being "Wacky Cake," it just seemed to fit my life at the time, so I went ahead and made it.

If you ever did one of those volcano experiments as a kid, you'll understand the science behind Wacky Cake.  You mix all of the dry ingredients together in the pan and then make three holes where you pour the oil, vinegar and water.  When you mix it up, the vinegar combines with the levener in the recipe, which causes the cake to rise.  The recipe originated in wartime America, when rationing was at its high point.  Thus, the cake has no eggs or butter.  That makes it completely healthy, right?



















 


In the end, I thought this cake was pretty good.  It didn't have intense chocolate flavor, but it was a great quick and easy cake to put together, and it is all mixed right in the pan you bake it in, so you save yourself from having to do extra dishes.  Score!  Despite the fact that the cake is lacking eggs and butter, it was moist and fluffy.  I might just turn to Wacky Cake when I need a quick dessert in the future.  It would be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

If you're pinching your pennies, avoiding eggs and butter, or have a chocolate cake craving, give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.  If you can't access the recipe, leave a comment or send an e-mail to delicious.dairyland@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy.

Next stop:  1983 - Chicken Nuggets


I know, I skipped the 50s, 60s and 70s.  The recipes all looked great, but I didn't get to them in time and didn't feel compelled to go back and make them.  I had some extra time on my hands (how the heck did that happen?) when the 80s challenge rolled around, which was great because who can resist chicken nuggets?  I also skipped the 90s if anyone is keeping track.  I'm hoping 2013 will find me being a better or at least more consistent blogger.

If you want to complete the challenges yourself, you can access them on "The Feed":
1933 - Chicken in a Pot
1956 - Grasshopper Pie
1968 - Cheese Fondue  
1977 - Herbed Baked Goat Cheese Salad
1999 - Thai Shrimp Scampi Sauce

Cook like it's 1917

I have made a promise to challenge myself while following along with America's Test Kitchen's "The Feed" as it cooks through the decades one week and one recipe at a time.  The first was Cold-Oven Pound Cake from 1905, which was not a great success in my kitchen.  The second recipe challenge was from 1917; Chicken a la King.

According to The Feed, Chicken a la King starting appearing on restaurant menus in the 1910s, but the exact origins are difficult to trace. The dish isn't descended from royals, but is instead believed to be attributed to a restauranteur by the name of King. Original recipes called for egg yolks and sometimes even truffles.

In my family, Chicken a la King was one of those things that got thrown together as a way to use up cooked chicken, vegetables and bread that was starting to get a little dried out.  The America's Test Kitchen version of Chicken a la King definitely falls into the "not the easiest to make" category.  It was a lot more laborious than my usual throw-together recipe (or non-recipe as it were).  In the end, it had good flavor and texture, with a nice finish of lemon juice and fresh parsley.  Using Italian bread which is buttered on both sides and toasted in the oven was one of my favorite parts of the recipe, which resulted in a nice crunchy yet "fork-friendly" base for the velvety sauce.

All in all, this recipe was a success; so much so that I submitted this photo of me, my darling daughter and the dish to The Feed.

It won me an America's Test Kitchen apron signed by Bridget Lancaster and a copy of the "From Our Grandmother's Kitchens" cookbook.  You can see us featured here:  Cook Like It's 1917: Winners!

Feel free to try the recipe and let me know how the dish turned out for you.  If you can't access the recipe, leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I'll share it with you.

Next stop:  1924 - Ambrosia Fruit Mold

Cook like it's 1905

I love America's Test Kitchen.  Love it.  Their recipes may not always be the easiest, but they never disappoint.  Until recently that is, when I tried to make a Cold-Oven Pound Cake.  One of America's Test Kitchen's websites, "The Feed" is doing a "Cooking Through the Decades" series.  They are exploring the 20th century, 100 years worth of American cuisine, one decade at a time, through weekly challenges to the site's visitors.  The first challenge was Cold-Oven Pound Cake, a recipe from 1905.   

What the heck is Cold-Oven Pound Cake you ask?  I asked that too, with my initial thought being "How can you cook something in a cold oven?"  According to The Feed, when gas ranges were initially being sold, they didn't appeal to women who were used to oil and coal ranges.  So, as a marketing technique, these new ovens were billed as time savers, because you didn't have to preheat the oven to start baking.  As was the case with this cake.  You just throw it in the oven, turn the oven on and check on it when the time is up.  So I resisted the urge to preheat my oven and started whipping together the recipe.

 

America's Test Kitchen cake

The recipe itself looked delicious, loaded with butter and sugar, with the appearance of a chiffon cake but without all of the effort.  I mean, look at that photo.  Doesn't it look amazing?

I followed the directions perfectly, but in the end, I was disappointed.  I can't quite describe the "crumb" that I ended up with.  The center was like hardened gelatin or something, the whole cake was far too dense and it ended up being a squat cake instead of the high, fluffy one pictured.  I knew I didn't do anything wrong, so why would my cake have turned out this way?

Delicious Dairyland cake

One of the things I love about America's Test Kitchen is that when something doesn't work out, you can e-mail them, Tweet them, Facebook message them, whatever, and you actually get a response.  From a real person.  Here's what Belle at America's Test Kitchen had to say regarding my failed attempt at the recipe:
"We have not had similar experiences with this cake so I cannot tell you for certain what may be going wrong, but I think it may have something to do with the heating cycle of the oven you used. Some ovens cycle very high and then shut off to maintain a constant temperature of say, 350 degrees. If this happens the cake will overbrown on top and will “set” before it has time to cook through, thus the heavy, flat cake you described.  Unlike most of our recipes, the novelty of this cake’s cooking method, ie beginning in a cold oven, does present an unknown variable that cannot be avoided...And in this case, you can blame your oven, not your baking skills."

Okay, so the cake didn't technically turn out, but that didn't stop me from eating pretty much the whole thing within a couple of days.  The flavor was awesome (it can't be all that butter and sugar, can it?), so I am sure I will try to make this again sometime down the road.  Maybe after I have bought a different oven.  So now, I implore all of you, try the recipe and let me know what kind of results you get.  And don't forget to bring me a slice!  If you can't access the recipe, leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I'll share it with you.

As for me, I plan to try every historical recipe in this series.  Next stop:  1917 - Chicken A La King.