Good Housekeeping World Cookery - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Good Housekeeping World Cookery

22
Jan
2024

Classic Pavlova

categories: 1970's recipes, Australia, Desserts, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meringue

G’Day Mates! Today we are heading back to our old friend Goodhousekeeping’s World Cookery for a sweet treat from the Antipodes! People hotly debate whether the Pavolva was invented in Australia or New Zealand. We will not be entering into that discussion here. Neither does Good Housekeeping. They, rather wisely have a recipe for Pavlova in both the Australia and the New Zealand chapters! Nice diplomacy there GH!

I am using the recipe from the Australian chapter just because most of the other recipes in that chapter were awful! The recipes included things like Brain and Walnut Sandwiches, Sheep’s Tongues in Aspic, and a leg of lamb stuffed with kidneys, identified as Colonial Goose. I’m sure that 1970’s Australian cuisine was better than what is represented here. So Pavlova or Pavlova Cake as they call it, it was! Not that I minded because I adore a pav! It is one of my favourite desserts and reminds me of summer, Christmas and good times whenever I eat it!

Why Pavlova?

Anna Pavlova, the Russian Ballet dancer was the inspiration for the dessert. She toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926.

The lightness of the meringue represents not only the lightness of her steps but also her beautiful tutus. The Good Housekeeping Pavlova was wonderfully light. The meringue was crisp but it also had that lovely marshmallow inside which is the hallmark of a good pavlova.

Pavlova – The Recipe

I followed the recipe for the meringue as per Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. However, when it came to the topping I went my own way. Pavlova can be very sweet so to add some tang, I add a dollop of lemon curd into my cream. My favourite toppings are the classic strawberry and passionfruit but you can add whatever fruit you like.

Have a great week!

26
Aug
2023

Riceycoco

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, The Caribbean, World Cooking

Greetings friends and welcome to Jamaica! Today, on the back of my trip to tropical FNQ (Far North Queensland), I am featuring a recipe from the Caribbean. Riceycoco comes to us via the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). It also comes very high on the list of words I find pleasant to say! And that is all the justification I needed to make it!

Riceycoco, is as the name suggests, rice cooked in coconut milk. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast which reminded me of a Sri Lankan dish called Kiribath (milk rice). There the difference ends. Kiribath is eaten with chutneys and sambols as a savoury dish whereas Riceycoco is sweet. I am not fond of a sweet breakfast so I ate mine as a dessert, similar to a rice pudding. To amp up the tropical vibes, I added some mango to the mix.

Rice and coconut milk is a classic in many Asian countries and I enjoyed the twist of having a sweet version of something I am more familiar with as a savoury dish. It was also a nice reminder of the tropics now we are back in cold, grey Melbourne! Its also a very soothing comfort food – a little bit like being cocooned in a warm cuddlepillar!

Riceycoco – The Recipe & Notes

I used coconut milk from a can instead of fresh coconut milk.
I also swapped out the brown sugar for maple syrup.
I served some additional coconut milk on the side.
This would also be spectacular with a dollop of coconut yoghurt.

If you want to be reminded of the tropics, like a sweet breakfast or want the nursery comfort of a rice pudding why not give Riceycocoa try Even just so you get to say the name a few times!

Have a great week!

02
Jul
2023

The Zombie’s Secret

categories: 1970's recipes, Avocado, Bananas, Fruit, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, The Caribbean

Hello friends and welcome to a spooky edition of Retro Food for Modern Times. Today, via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972) we will be discovering The Zombie’s Secret. And also learning that some things are better left undiscovered. But we will get to that! So what is The Zombie’s Secret?

So, if not brains, then what is The Zombie’s Secret? What if I were to drop you a clue that this recipe comes from the Caribbean chapter of GHWC? Oh…I hear you say. It’s a cocktail. I bet it has lots of rum and is so potent it will turn you into the walking dead! No, but the cocktail in the link looks and sounds delish!!!

This is the Zombie’s Secret:

Turns out, The Zombie’s Secret is a weird fruit salad with a coffee cream topping. I’ll be honest here, I didn’t love this. I’m not a great lover of bananas and this was all a bit same-same in terms of texture. Bananas are kind of mushy as are avocados, as is cream cheese which also felt like it didn’t belong when I was adding it. It did, however, give the dish a cheesecakey vibe which was one of the nicest things about it. I toasted my coconut which added some much-needed crunch. Maybe the soft texture of banana, avocado, cream cheese, and cream is the texture of brains? Maybe this is the secret for vegetarian zombies? Maybe all the vitamins and minerals contained in bananas and avocados give our brain-hungry friends their beautiful hair and skin? Who knew discovering this secret would learn to so many questions?

The Zombie’s Secret – Recipe

The flavours in this were surprisingly good, it was really the lack of texture that let it down. I think someone (not me because ewww bananas) could use these ingredients and make a lovely cheesecake. Coconut crumb base, avocado, and cream cheese filling, topped with some bananas and the coffee spiked cream maybe with a little of Caribbean rum thrown in!

Now that sounds like a secret worth sharing!

Have a great week!

02
May
2023

Moors and Christians

categories: 1970's recipes, Cuba, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Great Name, Rice, The Caribbean, World Cooking

I love food that has an evocative/unusual name so as soon as I saw a recipe for something called Moors and Christians in the Caribbean chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972), I knew it was something I wanted to cook.

This dish which is a mix of black beans and rice comes from Cuba and looks back to the time of conflict between the Moors and Christians in Spain. It represents the end of this conflict and how two different cultures can live side by side in harmony. Which is a heartwarming story for a lovely spot of comfort food!

Moors and Christians was a great side dish to a very non-Cuban lamb and potato curry we were having that night for dinner. I could also see myself just eating it with a little pico de gallo-style salad. Or mixed some pulled beef or chicken as a burrito filling!

Moors and Christians – The Recipe

This looks to be a very simple version of Moors and Christians. There are some more elaborate versions on the internet if you want something more fancy!0

I was also fascinated to see that my dish which I cooked without a picture reference was a lot paler than most of the other dishes. I think this might be because I cheated a little bit and used canned black beans.

Travel Aspirations

I am fairly sure that Moors and Christians is the first Cuban-inspired food I have eaten. And reflecting on it reawakened a long-held desire of mine to travel there. I first got the urge after watching The Beuna Vista Social Club many years ago. The music, the dancing, the culture really spoke to me! Now that we can travel again, I guess I better start saving!

Havana here I come!

Have a great week!

26
Feb
2023

Estofado

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meat, North and South America

Hola Amigos! Today I am presenting an Argentinian dish from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). Estofado is a stew made with beef, Spanish sausage, wine, and vegetables. And it is soo good! Absolutely delicious. We loved it!

The only drawback with the Estofado was that it takes over 3 hours to cook so it would not usually be an after-work dish. I was prepared though and left the office an hour early the night I planned to make it. The good point about the Estofado is that once you have browned the meat, the sausages, and the onions, you add all the other ingredients and then leave it alone for a couple of hours so you can get on with your work (or your life)! Just don’t stay too close to the kitchen because the aroma of the slow-cooked meat and the wine and herbs is quite distracting!

I quite like to hum a tune while I cook. And during the cooking of the Estofado, I found I was singing “Estofado…” to the tune of “Desperado”. I don’t really know the words to Desperado though so my version went:

“Estofado, why don’t you come to my tummy,

You’re smelling so good I know you’re going to be yummy”

I always remember my blogger pal Jenny’s advice on photographing brown food so I served my Estofado with some butter-roasted cabbage and a Parmesan crisp to try to relieve the browness of it all. I’ll be the first to say that my Estofado was not a pretty dish, this is hearty, warming tasty comfort food! And delicious. I will be making this all through winter!

Also, as with most slow-cooked, braised-type dishes, the Estofado tasted even better the following day.

Estofado Recipe

My short trip to Adelaide was amazing. As well as getting through a lot of work stuff I was also able to fit in a quick visit here, I had a delicious lunch here and had an amazing dinner at Two Pot Screamer! On my second and final day we popped across to the Adelaide market for lunch and a Portuguese tart that was to die for! Whenever I go to Adelaide I am always very impressed by what a great food and wine city it is. I can’t wait to get back there!

Have a great week everyone!