1970's recipes - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: 1970’s recipes

08
Nov
2021

Cheesy Egg Dunk

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Cheese, Cottage Cheese, Dip, Eggs, Good Housekeeping World Cookery

Howdy friends, today we are starting a new Chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. We are leaving the shores of Africa and heading to the good ol’ U.S. of A! I’ll be choosing a few classics and a few lesser-known dishes from the land of the free and the home of the brave starting with this Cheesy Egg Dunk!

I find it hard to believe that there was a time when a dip was strange to anyone. However, Good Housekeeping felt the need to introduce the concept with this:

“Dunking” is an established American custom. For any informal buffet type party, savoury “dips” are very popular. Guests help themselves to the bite-sized pieces of toast, etc., and dip them into one of several soft piquant mixtures”

I’m not sure why, if it is such an established custom, why they felt the need to put quotation marks around the words dunking and dips. Maybe we just need to be glad that “dunks” did not become the preferred nomenclature!

The Cheesy Egg Dunk tastes like a smooth egg salad. Full disclosure I only had 60g of cream cheese and, as I am about to go away for a few days I did not want to buy any more so I subbed in some cottage cheese to make up the difference. My version might be a bit less creamy but it will also be lower in calories!. More importantly, it was delicious!

Cheesy Egg Dunk – The Recipe

One thing that did bamboozle me – the recipe calls for piquant table sauce. I had no idea what that is so I hoped for the best and added a 1/4 teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce combined with a few drops of Tabasco sauce. I was pretty pleased with the result but if any of my American readers can let me know what piquant table sauce is, I would love to know.

If like me you are trying to lose a few covid kilos you could have some Cheesy Egg Dunk on lettuce as a low carb substitute for an egg salad sandwich. Or, you could take it high-end and sprinkle some fancy salmon roe over the top. Ooh la la!!!!

Maybe because I used 2/3 cottage cheese instead of all cream cheese my mixture was quite soft so I did not add the milk.

Just remember, if you make it…no double dipping!!!

A Little Vacay

As mentioned I am heading off on a little holiday! I am so looking forward to getting out of Melbourne, having a break from work and relaxing for a new days! One of the delights of the Air BNB we have chosen is that it has very sketchy reception. On the upside, that means no work calls or emails! On the downside, I might not be able to post from there next week. I have however planned to cook another recipe from this chapter when I am there. Even if I can’t post I will be thinking of you all as I make it.

I have already packed my books – I am taking the next Agatha Christie on my list, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, The Devil’s Picnic by Taras Grescoe and The Lost Man by Jane Harper which will satisfy my need to have a holiday read that is set somewhat in the place where I am going. We will be on the coast and not in the outback but It is the closest I have! For the 4 hour drive there I have Stanley Tucci’s Taste all set to go on Audible!

Have a wonderful week!

24
Oct
2021

Coeur A La Creme – Murder on The Orient Express

categories: 1970's recipes, A-Zof Cooking, Dining With The Dame, France, Poirot

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Welcome to part two of my Murder on The Orient Express Trilogy! We started last week with the fun collab with Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers. Today is a regular Dining with The Dame and next week we will have an added bonus. For now though, let’s focus on my recipe of choice for Dining with the Dame which is a classic French dessert – a Coeur A La Creme, the recipe for which comes from my old favourite, The A-Z of Cooking!

And just to be clear, this dessert is French, not Belgian!

Murder on The Orient Express – The Plot

We touched on this last week but here is a quick recap. Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express in Istanbul, the train is unexpectedly crowded for the time of year. On the first night, Poirot is approached by an American, Samuel Ratchett who offers Poirot money to protect him as he has been receiving death threats. Poirot does not like him and refuses. Later that evening, after a course of events that either awake him or keep him awake, Poirot learns that the train is stuck in a snowdrift in the middle of Yugoslavia.

The next morning, Poirot wakes to find that his neighbour, the odious Mr Ratchett has been stabbed 12 times and is now resoundingly dead! With no one able to get on or off the train, due to the snowdrift, the murderer has to still be on board. As the police can also not reach the train, Poirot takes on the job of hunting down the killer.

We have:

A mysterious red kimono
A burned letter with the words “member Daisy Armstrong” still legible
A handkerchief bearing the letter H
A pipe cleaner and a box of matches different to those used by Rachett
And twelve passengers who may not be entirely who they seem!

This book is so amazingly plotted, so well written that it brings my obsessive little heart joy to think about it. Every little detail in this is plotted to the nth degree, and yet when you are reading it, it feels effortless.

Murder on The Orient Express- The Covers

The American version of Murder was called Murder on the Calais Coach. Not quite as catchy is it? I love the pulp fiction cover with the woman in the red kimono and am completely baffled by the one on its right. What are those things? They look like some weird brass band instruments!

The Recipe – Coeur A La Creme

Murder on the Orient Express has a surprising lack of food. I was hoping we would have some Turkish food from the Istanbul scenes and then some very posh French food while onboard. No such luck! My choice of a Couer a la Creme came from this passage:

‘Poirot sat down and soon found himself in the favoured position of the table which was served first and with the choicest of morsels. The food too, was unusually good.

It was not until they were eating a delicate cream cheese that M.Bouc allowed his attention to wander to matters other than nourishment. He was at the stafge of the meal when one becomes philosophic”

Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express

Coeur A La Creme is my take on that delicate cream cheese. And I am so glad I chose it. It is absolutely delicious!!! Next to that Ingrid Bergman Trout that I made last week, it is one of the most gorgeous, delicate, delicious things I have ever eaten. Think the lightest most delicious cheesecake you have ever eaten and you are nearly there! And it comes from something as gross as cottage cheese!

Coeur a la Creme is traitionally associated with romantic occasions such as Valentine’s Day. But as we are talking Murder on The Orient Express and we are in spooky season, I hope all those romantics out there will forgive me for making it a bit stabby!

Other Food Mentioned in Murder on the Orient Express

Perrier

Coffee (Multiple times)

Eggs – Eggs always make an appearance in these books! I wonder if writing about Poirot’s egg-shaped head so often made Dame Agatha hungry for them!

Orange juice

Mineral Water

Chicken no sauce

Boiled fish

Tea and biscuits

Cognac

Stay tuned next week for the third and final instalment of the Murder on the Orient Express Extravaganza!!! If you are reading along, next up is Three Act Tragedy so get reading!

Breaking news!

Dining with the Dame now has its own instagram page so if you are reading along or cooking along or just want to share Agatha Christie related recipes or book posts you can now hit me up there too!

25
Sep
2021

Melktert

categories: 1970's recipes, Africa, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Pastry, World Cooking

My recipe for Melktert comes from the South African chapter of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery and it is a baked custard tart. It is called Melktert because the day before the recipe for the OG Milk Tart went to print, someone broke into the printing press and stole all bar one of the vowels.

Some people would tell you that it is a dish that originated in Holland and it kept the Dutch spelling when it came to South Africa. However, we at RFFMT prefer not to allow truth to get in the way of a good story. Besides the visual image of a never say die printer triumphantly adding e’s to where the i and a had been, humming a prototypical version of The Shamen’s 1992 hit Ebeneezer Goode as he did so was too good not to share.

I pondered whether in homage to the melktert, I should also write this post using the letter e as my only vowel.

That idea lasted all of about 5 seconds – I got as far as “Here. Melktert. Sweet” and gave up.

The Melktert was delicious! Just the right amount of sweetness and the almonds on top gave a nice crunch. There was a lot of the filling mix leftover so I think next time I make it I will try a deeper dish which would also mean there would be more of the slightly cinnamon-y custard which could only be s a good thing! The recipe does state a deep pie dish!

Melktert :The Recipe

That’s all folks, nothing much else to say except:

Melktert – Excellent? Yes!

Enjoy your weekend!

04
Apr
2021

Eggs Hamine

categories: 1970's recipes, Africa, Easter, Eggs, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, World Cooking

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it! At Maison de la retro foods, we are supplementing our chocolate eggs with some North African Hamine Eggs. These came to us via Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. The book offers two versions of this recipe. There is the traditional way:

In Egypt there are special shops selling them; there, after the eggs have been cooked for 3 or 4 hours, they are put under the ashes of a fire and left for as long as 8 hours – this makes them as creamy as butter”

– Good Housekeeping World Cookery

Never mind the pyramids and the Sphinx. Get me over to Egypt pronto for some of those buttery eggs!!!

Eggs Hamine – The Recipe

The non-traditional version of these eggs is so easy!

Put the brown outside skins of some onions into a saucepan of ocld water with the eggs and boil for 2 hours or as long as possible. The onion skins turn the shells of the eggs and the whites brown. Shell and halve the eggs and serve hot or cold with lemon wedges, salt, pepper and mixed spices”

I cooked my eggs in the slow cooker for a full 8 hours.

Pre – Water

4 hours – One of the eggs cracked during the cooking but did not ooze out like they do when they crack during normal boiling.

Eight hours!

Note, if you decide to make these in your slow cooker, the onion skins will stain your slow cooker brown along with the eggs. Get ready to soak and scrub to remove it!

Eight hours and fifteen minutes!

I sprinkled my egg with some salt and some dukkah and dug in! It was delicious. There was a faint taste of something – not exactly onion but slightly savoury to the egg which was different to a normal boiled egg. I would not say that it was buttery but the white seemed more delicate than a normal boiled egg.

I was also very surprised to see that the onion skin dye had penetrated not only into the white which became a gorgeous soft caramel colour but also the yolk! This was startling because it is so strange to have a monochrome egg!

These were nice and an interesting experiment but for me, it was a long time to wait for a fancy boiled egg so I will probably not make them again. If I ever do get to Egypt though, I will be making a breakfast beeline for the Hamine Eggs shops!

Making these eggs might be a fun thing to do with kids for Easter or for a science project on osmosis.

Happy Easter everyone!

14
Mar
2021

Raiff of Cheese

categories: 1970's food, 1970's recipes, Africa, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, World Cooking

Hello Globetrotters and food lovers! Given we can no longer travel in actuality I guess the next best is to travel virtually via our tastebuds. And today, we are turning the page in Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery to a whole new continent! And what better way to celebrate anything but with some cheesy pastries otherwise known as Raiff of Cheese!

So, where are we off to? Here’s a clue:

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation

Yes, my friends, we are going to be blessing the rains down in Africa for the next little while. And I, for one, am here for it! Africa is a real knowledge gap for me in terms of food. I have cooked tagines and couscous, I have eaten Doro Wat and Injera in an Ethiopian restaurant and I have read about Bunny Chow and Sosaties. But that’s pretty much it for what is a massive continent! So, this will be a journey of exploration for me. Not that I am expecting Good Housekeeping from 1972 to provide any 100% authentic recipes but I”m hoping it will be enough to give me a taste of African food!

These cheese pastries or Raiff of Cheese come from the North African section of World Cookery. I chose to cook these because they reminded me very much of the Cheese Pastries we love at our local Syrian restaurant. Believe me, I could sit and eat plate after plate of their Bourak B’jebneh! I was also inspired by the menu at Shaam to use haloumi as the cheese in my pastries.

Raiff of Cheese – Recipe and My Variations

I used bought filo pastry because life’s too short to make homemade filo. If you do want to do that, here’s a recipe and good luck to you! I do want to try to make my own haloumi one day though. I think it would have been nice (but maybe not very North African) to sub in some mozzarella for the haloumi to give the pastries some lovely melty cheesy stretchiness. Next time maybe!

Another little change I made to the recipe as given in GHWC was to add in a little sauteed leek and the very last of the chervil from my garden. This combination features in many of the other North African recipes and it just so happened that I had half a leek in the fridge. I had no idea that either of these were used so extensively in North African cooking. Like I said, journey of exploration!

Finally, to serve my cheese pastries, I added a little drizzle of pomegranate molasses – the sweet-sour of this being a perfect counterpoint to the salty haloumi and some toasted sesame seeds to add some nutty crunchiness. Any chutney or relish would be good with these.

I’m not sure how authentically North African these cheese pastries are but they were really tasty. And as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti I’ll be making these again!

Have a great week!