Tag: Margaret Fulton Cookbook

How To Eat Spaghetti

Happy International Spaghetti Day!   We must have been pretty gauche back in the 1970s because in her eponymous cookbook, Margaret Fulton had to show us how to eat spaghetti. Lord only knows what we’d been doing before this.  Launching face-first into the plate?  Lady and the Tramping it?  Employing scissors a la Buster Keaon?

Thank goodness we had Margaret to tell us how to do it with a modicum of grace and class.

Three Steps to Spaghetti Eating Heaven

"How to Eat Spaghetti 1"

 

"How to Eat Spaghetti 2"

"How to Eat Spaghetti 3"

I very clearly remember my parents teaching me this exact method of twirling spaghetti in our favourite Italian restaurant (Leo’s Spaghetti Bar) when I was around 5. I’m not sure if they had been taking lessons from Margaret or were just trying to prevent the tabletop from looking like Armageddon.  Apparently, though this is not the proper way of eating spaghetti at all.

 

It would be remiss if I left this post without commenting on the model in the spoon twirling shots.  That woman has quite hairy arms.  Nowadays she would be epilated, waxed and / or photoshopped into hairless conformity.  The 1970s were content to let it all hang out.  Except for their spaghetti which was tightly coiled around a fork, thanks to Margaret Fulton!

If you would like to celebrate today by eating some spaghetti, you can find a recipe here!

Have a great week!

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REPOST – The Margaret Fulton Cookbook – Pork

Margaret Fulton Pork Quote
Margaret Fulton Pork Quote

I’m not a pork eater….although I have been known to steal a bit of crackling off his plate if he orders it when we go out.

On the basis of crackling alone, both of these look pretty good.  The apples in Maragaret’s 1977 port look weird and not very nice. But the modern version could do with one of the two bowls of applesauce from the vintage version.

PicMonkey Collage - Pork
Roast Pork – Then & Now

I’m really not fit to judge on this though.  So, pork eaters, which of these appeals to you you more?

And whislt they are not chops, these pictures did remind me of one of my favourite bits from the Brady Bunch …

 

Have a great week!

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Devilled Burgers. Taste Heavenly!

Like rock and roll and dancing in that town in Footloose, burgers must be the work of the devil.  There is no other explanation for something so simple tasting so good!  And that’s just normal burgers.  Once you have tried Margaret Fulton’s Devilled Burgers you will be ready to sell your soul for the recipe!

Devilled HamburgersNot that you have to of course.  The recipe is at the end of the post.  No soul selling involved!

So what makes the Devilled Burger so special?

Oh and warning ahead…I am going to drop the dreaded M word.  You know, the one that rhymes with foist.  Haters beware!

One thing  I have noticed about a couple of old hamburger recipes is that they use bread soaked in evaporated milk.  This may both look and sound pretty gross but I think this combo really helps to keep the burgers moist.  There.  I’ve said it.

Devilled Hamburgers3This mixture turns into something that resembles either wallpaper paste or the gruel from Oliver but I think it does the job.  I had these two nights running and I was expecting that reheating them on the second night would make them dry but no, they were as juicy as ever!  Possibly even better than the first night.

Other ingredients are finely chopped mushrooms (sorry Jenny), mustard, tomato ketchup, green Habanero sauce, horseradish and Worcestershire Sauce!  No wonder these are tasty little demons!

Devilled Hamburgers4These are so good.  Who could believe  ground beef could be so tasty? These have rocked straight in at number two on my best burgers ever (right behind my spicy feta burgers)!  Hmmm..,.now what would happen if you added some feta and cumin to this recipe?  The burger to end all burgers? Burgergeddon?  I now so want to try it out!

Top these burgers with your favourite toppings, mine are in the recipe below and enjoy!!!!

If serving at your own devil theme party, why not lay out your salad ingredients and condiments and any other trimmings you like and let your guests create their own version of the Devilled Burger?

Print

Devilled Burgers

Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 slices bread
  • 3/4 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 kilo minced (ground) beef
  • 2 tsp salt
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 eggs
  • 250g chopped mushrooms (optional)
  • 1.5 tsp Dijon Mustard
  • 1/4 cup tomato ketchup or mild chilli sauce (I used a combination of ketchup and green habanero sauce)
  • 2 tsp prepared horseradish
  • 2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp green Habenero sauce
  • Lettuce leaves
  • Tomato Slices
  • Vintage Cheddar, thinly sliced
  • Red Onions, thinly sliced
  • Pickles

Instructions

  1. Remove the crusts from the read, cut into squares and soak in evaporated milk for 10 minutes, then beat with a fork.
  2. Mix meat, bread, salt, pepper, onion, mushrooms, mustard, tomato ketchup and/or chilli sauce, horseradish and Worchestershire Sauce in large bowl. Mix in the eggs with a fork.
  3. Shape into 10 even sized patties.
  4. Heat some oil in a frying pan and gently fry the red onions .
  5. Preheat the grill and grill the hamburgers on one side for 7-8 minutes on one side and ^ minutes on the other. Add a slice of cheese using and grill for a further minute or so until the cheese has melted.
  6. Whilst the hamburger is cooking, toast your buns.
  7. Mix the mayonnaise and the green habanero sauce together and spread over the buns.
  8. Top with a lettuce leaf and a slice of tomato.
  9. Place the burger on top of the tomato and top with the fried onions and the burger bun.
  10. Pickles can be served on the side or in the burger or not at all!

 

Devilled Hamburgers2

Oh and look!  Is that a bottle of Lychee Beer in the background?  Yes indeed.  Just doing a little taste testing for the margarita to come.  Or should that be a lagerita?

Have a fab week!  Next time, we’ll be wrapping up our devil themed party with an appropriately titled cake from the Domestic Goddess herself!

The Devil Cocktail

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MFCB 13 – Missing from the Modern Part 3

It seems fitting that for the 13th (and last) part of this series that we hit what has to be the weirdest photo in The Margaret Fulton Cookbook. I’m not even sure where to start with this one….

  • This lady’s incredibly hairy arms?
  • The weird tan line across the back of her wrist?
  • Why would you put your thermometer in the meat and then rub the salt over it.  Surely it’s just going to get in the way?
  • What is that even doing there? Don’t you take the temperature during cooking not before?
  • Why would you even want a photo of someone rubbing raw meat?

So many questions.  So few answers…it boggles my mind!

It seems so right…and yet so wrong to leave you with this image but I’m back from holidays and normal (or what passes for it ’round here) transmission will resume shortly!

Missing From The Modern 3
Missing From The Modern 3

Have a great week!

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The Margaret Fulton Cookbook 12 – Sunday Roast Chicken

Margaret Fulton - ChickenMargaret’s Mediterranean Chicken from 1977 fits the bill of being big and fat and crisp and brown.  Not to mention utterly delicious.

Mediterranean Chicken - Then
Mediterranean Chicken – Then

And when you’re onto a good thing? Stick to it:

Mediterranean Chicken - Now
Mediterranean Chicken – Now

if only the modern picture had a glass of wine in it, it would be perfect! But both of these are pretty superb pictures, you can almost taste and smell that lovely roast chicken!

I liked this so much I made one myself:

Mediterranean ChickenI think it is such a genius idea of Margaret’s to change the vegetables from the traditional roast – the tomatoes, mushrooms and olives were delicious, although I did throw in a few potatoes too.

Here’s the recipe so you can make it too:

French Roast Chicken1French Roast Chicken2Mediterranean Chicken - RecipeHave a great week!

 

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