I have great grandmas wooden box of recipes. It is a treasure of nostalgia and a few good recipes from magazines, newspapers, cookbooks and a neighbor or two. The sisterhood cookbooks are next to the box.
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Well, now I want Millie Feinberg's Orange Soda Chicken recipe.
Meanwhile, I'll console myself with some of that excellent rice.
Meanwhile, I'll console myself with some of that excellent rice.
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I started a tradition when I was raising my children. I named my dishes from the lovely women who gave me the recipes. Especially my grandmothers recipes...Millie's Kugel, Dianne's pea soup etc. They are treasured recipes. I do remember after my Mother passed away I had an abundance of cookbooks that I already had. I gave them to Jewish charities and her friends all saw her name in them and gave them back to me!!
Mea Culpa...great article that brought back memories of company coming over!
Mea Culpa...great article that brought back memories of company coming over!
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the new dish is really just that...a new dish, albeit a really good one. Great main vegetarian main course, or a side for everyone. Bit doesn't seem like just a tweak of the original spinach and rice, with all that cheese and butter. And I have found that frozen spinach is indistinguishable from fresh in this kind of preparation, once the fresh is cooked, chopped and drained. Might save a few minutes. And the original is still great. But with cheese or butter you won't find either at a Kosher Rosh Hashanah table with meat, of course.
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Yeah, I did wonder about that a bit! I guess it's for a "Reform" Rosh Hashanah.
What a lovely story. I have not thought about my grandmother's "Company Chicken", baked with pineapple and prunes(?) and her go to ingredient - lots of paprika. While it is certainly not the best thing I've ever tasted, the memories are wonderful. Thank you David.
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Food and dining is a social experience. There is a reason we have the term "Comfort food." There are foods that make us feel safe and secure, as well as bring memories of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, holidays, and other important moments in life. Food is more than body fuel.
For readers in college, try to take a food history course. Social class, religion, ethnicity, and even education, are reflected in food. Exploration and settlement paths can be seen by the non-native plants taken with them, and accompanying them home. Instead of a book club, have a food club. Potluck. Explain the dish or ingredient.
When I was still teaching, at the university level, I had a food tasting for each session. Sometimes it was totally fun, like Mountain Dew Cake. Other times, it was more serious, such as molasses cookies. Molasses recipes were popular during WWII as a sugar substitute. Or, a Depression era recipe that used egg yolks left over from a cake. It is a recipe that always surprised students, who generally throw away the yolks. Saving them never occurred to them. We discussed potatoes, chocolate, coffee, and tomatoes. I also did a chocolate and cheese tastings. Each semester, a few students would discover they loved herb goat cheese.
History and sociology are so much more interesting when food is used. I understand allergy concerns, but the public school clampdown on "unhealthy" foods has removed a powerful teaching tool.
For readers in college, try to take a food history course. Social class, religion, ethnicity, and even education, are reflected in food. Exploration and settlement paths can be seen by the non-native plants taken with them, and accompanying them home. Instead of a book club, have a food club. Potluck. Explain the dish or ingredient.
When I was still teaching, at the university level, I had a food tasting for each session. Sometimes it was totally fun, like Mountain Dew Cake. Other times, it was more serious, such as molasses cookies. Molasses recipes were popular during WWII as a sugar substitute. Or, a Depression era recipe that used egg yolks left over from a cake. It is a recipe that always surprised students, who generally throw away the yolks. Saving them never occurred to them. We discussed potatoes, chocolate, coffee, and tomatoes. I also did a chocolate and cheese tastings. Each semester, a few students would discover they loved herb goat cheese.
History and sociology are so much more interesting when food is used. I understand allergy concerns, but the public school clampdown on "unhealthy" foods has removed a powerful teaching tool.
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Thanks! and I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence. Everyone is SO paranoid today, you can't even give a child a birthday cupcake anymore without an uproar. And don't get me started on peanut allergies (which are real, but which opened to door to a lot of people claiming all kinds of made-up allergies).
School used to be a wonderful way to learn about food...ethnicity...sharing customs. So much of that gone, in a blaze of PC paranoia.
My first grade teacher -- very unusually, for 1960 in the Midwest! -- was an Japanese-American young lady, who was from Hawaii. She taught us about the Japanese tea ceremony, and made us green tea from scratch, whisked with a bamboo whisk and served to us in little china cups without handles....and served us rice crackers with it! It was amazing and now, many years later, I realize quite wonderful.
A lot of this has been lost in modern day schools. Not to mention, the cafeteria foods used to actually be GOOD -- cooked from scratch! -- and now they are an abomination.
School used to be a wonderful way to learn about food...ethnicity...sharing customs. So much of that gone, in a blaze of PC paranoia.
My first grade teacher -- very unusually, for 1960 in the Midwest! -- was an Japanese-American young lady, who was from Hawaii. She taught us about the Japanese tea ceremony, and made us green tea from scratch, whisked with a bamboo whisk and served to us in little china cups without handles....and served us rice crackers with it! It was amazing and now, many years later, I realize quite wonderful.
A lot of this has been lost in modern day schools. Not to mention, the cafeteria foods used to actually be GOOD -- cooked from scratch! -- and now they are an abomination.
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I just appreciate this great story about your mom. You created such a great sense of her through the food that she made. My mom did some stuff in the same genre: the casserole at Thanksgiving with mushroom soup, string beans, and those fried onions from the can, gravy where she'd put in the Kitchen Bouquet to make it just the right color, jello treats. Oh, she had this good one where she'd toss in all these crunchy veges like carrots and celery and bring them into this cranberry jello mold dish. Now she is Ms. Organic, sustainable, local food cooking guru, but we sometimes have to remind her of the good ole days.
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In its defense, Kitchen Bouquet is a completely natural product -- not a dye -- and it is made from caramelized carrots!
It is very useful for making gravies look more appetizing or putting a sheen on a turkey or roast chicken. It's just cosmetic (it has no real flavor), but you eat food first with your eyes.
It is very useful for making gravies look more appetizing or putting a sheen on a turkey or roast chicken. It's just cosmetic (it has no real flavor), but you eat food first with your eyes.
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My very favorite dish is a riff on this - ground lamb, rice, and toasted sliced almonds, made in the same enamel dutch oven. I'll have to try this wonderful veggie variation.
Like my mom, exactly. And oh those meals for company!
Egg salad pressed into a copper fish-shaped mold, homemade baked beans, oven-fried chicken.
I have never tasted prime rib like my mom's: that sensation of paprika and flour encrusted fat melting in my mouth!
I feel like a sandwich generation, cooking-wise, because my middle daughter makes magic with anything she prepares in the kitchen.
My best memories are of cooking with my daughters. And now that they are in their 20s and 30s, my best times continue to be when they come to visit: we have a gourmet breakfast, bike to the grocery store for food, hang out in the kitchen, cook, and eat. At night, we eat homemade popcorn (my contribution to the family gastronomy) while watching a TV movie, go to sleep and repeat.
The old Chinese courtyard houses have a central kitchen and then parents and grown children lived in their own spaces, coming together for meals.
I've offered to supply three micro houses in the backyard for my daughters.
Egg salad pressed into a copper fish-shaped mold, homemade baked beans, oven-fried chicken.
I have never tasted prime rib like my mom's: that sensation of paprika and flour encrusted fat melting in my mouth!
I feel like a sandwich generation, cooking-wise, because my middle daughter makes magic with anything she prepares in the kitchen.
My best memories are of cooking with my daughters. And now that they are in their 20s and 30s, my best times continue to be when they come to visit: we have a gourmet breakfast, bike to the grocery store for food, hang out in the kitchen, cook, and eat. At night, we eat homemade popcorn (my contribution to the family gastronomy) while watching a TV movie, go to sleep and repeat.
The old Chinese courtyard houses have a central kitchen and then parents and grown children lived in their own spaces, coming together for meals.
I've offered to supply three micro houses in the backyard for my daughters.
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This sounds delicious, with substitutions of butter, fresh spinach, good, imported Parmesan cheese, and Jasmine rice. Thanks for sharing!
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Made it this afternoon, and it was really good!
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Beautiful food coverage as always. Gorgeous photos...thanks so much
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Lovely piece---looking forward to trying this, as I love all your recipes. Thanks, D.
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Having read your Aunt Edith Jewish Holiday article last year, I was inspired to bake ahead and freeze for Rosh Hashanah this year. I have two cakes in the freezer and a feeling of equanimity that I would not otherwise have at this time of the year. Much gratitude to you and your Aunt Edith!
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Please, do you think your Aunt's recipe for sweet and sour brisket could be in a future column?
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No one cooks rice like the Persians;) It's a proven fact already!
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That's because you don't have orange soda to put on the chicken like we do.
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I actually tasted one of those Persian rice dish while visiting a friend from Iran. I never liked any other way of cooking rice again, it was the best rice dish I ever had.
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This sounds great. Our Thanksgiving tradition is to have at least one new side dish to serve with the bird. Baked Spinach Rice will be on our table this year, perhaps with more seasonal dried cranberries instead of currants, but I'll certainly be preparing the dish before November. Eager to try it. Thanks for the recipe and thanks for the family story.
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My favorite rice recipe is ultra-simple.
After measuring and adding the water to the pot to cook the rice, I always add a cup and a half of frozen corn (measure to your likeness) to the water. When the boiling of the water with the corn is ready, I add the rice and reduce the temperature to minimum. The only caution is to occasionally mix the contents because the corn tends to float to the top and the rice sinks to the bottom of the pot. I happen to love corn and when mixed with rice, its natural texture and sweetness blends well with the rice. Also making a large pot of the stuff is great for lazy meals … just zap some of the stuff in a microwave. (More on this idea below.)
When I cook I like to keep the recipes simple on their ingredients. Quality ingredients make for quality suppers. As price is important, I always search for quality meats that are on sale. Buying additional meats on sale go into the freezer for future use.
Also I like to cook large amounts of the meat dishes in a large stock pot with vegies. I will also add two large cans of diced tomatoes and herbs to the pot. In later days I spoon some of the cooked stuff into a Pyrex dish, zap it into the microwave and … a lazy but delicious supper. Spooning the stuff on microwaved pre-cooked rice (see above) is part of the lazy quick but delicious meal.
This is a great formula for busy lives … and it works.
After measuring and adding the water to the pot to cook the rice, I always add a cup and a half of frozen corn (measure to your likeness) to the water. When the boiling of the water with the corn is ready, I add the rice and reduce the temperature to minimum. The only caution is to occasionally mix the contents because the corn tends to float to the top and the rice sinks to the bottom of the pot. I happen to love corn and when mixed with rice, its natural texture and sweetness blends well with the rice. Also making a large pot of the stuff is great for lazy meals … just zap some of the stuff in a microwave. (More on this idea below.)
When I cook I like to keep the recipes simple on their ingredients. Quality ingredients make for quality suppers. As price is important, I always search for quality meats that are on sale. Buying additional meats on sale go into the freezer for future use.
Also I like to cook large amounts of the meat dishes in a large stock pot with vegies. I will also add two large cans of diced tomatoes and herbs to the pot. In later days I spoon some of the cooked stuff into a Pyrex dish, zap it into the microwave and … a lazy but delicious supper. Spooning the stuff on microwaved pre-cooked rice (see above) is part of the lazy quick but delicious meal.
This is a great formula for busy lives … and it works.
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WOW - Uncle Ben's - I buy aged Indian Basmati rice in 25# bags.
Bet Uncle Ben's processed rice is at least 2X as much and with most of the healthy parts removed.
Bet Uncle Ben's processed rice is at least 2X as much and with most of the healthy parts removed.
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Uncle Ben's is fine. I have about 6 or 8 varieties of rice in my pantry, using each according to the cuisine. Uncle Ben's is great in Cajun food and anything else that would go well with short, fat-grained, tender rice. Indian basmati, which we also use a lot of, is too delicate for many styles of cooking (though it is my favorite rice).
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I would have to take second mortgage to buy 25 lbs of Basmati where I live. Most often, I use Zatarain's par boiled.
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Butch, did you even read the article? Martinating steak in bottled Italian dressing? Using canned orange soda? This article is a celebration of why we love cooking and memory, and sometimes ingredients that strike us as ill-advised are the the things we like most about the recipe. Ask anyone who loved tater-tot casserole as a kid. And lighten up, for the love of mom.
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This sounds wonderful. I'll certainly try it, but most likely will use dried cranberries in lieu of the currants.
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My grandfather was a chef . He never taught me a thing.
My mother in law was a sweet woman who came to the US from Russia as a child. She was an amazing cook, self taught. I tried my best to copy some of her dishes that my husband loved. The best thing he said was that he thought I made a certain dish better. It was no contest but that was a high compliment indeed for me.
My mother in law was a sweet woman who came to the US from Russia as a child. She was an amazing cook, self taught. I tried my best to copy some of her dishes that my husband loved. The best thing he said was that he thought I made a certain dish better. It was no contest but that was a high compliment indeed for me.
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You sound like you're describing my mother. I still have her recipe cards, book with recipes from newspapers and those same cookbooks. Thank you for the memories.
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Ditto. I now use my iPhone to photograph these cards and share with daughters, nieces and nephews.
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The mom recipes are always important, because they connect us to our past and our heritage. Thank you, David, for sharing!
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Before my mother died she asked one of the granddaughters to collect all of her recipes, make copies or rewrite if necessary. Together, for Christmas, they presented each family member with a bound (think wedding picture album) copy. I enjoy going through this book, remembing the various cakes and casseroles she cooked through the years. Most of the recipes were handwritten by my mother or her friends with notes and many fond memories.
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This looks like a beautiful dish. I'd be tempted to rush out and get the ingredients to make my own. Alas, what's wrong with grocery stores? I haven't seen 'bunches of spinach leaves; in years. Everything is that idiotic 'baby' this and 'baby' that spinach/arugula/etc. My other gripe is asparagus 'sticks'. No plant is apparently allowed to mature. No taste, no flavor to anything. Cauliflower seems to be a lone holdout, it maintains its love me/hate me, I am what I am.
Pleeze, no baby cauliflower!
Pleeze, no baby cauliflower!
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The bunch spinach, at my grocery store, is separate from the baby, which is sold in bags with other salad greens. The bunch spinach tends to be grouped with parsley, cilantro, arugula, turnip greens, and the like.
Here's a question: did they have fresh spinach in the 70s? Like the author, I was a kid who loved spinach, but all we ever had was the frozen blocks. In my parents' childhood era (30s/40s), it was canned (a la Popeye).
Here's a question: did they have fresh spinach in the 70s? Like the author, I was a kid who loved spinach, but all we ever had was the frozen blocks. In my parents' childhood era (30s/40s), it was canned (a la Popeye).
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Tabby, they had it -- with the parsley and stuff, just as you say. And the farmer's markets (yes, they existed back then!). But in the 50s, people were looking for convenience! and it is awfully convenient to just drop a block of frozen, cleaned spinach into a pot vs. soaking, washing, draining, chopping, de-stemming a huge bunch of fresh spinach.
This does sound delicious. Mr. Tanis, if I wanted to use frozen spinach as your mom did, how much frozen spinach would this recipe call for? Thanks in advance.
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I believe it would be two blocks.
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recipes are what I look for when I click on your byline. But the memories of your mother's special dishes ... I love reading this kind of column.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
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Mr. Tanis,
I love your selection of your mother's recipes. Those were the days. I'm trying to remember whether my mother ever used anything as wonderful as orange soda in a chicken recipe, but I think that she didn't get that fancy. It was roasted chicken only, no seasoning. Thank you for this recipe. I love rice, and will be sure to make it according to David's mother, with his revisions.
I love your selection of your mother's recipes. Those were the days. I'm trying to remember whether my mother ever used anything as wonderful as orange soda in a chicken recipe, but I think that she didn't get that fancy. It was roasted chicken only, no seasoning. Thank you for this recipe. I love rice, and will be sure to make it according to David's mother, with his revisions.
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Yes, nothing like Mom's recipes. I consult her collection often for wonder dishes with delightful references like "a five-cent chocolate bar"...or the one I've never tried... "mock apple pie" which uses Ritz Crackers instead of Grannie Smiths. That's too "mock" for me, but I treasure the memories of all her experiments.
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I think the "mock apple pie" recipe is still on the boxes of Ritz crackers. That one always puzzled me, too.
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I have one of those 5 cent Hershey Bar recipes. It is for a granola like recipe. The crust uses oats, and egg yolks, It was a way to use the egg yolks left over from a white or angel food cake. The chocolate bars are melted with butter, and spread over the baked layer. Finely chopped walnuts top it.
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A funny story about a good side dish. Your Mother apparently cooked a lot like mine did, but your fare was probably a bit better, My Mother was decidedly NOT a foodie! I will likely give this a try, but like your own version, it will be fresh spinach and you won't see any Uncle Ben's rice in it. When I can buy best grade, clean long grain white rice for $0.355 the pound, why would I want to use Uncle Ben's? Otherwise, it looks like a genuine treasure. Thanks for sharing it with us. I think it a safe bet that your personal edition is not limited to 'company fare.'
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While I do not care for Uncle Ben's converted rice, and don't use it -- I know why it exists. It's for people who are scared of cooking real rice, because they don't know how OR they tried it, and ended with a ruined pot stuck with burnt on rice. Or they made rice that turned out too hard or gummy. Uncle Ben's is foolproof.
I started out using it as a young married, because I was unfamiliar with cooking real rice properly and my husband loved rice. I grew up in a family that never ate rice at all, so while I could cook...I could not cook RICE.
I eventually learned to make the real stuff, and I hope most people do. It's not hard once you learn the basics.
I started out using it as a young married, because I was unfamiliar with cooking real rice properly and my husband loved rice. I grew up in a family that never ate rice at all, so while I could cook...I could not cook RICE.
I eventually learned to make the real stuff, and I hope most people do. It's not hard once you learn the basics.
Mr Tanis, you are really into using lemon zest these days.
Lemon and its zest is the best thing _ever_.
However: I wonder at the use of fresh spinach over frozen. Yes, yes, all fresh and stuff - but 1) frozen is generally good quality and 2) you don't need to spend all that time washing it and removing the stems/roots etc. Or is it just to get some spinach flavor in the rice-cooking water? I would think you could just squeeze your thawed frozen spinach over the pan, if that makes a difference.
However: I wonder at the use of fresh spinach over frozen. Yes, yes, all fresh and stuff - but 1) frozen is generally good quality and 2) you don't need to spend all that time washing it and removing the stems/roots etc. Or is it just to get some spinach flavor in the rice-cooking water? I would think you could just squeeze your thawed frozen spinach over the pan, if that makes a difference.
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