Rain, rain, rain! Too cool to sit out in the gazebo, too wet for Bill to mow. I decided that the gray, rainy days would be a good time to tackle the shelves in our office that hadn’t been straightened or dusted for months — years? “You know,” I said to Bill, “We have dozens of cookery magazines that we haven’t looked at for years. I think we should go through them, tear out any recipes we really think we’ll cook some day and then throw them away.” Some of the magazines are nine years old. I even found a yellowing “Indianapolis Star” supplement dating from 1965.
I get as much pleasure from reading cookbooks and magazines as from a novel. We subscribed to “Taste of Home” for many years and currently receive “Bon Appetit” and “Cooks” which is our favorite. “Taste of Home” features comfort foods, and its excellent photography makes its recipes look delicious. “Bon Appetit” strikes me as appealing to East Coast, trendy yuppies. Its recipes often have items that we don’t stock in our pantry or ones that we are unlikely to find in Indianapolis. “Cooks” has a wealth of how-to information and sensible recipes that don’t require expensive, rarely used seasonings.
Bill is also a good cook, but we don’t use many new recipes, preferring to stick to ones that we know rather than experimenting. For example, I roast a turkey the way Bill’s mother did. I lay the rind from the Christmas ham on the turkey breast to baste it; or when we don’t have ham, I put strips of bacon on the breast and drumsticks. That makes the richest, yummiest turkey gravy I’ve ever tasted.
Along with recipes for holiday turkey, I discarded recipes for meatballs. I love meatballs, but have never succeeded in making good ones. Mine usually turn out square rather than round. I’ve given up on them and use frozen meatballs from the store. Ditto for hot rolls. Bill is a good bread maker, but I haven’t the patience for it. I buy frozen dough balls at Krogers. I also do not make good meatloaf. Mine turns out resembling dog food! Like my mother, however, I wouldn’t think of serving “boughten” pie. The magazines are full of sinfully delicious desserts. We didn’t save them because we know we’ll never make them.
Just as fashions disappear and return later so does the fashion in food. When I was young everyone not only ate bacon, but used the drippings for frying food. Canister sets even included one for bacon grease. Mother would fry bacon, and make milk gravy with the drippings. We’d tear up slices of bread and cover it with gravy. “Gravy-bread” was a cheap filler-upper. Mom Clarke even put a little bacon grease in her delicious pineapple upside down cake and oatmeal cookies.
Then Americans became more health conscious, and they quit eating much bacon. Now bacon is popular again. It’s trendy — and delicious — to sauté or oven roast Brussels sprouts, broccoli or cauliflower with bacon. Well, I never! Would you believe bacon ice cream? I found a recipe for bacon, raisin oatmeal cookies in “Bon Appetit” that I’m going to make. I dearly love bacon! To me, a perfect meal would be all the bacon I wanted and a stack of hot toast dripping with butter.
Frying bacon in a skillet requires effort and vigilance. Here’s a wonderful method that guarantees crisp, evenly done, flat bacon that I learned from the Barefoot Contessa cooking show. Grandson Tony also cooks bacon this way. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Lay you bacon slices on the sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Check it occasionally as the time will vary according to the thinness of the bacon. wclarke@comcast.net
P.S. It doesn’t mess up the oven!