Obviously all of last week was AMERICA WEEK, as July is in fact generally AMERICA MONTH WITH A SLIGHT NOD OF THE HEAD TO BASTILLE DAY. Don't think that this fact escaped the notice of me or my cookbooks just because I lazily phoned in a couple of parade pics last Friday. I was alllll over it.
I found Cookbook #72: 50 Winning Chili Recipes (Phillip Morris, 2002) (13 used and new from $0.89, you guys!) deep within the recesses of my couch, meaning that Ivy did not properly dispose of it as I had assumed. Disappointing though that was, I figured it would be a good candidate for patriotic eats since chili in its current form is pretty American and Phillip Morris insisting that your chili win something seals it.
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| Champion beans only. |
Provenance: cigarettes. Previous recipes on this blog: none. I went with "Mike's Black Eye Chili," mostly because it was the weirdest combination of things (beer AND wine AND honey) and because I was amused that there were four kinds of beans involved and none of them were black-eyed peas. Like most of the other recipes in this pamphlet, this was really just a stew that happened to have chili powder in it, but I liked it. I've actually been eating it for breakfast with a poached egg. Verdict: this is sort of embarrassing, but I have dog-eared about eight other recipes in this thing. So...that'll do, free promotional recipe booklet.
That darling-looking blueberry pie from last week was from Cookbook #73: America's Favorite Food (Alex Barker, 2003). Provenance: Mom. Previous recipes on this blog: none. I guess it was a pretty standard blueberry pie recipe, which is why I botched it and ended up with rock-hard crust and too-gloopy filling. (Don't worry, it still got eaten somehow.) Verdict: The pie was a mess and there weren't too many things in here that appealed to me, but I did appreciate the staging of the photographs.
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| "How will they know this burger is American if there isn't a baseball hovering over it?" |
And here we are at last, the crown jewel in my collection, Cookbook #74: The Redneck Cookbook (Lo'retta Love, 1997). Provenance: Mom. Previous recipes on this blog: none. Favorite word in the full title: "Gullet." Why did I pick it for America Week: because it has both Elvis (...I think?) and a pickup truck on the cover.
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| And the traditional American dish "Plate of Two Uncooked Whole Fish." |
I decided to go with "Chicken International," for obvious reasons, and paired it with some Nutty Broccoli. This dish is described as "Sorta fancy but really good!"
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| I interpreted this to mean "Serve with your nicest jug of wine." |
So here is something interesting: this was not a bad dish at all. Dates, bell peppers, oranges, curry powder--definitely an ethnic mutt of a dish but a nice piece of chicken, overall. Of course, I do have some regrets. Something this "sorta fancy" probably would have paired nicely with a cup of Wine Soup, for example.
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| I wasn't sold until "ice cold" and "salt." |
Actually, this entire book is full of missed opportunities for me.
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| I like both the promise in the title and the assumption in the first sentence. |
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| Not everything needs to be jellied, world. I'm actually going to say very few things do. |
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| Or puddinged. |
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| "Fry bologna in a skillet with butter" is EXACTLY what I was hoping for when I opened this book. |
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| You have to be impressed with Baby Sister for beating out Elvis as the joke-sandwich here. |
Verdict: now that I've memorized the recipe for Fried Bologna Sandwiches, I probably won't need to refer back to this one too often. Of course, every single recipe in the dessert section contains booze. So...maybe.
I also went back to Cookbook #68 for Summer Squash Gratin, Watermelon Salsa, Puffy Oven Potatoes, and Tomato Salad.
They were all fine. I have now made five recipes from a book containing Caramelized Onion Waffles with Smoked Salmon and Lemon Cream Sauce without making Caramelized Onion Waffles with Smoked Salmon and Lemon Cream Sauce. I don't know what I'm doing with my life.
Ivy, not content to simply emulate her big sister, is taking headwear obsession to a slightly more extreme (if ultimately more practical) place.
