Harvey Wallbanger

Harvey Wallbanger?
Harvey Wallbanger cocktails burst on the American scene in 1968. The general locus of origin is southern California. Harvey personnified the newly emerging youth drinking market. The Harvey Wallbanger cake surfaced in 1973.

The “classic” legend:
“An apocryphal tale surrounds the origins of the name of this well-known cocktail. Harvey was the name of a surfer who wiped out wildly in surf championship and then soothed his wounded ego by drinking too much vodka and Galliano at Pancho’s Bar, Manhattan Beach, California. At which point he banged his head against the wall…This was in the 1960s when Smirnoff was in the midst of creating a young market for vodka in the USA, so whether it is a true tale or an urban myth–who knows?”
Classic Cocktails, Salvatore Calabrese [Sterling Publishing Co.:New York] 1997 (p. 120)

“‘A Harvey Wallbanger…consists of two shots of vodka, one shot of Galliano (an Italian liqueur) ice and orange juice. As to its origin, there was supposed to be a guy in Laguna Beach who ran out of everything at a party except vodka, Galliano and orange juice. When everybody left, Harvey was banging his head against the wall.'”
—“Ninety Chili Aficionados Chow Down,” Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1968 (p. I14)

“The Yodeler, Home of the Original Harvey Wallbanger.”
—display ad, The Yodeler Restaurant, Mammoth Mountain Ski Rsport, Mammoth Lakes, California, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1971 (p. I23)

“Special promotions help some alcoholic beverages. Having created the Harvey Wallbanger drink (orange juice, vodka, Galliano) over a year ago, McKesson Liquor Co. keeps plugging it with gimmicks such as Harvey Wallbanger T-shirts. As a result, McKesson says Galliano liqueur sales are up 40% this year.”
—“Business Briefs: A Special Background Report on Trends in Industry and Finance,” Wall Street Journal, December 23, 1971 (p. 1)

“In real life, a Harvey Wallbanger is a cocktail. In legend, a Harvey Wallbanger is any person who has mastered the noble art of the foul up.”
—“Goof of the Year,” John Hall, Los Angles Times, August 1, 1972 (p. F3)

“The Harvey Wallbanger trophy is up for grabs. More precisely, it is the Harvey Wallbanger Sports Goof Trophy, already the favorite is obvious. Vice Presisdent Agnew is one of six nominees for the award. Indeed, the very first Harvey Wallbanger award will probably be his after the ballot from…Sports Illustated…In Agnew’s cakse, however, the Harvey Wallbanger ballot does not make clear which of his fauz pas qualifies him. He has been nominated on a number of them, which makes him such a strong candidate.”
—“On Today’s Scene: It’s Not Easy to Vote Against Agnew,” William Gildea, Washington Post, Times Herald, April 3, 1971 (p. C1)
[NOTE: “Goof of the Year,” John Hall, Los Angeles Times, August 1, 1972 (p. F3)confirms Mr. Agnew won the 1971 “award.”]

“In the early 1970s, the makers of Galliano liquer decided to promote their product by suggesting it be mixed with vodka and orange juice to make a new drink: The Harvey Wallbanger. As a part of the advertising campaign the company created a fictional surfer by the same name. Today, reputable cocktail books duly note that the drink was named after a Californian named Harvey who tended to bang into walls after having had a few too many.”
—“Through a Glass, Darkly,” William Grimes New York Times, August 25, 1991 (p. SM14)

Harvey Wallbanger Cake
1 box orange cake mix (about 18 1/2 oz.)
1 box (3 3/4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 oz. Liquore Galliano
1 oz. Vodka
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbl. Liquore Galliano
1 tbl. orange juice
1 tsp. Vodka
Combine cake mix and pudding in a large bowl. Blend in eggs, oil, 4 oz. Liquore Galliano, 1 oz, vodka, and 4 oz. orange juice. Mix batter until smooth and thick. Pour into a greased and floured 10″ Bundt pan.* Bake at 350 degrees F, for 45 minutes. Let cook in pan 10 minutes, then remove and place on rack. Have glaze ready to spoon on while cake is still warm.
Glaze: Combine confectioners sugar, Liquore Galliano, vodka and orange juice. Blend until very smooth.
* Or use two greased and floured 9″ cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.
—“Culinary SOS: A Novelty for Cake Fanciers,” Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1973 (p. J9)
[NOTE: Also reprinted in The Italian Classics recipes by Galliano [21 Brands Inc.:New York] 1978 (p. 23).]

 

Birthday Cake!!

Birthday cake
Cakes were eaten to celebrate birthdays long before they were called “birthday cakes.” Food historians confirm ancient bakers made cakes (and specially shaped breads) to mark births, weddings, funerals, harvest celebrations, religious observances, and other significant events. Recipes varied according to era, culture, and cuisine. Cakes were usually saved for special occasions because they were made with finest, most expensive ingredients available to the cook. The wealthier one was, the more likely one might consume cake on a more frequent basis.

The birthday cakes we enjoy today are inventions of the 19th century. These were enjoyed by middle and upper classes. People with less money and poorly stocked larders also made birthday cakes. Their were not quite the light, fluffy iced concoctions served by their wealthier contemporaries. In all places and times, cooks blessed with creativity and “make do” spirit generated some pretty fine foods in the name of love. This was also true in War time.

The practice of eating cake on a regular basis by “average people” became possible in the 19th century. Why? The Industrial Revolution made many baking ingredients more affordable (mass-production) and readily available (railroads). It also introduced modern leavening agents, (baking soda, baking powder), a variety of cheaper substitutions (corn syrup for sugar; margarine for butter), and more reliable ovens.

Cake history expert Simon R. Charlsey makes this observation:

“Birthday cakes might still in the nineteenth century be of the same kind [as wedding cakes], but as their use spread, their composition became typically simpler. For preference of the child or other person celebrating, or of the cook, or whatever the confectioner had used for a decorated shop cake.”
Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:London] 1992 (p. 61)

“The dominant English culture in America shaped birthday patterns for some time. Colonial birthdays were enjoyed by privileged adults, who feasted well, or at the very least, shared a glass of wine and a small slice of fruitcake with friends. Children’s parties echoed the adult formats…In the new age of democracy, birthdays did not remain class-limited. As the nineteenth century progressed, a number of factors reshaped the events. The growth of industry, elevated urban material standards, and emering middle class culture amde more elaborate birthday celebrations increasingly attractive. Changing notions of the nature of childhood stimulated a new style of young people’s parties…Ice cream and cake became defining elements, whether after a meal or as the centerpiece of a party…Although fruitcakes and rich, yeasted cakes were the traditional English festive cakes, the modern form of birthday cake originated in American kitchens in the mid-nineteenth century. In contrast to their European counterparts, American women were active home bakers, largely because of the abundance of oven fuel in the New World and the sparsity of professional bakers. By the late 1800s, home bakers were spurred further by several innovations. The cast-iron kitchen stove, complete with its own quickly heated oven, became standard equipment in urban middle-class homes. Women in towns had more discretionary time, compared to farm-women, and they had an expanding social life that required formal and informal hospitality. Sugar, butter, spice, and flour costs were dropping. Improved chemical leavening agents, baking powder among them, enabled simpler and faster baking and produced a cake of entirely different flavor and texture. A cake constructed in layers, filled and frosted, became the image of the standard birthday cake. One observer of the early 1900s compared bubbly soap lather to “the fluffiness of a birthday cake” and snowy, frost covered hills to iced birthday cakes…Writing on birthday cakes began with professional bakers and caterers, who were proliferating in growing cities. The cakes of the late 1800s were decorated with inscriptions like “Many Happy Returns of the Day” and the celebrant’s name, a tradition that continues into the twenty-first century. Sometimes the cake was home-baked but then decorated by a specialist…The phrase “Happy Birthday” did not appear on birthday cake messages until the popularization of the now-ubiquitous song “Happy Birthday to You” (1910). Cookbook authors began to recommend decorating with birth dates and names and offered instruction on how to make colored frostings…By 1958, A.H. Vogel had begun to manufacture preformed cake decorations. Inexpensive letters, numbers, and pictorial images, such as flowers or bow, with matching candleholders were standard supermarket offerings.”
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 99-100)

“Small, colored candles became an integral part of the American birthday cake. An American style guide of 1889 directed, “At birthday parties, the birthday cake, with as many tiny colored candles set about its edge as the child is years old, is, of course, of special importance.” The modern use of candles on a special cake may be connected to the German tradition of Kinderfest, dating from the fifteenth century, a time when people believed that on birthdays children were particularly susceptible to evil spirits. Friends and family gathered around protectively, keeping the cake’s candles lit all day until after the evening meal, when the cake was served. The candles were thought to carry one’s wished up to God. This German observance was brought to colonial Pennsylvania and was later reinforced by the influence of British-German fashions from Queen Victoria’s court.”
ibid (p. 99)

American cookbooks bear this out. In the last quarter of the 19th century, we find a veritable explosion of simple cake recipes. Mrs. Porter’s New Southern Cookery Book [1871] contains several of these items. Many have inventive names. Curiously? None of them are called “birthday cake.” The recipes provided by Mrs. Porter that are most like today’s birthday cakes are: “Silver cake,” “Gold cake,” and “Little Folks’ Joys.”

[1871]
“Little Folks’ Joys

One cupful of white sugar, one cupful of rich sour cream, one egg, two cupsful of flour, half a teaspoonful of soda, and flavor to taste; bake about half an hour; nicest eaten fresh and warm.”
Mrs. Porter’s New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M.E. Porter, 1871 , [Promentory Press:New York] 1974 (p. 242)

[1878]
“Birthday Cakes

Into a pound of dried flour, put four oucnes of butter, flour ounces of sugar, one egg, a tea-spoonful of baking powder, and sufficient milk to wet to a paste. Put in currants, and cut in cakes. Sprinkle colored caraway seeds on top, and bake them a light brown.”
Jennie June’s American Cookery Book, Mrs. J. C. Croly [Aemrican New Company:New York] 1878 (p. 203)

[1906]
“Birthday Cakes for Children.

One and one-half cups of sugar, a half-cup of butter or clarified drippings, two eggs, one cup of milk, two cups flour, one teaspoon baking powder, one-half teaspoonful of vanilla. Beat together the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then the flour, baking-powder and nutmeg sifted together. Place in small well-greased tins and just before putting into the oven drop a few seeded raisins on top of each cake. Spread on the top a few drops of boiled icing and on top of these some colored candies or cinnamon drops, as they are favorites with the little folks. Aunt Mary.”
The Blue Ribbon Cook Book, Annie R. Gregory [Monarch Book Company:Chicago] 1906 (p. 258)

 

Devil ???

Where the devil?

According to the food historians the practice of “devilling” food “officially” began sometime during the 18th century in England. Why? Because that was when the term “deviled,” as it relates to food, first shows up in print. The earliest use of this culinary term was typically associated with kidneys & other meats, not stuffed eggs:

“Devil…A name for various highly-seasoned broiled or fried dishes, also for hot ingredients. 1786, Craig “Lounger NO. 86 ‘Make punch, brew negus, and season a devil.'”
Oxford English Dictionary (the 1786 reference is the first use of this word in print. Words are often part of the oral language long before they appear in print).

“Devil–a culinary term which…first appeared as a noun in the 18th century, and then in the early 19th century as a verb meaning to cook something with fiery hot spices or condiments…The term was presumably adopted because of the connection between the devil and the excessive heat in Hell…Boswell, Dr Johnson’s biographer, frequently refers to partaking of a dish of “devilled bones” for supper, which suggests an earlier use.”
The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (pages 247-248).
[James Boswell lived from 1740-1795, Dr. Johnson’s biography was published in 1791]

“Deviled…Any variety of dishes prepared with hot seasonings, such as cayenne or mustard. The word derives from the association with the demon who dwells in hell. In culinary context the word first appears in print in 1786; by 1820 Washington Irving has used the word in his Sketchbook to describe a highly seasoned dish similar to a curry. Deviled dishes were very popular throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries, especially for seafood preparations and some appetizers.” —The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (pages 110-111)

“Around 1868, Underwood’s sons began experimenting with a new product created from ground ham blended with special seasonings. The process they dubbed “deviling,” for cooking and preparing the ham, was new. But best of all, the taste was unique. Soon thereafter, the “Underwood devil” was born.”
History of the Underwood Company

Many early 19th century devilling recipes were for meat and other items:

Devilled Biscuits…Butter some biscuits on both sides, and pepper them well, make a paste of either chopped anchovies, or fine cheese, and spread it on the biscuit, with mustard and cayenne pepper, and grill them.”
The Jewish Manual, by A Lady [London:1846] (p. 98)”Devilling, Or broiling with cayenne, is also a good expident to coax the palate when you have relics of poultry of game. Fish can likewise be “devilled,” or egged and fried with a small piece of butter and bread crumbs, mixed with a little dried tyme, marjoram, and fresh parsley crumbled and chopped very fine.”
The Dinner Question, or How to Dine Well and Economically, Tabitha Tickletooth, [London:1860] (p. 51)

Recipes for deviled eggs have changed with time, probably a result of culinary fads and ingredient availabilty. Compare the following:

[1882]
“Devilled Eggs

Boil six or eight eggs hard; leave in cold water until they are cold; cut in halves, slicing a bit of the bottoms to make them stand upright, a la Columbus. Extract the yolks, and rub to a smooth paste with a very little melted butter, some cayenne pepper, a touch of mustard, and just a dash of vinegar. Fill the hollowed whites with this, and send to table upon a bed of chopped cresses, seasoned with pepper, salt, vinegar, and a little sugar. The salad should be two inches thick, and an egg be served with a heaping tablespoonful of it. You may use lettuce or white cabbage instead of cresses.”
Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery, Marion Harland [Scribner:New York] 1882 (p. 246).[1894]
“Eggs, Devilled

If to be served hot, boil the eggs hard, and quarter or slice them, then lay them in a stewpan with enough gravy to cover them. Gravy a la Diable will be found excellent; but a plainer one can be made on the same principle by using a cheaper stock. A few drops of anchovy sauce is an improvement. Serve as soon as the eggs are hot throught, sith strips of dry toast, or put croutons round the dish.(p. 594)

Gravy a la Diable
Required: half a pint of clear brown stock…half an ounce of arrowroot, a tablespoonful of claret, a teaspoonful of French mustard, a dessertspoonful of Worcester sauce, and a little soluble cayenne, with salt to taste, and a few drops of soy. Mix the thickening with the claret, and the rest of the ingredients, and boil for a few minutes. Serve with kidneys, steaks, &etc., or with grilled fish. For a hotter sauce, increaes the Worcester sauce, or boil a few capsicum seeds in the gravy.” (p. 85)
Cassell’s New Universal Cookery Book, Lizzie Heritage [Cassell and Company:London] 1894.

[1908]
“Devilled Eggs

Boil eggs twenty minutes and when cool shell. Cut into halves crosswise and remove the yolks without breaking the whites. Put the whites of the same egg together, that they need not get separated. The yolks may be put in the bowl. Whe all are cut, rub the yolks to a c ream with melted butter, add a little made mustard or sauce from the chow chow bottle a little pickle or pilces and salt and paprika to season. Fill the mixture into the whites, put the halves together as they belong, and as if preparing them for the picnic basket fasten together with a couple of little Japanese wooden tooth picks before wrapping in waxed paper. The picks serve as handles in eating. If they are to be put on the home table press the halves together and arrange on a bed of cress or lettuce. For a change, finely minced meat highly seasoned is often added to the yolks. The devilled mixture that will be left over makes a spicy filling for sandwiches. Another way of using devilled eggs is to spread the yolk mixture left over on a shallow baking dish, place the eggs on it and cover with a thin cream sauce, veal or chicken gravy. Sprinkle with buttered crumbs and bake until the crumbs are delicate brown. A grating of cheese may be incorporated with the crumbs, if desired.”
New York Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock Telford [New York Evening Telegram:New York] 1908 (p. 28-9).

[1940]
“Deviled Eggs.

Remove the yolks from six hard-cooked eggs and force therm through a fine sieve. Add one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspooonful of dry mustard, one-half teaspoonful of freshly ground, black pepper, one teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, one-and-one-half tabelspoonfuls of chopped parsley, and at least a tablespoonful of mayonnaise. Beat well wtih a fork till it forms a firm paste, adding more mayonnaise if necessary. Fill the white halves. using a pastry tube and garnish wih chopped parsley or tiny strips of pimiento.”
Hors D’Oeuvre and Canapes With a Key to the Cocktail Party, James Beard [M. Barrows:New York] 1940 (p. 54)

[1946]
“Deviled Eggs

Prepare: Hard-cooked eggs
Shell the eggs, cut them in halves, remove the yolks. Crush the yolks with a fork and work them into a smooth paste with:
Mayonnaise, French dressing, cream or butter
Season the paste with:
Salt
Paprika
A little dry mustard (optional)
Fill the egg whites whith the paste and garnish the eggs with:
Chopped parsley or chives
Sliced olives, anchovies, capers, etc.
Paprika.”
The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1946 (p. 92).

[1954]
Deep-fried deviled eggs

This departure from the usual is fun to do and fine to serve. After you have prepared your deviled eggs, dip them in fork-beaten egg, then roll in fine bread crumbs. (And this can all be done in the morning.) When cooking time comes, place the eggs in a frying basket (this is essential), and deep fry at 365 degrees farenheit until brown. Serve at once.”
Martha Deane’s Cooking for Compliments, Marian Young Taylor [M.Barrows:New York] 1954 (p. 133).

 

Carrot Ale ?!?

Carrot Ale?
Why not!

Carrot Ale
Take the water of twelve gallons, carrots twenty-four pounds, treacle four pounds, bran two pounds, dried buck-bean four ounces and yeast a quarter of a pint. Cut the carrots into thin slices, boil them in the water for an hour (making up the waste in boiling by the addition of a little water), strain it, mash up the bran with the carrot water, stir it well to prevent its clotting, add the treacle, let it stand for half an hour, strain and boil the strained liquor for a quarter of an hour with the buck-bean. Finally strain it, and set it aside to cool; when of a sufficient temperature add the yeast, and tun as you would malt beer. This will be found an agreeable and cheap beverage. The cost the above quantity will be about 3s. 6d.—The New London Cookery (c. 1827)”
English Wines and Cordials, Andrew L. Simon [Gramol Publications:London] 1946 (p. 130-131)

What did Captain Cook bring on board?

Captain Cook’s rations & mess
Captain James Cook provisioned his ship for a two year journey. He expected to supplement these rations with indigenous fare. Adequate fresh water and antiscorbutics to ward away scurvy played critical roles in his success.

What kinds of food and drink were consumed on Cook’s ships?

“In his journal for July 1772, Cook gives the following account of the provisions placed aboard the Resolution and Adventure…Biscuit, flour, salt beef, salt pork, beer, wine, spirit [distilled alcohol], pease [dried peas], wheat, oatmeal, butter, cheese [hard], sugar, oyle olive [olive oil], vinegar, suet, raisins, salt, malt, sour krout [sauerkrout], salted cabbage, portable broth [dessicated soup], saloup, mustard, mermalade [marmelade] of carrots, water…”
Sailors & Sauerkraut: Excerpts from the Journals of Captain Cook’s Expeditions All Pertaining to Food With Recipes to Match, Barbara Burkhardt, Barrie Andugs McLean & Doris Kochanek [Grey’s Publishing:Sidney BC] 1978 (p. 23)

Where live animals were taken on board?
Yes. “…cows, sheep, pigs, chickens…The live-stock was for leaving on desert islands needful of such provender and the poultry was to provide eggs during the voyage.”
Sailors & Sauerkraut (p. 12)

Could the crew bring their own food on board?
Yes. Generally, the higher the rank, the more “personal” food was packed. This was a matter of economy (wealthy people could afford to supply their own consumables) and space (officer’s quarters were roomier than regular crew).

“Individuals, particularly the officers, supplemented their needs with personal provisioning; this might be Madeira [a sweet wine] brought on board for their own use. In the case of the crew…it was usually what serendipity delivered into their laps: lying fish or tired albatross.”
Sailors & Sauerkraut (p. 15-16)

What was a typical weekly menu for the crew? “Each man was allowed every day one pound of Biscuit [thick, hard cracker] as much small Beer [very low alcohol] as he can drink or a pint of Wine, or half a pint of Brandy, Rum, or arrack [alcoholic beverage], they will have besides on

Monday. Half a pound of Butter, about ten ounces of Cheshire Cheese and as much boiled Oatmeal or Wheat as the can eat.
Tuesday. Two 4 pound pieces of Beef, or one four pound piece of Beef three pounds of Flour and one pound Raisins or half a pound of suet.
Wednesday. Butter and cheese as on Monday and as much boild Pease as they can eat.
Thursday. Two 2 pound pieces of Pork with Pease.
Friday. The same as Wednesday.
Saturday. The same as Tuesday.
Sunday. The same as Thursday.
Sailors & Sauerkraut (p. 23-24)

 

Black and White Cookie

What is a Black and White Cookie?
1. It is a soft, round, flat, oversized, chewy drop cake, iced in perfect halves with vanilla and chocolate.
2. It is generally considered a New York City specialty.
3. It is sold fresh in bakeries and delicatessens.
4. It has been around for maybe 100 years.
5. It has no definitive inventor (person/restaurant).
6. It was elevated to national iconic status when Jerry Seinfeld waxed philosophically “Look to the cookie.”

Origin theories
“No one seems to know who invented the Black and White, or where it was first created. George Greenstein, a second-generation Jewish baker who has devoted his retirement to translating the old New York neighborhood bakery recipes into contemporary home recipes…feels they must have been invented at the beginning of the twentieth century by a baker looking for yet another way to use his standard yellow cake. They were clever. They got copied all over town.”
Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food, Arthur Schwartz [Steward, Tabori & Chang:New York] 2004 (p. 294)

“The black-and-white had been around forever. Herb Glaser, the baker at Glaser Bake Shop on First Avenue near 87th Street, said that as far as he knew, Glaser’s has been making them ever since it opened 96 years ago.”
—“’Look to the Cookie’: An Ode in Black and White,” William Grimes, New York Times, May 13, 1998 (p. F1)

“…Glaser’s Bake Shop. Herb Glaser isn’t precisely sure why his baker on 87th and 1st on the Upper East Side is credited as the creator of the black-and-white. He just knows his family has been baking them at the same location since around the time it opened, 1902…Well, he sort of knows. ‘I wasn’t around then,’ he says, but that’s the legend and, so far, no one has debunked it.’…Glaser’s has always made two sized of black-and-whites, small ones and not-so-small ones. In the ‘60s, Herb Glaser used to eat at least two of the smaller cookies a day when he’d walk home from school for lunch.”
—“A Tale of Two Cookies,” Jule Banville, Washington City Paper, June 13, 2008 (p. 40-41)

Symbolism & lore
”The black-and-white cookie, that trumpy and oversize mainstay of New York City Bakeries and delis, has not endured by dint of its taste. Unlike other edible icons, like New York cheesecake or bagels, there is no such thing as a delicious black-and-white cookie. They are either edible or inedible. Fresh-baked and home-baked are the best. The form persists as an object lesson. There is, of course, divergent opinion as to the message embodied in the cookie. One school holds that the cookie endures as an icon of balance. And on its shiny black-and-white-frosted surface, the cookie displays at least the peaceful coexistence of opposites good and bad, yin and yang, life and death, ebony and ivory…’Look to the cookie!’ Jerry Seinfeld regaled the crowd waiting in a New York City bakery… He waived the round harlequin above his head like a placard for radical harmony…Balance is not the black-and-white cookie’s only claim on the populace. Some swear it is a metaphor for clarity. In the gray of urban chaos, there is innocence and simplicity, in a black-and-white cookie.”
—“Smart Cookies: Why black-and-whites have assumed deep cultural significance,” Molly O’Neill, New York Times, January 28, 2001 (p. SM29)

Consuming psychology
” I think of as New York’s answer to the Oreo, because there was a ritual to it,” said Rochelle Udell, the editor in chief of Self magazine, whose family owned Ratchik’s bakery in Brooklyn. “The black-and white always asked the question, which side you start with first? It was graphically appealing, and it allowed you enormous freedom to personalize how you ate it…
—“’Look to the Cookie’: An Ode in Black and White,” William Grimes, New York Times, May 13, 1998 (p. F1)

“New Yorkers…can measure a man by the tracks of his teeth imprinted in a black-and-white cookie. And burrowed right down the middle, revealing himself as ambivalent, incapable of choice and afraid of commitment. Center-line attack can also appear judicious. It allows you to savor equal parts of black and white. But the effect of the middle-of-the-road approach is devastating: that which connects becomes instantly devoured, leaving disjointed opposites…In the ‘What’s My Craving?’ section of Chowhound.com… black-and-white devotees trade strategies for damage control…’You start with one flavor and then go to the next…an approved alternative method…Break the B&W in half, then in quarters. Then eat alternative quarters.’”
—“Smart Cookies: Why black-and- whites have assumed deep cultural significance,” Molly O’Neill, New York Times, January 28, 2001 (p. SM29)
[NOTE: Ms. O’Neill states B&W are also called “Half Moons” in Boston and “”Harlequins” in the Midwest.]

Seinfield speaks
[Episode 77,”The Dinner Party,” aired February 4, 1994].
[The Royal Bakery]
ELAINE: Ummm, I love the smell of bakeries.
JERRY: Mmm. Oh look Elaine, the black and white cookie.
ELAINE: Mmm.
JERRY: I love the black and white. Two races of flavor living side by side in harmony. It’s a wonderful thing isn’t it?…
JERRY: … and a black and white cookie, for me. Peace!… (Jerry and Elaine are waiting in line, Jerry takes a bite of his cookie and then speaks) JERRY: Uhm, see the key to eating a Black and White cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than, vanilla and chocolate. And yet still somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only *Look to the Cookie* — all our problems would be solved.
ELAINE: Well your views on race relations are just, fascinating. You really should do an Op-Ed piece for the Times. (Op-Ed stands for Opinions and Editorials)
JERRY: Hmm. Look to the cookie Elaine… Look to the cookie.
(Jerry sees a black man on the other side of the bakery eating the same cookie — Jerry raises his cookie up and so does the man — in a moment of racial harmony & unity to which he just spoke of.)…
JERRY: I don’t know, I don’t feel so good.
ELAINE: What’s wrong?
JERRY: My stomach, I , think it was that cookie.
ELAINE: The black and white?
JERRY: Yeah.
ELAINE: Not getting’ along?
JERRY: I think I got David Duke and Farrakhan down there.
ELAINE: (mocking – in a dopey voice) “Well if we can’t look to the cookie where can we look?”

 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Why is Grilled Cheese paired with Tomato Soup?
Post WWII institutional foodservice (including school cafeterias) paired grilled cheese with tomato soup to provide the required Vitamin C component. It was also economical and easy:
“Soups. The use of canned soups for all types of school food serve can add variety as well as good nutirtion to the menu. They contribute particularly to the small school with minimum equipment and to the school where the teacher must prepare the hot lunch in addition to classroom teaching…Serve a hearty soup and a sandwich to meet the total 2-ounce protein requirement of the Type A lunch.”
School Lunch Recipes Using Canned Foods, Home Economics Divison [National Canners Association:Washington D.C.] 1949 (p. 4)
[NOTE: This booklet mentions tomato soup but not grilled cheese.]

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies

Ruth Wakefield [June 17, 1903-January 10, 1977], Whitman Mass., is credited for inventing chocolate chip cookies at her Toll House Restaurant in the early 1930s. According to the story, Ruth used a Nestle candy bar for her chips. We will probably never know if Ruth was the very first person to put chocolate pieces in cookies, but she is certainly the one who made them famous.

Who Was Ruth Wakefield?
“Ruth Graves graduated from the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. After graduation, she worked as a dietitian and food lecturer. In 1930, she published a cookbook entitled Ruth Wakefield’s Recipes: Tried and True. The book went through thirty-nine printings. The most famous of her original recipes was the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie, named for the restaurant that she and her husband Ken Wakefield owned, the Toll House Inn. Better known as the chocolate chip cookie, Ruth Wakefield developed this recipe in 1933 by breaking up a Nestle semi-sweet chocolate bar and adding it to a basic brown sugar cookie dough. In the years that followed, the Wakefields enjoyed a pleasant relationship with the Nestle Company, which eventually featured the cookie recipe on the wrapper of its semi-sweet candy bar. When Nestle began the production of chocolate morsels, the recipe, too, was printed on the back of each package where it remains to this day. Ruth’s interest in seeking new and innovative recipes to serve at the couple’s restaurant led her to amass a collection of cookbooks. In 1969, two years after the Wakefields sold the Toll House Inn, Ruth Graves Wakefield donated her cookbooks to the Special Collections.”
Framingham State University Library (Mrs. Wakefield’s cookbooks and archives are housed at this library).

Is the Toll House still operating?
Sadly, No. It was destroyed by fire in 1985. The caption under the photograph printed by the New York Times (January 2, 1985 I 12:5) describing the fire that destroyed Ruth Wakefield’s kitchen the reads “Wreckage of Toll House Restaurant in Whitman, Mass. It was where the chocolate chip cookie was invented.” In the July, 1997 Governor Weld signed legislation that declared chocolate chip cookies to be the *official cookie of the Commonwealth* in honor or Ruth Wakefield (much to the dismay of the Fig Newton faction).

The original recipe?
Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes [M. Barrows & Company:New York] enjoyed 27 printings December 1930–September 1952. Our earliest copy (6th printing 1937) does not offer a recipe for any cookies made with chocolate chips. Massachusetts area newspapers c. 1939 confirm “Toll House Cookies” were sold in bakery departments of local grocery stores.

[1940]
“Here’s a new cookie that everybody loves because it is so delicious, so different and so easy to make. With each crisp bite you taste a delicious bit of Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate and a crunch of rich walnut meat. A perfect combination. Here’s a proven recipe that never fails. Try it tomorrow.
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten whole
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon hot water
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts
2 Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Economy Bars (7 oz. ea.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Important: Cut the Nestle’s Semi-Sweet in pieces the size of a pea. Cream butter and add sugars and beaten egg. Dissolve soda in the hot water and mix alternately with the flour sifted with the salt. Lastly add the chopped nuts and the pieces of semisweet chocolate. Flavor with the vanilla and drip half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in a 375 degree F. oven. Makes 100 cookies. Every one will be surprised and delighted to find that the chocolate does not melt. Insist on Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate in the yellow Wrap, there is no substitute. This unusual recipe and many others can be found in Mrs. Ruth Wakefield’s Cook Book–“Toll House Tried and True Recipes,” on sale at all book stores.”
—display ad, Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1940 (p. 24)
[NOTES: (1) Nestle ads promoting these cookies were published in USA papers nationwide. This chocolate was in bars, not tiny morsels. “Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bars for making ‘Toll House’ cookies, 2 Bars for 25 cents,” —display ad, Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1940 (p. 4). (2) The earliest print references we find for morsels appears the following year: “Nestle Morsels, two 7 oz pkgs 25 cents.” Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1941 (p. 6)][1946]
“Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies

A specially prepared chocolate may be bought for use in cookies. Any semisweet chocolate may be substituted, cut into pea-sized pieces. Use it as you would raisins, nut meats, etc. Follow the proceding recipe for: Drop Cookies. Use only 1/2 cup chopped nts. Add: 1/2 cup chipped chocolate.”
Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill Company:Indianapolis IN] 1946 (p. 595)

[1947]
“Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies

Cream 1 cup butter, add 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 eggs beaten whole. Dissolve 1 tsp. Soda in 1 tsp. Hot water, and mix alternately with 2 1/4 cups flour sifted with 1 tsp. Salt. Lastly add 1 cup chopped nuts and 2 bars (7-oz.) Nestles yellow label chocolate, semi-sweet, which has been cut in pieces the size of a pea. Flavor with 1 tsp vanilla and drip half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 375 degrees F. Oven. Makes 100 cookies.”
Toll House Tried and True Recipes, Ruth Wakefield [M. Barrows:New York] 1947 (p. 216)

[1955]
“Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies

Cream
1 cup butter. Add
3/4 cp brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten. Dissolve
1 teaspoon soda in
1 teaspoon hot water. Add
alternately with
2 1/4 cups flour sifted. Add
1 teaspooon salt. Add
1 cup chopped nuts
2 packages semisweet chocolate morsels
1 teaspoon vanilla
Drop by half teaspoonsfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 100 cookies. At Toll House, we chill this dough overnight. When ready for baking, we roll a teaspoon of dough overnight between palms of hands and place balls 2 inches apart on grased baking sheet. Then we press balls with finger tips to form flat rounds. This way cookies do not spread as much in the baking and they keep uniformly round. They should be brown through, and crispy, not quite and hard as I have sometimes seen them.”
Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Cook Book, Ruth Wakefield [Little, Brown and Company:Boston] new edition completely revised, February 1955 (p. 208)

[1956]
“Chocolate Chip Cookies

…Glamourous, crunchy, rich with chocolate bits and nuts. Also known as ‘Toll House’ cookies…from Kenneth and Ruth Wakefield’s charming New England Toll House on the outskirts of Whitman, Massachusetts. These cookies were first introduced to American homemakers in 1939 through our series of radio talks on ‘Famous Foods from Famous Eating Places.’
Mix thoroughly…2/3 cup soft shortening (part butter), 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed), 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla.
Sift together and stir in…6 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate pieces (about 1 1/4 cups) *For a softer, more rounded cooky, use 1 3/4 cups sifted flour.
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls about 2″ apart on ungreased bakding sheet. Bake until delicately browned…cookies should still be soft. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.
Temperature: 375 degrees (quick mod. oven). Time: Bake 8 to 10 min.. Amount: 4 to 5 doz. 2″ cookies.” —Betty Crocker’s Picture Book, General Mills, Inc., revised and enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hills Book Company:New York] 1956 (p. 197)

 

Ketchup

Ketchup:

Mustard was known to the ancients. Ketchup surfaces in the early 18th century. Food historians generally agree the predecessor of our ubiquitous All-American tomato-based condiment may have originated in Southeast Asia. Some believe the English word ‘ketchup’ was borrowed from Chinese, too. How is this possible when tomatoes are a “New World” food? Original recipes for this pungent condiment were flavored with Asian ingredients. When tomatoes were introduced to China (circa 16th century), they were eventually incorporated. 18th and 19th century British and American cookbooks offer dozens of ketchup recipes featuring a wide variety of tangy fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish. By the end of the 19th century, American tomato ketchup, as we know it today, was commercially bottled and widely consumed by a hungry public. In 1981, the USA federal government proposed ketchup be classed as a vegetable to satisfy school lunch nutrition requirements. What is ketchup? “When the term ketchup first entered the English language, at the end of the seventeenth century, it stood for something very different from the bottled tomato sauce of today. At that time tomatoes were an expensive rarity, and the ketchups were long-keeping, often vinegar-based sauces flavoured with mushrooms, anchovies, onions, lemons, oysters, pickled walnuts, etc. They formed the essential ingredients of the proprietary sauces so popular with the Victorians, of which Worcester sauce is virtually the only survival…” —An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 177) Why call it ketchup (catsup)? “The etymological origin of the word ketchup is a matter of confusion. For almost two centuries speculation has raged regarding the origin of the word and what it signifies…Elizabeth David suggests in her Spice, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen that the word ‘derived form caveach, a form of spiced-vinegar pickle in which cooked fish was preserved.’ She announced that the word in different forms manifested itself throughout European cookery…E.N. Anderson believed that ketchup was cognate with the French escaveche, ‘meaning food in sauce.’ Similarly, others have speculated that ketchup was related to the Spanish and Portuguese words escabeche or escaveach, meaning ‘a marinade or sauce for pickling.’… American culinary historian reports, escabeche derived from the Arabic word iskeby and specifically referred to pickling with vinegar. The term was Anglicized to caveach, and it appeared in print almost simultaneously with ketchup in English cookery books. Still others have claimed that the word ketchup originated in East Asia. In 1877 Eneas Dallas speculated that the true Japanese word was kitjap…However, if anything is clear in this etymological confustion, it is that the word kitjap is not of Japanese origin. Concurring in this opinion, the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary suggested that ‘Japanese’ cited by many was possibly an error for ‘Javanese.’ This speculation was based on the presumption that some observers believed that ketchup derived form the Malay language…Culinary historian Alan Davidson…believed that the term specifically derived from the Indonesian word kecap. Owen presumed that retired British colonial servants brought the word back home with them from Malaya. However, ketchup was entrenched in Britain well before the British possessed a colony in Malaya…Indeed, Malay dictionaries claim that ketchup is of Chinese origin…The editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, citing Douglas’s Chinese Dictionary, presented a different Chinese-origins theory, reporting that ketchup really derived from ke-tsiap, a word from the Amoy dialect of Chinese meaning ‘the brine of pickled fish.'” —Pure Ketchup: A History of America’s National Condiment, Andrew F. Smith [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1996 (p. 4-5) [NOTE: We highly recommend Mr. Smith’s book. It is thoroughly researched, historically documented, intelligently presented and a fun read.] What is the correct spelling? “…ketchup is among the few commonly eaten products with no agreed upon spelling. Ketchup, catchup, or catsup continue to be used today, but other similar spellings have been employed for years…Over the past two centuries food commentators have presented cases for particular ‘correct’ spellings of the word…In America, Isaac Riley, editor of the 1818 edition of The Universal Receipt Book, believed that ketchup was the correct spelling. According to Riley, catchup was a vulgarization, and catsup was simply an affectation…Until a few decades ago, catsup was the preferred spelling in many dictionaries. Today ketchup clearly is in the ascendancy, and is the clear choice of lexicographers and manufacturers.” —Pure Ketchup: A History of America’s National Condiment, Andrew F. Smith [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1996 (p. 6) What is American ketchup? “The word ‘ketchup’ conjures up an image of the thick, sweet, tomato-based condiment…Americans did not invent ketchup, which was not thick, sweet, or made from tomatoes…British explorers, colonists, and traders came into contact with the sauce in Southeast Asia, and upon their return to Europe they attempted to duplicate it. As soybeans were not grown in Europe, British cooks used such substitutes as anchovies, mushrooms, walnuts, and oysters. British colonists brought ketchup to North Ameirca, and Americans continued experimenting, using a variety of additional ingredients, including beans and apples. Tomato ketchup may have originated in America. It was widely used throughout the United States in the early nineteenth century, and small quantities of it were first bottled in the 1850s. After the Civil War commercial production of ketchup rapidly increased…tomato ketchup became the most important version…In 1896 the New York Tribune reported that tomato ketchup was America’s national condiment…Up until 1900, ketchup was mainly used as an ingredient for savory pies and sauces, and to enhance the flavor of meat, poultry, and fish. It then became famous as a condiment following the appearance of three major host foods: hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries.” —Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, volume 2(p. 5-6) [1747] “To make English catchup. Take the largest flaps of mushrooms, wipe them dry, but don’t peel them, break them to pieces, and salt them very well; let them stand so in an earthen pan for nine days, stirring them once or twice a day, then put then into a jugg close stopp’d set into water over a fire for three hours; then strain it through a sieve, and to every quart of the juice put a pint of strong stale mummy beer, not bitter, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of cloves, half an ounce of pepper, a race of ginger, half a pound of shalots; then boil them altogether over a slow fire till half the liquor is wastged, keeping the pot close covered; then strain it through a flannel bag. If the anchovies don’t make it salt enough, add a little salt.” —First Catch Your Hare: The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 169) [1824] “Tomata Catsup. Gather a peck of tomatas, pick out the stems, and wash them; put them in the fire without water, sprinkle on a few spoonsful of salt, let them boil steadily an hour, stirring them frequently, strain them through a colander, and then through a sieve; put the liquid on the fire with half a pint of chopped onions, a quarter of an ounce of mace broke into small pieces, and if not sufficiently salty, add a little more, one tablespoonful of whole black pepper, boil all together until just enough to fill two bottles; cork it tight.– Make it in August.” —The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, facsimile 1824 edition with historical notes and commentaries by Karen Hess [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1984 (p. 201) [1885] Tomato Catsup Take enough ripe tomatoes to fill a jar, put them in a moderate oven, and bake them until they are thoroughly soft; then strain them through a coarse cloth or sieve, and to every pint of juice put a pint of vinegar, half an ounce of garlic sliced, a quarter of an ounce of salt, and the same of white pepper finely ground. Boil it for one hour, then rub it through a sieve, boil it again to the consistency of cream; when cold, bottle it, put a teaspoonful of sweet oil in each bottle; cork them tight, and keep in a dry place.” —La Cuisine Creole, Lafcadio Hearn

Banana Pie

Banana cream pie
Pie is ancient. Cream, custard and pudding pies are Medieval. Bananas took the American market by storm in the 1880s, due to impoved transpotration and savvy, aggresive marketers. Late 19th/early 20th century cookbooks are full of banana recipes. Bananas adapted well to most traditional fruit recipes. Hence: banana cream pie, banana pudding, banana nut bread, banana ice cream, banana compote, banana fruit salads, banana splits, etc. About pie, custards & creams & bananas. The oldest recipes we find for banana pie in an American cookbook were published in the late 19th century. They employ sliced bananas, not banana cream/custard.

[1880]
“Banana Pie

“Slice raw bananas, add butter, sugar, allspice and vinegar, or boiled cider, or diluted jelly; bake with two crusts. Cold boiled sweet potatoes may be used instead of bananas, and are very nice.”
Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, revised and enlarged [Buckeye Publishing Company:Minneapolis MN] 1880 (p. 215)[1901]
“Banana Pie.

Fill a pie shell, already baked, with sliced bananas and powdered sugar. Put in the oven a few minutes until the fruit softens. Very nice so, but far better to cover the top with whipped cream and serve at once. Flavor with lemon juice.”
Woman’s Exchange Cook Book, Mrs. Minnie Palmer [W.B. Conkey Company:Chicago] 1901 (p. 252)

[1906]
Banana Cream Pie.

Line a pie pan with a crust and bake in a hot oven. When done, cover the bottom with slices of banana cut lengthwise, very thin, (Two small bananas are enough for one pie). The fill the pan with a custard made in the following manner: Two glasses of milk, two tablespoonfuls of corn-starch dissolved in a little milk, yolks of two eggs and one teaspoonful of vanilla extract. Boil in a double boiler until it thickens; then pour it into the pie crust. Cover the top with the whites of the eggs beaten stiff and slightly sweetened. Place in the oven just long enough to give it a rich brown color.—Ella N. Mitchell”
The Blue Ribbon Cook Book, Annie R. Gregory [Monarch Book Company:Chicago] 1906 (p. 206)

[1908]
“Banana Cream.

Whip half a pint of double cream until stiff and stir into it half an ounce of gelatine dissoved in half a gill of warm water, a little lemon juice and one pound of peeled bananas rubbed through a hair sieve with two ounces sugar. Put the mixture into a mould and leave it in a cool place to set.”
New York Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock [Cupples & Leon:New York] 1908 (p. 112)
[NOTE: This recipes is found in the pastry chapter.]

[1950]
“Banana Whipped Cream Pie.

Dash of salt
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Few drops vanilla or almond flavoring
4 to 5 ripe bananas*
1 baked 9-inch pie shell
Toasted coconut.
*Use full ripe bananas…yellow peel flecked with brown
Add salt to cream and beat with rotary egg beater or electric mixer until stiff enough to hold its shape. Fold in sugar and vanilla or almond flavoring. Cover bottom of pie shell with small amount of whipped cream. Peel bananas and slice into pie shell. Cover immediately with remaining whipped cream. Garnish with toasted coconut. Makes one pie.”
Chiquita Banana’s Recipe Book [United Fruit Company:1950] (p. 18)
[NOTE: This booklet also contains a recipe for Banana Chocolate Cream Pie.]