Salad: Nicholas Alexander Hayes and Andrew Breen

PEAR-GINGER JELLO SALAD
1. After browsing through several, CAI booklets, we settled on the Pear-Ginger Jello Salad because of the yummy flavor combination (Actually, it was an excuse to finally buy little Jello molds and create beautifully suspended fruit in a vibrant yellow membrane).

2. Prep: We sprayed the copper molds with cooking oil to help with the mold release. We also put the plates in the fridge so the 8 Jello molds would hold up during transportation.

3. Changing the Ratio: Based on “Breen/Hayes Test Kitchen,” Jello seems to conform better to the mold when you use less water. So, we didn’t go by the water/jello ratio that the recipe called for. The box says 1 pk to 1 cup of boiling water, but we halved the water to ½ cup (3 pkts + 1½ water). We brought the Jello to room temperature before adding the 1½ cups of ginger ale. We ladled the tepid Jello into the molds, leaving about ½ cm from the top for the fruit. Because our molds were smaller, we diced the canned pears instead of using pear halves.

4. We left the molds in the fridge for 5 hours and released the Jello by pouring hot water on the back of the mold, and placed them on iceberg lettuce. If we could change anything, we would let the Jello cool longer before pouring in the ginger ale (to maintain the bubbliness).

(editor's note: Andrew and Nicholas used the special Shop-Rite edition of Entertaining Six or Eight. Oddly, there was no publication date, but based on the other books this appears to be from the early to mid 1950s. This was a special series with lovely illustrations by Paul Hamlin and the Shop-Rite logo right on the cover. Also, Ruth Berlozheimer is not credited. Instead, Melanie De Proft is listed as director.)

250 Delectable Desserts

One of the fascinating things about the cookbooks from The Culinary Arts Institute is the way they (Ruth Berolzheimer) recycle their material. Nowhere is this more obvious than with 250 Delectable Desserts. The oldest edition I have is from 1940. This two-color cover was standard with the books from the 40s. Honestly, I have no idea what this dessert is on the cover--especially the little rounds, possibly bacon, or those little soy disc things that come with vegetarian udon. The strange thing about this book is that when you open the cover the title page reads, 250 Tempting Desserts. If you're re-packaging material, it seems easy to understand how this kind of mistake could happen. What's less easy to understand is how this "typo" happened on the 1949 and 1950 editions, which were similarly titled 250 Delectable Dessert Recipes. The dessert pictured on this 1950 edition also seems impenetrable to me. I think it might be baked apples. The title page of 150 Delectable Dessert Recipes (1971) reads correctly. I assume this happened when they culled their “best” 150 recipes and had to change the title page anyway.

Despite the cover or the title, all of the editions of the 250 Dessert variety are EXACTLY the same on the inside. The 1970s versions, the smaller 150 Desserts, use the same recipes, same pictures, same font. The only difference is pagination, and of course the missing 100 recipes. This really makes me wonder about the content of these books. If the 70s editions are simply selections of the 50s editions, which are reprints of the 40s editions, then just what is the source for the 40s editions? How old are these recipes anyway? Is this why they are so strange?

204 Intriguiging Ground Meat Recipes

Yesterday through Coudal Partners Serena found this great site where someone has posted the full text of The Ground Meat Cookbook (1954). I haven't seen this book before so you know how excited I was to read it. The resolution is pretty good, so it is possible to work from it. As you can see by the cover, it's a stunner.

The books I have are all from the 1940s or the 1970s, but this is from the 1950s series. Although I've seen the covers, I've never looked inside. The contents are spectacular and there are some differences between this and the ones I own. First, there is playful use of illustration and color. For example, the charming illustration of lambs in swimsuits at the beach atop the recipe for "Frosted Lamb Loaf." At first I thought they were poodles, but why would there be poodles at the beach? Another of the illustrations depicts a tarted up row of dancing pearl onions adorning the recipe for "Liver Dumplings."

The thing that is noticeably missing is the name of Ruth Berolzheimer. This seems odd to me because the two series I have 40s and 70s both have her name on it. So I am wondering if when the original series of the 40s was re-worked, they simply kept her name since it was she who compiled the recipes in the first place. Up until now, I thought that her tenure at Culinary Arts Institute was un-interrupted throughout that period.

Please try a recipe or two and let me know how it turns out.
http://www.meatbook.com/index.html