A Food Trip Down Memory Lane

Vintage Cooking 1976

This past week I consulted an old cook book for a dish I was making.  It’s a recipe book from the James Beard Cooking Classes, made for Cuisinart back in 1976 (pictured above). The good old 70’s when I learned everything I know from the restaurants of that time  and the foodies of the time. The people who contributed to this recipe book were icons and very well known to me as they would be to any foodie (term not yet coined). 

They included CraigClaiborne, Helen McCully, Jacques Pepin, Simone Beck, Julie Dannenbaum, John Clancy, Pierre Franey, Marcella Hazan, Madhur Jaffrey, Barbara Kafka, Perla Meyers,Maurice Moore-Betty, Andre Soltner, Julia Child.

A recipe for Steak Tartare, so popular then, as were cocktail parties. (I think they should be revived.)
Cucumber soup. Barbara Kafka’s Gazpacho.Vichyssoise, served before a Boeuf Bourguignon. Zucchini Bisque. Andre Soltner’s (Lutece) Onion Soup, Soupe de Poisson Marseillaise. Rack of Lamb, Quo Vadis (the restaurant). Craig Claiborne had called it the one of the finest kitchens in Manhattan and gave it four stars. 

French recipes were the majority. Mustard Vinaigrette, Bearnaise, and Hollandaise shared the pages with Marcella Hazan’s Ragu alla Bolognese. James Beard's Cranberry Relish, and Green Mayonnaise that I served with poached Striped Bass. These were recipes you could count on to be flawless and made easier with the use of the Cuisinart.

To buy a Cuisinart when it was first available was like waiting in line for the first Nike addition or the latest iphone.

How very excited I was when I came across the New York Times Dining Section this past Wednesday, May 9, 2012 . Pete Wells, Jacques Pepin and Bryan Miller were also having a nostalgic moment with a featured article celebrating Craig Claiborne and other famous foodies of the 70’s.

Confusing headline, which I didn’t understand at first-“ When He Dined, the Stars Came Out”. Days later, it hit me… Ahha, when Craig Claiborne dined out he was the first in the United States to rank the restaurants with stars, after the Michelin Guide in France.

Underneath the headline, a photo of Craig Claiborne in his kitchen, with many of the afore mentioned food icons, Pierre Franey, Jacques Pepin, Marcella Hazan, Julia Child .

Below, a page from my 1976 journal.

The Menu:

Explorateur cheese and crackers

Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Rack of Lamb
Baked tomatoes stuffed with sauteed peas
potatoes Anna

Lemon Ice Box Pie

wine: Inglenook Burgundy

Lemon Ice Box Pie Recipe

1974 recipe from Serendipity New York, NY

Graham Cracker Crust

 9-inch pie pan

1 cup crushed honey graham crackers

 (always use honey grahams, they taste much better than plain)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix together the graham crackers and butter, ground cinnamon and brown sugar and press into the pie pan.

Lemon Filling

1 cup sweetened condensed milk  (Borden’s Magnolia brand )

½ cup fresh lemon juice

2 egg yolkes

grated lemon zest from 1 lemon

Mix all ingredients and pour into the pie crust.

Refrigerate for at least four hours before serving

Heavy cream for whipping. Top pie with whipped cream.

Till next week...
As Always,
xxoo Sheila