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The format in this issue will depart from the norm as I am including recipes only. Most of the usual trappings will not be in today's issue. Oh! The newest monthly theme is announced in this issue.  It will be a great one, too.  It will guarantee that no one sends in the same recipe as you.  Go to the Next Monthly Theme section and read all about it.

Today, I thought I would share you with a gift. While I wish I could send the actual cookbooks from which the recipes came, I thought giving you my bird's eye view might be special. I hope you enjoy reading through the recipes shared here today as much as we did preparing and eating them!

The Original White House Cook Book 1887 Edition

I received this book as a gift from Barbara in Chula Vista, CA. When she was preparing to send it, she said it was "educational materials" I would be receiving, for me and my kids. Now, how can a cook book be educational for kids? This one is chock-full of history. Not only of the White House but of its "residents" and staff. The recipes, while being dated, are anything but out-of-date. Each is charming and gives the reader a "feel" for the time in which it was cooked. My kids have both turned pages and been captivated by the times in which the recipes were written. And, of course, they have selected a few they found unique and tasty for good "old" Mom to prepare.

The publishers of this book state: "Convenience has been studied in the make-up of the book. The type is large and plain; it is sewed by patent flexible process, so that when opened it will not close of itself, and is bound in enameled cloth, adapted for use in the kitchen." The book is gorgeous to look at with its pages edged in gold. I consider it a treasure as much for the eyes as the soul.

The following recipes are a mere sample of the 570 pages of this wonderful book. You will notice the recipes do not follow the more contemporary fashion of ingredient lists and directions. They are in paragraph (and quite useable!) form. I hope you enjoy this visit with a great book. If you're interested in getting your own copy, you may check it out here.

The Original White House Cookbook
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Potato Fillets
Page 173

My son saw this recipe and said "Hey, Mom! This looks like French fries!" Well, it is French Fries. And it employs a nifty process of double-frying which is key to crispy yet puffy potatoes.

Pare and slice the potatoes thin; cut them if you like small fillets, about a quarter of an inch square, an as long as the potato will admit; keep them in cold water until wanted, then drop them into boiling lard; when nearly done, take them out with a skimmer and drain them, boil up the lard again, drop the potatoes back and fry till done; this operation causes the fillets to swell up and puff.
 

Scalloped Onions
Page 177

Take eight or ten onions of good size, slice them, and boil until tender. Lay them in a baking-dish, put in bread-crumbs, butter in small bits, pepper and salt, between each layer until the dish is full, putting bread-crumbs last; add milk or cream until full. Bake twenty minutes or half an hour.

A little onion is not an injurious article of food, as many believe. A judicious use of plants of the onion family is quite as important a factor in successful cookery as salt and pepper. When carefully concealed by manipulation in food, it affords zest and enjoyment to many who could not otherwise taste of it were its presence known. A great many successful compounds derive their excellence from the partly concealed flavor of the onion, which imparts a delicate appetizing aroma highly prized by epicures.
 

Ladies Cabbage
Page 178

Boil a firm white cabbage 15 minutes, changing the water for more from the boiling tea-kettle. When tender, drain and set aside until perfectly cold. Chop fine and add two beaten eggs, a tablespoon of butter, pepper, salt, three tablespoons rich milk or cream. Stir all well together, and bake in a buttered pudding-dish until brown. Serve very hot. This dish resembles cauliflower and is very digestible and palatable.

The President's Own White House Cookbook, 1968

Another gift included in our "educational materials" from Barbara was a book called The President's Own White House Cookbook, 1968.  It is another cookbook that will be treasured.  Barbara knows that sometimes you have to sneak in education, and this is a classic example of it.  As my kids perused the pages with the intention of "finding something for Mom to prepare", they took a long time reading about the history of the recipes, and the historical stories surrounding each.  If you care to claim the book for your very own, you may do so here.

The President's Own White House Cookbook, 1968

After Christmas in 1963, Chancellor Ludwig Erhard of Germany spent a weekend with the Lyndon B. Johnson's on their central Texas ranch. He was treated to Texas barbeques, fried catfish, and American pecan and apple pies. The dessert served at luncheon one day was a chocolate cake with a typically Texan coconut-pecan frosting.

Lyndon B. Johnson's
Texas Chocolate Cake
Page 88

4 ounce sweet chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
Texas Coconut-Pecan Frosting (see recipe)

Melt chocolate in the boiling water; cool. Cream butter and vanilla extract thoroughly; and sugar gradually, creaming until fluffy after each addition. Add egg yolks, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Mix in melted chocolate. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together; add alternately in fourths with buttermilk to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Fold in egg whites, beaten until stiff, not dry, peaks are formed. Turn into three 8-inch greased (bottoms only) layer cake pans. Bake at 350F 30 to 40 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool layers completely before frosting with Texas Coconut-Pecan Frosting.


Texas Coconut-Pecan Frosting

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Combine evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla extract. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Add coconut and pecans. Beat until cool and thick enough to spread.

Enough to frost tops of three 8-inch round layer cakes


Lady Bird Johnson's
Pecan Pie
Page 94

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, well beaten
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
One unbaked 9-inch pastry shell

Let butter stand at room temperature in a covered mixing bowl until very soft. Add sugar, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and salt; beat until thoroughly blended. Add eggs and beat gently until blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie shell and bake at 375F about 40 minutes, or until top is toasted brown and filling is set when the pie is gently rocked.

One 9-inch pie


Admittedly, Mamie Eisenhower doesn't care for cooking. Ike is the chef of the family. But Mamie made a "courtin" fudge she used to serve Ike when he was a young lieutenant. Legend has it Ike gave it the name "Mamie's Million Dollar Fudge."

Mamie's
Million Dollar Fudge
Page 104

4 1/2 cups sugar
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) evaporated milk
12 ounces (1 package) semisweet chocolate pieces
12 ounces sweet chocolate
1 pint marshmallow cream
2 cups nuts

Combine the first 4 ingredients and boil 6 minutes. Put the following into a large bowl: the chocolate pieces, the sweet chocolate, marshmallow cream, and nuts. Pour the boiling syrup over ingredients in the bowl; beat until chocolate is melted. Pour into pan; let stand a few hours before cutting. Store in tin box.

About 5 pounds fudge


Piece de resistance of White House chefs, favorite of many Presidents, it is believed that Onion Soup was originated by a king. Returning late at night to his hunting lodge, Louis XV of France found only onions, butter and champagne. Hungry and weary, he simply cooked them together and...voila!

French Onion Soup
Page 8

16 to 18 medium onions
1/2 pound butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, minced
1 tablespoon minced parsley
2 tablespoons flour
6 cups beef bouillon
6 cups boiling water
1 ham bone, cleaned of meat
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground thyme
Salt and pepper
French bread
Butter
1 clove garlic, bruised
Parmesan or Gruyere cheese, grated

Slice onions on the bias; this eliminates the worry about breaking up onion rings when they are stirred. Using a large saucepot, saute onions in butter until they have become very browned, but not burned. During the last few minutes, add the garlic, celery, and parsley. Sprinkle in flour and blend. Meanwhile, have heating in a large soup kettle, the beef bouillon and water. Add the ham bone, herbs, salt and pepper; blend with browned vegetables. Bring to boiling and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook an hour; skim top, if necessary. Trim crusts from several slices of French bread, cube, and saute until golden brown in butter heated with remaining garlic. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan or Gruyere cheese. Place cubes on a baking sheet and broil until cheese is brown and bubbly. To serve: place some croutons in bottom of soup bowl or tureen, pour over some soup; croutons will float upwards. Pour on remainder of soup; garnish with additional croutons. Serve with bowl of additional Parmesan cheese.

About 4 quarts soup


A favorite of George Washington and F.D.R....

Crab Bisque
Page 10

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 hard-cooked eggs, sieved
Grated peel of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1 quart milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon onion juice
Pinch of ground mace
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cups cooked, fresh crab meat or frozen Alaska king crab
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup sherry

Blend melted butter, flour, sieved eggs, lemon peel and Worchestershire sauce to a paste and put into the top of a double boiler. Combine and scald milk and cream; blend in onion juice and mace. Adding slowly stir into paste in double boiler; bring to boiling over direct heat, stirring constantly. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Set over simmering water. Add salt, pepper, and crab meat. Saute mushrooms and celery in the butter and add to the bisque. Before serving, stir in the sherry.

About 1 1/2 quarts soup


President Kennedy's
Baked Seafood Casserole
Page 52

1/2 pound fresh, cooked crab meat
1/2 pound fresh, cooked lobster meat
1 pound cooked, deveined shrimp
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
2 cups crushed potato chips

Mix all ingredients except potato chips and paprika; turn into a greased casserole. Cover with the crushed potato chips. Sprinkle with paprika. Heat in a 400 F oven 20 to 25 minutes.

6 to 8 servings

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A to Z Recipes continues with its popular Theme Issues. We will share theme recipes and post them on the first Sunday of each month. Send your recipes no later than the last Friday of each month to have them posted in the next monthly theme issue. You may send in TWO of your favorite theme recipes and in ONE email. If the number of recipes exceeds those needed in the issue, the publisher will post as many from every submitter as possible and save the remaining recipes for the following Sundays of that month. The rules for recipe submissions for the monthly theme issues are the same as ALL recipes submitted for posting.

As a service to your fellow readers, please send only recipes that are in a form that others could easily copy and save for their own use. Recipes that would require a lot of editing or cleaning up or use non-standard measurements should not be submitted. Recipes without a name and location of sender may NOT be posted or posted without any credit given. There will be NO recipes posted that are from other recipe-zines. A to Z Recipes protects the privacy of its readers and does NOT publish email addresses. There will be no exceptions.

See the A to Z Recipes Theme Issues collection here:

A to Z Recipes Theme Issues

The theme issue for Making Recipes Special with Additions has a deadline of December 31, 2004, and will be posted on January 2, 2005.

As usual, only recipes are to be sent to: A to Z Recipes Inbox