Adventures in Good Cooking

Louis Hatchett is the editor of Mencken’s Americana and The Continuing Crisis: As Chronicled for Four Decades by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

An annual cookbook by the man known as America’s first national restaurant critic. Tested recipes of unusual dishes from America’s favorite eating places. . . . A culinary classic.

— Advertisingcookbook.com

The section on carving meat is very important for today’s home cook. Carving is a lost art and Duncan Hines covers the subject well in a concise, easy to understand format.

— Albert Schmid, author of The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook

Buttermilk Rolls

(Makes 24)

Ingredients:

2 cups buttermilk

1 yeast cake

½ teaspoon soda

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups flour

2 tablespoons shortening

Directions:

Have buttermilk at room temperature. Add yeast and allow it to soften. Mix the soda, sugar, salt, flour, and shortening using only a part of the flour. Beat well into yeast mixture, then add balance of the flour, until the dough forms a stiff ball. Knead quickly until smooth. Roll out to ¾ inch thickness and cut with biscuit cutter. Place in a greased bread pan. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Bake in 450°. oven for 15 minutes. When done, brush over lightly with milk sweetened with a little sugar.

Marshlands Inn, Sackville, N.B., Canada

Maine Clam Chowder

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

¼ lb. salt pork

2 onions medium size

1 ½ qts. fresh clam broth

2 medium potatoes

1 pt. fresh clams

½ pt. milk

½ pt. cream

6 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Dice and sauté pork until it will float. Chop and add onions to salt pork and continue to cook 5 minutes. Add clam broth, straining salt pork and onions if desired. Cube potatoes, add to mixture, cook 20 minutes. Chop clams in half, add to mixture, cook 5 minutes. Add milk, bring to boil. Add butter, and salt and pepper to taste.

The LaFayette, Portland, Maine, George M. Miller, Chef

Cranberry Salad

(Serves 14)

Ingredients:

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 quart cranberries

2 cups marshmallows

2 apples—diced

3 bananas—sliced

3 cups orange sections

½ cup pecans

Directions:

Boil water and sugar until syrupy. Add cranberries to syrup and cook until they burst. Remove from fire and let stand covered for 10 minutes. Remove cover and cook another 5 minutes. Chill. Add marshmallows, apples, bananas, orange sections, and pecans to cooled cranberries and thoroughly chill.

University Dining Service, Iowa City, Iowa

Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 medium Idaho potatoes

1/8 lb. butter

½ cup sour cream

2 teaspoons chopped chives

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Bake potatoes until done. Remove top, scoop out meat into double boiler over briskly boiling water. Add the butter, cream, chives, and seasoning. Whip together until potatoes are fluffy. Fill the shells and serve at once.

Mrs. Robert Stephens, Los Angeles, California

Chicken with Rice

(Serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients:

4 lb. chicken

1 onion—minced

1 tablespoon parsley

2 whole cloves

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup tomato sauce

2 cups soup stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cut chicken into pieces. Braise onion, parsley, cloves, and butter with chicken for a few minutes. Add tomato sauce and soup stock to mixture and let simmer until done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with cooked rice.

Pilot Butte Inn, Bend, Oregon

Chocolate Fudge Upside Down Cake

(Makes one 9-inch square)

Ingredients:

¾ cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup milk

1 cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ tablespoons cocoa

½ cup walnuts—chopped

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup cocoa

1 ¼ cups boiling water

Directions:

Cream ¾ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon butter together. Add milk and stir. Sift 1 cup flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 ½ tablespoons cocoa together and add to mixture. Stir well and put in 9-inch buttered and floured pan. Sprinkle with walnuts. Mix ½ cup sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, and ¼ cup cocoa well together and spread over top. Pour 1 ¼ cups boiling water over the top of all. Bake in 350°. oven for 30 minutes. Let cool in pan.

Cathryn’s, Portland, Oregon