Boston Brown Bread

I've only ever had Boston Brown Bread once, but it has always fascinated me. I can't rightly say why, probably because it is old-fashioned sounding and I love old-fashioned things. However, when I had it, I didn't like it. Maybe I'd like it better if I had it fresh instead of from a can. (Did you know that it came in a can? I guess you can get anything in a can-- even socks!). This recipe comes from "Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised", which was published in 1931 but came from the radio show which aired in the 1920s. Good luck and if any of you try it, let me know how it turns out!

Boston Brown Bread-

Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal and 1 cup rye meal OR 2 cups corn meal.
1 cup Graham flour. (I'm sure that any all-purpose flour would work here)
1 teaspoon salt.
3/4 cup molasses
2 cups sour milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons soda, OR 2 cups sweet milk, 1/4 teaspoon soda, and 4 teaspoons baking powder

Mix the dry ingredients and add the molasses along with the milk. Beat the mixture thoroughly, then pour into greased molds until they are about three quarters filled. Cover loosely to keep out the moisture and steam for 3 1/2 hours. Remove the covers and bake the bread in a moderate oven for about 10 minutes to dry off. If the bread is crumbly, use a string to cut slices rather than a knife.

Notes: A moderate oven, according to the same book, would be somewhere between 325 to 375 degrees F.

Tutti-Frutti Sauce

When I think of Tutti-Frutti, I think of the bumble gum and some sort of pink flavor. Don't ask me how a flavor can be a color, but that is truly what the words tutti and frutti make me think of, so imagine my surprise when I found a recipe for Tutti-Frutti sauce! This recipe also comes from Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised. Apparently, according to the book, it would be great over vanilla ice-cream, frozen custard or blanc mange.

Tutti-Frutti Sauce-
Ingredients:
4 slices canned pineapple
1 pint pineapple juice and water
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup blanched almonds
1 cup candied cherries cut in quarters
1/2 cup finely cut citron

Directions:
Strain the juice from the pineapples, add enough water to make a pint, combine with sugar and salt, and cook for about 10 minutes or until the syrup is pretty thick. Break the almonds in half, cut the sliced pineapple into thin pieces add along with cherries and citron to the syrup. Boil mixture for a few minutes and chill before serving.

Corn Bread

One of the first old recipe books that my grandmother gave me was "Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised". It was printed by Bureau of Home Economics under the US Department of Agriculture in 1931. The inside leaflet notes that the price was 15 cents. (My grandmother didn't buy it, it was given to families in her neighborhood from the congressman who I believe was up for re-election) Now of course you couldn't get a cookbook for that! It has lots of old time recipes in it that were once shared on Aunt Sammy's Radio show, which I think aired weekly.

Here is the recipe for Cornbread from the book on page 81-

Corn Bread
Ingredients-
2 cups corn meal
1/2 teaspoon soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups sour milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted fat

Sift the dry ingredients together and add milk. Add the well-beaten eggs and the fat. Pour into a very hot well-buttered pan. Bake from 40 to 50 minutes in a hot oven. (400 to 425 degrees Fahrenheit)

Of course, people don't tend to use actual fat or sour milk in their cooking. If you are looking for substitutes then I suggest that you use butter, margarine, oil, or shortening in lieu of the fat and something like milk, buttermilk, or water for the sour milk.