Cook the Cookbook Project- week 8

After taking a short break for the holidays (and a some time because I caught whatever the nasty bug is going around) I am back with a post in the Cook the Cookbook Project.

This week we are finishing out the first chapter of the book featuring America’s favorite recipes from back in 1958. I know I have one menu that I will need to return to when I can get the meat for the main part of the meal. Other than that one menu I have now cooked my way through that first chapter.

Since the 2^nd

chapter is all about seasonal favorites I won’t be cooking straight through it but rather making the recipes as the seasons change.

This week the menu consisted of baked beans, brown bread, a salad, and for dessert a baked apple.

So one by one what did I think of these dishes?

The baked beans, this week it was a really quick version of baked beans. Basically it had me cook some bacon, and then cook some onions in the bacon fat. Then stir in a can of baked beans along with some chili sauce and a bit of mustard. Then it went into the oven for about 45 minutes.

I did have to substitute the size of the can of beans called for. Apparently can sizes of baked beans have changed over the years so the balance might have been off just a bit although I did my best to scale the ingredients to fit the size of can I was able to get.

I know on the rare occasion my mom made baked beans when I was growing up this was pretty much what she did. They were good, I’m not the biggest fan of baked beans but these were good and something I rarely eat.

The portion of this menu I was most excited about was the brown bread. The recipe directed me to bake it in a washed out can. The problem was I couldn’t find anything at the local grocery store in the size can called for. I decided that rather than make myself crazy looking for a specific size can I would just divide the batter in my small loaf pans. The recipe said it would make 2 loaves in the cans, I got 3 in my small loaf pans. The recipe does note that the bread freezes really well if well wrapped.

Growing up my mom served this type of bread often. She never baked this one though it was one of the few breads she would buy at the store. And yes, it came in a can. I loved that stuff and I remember I could eat most of the loaf myself back in the day. For this reason I have been looking forward to this menu for ever since I saw it when I set up to do this project. The recipe is interesting, I have never made it before and I have to say it does taste like the canned stuff I remember. It has a small amount of flour and a bit larger amount of either graham cracker crumbs or dry bread crumbs. It gets its distinctive flavor from a healthy amount of molasses which also gives the bread its color and will keep it moist for a while. I did add the optional raisins since I remember they were my favorite part.

The salad was just a simple one using equal parts chopped veggies (raw or cooked) and torn salad greens, then dressed with an oil and vinegar dressing. So simple and the perfect counterpart to the sweetness of the baked beans.

For dessert there was a baked apple, this one with maple syrup, hence the name Baked Vermont Apple. Growing up my mom served baked apples a lot probably at least one day a week in the winter. I haven’t had one in years and I was reminded that I really am not a huge fan of them. But it was still fun to travel down memory lane.

So what do I think overall about this menu. I will be honest and say it was not my favorite out of the chapter but it was okay. I am very happy to have made it and ate it.