The Church Lady Cookbook Dialogs: Necessity
I don’t cook. Its been some time since I had a family around sporting the what’s-for-dinner-look so I gave it up and was happy to see it go. It happened the day my daughter kicked me out of the kitchen when she was 10. She realized she was better at it than I, informed me that I would not be allowed back in the kitchen ever again and that was the end of that. I was relieved. I can cook, and for reasons that I won’t go into here, I’m just not really fond of it. The shocked look of astonishment my housemate gave me the other day when I was at the stove during this pandemic speaks volumes. It seemed unfathomable to him that I might actually know what to do in a kitchen. I was trying it again as a novelty created from necessity. It seems to be going good so far.
Even so, during those years when my cooking came to a halt I went through a period of collecting church-lady cookbooks. You know the ones, the ones that women’s groups put together to sell as fund raisers for churches, schools, hospitals, sanitariums and the like. They vary in quality, some are professionally printed, others are more a DIY project. My favorite one is typewritten, copied on colored construction paper and bound with three binder rings. Some sold advertising space from local businesses. Some of those ads during the war years reminded you to buy your war bonds now! so that you can later purchase your Wonder Range.
The recipes and the names of recipe donors reveal things about the lives and histories of the people who made them. They give clues that identify the immigrant history, as well as the current circumstances of the region by the kinds of recipes that they submitted. One of my grandmother’s from the era of WWII reflects the cooking and baking preferences of 1st and 2nd generation Dutch immigrant women during an era of shortages, rationing and tight budgets and includes: vetbollen (deep fried, like a doughnut), krentjebrij (the Dutch version of fruit soup), and boerenkool (a dish of potatoes, barley, kale and pig hock).
After reading about all the cooking and baking going on on social media I pulled these cookbooks out to learn (again) how to cook on a short supply with what I might have on my the kitchen shelves. How to use those beans, left overs, substitutes for sugar, butter and other things that may be in short supply in my cupboard.
The cookbook I first went to for guidance was compiled for the Baxter Christian School (Grand Rapids, MI) by the Mutual Helpers Club, Squad 4, January 1945.
The Mutual Helpers Club, Squad 4, included my grandmother, Mrs. Arthur Smitter, and seven other women whose recipes were in the book. They were supported by local businesses that purchased advertising space.
I was looking for some other inspiration from these women, but found this recipe that I will include here given the short supply of eggs these days. I have not tested this recipe, but it looks simple to do. Also, for those who do not know: Spry is a brand of vegetable shortening that was a competitor of Crisco. Its basically solid vegetable oil that was used in baking and cooking. For a traditional taste you can use Crisco, as Spry is no longer manufactured. But margarine or butter can be substituted if all that grease seems gross. Be aware that it will have a different taste and texture depending on what you use.
Here you are: One Egg Cake
Originally published at http://textcatwrites.wordpress.com on April 12, 2020.
