A Tale of Two Ranges

Unless you’re cooking outdoors, it’s pretty difficult to prepare a hot meal or bake without the help of a range. Over time, we have prepared dishes on electric and gas stoves, and I’ve received a number of comments about the appliances we use on Cavalcade of Food. Many of the cooking episodes have been recorded at the cottage, where I am fortunate to have two kitchens: the main inside kitchen and then a “summer” kitchen I built in a shed on the side of the house. This year I decided to swap out the stoves I had in both of these locations with some that I had stored away.

The kitchen shed hosts a 40-inch range, and originally had a 1952/53 Hotpoint single oven range. I removed that stove (and gave it to a friend who was both a fan of vintage appliances and in need of a stove) and replaced it with a 1954 General Electric Liberator, which is a double oven range which was top-of-the-line in its day. You will get a glimpse of this range in an upcoming episode featuring steak au poivre.

Within the cottage, the kitchen can only accommodate a 30-inch range. For the last couple of years, I had a 1958 General Electric range, which was in perfect working order. But I wanted to put another range from my collection into service, so I looked among the other 30-inch models and decided to exchange it for a 1954 Frigidaire Thifty-30 range.

The General Electric range I removed featured three six-inch and one eight-inch Calrod burners, one of them being “high speed.” In fact, the high speed burner could get a pot of water to boil in a little more than three minutes. It featured small pushbutton switches on the top of the range that controlled the burners, a work light, a clock with timer and automatic oven switch. It also had two appliance outlets (one of them that could be set to go on at a specific time) and a broiler.

There are a lot of old GE stoves out there and it’s no wonder – they sold lots of them. GE was, and still is, a large company that had huge market share in major appliances. I always felt their products were fairly well built and engineered, and they had a large network of dealers and service technicians.  I recall the GE was the “official” range of the Pillsbury Bake-Off competition, and in the many years of that contest GE liked to boast that there was never a single range failure.

The Frigidaire range that was just installed in the cottage is – I think – a beautifully designed stove. It is among the Frigidaire appliances that were designed by the renowned Raymond Loewy. Rather than the Calrod elements used in the GE, the engineers at Frigidaire designed the “Radiantube” burners that became a standard on Frigidaire stoves for many years. The controls for the burners are located on the front of the stove, rather than on the back dashboard, providing safe and easy access. I thought this was a good idea because the user would not have to reach across a hot pot to change the settings, but someone told me that it had more to do with costs. It was cheaper to run the wiring to the front of the stove.

At the time this stove was produced, Frigidaire was a division of General Motors, and all Frigidaire products proudly acclaimed to be “Product of General Motors.” Growing up in Detroit, a city consumed by automotive culture, the connection to these large appliances is a fitting one. With gleaming paint, lots of chrome, lights and heavy steel, one can see some parallels with the cars of the same era. GM wasn’t the only auto company in the appliance game. Nash (known later as American Motors) produced Kelvinator appliances. Automotive supplier Borg-Warner made Norge brand appliances, and Ford purchased Philco in 1961.

Frigidaire introduced the 30-inch range in 1950. While it was narrower than most of the stoves of the period (many were 36, 38, 40 or more inches wide), it provided an oven that was much larger than the big ranges. The 40-inch Frigidaires of the period had smaller ovens than the 30-inch model, so this was a big selling point. People were also updating their kitchens or moving out to the suburbs into new homes, and the 30-inch range allowed room for the modern kitchen to have additional counters, cabinets and other conveniences like a built-in dishwasher.

This Frigidaire range has three six-inch burners and one eight-inch burner. It also features a cooking timer, clock with automatic oven switch, appliance outlet, work light and broiler. It has a very deep storage drawer (larger than the GE) under the oven for pots and pans.

While we feature no recipe in this episode, we wanted to spend a little time with our beautiful vintage appliances; for without them we would not be able to prepare the meals we love to share with family and friends.

 

Detroit Up North - Taking Along Greek Orzo Salad

Some wonderful friends came up with a great idea to invite a bunch of Detroiters to their hometown of Port Austin for a couple of fun-filled days. Dubbed “Detroit Up North,” this wonderful event converged on the quiet village of Port Austin, Michigan this past weekend. I have to thank the fabulous Boyles for getting people mobilized (some people even made the 150 mile ride on their bicycles) and providing a place for all of us to land and celebrate.

The main course was provided – two lambs roasted in a pit for more than a day. These were succulent and tender and served with naan bread and some yummy sauces. Many people brought side dishes to share, and the dining table, which spanned about 60 feet, was lined with countless salads and such. The biggest problem was that the plates were too small to sample everything!

I made a double batch of this Greek orzo salad to take along, and Ralph brought plenty of his always-requested homemade salsa. I really like this salad for events like this as it holds up well and, unlike a mayonnaise-based salad, is fine to sit out on a buffet for a while.  The ingredients provide a variety of textures and flavors, and the dressing is light enough so that it doesn’t overpower everything else. Whether it’s a summer cookout or you just want a light side dish, give this salad a try.

Greek Orzo Salad

1 – 1lb box orzo

1 ½ cup frozen peas

1/3 cup pine nuts (toasted)

4 oz Feta cheese (crumbled)

½ cup chopped celery leaves or fresh parsley

15-16 Kalamata olives

Dressing

2 TBSP red wine vinegar

3 TBSP olive oil

¼ tsp salt

Dash pepper

Dash sugar

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook orzo as directed on box (or until al dente). Drain orzo and rinse with cold water. Set aside and let cool.

Put peas in microwave safe bowl that is covered with plastic wrap. Cook in microwave for two-three minutes, until just cooked. Remove, uncover and set aside to cool.

In a dry small skillet, toast pine nuts until fragrant and golden brown.  Chop your celery leaves (or parsley) fine. Feta cheese is often sold in 4oz. containers already crumbled, but if you don’t have it that way, crumble cheese into a container and set aside. Roughly chop kalamata olives – make sure the pits are removed.

Get a bowl large enough to hold the orzo and the other ingredients. In the bottom of the bowl, pour the vinegar and oil and add the salt, pepper and sugar. Using a whisk beat the ingredients together until well combined. The dressing should stay together. Place the orzo into the bowl and stir orzo around so that all of it becomes lightly coated with the dressing. Put the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and stir one more time so they are well distributed. You can serve immediately or chill and hold for a later serving time. Enjoy!

Breakfast! Making Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes

It’s hard to argue with a good pancake. Whether you like them rubbed with lots of butter and drenched in syrup, or you spread your favorite jam on top, having a good pancake is a sure-fire way to start the day. But then, how fun is it to have pancakes for dinner? Sometimes pancakes and sausage taste even better at the end of a long day.

There are also a lot of bad pancakes out there. They are dry, dense and hard. Once, I used such a pancake to keep a table from wobbling by placing it under one of the legs. One can also find a lot of pretty good mixes in the market that just require adding milk, eggs, and oil and giving it a stir. The truth is it’s not that hard to make really good pancakes from scratch. Better yet, by making them yourself you can change it up every now and again – make some with whole wheat, blueberries, nuts, etc.

Here is a recipe that works cornmeal into the pancake batter. We love cornbread and corn muffins, and sometimes have them for breakfast. But here we get the sweet corn flavor plus a little of the nice texture of the cornmeal, along with the fluffiness of a good buttermilk pancake.

This recipe makes 18-20 four inch pancakes – good if you are feeding a crowd (or a few good eaters). If not, you can cut the recipe in half. I love to use my electric griddle for pancakes, but a large skillet will work fine, too. Enjoy!

Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes

2 cups buttermilk (at least room temperature – I slightly warm mine)

1 ½ cups cornmeal

3 TBSP melted butter (unsalted)

1 cup flour

2-3 TBSP sugar (to suit)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 eggs (room temperature)

In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, cornmeal and melted butter together. Stir well so there are no lumps – mixture should be smooth. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and soda and salt. Set aside.

Gently whisk two eggs together in a small bowl and stir into bowl containing buttermilk/cornmeal. Then add the contents of that bowl into the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix together until incorporated. Set bowl aside and let mixture rest for 10-15 minutes.

Heat your griddle or skillet to 375-400 degrees. If it has a non-stick surface, these should not stick, otherwise you may want to coat with a non-stick spray. Drop batter onto surface and flip when underside begins to turn golden (there will be some bubbles on the wet top part of the batter). Serve warm with butter, your favorite syrup or jam.

Hello Summer - Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cake

Now that we are officially entering the summer season, I find few things more telling of the time than the start of the rhubarb harvest. With its long red and green stalks, rhubarb starts hitting the Michigan markets by late May or early June, depending on the weather. Great on its own in pies or mixed with strawberries, blueberries or peaches, rhubarb provides a sharp tartness that marries beautifully with something sweet.

I have been known to hoard rhubarb, buying all I can get my hands on for the short time it is available. I get it home, wash it, cut it up into one-inch pieces, and put it in the freezer until I’m ready to use it. A great use for frozen rhubarb is to make a sauce that goes perfectly over ice cream or pound cake. The idea came to me to incorporate this sauce into a cake, and so here we are! This cake recipe uses cream cheese (and butter) to produce a moist, rich cake that stands on its own – but the rhubarb adds an extra dimension to the flavor and texture.

This weekend also kicks off another summer cooking season at the cottage. It brought great comfort seeing the glistening blue of Lake Huron and I was grateful for another year at my summer getaway. In the weeks ahead, we will be bringing some fun and interesting recipes to Cavalcade of Food from the cottage kitchen, with dear friends and family helping out along the way!

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cake

Rhubarb Sauce

4 cups rhubarb (I used frozen rhubarb that was thawed and drained of excess water)

1 cup sugar

3 TBSP water

In a medium sauce pan, combine rhubarb, sugar and water. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring often. Mash rhubarb with spoon as you stir so that it breaks down. Remove from heat.

Cream Cheese Cake

1 8oz cream cheese (softened)

1 stick unsalted butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

1 ¾ cup flour

2 eggs

¼ cup milk

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter and sugar until creamy. Add half of the flour plus the eggs, milk, baking powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Add second half of flour and continue beating until well incorporated.

This recipe makes one 9x13 or two 8x8 cakes. Grease pan(s) with non-stick cooking spray and add batter (if making two 8x8 cakes, divide batter evenly between two pans). Spoon dollops of rhubarb sauce on top of batter (about 1 cup if making a 9x13 cake). Using a table knife, swirl rhubarb sauce into batter making a marble effect. Place pan in oven for 30-35 minutes.

Use remaining rhubarb sauce as a topping for the cake – if desired. Cakes can also be dusted with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Post Paris Pleasures - Making French Onion Soup

Bonjour! My recent trip to Paris was – in a word – magical. There was something almost surreal about turning a corner and seeing the Eiffel Tower standing before me.  After a lifetime of seeing this image in books, movies and magazines, it took me a moment to understand that I was really there. In fact, it’s much bigger in person! But Paris was full of moments like this, from seeing the Mona Lisa to strolling up the Champs Elysees to attending Mass at Notre Dame. More than any single experience, the best part of Paris was just being there. Taking it all in and loving it all. I found the Parisians to be very kind and accommodating to this American with limited working knowledge of their language. It is a remarkable city with so much to offer. As long as one’s eyes are open, art and beauty abounds within every vision. You cannot escape it.

I had the pleasure to be there with a group of students, staff and faculty from Wayne State University. Every person in our group had a wonderful time and came home with their own treasured memories of our nine days in Paris. One of my goals for this trip was to experience as much of the Parisian cuisine as possible, and I did. Some of the meals I enjoyed were formal and elegant, while many others were enjoyed casually in a café or bistro. People eat leisurely in Paris, without rush or pressure – very unlike our American method. Food is savored, appreciated and enjoyed.

Soup is a common item on café menus, and I often saw “soupe a l’oignon,” or what we would call French onion soup. Regardless of what you order, everything comes with lots of wonderful bread – I’ve never seen so many people eat so much bread! But if I had bread that delicious at my disposal every day, I’d eat a lot of it, too. I sampled a number of onion soups in Paris, and they were all very good. So, when I arrived back home I thought I would keep the Paris vibe alive by making a pot of this rich, robust soup. I don’t know when I’ll get back to Paris, but I can always let this soup and my memories transport me to the "City of Lights" whenever the need arises. Bon appetite! 

French Onion Soup

2 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP butter

3lbs onions (I used regular yellow cooking onions, but you could use red, white, Spanish, Vidalia, etc.)

Salt and pepper

1 quart (4 cups) beef stock

½ cup sherry (optional – can replace with stock or water)

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

2 beef bouillon cubes

French bread

Butter

Granulated garlic or onion

Herbes de Provence

8oz Gruyere cheese, shredded

Peel onions and cut in half and then slice, creating crescent shaped pieces. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil and butter. Add sliced onions and salt and pepper. Toss to coat onions with oil butter and seasoning. Over medium/medium-high heat, cook onions – stirring regularly until they are caramelized. This may take close to 30 minutes. The onions will sweat out much of their water and then they will slowly begin to brown. It is IMPORTANT that you allow the onions to become a deep, golden brown. This will bring out the natural sweetness in the onions. Once the onions have caramelized, add the beef stock, sherry and sprigs of thyme. Stir, cover pot and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, prepare the croutons. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut bread into slices about ¾ of an inch thick. Depending on the bread you are using, make sure you have enough to cover the top surface of the bowl/crock you will be putting the soup in. Lightly butter the tops of the bread slices, sprinkle the granulated garlic or onion and herbes de Provence over the butter. Put bread on a baking sheet and place in oven for 10-12 minutes, or until toasty brown. Remove bread from oven and allow to cool.

Return to the soup. You may choose to add the bouillon cube(s) here, depending on your own taste. Remember that the cubes (or I use a beef soup base) will also add saltiness to the soup. Pull out the sprigs of thyme and let simmer another ten minutes.

Grate cheese using the large holes on a box grater. Figure on using about two ounces of cheese per bowl. Set grated cheese aside. Turn the broiler on in your oven. Give your soup a final taste test for seasoning. Ladle soup in bowl, top with crouton(s) and lay the Gruyere cheese over the croutons. Adjust oven racks so the bowls will be about six inches under the broiler, put bowls on a baking sheet and put in oven. Keep an eye on them – it should take about four minutes for the cheese to melt and just begin to brown. Remove bowls from broiler immediately and serve. Enjoy!