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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1956-12-20, Page 6Chicken Pie For Breakfast For discreet people with dis- cerning propensities, I highly recommend the chicken pie for Thanksgiving breakfast — a refinement being more and more ignored as the crowding years effect those metamorphoses known as progress. I had a chance not long ago to tilt with one of these patent, machine - made chicken pies of commerce, pasted on a foil platter and the, cover welded on with the Bes- semer process, and I thought of the good chicken pies that mold- ed my character. Somebody ought to do some- thing to perpetuate the architec- tural lines of a real chicken pie. What bothered me the most was the comment heard about its money -making successor around the companionable board, "Umm, these really aren't bad at all, are they?" As a matter of outspoken truth, they were pretty bad. This goes to show. A chicken pie should not be a quick -style slap -together, in- tended to appeal because it is e a s y, convenient, reasonably priced, and can be brought to a boil and served straightaway. A chicken pie should be esteem- ed. It should be stood off from with respect, viewed as a work of art, prompting love, detail, time, and care, and if people are really after speed, simplic- ity, and convenience, let them steam .. hot dog. I hesitate to insist that a chicken pie should have chicken in it. The evidence is against me, and too many people know better. You can step into any emporium of profit and find chicken pies waiting to be bought up, all labeled so you can be sure, and hardly any chicken in them at all. It would be interesting to know the mileage of a four - pound bird in a modern, hygien- ic pie factory. The system must be a lot like the routine Bije Michaelson had for hiring a cook at the Railroad Hotel. When the applicants came for an inter- view Bije would take them into his office one at a time and say, "How many servings can you get from a ten -pound roast of bull beef?" The man who came up with the largest number was hired. In my opinion, unpopular though it may be, chicken pies should be made on the basis of bow many chickens you can get into each, not on how many pies you can get from a chicken. This would probably bankrupt our pie economy, but it would pro- duce fewer and better pies. Best results are had from old hens. You parboil about three of them and get them so the SALLY'S SALLIES "At least, sir, it's one way of balancing our ledger." meat falls off when you extri- cate them from the pot. There's a lot of meat on them, and a good deal better than we are taught by modern dietitians who stress the young and ten- der. I realize the big trouble is with aur stoves. Everybody can give you forty-leven reasons why the old-fashioned kitchen range Is evil, but It did have the gen- eral habit of being continuous. You could h'ist the cover occa- sionally and insert a couple of fresh sticks of hard wood, and while three old hens parboiled all afternoon you didn't have that down -cellar clickety-click of the gas meter, or the mad- dening whir of geometrically progressing kilowatts making you a bankrupt. By Thanksgiving time the dawn isretarded, and to have a really good chicken pie for breakfast you had to arise in the dark. Society has largely given this up as a barbaric custom. Anybody who stumbled out of bed to do a barnful of chores be- fore breakfast had no illusions about the late riser's orange juice and dry toast. Too bad that so many millions of com- fortable, prosperous, ease - be- decked people are unable to re- late how it smells when you• come in from the milking on the kitchen aglow with the olfactory evidence of chicken pie. Now, there's another thing. Lard. I know all about the bet- ter things which have rendered lard into the limbo of lost causes. But the plain, and sup- portable, truth is that lard is what makes pie crust, You have to know how to use it, and the direction you're heading. In a world made better by vegetable oils, this is a rash remark. Every- body knows better. But the kind of chicken pie I'm talking about was made with lard, by some- body who knew how, and you can talk • all night and never convince me. The potatoes and carrots and onions and so on which aid and abet the -chicken, plus the three old hens, call for a vessel of some size. You don't make my chicken pie in a tin -foil bite -size nappy. The setting pan for milk, also ostracized some time since, was just right, Being extensive in the circumference, it created a structural problem which was solved by inverting an ironstone mug in the center, to support the crust. This was standard procedure in rabbit, chicken, and other meat pies back when acreage counted. Then you laid her up, ingredients equitably and judi- ciously disposed and the ade- quacy of the chicken meat be- ing above suspicion. The crust, drawn to a thin delight, was, be- cause of its fragile nature, wrap- ped several times around the rolling pin, and the master builder would skillfully unwind it so it fell into place intact. You couldn't just pick that crust up and flop it down. And into the oven it would go before day- break on Thanksgiving morning ere the ruby rays of the rising sun had gildedthe peak of the barn. The thing about this pie was its suggestive power. It sug- gested Thanksgiving. It made you glad. It set the pace for the whole day. We had such pies often; but we never had one for breakfast except on Thanksgiv- ing, and this made it different and notable. — By John Gould. in the Christian Science Monitor. POSTER DIRL—Pour-year-old Marlene Olsen straightens out the. tongue of her toy dog during a photographing session. Mar- lone is the 1957 United States March of Dimes Poster Girl. A polio victim since 1955, Marlene. will be. seen on the posters beginning Jan. Z 1957. BIRTHDAY PORTRAIT—This official birthday picture of Sir Winston Churchill, who was 82 on Nov. 30, shows him in his home in London with his wife. Photographers reported that the` former Prime Minister was his usual critical self as he examined the large number of prints taken and ordered all but the one above scrapped. The following recipes may not be practical for every day life but they are an index to the time when cookery contributed much to gracious living and mak-" ing good bread was considered an art. An earlier article, "Do It Your- self Bread," by William C. Hall describing his bread -making ma- chine reminded me that my mo- ther had one of those machines about 50 years ago. It was the first labor saving device she own- ed and I have no idea what be- came of it: Interest in home baking is en- joying a revival and a well worn cookbook, written in the fash- ionable Spencerian writing of the latter part of the nineteenth century, is a treasured heirloom in our family. It contains recipes which have been favourites for generations. Homemade Yeast Cakes My mother made delicious bread and rolls in her bread ma- chine. She also made her own yeast cakes. These were made by taking a cup of sponge used in making bread and working it into a stiff dough, using corn meal in ' place of flour, The dough was then rolled very thin, cut into cakes with a biscuit cut- ter, and allowed to dry for 2 or 3 days or until they became per- fectly dry writes Mary R. Wall in Christian Science Monitor. The cakes were then stored in a covered jar or placed in a small sack. When Mother was ready to make bread, she soaked one or two cakes of this "yeast," depending on the amount of sponge needed, in a cup of luke- warm water and this was used in the same way we now use the dry commercial yeast. * * * Rusk Mother made a bread which she called "Rusk," that was a favourite with the family. She took a piece of dough large enough to makea loaf of bread, made a dent in it in which she broke two eggs, put in a cup of sugar and a cup of raisins and worked them well into the dough. She then let it rise to double its bulk and baked it for 30 or 40 minutes or until done. This makes delicious toast. * * * Salt Rising Bread At noon the day before you make bread, slice 2 medium- sized Irish potatoes into a :quart jar, add • 2 tablespoons white corn meal, 2 tablespoons sugar, and a small pinch of soda. Pour 2 cups of boiling water into jar, put on top but do not screw down. Set away in a warm place until morning when there should be about an inch of foam and you will notice an odd odor. If there is no foam or odor, do not use it, The success of the salt rising bread depends upon the yeast. Scald )ut do not boil 1 quart sweet milk, add 2 tablespoons sugar, a small pinch of soda and 1 cup of liquid drained from the jar containing yeast. Add enough flour W make a batter and set in a warm place to rise until it doubles its bulk. Add salt, fat about the size of an egg, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. knead .20 minutes. Make into loaves, place in greased pans and let rise 3 hours. Bake in a moderately hot oven (350' F.) until done. * * * Beaten Biscuit In makingbeaten biscuit al- ways use one teaspoon salt, a piece of lard the size of an egg and a teacup of milk to a quart of flour, adding enough cold water to make a stiff dough; no other ingredients are permis- sible. Make the dough much stiffer than for other breads, beat steadily half an hour by the clock. Cut with a biscuit cutter, making each biscuit not quite half an inch thick as they rise in baking. Do not let them touch in the pan and bake in a very hot oven until done. Delicious served with fried chicken. Short'nin' Bread 4 cups flour 1 pound butter 1 cup light brown sugar Mix flour and sugar, and add butter. Place on a floured sur- face and pat to 1/a -inch thick- ness. Cut into desired shapes and bake at 350° F. from 20 to 25 minutes. * * * Sweet Potato Biscuits Sift together 1 cup flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add 4 tablespoons fat . and 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potatoes. Add milk enough to make a stiff dough. Roll and cut into biscuits and bake in hot oven 20 to 30 minutes. * * * Spoon Corn Bread 1 cup corn meal 2 eggs 8 cups milk 1 teaspoon soda if milk is sour 2 teaspoons baking powder is milk, is sweet 1 tablespoon bacon grease or butter (melted and added last) Pour the batter in a well - greased baking dish and bake. Serve with a spoon. Still Unsolved Murder Mystery The boy was just home from , school and wanted his tea, but the house was locked and there was no answer as he knocked and rang. Where was his mother? Again and again the fourteen - year -old rapped on the door, just in case she had the radio on and could not hear. Still there was no reply. He waited nearly an hour, un- til his father came home. The door was opened. The boy ran ,into the house, then he gasped in horror, for sprawling in an armchair in the dining -room was his . mother, her head battered. She had also been stabbed many times with a carving knife taken from her own kitchen. The knife was still lying on her chest, but there was no sign of the weapon that was used to batter her head. Mr. and Mrs. Ford (I am using fictitious names out of considera- tion for relatives) were enthusi- astic members of a local old- tyme dancing club, and the news- papers of . January, 1954, were soon headlining the "Old Tyme Murder Mystery." ' There was no indication of any sort of motive. Very soon there was a team .of eighty detectives searching for the murderer. Hun- dreds of people were questioned. The murder hunt spread from the 1Vlidlends throughout the country. Who killed this woman? That wasthe riddle to which there appeared to be no answer. From the very beginning the police believed that the murder could just as well have been committed by a woman as by a man. So in February, a month after the murder was committed, when by, now detectives all over the country were carrying out the biggest operation of its type in Britain, women as well as men were being questioned. Nine women, some holding shopping baskets, were lined up at Coventry police headquarters for an identity parade. While they waited patiently in a queue, a Coventry housewife came into the police courtyard. She had told the police that she had seen a woman "hovering about" near the inurder house. But when the housewife faced the identity parade, she was unable to identi- fy any al the women as the one she had seen. The police continued 'to ques- tion people up and down the country. A detective went to Blackpool to interview a man. After the interview the detective said that the man had "volun- teered some information," but whatever that was it did not bear any fruit. Five months before Mrs. Ford was murdered, Superintendent Walter Groom retired from the Coventry City C.I.D. About a fortnight after the murder, when the police did not seem to be get- ting anywhere, ex -Superintend- ent Groom was called in by a newspaper• to see whether he could suggest anything to for- ward inquiries. His statements after he had been on the job for a little while were certainly enlighten- ing. He said that the Coventry police had found out these things concerning Mrs. Ford. She was house-proud and careful about her appearance. She dressed very elaborately to attend some of the old tyme dancing club festivities and was known as "The Duchess." Until a few months before she was murdered she was a member of the Townswomen's Guild. She had two sons; the elder son, a sixteen -year-old, was apprentic- ed to a barber; the younger son was the one who tried to enter the house on that fatal day; Mrs. Ford looked after her family well and was, the foster -mother to an eight-year-old girl. About two months before she was murdered, Mrs. Ford, who was slimly built and so short- sighted that she could not see without her spectacles, stopped attending the meetings • of the guild. She returned her foster - child to a children's home and started . going out to some un- known afternoon destination. She was out at least three after- noons a week. - Mr. Ford had told the Scotland Yard that several times" he had returned from work to find that his wife was not at home. She did not tell him where she had been. Probably those secret assig- nations were the key to the mystery. But nobody has • ever found out where Mrs. Ford went. It was believed by the local police that .someone might be shielding the murderer. Up and down the country inquiries went on and more znen were inter. viewed. For a long time the police investigated a suggestion that the murderer might have been a man who made a practice of calling on housewives, posing as a man who had come to in- spect the electrical equipment because of complaints about in- terference with television sets. When the man obtained entry to a House, he made improper sug- gestions to women. It appeared that a man was found and was questioned but no charge was ever made. Then yet another twist was given to this amazing murder mystery. It was stated that the police wanted to question a young girl who had vanished after having lived for a time with a man of handsome appear- ance who said that he was a salesman. People reported to the police that about the time of the murder they had seen a young girl walking about as if waiting for somebody, very close to the house where Mrs. Ford was murdered, but, again there was no result. There were several adjourn- ments of the inquest on Mrs, Ford, each time presumably in the hope that information might be forthcoming. Who killed this woman? The public was worried. All over the country since the end of the war there had been more and more cases of women murdered, and themurders remained unsolved, In August, 1954, eight months after the crime, schoolboys of fourteen and fifteen were being questioned by detectives who worked on a time chart of the movement of boys who cycled near the home of the murdered woman. But again there were no tangible results. Two years later, during August of 1956, detectives made anoth- er bid to unravel the mystery. They questioned a man in 'Lon- don for two hours, after it was found that he had been work- ing in Coventry at the time of the murder. But at the time of writing there had been no developments. Food Faddists Some of these food faddists re- commend a daily eating of swiss cheese and limburger. It has always been a puzzle why the swiss cheese has the holes in it, whereas it's the limburger that needs the ventilation. The bride was told by a well- meaning friend that sea food would give her husband that daily umph. 'So she went in and ordered oysters.• "Large or small, ma'am?" "Really, I don't know, sir," she said. "They're for a man with a size 161/2collar." She was probably the bride who worshipped her husband. According to Don Ameche, she used to place burnt offerings before him threetimes a day. This Couldn't Happen --- But Did ! Yep, they really do it! We mean getting out on a limb and then sawing off the wrong end. This corny accident happened to Benjamin Morris of Kansas City, Mo. A tree limb blowing 'against his window so annoyed him that he got out of bed in the middle of the night to cut it off. Soon he was back in 'bed .-a hospital bed,' that is. PACKED WITH POWER—The "(otos," an eight and one-half tail hit-and-run monster, depends on its low silhouette, maneuver ability and speed four gunning its target and making a fast getaway. It mounts six 106 mm. recoiless rifles, ane .30 cali- ber machine gun and four .50 caliber spotting rifles.