Food Ideas from Novels

Numerous mystery novels focusing on foods, catering, and restaurants often include recipes. Sometimes these authors even go on to collect them into a recipe book.

However, even when a novel’s primary character isn’t involved in the food industry, you may find the author has woven the foods of an area or era into the story. These contribute to the description and events to create realism. They help to move the story forward or give better expression of the characters.

Whatever the purpose, the food references provide delectable reading for anyone with an interest in culinary topics or who writes a column as I do.

Food Typical of Charleston

I discovered in Patricia Sprinkle’s mystery, Murder in the Charleston Manner, the weaving in of food and its preparation as background gave more of the Southern aura to the story. If the author had wanted, she could have included recipes for these typically Charleston, SC foods in an appendix

Perhaps others don’t pick up on the food and recipe aspect when reading a novel as much as I do. Because I’ve been writing “Country Kitchen” and other food articles for nearly 45 years, my mind seems attuned to these topics in books I read.

In Chapter One, the characters are arriving for dinner. You get the idea this is a ritual. In the next chapter, Sheila, the main character, enjoys tea and chocolate chip cookies with her aunt. Sheila doesn’t like her tea sweetened. (In the South, when you ask for iced tea, unless you specify otherwise, you’ll likely be served a glass of strongly sweetened tea, called Sweet Tea. It’s even mentioned by this name on many restaurant menus.)

Food Midst Mystery

Sheila leaves her aunt’s home in Atlanta to investigate mysterious happenings at the home of her aunt’s childhood friends in Charleston. Much of the character introduction and interaction takes place at the dinner table that evening.

The author describes the hostess’s son-in-law carving the ham to a “delicate thinness.” Sheila takes a serving of green beans “simmered for hours with bits of pork”, so common in Southern cooking.

After dinner, they move to the living room for coffee and more conversation. Then Nell, the housekeeper, appears with a tray of strawberry shortcakes. One of the ladies, Francine, makes a pot of herbal tea. (Her desire for herbal tea eventually plays a role in the murder.)


Various Foods Served

Next day, a leisurely lunch on the upstairs porch consists of chicken salad, fresh strawberries, rolls, and sweet tea. Nell provids unsweetened tea for Sheila. They dip the strawberries in powdered sugar.

Potato puffs and broiled shrimp is another dinner menu. For breakfast one morning Nell serves eggs, bacon, grits, and hot biscuits, along with coffee, and herbal tea.

When Sheila dines at Buddy’s restaurant, she has the house specialty…roast oysters

These are only a few of the foods mentioned throughout the novel. This doesn’t detract from the story; instead it lends authenticity to the setting and characters.

Leftover Pie Dough Treat

Sheila often spends time with Nell in the kitchen as she obtains information and discusses family incidents and history. One of the interesting dishes, described more in detail, that Sheila observes Nell making is created from pie dough, left from a pie covered by crisscrossing paper-thin strips of dough.

Nell rolls the leftover dough flat. Then she sprinkles it with sugar and dots with butter before rolling into a long roll. This she cuts into “pinwheels” and puts in a baking dish. Nell next pours milk over the sweetened dough and sets it in the oven beside the pie to bake.

We don’t learn the exact amounts of ingredients (as typical of many old recipes), but could easily recreate the interesting recipe if one wanted to make it. I’d want to add a bit of cinnamon to the sugar.

©2006

(Mary Emma Allen researches and writes about food and recipes from her multigenerational home and during her travels. Visit her web site: www.maryemmallen.blogspot.com; e-mail: me.allen@juno.com )

Create a Youngster's Heritage Recipe Book

“Why don’t you write down our favorite recipes in a book for me?” our granddaughter asked her mom.

So creating a heritage recipe book for a Christmas gift resulted. The family favorites have been written down, with space for the young cook to add more. I’ll go through some of those that date back to her great, great grandmother and see if she wants to add those, along with the stories behind them.

Favorite recipes can tell one aspect of a family’s story. When were they served? Who traditionally prepared them? Were they handed down through the generations or a new recipe you discovered and recently began serving?

Various Methods of Compiling Recipes

You’ll find various methods of compiling these recipes. Try something mentioned below, combine one or two of them, or seek out something of your own.

*Recipe Cards – These are one of the easiest ways to collect recipes. You can put them in a recipe box, or slide them into compartments in a photo album

*Books made especially for recipe collecting – My daughter found a three-ring recipe binder, made especially for jotting down recipes on the included pages. You also can add sketches.

*Photo albums of various sizes where you can include photos – These have pages for inserting recipe cards and for larger pages with recipes written on them. There is room, too, for photos of family gatherings, youngsters cooking, and foods they’ve made.

*Albums that incorporate scrapbooking techniques – With scrapbook albums, you can paste or attach recipes on cards or scrapbooking papers. Then adorn with photos and various decorative touches.

*Computer programs that save recipes and stories – There are a number of computer programs that enable you to compile a cookbook. You can save these on CD or print off and make into book format.

Brainstorming Recipes

Try brainstorming some of the recipes your family enjoys and the stories associated with them. Think of recipes, simple and fancy, that your family enjoys…recipes you and your children want to remember over the years.

*Green Bean Casserole – My daughter makes this for holiday occasions. Her grandmother always made it and Beth especially liked it. Now her daughter does. This is one of the recipes added to the cookbook.

*Pancakes – My husband has perfected a recipe for pancakes and waffles the family likes. So the story associated with it and the recipe is another to be included.

*Party Chicken – My son-in-law’s mother makes this, which has become a favorite in their family.


© 2005

(Mary Emma Allen researches family food history from her multigenerational home in Plymouth, NH. She also writes stories for children and is working on a book based around her family during the Civil War era. E—mail: me.allen@juno.com)

Memories of Grandma's Quilt

As I shopped for groceries during a trip to Sioux Falls, SD recently, I noticed a display of paintings – actually prints from paintings. One caught my eye titled, “Grandma’s Quilt.”

A quilt was draped over a chair with sewing basket beside it. The intricate detail and warm colors reminded me of sewing quilts with my grandmother. This would be a delightful picture to hang in one’s sewing room.

I also thought of the sketch I did for my book, The Magic of Patchwork. It depicts a young girl sewing with her grandmother, reminiscent of my quilting with Nanny. It’s in black and white. However, I could enlarge it, add color (or leave in black and white) and reproduce it in larger size to frame or print as postcards and notepaper.

Quilting inWinter

These colder days of winter with snowbound hours or long evenings of darkness often seem an ideal time for quilting and handiwork. The pioneer homemakers engaged in much of their sewing and quiltmaking during this time of year.

Nanny and I, when I was about eight years old, sat beside the kitchen woodstove, cut and stitched patches into quilts for us four children. I was so pleased when, years later, my mom found that old quilt. Though well worn, it remained in salvageable condition.

Recipes for Quilting Days

While you’re working on your quilting and patchwork, you may want to have meal cooking or made beforehand so you don’t have to take time away from your tasks. You also could put a one pan dish into the oven to bake, using baking bags which save on cleaning tasks as well.

If you’re quilting with other ladies, you can have a potluck lunch, with everyone bringing something to share. This can be sandwiches, casseroles, salads, fruit, desserts, cheese and crackers.

SEVEN LAYER SALAD

Tear one head of lettuce and arrange in a 9 x 13-inch pan. Layer the following ingredients in this order:
*1 cup chopped celery
*1 sliced green pepper
*1 cup sliced onion
*1 cup grated carrots
*10-oz. package peas, slightly cooked
*1/2 package bacon, cooked and crumbled

Spread 2 cups mayonnaise over salad. (Use light mayonnaise or salad dressing, if desired. You also can use less if you want.)
Top with 4 ounces grated Cheddar cheese. (This can be the low fat variety.) Refrigerate overnight, or 8-10 hours before serving.

Serve with a cup of soup and hot bread or rolls.

(c)2005

(If you have quilting memories you'd like to share, e-mail me: me.allen@juno.com. Type "Country Kitchen blog" in the subject line.)

Cookie Exchanges

An exchange of cookies among friends or family is another way of sharing our baking. These can be organized in several ways. Keep the number to about 6, with each person bringing a dozen cookies.

Then the hostess will divide them up, so each person receives an equal number of each type. If you have the group much larger, the distribution can become rather unwieldy. However, there are many variations on this.

Also, if you’re meeting at the friend’s home for refreshments, as well as exchanging, bring some extra cookies to share with tea, coffee, or holiday punch.

When a friend organized a cookie exchange, she had 12 people participating. We all dropped our cookies at her home at a specified time. She then made the exchange and packaged each on a party plate, and we picked our goodies up later in the day. It had proved difficult to get all the participants together in an evening as it approached Christmas, so this way worked well.

(c)2005 Mary Emma Allen

(If you'd like to share stories about your cookie exchanges, write me: me.allen@juno.com. Write "Country Kitchen Blog" in the subject line.)

Giving Goodies for Christmas

An age-old tradition, giving gifts of goodies during the holiday season, brings joy and spreads cheer. As we share the baking from our kitchens, created from favorite family recipes and new ones, we form traditions and fond memories.

These may consist of cookies, fruitcake, pies, candy, and sometimes main meal dishes. We may give them to family as well as friends and teachers. My dad enjoyed penuche (brown sugar) fudge, so my sister and I often made a batch and wrapped it up for him. He probably expected it, but let us think he was surprised.

The first year Jim and I were married, money for Christmas gifts was in very short supply. So we made most of them, sewn, hand crafted, or baked. I made fudge of different flavors and mixed them for his and my younger brothers, giving them a gift they could eat all by themselves, if they desired.

“It’s all for me?” I recall one of his brothers asking.

My aunt and grandmother made many of the gifts they gave when I was a child. Auntie was especially good at making homemade bread, so she would bake several loaves and include them along with jars of pickles, jelly, and a plate of cookies in a “goodie” box.
They also might include jars of canned fruit…types my mom didn’t preserve.

Holiday Cookies…

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE TREATS – In a saucepan over low heat or double boiler, melt 1 cup chocolate bits. Stir until smooth and cool slightly.

Beat together ¾ cup sugar and ½ cup margarine until fluffy; blend in 2 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and melted chocolate.

Add dry ingredients: 2 cups oatmeal, 1 ½ cup sifted flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir in remaining chocolate bits from a 12 oz. package.

Shape into 1-inch balls and roll in ½ cup powdered sugar, coating heavily. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes in preheated 350-degree oven.

Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; then remove to wire rack. When cold, store in airtight container. Roll in colored sugar when removing to rack, if desired.

©2005 Mary Emma Allen

(Mary Emma Allen enjoys the holidays with her family in a multigenerational home in Plymouth, NH. Visit her web site: www.maryemmallen.blogspot.com. E-mail: me.allen@juno.com. )

Quilting Bees & Teas

My grandfather, Burton Barker Coon, writer and farmer, mentioned in his memories about his mother’s quilting, the fact that the ladies might together for afternoon tea and cut out pieces for quilt blocks. “They would take their sewing along and have a very pleasant time. All the girls were brought up to piece quilts, bake bread and do all kinds of housework….,” he related.

I wondered what they served with their afternoon tea. Then I browsed through my aunt’s cooking notebook, in which she jotted down favorite family recipes. There were several for cookies and cakes. Perhaps the ladies in the neighborhood enjoyed these as they chatted, cut pieces, and quilted.

(c) 2005

(If you have questions about quilts and quiltmaking or quilting bee foods, e-mail me: me.allen@juno.com. Include "Country Kitchen blog" in the subject line.)

Pumpkin Time of Year at Trails End

“I have seen fields with the pumpkins so close together that you could have walked over the field by stepping from one pumpkin to another without touching the ground,” wrote my grandfather, Burton B. Coon, as he reminisced about life on the family farm at Trails End.

These words were written in the early 1900s, as he told of life 25 years earlier. Papa Coon, as we called him, was a farmer, as well as columnist for the local newspaper, in Dutchess County, NY,

I enjoy browsing through his collected writings, Fifty Years Ago, Rural Life from 1875, and learning about his life and that of my ancestors. He also was a genealogist and related family history stories, too.

Pumpkin Pie in “Olden” Days

Papa Coon described pumpkin pie as “one of the oldest desserts in this part of the country.” “It has figured in legend and song, as well as pantry and table, ever since the settlement of New England,” he continued.

“We used to gather them with cart and oxen and dump them in some fence corner near the pasture lot,” Papa Coon related. Then they would “throw some over to the cows each morning.”

He also told how “it used to be my job to cut open the big ones and take out the seeds to save for planting.” Then he described how they were stored in the barn and cellar where they were kept for winter use.

Pumpkins Have Long History

The pumpkin has a long history in our country, dating back to the early setters. They were easy to grow and store, so became a mainstay in their diets. Along with squash, they have been considered a food native to the Americas.

Pumpkins apparently originated in Central America then spread northward. The pioneers of our country found the natives using pumpkins and squash so learned to grow and cook them. Boiling, baking, drying, and making them into soup were methods of preparing pumpkins the natives taught the pioneers.

Pumpkin pie seems to be the most popular way of preparing pumpkin. However, you can make bread, cake, soup, custard, rolls, waffles, muffins, soufflé, preserves, tarts, and ice cream. Pumpkin seeds are a good snack, too.
From the Family Cookbook comes:

PUMPKIN ROLL - Sift together ¾ cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ginger, ½ teaspoon salt; set aside.

Beat 3 eggs on high speed for 5 minutes; then add 1 cup sugar and 2/3 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin. Fold in the flour mixture and pour onto a 10 x 15-inch or 11 x 14-inch jelly roll pan lined with waxed paper and sprayed with butter or vegetable spray.

If desired, sprinkle ½ cup chopped nuts over the top. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. Tip out onto a powdered sugar dusted cloth and roll up; let cool. Unroll and fill with cream cheese filling.

CREAM CHEESE FILLING – Cream 1 cup powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons margarine, 8-oz. package cream cheese, and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Spread over top. Then roll up as you would a jelly roll and chill; cut into slices.

©2005 Mary Emma Allen

(Mary Emma Allen writes from her multi-generational home in New Hampshire when she’s not traveling for business and doing family history research.)

Scrapbooking Family Recipes

By using your scrapbooking techniques, you can develop an interesting recipe scrapbook or journal to use currently and to preserve cooking memories for future generations. My aunt saved recipes in a notebook, handwritten and frequently with notations of the person from whom she acquired it.

I’ve began to consider making a scrapbook or picture journal of some of the recipes, photocopying them in her handwriting, then attaching it to the page of a scrapbook. Illustrations and photos could accompany these, perhaps with journal entries about the person whose recipe it is.

Grandma Coon’s Recipes

With the recipes Auntie noted as Grandma Coon’s, I could post a photo of this lady. I have one of her with her husband and son (my grandfather) in front of their farmhouse. There’s another of Grandma posing for a photographer.

Since the scrapbook will consist for family information and pleasure, I’ll include some details about Grandma, gleaned from family research, my grandfather’s writings, and memories told by my mom.

Nanny’s Recipes

These recipes were referred to as “Ma’s Recipes” by Auntie and my mother. I always called her Nanny. So I can include my memories of food prepared and served at her home and at ours when she visited.

I have numerous pictures of this lady, both as a young woman and as the grandmother I recall. They will add interest and memories for my family.

Other Relatives’ Recipes

The list could go on, since I’ve collected, over the years, recipes from relatives on both my mother and father’s side of the family. There are cousins, aunts, and close family friends.

“And don’t forget yourself,” my daughter often reminds me when we’re collecting family memories and pictures. This would include the picture my mom took of me holding the first loaf of bread I baked….all by myself when I was eight years old.

Do You Have Family Recipes for a Scrapbook?

Almost everyone has recipes memories they could include in a scrapbook. These might trace back for several generations, or they may be recipes you’ve collected and found favorites.

Do you have recipes you accumulated in your travels? My daughter asked for a Sweet Potato Biscuit recipe where she and her husband dined on their honeymoon. This could be included on a scrapbook page along with a photo of their trip.

We have family favorite acquired on a backpacking trip into the mountains of Wyoming. The outfitter’s cook created a dish of sausage, potatoes, cabbage, and onions that tasted delicious after a day of trekking at 10,000 feet. He didn’t have ingredient amounts, so we, by trial and error, came up with a version at home that tasted almost like his.

MOTHER’S CINNAMON ROLLS – My nephew asked for my mother’s (his grandmother’s) recipe for these that he recalled her making in his childhood.

Stir up your usual white bread recipe. Instead of forming it into a loaf for the second rising, roll one or both loaves (most recipes make two loaves) into rectangles about 1-inch thick. Spread with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture (sometimes Mother used part white sugar and part brown); distribute ½ to 1 cup raisins over each.

Roll up as you would a jellyroll. Then cut in 1-inch slices. Place on greased or spray buttered cookie sheet. Let rise, as you would bread.

Then bake, about 350 degrees F., 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. When done, remove from oven and cookie sheet.

If you desire, frost with a vanilla confectioner’s sugar/butter icing. My mother never frosted hers, but some people prefer this.

©2005 Mary Emma Allen

(I write, journal, and scrapbook from my multigenerational home in Plymouth, NH. If anyone is interested, I will teach workshops in scrapbooking your family recipes and memories. E-mail me at: me.allen@juno.com )

Where Do I Get Ideas for Country Kitchen?

Frequently I’m asked, “Where do you get ideas for your ‘Country Kitchen’ newspaper and online columns?”

I’ve been writing them since the early 1960s for various newspapers, sometimes only one and occasionally for two or three at the same time. Since it’s an area I love and have pretty much free rein with my topics, I usually have no problem coming up with ideas.

When I started writing this column for my hometown weekly in 1963, I had no idea I’d still be producing it more than 40 years later! Also, no idea of the enjoyment writing it would be throughout the years.

The ideas come from my daily life, children and grandchildren, my travels and foods I find in other parts of the country, books I read, history I research, family cookbooks and journals I browse. One might think I’d run out of ideas, but somehow they keep coming.

Chatting with my readers or sharing my ideas and philosophy, one might describe the columns. One reader said reading my columns was like chatting with me over a cup of tea. Another called “Country Kitchen” homespun philosophy. Still one more said my writing brought back memories of good times in her childhood.

If I can help brighten my readers’ day with my musings and sharing, I’ve discovered the secret for my writing.

©2005

Introduction to Country Kitchen

I've been writing Country Kitchen columns for newspapers and online pulbications since the mid-1960s. This has been a very enjoyable aspect of my writing. In fact, Country Kitchen, written for my hometown newspaper in Poughquag, NY, was my first published writing. I never imagined, at that time, I'd be writing this column for so many years.

However, it's been a way to share my thoughts and recipes, to reach out and encourage readers.
One reader mentioned that reading my column was like sitting down and chatting over a cup of tea with me.

Another reader said she enjoyed my "homespun philosophy." Someone else mentioned she enjoyed recalling incidents in her life that my column brought to mind.

I hope my Country Kitchen blog will bring enjoyment and inspiration to my readers, too.

(c)2005