ruth cooks |
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Whatever Happened to Home Economics? Surfing University of Illinois sites is, for a sixties graduate, a surreal experience. Departments have jumped ship. Name changes abound. Whole majors are missing. Not to mention the shock of tuition, which has gone from $100 to $3500 per single semester for a state resident. There used to be a major known as Child Development (or Child D, as we called it), which was administered by the Department of Home Economics within the College of Agriculture. Today, there is a College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, known as ACES. Within it is the Department of Human and Community Development in which you may earn a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, specializing in Child and Adolescent Development. Did we do anything here besides add a dozen words? Anyway, my point is that the entire Department of Home Economics has disappeared. Not changed its name to “Department of Life Experiences” or transferred to another college, but flat-out vanished. Some of the majors are still around, like Food Science, but I’ll bet it is nothing like the foods course I took first semester in my Junior year, just before I left school (got married, came back later and earned my degree in Advertising). My instructor in that foods class was a steely-eyed gray-haired matron, who advanced my education and my palate better than a cruise on the QEII. While I grew up eating liver and beef heart, here I was exposed to more exotic offal like sweetbreads, brains and kidneys. I learned why caramels made with milk caramelize better than caramels made with cream, and what to do about it. Most importantly, I came away with a set of recipe cards that formed the beginning and the basis of my vast collection. Many of those recipes have been rejected and discarded, but others have served me over forty years and still hold a place in my file box. Notable are a mashed potato casserole with sour cream, listed in my cookbook as Ruth’s Potato Casserole because of the refinements I made; the above-mentioned cream caramels, which represent half my A grade in the final exam of that course; and a yummy apple crumble made without oatmeal, the way I think it should be. Other recipes lurk at the back of the box, like Grape Juice Pudding, Indian Puris, and Rice Croquettes. The flavor memories linger on, but somehow I never get around to making them again. My treasured recipe for Black Bottom Pie lost its other half somewhere in my 25 or so moves around the country or across town, so this version is a hybrid. The Spanish Cream is from the original home economics class recipe, but I’ve borrowed the Richmond Chocolate Frosting from a recipe on the web. It’s a lovely, delicate pie, more refined than chocolate cream pies or fudge pies. Do try it, even if you have to use a frozen pastry shell. I found versions using gingersnap, chocolate cookie and graham cracker crusts, but think they might overwhelm the delicate filling. One bite of this and you won’t think of casting aspersions at
home economics again. The Richmond Chocolate Frosting is similar to a pudding; I sometimes use it to ice an 8 or 9 inch square chocolate cake. If you are concerned about the raw egg whites, use JustWhites as I do. If you double the recipe for two pies, use only 3 eggs in the Spanish Cream. I haven’t tried this, but I think you could put a double recipe in a 10 inch springform pan (with crust on the bottom only) for an elegant presentation. Call it Black Bottom Torte. Rum flavoring is often used. 1 nine or ten inch pie crust, baked Richmond Chocolate Frosting: Spanish Cream: 1/2 to 1 cup whipping cream, whipped with a little sugar and vanilla For the Richmond Chocolate Frosting: In a medium saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch, add chocolate and salt. Gradually add water and cook and stir over medium high heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla. Cool slightly and spread over baked pie shell. For the Spanish Cream: In the top of a double boiler, scald milk with gelatin. Add sugar and salt, and pour slowly over egg yolks, beating all the time. Return to double boiler and cook until mixture coats the spoon, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Cool over ice water until slightly thickened, then fold in beaten egg whites, 1/3 at a time. Pour over Richmond Chocolate Frosting and refrigerate until set. Press a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. When cold, top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, curls or grated
chocolate. Keep refrigerated until serving time.
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