It is the final dog days of this Indian summer, and I've been spending a lot of time lazily jumping from one place filled with artificially cooled air to another. It was a quiet and hot Sunday afternoon, after I enjoyed brunch at Succotash, when I decided to try to find the relatively new-ish candy store in the same neighborhood called Bitterman's Eye Candy. The Bitterman Family have been in the business of selling candy for the last 77 years in Kansas City. Over the years, the family has owned and ran three different candy stores and a thriving wholesale business. They have made a living out of just being sweet. Interestingly ironic for a family whose name suggests the opposite . . .bitter man? How had they lasted so long? What did they specialize in? The answer is old-fashioned candies. Sweet treats that were once popular, but then fell out of favor as new candies and flavors became more popular. These types of candies then became almost impossible to find, thus making many of them cult favorites. The Bitterman Family has made a living by trading on the nostalgia that people have for their favorite candy.
But there is more to Bitterman's Eye Candy than just sweet treats to eat. To my surprise, there is also an antique shop inside of what I thought was just going to be an old fashioned candy store. As I made my through the store filled with a little bit of everything, there were various things I put my hand on, but eventually put down. An vintage embroidered apron . . .an old tea kettle that still whistled . . .and that's when I spotted an old handmade cookbook lying on a stack of other books. I'll admit, I have a raging cookbook fetish. I have almost 100 cookbooks, and they are all like my children. I can't seem to part with any of them.
This cookbook, lying in front of me, was intriguing because it looked like someone had assembled it by hand. The pages of this book were yellow with age, and had been put together with a simple cardstock cover on front and on back, held together with 3 small rings across the top. Someone had taken the time to put their name on the cookbook. The name, Helen Schroeder, was carefully handwritten in cursive across the top of the cover. Then there was the name of this cookbook . . ."Jist Plain Cookin'." The spelling is intentional, I'm afraid.
The first page of the cookbook read: "With Jist Plain Talkin' We, The Members of the St. Jill's Guild, Immaculate Conception Parish of Springfield, MO say - - Happy Cookin'!" I tried to stifle my laugh, but it was impossible with the Dogpatch spelling errors and country quaintness of it all.
See, almost every church group in every small town at one point or another has put together one of these cookbooks to sell usually as a fundraiser to friends and family. It was in these cookbooks that one might find a recipe for tuna noodle casserole or a holiday cheese ball or even a recipe for creamy cole slaw for the family picnic. To me, these cookbooks are like time capsules, showing us what the women of the day were making for their families to eat at home. Again, much like the Bitterman's candies, they brought back nostalgia for recipes like my Grandmother used make.
The recipes contained in cookbooks like this did not demonstrate hard or complicated techniques, or call for ingredients that were foreign or difficult to locate. These recipes did not even require a new pan or utensil to be purchased to make them. Theses recipes were simply passed from one woman to another in books like these, after the 48th person had told them they absolutely HAD to have their particular recipe for X. Every woman has a go-to recipe that they make on special occasions that their family loves. For my brothers and me, it was my Mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe, that she swears was the same as the Tollhouse recipe right on the bag. (I would tell you, it was not.)
My Mom did not enjoy cooking, nor was she particularly good at it, but she did have a go-to recipe that she made when company was coming over for dinner or Dad invited the boss home. That recipe was something called Salmon Souffle, a light and impressive looking dish that was basically: béchamel sauce, mixed with flakes of canned pink salmon that were then gently folded into stiff egg whites and baked until it puffed. She served the souffle with a green salad and green goddess dressing as well as a bright orange "cheese bread" she purchased from the grocery store, which they do not make anymore. I have Mom's recipe for Salmon Souffle. When I make it, I have to make it with a green salad and green goddess dressing or something is not right. I love this dish because of what it means to me, and because it reminds me of my Mom who has passed. I am usually the only person who likes and will eat this dish, and I am okay with that. Afterall, it was a dish from my childhood memory, not theirs.
Back at the antique shop, I am pouring over this cookbook and found a recipe for a Monte Cristo Crab Sandwich that I thought was curious, along with a crazy recipe for Lettuce Gravy where you boiled and pureed lettuce and celery with spices to make a gravy that you then poured over cooked chicken breasts. Say wha?!!?
When I saw the lettuce gravy recipe, I decided there was enough "Sideshow Bob" curiosities in this cookbook that I would simply have to have it. So, I bought it.
Once, I got the cookbook home, I decided I would search to find the most bizarre recipe I could locate in the cookbook and make that my first project. Flipping through the cookbook, I passed up a recipe for Beer Rolls and another for Strawberry Kiss pie . . .I passed on Company Hamburgers (fancy hamburgers for when you were having company over, and not just slopping your own family) and Gooseberry Salad.
That's when my eyes settled on a page that said Homemade Summer Sausage and right under it was Homemade Salami, I knew this would be the first recipe that I would have to try.
Charcuterie continues to be an area of interest for many chefs and home cooks alike. So, with an open mind, I set out to give it a whirl.
I looked at the recipe, reading the list of ingredients over and over. Something wasn't right. How was I going to take ground beef and some dried spices and somehow BAKE it into hard salami? I know how real salami is actually made, and this was not even close. I was supremely skeptical, to say the least.
Then I noticed the woman who submitted these recipe to the cookbook, Liz Moye, had made a small comment at the bottom of the page that simply said: "Try it, you'll like it."
Okay, Liz, it's ON . . .bring it.
I am including both of the recipes as they were originally printed below. I took some liberties with each recipe. For example, I added fennel seeds and a shake or two of Worcestershire sauce to my recipe Summer Sausage recipe, because I thought that sounded good. I also added a healthy amount of red pepper flake to add a little spice to my Salami. Don't be afraid to play with the dry seasonings in this to suit your tastes.
HOWEVER, you absolutely must have the Morton's Quick Salt, usually found in the canning aisle of your favorite grocery store. Regular salt cannot be used as a replacement. This is a special salt that will cure the meat and create the texture of salami. Gotta have it, or don't bother.
It is what makes your sausage or salami . . .um, rock hard. I think you get my point. No one wants a soft salami in their mouth . . .okay, okay I'll stop.
Both of my sausage experiments turned out appropriately firm and with more flavor than I ever would have guessed for it being made with ground beef. Curing it overnight then baking them, seemed so strange, but the look and taste were very close to a cured sausage. The texture was more smooth and did not have the flecks of white fat in them that you would normally see in a cured salami, but I was willing to do without the fat in the name of science.
Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it. Everytime you try a new recipe, working with ingredients or techniques you have never used before, your culinary brains get bigger. You must try this at home!
Homemade Summer Sausage
2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbls. Liquid Smoke
3/4 Cup Water
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbls. mustard seed
1 Tbls. Mortons Quick Salt - (Difficult to find, but a MUST)
Mix all ingredients together. Divide and wrap into 2 pieces of foil, shape like a long charcuterie sausage. Refridgerate 24 hours. When ready to bake, poke holes with a fork in the bottom side of each roll. Bake on a rack 1 hour at 350 degrees.
Homemade Salami
2 lbs. of hamburger
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. Liquid Smoke
1 Tbls. whole mustard
2 Tbls. Mortons Tender Quick - A MUST!
Mix well, shape into rolls and wrap in foil. Let set 24 hours. Punch small holes in the bottom of the foil and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.
As Liz Moye says: "Try it, you'll like it!" Enjoy!
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