Pork chops in the time of Covid

 For this week's meal, I picked something fairly simple: Stuffed Pork Chops and "Chocolate Dessert."  The dessert was suggested by Grandma Wagner, that was one of her favorites.  There aren't a lot of main dishes, and most of them are kind of complicated.  I may save recipes that call for roasting a whole chicken for when we're allowed to be in large groups again.  On that note, I was lucky enough to get the first dose of the Covid vaccine a few days ago.  One step closer to normal.  I was thinking about that earlier, because Lottie survived both malaria and typhoid in 1908.  She was a tough woman.

    The stuffed pork chops were fairly easy, minus the usual guesswork.  The pork chops I bought came in a pack of four.  I wasn't able to have them "cut with a pocket" because I did grocery pick up.  I'm a modern woman, I cut my own pork chops, thank you.  I cheated a little bit, because I didn't see the stuffing recipe on the previous page, so I used the boxed kind.  Next time I'm feeling ambitious, I'll make my own.  Actually, it took me a minute to figure out my grocery list for that one.  I saw "dressing" and for a few minutes, I thought she meant mayonnaise.  It took me a minute to realize it was actually what we call "stuffing."  In my defense, every other recipe in the book has mayonnaise, why would this one be any different?  Halfway through, I suddenly remembered that it came out a few years ago that you weren't supposed to stuff raw turkey and then bake it, maybe it was the same with pork chops.  Unlike the egg situation, there really wasn't another way, so I decided to risk it. It's been six hours, so far so good.  I wasn't worried about portion sizes, we're supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow overnight, so if I can't get out all week, I'm ok.  They turned out well, and in less than two hours.  I used a cooking thermometer at an hour and 40 minutes, and they were fine.

Stuffed Pork Chops

Have pork chops cut with pocket.  Put 1 or 2 T. dressing in pocket and secure with a toothpick.  Fry on both sides, place in roaster with 1/2 inch water and 1/2 cup sherry wine.  Roast 2 hours at 375 degrees.

I told Grandma about what I was doing, and she was excited.  She wanted me to try the "Chocolate Dessert."  It was probably the easiest dessert I've done so far.  Except that there's no baking temperature.  The cake mix box said 350, so that's what I used.  I taste tested it right out of the oven, but it was better after it cooled almost to room temperature.  Right out of the oven, it tasted a little like a molten lava cake.  Not bad.  Maybe next week I'll get brave and try a candy recipe.

Chocolate Dessert

1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, stir in 2 cups water.  Put in 13x9 cake pan.  Scatter marshmallows over this.  Spoon over this Duncan Hines Chocolate Cake, mixed according to directions.  Sprinkle nuts over top and bake 45 minutes.  Serve with whipped cream.

When life gives you massive, weird looking rolls...

I took a break yesterday, but decided to make "Ring a Ling" today. While I was reading the recipe, I seriously thought about printing a picture of Lottie and hanging it up in my kitchen, so I can vent my frustrations every once in awhile. This recipe sounds simple enough, but once again, there was a lot of guesswork involved. I had no idea if this was one large roll, or if they were supposed to look like cinnamon rolls. IAnd if it was the latter, how many? How thick is the dough supposed to be? Help me out here, Lottie. had no idea what kind of nuts to use. I had pecans on hand, so that's what I used.  And the lesson of the day: Don't cook when you're irritated, literally or figuratively. While I cooked, I listened to the Cincinnatti Pops Broadway Concert, streamed live on Facebook. During which my cell phone died a slow death. Ironically, Lottie's daughter Evelyn (my great grandma) was one of Orrville's early phone operators.

 

Evelyn, front row center, around 1922

This is what the dough and the filling looked like.  These are the only picture

s, because the phone died before I could take pictures of the process.

They turned out so/so.  I realized too late that I didn't put enough pecans in.  I blame that on the fact that I had to bake while wearing my glasses instead of my contacts.  I had an unfortunate incident with a poblano pepper while I made dinner.  Actually, that may have been a good thing, because it took some skill to twist the strips of dough without letting the filling fall out.  I didn't let them rise after I made them into pinwheels, and they were fine.  If I had let them "double in size," they wouldn't have fit in the oven.  They tasted ok, the glaze gave them just a little bit of orange flavor.  They were a little too plain, so I thought about making some kind of icing, then I found an easy bread pudding recipe.  I may chop them up and make a Sunday brunch for myself tomorrow.  For now, I'm going to watch Stell Magnolias and try to cry the rest of the olive oil out of my eyes.  

Ring-A-Ling

Add 2 tsp. grated orange rind to basic dough recipe.  Roll out to a rectangle on floured surface, then add nut filling on half of dough.  

    Filling

        1/3 cup butter or margarine

        1 cup powdered sugar

        1 cup finely chopped nuts

        Blend all together.  Fold uncovered dough over nut filling.  Cut into 1 inch strips.  Twist each strip 4 or 5 times.  Hold one end on greased sheet for center of roll.  Curl strip around center of roll as for pinwheel, tuck end of strip under.  Let rise until double in size.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

    Prepare Glaze of 

            1/4 cup orange juice

            3 tbsp. sugar

            Brush top of rolls and bake 5 minutes longer.  Remove from pan immediately.

This tastes like Meemaw's hugs...

 Today's meal was much easier because a) I only did one recipe at a time and b) it was somewhat of a staple growing up: ham loaf.

    I'm not sure if anyone around here (Southern Ohio) even knows what ham loaf is.  But growing up, it was one of my favorite meals at my grandparents/ house.  The title of this post is from one of my favorite episodes of The Big Bang Theory.  It was slightly intimidating to try this recipe, because I knew that it probably wouldn't taste as good as I remember.  But it turned out well.  So well, I'll probably try it again.  It's also easy to halve, which is important.  I still have a couple of portions of Johnny Marzetti in the fridge, even after having it for lunch every day this week.

   The recipe is fairly simple, the only problem was getting "ham loaf meat."  In Lottie's day, that meant a quick trip to Fouch's* and simply asking for 3 pounds of ham loaf meat. 

1935

My grandma would have gone to Buehler's or Kidron Town and Country.  Unfortunately, even that isn't possible anymore, because health codes won't allow different types of meat to be ground together.  I found that you can combine ground pork and ground ham.  And if you can't find ground ham, you can ground ham in a food processor.  Which I don't have.  Further research suggested that you can grind meat in a NutriBullet. I do have one of those.  I tried chopping bell peppers once with it, that didn't turn out well.  I was pleasantly surprised though, after I held my breath and pushed the canister down, and it worked.  The cooking time, according to Lottie, is two hours, but since I used a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan, and cut the recipe in half, it took 25 minutes.  While I waited, I finished off last week's "salad." 

"I found my copy of Your Favorites from Simon's.  She singlehandedly kept Jello in business.~Aunt Denise

*Lottie was a customer at Fouch's, and we know that because in the August 22, 1957 edition of the Courier Crescent, there's an article about how she crashed into a potato chip truck in the parking lot.  She'd be so proud that I know that, 64 years later.

I have the ingredients to make a different type of rolls, but I think that's going to be a "bonus" recipe for my day off on Monday.

Ham Loaf

3 lbs.  meat for ham loaf

1 cup milk

1 cup crumbs

2 eggs

Mix and shape in loaf, put in pan.  Add a small amount of water and cover with the following sauce:

Sauce

1/4 cup vinegar

1 t. dry mustard

3/4 cup brown sugar

Bake at 375 degrees for 2 hours

On a final (and sad) note, Lottie passed away 52 years ago today.  I know it wasn't possible, but I wish I could have met her.  I think we would have gotten along well.

Meal #1

 Look around/look around/at how lucky we are to be alive right now...

Renee, Phillipa, and Jasmine were singing that while started my first attempt this afternoon.  While the world is in a state of chaos right now, I realized that I'm lucky have a lot of resources that Lottie didn't have 70 years ago.  It took a lot of work, but while I'm sitting here, all my dirty dishes are in a machine that is going to wash and dry them later, and the robotic vacuum cleaner is sweeping up the mess on the floor.  I made this meal in a kitchen in a house that I bought with money that I've earned during my 15 year teaching career.  Although the story is that she, not Harry, built the second story of the house on Hall Street.  Lottie only had an eighth grade education, and became a wife and mother with a household to run literally weeks after becoming an adult.  She really didn't have much of a choice in 1902.

An original edition of Lottie's cookbook

 

The first lesson I learned was not to do too much at one time.  I attempted Parker House rolls, pear salad, Johnny Marzetti, and mint dazzler.  The whole process took about 5 hours, including an emergency trip to Kroger for milk, egg subsitute, and ginger.  I'm sure that Lottie's four daughters were expected to help cook and clean up, but Lloyd refuses to do anything but sit and scream until I turn on Hamilton, his favorite musical.

Parker House rolls:  One of the obstacles that I ran into was somewhat vague directions.  The cookbook has no pictures, and I tried to follow her instructions, and not Google what any of this was supposed to look like.  "Enough flour to make a good dough." I did have to look up the purpose and process of scalded milk, it was to kill germs, (not necessary with today's pasteurization process, merci Louis!) to help melt the butter, and it helps the dough to rise.  Who knew?  It really did help the dough to rise, I swear I put it in the bowl- glass, not metal, right Aunt Velma? :) -and when I turned around it was almost spilling out of the edges.  And it made two dozen.  I have to remember that Lottie cooked for a family of 8, and catered.  Lots of leftovers, to freeze for the next lock down, ha ha.  They turned out edible, but they puffed out instead of up.  This might be due to the fact that I forgot to spread butter on the dough before I folded them up.  Luckily I realized this before they went into the oven, so I put a little bit of butter on each one and re-folded them.  It didn't work.  No handshake from Paul Hollywood.  And retyping the recipe, I realize I didn't dissolve the yeast first.  Oops.  The first batch seemed undercooked, the second batch burned, and the third batch was fine.  Also, the recipe doesn't mention when the eggs go in, so I ended up adding them at the very end, just before I let the dough rise.  

Basic Yeast Dough
1 cup mashed potatoes mixed with 1/2 cup boiling water
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup shortening (butter and margarin)
1 cup scalded milk
2 packs dry yeast, dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
flour to make a dough you can handle easily.
Pour boiling water on potatoes and mix.  add salt and sugar, scaleded milk,  mix well, add part of flour then add yeast and more flour.  Add shortening, then rest of flour.  Let rise until double in bulk.  You can use for the following rolls.

Parker House Rolls

Use basic dough.  Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick.  Spread with soft butter.  Cut in rounds with biscuit cutter.  Make a crease with back of knife across round just off center.  Fold so top slightly overlaps.  Press edges together at crease.  Place rolls fairly close on sheet and bake at 400 degrees 15 minutes.

Pear salad-  I still don't understand how fruit, jello, and Miracle Whip constitutes a salad, but okay.  This one didn't turn out well.  The directions are pretty vague, ie: "small can of pears," "one pack lime jello."  I assumed "salad dressing" meant Miracle Whip, maybe I was wrong.  The final direction is to "pour the mixture over the first layer," but there was no pouring going on.  Scraping and smashing, but no pouring.  I may have also let the second half of the jello set too much.  Or used the wrong sized pan.  Again, it's not pretty, but it's edible.  Probably won't try this one again.

Pear Salad

1 pack lime jello

1 small can pears (drained)

1 can crushed pineapple (drained)

2 cups water and juice

Dissolve jello in hot water and juice, take out part for topping.  Add pears and pineapple to first part pour in pan.  Whip second part and pour in pan.  Whip second part when it starts to set, fold in 3 oz. pack cream cheese, 1/4 tsp ginger, salt and 2 tbsp. salad dressing.  Pour over first layer.  

John Marzetti-  Also known as "Johnny Marzetti," This was one of the few main dishes in this cookbook.  Lottie seems like more of a dessert person, we would have gotten along well.  This dish is kind of infamous in my parents' house, but that's a long story.  I remember it as a staple in my elementary school cafeteria, but that was a long time ago.  The directions called for "one can of tomatoes,"  which in Lottie's world probably meant go into the basement and get a jar of home-canned tomatoes.  I don't have any of those.  I could have, but when I moved in two years ago, I eradicated all the tomato plants on the property.  If you know me, you know why. The recipe wasn't specific on what kind of noodles to use, according to my mom: "The big gross kind."  Not helpful.  So I guessed. This one turned out pretty good, after I put some parmesean cheese on it.  I don't know if I'm allowed to doctor recipes like that.  The only down side of this dish was the smell.  It tasted fine, but it smelled like hot garbage while it was baking.  I used a large can of crushed tomatoes, that seemed to work well.  

John Marzetti

1 1/2 lb ground pork.  Fry golden brown with small onion.  Add 1 quart tomatoes.  Cook medium sized pack noodles in salted water until tender, drain.  Add to meat mixture.  Cut fine 3/4 lb. cream cheese, mix part with mixture and sprinkle rest on top.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mint dazzler- This is one I would do again.  My only problem was the previously mentioned egg situation.  I used an egg substitute, and the second layer never got "light and fluffy" like it was supposed to.  Despite that, the recipe is still pretty good.  And a great way to use up leftover candy canes.

Mint Dazzler

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 eggs slightly beaten

3 squares unsweetened chocolate melted

1 1/2 cups cream whipped

1 8 oz. pack small marshmallows

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy

Mix crumbs and 1/4 cup melted butter.  Press in bottom of greased 8 inch pan.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs and melted chocolate and beat until light and fluffy.  Spoon over crumbs.  Set in freezer while whipping cream.  Fold marshmallows into whipped cream and spread over chocolate layer.  Sprinkle with crushed candy.  Freeze.

Lottie

In late 2019, I started to really look through Lottie Simon's cookbook, Your Favorites From Simon's  Being a big fan of Julie Powell's book, I started to toy with the idea of cooking my way through Lottie's cookbook.  And then 2020 happened.  My grocery habits changed drastically, so I put it on hold.  But it's 2021, a new year, and time to make a new start.

But who was Lottie Simon?

About 15 years ago, I got an Ancestry account, and really started to research.  Lottie Ellen (Starn) Simon was my great-great grandmother.  She was born near Smithville, Ohio on May 1, 1884, the eighth of 13 childron born to William and Angeline Starn.  Her father passed away in 1896, when Lottie was 11 years old.  I don't know first hand what she was like when she was young, but from her life events and stories about her later life, she was probably a little bit of a wild child.  On May 14, 1902, she gave birth to her first child, Robert.  Three days later, she married Harry Simon, and would go on to have 6 more children in the next 19 years, including my great-grandmother, Evelyn in 1904.  She and Harry were married for 54 years, until he passed away in 1956.  

During her time in Orrville, Lottie started cooking for various clubs and organizations, which evolved into a successful catering operation.  In 1953, Lottie and Harry bought their home at 853 S. Vine St., in Orrville, and Lottie opened a small tea room, hosting dinners for community organizations.  She ran the restaurant until 1961, when health problems forced her to sell the house and shutter the business.  She passed at away at her home on N. Vine St. on January 16, 1969.