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I love history and I find some antiques and vintage items quite fascinating. I’m pretty sure it’s because I grew up around these things as my dad loved dealing in the antique business.
One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!
My dad would end up with a lot of things he just didn’t need or want and occasionally I became the recipient of some of the seemingly worthless vintage finds. These items may not be of monetary value but that doesn’t mean they aren’t pretty cool like old cookbooks and recipe pamphlets sponsored by brands like GE, Ford, Borden’s Eagle Brand and others.
I want to share a recipe from the Silent Hostess Treasure Book, copyright 1931 by the General Electric Company’s Electric Refrigeration Dept in Cleveland, Ohio. This quaint booklet features tips for the housewife with her new GE refrigerator that include menu plans, recipes and information about how using the General Electric Refrigerator helps keep her family’s food safe.
Foundation White Sauce for Cream Soups
You can make the white sauce, which is basically how I make gravy minus the poultry broth, and vegetables for it and serve or use it as the base in cream soups such as: Cream of Spinach, Cream of Tomato, Cream of Pea, Cream of Corn , Cream of Carrot Soups and Clam Bisque, All of these are just some of the many recipes in this vintage booklet! ** See bottom of this post for a healthier way to thicken without using flour!
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
“Melt butter, add flour, salt and pepper and mix to a smooth paste. Add milk slowly and bring to boiling point, stirring constantly. This may be cooled, put in a screw-top jar and kept in the refrigerator Cabinet until ready to use.” <—That’s word for word what the recipe says. Of course, today we have other methods for storing food.
This is also how I basically make my sausage gravy, minus the butter. I just cook up the sausage (I may drain some of the grease if there is to much) and after it cooks I add some flour (maybe 2 teaspoons or more depending on how much sausage there is) and milk and bring to a boil to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I like this over biscuits and today I tried it for the first time over zested squash. I just run a zesting tool over the flesh (insides) of the squash and eat it raw with the cooked sausage gravy on top. Yum!
***** HEALTHIER TWIST for thickening liquids.
I wrote this post awhile back and more recently made chicken gravy with Glucomannan instead of flour. I learned about this product through my exposure to the Trim Healthy Mama plan. This is a healthier way (since you’re not using flour) to thicken your liquids and it takes very little. I used about a teaspoon sprinkled in about 1-2 cups (guessing) of chicken stock while I stirred.
