Dreamy, chilled desserts full of cream, marshmallow, or mousse were very popular with housewives of the forties and fifties when the potential of the home refrigerator was still being explored. From bombes and baked Alaskas, to mousses, meringues, marlows and mallobets–cookbooks of that era celebrated them all. Continue Reading…
Serendipity! Two or three people who don’t know each other, and live hundreds of miles apart in separate States, ask for the same lost recipe, on the same day. That’s what happened with this ice-cream pie request. Chuck Weibler wrote in looking for a frozen lime pie he remembered from 1956 the same day that Marcie asked for a similar dessert. Both recipes included chocolate ice-cream under a home-made, frozen lime-cream topper; Marcie’s with a chocolate crust, and Chuck’s with a gingersnap crust. Continue Reading…
If you ever get to Benkelman, Nebraska, stop in at the Dundy County History Museum and tell them Lost Recipes Found sent you. There, amid the museum’s memorabilia, co-president Betty Deyle will serve you a dish of Evan “Bud” Moses’ 1940s-recipe chocolate-malted “Frosty” ice-cream at a working soda fountain. Continue Reading…
I first ran this recipe story four years ago, when the Chicago Tribune gave me permission to take the Lost Recipes Found column I had launched for them & relaunch it as my own blog. In the years since, this muffin has become a family favorite. According to Michael Lisicky, department-story history expert, Jordan Marsh Continue Reading…
A bunch of Chicagoans wrote to tell us they missed this spicy-good signature shrimp appetizer from long closed Joe’s Be-Bop Cafe & Jazz Emporium (Navy Pier’s erstwhile, family-friendly jazz club.) Marinated in chili-spiked buttermilk overnight before being dipped in Cajun-seasoned flour and deep fried, these crunchy shrimp get extra kick from chipotle/cilantro/lime dipping sauce. Continue Reading…
In 1945, Ann Sather plunked down savings earned at a Chicago meat-packing plant to buy an already-existing Swedish diner. Although of Norwegian heritage, Ann kept the Swedish menu to please loyal guests in the then-heavily-Swedish neighborhood which came to be known as Chicago’s Andersonville. Continue Reading…
Was Derby pie named for the hat or the horse race?
The horse race. But a hat does figure in the original name of this rich, chocolate & nut pie. Created in 1950 at the Melrose Inn in Prospect, Kentucky, by Walter and Leaudra Kern with some input from their son George, the pie–first made with chocolate and walnuts–sparked debate in the family, each person wanting to call it something else. To resolve the conflict, everyone tossed their favorite name into a hat: The slip that got plucked was inscribed, “Derby Pie.” Continue Reading…
This goes back to when I first launched Lost Recipes Found for the Chicago Tribune, in answer to a reader request. It’s still a much-requested recipe. Continue Reading…
My lovely friend Kathleen S. grew up 15 miles from Silver Creek, NY, where they still host a Festival of Grapes during the concord grape harvest every year, complete with grape stomping, pretty-baby contests, and Jr. Miss, Little Miss, and Miss Festival of Grapes pageants. Continue Reading…
Really simple, really good, really pretty: just chilled red potatoes, beets, crisp lettuce and a creamy, sweet & tangy mustard dressing. This is an adaptation of a Swedish salad included in a charming, 1951 community collection by Heloise Frost and Ellen Nelson. Continue Reading…