Baking-potato salad and good cafeteria eats
Potato salad, one last word: My Portuguese "cuz," Carlton Perry, called to say his vovo (grandma) gave him a trick for using baking potatoes in potato salad without getting mushy. Since baking potatoes are generally cheaper, this is a boon. "They didn't have much, so they had to work with what they had," he said. Grandma would steam, not boil, the potatoes, so they didn't absorb much water. Peel while warm. Place in refrigerator overnight. The potatoes dry out and firm up and make great salad, he said.
School-kine recipes: Slowly but surely, those school-kine recipes requested by readers, and needed by me for an upcoming project, are dribbling in.
If you have a recipe from a cafeteria manager, or if you were a cafeteria manager or know where I can find past recipes from schools (most requests are from the '40s through early '70s), please call, write or e-mail me. (Contact information is below.)
Joan Souki of Wahiawa sent in this 20-year-old recipe, requested sometime back by C.S. Morita, who wrote: "I remember three of my favorite foods from school in the 1960s. They were called beef niblets, Spanish green beans and cherry kuchen. I tried looking online and found some cherry kuchen recipes, but they were more like a coffee cake. I remember the cherry kuchen being thin with a crumb topping."
Haven't got the niblets, and you can find the Spanish green beans on my blog ("What's your fallback?" in my My Island Plate blog online last Wednesday — www.honoluluadvertiser.com/section/tastefront and click on my blog).
This isn't from a school, but it is a kuchen. Try it and tweak the spicing or sugar to get it to taste the way you recall.
Some tips: If you're using fresh cherries, pit them by using a sharp knife, slitting through the bottom halfway up the cherry. Spread the cherry open and remove the pit. This recipe calls for a tart pan with a removable bottom; they're available at kitchen supply shops. But you can bake it in a 9-by-9-inch baking pan or dish. And, instead of greasing with butter, you can use butter spray.
CHERRY KUCHEN
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch removable-bottom tart pan. In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt; set aside. In medium bowl, with mixer on high, cream together butter and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs and almond extract and beat well. Add flour mixture and beat until just blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Top with cherries. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake 30-35 minutes, until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake on wire rack 20 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan with small, sharp, thin-bladed knife. Remove from pan to serving platter. Cut and serve with ice cream.
Makes 10 servings.
If you have school-days recipes, or a relative who used to work in a school kitchen, send recipes to me and tell me your memories: Wanda Adams, Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; phone 535-2412; fax 525-8055; e-mail wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.
