Here I am, another Tuesday, another Vintage Menu Madness! I have challenged myself to cook one vintage menu in its entirety from one of my Vintage Cookery Books. This is something I have really enjoyed and that I hope you also enjoy!
I have always enjoyed Vintage Cookbooks. It is a love that began when I was a child. My mother had an old cookbook in her bookcase that I used to love looking through. As an adult, I would copy recipes out of it every time I visited my mother. Finally one day she gave it to me. I was thrilled to get it.
Since then I have been collecting Vintage Cookbooks as and when I could. I did have to leave a lot of them in the UK when I moved back to Canada, save a few really special ones, but I have been slowly re-collecting them since my return.
This week I decided to do something a bit different than a supper/dinner menu. I decided to do a breakfast/brunch type of menu and it was a lot of fun. I did have to begin by making one of the special ingredients myself a week ahead. Spiced Apple Rings. This was not something that is readily available in Canada.
I decided to make my own from scratch. I found a recipe on Just A Pinch that I liked. It didn't use those cinnamon hot candies that most recipes call for. They are also not available where I live, and, to be honest, I didn't want that bright red color for them.
I was actually really pleased with how they turned out. They had a lovely flavor.
This week's menu was chosen from a Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook entitled the Menu Cookbook. I was able to buy one of these, lightly used, on Thrift Books to replace my original copy which got left behind in the UK. It was originally published in 1972.
I had started collecting these BH & G cookbooks when I was still in High School, and this was one of my favorites! I hated to have to leave it behind in England, but was so pleased to have been able to get another copy!
The menu I chose was for a family brunch and looked really appealing in the book. It contains foods from the four basic food groups and was considered to be quite nutritious. Included in the menu were:
GRAPEFRUIT JUICESAUSAGE BREAKFAST BAKEAPPLE-MAPLE SYRUPBAKED OR POACHED EGGSCOFFEE/MILK
Because of health issues I am not allowed to drink or eat anything with grapefruit. (I love grapefruit and really miss it.) I had a cloudy apple juice instead. I also pretty much cut the recipes in half as there is only one of me. I will post the full sized recipes however.
I was really pleased with how everything turned out and it was one of my favorite menus thus far. I know I always say that! It's true. I haven't really found a dud in the bunch yet!
The star of this menu was the Breakfast Sausage Bake. It was really easy to make (once I had done the spiced apple rings) and turned out to be very delicious! It used a boxed pancake mix. I used the one by the Pearl Milling Company (formerly Aunt Jemima).
If you are in the UK, you could use my recipe for Mom's Pancakes, cutting the milk in the recipe down by 1/2 cup (120ml). Also, I know brown and serve sausage is not available there, so you could brown off some breakfast chipolatas and use them in the place of the brown and serve sausage.
Yield: 6Author: Marie Rayner
Sausage Breakfast Bake
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 45 MinA delicious all in one with pancakes, sausage and spicy apple rings.Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) packaged pancake mix
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) whole milk
- 2 large free range eggs
- 2 TBS salad oil
- 1 (14oz) jar of spiced apple rings
- 1 (8-oz/226g) brown-and-serve sausage links
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 13 1/2 X 8 3/4 X 1 3/4 inch baking dish and set aside.
- Whisk the pancake mix together with the eggs, milk and salad oil, beating with a rotary mixer until smooth. Pour this mixture into the baking dish.
- Drain the spiced apple rings, reserving the liquid to make the apple maple syrup. Halve each sausage link crosswise.
- Place the apple rings in a decorative manner on top of the pancake mixture, along with the sausage halves. Do it so that you can cut the pancake into square sized servings if possible, when done.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Serve hot, cut into squares with some of the syrup spooned over top.
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Another vital component which you need to make to go along with the Sausage Breakfast Bake is the apple syrup. This was very easy to make and, I have to say, it was incredibly delicious! I fell in love with it.
The original recipe called for the use of maple-flavored syrup, which you could certainly use if that is all you have. I didn't really have any of that in the house and so I substituted real Maple Syrup in its place with a brilliant and very tasty success!
Yield: makes 1 1/2 cupsAuthor: Marie Rayner
Apple-Maple Syrup
Cook time: 15 MinTotal time: 15 MinThis is sweet and spicy and incredibly deliciousIngredients
- 1/3 cup (80ml) of the spiced apple liquid/syrup
- 1/3 cup (80ml) water
- 1/3 (67g) granulated sugar
- 4 tsp cornstarch (corn flour)
- 1 TBS butter or margarine (I used butter)
- 3/4 cup (180ml) maple syrup or maple flavored syrup
Instructions
- Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together in a saucepan. Whisk in the spiced apple syrup and the water. Cook and stir over medium high heat until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken.
- Reduce the temperature to a low simmer and simmer for one minute further. Whisk in the maple syrup and the butter. Keep warm and serve drizzled over top of hot squares of the sausage breakfast bake.
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The final dish in the brunch, aside from the tea or coffee, and juice was the baked or poached eggs. I chose to do the baked version as I could just pop them into the oven along side of the breakfast casserole while it was baking.
These also turned out to be very delicious and went very well with the sausage bake.
Yield: 6Author: Marie Rayner
Baked Eggs
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 30 MinSimple and easy to make. Also very delicious. Makes a change from fried or scrambled eggs. Just pop them into the oven and get on with the rest of your meal.Ingredients
- 6 large free range eggs
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 6 tsp whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Have ready a large shallow baking dish.
- Butter six custard cups really well. Break one egg into each and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. To each egg add 1 tsp of milk.
- Place into a shallow baking dish large enough to hold all of the cups. Add hot water into the baking dish to the depth of 1 inch.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the eggs are firm.
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SPECIAL HELPS - (from the book)
"Eliminate the time consuming steps of frying bacon or sausage, cooking eggs, and making toast by baking all of your breakfast together in the oven. Just prepare the Sausage Breakfast Bake and put it into the oven. Then make the Apple-Maple Syrup, break the eggs into the custard cups, and set the table.
Put the eggs into the oven 10 minutes after the Sausage Breakfast Bake has begun cooking so that they will finish baking at the same time. Now you will have 25 minutes to dress, read the paper, or do other tasks before serving breakfast to the family."
This was a really fun and delicious menu which I, personally, really enjoyed. I thought it was very quick and easy to put together, and it is something I will look forward to making again sometime when I have some overnight guests!
There was not a part of it that I didn't find to be really tasty and delicious. I hope you will be inspired to make this for yourself as well! Tune in next week to see what vintage menu I will be cooking next!!
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