A Tale of Two Sundays - January

On the second Sunday in January, 1927, the menu contained clam broth and crackers, baked ham, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, nut bread, grapefruit salad, stuffed celery, caramel custard and fancy sweet crackers.

The grapefruit salad (lettuce, grapefruit, and olives – hmmmm…) is served with that old Southern standby, boiled dressing.

Boiled Dressing

Put in double boiler 2 tablespooons butter, 1 tablespoon flour, 2 teaspoons sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon dry mustard, 2/3 teaspoon salt, 1/3 teaspoon pepper. Cook until mixture thickens, then add 1 cup vinegar and continue cooking 3 minutes longer. Chill, and when ready to serve, thin with plain or whipped cream to suit the taste.

Note to self: way too much vinegar. The rest of the menu looks like a good choice for a chilly winter Sunday.

In January, 1953, we are offered fruit cocktail, stuffed lamb shoulder, Franconia potatoes, broccoli with Hollandaise sauce, watercress salad, and peppermint mousse. No recipe is offered for the watercress salad (perhaps it’s assumed that everyone knows how to make watercress salad?). Peppermint mousse is a frozen dessert that takes advantage of that perennial boon to fifties cooks, marshmallows.

Peppermint Mousse

1 cup heavy cream
16 marshmallows
Green coloring
6 drops of oil of peppermint

Add 1/3 cup of the cream to marshmallows and heat until softened, fluffy and smooth. Color a light green and stir in oil of peppermint. Cool until thick. Whip cream and fold into marshmallow mixture. Freeze in refreigerator tray without stirring.

Note to self: way too much oil of peppermint. I’d start with 2 drops and keep upping the ante until I was satisfied.

I could go for either menu, substituting a plain green salad for the grapefruit one. And forget the clam broth, too, it not being high on my list of preferred comestibles.