Electric Pineapples

I hope anyone who saw "Saving Mr Banks" admired the performance of the pineapple - I seriously hope it wins a Best Supporting Fruit and Vegetable Award at the Oscars on Sunday! Anne.

Electrical Association for Women Cookery Book and Electrical Guide Compiled and published by Mrs F. V. McKenzie
2^nd Edition 1938 Sydney Australia  

“If further advice is required or you have any electrical problem please write or call at the rooms of The Electrical Association for Women . . . and you will find friendly advice and practical assistance awaiting you.

Will you please add me to your list of friends?"

F. Violet McKenzie.

I suspect Mrs McKenzie would have LOVED Facebook!

Pineapple Pudding   

2 tblsp butter, 3 tblsp sugar, 2 eggs, ½ cup milk, 2 tblspn breadcrumbs, 1 cup grated pineapple, 1 dstspn lemon juice

Beat butter & sugar to a cream, add egg yolks, milk, breadcrumbs, pineapple & lemon juice. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites. Place in a buttered dish & cook in a moderate oven (220°C) about 300 minutes.

This dessert didn’t taste too bad but was a very odd consistency, I thought it would turn into a soufflé but no, it was like a sauce, if anyone out there tries it and achieves a delicious pudding please let me know! Anne.

Ices, Etc. – Cherry and Pineapple Cocktail       

225g fresh cherries; 1 cup pineapple cubes; ½ cup pineapple juice; 1 tblspn lemon juice; sugar

Remove stones from cherries and mix with pineapple cubes, etc Pour juices over, and chill thoroughly.                            

That was it, pineapple and cherries, enjoyable because these cherries from Pete's Fruit and Veg were absolutely delicious! Anne.

Country Club Punch

1 cup sugar; 950ml water; ¼ cup strong tea; 4 lemons; 4 oranges; 1 cup grape juice; small tin crushed pineapple;  475ml ginger ale

Boil sugar & water for 8 minutes, add tea and chill. Add fruit juices & pineapple, & keep in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before using. Add ginger ale & ice cubes just before serving. Serve with orange quarters, slices of lemon & some maraschino cherries.

“Electricity, this wonder of our age, was looked upon as a miracle, and yet we have advanced so far that cooking in an electric oven has become quite common practice, quite simple to anyone of ordinary intelligence, making it possible for anyone to lay claim to the truly feminine virtue of being a good cook. .  .

Food well chosen, nicely cooked and well served may tickle the palate of anyone. Man does not like monotony but appreciates variety in his every-day diet. How often some housewife or other has said: “What shall I prepare for dinner?” It is with a view to answering this question, and to help every housewife who has an electric range that Mrs McKenzie has devoted much care and thought to the preparation of this book.”

Frances McKay.

And for some useful advice,

Electrolux ice cream

Making the most of your Electrolux, Melbourne 1959

Pineapple Ice Cream

½ cup crushed pineapple; ½ cup sugar; 1/8  teaspoon salt; ¼ cup milk; 1 cup cream, whipped

Combine pineapple, sugar, salt and milk.  Fold slowly into whipped cream.  Pour into freezing tray and freeze to desired consistency.  Six small servings.

What I did:  doubled the quantity and froze it in my ice cream machine which churns while freezing.  Also drained the pineapple of juice so as to have a lower water content in the ice cream to avoid a hard or icy texture.

Comment: surprisingly delicious, a good pineapple flavour, not too rich.  Whipping the cream before churning gave it a light, almost fluffy, texture, Ann.

Nice tip Ann, I'll try that. I recently included crushed meringues in an ice cream mixture and that made a crunchy, light texture, Anne.

Pineapple in Sue's Scrapbook

Our friends Sue and Noel have a fabulous owner-built pole home in the Hunter Valley decorated with treasures from the not so distant past. Their collections of kitchen utensils are particularly curious. This recipe scrapbook is from Sue's assortment of found objects.

Newspaper clipping: First prize of £5 to Miss Richardson,
14 Harwill Street, Camp Hill, Brisbane.

Pineapple Dreams 

One tin crushed pineapple; 1 tblsp gelatine (softened in 2 tblsp cold water), 2-3 cup sweet sherry, 300ml whipped cream or thoroughly chilled evaporated milk, 24 marshmallows (approximately 350g), glace cherries, angelica

Cut marshmallows into small pieces, place in basin, pour sherry over; cover and allow to stand overnight. On the following day dissolve softened gelatine, stir into pineapple. Fold in marshmallow mixture and, lastly, whipped cream. Fill into sweet dishes; chill until set. Decorate with cherries and pieces of angelica.

I'm pretty sure Noel brought these essences home from the "exchange" - purely for decorative not culinary purposes! Anne.

Pineapple and Cabbage Delight

Grass Roots magazine No 205 June/July 2011

No need for an early edition of 'Grass Roots' to achieve a retro look! Anne.

This recipe has pineapple and is gluten free!

“Don’s Cabbage Delight” a recipe by Jose Robinson in Noosaville, Queensland.

1 tblspn oil; 1 med. Onion, finely chopped; 500g minced steak; 1 tblspn curry powder; 2 tblspn dry rice (uncooked); 2 cups chicken stock; ¼ cup vinegar; 1 small cabbage, finely chopped; 250g French beans; 75g vermicelli rice noodles, broken into little pieces; 2 tblspn soy sauce; 1 cup pineapple juice and pieces.

Heat oil in fry pan, add finely chopped onion, and when golden brown add minced steak stirring constantly until browned all over. Add curry powder, rice, stock and vinegar. Simmer slowly for 30 minutes then add cabbage, beans and rice noodles. Cook until vegies are just cooked. Add water if thickening too much. Now add soy sauce and pineapple. Chopped celery or bamboo shoots can be added if desired. Serves 4.

Pineapple Meringue Trifle, it's got it all!

The Australian Women’s Weekly Cookery Book, Prize Recipes from our £2,000 Cookery Contest, 1948

Pineapple Meringue Trifle  

One layer of sponge sandwich (18cm in diameter), 450ml milk, 2 tblsp sugar, 2 tbls cornflour, 1 dstsp sherry, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 cups finely chopped cooked pineapple (drained free of syrup), ¾ pint red jelly, 4 tblsp extra sugar (for meringue), chopped blanched almonds and a few strawberries to garnish.

Cut sponge into cubes, arrange a layer on bottom of ovenware dish. Blend cornflour with some of the milk, add balance of milk and sugar, stir until boiling. Simmer 3 minutes. Cool slightly, add beaten egg-yolks, cook a few minutes over low heat without allowing to boil. Add sherry. Pour half over cake in dish. Cover with half pineapple. Add another layer of cake, custard, pineapple. Beat egg-whites to meringue consistency with extra sugar, pile around edge of dish. Place in very moderate oven (190°C) until meringue is set and very lightly browned. Allow to become cold, then chill in ice-chest or refrigerator. Set jelly in shallow tin; when quite set, chop and pile in centre of trifle. Garnish with chopped almonds and a few strawberries.

Tasmania, the PINEapple isle.

I couldn't leave this booklet behind in an op shop on Tasmania's east coast recently - what an appetising cover design!

Good Housekeeping’s Meals on a Shoestring, Booklet No 27 London 1964

Pineapple Rice

Prepare a rice pudding mixture in a double saucepan.

Rice Pudding – 40g pudding rice; 600ml milk; 15-25g butter or margarine; grated nutmeg

Wash the rice, place it in a 900ml pie dish with the milk and sugar and put shavings of butter and a little grated nutmeg over the top. Bake in a cool to warm oven 150°C for 2 – 2 ½ hours, stir it once or twice during the first hour.
Rice pudding may also be cooked in a double boiler; the proportion of ingredients and the cooking time will be the same.

I simply mixed some leftover cooked brown rice with the other ingredients in a saucepan and boiled them for 10 minutes, Anne.

Pineapple Rice – When the rice is creamy and tender, place in a pie dish or in individual dishes. Drain the juice from an 225g can of sliced pineapple and place in a small, saucepan, with a little sugar; boil rapidly until it reaches a glazing consistency. Arrange the pineapple slices on top of the rice and coat evenly with pineapple glaze. Leave to cool.

This dish was found in the treasure trove

"The Shop in the Bush" near St Helens. 

And this wonderful wall decoration enhances the hospitable Hotel Bruny at Alonnah, Bruny Island.