Date I made this recipe:
Friday, March 27, 2015
Cookbook for Fridays
and Lent by Irma Rhode; introduction by Robert I. Gannon, S.J. (Society of
St. Joseph) (Irma Rhode often collaborated with James Beard)
Published by: David
McKay Company, Inc.
© 1951
Purchased at Bonnie Slotnick's Cookbooks, NYC
Recipe: Macaroni and Cheese – p. 128
"To eat meat, or not to eat meat on Fridays?" That was the question pondered by my mother
pretty much my entire (Catholic) childhood.
The blame for this confusion and consternation can be
directly deposited on the doors of the Vatican which, during the early
60's, instituted what became known as "Vatican II." During Vatican II, the church loosened up on
many age-old rules to allow for a more progressive church. Or at least that's the story I'm going
with. I was too young to know or care
about the inner politics. What I did
know is that in an instant, we went from Latin masses to guitar masses, the
nun's habit went from near-mummy to "what the heck" polyester pants
suits and all hell broke loose.
Also caught in the Papal crossfire was whether or not we
could/could not eat meat on Fridays during Lent. And around Christmas. Pre-Vatican II, this was not an issue. "No Meat," period. But after Vatican II, all bets were off and
some years we were allowed, some years we weren't. Frankly, I loved the years we
"weren't."
Translated, the "no meat" rule basically meant you
ate "fish" but you see, despite the abundance of Lake Superior
whitefish which I'm told is the "poor man's lobster" (Uh huh. Right),
fish in our house constituted smelt (ugh), perch (double ugh) or canned salmon
or mackerel. Every once in a while, my
parents got some other fish to serve us but I just don't like fish. And I cannot think of one time we actually
had whitefish while I was growing up; I think my parents got into that grove
after I left home. If they hadn't things
might have been different.
Now what I did like, and really, how could you not, were
fish sticks. Fish sticks were a
treat. Fish sticks were acceptable. Well, acceptable if you slathered them in
tartar sauce. Also acceptable? Ketchup.
Anything to mask the taste and texture was fine by me.
I also liked shrimp burgers which were served in the
cafeteria when I was in junior high and high school. But then again, shrimp are shellfish and I
love shellfish. It's just
"fish" fish that I don't love.
So you can see where the "no meat edict"
frustrated. And the church didn't help
by suggesting that fish should be the Friday night dinner selection of choice. No mention was made of non-fish items which
suggests to me that the church had some sort of world-wide agreement with fish
mongers everywhere. (Sorry about that,
egg people). And so my mother, ever the
good Catholic, took whatever the church said as Gospel (pun intended) and if
they said no meat, we had their suggested fish instead.
Like any good daughter (ha!) I played along with the rules
until I got to college. I don't
think I'm alone is using a few choice
words for the "food" served to college students. Given that it was a public university, they
didn't have to cater to a Catholic population when it came to food service and
so they didn't. (Never mind that St.
Michael's Catholic Church was a half a block away). And what they served as fish was disgusting,
such that I couldn't eat it at all. So I
cheated and ate meat or whatever else they offered that was not fish.
And things were going splendidly until my mother inquired as
to my Friday night fare and well, as I was sometimes wont to do, I told a small,
teeny tiny fib. I told her that the
cafeteria didn't serve fish (heathens!) and so what was I supposed to do?
You would think at that age (i.e. college-age), I would have
figured out that lying to my mother resulted in nothing but hardship to
me. This was not my first rodeo with a
small whopper. No sir! In
fact, I still find it absolutely hilarious that as a second-grader making our
First Confession (done before your First Communion), my entire class of thirty
odd kids and I told the same, whopping lie to Father Beyer when we got into the
confessional: "Bless me Father, for
I have sinned. I stole a little red
wagon." Yup. At that age, we were still puzzled as to what
constituted a sin and therefore, what to report to Father until a classmate
said "I'm going to say I stole a little red wagon," and we thought
that was genius so we said it too. I can
only imagine what Father Beyer thought as he heard the same story over and over
but my guess is by confessor #25, he was probably thinking "Yeah,
yeah...what else ya got?"
Anyway. Like I said,
this was not my first rodeo and my mother was probably on to me so she made me
talk to the parish priest at St. Michael's and tell him my story. I was to ask for "special
dispensation" which is code for "Here's your hall pass for SIN, my
child. Go ahead and eat meat." "SD" was granted. I mean, just like that, my story passed
muster. What? And so for the rest of my college life, I ate
whatever the heck I wanted on Lenten Fridays.
Oh, the thrill of getting away with the crime!
It is amazing, isn't it that later in life, I went to law
school? ;)
These days, I'm pretty much surprised every year when Lent
begins and Easter rolls around ("It's Easter on Sunday? Really?") and therefore don't pay much
attention to the meat/no meat rule or at least I didn't until I saw this
cookbook last year at Bonnie Slotnick's cookbook bookstore in NYC. And what I want to know is WHERE was this
primer when I was growing up? Because my
mother could have just locked and loaded on the non-fish chapters and we would
have been home free: no muss, no fuss,
no worry! Instead, there was angst. Lots and lots of needless angst.
Pretty much true to form, this book features fish dishes
first (sigh), then shellfish, veggies, eggs, cheese, rice, noodles, etc. I definitely passed on: "Fried Smelts," "Baked Smelts,"
creamed fish of any kind and – Lord, give me strength – "Fish Casserole
with Sauerkraut" on p. 59. You
should not have to work too hard to imagine the look on my face when I saw
that. Way to go an ruin a good
sauerkraut...
I fared much better with the egg dishes as there were lots
of recipes for cheese "puddings" and soufflés and pies, but I really
hit my stride with the "Rice, Noodle and Macaroni Dishes" chapter
starting on p. 121. It's a short chapter
but that didn't matter because I found what I wanted – "Macaroni and
Cheese" (p. 128).
For the record, we never had macaroni and cheese at our
house when I was growing up. Actually,
let me amend that: we sometimes had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese but only if
"something" was added to it like hamburger or tomatoes or
something. I just don't recall a time
when we sat down and had it out of the box.
And I can also tell you that I do not think my mother ever made it from
scratch which is just a sin, right?
Because this dish is so good and so easy and it beats the heck out of
fish any day. But my mother's side of
the family had high cholesterol and so cheese and butter were bad things and
fish was good. Whatever. I'm not buying it.
At first blush, you might think this dish is a little too rich
what with milk, cream, egg yolks and cheese but it isn't. And the only seasoning is salt and
pepper. So really, you'd be hard pressed
to screw this up and I did not screw this up and although it says "serves
six," the two of us pretty much demolished the thing. And I will not go to confession to tell a
priest this, I will not, no matter what the Bible says about Gluttony!
By the way, in a case of incredible timing, the biggest
business news this week is that Heinz,
best known for its ketchup, and Kraft,
best known for its boxed macaroni and cheese, are merging. Just so we're clear: many recipes for mac and cheese call for the
addition of mustard and that is okay.
But in no way, shape or form, should ketchup ever eaten with mac and
cheese. Ever. Not even by accident by sitting too close
together on a plate alongside (my) ketchup-laden fish sticks. There are rules, kids. Food rules.
Don't break them, especially during Lent.
Enjoy this delicious macaroni and cheese.
Macaroni and Cheese – serves six
8 oz elbow macaroni
4 quarts water
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
4 egg yolks, beaten
½ lb. cheese (Cheddar preferred), broken into small pieces
or coarsely grated
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
½ cup bread crumbs
Cook macaroni in the boiling salted water for about 5
minutes, then drain. The macaroni should
be underdone. Pile macaroni loosely in a
baking dish. Combine cream, milk, and
egg yolks and blend well; add cheese and seasonings and pour the whole over the
macaroni. Stir lightly with a fork to
distribute liquid evenly. Sprinkle top
with bread crumbs and bake in a moderate oven (350F) for 30 to 35 minutes.
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