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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2018)
Wednesday, August 1, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon through Thyme Jodi Schneider Columnist Radio recipes remembered You’ve probably watched a cooking show or two at some point in your life. The very first cook- ing show aired in the UK in 1946 and was called simply “Cookery,” starring Philip Harben. Before food TV, during the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, there were radio cooking shows that were popular during that Golden Age of Radio, which lasted through the 1950s. Cooking shows were a natural effort to try to cap- ture the homemaker market. Wives and mothers were usu- ally home all day taking care of the kids and the house. It evolved into creating female- specific programing; cooking was just one piece of the pro- gramming pie. KMA radio broadcasts, and others like them, gave farm wives information they could use every day, while modern farmer’s spouse. Its main focus was to help rural women prepare nutri- tious meals based on simple recipes. The recipes she shared were gathered, in 1927, into a cookbook called Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes, that became a valuable household manual for tens of thousands of Americans. And there’s nothing overambitious about Aunt Sammy’s dishes. The recipe for “smothered ham with sweet potatoes” lists only butter, sugar, and hot water as ingredients — other than ham and sweet potatoes. “Cabbage and carrot salad” calls for equal parts of shredded cab- bage and carrots mixed with salad dressing. The goal wasn’t to impress, but to pro- mote what at the time were considered healthy, balanced meals. Here is a delicious rec- ipe out of the original 1927 cookbook: APPLE BROWN BETTY 2 quarts diced tart apples 1 quart bread crumbs (oven toasted until crisp and light brown) 1-1/4 cups sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup butter Grease a baking dish and place in it a layer of crumbs, then a layer of apples, and some of the sugar, cinnamon, and salt, which have been mixed together. Repeat until all the ingredients are used, saving sufficient crumbs for the top. Pour the melted fat (butter) over the top layer of crumbs, cover, and bake for “Necessity is the mother of INVENTION” If you can’t find what you are looking for in our hand-forged product line, we can design something to fit your needs “Your Local Welding Shop” CCB# 87640 PHOTO BY ALEX JORDAN Journey connecting listeners across the isolation of the mid- western prairie. The famil- iar voices who hosted these shows became an intimate presence in fans’ homes. Old-time radio shows such as The Mystery Chef, The Mary Lee Taylor Program, Martha Meade Society Program and Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air were some of the popular radio cooking shows. They were something of an early support group — especially for farm wives. For a lot of rural women, their nearest neighbor might be several miles away. “Aunt Sammy,” a char- acter created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, hit the radio waves in 1926 with informative and engag- ing talk about menus, reci- pes and other items of household interest. The pro- gram was also known as “Housekeeper’s Half-hour” and as simply Aunt Sammy. It was one of the first radio shows that had regular char- acters; Aunt Sammy’s fam- ily and friends included Ebenezer, an uncle; Billy, a nephew; Percy DeWillington, a fussy eater; and the Nosy Neighbor. From the 1920s through the 1940s, Aunt Sammy was a hit food-radio pro- gram. Supposedly the wife of Uncle Sam, the character was voiced by hundreds of dif- ferent women working from scripts at their radio stations around the country. These early 20th-century women offered recipes, life hacks and insights for the 541-549-9280 | 207 W. Sisters Park Dr. | PonderosaForge.com 30 to 45 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Toward the last remove the cover and allow the top to brown. Serve hot, with plain or whipped cream, or hard sauce. Long before her cook- books became a staple in our kitchens, Betty Crocker came into homes across the United States on the radio. Debuting in 1924 with “The Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air” and the “Betty Crocker Home Service Program,” Betty kept homemakers company where they needed it the most— at home—with friendly, woman-to-woman chats. The Washburn Crosby company, a flour-milling outfit, created the persona of Betty Crocker to answer the questions, using the sur- name of William Crocker, a direc- tor of the firm who had recently retired. The Be tty Crocker Cooking School of the Air aired on Mi nneapolis radio station WCCO. Home cooks every- where tuned in to listen to their trusted kitchen confidante— at the time, vo iced by Marjorie Child Husted, who was also the first host and writer of the show. Betty’s a d v i c e 19 became so popular that NBC picked up the program and aired it nationwide. It went on to become one of the lon- gest running radio shows in U.S. history. Here is a 1945 recipe from the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air: EMERGENCY STEAK “T-Bone,” family style. Strips of carrot may be inserted to resemble the bone. Mix together… 1 lb. ground beef 1 tbsp. minced onion 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp. salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cup WHEATIES or 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs. Place on lightly greased pan, pat into shape of T-bone steak (one inch thick). Broil in oven.
