A long time ago, a friend of the family gave my mom a box full of that friend’s mother-in-law’s old recipes. The mother-in-law was a housekeeper for a well-to-do family in Cincinnati, OH from the 1920s to the 1940s. The box is a wonderful treasure trove full of newspaper clippings, hand written recipes and cookbooks put out by products, radio stations and ladies’ groups. I have had so much fun looking through them that I thought I would share them with you. Some of them sound fabulous, some are really frugal and some show how much cooking has changed in 90 years.
The following is from a newspaper dated November 2, 1934:
“Creole cooks will stake their reputation on this delectable combination of rosy shrimps cooked in the creole manner surrounded by a ring of fluffy rice. Reminiscent of the nursery chant of “ring around the rosy,” the rice ring is made this way:
1. Info for Shrimp Creole in a Rice Ring
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Servings: 4
- Calories: 193kcal
2. Ingredients for Shrimp Creole in a Rice Ring
- Rice Ring
- 1 cup rice
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp salt
- sprinkling white pepper
- Shrimp Creole:
- 2 Tbsp bacon fat
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery shopped
- 1 Tbsp flour (use sweet rice flour for gluten free option)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups tomatoes (1 14.5 oz can petite diced)
- 2 cups peas (1 14 oz can)
- 1 Tbsp vinegar (balsamic)
- 1 tsp honey
- 1½ cups cooked shrimp
3. Directions:
- Cook onions and celery until brown in the bacon fat.
- Add flour, seasonings and slowly add the water.
- Cook 15 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, peas, vinegar, sugar and shrimps.
- Continue cooking 10 minutes more, or until shrimps are thoroughly heated.
- Serve with molded rice ring.
- Wash the rice thoroughly.
- After rice is cooked and drained, add butter and salt and white pepper to season.
- Have a border mold well buttered and pack rice in good and firm.
- Place mold in hot water or place where it will keep hot.
- When ready to serve, unmold and surround with shrimp creole.
