This is an archived post from “The Aroma of Bread,” and was first published 19 Jun 2012.
I was reading Dick Eastman’s Newsletter this morning and I read an article about the original recipe for Jack Daniel’s being found in a Welsh book of herbal remedies. Presumably, John ‘Jack the Lad’ Daniel’s left Wales for Lynchburg, Tennessee and was not heard from after a few letters. It was during this period that Jack Daniel’s Whisky was born.
While this is not a recipe from Marie’s collection, it is a post that was inspired by a recipe, the recipe for Jack Daniel’s. Butch enjoyed whisky, be it Jack Daniel’s or the brand he drank most often in his later years, Early Times. An Early Times and seltzer was a great way to start an evening out with friends.
In late summer 1949, probably in September, Butch and Marie joined Otto and Cel Hannen on a road trip to New Orleans. On their way south, they stopped at the Cherokee Dam on the Holston River in East Tennessee. The dam had been built recently, being completed in 1942, and we all know that Butch would have found the whole mechanics of it fascinating. In the hotel room that night, they enjoyed a night cap of whiskey – for this occasion they chose Jim Beam.
We always had a bottle of whiskey in the bar, ready for a visit from Butch. In 2000 when I was looking for a bottle of whisky to use in a new recipe, I pulled out the Early Times. It is the perfect whiskey for this recipe.
Combine first 8 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag, and add salmon to bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 ½ hours, turning bag occasionally.
Prepare grill or broiler.
Remove salmon from bag, reserving marinade. Place salmon on a grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Cook 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, basting frequently with reserved marinade.
NOTE: This recipe is the best with a lesser grade of bourbon, such as Butch’s favorite: Early Times
This is an archived post from “The Aroma of Bread,” and was first published 17 Jun 2012.
Today is Father’s Day, and in honor of today this post is about Butch. I scrolled through the photos that have been scanned searching for one in which he was pictured with all four boys. All but impossible to find! One or the other was always missing. So instead I have chosen an image of Butch that is very familiar to us, him sitting in a comfy chair feeding a baby. What makes this image so special is that it is not a grandchild that he is so lovingly gazing at, but his own baby son.
But on with the post:
My father-in-law loved to entertain. He loved nothing more than to arrive home and announce to Marie that he had invited a few people over for food – be it dinner, hors d’oeuvres or maybe just drinks with the ever present cheese.
He also loved to invite everyone to the “New Bar” for a Grasshopper after a Saturday night dinner at Van Abels. We would get up from the table and he would be leading the way, encouraging all to follow him, and he would start taking orders and telling the bartender what we would need. For him the perfect end to an evening, was more great conversation and relaxing with the people he loved.
While that is MY memory of Grasshopper drinks, easily retrieved from the bartender, Gary remembers the night that his dad played bartender. He and Marie were entertaining on the patio one beautiful summer evening, most likely Hank and Syd, the Van Abels, and other old friends were gathered in the balmy air. As dinner wound down it was time to take the orders for Grasshoppers. Getting an enthusiastic response, Butch headed into the kitchen to start mixing. While getting out the blender, his eye fell on Marie’s Mix-Master…..hmmmm….he could make quick work of getting everyone their drinks if he used the Mix-Master over the blender. Quick quantity was what he was after!! I can just imagine his giggle, and the sheepish look on his face as Marie walked into the house to hear the whirrrrr, struggle, whirrr, and then wisps of smoke coming out of her prized machine. Needless to say, this was just one of many kitchen experiments that didn’t go quite as planned.
Butch’s recipe for Grasshoppers consisted of 1 part Creme de Menthe, 1 part White Creme de Cacao and 1 part vanilla ice cream. Whip in a blender till smooth.
This is an archived post from “The Aroma of Bread,” and was first published 1 Jun 2012.
Yesterday, May 31st, was Dennis’ birthday, he would have been 62 years old this year. It was also his nephew Mike’s birthday. Happy Birthday!
Birthdays in Marie’s kitchen meant Angel Food Cake, and it had to have confetti in the mix. A plain angel food was not a birthday cake, although plain angel food was perfect for summer strawberries that had been sugared, mashed, and left to sit while dinner was eaten. Years after box angel food cakes became available, Marie never tired of the novelty and ease of an angel food box cake. She had a vivid memory of mixing these cakes by hand, standing at the counter and whisking, whisking, whisking the egg whites till they were stiff.
Marie, who was given the nickname of “Wee” by her father because she was so small, learned to cook at a very early age. She was always needed to help her mother prepare the meals for the thrashers and other hired hands on the farm, but when she was a small child, her mother was often ill. Because of this, Marie would be responsible for preparing the full meal on her own. When she shared stories with me from this time, I could just imagine this small girl standing on the step stool wrapped in a big apron, mixing, cooking, baking, and making angel food cakes by hand.
Growing up on the farm, they did not have indoor plumbing nor electricity until Marie was well into adulthood, so there were many years where the only way to make this favorite cake was made by hand, and then baked in an oven heated by wood. What always struck me was that she did not talk about the novelty of using an electric mixer, or for that matter an electric oven! But it was the ease of opening a box, adding water, mix, and voila! Angel food cake.
A recipe from the 1944 edition of The Settlement Cookbook, page 437.
ANGEL FOOD CAKE ~ No. 1
1 1/2 cups egg whites, 12 or 13
1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, measured lightly
1 1/4 teaspoons flavoring
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
Beat egg whites with a wire whip. Add cream of tartar and salt when eggs are frothy. Continue beating until a point of the egg whites will stand upright. Gradually beat in one cup of the sugar, which has been sifted twice. Fold in the flavoring. Sift flour once before measuring. Fold in flour gradually, which has been sifted 3 times with remaining 3/4 cup of sugar. Pour into dry, ungreased 10-inch tube pan and bake 65 minutes in a moderate oven, 325 degrees F. Invert pan until cake is entirely cold.
This is anarchived post from “The Aroma of Bread,” and it was first published 22 Mar 2015.
Assorted Shamrocks. Old and New
Marie Campbell Fassbender loved her Irish heritage. She was proud to be Irish, and she loved St. Patrick’s day.
As the day would near, she would gather a collection of shamrock pins, and she would keep them handy. If you dared attempt to leave the house, or to walk into the house without wearing green, she would hand you a pin, and expect you to wear it.
It would have been so much fun to sit down with a big map of Ireland, and map out the counties where her immigrant ancestors came from. I think she would have been surprised at the number!
County Cork, County Donegal, County Down, County Louth, County Monaghan, and County Tyron
I was searching for an apple recipe the day that I happened upon a page in the “Tried and True Recipes. Compiled by the Homemakers Organization of Calumet County, Wisconsin,” dated 1974. The page did not have a marker, but did contain a recipe that we have been looking for: Grasshopper Torte. This was a staple on the holiday table. A palette cleanser before or after your piece of pumpkin pie. And there was definitely room for a piece when it was time for sandwiches.
Looking over this recipe filled with Marie’s notes, the one thing I notice is that she did not make a notation that she always made this torte on a graham cracker crust. Maybe it went without saying, as chocolate wafers were not readily available to her in 1974. But her directions for smooth marshmallow are clear and direct. Is this “THE” Grasshopper Torte recipe? I am not sure, but it is definitely one that she had made more than once.
This is one version of the torte, and she (used this for larger torte).
An archived post from “The Aroma of Bread,” first published 3 Mar 2013.
Not every post will be a stellar post, but every post will be tied to a memory. I don’t have any idea what we were talking about, but all of a sudden the memory of what I will call the “Hen Parties” popped into my mind.
The fourth Tuesday of every January was the night for the White Clover Dairy Shareholder meeting. In the early 80s following the buy-back of WCD from the Nestle Company, the meetings were held in the school basement with snacks and of course a few beers following the meeting. By 1985 the meeting was moved to the small dining room of Van Abels. As the company continued to prosper, dinner was being added to the meeting agenda, and the wives were invited to join the men for dinner.
Christmas 1984
So the question became, what to do with the women while the men were meeting, as they would have ridden out to Hollandtown with their husbands. So in the solid tradition of Fassbender hospitality, Marie invited the wives to join her in her home for cocktails, snacks and conversation.
When I joined the party in 1988, the tradition, and the party, was in full swing. I had worked till 5:00 p.m. and then had the 20 minute drive to Hollandtown, so I was a bit late. I still remember walking into the living room as all eyes turned to me, and I looked at them. They were already settled with their drinks. Plates of cheese and sausage, nuts, and assorted other snack items filled the tables. Every last one of them dressed in heels and hose – including me. That is how we dressed in those days. Drinks and conversation flowed until the appointed time when we all got into our cars and drove over to Van Abels to join the men for dinner.
Thankfully this tradition only lasted a few more years, and sometime in the early 90s we were invited to join the men at Van Abels for the Shareholder meeting. It was also a relief for Marie. While she loved to host people in her home, she did not especially enjoy these evenings.
There are very few pictures that fully show the living room as it was in those days. These images hopefully will spark memories of this room, and all of the times gathered for plates of cheese and sausage, beverages and time spent as a family.SaveSaveSaveSave
St. Mary’s Hilbert Cookbook, 1970s, p. 36 (very good)
Archived post from “The Aroma of Bread,” first published 13 January 2016.
In 1938, when Marie was 16 years old, she and her brother, Arthur, would head to Chilton on Saturday, for a 2:00 p.m. music lesson. Marie, piano, and Arthur the violin. While cleaning out her attic in 2013, I discovered her piano report card tucked into a music book. It made me smile.
Stated on the “Student Account and Lesson Record” side of the card, her lessons that year cost forty cents a lesson, and her Book 5 lesson book was sixty cents. Well, to say “that year” is a bit of a stretch. Her report card states that she attended nine lessons between January 7th and April 15th.
The best part of the report card is the reverse side, the “Student Record Card.” From this side we learn that she was interested in playing Popular or Classical music, not Hill Billy or Church. Her ultimate ambition for taking piano: Entertainment. Her report card was mostly “A” for accuracy, concentration, aptitude, memorizing, analyzing, and general playing ability. She received a “B” for her rhythm, and a “C” for phrasing. The definition of phrasing is: “Does the music make sense–is it pleasing?” Hmmm. I would love to know what that means.
My favorite part of the card is her teacher’s remarks: “Exceptional talent. Keep on doing the best. Come more regular.”
Caramel Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
Melt butter in a saucepan on low. Stir in brown sugar, and cook for 2 minutes. Add milk, cook until boils. Cool until lukewarm.
When lukewarm, add mixture to a small bowl. Using a hand mixer on low speed, add the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until blended, then increase the speed of the mixer to high, and and mix until a spreading consistency.
