Thursday, March 27, 2008
Grease is the word
Larry Bly
Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.
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It was in 1912 that Proctor and Gamble announced to housewives and cooks everywhere "the end of cooking with lard," which, aside from butter, was all they had back then to oil the oven and frying pan.
Shortly thereafter, they put out a cookbook running 231 pages that cost 25 cents. It was dedicated to promote their non-lard cooking product called Crisco. That product was held in high favor and esteem until recently when some mean people started complaining about trans-fats and what it potentially could do to your cholesterol or some such stuff. In fact, Crisco, a completely formulated product, was probably the first trans-fat.
Recently I ran across this elderly cookbook in my home library. Mine dates to the second printing in 1914 and is chock-full of great recipes, all using the product, naturally. I found fascinating the woodcut illustrations of grandma being impressed by her upstart daughter’s cooking skills -- thanks to the miracle of Crisco. There are photos as well, showing Ma in front of the old wood stove. You won’t see Pa anywhere near the kitchen, of course. Unless he’s scarfing down some fried chicken or looking lustily at Ma while she’s trying to concentrate on dinner.
My copy must have been used a heck of a lot. It’s spattered with food, very old food, and, of course, grease! Notes have been made in pencil throughout: “Good, but cook dressing slowly, heat vinegar and add gradually” as a notation for potato and nut salad. In case you’re wondering, the Crisco is heated and added to other ingredients to make the dressing. Another pencil notation for butterscotch pie says, “Very fine … make exactly by recipe.” Not every recipe made the cut: One for cocoanut layer cake says: “No Good!!” She put “Xs" all over it so it could not possibly be used again. I’m scared to use it nearly 100 years later!
Our tastes have changed since this little book was published. It’s hard to imagine any of us running out to get the ingredients for “curried ox tongue.” Or “braised loin of mutton” and “chicken a la tartare.” Sounds dangerous! Turns out the chicken is fried aplenty in Crisco and served with tartare sauce. Raw chicken was looked down upon even way back then. Candy recipes call for a few teaspoons of melted Crisco as the “secret” ingredient.
The book goes into great detail about the invention, manufacture (they show the plant) and marketing of Crisco. It was neither a butter, a “compound nor a substitute, but an entirely new product. A primary fat.” Then they go into explanation of the “Crisco Process,” which has something to do with Linoline, Oleine, and Stearine. By diddling with these ingredients, then adding their own formulations, the product that we now know and love is a white, creamy product with a long shelf life that results in crispy, fried everything. There was something in the text about indigestible compounds that become rancid … or something … and then there’s a big burn-hole right through the page so you can’t finish the sentence. Probably sparked by some fried chicken spatter.
Anyway, they managed for the first time to “eliminate that ‘lardy’ taste in foods” and thus an industry was born. A darned long-lasting one too. I still have the product on my shelf at home. I grew up with it. My Aunt Toots came up from a poor farm family and embraced anything new that made life easier in the kitchen. She hated lard, despised homemade butter, and was suspicious of the milk we strained into a can, fresh from the cow. Nope, it was Crisco, Miracle Whip (instead of mayo), lightly whipped margarine, and homogenized milk from the store -- just to be safe. She should never have been on a farm.
“The shortening fat in pastry or baked foods is merely distributed throughout the dough. No chemical change occurs during the baking process ... because Crisco digests with such ease and because it’s pure vegetable fat … you will realize it’s purity …”
Makes me want to try every recipe, especially that one on page 63 for “kidney omelet, ” which calls for six kidneys, just for starts.
Bly for now.
