Oregon Experience: A Cuisine of Our Own

Recipes

  "Three of the James Beard recipes prepared on-camera in "A Cuisine of Our Own" by chefs David Machado and Cory Schreiber"

Billy’s Cole Slaw

Heat ½ cup olive oil in sauté pan or skillet. Add 2 tablespoons flour and blend well.

Add ½ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons dry mustard, a dash Tabasco and 6 tablespoons sugar. Blend these thoroughly and stir in ½ cup wine vinegar. Continue stirring till the mixture thickens.

Add 1 cup heavy cream mixed with 2 egg yolks and stir until ingredients are well blended and sauce is smooth.  Correct the seasoning and cool sauce slightly.

For 6 people, shred 1 large cabbage or 2 smallish ones and blend this with sauce. Let the slaw cool.

Chill it for several hours and toss it thoroughly, thinning it with a little more cream if necessary or adding ½ cup mayonnaise if you wish. Drain it well before serving.

There are many additives for this coleslaw. You may use any of the following: 1 cup shredded green and red pepper; 1 cup shredded pineapple; 1 cup fine cut green onions; 2 cups shrimp, 2 cups crabmeat; 2 cups lobster meat; 2 cups cold salmon or canned salmon; two 7-ounce cans tuna.

When the cole slaw is prepared for a smaller group, the portion of the sauce not needed may be stored in the refrigerator for several days. Use smaller portions of cabbage and additives, naturally.

Mother’s Clam Soufflé

Blend 4 tablespoons flour with 3 tablespoons melted butter, ½ teaspoon salt and a dash of Tabasco, and cook till lightly golden, stirring constantly.

Stir in 1 cup clam juice and continue stirring until the mixture is thick.

Cool it slightly, add 5 egg yolks and heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons chopped parsley and 1 cup drained minced clams, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool.

Beat 6 egg whites till stiff but not dry and fold them into the mixture according to the directions in the basic recipe.

Pour the soufflé into the buttered 2-quart mold and bake at 400 degrees.

My Mother’s Pot-au-feu

Mother would combine about 5 or 6 pounds of good brisket or short ribs – very lean, with the tiny end bones in –and sometimes a fresh tongue or other times a piece of pickled pork, lean and fat streaked.

To this were added 2 or 3 leeks, 2 carrots, a large onion with 2 cloves and a bay leaf.

The meat and the vegetable were covered with cold water and brought to a boil rapidly and allowed to boil for 5 to 10 minutes.

At this time there might be some scum which had risen to the top, and this was skimmed off and 2 tablespoons of salt were added.

The pot was covered and the contents simmered slightly either on the top of the stove or in the oven until the meat was just on the verge of being tender and juicy.

To this, additional carrots, leeks and small white turnips were added, and the whole was cooked until the meat was tender and the newly added vegetables cooked through.

It was served in soup plates with a slice of each meat, the vegetables and plenty of crisp homemade toast.

Freshly grated horseradish cream – fresh horseradish beaten into thick cream or whipped cream – might be served as well as mustard and usually some homemade pickles. Potatoes boiled in their jackets were served separately with butter.

It was a most satisfying and delicious meal at the time. Any leftover beef or tongue was put into a bowl and pressed and cooled to be eaten cold or in a salad.

At times the marrow bones were added for the last part of the cooking process and a section of bone was served to each person so he could scoop the delicious marrow on the crisp toast.

Recipes excerpted from Delights and Prejudices - A Memoir with Recipes" by James Beard. 1964 (Atheneum) Revised in 1981 and 1990. Used with permission. Special thanks: John Ferrone.

Marionberry Cobbler

1 stick butter, melted
1-1/2 cups milk
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
4 cups fresh or frozen marionberries
up to 2 cups sugar (for the top)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan.  Mix milk, flour, 2 cups sugar and baking powder well.  Pour over melted butter.  Do NOT stir.  Sprinkle berries on top.  Do NOT stir.  Cover with up to 2 cups sugar.  Do NOT stir.  Bake for about 1 hour or until middle is set and edges are crispy.

Contributed by Nancy Lewis. Lewis family farm, Washington County.  Est 1905
from Richard Engeman’s Eating It Up in Eden: the Oregon Century Farm & Ranch Cookbook (White House Grocery Press, 2009)