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Vintage Recipes

Old Fashioned Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies

By Denise Pare-Watson

I enjoy re-engineering vintage recipes.  I recently came across a recipe for an Old Fashioned Biscuit Cookie that I remember enjoying in my childhood.  We rarely had store bought baked goods in our large household, so the taste of these cookies is still entrenched in my memory. They were so different from the home baked Hermit cookies that my Mom typically made.  Cookies that look like a cracker with a chewy texture and crunchy sugar topping were very appealing back then and are still today.  Old Fashioned Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies were originally known as Garibaldi Biscuits and were named after an Italian general named Giuseppe Garibaldi.  The biscuit company Peek Freans first manufactured the cookie in 1861.  They have been a popular snack for over 150 years in Britain, as well as Australia and New Zealand where they are known by different names such as “Fruitli” and “Full O’Fruit.”

Gluten Free Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies | urbnspice.com
Old Fashioned Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookie

Originally, currants were used in Garibaldi Biscuit Cookies. In this Old Fashioned Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies recipe, I have substituted Golden Raisins for the currants.  The cookie dough is rolled into a thin layer and folded over a layer of golden raisins and firmly pressed flat with a rolling pin to create a thin sheet of fruit-studded dough.  While currants were traditional in this distinctive cookie, I like the look of the golden raisins peeking through the dough and in the baked cookie.  Golden raisins are also known as sultanas and are made from green seedless grapes that are dried.  Golden raisins are the juiciest and lightest in colour of all raisins.  Raisins (dark raisins, sultanas and currants) are highly nutritious, high in fibre, potassium and antioxidants.  Due to their concentrated nature, they are also high in sugar and calories so it is advisable to eat them in moderate amounts.

“Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Julia Child

I remember reading about a study that showed eating raisins may lower blood pressure, improve control of blood sugar and also increase the feelings of satiety.  On a more romantic note, I remember reading the following quote from a dietician’s manual that has stuck with me for many years:

“Eat a handful of raisins, and you can kiss your husband for an hour! ” Anonymous

Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies | urbnspice.com
Old Fashioned Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookie

I find it quite amusing that this style of cookie is today often referred to as ‘Boomer Cookies’.  My husband refers to them as “Old Fart Favourites” – he is a boomer (#oldfart).  You will want to try this old-fashioned recipe, which has been modernized to accommodate gluten-free/dairy-free options as well as maintaining the traditional recipe.  Both versions are scrumptious.

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Filed Under: Cookies, Dairy Free Recipes, Desserts and Sweets, Gluten Free Recipes, My Recipes, Nut Free Recipes, Pastry, School Lunch or After School Snacks, Vintage Recipes, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Baking Techniques, Cookies, Dairy Free Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Vintage Recipes

French Canadian Yellow Split Pea Soup – A Historical Perspective

By Denise Pare-Watson

Soupe de Pois Cassés Jaune

This year marks the 350th anniversary of the founding of Sault St. Marie. The Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor reached out to me regarding French Food Ways of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes. French Canadian cuisine played a significant role in the history and development of Sault Ste. Marie and given my French Canadian heritage and culinary interests, I welcomed the opportunity to write this article on my version of traditional French Canadian Yellow Split Pea Soup.French Canadian Pea Soup with Pancetta Garnish | urbnspice.com

French Canadian Yellow Split Pea Soup was a staple food and has its Sault Ste. Marie roots established in the voyageur trading routes, which extended from Montreal through the Great Lakes all the way through to the Grande Portage. Peas were a crop easily grown at trading posts such as Sault Ste. Marie and this made restocking of supplies possible. During the fur-trading era, the waterways were the roads and canoes were the means of transport. The Voyageurs (the French word for travellers) made the difficult 12 to 16-week journey to deliver their trading goods. One needs to understand the physical characteristics and demands on these men, and why their diet was so important. Voyageurs were required to be short in stature (approximately 5’, 4”) because the space in the canoe was needed for cargo. They had to be young, strong and healthy to endure the very fast-paced paddling, harsh conditions related to the weather or the terrain and their dawn-to-dusk workday….

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Filed Under: Beans and Legumes, Cooking Techniques, My Recipes, Soups and Chowders, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Culinary Historians, Soups, Vintage Recipes, Yellow split peas

Celebrating Food Preservation Yesterday and Today

By Denise Pare-Watson

CHC CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE SERIES

featuring a vintage recipe for Wild Berry Chutney

Prelude:  I am a proud Canadian. When the Culinary Historians of Canada invited food bloggers to participate in the “CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge”, I knew that I wanted in! What a great way to celebrate and honour Canada’s 150th birthday by featuring a different Canadian dish or discussing a topic which reflects on what it means to be Canadian.  For the month of August, CHC invited food bloggers to share stories and recipes related to food preserving; for example: canning of jams or pickles, drying, freezing, fermenting, smoking or other methods of food preservation. While I have worked with all of these methods of food preservation, the method that I most enjoy utilizing is the making of confitures (jams), compotes and chutneys. I live in the beautiful Okanagan Valley where fresh produce is readily available. As seasonal produce becomes available, I have the opportunity to make something special. I am Celebrating Food Preservation Yesterday and Today and for the purpose of this post, I share with you a vintage recipe for Wild Berry Chutney, which makes use of any type of berry mixture, wild or cultivated. Chutneys are easy to make and are lovely served with cheese plates and of course, the world-renowned Okanagan wines.

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Food Preservation: Wild Berry Chutney | urbnspice.com

Wild Berry Chutney

My initial experience with different methods of food preservation methods started with my mother and grandmother. I grew up in a French Canadian household where canning and preserving food was viewed as a necessary life skill. We had special rooms in the basement called the Cold room and the Preserve room. The Cold room was a dark, dry room at the back of our basement. It had a tiny window for ventilation under the large front porch. We stored carrots and other root vegetables in sand-filled bins. My parents had large burlap bags of potatoes leaning against the sturdy handmade wooden shelves that held woven bushel baskets filled with apples, pears and quince. Braided garlic and bundles of herbs hung in bunches from the ceiling to dry. Baskets of yellow and sweet onions air-dried on an open shelf. Tomatoes were lined up on narrow glass shelves and ripened slowly near the window.

Having just returned from a trip to Newfoundland and Labrador, I was fascinated by the heritage root cellars that I spotted along our route (and attempted to photograph them from the bus). Root cellars became common before the days of electricity.  They are cavern-like structures typically built into the sides of a hill, rock cliff or cave and covered with stones and sod with a door for access.  They are an efficient way to store food (mainly root vegetables, but also preserves and dried meat and dried fish) at a cool temperature to protect the food from winter temperatures and keep the food cool in the summer months.  They are still in use today in many parts of Canada.  I captured as many photos as I could ranging from heritage sites to modern root cellars.

Abandoned root cellar | urbnspice.com

Abandoned Root Cellar in Twillingate, Nfld.

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Filed Under: CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge Series, Condiments & Accompaniments, Cooking Techniques, Gluten Free Recipes, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge 2017, Chutneys, Food Preservation, Food Storage, Newfoundland and Labrador, Root Cellars

A Canadian Family Picnic – Circa 1867 featuring Old Fashioned Raspberry Cordial

By Denise Pare-Watson

CHC CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE SERIES

Featuring a recipe for Old Fashioned Raspberry Cordial

I am a proud Canadian. When the Culinary Historians of Canada invited food bloggers to participate in the “CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge”, I knew that I wanted in! What a great way to celebrate and honour Canada’s 150th birthday by featuring a different Canadian dish or discussing a topic which reflects on what it means to be Canadian.  For the month of July, CHC invited food bloggers to share stories and recipes that relate to the topic of Canadian culinary history in this sesquicentennial year.  I was intrigued by the invitation to host an 1867- or a 1967-themed picnic. I have chosen to write about an 1867 picnic and have developed a menu for a typical Canadian family of that period. I have taken a bit of literary licence to include options for refrigeration, which was unavailable to all but the wealthy of those times. My post includes a recipe for Old Fashioned Raspberry Cordial. I hope you enjoy going back in time with me for A Canadian Family Picnic – Circa 1867.

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Old Fashioned Raspberry Cordial | urbnspice.com

Old Fashioned Raspberry Cordial

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Filed Under: Beverages, CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge Series, My Recipes, Refined Sugar Free Recipes, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Beverages, Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge 2017, Canada150, Raspberry, Refined Sugar Free, Vintage Recipes

Chocolate Cherry Almond Torte – Gluten Free, Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free

By Denise Pare-Watson

Chocolate possesses a number of interesting technical properties not dissimilar from wine. The region, the surrounding vegetation and the soil are some of the key factors in the character of the cocoa bean and the overall taste of the chocolate. The origin of the Chocolate Cherry Almond Torte recipe is not clear but what is clear is that the quality of the chocolate significantly influences the result. For the purposes of this article, I have taken the vintage Chocolate Cherry Almond Torte recipe and re-developed it so that it is suitable for gluten-free, refined sugar-free and grain-free dietary options.  It is a great make-ahead cake and one that will feed a crowd.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Torte plated with cherry syrup reduction and softly whipped cream | urbnspice.com

Chocolate Cherry Almond Torte plated with cherry syrup reduction and softly whipped cream

Chocolate Cherry Almond Torte – Gluten Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Grain Free

Equipment:  9 – 10″ x 2” high Spring Form pan with removable bottom
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Filed Under: Cakes and Cupcakes, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!, Desserts and Sweets, Gluten Free Recipes, Grain Free Recipes, My Recipes, Refined Sugar Free Recipes, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Chocolate Cakes, Chocolate Desserts, Dairy Free Recipes, Dark Chocolate, Gluten Free Desserts, Grain Free Desserts, Refined Sugar Free

My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtière

By Denise Pare-Watson

CHC CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE SERIES

Prelude:  I am a proud Canadian. When the Culinary Historians of Canada invited food bloggers to participate in the “CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge”, I knew that I wanted in! What a great way to celebrate and honour Canada’s 150th birthday by featuring a different Canadian dish or discussing a topic which reflects on what it means to be Canadian.  For the month of May, in honour of Mother’s Day (May 14), CHC invited food bloggers to share recipes relating to mothers, recipes and techniques passed on by our mothers or grandmothers, or from our mother’s culture. I am honoured and proud to share a historical and famous recipe for My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtière.

Food has been such a significant part of my French Canadian heritage and some of my clearest childhood recollections are about food.   It is not only the memories of the food that are so clear but the smells, the tastes and the surroundings that are so vivid.  Holidays would not be the same without Mom’s tourtiere.  In our family, the Christmas Eve menu always included a large tourtiere to enjoy before midnight mass.

Skip to Tourtière Recipe

There are a number of food traditions that are very important to my family, but my Mom’s famous tourtière is the most requested.  I have had many versions of tourtière – from chefs colleagues, relatives and friends, but none can compare to my “Little Mom’s” French Canadian Tourtière. (More on “Little Mom”).

French Canadian Tourtiere | urbnspice.com

My Mom’s version of tourtière is more savoury than traditionally prepared tourtière due to the use of sage and poultry seasoning as opposed to the warm spices typically used (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice).  Mom always insisted on a mixture of ground meat: beef, veal and pork. This combination makes a huge difference in the overall taste and texture of the tourtière filling. The aromatic fragrance of the tourtière mixture simmering is magical.  Writing about it makes me nostalgic.  Although I have adapted the process somewhat, I follow her recipe method and always make enough to share with family and friends, which was her tradition.

Baked Tourtiere | urbnspice.com

My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtiere

My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtière became quite famous in a small village in Ontario.  Everyone loved it when she made her tourtière pies for church or village social events.  As a matter of fact, the ladies of the village church approached her many years ago for her tourtière recipe to make and sell the pies for the parish fundraising efforts.  She not only generously shared her tourtière recipe – she also taught them how to make it….

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Filed Under: CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge Series, Cooking Techniques, Meat Dishes, My Recipes, Pies and Tarts, Traditional Foods, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Family Favourites, Family Recipes, Family Stories, Main Meal Pies, Tourtiere, Traditional Foods

Vinarterta – A Vintage Recipe

By Denise Pare-Watson

Vínarterta:  what is it?  It is a very flavourful, seven-layered Icelandic cake – a vintage recipe from the 1800s. The cake consists of thin layers cookie-like dough, rolled out, docked and baked just until it starts to take on a bit of colour on the edges. The traditional filling is made from prunes.  For many folks, using dried prunes is a surprising filling, but you have to trust me – this stuff is good!  The prunes are infused with what is known as the warming spices cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. These spices elevate the taste of the filling to something that you just know will be wonderful.  The colour of the pureed prune is such a rich hue of black-brown that it makes a spectacular show in between the layers of the Vinarterta cake.

Vinarterta cut into dainty pieces | urbnspice.com

Many other fillings can be used, including seasonal apricot filling and raspberry filling. My daughter and I were discussing making a version with all three fillings in one cake.  I think that this could be my next cake challenge.  I would be tempted to make the layers even thinner so that I could experiment with the different coloured fillings.

Vinarterta with Apricot Filling | urbnspice.com

Vinarterta with Apricot Filling

In culinary training, we were introduced to many cultural desserts in Baking and Pastry Arts, and this cake was one of the classic cakes we discussed during our lessons. It is delicious! I had forgotten all about this cake until my neighbour mentioned to me that she had in her possession her grandma’s vintage recipe for Vínarterta and that she had always wanted to try making it.

Vinarterta Cake Slab | urbnspice.com

We spent a lovely morning making the cake together using the vintage recipe. As far as she knew, her grandmother’s recipe had sadly not been made by anyone in the family since her passing in 1978. She told me that her grandmother’s parents came to Canada in the 1800s and her grandmother was born in Canada. I am sure that there are great stories about baking this Icelandic recipe and many more dishes in their kitchen – I would have loved to be a part of that.  I felt that making this cake using her recipe was a great way of honouring her grandmother.  And besides, I love baking using vintage recipes.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Gluten Free Recipes, Holiday Baking, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Baking, Desserts, Gluten Free Recipes, Icelandic Recipes, Sweets, Tips and Techniques, Vintage Recipes

Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans

By Denise Pare-Watson

I am a lucky, lucky chef to have my Mom’s Vintage Family Bean Pot handed down to me.  The beans just taste better made in this good old bean pot!  The recipe that I am sharing with you for Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans is an easy dish to throw together.   It can slow cook all day on a Sunday afternoon and you will be rewarded with a rich and fragrant comfort dish.  Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans | urbnspice.com

I feel very fortunate to have the vintage family bean pot. It has been in our family for at least four generations.

It has a worn and rustic patina on the outer surface and is wonderfully seasoned from decades of use.  The fragrance filling my kitchen was so inviting that we could hardly wait to dig in.

The recipe that I have the best results with starts with dried beans.   Although most of the recipes I have made in the past use navy beans, I prefer a medley of beans.

Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans using a Medley of Beans | urbnspice.com

Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans using a Medley of Beans

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Filed Under: Beans and Legumes, Gluten Free Recipes, Sides, Vintage Recipes Tagged With: Baked Beans, Beans & Legumes, Family Recipes, Sides, Vintage Recipes

The Vintage Family Bean Pot

By Denise Pare-Watson


I feel very fortunate to have the Vintage Family Bean Pot. It has been in our family for at least four generations – it was a gift to my parents on their wedding day.  This pot has made endless pots of beans for our family.  I love making beans in this pot! The beans just taste better!
It has a worn and rustic patina on the outer surface and is wonderfully seasoned from decades of use.  The fragrance filling my kitchen was so inviting that we could hardly wait to dig in.
The recipe that I have the best results with starts with dried beans.   Although most of the recipes I have made in the past use navy beans, I prefer a medley of beans.

Medley of Beans | urbnspice.com

Medley of Beans

You can find the recipe for Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans here.  I used the convenience of a pantry staple; (canned bean medley) to simplify the recipe and significantly decrease preparation and cooking times with an excellent result.  It makes a complete meal served with a hearty whole grain bread.  I hope you try this vintage family recipe.  Do you have vintage family recipes that you like to share?  Tell me about them.

Vintage Family Bean Pot | urbnspice.com

 

Good Old Fashioned Baked Beans (the simple way)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Vintage Vinarterta – An Icelandic Cake
Home Welcoming Black Bean Soup

You can find me on social media (see links below) – just be sure to tag @urbnspice and #urbnspice so I am sure to see it. Enjoy! 

Denise Pare-Watson - The Urb'n'Spice Chef | urbnspice.com

 

Denise Paré-Watson

The Urb’n’Spice Chef

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Filed Under: Beans and Legumes, Gluten Free Recipes, Sides, Vintage Recipes, WTF Series - Wonderfully Tasty Foods Tagged With: Baked Beans, Beans & Legumes, Family Recipes, Family Stories

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Welcome to Urbnspice - A Taste of Heart and Home. Inspiration in my kitchen is often a trip to the market or an experimental coincidence! Come and join me on this culinary journey where I share my passion for the creative, technical and teaching components of the profession and unravel culinary quandaries for you with fun and easy to follow user-friendly recipes, tips & techniques.
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