Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
I love researching and reading about old recipes. I find it fascinating how much recipes have changed over the years. So I was up for the challenge when Robert McDonald wrote, inquiring if I could find a recipe that appeared in the Arkansas Gazette more than 60 years ago. In addition to the weekly Idea Alley column, Milly Woods also wrote Counselor at the Cook Stove for the Thursday "Women's" section. It is interesting to note Woods used the byline Milly Woods for Idea Alley, and Mildred Woods for Counselor at the Cook Stove.
McDonald writes:
"Early after the Food Section 'Counselor at the Cook Stove' (Mildred Woods) began, she got a letter that she said 'Frankly, this is one of these requests that confuse the daylights out of me.' It involved a menu for a party for a group of 'young ladies.' As part of the refreshments was a sandwich filling. Milly wrote 'There was a shrimp-avocado rule in the Gazette last week that would be rich as meat plus some vitamins.'
I wonder if there is a way to find this rule. Shrimp and avocado are two of my favorites.
Needless to say, I've wondered about this recipe for more than 60 years."
Almost 67 to be exact, as the "rule" which Woods referred to was published Sept. 7, 1950.
Before doing this research I was familiar with the old way of using "receipt" for "recipe," but I had never noticed "rule" as being synonymous with recipe.
Another cooking word I learned was "minched" as in "1-4 cup minched avocado." (In those days fractions were printed using hyphens instead of slashes.) At first I thought it was a typo, but I found the word in other recipes: 1 clove garlic, minched; 2 teaspoons minched onion; 1 1/2 teaspoons minched parsley; 1 teaspoon minched chives. Based on these recipes, it appears minched is a combination of mincing and mashing, though I'm not sure why you'd want to mince an avocado when they mash so easily.
Avocado-Shrimp Sandwich
1/4 cup minched (mashed) avocado
1/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped cooked shrimp
Combine avocado, mayonnaise, lemon juice and chopped shrimp.
Makes 3/4 cup or filling for 4 sandwiches.
The most recent recipe I could find that included the word minched was a recipe for Green Chili Stew in the Nov. 16, 2005, Texarkana Gazette credited to Cynthia A. Seward of Fouke.
It sounds delicious.
Green Chili Stew
1 1/2 pounds lean pork, more or less, cubed (can use boneless pork loin and leave on a very small amount of fat, usually just what is on it)
1 can Ro-Tel
1 regular size can chopped green chiles OR 2 small cans
1 (15-ounce) can chopped or diced tomatoes
Minched onion, to taste
Potatoes, peeled and cubed [amount not given]
Salt and pepper, to taste
Put all ingredients in a pressure cooker and cover with water. Lock on lid and bring to full pressure. Once pressure builds up, continue cooking 20 minutes. Turn fire off and let pressure release on its own.
REQUESTS
• Chicken 1620 like that served at the now-closed Restaurant 1620 and Chicken Prego like that served at Cafe Prego for Karen Branton.
Send recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
kbrant@arkansasonline.com
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 05/03/2017