1933 Devil's Food Cake Recipe

I got to thinking about what I was going to post today and after looking over the recipes I realized it's been awhile since I did a dessert one.  I made this cake back in February for Dad's Birthday but it's been sitting in my folder ever since because I was rather chuffed when I posted the picture to the Blog's Facebook Page as everyone was more interested in the red coffee pot than the cake.  I think that's why it took me so long to get around to posting this recipe.  The recipe for the cake comes from a 1933 advertisement for Baker's Chocolate.  You should know my modus operandi by now, I hate and despise anything that comes as a mix in a box, Devil's Food Cake is no exception so I was quite happy when I found this recipe and decided to give it a go and see how it turned out.  I was rather pleased by the result and I think you will be too.

1930's Movie Theater Popcorn

We've been on something of an old movie kick lately, Casablanca, Key Largo, The African Queen all great movies to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and enjoy.  This got me thinking though about popcorn itself.  The stuff in movie theaters now is absolutely horrible stuff with the texture of packing peanuts usually drowned in a greasy substance masquerading as butter.  It wasn't always this way though so I went on the hunt to see how popcorn was made and sold in the 1930's and learned a little about popcorn history along the way.

Ad: Eight O'Clock Coffee

1958 A&P Eight O'Clock Coffee

Ah, coffee in the morning what could be better?  How about coffee and chicory?  Adding chicory to coffee is a New Orleans tradition since time immemorial.  It started during the French Revolution when coffee imports were less due to the British blocade so the French took to roasting chicory, a native of the endive family, grinding it up and adding it to coffee.  It added a sweet flavour and has a laxative quality when drunk in larger amounts.

Hungarian Coleslaw

I've made this recipe on a number of occasions but I have not yet had the chance to post it on the blog. I once heard it said that Hungarians have more ways to prepare cabbage than any other Eastern European ethnic group and none of them involves boiling.  Hungarians actually hate boiled cabbage and prefer to fry it in lard or eat it raw like this coleslaw.  I've never been a great fan of coleslaw, I dislike vinegar based slaws and Marzetti slaw dressing makes me run away in fear.  What makes this recipe different is it's sour cream based rather than mayonnaise based.  Hungarians have a special love for sour cream and you'll rarely find a recipe that doesn't include it or have it on the side.  You will need a slaw shredder or mandolin slicer to get the cabbage into nice thin strips.