Chapter 42 (Uncle John and Aunt Lucy)

Introduction

Another day, another collection of hungry mouths to feed—especially when the State Fair is underway!

This time the hungry guests are none other than Uncle John and Aunt Lucy, who Bettina spots in front of an exhibition case at the aforementioned fair. Apparently a glutton for punishment Bettina wastes no time in begging them to come for dinner—and is amply rewarded when her appreciative aunt and uncle offer to drive her and Bob back to the fair to see the evening fireworks!

Part 1

The Menu

Broiled Ham

Hashed Brown Potatoes

Pickled Beets

Bread

Butter

Brown Betty

Hard Sauce

Coffee

Preparing the Meal

Broiled Ham

As always I had a devil of a time finding uncooked ham and finally had to purchase smoked pork shanks—definitely not my first choice.

And of course (just like last time) after I’d cut away the bone and fat there was precious little left. These shanks may be inexpensive but there’s far more suitable for a dish like baked beans or stew, where they get tosses into the pot whole.

As they were to be broiled I laid out the pitiful scraps of meat I’d salvaged on a cookie sheet, fired up the oven…

…and immediately had to shut it off. Like a dope I’d forgotten to wipe down the element and the top off the oven after the last broiling session, and now the kitchen was filling with smoke.

Adios broiler—hello stovetop!

Hashed Brown Potatoes

I was oh so tempted to buy frozen pre-cut potatoes for this dish—chopping a couple dozen potato slices into neat and symmetrical cubes is a hazardous to both my patience and my wrists. But ultimately the spirit of Bettina possessed me, and in the supermarket I found myself passing the sacks of frozen hash browns by.

I also decided to use my cast-iron skillet rather than the non-stick one—less from a desire to imitate Bettina in every respect and more because I’d like the dish to come out right for once. I’ve tried many times to make hash browns and always failed—generally because the potatoes cubes refuse to brown and/or form a patty. That’s tough to do in a Teflon-coated pan, and I may have more luck if I go with the iron.

Definitely not a historically accurate type of fat, but I don’t have any lard on hand and I know salad oil just isn’t going to cut it this time.

These potatoes aren’t in perfect cubes, but close enough.

Unfortunately my efforts to make perfect hash brown potatoes were once again in vain. The potato cubes browned nicely but absolutely refused to get crusty and let themselves be molded into a pancake. Out of desperation I got out my cast-iron bacon press (the thing must weigh at least a couple of pounds) and attempted to smash them into submission…

…with mixed results, as one can see.

Pickled Beets

This is one Bettina recipe I’m very enthusiastic about. I made it on my own in the past and am delighted to see it appear on the menu.

Half a dozen beets…and my, are they dirty.

I cut the tops off…no intention of boiling them into an edible state, but I can’t help but regret the waste.

The tops are off, but I’m going to leave the roots on until the beets are cooked. Last time I chopped them off, and the beets proceeded to “bleed out” in the cooking water.

It took about thirty minutes of boiling time for the beets to become soft.

After taking the beets from the pot I plunged them into cold water. It’s the easiest way I know to remove the skins.

Success…the skins slipped right off, with only a moderate amount of splatter.

Now the cooked beets have to be cut into ¼ inch slices. That’s easy enough—or would be if I hadn’t misplaced my favorite knife. Guess I’ll have to make do with this old (and somewhat dull) one.

Picture perfect [cue applause].

Now for the marinade…

Vinegar.

And some sugar.

And that's all there is to it!

The only problem I can see is that there doesn’t appear to be quite enough of the vinegar mixture to cover all the beet slices. Well, they have chill in the refrigerator for a spell, and hopefully the beets will release enough moisture to raise the level of liquid.

Bread and Butter

I made a point of selecting a special loaf for tonight’s meal. Safeway’s in-store baked French bread isn’t exactly a gourmand’s dream, but I honestly prefer it to all other kinds.

Brown Betty

The recipe doesn’t specify what kind of bread crumbs (dried or “fresh”?), so I decided to grind up a half loaf of stale French bread.

I’ll grind up the bread with my trusty blender—in fact, I can’t imagine any other way to do it. (How does Bettina manage this without modern appliances?)

Once again my blender proved its worth—these crumbs were a snap to make.

I chose Gala apples for this dish…the Granny Smiths I used for my last Bettina dessert made it incredibly sour!

Unfortunately the apples contained more core than I’d bargained for. I just hope two is going to be enough.

The apple slices mixed with the bread crumbs, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Add three tablespoons of melted butter.

Oops…I was supposed to save some of that melted butter to dribble on top. Oh well, a little extra (unmelted, straight from the fridge) won’t hurt.

Now into a buttered pan with ½ cup of water, and about forty-five minutes cooking time. (Not such a bad thing I guess that I have to cook the ham on the stovetop. How on earth would I be able to cook both these dishes with just one oven?)

Hard Sauce

Unfortunately I didn’t allow enough time for the butter to soften at room temperature…no choice but to press my son’s desk lamp into service.

Definitely soft enough.

Creaming the butter with one cup of powdered sugar…

…and one tablespoon of soon-to-be-boiling water.

*sigh* Somehow I neglected to make sure I had vanilla and lemon extract. Both bottles were completely empty, so I had to substitute imitation for the former and skip the latter completely.

Coffee

\

A late afternoon pick-me-up--compliments of my magic percolator!

How It Looked