Bread-maker Oatmeal Bread - a no egg recipe

It is late March in Los Angeles.  We are in the midst of the only Worldwide Pandemic that has been seen in generations.  We are "Sheltering in Place" staying in our homes to avoid getting and spreading Covid-19, a disease that is extremely contagious and that kills 2-3% of the people who get it. 

In these times of quarantine, I find myself cooking so much and looking back at our blog which was started to save and share family recipes and memories.  How we came together and cooked for each other will be a memory our family won't soon forget. I feel blessed to have food and bread machines and family.  Now seems like a good time to share again. 

This recipe was adapted from the Bread Machine Baking cookbook to accommodate a lack of certain ingredients.  Unlike at any time in my generation, it is difficult to shop and things like eggs run out quickly.  A quick trip to the store is not taken lightly so we adapt.  The adaptation was a success.  This hearty bread is crunchy on the outside and lighter-than-expected spongy on the inside.  The oats popped up as a nutty detail to chew.  It was good paired as a sandwich with savory insides salami and cheese as well as a sweeter snack with honey.

Bread Machine Oat Bread

1 cup Water
2 1/2 teaspoons Yeast
3/4 cup Steel Cut Oats
1 tablespoon Melted Butter or Vegetable Oil
1 tablespoon Molasses
1 tablespoon of Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups of All-purpose Flour

Place the water in the bread-maker
Stir in the Yeast
Add the Steel Cut Oats and let sit for 10 minutes to soften the oats.
Add the rest of the ingredients in order.
Select basic, standard, or white bread on the machine and select start.

The Food that Killed More Jews than Hitler

Since the pediatrician has ordered Grandson of Food, now a toddler, to keep up his calorie count, and I was just making a batch of chicken stock, the byproduct of which is a batch of schmalz (chicken fat), I thought I'd try making something so unhealthy that my uncle used to say that "it killed more Jews than Hitler": gribenes. Gribenes, or chicken cracklings, is chicken skin fried in chicken fat with onions and a little salt and pepper until it's all browned and crispy. Father and Mother of Food can remember their parents making it when they were little, but I can't remember my grandparents making it. It was just a sort of taboo food that might be mentioned at Passover, which was traditionally a time when gribenes might be made as a byproduct of the schmalz that was a byproduct of the chicken stock used in the matzo ball soup, but I'd never actually seen it served.

One reads about people eating gribenes like potato chips, which is tempting and I suppose no worse than pork rinds, but I don't eat those either, and my doctor would be horrified if I were to follow the dietary recommendations of Grandson of Food's doctor. Gribenes does make an excellent garnish, though, like those salty crispy onion rings that came in a can and that people used to put on casseroles back in the '70s, except that gribenes is a fresh homemade thing with a rich chicken flavor that you can make yourself to your own taste with fresh sweet onions.

The Deli Experience Continued

It's fitting that the first Cleveland restaurant to make the Family of Food Map is Corky and Lenny's. Our whole family relied heavily upon the arts of this deli and restaurant when we lived on the East side of Cleveland and I'm sure those that still live in town still do. Whenever my grandfather would take me to Corky's he would buy a bar of Halavah for us to split on the way out. I don't love Halavah as a Candy, but sometimes when I go to Canter's in Los Angeles, I see Halavah on the counter on the way out and want to buy it for my Grandpa.

Canter's Los Angeles is also now on the map. As you can see from the previous post, my Dad loves this place. Many a late night Husband of Food and I would grab a Reuben and some Blintzes or Kugel in this Fairfax Deli. So close to Hollywood, we would often see a star or two. Now we live in the San Fernando Valley and we rarely get over the hill for a sandwich. Maybe we'll take the trip. It's worth it.


Corky & Lenny's

27091 Chagrin Blvd
Beachwood, OH 44122
(216) 464-3838


Canter's Fairfax Restaurant

419 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 651-2030

BOO

One of the biggest advantages of getting older is having more memories. One of my fondest memories of my childhood was Halloween trick or treating. Times were different then. We would actually go from house to house in groups, with usually no adult supervision. No need to, the neighborhoods were full of kids and parents were standing at their doors passing out candies and all of the porch lights were on. I would meet with my buddies and we would go up and down the streets begging for goodies. Almost no one wore a commercially made costume, certainly none of my gang. Costumes were homemade; a little coal on your face, some old clothes and you were a hobo. Put a sheet over you and now you're a ghost. We didn't carry any little cutesy pumpkins, we hauled big shopping bags. Trick or treating then was a two day affair. Halloween eve and Halloween night. Darkness didn't stop us but the unofficial rule was no knocking on doors after nine.

The treats were great and the best houses gave out homemade cupcakes, brownies and chocolate chip cookies sometimes still warm. Today if you give a kid something that was not hermetically sealed you probably would get a visit from homeland security. I remember the candy corn, candy bars (Oh Henry was my favorite) and gum. The cheapies gave you a stick of gum while the big spenders let you have the whole pack. Sometimes people actually would throw coins into our bags. In those days you could actually buy things for a penny! Some nights the pickings were so good that you would have to go home and unload. and then go back out. The best part - trading something you didn't like for something you wanted. Yep getting old, talking about the good old days.

Location - Ohio .... late forties early fifties.