This week I am reminded again that I have some really good friends. Right before Spring Break started, Alex brought a cold home from school. Since I am down with a fever right now, Carolyn stepped up and declared she was going to make this week’s dish for me. All Tom had to do was come and pick it up.
Seriously. How nice is she?
And these are Chinese Eggs!
AuthorRetroRuth
From Better Homes & Gardens, April, 1942
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Wash rice and cook in boiling, salted water 20 minutes, or until tender. (Or use leftover rice)
Place rice in shallow baking dish.
Halve eggs lengthwise. Remove yolks; mash; add the ¼ cup cheese, green pepper, onion, catsup, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Refill egg whites; arrange on rice. Heat milk; add the ¾ cup cheese. Remove from heat; stir until cheese melts. Pour over rice.
Bake in slow oven (325 degrees) for 20 minutes.
Ingredients
Directions
Wash rice and cook in boiling, salted water 20 minutes, or until tender. (Or use leftover rice)
Place rice in shallow baking dish.
Halve eggs lengthwise. Remove yolks; mash; add the ¼ cup cheese, green pepper, onion, catsup, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Refill egg whites; arrange on rice. Heat milk; add the ¾ cup cheese. Remove from heat; stir until cheese melts. Pour over rice.
Bake in slow oven (325 degrees) for 20 minutes.
Notes
So, I’m guessing the Chinese in here is the rice…and the catsup/ketchup? That crazy, spicy, foreign ketchup. But since this is from the 1940’s, I’m not going to be too harsh. And neither should you.
Plus, I’m sick.
Anyway, this recipe is from the Better Homes & Garden’s Cook’s Round Table of Endorsed Recipes. This was a section of the magazine that consisted of recipes sent in by readers that were tested by the Better Homes & Gardens’ Home Economists. Then they were grouped together into themes and published in the magazines in pages that were meant to be torn out, punched and added to your Better Homes & Gardens cookbook binder. These recipes that were sent in by readers were the backbone for the extensive (and very interesting) Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook Library.
And here are the photos sent over by Carolyn. She said she was glad to use up her leftover Easter eggs, so I guess this week’s theme is working?
The American Cheese!!! I was actually glad she volunteered to make this one. Since she was making at her house, I was hoping Tom would have no idea that it contained American Cheese until he took the first bite.
Yeah, I’m that evil.
But Carolyn messaged me and said that Tom walked in to pick up the food and said, “That’s an interesting smell. Is that American Cheese?”
Apparently I just can’t pull one over on Tom. Even when someone else makes it at their house, he still knows.
Also, he complained that his car smelled like cigarette butts because he had to transport it back to our house.
“I can smell the American Cheese.”
“You need to just eat it and get it over with.”
“So, what does it taste like?”
“Nothing. It tastes like a big, steaming pile of nothing.”
The Verdict: Bland
This didn’t actually taste like nothing, but it came pretty close. The cheesy rice part was fine. Not great, but even Tom agreed that it was edible, and that it just tasted like melted cheese over rice. Not offensive at all. The eggs were pretty bland. The biggest flavor note was ketchup, which Alex picked out right away. After that it tasted like sweet,followed by a bit of green pepper. But it was very faint. Mostly it was just a sweet taste. It actually reminded me a lot of a breakfast place I used to eat when I was in college. They used to have a cheap breakfast scramble that was potatoes, green peppers, onions, scrambled eggs and American cheese. As soon as I tasted this, I thought of that. So, I guess this tasted like a bland breakfast?
Thanks again to Carolyn for coming through in our hour of need and making this!
You know what this kind of reminds me of?
So as a total nerd, I’ve watched a lot of anime, and I’ve become familiar with a Japanese dish often seen in anime called “omurice.” It’s basically an omelet wrapped around fried rice, and apparently this particular fried rice is usually flavored with soy sauce and ketchup. And as a total nerd who likes to cook, I just had to try making some of it for myself.
The eggs, the rice, the peppers, the ketchup and cheese… this vaguely reminds me of that omurice. Except that omurice is actually a very tasty dish, and I used GOOD cheese to make it!
So in ~50 years, something vaguely like this did, in fact, become a genuinely Asian dish… in a different country… but I definitely don’t know what was Asian about this at the time! What WAS with these old cookbooks and deciding eggs + ketchup = Chinese?
Thanks for this blog. I don’t comment much, but wanted you to know I enjoy it and think Tom is a good sport. I hope you bring back cocktail FrFriday
Hope you’re feeling better soon and that Tom has gotten over this tryst with American cheese. 😉
And thank-you to Carolyn for taking one for the team! Her Easter eggs are nicely dyed — mine never looked that good!
I say toss some Chinese 5 Spice into the mix for some flavor!
Late to the party, but ketchups of various types (not necessarily tomato-Heinz) were and probably are common in Asia, along with hot chilies and peppers. Cheese, not so much, though. This recipe is some kind of hybrid!