Cooking & Conversation: Lemon Freeze- Cooking with Mom

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Lemon Freeze- Cooking with Mom

I have wanted to cook this recipe with Mom for some time. I remember Mom cooking this for special occasions when I was growing up on our acreage. It was light, cool, refreshing, and just a lovely dessert to serve on a hot summer's day or the perfect end to a meal. I was born in the 1950's, and am a product of the generation of new recipes and new dishes as a result of packaged mixes and convenience foods.

Lemon Freeze in Metal Ice Cube Tray

The 1950's changed the landscape of America.
(From the web sight Chef Talk.com: 1950's-America's Popular Food and Recipes)

"Swanson's TV Dinner of turkey, stuffing, gravy, peas and sweet potatoes cost only 98 cents, was easy to eat on a TV tray and involved no cleanup. For TV parties, California Dip, made from Lipton dry onion soup mix and sour cream, and Chex Mix were as necessary as rabbit ears.

Television's influence reached far. Early in the decade, a commercial on The Kraft Music Hall included a new recipe for clam dip.

Within 24 hours, New Yorkers had cleaned store shelves of canned clams"

DOMELRE - The Refrigerator that Inspired Ice Cube Trays

In 1914, Fred Wolf invented a refrigerating machine called the DOMELRE or DOMestic ELectric REfrigerator. The DOMELRE was not successful in the marketplace, however, it did have a simple ice cube tray and inspired later refrigerator manufacturers to include ice cube trays in their appliances as well. During the 1920s and '30s, it became common for electric refrigerators to come with a freezer section that included an ice cube compartment with trays.

1932 Patent - Ice Cube Tray - Newman

1932 Patent - Ice Cube Tray - Newman

from Making Ice Cubes The History of Ice Cubes Trays

By Mary Bellis, About.com Guide

My sister-in-law, Esther, said she remembered her mother making freezer desserts in metal ice cube trays. Mom & I borrowed her metal trays because in the 1950's that is what you put this Lemon Freeze dessert in. If you don't have an old metal ice cube tray, try this dessert anyway. It is a charming end to any meal or would be lovely on its own.

My Mom has always been a great cook, and was always one of the first to try a new recipe or fad in the 1950's when it came to cooking.

I can remember when this picture was taken in our kitchen on the acreage for a county publication. She was the featured cook for her Lemon Freeze, Cake. In the 1950's Mom always wore "house dresses" whether she was cooking, cleaning, gardening, or doing any of the household chores. She has made a lot of great desserts in her day, but this is one that really stuck out in my memory. I had a lot of fun cooking this recipe with Mom 55 years later.

Ingredients:

1 cup graham crackers
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 can ( 6 oz.) evaporated milk (chilled)

Gather the ingredients.

Open a package of graham cracker.

Break them into a food processor.

Pulse until they are finely ground crumbs.

Measure 1 cup of graham crackers.

Line the refrigerator ice cube tray with 1/2 cup of the crumbs.

Slice a fresh lemon in half.

Squeeze the lemon.

You will need 1/4 cup juice.

Gather the ingredients to make the filling.

Crack open egg to separate white from yolk.

Put egg whites in separate mixing bowl.

Put the yolks in a sauce pan until you have separated three eggs.

Use grater to zest 1 lemon.

Measure 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest and add to sauce pan.

Measure 1/4 cup lemon juice.

Add to other ingredients in sauce pan.

Measure and add 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Measure 1/2 cup granulated sugar and add to pan.

Beat egg yolk mixture until well blended.

Stir over low heat.

Cook until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.

Cool.

Pause for a little 50ies trivia...

Foods:

Tiki parties and South Seas cuisine were all the rage.

On ordinary nights, fad-loving '50s folk might be eating TV dinners, or dishes made from the new convenience foods that came in packages and cans--how about a little Spam with some gelatin salad? But if you had company coming over, you might make a trendy "easy" version of a fancy foreign dish like Hamburger Stroganoff. Or you might have a barbecue in the backyard, with the man of the house presiding over the grill. And if you wanted to honor two fads at once, you'd make your barbecue a Tiki party. Tiki-themed South Seas decorations and luau foods (heavy on the pork and pineapple) were all the rage in the 1950's.

Read more: Crazes & Fads in the 1950s | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8440031_crazes-fads-1950s.html#ixzz26MqRSlqa

Get your mixer ready!

Beat egg whites.
(Since the egg whites are not cooked,
use meringue powder or powdered egg whites, as both are safe to eat.)

Keep beating until stiff peaks form.

Shake can of chilled evaporated milk.
Milk will whip better if chilled.

Open can.

Measure 6 oz. or 3/4 cup.

Beat milk with mixer.

Mom in 2012, now.

Mom in 1957, then.

Mixture will be light and foamy.

Add cooked lemon mixture and whipped milk together.

Fold gently to keep the volume of the whipped milk.

Then add the beaten egg whites.
(The whites egg whites of this dessert are not cooked.)
So, as referenced above, use meringue powder or powdered egg whites.

If you are concerned about the safety of the eggs and specifically the prospect that your eggs may be contaminated with salmonella, then, whipping does nothing to destroy the bacteria and surprisingly, neither does chilling. Salmonella are one of a few harmful food-borne bacteria that can survive refrigerator temperatures.

For the record, the US Food & Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise against eating any raw egg in any form. (from Egg White Safety Ochef.com)

You can substitute powdered eggs or meringue powder in this recipe. That is a safe substitute for the raw egg whites in this original recipe. Since this is from the 1950's, there was not the concern at that time of eating raw egg whites. Today, substitute with powdered egg whites or meringue powder which are readily available.

Recipes that call for the powdered egg whites or meringue powder do so because of the growing fear of consuming raw eggs, as both products are pasteurized. (from Ochef, What is Meringue Powder?)

Fold the egg whites in.

Gently fold to keep volume until evenly mixed.

Spoon mixture into crumb-lined tray.

Spread evenly to edges of pan.

You're never too young to lick the spoon!

Top with remaining crumbs.

This takes us back a few years.

Cover with Saran Wrap ( rolled out in 1952) and freeze.

A little more 1950's trivia:

The 50ies Timeline
A time line based on articles of Sue Dawson, The Dictionary of American Food and Drink. And the database of Cornell University.
answers.yahoo.com,What are some popular foods that came out in the 1950's?

1950
Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book is a best seller.

1951
Duncan Hines introduced a cake mix.

1952
Saran Wrap rolled out.
Lipton introduced onion soup mix, and dipping would never be the same
The first sugar-free soft drink was marketed.

1953
Eggo frozen waffles and Cheez Whiz went on sale.

1954
Swanson unveiled the first frozen TV dinner.
The first Burger King opened, selling burgers and milkshakes for 18 cents each.

1955
The first McDonald's franchise opened.
Tappan marketed a microwave oven for home use.

1956
The electric can opener began to spin.

1957
Sushi bars came to America.
Pam vegetable cooking spray was patented.
Margarine outsold butter for the first time.
Pink packets of Sweet'n Low appeared.

1959
Haagen-Dazs made life better.

Serve in wedge shaped pieces.

Enjoy!

Thanks for a great day cooking, Mom. I love you.

More Recipes from the 1950's...

The recipes

CLAM DIP
One of Kraft's most popular recipes, this appeared on a commercial in the early 1950s.

CALIFORNIA DIP
Created by an unidentified California cook about two years after Lipton introduced its dry onion soup mix, this dip spread like wildfire

TUNA-NOODLE CASSEROLE
Campbell Soup created this recipe

BAKED ALASKA
A forerunner of this dessert is thought to date to the early- to mid- 1800s.
The chef at Delmonico's restaurant in New York often is credited with creating the dessert we know today, but it was called Alaska-Florida. In the '50s, Baked Alaska was popular because it was considered elegant, even though it was easy.

CHICKEN TETRAZZINI
Named after the Italian singer Luisa Tetrazzini, this was first mentioned in print in 1951, according to John Mariani, author of the The Dictionary of American Food and Drink. Aspiring gourmets of the '50s could make it with relative ease and impress their guests.

Mom attended St. Anthony's school of nursing in the 1950's.

and Mom's Baby Picture....

More Trivia...

Hula Hoops are still popular today.

Fad toys of the 1950's that are still around today area the hula hoop, invented in Australia in 1957, and the Slinky, a coiled toy invented in the 1940's but which really became popular in the next decade. But the most enduring fad toy of the 1950's has to be the Frisbee, a must-have at summer gatherings in parks or beaches. Ant farms were popular with children, who ordered them through the mail. They were flat glass terrariums in which you could watch ants working and building things in the sand.

Read more: