AURORA – I own hundreds of cool old cookbooks that tell me what people cooked.
My favorite volumes – the ones that tell me how people lived – are the spiral-bound recipe collections that raised money for congregations, women’s organizations and schools. Within these unpretentious community cookbooks I hear the voices of individual cooks. My personal heirloom from my elementary school features recipes from my Mom and then-First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
While they might not fit 2013’s paleo-organic-locavore menu, these are recipes that actually work. No self-respecting cook would would give their neighbors a recipe they wasn’t fully tweaked. If it wasn’t tasty, they knew they’d hear about it at the supermarket.
When I ran across the recipe below, I had to smile … and not simply because the ingredients called for “2 cups Velveeta cheese, grated.”
Mrs. Archie Manning’s Chicken Spaghetti is a gem from “The Pick of the Crop,” a community cookbook compiled in 1978 by the the North Sunflower PTA of Drew, Mississippi. Archie Manning grew up in Drew and was the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints at that time and father of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. However, I doubt his playoff game day meal on Jan. 12 will include Chicken Spaghetti.
The high-fat recipe is a “Back To The Future” trip into 1970s America and how folks ate and lived. You can see it in the way Olivia Manning refers to herself as “Mrs. Archie Manning” and the use of canned conveniences to the minimalist instructions such as “cook a large hen in lots of water.” Think of it as a kind of culinary shorthand. The women who originally read this recipe had tons of cooking experience and everybody knew what the recipe didn’t explain including:
• how big “a large hen” is;
• what size can of mushrooms, Rotel, and English peas to use
• that you know to take the chicken out and cut it up before you boil the spaghetti;
• and that you would have occasion to feed “12 to 20” (or an offensive line).
P.S.: I’ve left the family recipe in its original language so cooks, especially younger ones, can taste the flavor of the times.
Mrs. Archie Manning’s Chicken Spaghetti
6 cups chicken, cut in bite-size pieces
12 cups broth
4 heaping tablespoons flour
2 can mushrooms
2 can Rotel tomatoes and chiles, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 onions, grated
2 cups Velveeta cheese, grated
8 tablespoons butter
2 packages Italian spaghetti, very thin
1 can English peas
2 cups buttered bread crumbs
Olives, optional
Pimiento, optional
Cook a large hen in lots of water, let hen cool in broth, cook spaghetti in chicken broth, let cool in broth. Saute onions, garlic, and mushrooms 15 minutes in butter over low heat. Add flour. This will be real thick. Add broth gradually, add tomatoes, garlic, onions, and cheese. Cook over low heat. In buttered casserole put layer of spaghetti, layer of small English peas, layer of chicken mixture, top with bread crumbs (I toast hot dog or hamburger buns for this) and dot with more butter. Chopped olives or pimiento can be added for more color. Serves 12 to 20.
– Mrs. Archie Manning (Olivia), New Orleans, Louisiana
A note from blogger April McGreger at Southern Foodways Alliance: “This recipe makes a mountain of spaghetti. You could halve the recipe … I’m not saying I don’t like it with Velveeta, but I am more likely to make it these days with cheddar or, even better, Gruyere. A dash of hot sauce doesn’t hurt either.”
(Readers: I’m looking for community cookbooks from Aurora organizations, current or in the past. Let me know what you have: jlehndorff@aurorasentinel.com.)
FOOD NEWS
New York Times’ food predictions for 2013 include a shout-out for the “home-brewed hot sauce … aged in discarded whiskey barrels at Vesta Dipping Grill, in Denver.” … Notable 2012 restaurant closings we missed included a unique one-note restaurant, Simply Sloppy Joes, 6761 West Mississippi Ave. in Denver. If you’re desperate for a crumbled meat sandwich you can always go to your local Maid-Rite, 6770 S. Cornerstar Way in Aurora, for an Iowa-style loose meat burger. Another one-item comfy corner is Yo’Cheese, 6902 S. Vine St., Centennial, a small, walk-up-only shack at Southlands that sells mainly grilled cheese sandwiches. … The restaurants and menus for Denver Restaurant Week, Feb. 23–March 8, will be revealed Jan. 16 at denverrestaurantweek.com. Make your reservations immediately if you want to dine at the more popular
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“(In 2013) God willing, we won’t have to hear more about raw foods, or terms like ‘small plates,’ ‘foodies,’ or ‘farm-to-table’ experiences.” – “Bizarre Foods” Andrew Zimmern on eater.com
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