Magic moments or a trip down memory lane?? It all started with an ordinary stop at the customer counter at the local Post Office. As I asked for a weight on a heavier than usual envelope to see if I needed extra postage, our new post master mentioned that he had something he thought I would be interested in! I am not certain if it were my white hair hinting at my advanced age or if he might know about my interest in cooking and new recipes. It seems that he had inadvertently become the owner of an old, old recipe book originating in Edgerton. It is unusual but he could not find a date in the whole publication. He promised to bring it in to show me some day. One day he proudly had it in his possession, having rescued it from a box of things his wife had ready to go to the recycling bin, remonstrating her with the comment ” You can’t throw THAT away.”
I still can’t comprehend why he would give it to ME. There were conditions attached that he did not want it back but he wanted to see what I wrote about it. I have been procrastinating about it not knowing just how to compile my thoughts and feelings. The time has arrived and after much thought and mind changing here is what I have to offer.
The title of the book is “THE BEST IN COOKING” in Edgerton. It was promoted by the Edgerton Business and Professional Women’s Club. I knew personally or knew the names of most of the ladies who had contributed recipes. A big share of them have gone on to their eternal reward. The list of advertisers brought back so many memories as I can remember when they were active businesses in our home town. The only advertiser that I could think of to ask about when he thought it might have been printed was Karl’s Sinclair Service where the Huntington Bank Branch is now located. So I casually entered the antique shop where you can usually find Karl behind the counter and asked him if I could “pick his brain”. He was very co-operative and said if he had advertised his station in this book it would have had to be in the very early 1960’s as that is when he sold the business. That is as close as I could come to a date.
The list of most of the businesses with ads in the book really took me down Memory Lane because I can remember all of them as active Edgerton businesses. How many can you remember? The Edgerton State Bank (now Huntington), Bob’s Dairy Bar, Moffett’s Rexall Store, Gruver’s Market, (We had three grocery stores then.), Vic Miller’s Ford Sales, Day’s Furniture, Bible’s Sohio, Dolly’s Restaurant, Edgerton Coin Laundry, Smart Shop (women’s apparel) Edgerton Lumber (on Depot Street), Day and Day (marketers of Sinclair products), Krill Funeral Home (been here ever since 1875!) and Fisher’s Implement Co. (Where the American Legion is now located and where I had my first job out of high school as bookkeeper for 25 cents an hour! That was more money than I ever had!)
Some of the ladies submitting recipes were important people in my life. Frances Sanders, my mother-in-law, who taught me many cooking tricks, Ethel Mowry, Uchrista Maxwell, Lucile Palmer, Home Economics teacher at Edgerton High School for many years, Kate Lees, Hazel Brown, Post Mistress for many years, Harriet Fritch, Kathryn Flegal, Doris Flowers, Audrey Stark, Rose Walley, Mrs. Paul D. Krill, Bernice Schooley, my little brother’s school teacher, Sue Dietsch, better known now as Mrs. John Close, Frances Dietsch, Mrs. Earl Landel, and Margaret Sanders, my little sister.
To honor a couple of others, I am using their recipe because I am tempted to try both of them. One I will not include was from Odelia Wickerham which started out with 12 pounds of liver!!!
Now on to the other ideas. The first one is from Ruby Gruver whom I knew most of my life. When we both lived around Butler she was one of the big girls in my life. When we both ended up in Edgerton I admired her so much because she always looked as if she were immaculately groomed for a special occasion. I sneak down the alley to the grocery store, hoping no one will see me because I didn’t prepare for being out of the house!
CHINESE HAMBURGER HASH
Submitted by Ruby Gruver
1 pound ground beef
2 onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 can mushroom soup
1 can chicken soup
1 ½ cups water
½ cup uncooked rice
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ teaspoon pepper
Brown ground beef and onion in a small amount of shortening. Add other ingredients. Put in a casserole dish. Cover and bake at 35 degrees for 30 minutes. Cover with crisp Chinese noodles and bake for 15 minutes more.
The next recipe is similar to the one I had to bake when I was in 4-H in the mid 1930’s.
GINGERBREAD
Submitted by Nora Hopkins
2 eggs
¾ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup pure New Orleans molasses
¾ cup melted shortening
2 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ginger
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
1 cup boiling water
Beat eggs, add the sugar, molasses and melted shortening. Add dry ingredients which have been mixed. Add the boiling water last. Put in greased baking pan or muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
This brought to mind many people whom I do not ordinarily think about and was a very pleasant walk down memory lane. Thank you for thinking of me, Chris.
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