Holiday Recipes from Edith Brannock
Shaunta Alvarez
November 22, 2013
As was stated in a previous post, Edith Brannock ’39 recently donated a collection of recipes to the Belk Library Archives and Special Collections. These recipes were taught to students taking home economics classes during the 1960s to 1980s, when Ms. Brannock was a member of the Elon College faculty. Ms. Brannock did not include a Thanksgiving menu in her recipes collection, but she gave instructions for a number of dishes that one might serve during a traditional Thanksgiving meal. We have included a sampling of those recipes here. (Note: these recipes are taken directly from Ms. Brannock’s collection and have not been edited.) If you try any of these recipes for the holidays, please let us know how it turned out by emailing us at belkarchives@elon.edu.
Main Course
Even though she did not give instructions for the perfect turkey, Ms. Brannock did include a recipe for stuffing:
Stuffing – 12 lb. Bird
3 cups of bread (toasted)
Brown lightly:
¾ cup celery
¾ cup onion
¾ cup margarine
1 tbsp. parsley
1 tbsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
¾ tsp. poultry seasoning
Giblets
1 ½ cup broth
Moisten lightly.
Stuffed weight: Add ¼ to weight on wrapper for stuffing.
Side Dishes
Green Bean Casserole
1 or 2 tbsp. butter ½ pkg. grated Kraft Swiss Cheese
1 heaping tbsp. flour ½ cup cornflakes, crumbled
1 can French Beans 2 tsp. melted butter
2 tsp. grated onion ½ tsp. salt
½ pt. sour cream 1 tsp. sugar
Put butter, flour, salt, and sugar into double boiler, stir into paste, and take off stove. Stir in grated onion and add sour cream, cheese. Drain beans and pour into casserole. Fold in sauce and crumble cornflakes over the mixture. Add 2 tsp. melted butter and pour over top. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or more.
Holiday Style Potatoes
3 cups mashed potatoes
½ cup hot milk
4 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. each chopped parsley, pimiento
1 tsp. grated onion
Pepper rings
Beat potatoes until light and fluffy. Add other ingredients and serve in mounds in green pepper rings.
Variation: May add ½ cup grated cheese for different flavor.
Breads
Rolls
2 cups bisquick
¾ cup warm milk
2 cakes yeast
1 tbsp. sugar
Add yeast and sugar to milk. Add bisquick, knead until blisters. Makes 18 rolls.
Whole Wheat Batter Rolls
Scald 1 ¼ c. milk
Stir in 2 ½ Tbsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp. salt
¼ c. shortening
Cool to lukewarm. Measure into bowl ¼ c. warm water. Sprinkle in 2 packages dry yeast. Stir until dissolved. Then stir into the milk mixture. Add 3 ¼ c. whole wheat flour. Stir until well blended, about 1 minute. Cover. Let rise in warm place until double in size, about 30 minutes. Stir batter down. Beat vigorously for about ½ minute. Fill greased muffin pans about 2/3 full. Bake at 425° about 20 minutes.
Desserts
Sweet Potato Cups
Mix: 1 ½ c. sugar
1 ½ c. milk
Add: 2 c. grated potatoes (add potatoes as you grate to keep from turning dark)
½ c. butter
Pinch of salt
1 t. vanilla
½ t. coconut and lemon flavoring
Stir well. Pour into orange shells. Sprinkle 2 T. sugar on top. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Put in top of double boiler ½ tsp. salt
½ c. sugar ½ tsp. ginger
1 ½ c. strained pumpkin ½ tsp. nutmeg
2/3 c. milk ½ tsp. cinnamon
Mix well and when hot add to 3 egg yolks slightly beaten. Return to double boiler, stir and cook.
Measure ½ c. cold water, add 1 tbsp. gelatin and when soft add to hot pumpkin mixture. Mix thoroughly and cool. When it begins to stiffen, beat 3 egg whites until stiff, beat in ½ c. sugar and fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour into baked pie shell. Chill in refrigerator. Cover with whipped cream for serving.
Apple Crumble Pie
6 large tart apples pared and thinly sliced 1 tsp. lemon juice
1 unbaked pie shell ¼ c. brown sugar
¾ c. sugar ¼ c. sifted flour
1/8 tsp. salt 2 tbsp. butter or fortified margarine
¼ tsp. cinnamon ½ c. cut nuts
¼ tsp. nutmeg
Arrange sliced apples in pie shell and cover with mixture of sugar, salt, spices, and lemon juice. Mix brown sugar and flour. Cut in butter or margarine fine Add nuts.
Place in 250° oven turn to 400° bake 1 hour.
Everything sounds amazing!