Lost Recipes: Five divine dishes from our grannies

We're back and so are the granny recipes readers submitted to us in 1940. There's a lot of them, so we're serving these treasures up in batches. This is week two of our four-part Lost Recipes tribute to the foods our grandmothers (and great-grandmothers) served to their families around Montgomery and the River Region.

One small note about something you might have noticed already. These were submitted by housewives mostly, and it was especially common for women to submit items with "Mrs." in front of their husband's names, expecially in the 1940s era and earlier. So that's why we don't have the exact names of all these proud women. We truly hope their families recognize them.

We'll be back again next week with a new batch for you, so keep reading.

More: Lost Recipes Part 1: We found a treasure chest full of granny recipes

Eggplant in Tomato Sauce

Here’s a good, simple, four-ingredient, meatless eggplant recipe from Mrs. J. Louis Snow, who lived on Galena Avenue in Montgomery. You’ll need an eggplant, three eggs, a cup of grated Italian or American cheese, and tomato sauce.

Wash and dice the eggplant. Fry the slices in a small amount of oil. After they’ve cooled a bit, dip them in beaten eggs and fry them again until they’re nicely browned. Then put them in a large casserole dish and add a layer of grated cheese and tomato sauce. Repeat the layers until all the ingredients are used. Heat to melt it all together, and serve immediately. Serves six.

More: Lost Recipes Part 3: Old family recipes for devil's food cake, chicken pie and more

Marshmallow Salad

Notasulga resident Mrs. H.C. Reynolds’ recipe for Marshmallow Salad has a lot more going on than marshmallows, so a grocery trip might be required. You will need a pound of marshmallows, cut into halves (or get a pound of the little bitty marshmallows and save yourself the cutting), a half pound of nuts in pieces, and you’ll need custard. Reynolds also offered a homemade recipe for custard that needs six well-beaten egg yolks, three-fourth cup of sweet milk, a tablespoon of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of butter and a pint of whipped cream.

Mix the salt, flour and sugar together and then add egg yolks, milk and butter. Cook in a double boiler until it starts to thicken. Slowly add the vinegar. When it’s all cooked together, beat in one pint of whipped cream. Add the marshmallows, pineapple and nuts. Let it stand together in refrigerator for several hours, or overnight. This recipe serves 20.

More: Lost Recipes Part 4: A last look at seven 'secret' granny recipes from 1940

Fruit Spread

Carolyn Jones of Dadeville had a very fruity sauce made for meat. You need a pound of cranberries, two large apples that have been cored but not peeled, and a large orange that has been peeled. Grind them all together. Today, you’d use a food processor, but back then Jones said to put the fruit through a meat grinder. Put your pulverized fruit into a bowl, put a pound of sugar on top of it, and let it stand for six to eight hours. Mix it together, then pack it into a jar and put it in the refrigerator. This is good for sandwiches or with crackers and cream cheese.

Veal Rolls

Mrs. W.A. Goolsby of Cherry Street in Montgomery probably wrote this recipe just prior to stand up comics come out with the phrase, “Try the veal.” But you really should try this one.

You’ll need a pound and a half of veal cutlets, a cup of cooked macaroni, a tomato, half teaspoon salt, third teaspoon pepper, six strips of bacon, flour, a cup of water, half a green pepper, half a pimento, half teaspoon chopped parsley, a teaspoon of grated onion.

Cut the veal into six pieces large enough to roll. Mix macaroni with the tomato, which has been peeled and chopped. Add seasonings. Place 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each piece of veal. Roll and pin with toothpicks. Cover with bacon strips. Place in baking dish. Dust with flour, add water, chopped pepper, pimento, parsley, and onion. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Serves six.

Refrigerator Rolls

Mrs. Lewis Figh of First Street in Montgomery sent in a recipe for something called refrigerator rolls. You’ll need a yeast cake, half a cup of lukewarm water, two-thirds cup of shortening, half cup of sugar, teaspoon of salt, a cup of mashed potato, a cup of scalded milk, two well-beaten eggs and flour.

Disolve the yeast in lukewarm water. In a separate bowl, add shortening, sugar, salt, mashed potato and scalded milk. When the yeast water is cold, add it to the mixture. Mix it up thoroughly, and add the eggs. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Turn it out onto a lightly floured board and knead it well. Then put it into a large bowl to allow for some rising. Rub it all over with melted butter. Cover it tightly and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours. About an hour before baking time, pinch dough off and shape it into rolls. Cover the roll dough and let it rise more. After that, bake them at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes.

IF YOU TRY IT

If you decide to try one of these lost recipes please send us a photo and a note on how it went. Send it in an email titled "Lost Recipes" to Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Lost Recipes: Five divine dishes from our grannies