California Mexican-Spanish Cook Book
Selected Mexican and Spanish Recipes
By Bertha Haffner-Ginger
This book is dedicated to my daughter, nicknamed Miss "Paprika" by our pupils. She has been my inspiration and devoted companion through all the years of my public life.
B. H. G.
Contents
TO MY READERS
An announcement that my lesson for the day would be Spanish dishes, invariably brought record-breaking crowds in any city in the United States, and a demand for recipes induced me to search for the best to be found.
My three years' stay in California has enabled me to learn how to prepare the very best dishes directly from the natives, both Mexican and Spanish.
It is not generally known that Spanish dishes as they are known in California are really Mexican Indian dishes. Bread made of corn, sauces of chile peppers, jerked beef, tortillas, enchiladas, etc., are unknown in Spain as native foods; though the majority of Spanish people in California are as devoted to peppery dishes as the Mexicans themselves, and as the Mexicans speak Spanish, the foods are commonly called Spanish dishes.
When made properly, there is great merit in this class of foods and I have endeavored to select the very best recipes, and have revised them into correct proportions and practical methods of preparation.
Many of the dishes are very delicious and will be found of great value for luncheon, entries, and a zest to various menus, and especially useful to those who desire to cater to the public. Please note the classification of sauces and dressings which eliminates a repetition of the same sauce in different dishes.
Wishing you as much pleasure in the preparation and serving of this collection of recipes as I have had in compiling them, I am,
Very sincerely yours, BERTHA HAFFNER-GINGER.
THE MISSION OF THE OLD PADRES WAS TO MAKE LIFE BRIGHTER FOR SUCH AS THESE
REGULAR SPANISH DINNER
60c
Including Table Claret
SOUP
SALAD
ENCHILADAS
CARNE CON CHILI
SPANISH BEANS
SPANISH RICE
FRUIT AND COFFEE
Special Spanish Dinner $1.50 per plate
A CALIFORNIA "RAMADA" CAFE
CABARET DANCERS
Casa Verdugo Cafe, Los Angeles
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"Ensaladas Espanol" (Spanish salads)
Prepared Vinegar for Spanish Salad Dressing
Put a button of garlic, large slice cucumber, slice onion, tablespoon parsley, tablespoon taragon leaves, or two tablespoons taragon vinegar into one pint cider vinegar. Bottle and let stand several days, strain and keep for following salads and dressings.
Especially Prepared Dressings
Spanish Dressing No. 1
Rub mixing bowl with button of garlic, break into bowl one egg yolk, whip stiff, add one-fourth cup best olive oil slowly, then one-fourth cup lemon juice, tablespoon prepared vinegar, teaspoon sugar, half teaspoon salt, tablespoon green chile pulp. Very fine.
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Spanish Dressing No. 2
Six tablespoons of best olive oil in bowl, add gradually three tablespoons lemon juice and one of prepared vinegar, one teaspoon brown sugar, half teaspoon salt, tablespoon red chile pulp, stir with rotary motion until a thick cream, serve at once on salad.
Spanish Salad Dressing No. 3
Lemon or lime juice. Six tablespoons to three of olive oil, teaspoon sugar, one-half teaspoon salt, dash red pepper, teaspoon onion juice.
Spanish Salad, Avacado (Aligator Pear)
Peel and cut in half pears, sprinkle with salt and sugar twenty minutes before using, then place in heart of small crisp lettuce head, pour over Spanish dressing No. 3.
Tomato and Cucumber Salad
Select six fine ripe tomatoes; remove the hearts carefully; place on ice until chilled; pare two cucumbers and chop them finely; mix with tomato pulp; pour over a half cup of dressing No. 3 and fill the tomatoes. Serve on lettuce leaves and decorate with thinly sliced sweet peppers.
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Spanish Sweet Pepper Salad
Remove seed and fill half peppers with chopped cucumber and celery, mixed with dressing No. 3, garnish with pimiento or beets, serve on lettuce.
Spanish Bean Salad
One cup Spanish beans cooked tender, small pink (canned red kidney beans will do); chop sweet green pepper, one-fourth cup, tablespoon each of onion, ripe sweet pepper, parsley and cucumber, mix with beans, serve with Spanish dressing No. 1.
Spanish Tomato and Egg Salad
Peel smooth just ripe tomatoes, slice in three slices across, place on lettuce leaf, put border around of hard boiled whites of eggs, stand hard boiled yolk in center, pour over Spanish dressing No. 1.
Stuffed Tomato Salad
Scald and peel large tomatoes, remove center, mix with equal parts celery, green chile, onions, fry in little olive oil and lemon juice, salt to taste, fill tomatoes, teaspoon Spanish dressing No. 1, sprinkle little chopped parsley and grated cheese, set on ice, serve on lettuce.
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Spanish California Ripe Olive Salad
Remove seed from ripe olives, fill with mixture of cottage cheese, pimiento, salt, paprika, parsley, press together, serve on lettuce leaf, cover with Spanish dressing No. 1.
Spanish Moulded Salad
Chop enough ripe tomatoes to fill a cup, half cup cucumber, one-fourth cup celery, one-fourth cup green sweet peppers, tablespoon onion, one-half teaspoon chile powder, salt to taste. Dissolve one tablespoon gelatine in one cup tomato juice, pour over above, mix and mould, when firm cut in squares, serve with Spanish sauce Nos. 1 or 2 in lettuce leaf.
Spanish Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Pare and chop fine one good-sized fresh cucumber. Shred sufficient cabbage to make one pint, throw in cold water for one hour; scald and peel one good sized tomato and chop fine. Remove the seeds from one large sweet pepper, chop and mix with the tomato. When ready to serve drain and dry the cabbage. Put into salad bowl a layer of cabbage, then a layer of cucumber, then a layer of tomato and a layer of pepper; sprinkle with a few drops of onion juice; then another layer of cabbage and continue until all the material is used. Serve with dressing No. 2.
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Spanish Cabbage Salad
Two cups shredded cabbage red and white mixed, two tablespoons chopped roasted chestnuts, two of pecans, mix with dressing No. 2 and serve in lettuce cups.
Rice Salad
A cup of boiled rice; four hard-boiled eggs, and one head of lettuce. Arrange on platter, alternate layers of rice, shredded lettuce leaves, slices of hard-boiled eggs and dressing No. 1. Over the top layer of dressing press the yolk of an egg through a sieve and garnish the edges with a layer of lettuce leaves and radish tulip. Chop cress and cabbage, equal parts, add few minced chives, add one-fourth cup cream to one-half cup salad dressing No. 3 and serve over salad.
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OVEN IN PATIO, RAMONA'S MARRIAGE PLACE
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OLD SPANISH KITCHEN IN CALIFORNIA
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INDIAN OVENS
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Sopa Espanol (Spanish Soups)
Sopa de Frijoles (Bean Soup)
Cook one pint pink beans in two quarts beef stock till tender. Add one cup chopped onions, two green, two ripe chiles (fresh or canned), one quart canned tomatoes, two tablespoons chopped parsley. Cook all thoroughly. Drop in Spanish meat balls and serve with Spanish cheese fingers.
Spanish Meat Balls
Grind soup beef very fine. Add one egg to one cup meat, salt, little onion juice, two tablespoons soaked bread, make into very small balls, roll in crumbs, fry, drop in soup just before serving and sprinkle each ball with finely chopped parsley and bits of pimiento for color effect.
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Sopa de Papas (Potato Soup)
Add one cup mashed potatoes to one cup chicken, veal or beef stock, one cup milk, tablespoon butter, salt, one bay leaf, tablespoon flour to thicken, cook and strain, cut thinly sliced bread, round, the size of a nickle, butter and toast, make little pile grated yellow cheese on toast, top with red sweet pepper, pinch of chopped parsley on top. Serve hot.
Spanish Hot Vegetable Broth
Make broth of one cup cabbage, one cup carrots, one-half cup onions, one cup garlic, one-half cup turnips, one-half cup celery, one-fourth cup green pepper. Add one quart canned tomatoes, one quart clarified meat stock, cook thoroughly, strain, serve hot with spoonful well cooked rice in bowl. For vegetable soup leave all vegetables in.
Spanish Fish Chowder
Fry one-half cup salt pork cut into small cubes, one-half cup chopped onion to light brown, add tablespoon flour, then add two cups small pieces of white boneless fish meat, brown slightly, strain two cups hot milk, one cup prepared Spanish sauce, salt to taste, dash of paprika. Clams or oysters may be used, allowing only one minute for clams or oysters.
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MEXICAN WOMAN MAKING TORTILLAS
Y. Y. Perez, Public Bakery, Sonora Town, Los Angeles. They refuse to make them any other way and take the same pleasure in making a perfectly thin and round tortilla that puffs up nicely while cooking, as you and I do in trying to make a beautiful loaf of bread. Truly the heart of women are the same the world over. Deep down, no matter what the environment, the desire is always there, to be "loaf givers."
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Tortillas
Modern Way to Prepare Corn for Tortilla and Tamales
Put one gallon of shelled corn in enough water to cover; dissolve one-half cup lime in a little water and add to cover; boil fifteen or twenty minutes; remove from fire, pour off first water and add fresh cold water; rub with hand to remove husk. Rinse in another water and it is ready to grind. Don't wash too much or it will not be pasty enough to make tortilla.
Tortillas No. 2
Another way and liked best by some people: Add to the corn dough (masa) rounding tablespoon of lard to four cups dough, little salt.
Tortillas No. 3
Still another way: Corn meal and coarse flour half and half wet to stiff dough, salt and lard.
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Tortillas No. 4
But the best to my taste is the hominy or corn ground into a smooth paste, three cups corn, one of flour, two tablespoons melted lard, teaspoon salt, cook on ungreased iron, have ready enough hot salted lard to dip tortilla in just before you add filling to make Enchiladas. When flour is used, dough may be rolled out on a board, a small pie tin placed on and cut round the edge to form cake; lift up with pancake turner.
How to Shape Tortillas
Take piece of dough size of biscuit and press with hand into cake size of small pie plate, toast on top of stove moderately warm. Do not brown.
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A PLATE OF TORTILLA
TACO
Made by putting chopped cooked beef and chile sauce in tortilla made of meal and flour; folded, edges sealed together with egg; fried in deep fat, chile sauce served over it.
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INDIAN WOMAN BAKING BREAD
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A PUBLIC BAKERY IN MEXICO
Women Making Tortilla
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