Dear Food Goddess,
I recently attended an antique bookseller’s event and purchased an old cookbook, something I am all too fond of doing. It has a number of delicious-sounding cake recipes! I was all set to try one out and read through it only to get stumped with the directions of “bake in a slow oven for one hour.” I confess, I’ve heard of a “slow oven,” but I wasn’t listening when perhaps it was explained. Can you tell me, dear goddess, what temperature a “slow oven” would be? Thank you so much, dear goddess, for your kindest attention to the efforts of us mortals in the kitchen.
Sheila B. Cox, Rome
The goddess is only too happy to share her breadth of knowledge with one as lovely sounding as Ms. Cox. Harking back to an early time when the goddess watched over the earth, ovens weren’t nearly as precise and finely tuned as they are today. Don’t even get the cooking connoisseur started on the hassle of preparing souffles over an open-pit fire. But she digresses. When that cookbook was published, it is most likely general ranges of temperatures were more commonly used than exact temperatures. A slow oven corresponds to an oven heated to a temperature of about 300 to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. A moderate oven runs about 350 to 375 degrees, and a hot oven is 400 to 450 degrees. The goddess recommends baking that delicious-sounding cake at 300 and carefully monitoring its progress. Make sure to make notes in the book for future use!
Recipe requests
Ms. Cox has another request. Her friend fondly remembers a very special poundcake her mother made with “a lot” of orange juice. Her best guess is that this cake was made around the '80s, although the recipe may be older than that. Can anyone help?
Entertaining update
Merrie Kaiserman of Duluth weighs in on the potluck-for-entertaining issue. Ms. Kaiserman writes, “Were it not for potluck dishes, the dinner party might well be dead! I have three adult children and grands in town, and we NEVER go to another's home without a dish in hand. And although appetizers are not my forte, I have become the "Appetizer Queen." It makes hosting a large group much easier for everyone. Ms. Kaiserman notes, "The Forsyth County Ladies League holds a ‘dining-in' one Saturday evening a month. The hostess prepares the entree and assigns guests to bring a dish: an appetizer, a starch, a salad or dessert. The guests reimburse the hostess $15/couple, and I have to tell you that no restaurant in town can beat the food or the value. And conversations flow and friendships bloom in the intimacy of a private home.” The goddess had a good chuckle at Ms. Kaiserman’s parting remarks regarding sharing the load when entertaining. “My husband feels otherwise," she writes. "However, he doesn't use the stove or oven. So ... we'll stop potlucks when he does half of the cooking!!!”
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