Friday, October 05, 2007

Gosh those home ec teachers were good
--Sweet-Sour Pork on Rice



Sweet-Sour Pork on Rice
Our Favorite Meats Favorites From Home Economics Teachers Copyright MCMLXVI

1 ½ lbs. pork cubes
1 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
¼ c. flour
2 tbsp. oil
½ c. water
¼ c. vinegar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 c. apricot preserves I used about 3/4 cups
1 green pepper, cut into strips

Toss pork cubes with seasoned flour; brown in oil. Stir in water, vinegar and soy sauce; cover and simmer to 45 minutes. Add preserves and green pepper; cook for 15 minutes. Serve on hot cooked rice.

Yield: 6 servings
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This book has coughed up another surprise hit. I originally chose this recipe to use up some peach preserves but then I realized I had apricot preserves in the fridge that needed to be used up. I only had about 3/4 cup but that was enough. I thought this might be overly sweet but it really wasn't. It was a mild sweet and sour sauce (probably because of the water) but nicely balanced.

I'm really enjoying this cookbook. I'm almost sorry I didn't pick up the other copy I came across. It would have made a nice giveaway. I can't be the only one who likes old cookbooks.

The recipes tend to be more economical too. I really stuck to the basics again at the grocery store again this week and I spent only 48 cents more than I did last week. I'm not really shooting for a specific amount, I'm just buying only what we need so it was funny to come so close to last week's total.

Blast From The Past: Meat Puffs from June 2007, also from this cookbook. That recipe was a hit here too.

Question of the Day: I just can't think of one today. Have a nice weekend.

6 comments:

Not a Career Girl said...

Paula,

I love your blog - I'm a cookbook junkie too, over 150 and counting!! I try and cook something different each week, not quite as good as you, but getting there. I was wondering about copyright, is there a problem with publishing the recipes online - do you have to get author permissions? Just curious as I'm a lapsed blogger and love the idea of doing a food blog, if I had the time and inclination - thanks

NACG

ThursdayNext said...

have a great weekend, paula! hope you arent taking "off" for columbus day.;)

Annie said...

I always wanted to try using apricot in a savory recipe. Thanks for the idea!!

Have a great weekend!!

The Cookbook Junkie said...

not_a_career_girl,

As I understand it, recipes aren't covered under copyright law, unless the instructions are written in such a way that they go beyond just describing what to do with the ingredients, which is very rare and those types of recipes are usually so wordy that I wouldn't want to transcribe them word for word anyway. A basic list of ingredients and the general instructions to put them together are usually generic enough not to be covered under copyright law.

I think you could find just about every recipe on this site elsewhere on the internet, with no credit given to the source and/or the recipe credited to several different sources. Most can be found in multiple cookbooks.

I could easily just change a few things (or not), post the recipes and give absolutely no credit to the cookbooks at all (or call them 'adapted from a recipe from' such and such source) but I feel better doing it this way. I'm not making any money off this blog and hopefully the cookbook authors prefer getting credit rather than not because there's just no way they could keep their recipes off the internet and in most cases they didn't even 'invent' the recipes themselves. There are a few but not many cookbooks with truly original recipes in them.

Not a Career Girl said...

thanks - very useful, you have to be so careful these days. I did a bad thing this weekend, a new Borders has opened in town and I bought a new cookbook (evil, evil, I must control my compulsions) - deliah smith's (who I'm really not sure I like, she's a bit "this is what you call a saucepan", but her recipes are great) cake book, which appears to still be in print and I've wanted a copy for years - hurrah for cakes, now it's nearly winter we need some more flesh on our bones!!

Anonymous said...

I spent a vacation in a home several states away where a copy of this cookbook exists. Since it was a vacation home, I could only copy a few of the recipes. Its only after returning home that I tried one in particular. Like you, I made a few alterations, but was thrilled with the results.