The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Sixties Cookbook (7 page)

2.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F.

3.
Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp and browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to cool. Coarsely chop the bacon.

4.
Pierce the pastry all over (in about 10 places) with a fork. Top the entire pastry with a sheet of aluminum foil and fill with pastry weights (see Note on opposite page). Place on a baking sheet. Bake until the edges of the pastry are set and beginning to brown, about 12 minutes. Remove the pie plate on the baking sheet from the oven. Lift off the foil with the weights.

5.
Whisk the eggs, half-and-half, salt, pepper, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the bacon and Gruyère in the pie plate. Pour in the egg mixture. Return to the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. Continue baking until the filling is evenly puffed and golden brown, about 35 minutes.

6.
Transfer to a wire cake rack and let cool 10 minutes. Slice and serve warm or cooled to room temperature.

NOTE:
You will need ceramic or aluminum pastry weights (available at kitchenware shops or online) to weight the dough during its initial baking. Or, you can save some money and just use a pound of dried beans as weights. The dried beans can be stored for another few uses, but after six months or so, they can get a little funky and will need to be replaced.

Free Fat

Like lard, bacon fat adds flavor to the most simply-cooked dishes. In the Sixties, pot roasts were seared in it, chicken was fried in it, and even salad dressings were made from it. Because bacon was cooked every morning in millions of homes, bacon fat accumulated pretty quickly, and most cooks saved it. The common receptacle was a coffee can stored in a cool, dark place, either the refrigerator or under the sink. To try cooking with some of that Sixties goodness, whenever you make bacon at home, save the fat. Just cool it a bit, pour into a covered jar, and refrigerate for up to 2 months. You’ll thank us when it comes to Soulful Fried Chicken (
page 100
)!

FLOWER DRUM SONG BARBECUED RIBS

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
Flower Drum Song
may have been a Broadway hit in the late 1950s (the film version came out in 1961), but its depiction of life in San Francisco’s Chinatown still informed the cultural consciousness of the early Sixties. Just as the musical may not have been authentic, it was tasty . . . much like these barbecued ribs. They are the kind of sweet and sticky ribs that you found (and may still find) on every Chinese restaurant’s menu.

2½ to 3 pounds baby back ribs, cut into 3 slabs

⅔ cup tomato ketchup

¼ cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, beaten

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons dry sherry

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon salt

1 large pinch of ground cinnamon

1 large pinch of ground cloves

1½ teaspoons baking soda

Vegetable oil, for the broiler rack

1.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ribs and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Let cool.

2.
Whisk the ketchup, brown sugar, egg, soy sauce, sherry, garlic, salt, cinnamon, and cloves together in a medium bowl. Add the baking soda—the mixture will foam. Layer the ribs and ketchup marinade in a glass or ceramic baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, occasionally turning the ribs in the marinade for at least 3 and up to 8 hours.

3.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F.

4.
Line a broiler pan with aluminum foil. Place a broiler rack in a pan and lightly oil the rack. Remove the
ribs from the marinade, letting the excess marinade drip off. Transfer the marinade to a small bowl, cover, and refrigerate. Arrange the ribs, meaty side up, on the rack. Pour about 2 cups hot tap water into the roasting pan, being sure the water doesn’t reach the rack. Roast until the sauce starts to caramelize in spots, about 20 minutes. Turn the ribs and brush with some of the reserved marinade. Roast until the sauce starts to caramelize, about 20 minutes. Turn again, and brush with the marinade, discarding the remaining marinade. Roast until the ribs are tender when pierced with a meat fork and the sauce is reduced to a lightly caramelized glaze, about 25 minutes more. If the water evaporates, add more. If the ribs get too dark, tent the broiler pan with aluminum foil.

5.
Transfer the ribs to a carving board and let stand for 5 minutes. Cut between the ribs, transfer to a platter, and serve warm.

I Want My Baby Back

Baby back ribs are a relatively recent addition to the butcher’s case. Cut from the same bones found on a pork loin roast, they have very tender, succulent meat. Spareribs are meatier, but tougher and with more fat and gristle, but they are the only ribs that Chinese restaurants would have used until baby backs appeared on the scene.

To use spareribs, buy 3 pounds of St. Louis-style ribs, which have had the extraneous meaty flap trimmed off to make a neat, rectangular slab of ribs. Cut the ribs into 3 or 4 slabs. Cover the broiler pan with aluminum foil to create steam to help tenderize the gristle, and roast for 30 minutes. Turn the ribs, brush with marinade, and roast uncovered for 30 minutes. Then turn again, brush with the marinade, and roast until tender, about 40 minutes more, tenting the ribs with foil as needed.

At a Chinese restaurant, the individual ribs would have been chopped across the bone into smaller chunks with a cleaver. If you have a cleaver, and are feeling assured, you can chop the ribs. If appropriate, sing “I Enjoy Being a Girl” while doing so.

RUMAKI-A-RAMA

MAKES ABOUT 3 DOZEN, 9 TO 12 SERVINGS

Japanese-inspired rumaki, a popular addition to the Sixties pupu platter, is made by wrapping chicken livers in bacon and marinating them in a sweet soy sauce before broiling. Since chicken livers aren’t a modern fave, you can also make rumaki with date or pineapple chunks, as we detail below. You’re welcome.

18 bacon slices (about 1 pound), cut in half crosswise to make 36 pieces

½ cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1 scallion, white and green parts, minced

1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

18 chicken livers, trimmed and cut in half crosswise to make 36 pieces

18 large pitted dates, cut in half crosswise (optional)

36 fresh pineapple chunks, about ¾-inch square (optional)

36 water chestnut slices

36 wooden toothpicks, soaked in water for 30 minutes, drained

1.
Position racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Arrange the bacon on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake until the bacon gives off its fat and is beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer the parcooked bacon to a plate and let cool. (Pour the bacon fat into a covered container and refrigerate for another use if desired.)

2.
Whisk the soy sauce, honey, scallion, ginger, garlic, and pepper in a small bowl to dissolve the garlic. For each rumaki, spear a piece of liver (or date half or pineapple chunk) onto a drained toothpick with a water chestnut slice, and wrap with a parcooked bacon half slice. Place in a shallow glass or ceramic baking dish, and pour in the soy sauce mixture. Cover and refrigerate, turning the rumaki occasionally in the marinade, for at least 2 and up to 6 hours.

3.
Position a broiler rack about 6 inches from the source of heat and preheat the broiler. Lightly oil a broiler rack.

4.
Drain the rumaki. Arrange on the broiler rack. Broil, turning occasionally, until the bacon is browned and the chicken livers are cooked to medium, about 5 minutes. If the rumaki are scorching, move the broiler rack to a lower rung. Serve warm.

Perfect Rumaki

There are a couple of tricks to getting rumaki right:

• Precook the bacon to be sure that it cooks up nice and crispy in the broiler.

• Soak the toothpicks in water before assembling the rumaki so they don’t burn during broiling. If the toothpicks still scorch, replace them with fresh toothpicks before serving.

• Rumaki ingredients are slippery devils, so find a method of assembly that works for you. Here’s how we do it: About ½ inch from the end of the bacon slice, spear the slice with a toothpick. Now pierce the water chestnut through its center onto the toothpick, followed by a liver chunk. Wrap the long end of the bacon around the liver and water chestnut, spearing the opposite end of the bacon on the toothpick. Don’t worry about any loose bacon, as it will shrink up when cooked.

KITCHEN TIME MACHINE

Substitute ½ teaspoon ground ginger and ¼teaspoon garlic powder for the fresh ginger and garlic.

The Straight Pupu

From the Hawaiian word
pūpū
which means a relish or appetizer, pupu platters originated in America in the 1930s at California restaurants, and they are still available today in many Chinese restaurants. While the food is meant to be an amalgam of Polynesian flavors, it generally consists of Americanized Cantonese and Japanese food.