Yard-sale recipe boxes are treasure chests of family favorites

CONCORD, N.H. -- It's yard sale season again, that time of year when virtual buffets of bargains laid out on lawns draw us from our homes at obscenely early hours on weekends.

On Thursdays my wife and I scan the classifieds for good hits. Saturday morning, coffee and cash in hand, we're on the road by 7 a.m.

What does this have to do with cooking? Aside from the occasional cookware bargain (I've snagged new Le Creuset pots for $5), there also often are reams of inspiring and entertaining recipes to be had for pennies.

Yard sales are not suited for recipe snobs. I relish the adventure of spending a few bucks on boxes of sometimes decades-old cookbooks with ugly photography, knowing I'll find at least a few items of interest.

By far my favorite yard sale finds are recipe boxes, those tiny treasure chests packed with scribbled index cards, folded up newspaper clippings, and kitchen kitsch recipe cards filled with family favorites.

It is a treat to peer into a cook's past, seeing and tasting the recipes a family may have grown up with. And it can be entertaining to see how tastes, ingredients and even appliances have changed over the years.

During recent weekend bargain hunts, I picked up three such boxes for 50 cents each. One dated from the 1960s or 1970s, but the other two went back at least to the 1930s.

Hit or miss

The woman who sold me one of them said she had found it buried in a wall of her house when she renovated. It felt like reading an anonymous diary as I picked through the fragile cards brown with age.

Cooking from such recipes is hit or miss. Often the cards were just reminders of recipes known by heart, making it a challenge to recreate them. Others benefit from updating.

I was intrigued by one recipe scrawled in a shaky hand on an index card. "Anna Shorey's Dessert" offered little guidance when it said: "1 can Carnation evap. milk beaten stiff. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Fold in juice of 1 lemon or 1/2. Freeze."

Made as directed, the dish was a milky block. Likely, there was more stirring involved that didn't make it into the written recipe. For round two I tossed the mixture into an ice cream maker. Now that was a sweet and creamy treat!

A recipe for sliced tomato salad needed little tinkering. This simple and tasty salad calls for a bed of greens covered with sliced tomatoes and drizzled with a sour-cream dressing.

The final recipe I tested was "Bishop's Bread from New Hampshire." What I assumed would be a sandwich loaf of some sort ended up a tasty cross between angel food cake and a blondie.

A bit of Internet research turned up countless variations of this dessert, and the trivia that this bread dates from Colonial New England. Housewives apparently baked it in anticipation of the parson's visit.

Sliced Tomato Salad

(Preparation 15 minutes)

4 cups salad greens (baby spinach leaves or Romaine are nice)

4 medium slicing tomatoes (beefsteak are good), cut to 1/4-inch slices

1/2 cup sour cream (or soy alternative)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Pinch cayenne

1 to 2 tablespoons grated horseradish

Arrange the greens in a bed on a large plate or platter. Layer the slices in an overlapping circle on top of the greens.

To make the dressing, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth and well combined. Drizzle the dressing over the tomatoes. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Bishop's Bread from New Hampshire

(Preparation 40 minutes)

3 eggs, yolks and whites separated

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose white flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup raisins

1 cup slivered almonds

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Use a mixer to cream the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. While mixing, add vanilla and milk.

Sift together the salt, flour and baking power, then add to the bowl and mix well. Add the raisins and almonds, and mix to combine.

In another bowl, use the mixer to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, being careful not to overmix.

Spread the batter across a standard baking sheet, about 1/4- to 1/3-inch thick.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until top begins to brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool, then cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar.

Makes 12 squares.