Category: Meats

Jerri’s Hamburger Pie

In spite of the fact that we have been using our Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook at least once a week for over forty years, it is in pretty good shape. The title page and page two, a note from the editors, have torn loose and some of the section tabs have torn off. But every recipe is still there, and many taste just as good today as they did when we first tried them.

That, coupled with the fact that the recipes are easy to read and follow, helps explain why the book has been in print continuously since it was published in 1930. Over forty million copies have ended up in the kitchens of America.

Our copy is the 1968 edition and the copyright page states that the book was published by Meredith Corporation of Des Moines, Iowa, and “Printed in the United States of America.” I was glad to learn that, as it gave me the perfect answer to the question that Minnesotans like to ask visitors from the Hawkeye state, “What is the best thing to come out of Iowa?”

I-35 indeed. Ask the jokers how many cookbooks from Minnesota have sold forty million copies.

Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook is still published in Des Moines, Iowa, but I note sadly that it is no longer printed in the USA. Instead, it is now “Printed in China.” Alas.

One of the recipes that Jerri discovered in this wonderful cookbook is “Hamburger Pie.” Like many casseroles, this one lends itself to being put together ahead of time and cooked just before the meal. When she was giving piano lessons, she made this casserole at least a couple of times every month. She assembled it before her first student arrived, put it into the refrigerator and then popped the casserole into the oven an hour before we sat down to eat.

Even our kids liked it. Give it a try.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. hamburger
1/2 small onion (about 2 inches in diameter)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 cups canned cut green beans
1 can (10 1/2 oz.) condensed tomato soup
4 large or 5 medium potatoes
Water
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese

PROCEDURE:

Peel and quarter the potatoes and put them in a two or three-quart saucepan. Cover them with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Bring the pan to a boil and simmer the potatoes until they feel tender when you jab them with a fork. It will usually take about twenty minutes for the potatoes to cook, but check them after fifteen minutes or so, as you want them tender but not falling to pieces.

While the potatoes are cooking, brown the hamburger over medium heat in a large skillet. Use a wooden spoon to break the hamburger into crumbles and season it with a half teaspoon of salt and about an eighth teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Chop the onion medium fine and mix it with the hamburger. You want about a half cup of chopped onion. Remove the pan from the heat.

If there is more than a tablespoon of fat in the pan, drain the excess before you add the beans and tomato soup. Drain the beans and mix them with the meat. Then stir in the soup.

Grease a one and one-half or two-quart casserole and spread the meat mixture evenly on the bottom.

Preheat the oven to 350º.

The potatoes should be cooked by this time. Drain and mash them. Heat the milk until it feels very warm but not hot and use the masher to stir it vigorously into the potatoes. Beat the egg in a cup until it is lemon yellow and stir it into the potatoes along with an eighth teaspoon each of white pepper and salt.

Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the meat mixture.

Grate the cheese and sprinkle it over the top. Bake the casserole for twenty-five minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned around the edges of the casserole.

NOTES: Jerri uses medium Cheddar most often for this casserole, but I think that it is even better with sharp Cheddar. In an emergency, you can use mild Cheddar or even Colby.

Joyce’s Sausage Pinwheels

My brother-in-law Merle was a regional credit manager for Phillips 66. As anyone in business will tell you, a sale is not complete until you have been paid. A credit manager’s job is to see that the company gets paid. This is not always easy. When Merle was transferred to a territory which included Alabama and Mississippi, he learned that the previous credit manager had asked for a transfer.

It seemed that a major petroleum jobber was persistently late on million-dollar invoices. The credit manager was just as persistent in reminding the jobber that Phillips expected invoices to be paid when due. Like one of “those good old boys” from back in the bayous, the jobber announced that he would be tempted to use the rifle hanging in the back window of his pickup the next time he heard another word about paying invoices on time.

I asked Merle how he handled the situation. “Well, the manager I replaced was a nice guy, and he wanted to keep both the customer and our sales department happy. The jobber was one of our biggest customers in the area. But he was earning interest on money that he owed Phillips 66, and Phillips could use that interest too.

“I spent a day looking over the filling stations in the area and decided that he needed Phillips just as much as we needed him, so I told him that if he didn’t start paying on time, I would stop deliveries until he got caught up. We got along just fine after that.”

As a mid-level manager for Phillips 66, Merle was expected to entertain colleagues and their wives from time to time. His wife, Joyce, had the job of providing the food. Here is a simple, savory appetizer that their guests always enjoyed, and Joyce shared it with Jerri.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
5 T shortening
2/3 cup milk
1 lb. pork sausage

PROCEDURE:

Stir the flour, salt and baking powder together in a mixing bowl and cut in the shortening with a fork or pastry blender as if you were making biscuits. Add the milk to moisten the dry ingredients. If necessary, add a little more milk or flour so the dough is moist but not wet.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead it briefly, just ten or twelve turns. Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a quarter inch thick rectangle. Spread the uncooked sausage evenly on the dough. Roll each rectangle as if you were making a jelly roll.

Cover the rolls and chill them for an hour to make them easier to slice. Preheat the oven to 400º.

Slice the rolls into quarter or half-inch rounds and put them a half inch apart on baking sheets. Bake the pinwheels for ten to twelve minutes until they are lightly browned. Serve them warm.

NOTES: Long after Merle retired, he and Joyce visited our cabin at Cable. As we drove Highway 63 north, Merle told us that he had checked a directory of Phillips 66 dealers after he learned that his sister was planning to marry a guy from Hayward. Until we crossed that beautiful river, he said, he had always assumed that Namekagon Oil Company was owned by Mr. Namekagon. The story still makes us smile.