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Re: Horn & Hardart Recipes
Posted By: Sherry In Response To: Horn & Hardart Recipes (Christine Cerino)
Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 9:16 p.m.
The Legacy of Horn & Hardart, January 12, 2003
Reviewer: david kenny (see more about me) from New York
This is an excellent, well wri
tten, and for the most part accurate picture of Horn & Hardart Automats, and their significant impact on the culinary habits of many its customers right up to its demise in New York in the early 1980's and its retrenchment to Philadelphia during that time period. What is inaccurate, is the representation that the last real company owned Automat, located at Third Avenue and 42nd Street closed in 1991. True, there was an entity operating under the trade name of Horn & Hardart at that location until 1991, but the restaurant was only a licensing arrangement, and the food served in the restaurant, such as Macaroni & Cheese, etc. were not the true Horn & Hardart recipies. The real Horn & Hardart recipies were available until 1991 at the only remaining Horn & Hardart Baking Company store, which was located in the Bala Cynward Shopping Center, as accurately described in the book as the last remaining Horn & Hardart location. Also, the recipies in the book, or at least the Macaroni and Cheese recipie, appears not to be authentic. Although the co-author, Marianne Hardart credits a nutritionist will assistance with the recipie, it appears that the recipie is not truly authentic, insofar key ingredients, such as crushed tomatoes and light cream are not included in the recipie. A much better recipie for Horn and Hardart's Macaroni and Cheese is as follows:MACARONI AND CHEESE
1lb. Ziti Rigati 1/8 tsp. Red Pepper
6Tbs. Flour 1/8 tsp. White Pepper
6 Tbs. Butter 4Tbs. Light Cream
6 C. Milk 3C. Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 tsp. Salt 1C. Crushed Tomatoes
2 tsp. Sugar
Boil ziti until barely cooked. Drain and set aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, blend in flour and cook 2 minutes.
Beat in the milk, then the cream and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Stir in the cheese until melted, then add the tomatoes, salt, sugar and two peppers.
Add cheese mixture to the ziti.
Pour into a baking pan and bake in a preheated 400* oven until top browns and bubbles.
**To Freeze: Pour into aluminum pans, seal and place in freezer. DO NOT BAKE BEFORE FREEZING.
**To Bake Frozen Macaroni and Cheese: Allow to defrost before baking. Uncover and place in 400* oven and bake until top is brown and bubbling.
I had hoped that this book, which had promised to include the "secret" Horn & Hardart recipies, which were under tight family control, would have been the actual "secret" recipies. However, despite these disappointments, this is an excellent book that gives a detailed history of an American Institution.
Horn and Hardart Baked Beans
Serves 8 to 10
1 pound dried navy beans, rinsed
1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
4 slices bacon, diced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2/3 cup molasses
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
Salt to taste
Place the beans in a large saucepot and cover with cold water. Let stand overnight at room temperature.
Drain, place in an 8-quart saucepot, add fresh water to cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are almost tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Return the beans with the other ingredients and the 1 cup reserved cooking liquid to the pot; mix to combine. Pour into a 9x13x2-inch baking pan or a Dutch oven.
Bake, uncovered, until very tender, approximately 4 hours. Check the beans occasionally while baking and add water if necessary to prevent the mixture from drying out. Season with salt and let cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.Horn & Hardart`s Creamed Spinach
Restaurant RecipesIngredients:
1 pound Raw spinach
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon White pepper
3/4 cup milk
Directions:
Wash spinach. Cook in a covered pan using only the water that clings to the leaves. When done, chop fine.Melt butter in separate pan. Add flour gradually, stirring constantly until smooth consistency. Add milk slowly.
Cook until thickened. Add spinach to sauce. Add seasoning.
Horn and Hardart's Automat, founded in Philadelphia in 1902 and opened in New York ten years later, was once the world's largest restaurant chain with, at its peak, 180 shops serving 800,000 customers a day. Unlike any other restaurant before or since, the Automat was nothing less than a giant vending machine, dispensing fresh, tasty, and inexpensive food from compartments behind small windows (as in the photo above). The establishment was essentially a self-service restaurant or cafeteria. Each compartment was opened by dropping one or more nickels in its slot. The Automat was not really "automatic," however. Whenever a customer removed an item from its compartment, it was quickly replaced by a human being who worked behind the scenes.
The Automat holds a special place in the history of American restaurants. Many of its locations were beautifully decorated in art deco style. It appears in paintings by Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper and in at least two songs: "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee" (by Irving Berlin) and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" (which was sung by Marilyn Monroe).
What accounted for the Automat's popularity? It was modern and high-tech in its day. The food was fresh, inexpensive and fast, and the fact that it was kept in glass-fronted compartments gave customers confidence in the restaurant's cleanliness and sanitation. It was also a novelty and dropping nickels in the slots was endlessly entertaining for children and even for adults who did not eat there frequently.
When I was eight years old, my parents took my sister and me to New York for our summer vacation. As a young technologist, a visit to the Automat was high on my list of things to do and places to see--somewhere between the Gilbert Hall of Science and the Statue of Liberty. I delighted in the macaroni and cheese, but I'll never forget how disappointed I was when I saw a human hand reach in and replace the lemon meringue pie I had just taken. The last Automat closed in 1991, the same year as the Gilbert Hall of Science. A portion of the original 1902 Philadelphia Automat is in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
Horn & Hardart`s Rice Pudding
Restaurant Recipes
Ingredients:
4 cups milk
3/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
7 tablespoons butter
6 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 pounds boiled rice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
raisins (optional)Directions:
Scald milk. Add the salt, sugar and butter and place in top of double boiler. Beat eggs and slowly add to the milk, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and rice and cook an additional five minutes, stirring frequently. Pour into 9x15 pan, sprinkle with cinnamon and place in refrigerator to cool and set for one hour.
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