ok 2021 me would say GAG. But maybe 1942 me would say Yum. Who knows?
According to the internet (and cant we always trust the internet), this recipe came out as a thrifty Easter Ham and hard boiled eggs leftover re-work in 1942.
SPRY Vegetable Shortening and Aunt Jenny
Spry Vegetable Shortening was introduced by Lever brothers in 1936 .
Aunt Jenny was the spokeswoman/mascot for SPRY and with an aggressive ad campaign, SPRY became a serious competitor for the P&G product, Crisco.
Although Aunt Jenny Ad campaigns were gradually phased out in the 1950s, you can still find many old cookbooks calling for spry shortening.
Creamed Ham and Eggs
This recipe was touted by Aunt Jenny as thrifty and economical and would have your faminly licking their plates clean and begging for more.
It consisted of deep fried spaghetti baskets (no joke!) and filled with a creamy mixture of ham and sliced eggs.
If this doesn’t say vintage cooking, then I don’t know what does!
Hungry yet?
CRISPY NOODLE BASKETS
place 6oz spaghetti in boiling water for 1 minute. Strain and rinse well with cold water. drain well and dry thoroughly.
in a metal basket or metal colander, arrange the cooked pasta along the sides and bottom. Place a mesh strainer on top to hold noodle shape.
Deep fry in 2-3″ of melted shortening at 390 degrees. 7 minutes or until crispy golden brown on bottom.
Remove mesh strainer, flip upside down and fry tops. Set aside
CREAMED HAM
- 2 TBSP vegetable shortening
- 2 TBSP flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cup leftover ham, cut into pieces
- 3 hard boiled eggs, sliced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- dash pepper
No temps were given so I am assuming it is medium to medium high, you dont want to scald or burn the milk)
In a saucepan, melt the vegetable shortening. Add flour and mix well. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly. Continue to cook while stirring until it thickens.
Add salt and pepper.
Fold in ham and egg slices and coat well.
Serve in your fried noodle basket.
Bon appetit!
