Old Hollywood Kitchen: Marlene Dietrich and Karen Morley

It started simply enough: one weekend I developed a craving for banana bread, and conveniently had a couple of overripe bananas to put to good use. I realized that I had one vintage recipe to re-test and one I had never used (and a tried-and-true third recipe, my own mother's). Thus, here it is, my first side-by-side recipe comparison; a tale of two banana breads.

Marlene Dietrich's Banana Nut Bread

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. salt (I omitted)
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana pulp (usually 2 bananas)
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

The first test of this recipe taught me a valuable lesson: modern ovens run hotter, and with more consistent temperature than their 1930s predecessors. As such, one full hour in a 350 degree oven proved nearly fatal for the poor loaf. The bottom half was dry and tough, the top half just barely edible. It practically has a tan line! Try again.

The second attempt fared much better. I kept a closer eye on the oven timer and pulled the loaf out after 45 minutes. Improved texture, though still a touch dry. I was running low on walnuts this time around, and I'm not sure if that had an impact on the moisture levels.

Now, how about that "new" recipe?

Karen Morley's Banana Bread

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda (sifted with flour)
2 tsp. milk
2 cups flour
3 bananas, well mashed

Baked at 300 degrees for about 55 minutes, this loaf turned out moist, even a bit chewy, likely owing to the use of sour cream. This recipe may edge out Dietrich's as I'm not accustomed to putting walnuts in banana bread and prefer it without them. I plan to make it again sometime and may let it go a full hour in the oven to see how that affects the texture. Overall, I still prefer my mother's recipe (also without walnuts) over these two, but I'm willing to try either of these again.

I've included my movie recommendations in the photos above. The Dietrich and von Sternberg in Hollywood box set is a wonderful Criterion release and will hit the spot if you're looking for a heady dose of (mostly pre-Code) glamour. I've chosen another pre-Code gem, 1932's Arsene Lupin, for Karen Morley, who matches wits with John Barrymore's suave gentleman thief. Happy watching, and happy baking!

Old Hollywood Kitchen: Celeste Holm

With the warmer weather upon us, what better time for an entree incorporating a touch of fruit?

Celeste Holm's Chicken Montmorency

1 chicken, cut for frying
Butter
1 can dark, sweet cherries
Cornstarch for thickening
Sherry (optional)

One hurdle to clear in gathering the ingredients: canned dark cherries are tough to find in my area. Aside from fresh picked, the only other widely available options are canned pie filling and maraschino cherries. No way.

Luckily I found something better! Sour cherries are more accurate to the traditional dish and add a refreshing tartness, whereas the canned cherries would have been cloyingly sweet.

I can recommend this recipe on ease of preparation alone. Served with wild rice per Holm's suggestion, and without the sherry, it's an enticing mix of flavors and textures; the tang of the sour cherries plays well against the dark meat of the chicken thighs I used. Many of the recipes in these cookbooks call for the use of a whole chicken; if you're only cooking for one or two people, it's easier to use smaller cuts of meat. It may also require some tweaking of ingredient proportions, usually a simple task (unless you're giving Joan Blondell's Sunday Night Special a whirl). I plan to make this again very soon, the perfect summertime sustenance.

Celeste Holm was in numerous supporting roles over the course of her film career, but my pick this time around is 1948's Road House, which also boasts fine performances from Richard Widmark and a singing(!) Ida Lupino. Road House was screened at the 2nd Nitrate Picture Show, which was before I began attending the festival. Fingers crossed that it gets an encore screening someday!

Old Hollywood Kitchen: Glenda Farrell

For the first time in the Old Hollywood Kitchen we have a repeat celebrity, the wonderful Glenda Farrell. This is a recipe I've had tucked away for the right occasion, as mentioned in a previous post. When St. Patrick's Day rolled around last Sunday, her Irish Beef Stew was a natural choice.

Glenda Farrell's Irish Beef Stew

Meat mixture:

3/4 lb. round steak

1 cup carrots

1 cup potatoes

1 cup celery

1 tbsp. parsley

1 cup onion

1 cup beef suet (I omitted)

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

Biscuit dough:

3 cups flour

3/4 tsp. salt

*3 tsp. baking powder

3 tbsp. shortening

1 cup milk

*Note that the instructions state to sift in 6 tsp. of baking powder. I'd stick with the 3 tsp. instead, though you'll see shortly that there were other problems...

This one started out easy enough. I rounded out the meat and vegetable mixture with Worchestershire sauce and black garlic powder seasoning to stave off potential blandness. I didn't substitute anything for the beef suet, and I'm wondering if 1 cup of beef or vegetable broth would have benefited the proceedings.

This is when the worry sank in.

No matter, as the biscuit dough tested both my limited skills and patience. I sifted and mixed the ingredients as directed, but the "dough" was too dry to hold together. I splashed in a tiny bit more milk...and it got so much worse. Nothing but a gluey mess to contend with and try to form into a reasonable facsimile of pie crust. Truly an amateur hour, I forgot to flour my countertop before rolling out the dough, and so resigned myself to patting sticky globs of dough at the bottom of the casserole dish and over the top of the meat mixture without attempting to balance the dough with flour (and possibly more milk). I'd had enough. I waved the white flag.

Not ready for primetime.

As with many of these older recipes, it was done in less time than specified (only needed 45 minutes of the hour). The taste test yielded no surprises: flavorful meat and crisp vegetables, buried beneath (alternately crunchy and tacky) dough that you could use to grout tile. Doubtful I will attempt this again anytime soon, not at least until I get a better handle on making biscuits. The failure here is my own, but I'm looking onward and upward. At least we'll always have that fine Devil's Food Cake.

I've recommended several of Glenda Farrell's films in her previous post, but to end on a positive note, I'll keep with the theme and highlight a short film I watched on St. Patrick's Day, the enjoyably spooky Return to Glennascaul, featuring Orson Welles, golden timbre and all, and an unusual old house in Ireland. More recipe tests forthcoming, and I guarantee more favorable results.