I have a WWII era cookbook: Coffee tip

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I have a WWII era cookbook: Coffee tip

Postby Kurt » Sun Jul 28, 2019 12:08 am

It was owned by a woman named Louise Elster and she got it in 1944. It is called "The Victory Binding of The American Woman's Cookbook: Wartime Edition"

Anyway, Ms. Elster included newspaper clippings from between 1944 and 1982 with food tips. One was advice that cottage cheese needed refrigeration (seems obvious now) and another was how to make instant coffee taste like fresh brewed.

1. Put instant coffee in hot water and let sit until the water cools down a bit.
2. Place coffee in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
3. Pour out in cups.
4. Drink.

I tried it with some Maxwell House I have laying around for those "shit, I forgot to buy coffee" moments and low and behold it worked. It did not taste like fresh brewed but it did not taste like instant either.

Remember those Starbucks instant coffee tubes that tasted pretty decent? This tasted akin to those.
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Re: I have a WWII era cookbook: Coffee tip

Postby 2 Charlie » Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:31 pm

Essentially how airplane coffee comes to life. Most airlines put hot water and instant Joe into the onboard thermo and as the meals are cranking up, the thermo gets close to boiling but not fully. This is maintained for a period and tadda, run coffee dolly down the aisle and I am ready. Of course, this is from a person who was in a compound in Iraq with a $20 Grand cappuccino and latte machine in the USAID cafeteria and no ground coffee for a couple months. The Chef and I got real good at steaming instant coffee and creamer into a fakuchino...
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Re: I have a WWII era cookbook: Coffee tip

Postby Kurt » Tue Jul 30, 2019 9:41 pm

2 Charlie wrote:Essentially how airplane coffee comes to life. Most airlines put hot water and instant Joe into the onboard thermo and as the meals are cranking up, the thermo gets close to boiling but not fully. This is maintained for a period and tadda, run coffee dolly down the aisle and I am ready. Of course, this is from a person who was in a compound in Iraq with a $20 Grand cappuccino and latte machine in the USAID cafeteria and no ground coffee for a couple months. The Chef and I got real good at steaming instant coffee and creamer into a fakuchino...


Interesting. I never minded airplane coffee. Truck Stop brewed coffee got me to appreciate Instant coffee.

I even find myself looking forward to airplane coffee the same way I look forward to airplane peanuts..I guess because I am in a 500ph can and there is nothing better to do.
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since we are sharing

Postby el3so » Wed Jul 31, 2019 11:17 pm

Never boiled coffee except for colouring easter eggs back in the day once but onion peels are cheaper.
Kurt wrote: those "shit, I forgot to buy coffee" moments
Slap a trigger warning on that, my man!
If you're talking love in a canoe times I will admit to having re-used grinds, adding chicory (dunno if that stuff even has a shelf life) using half the water as regular, couple of repeats slow dripping it hobo-style and finally spiking the pot with the last of the freeze dried coffee.

Might try the recipe at some time but nowadays I usually mix my folger's/nescafe with hot milk, pretend it's a light meal.

From 1940 onward monthly ration of ersatz coffee was like 0.6614 lbs/person over here. Acorns (not too bad) and chicory (tasty but again, no cafeine).
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Re: I have a WWII era cookbook: Coffee tip

Postby Kurt » Thu Aug 01, 2019 12:52 am

I used to stock up on chicory "coffee" in the chicory using states of eastern Nevada (Mormons), Utah (Mormons) and Louisiana (Creole and Cajun..who add it to coffee) so I kind of like that as a coffee replacement.

Re-using grounds though...Nope, nope, nope. I know it is perfectly fine to do but I just cannot get myself to do it.
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cookbook

Postby el3so » Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:14 pm

Kurt wrote: chicory using states of eastern Nevada (Mormons), Utah (Mormons) and Louisiana (Creole and Cajun..who add it to coffee)
Heh, religion.
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