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Post #6 - March 30th, 2006, 12:50 am Post #6 - March 30th, 2006, 12:50 am

Antoinette Pope Cookbook

Evil Ronnie,

Antoinette with her husband Francois ran the Antoinette Pope School of Fancy Cookery. They were big time Chicago celebrities with a television show back in the 1950's, though their cooking school predates WW2.

I just ran to grab a copy of one of their books, which I always buy whenever I come across one at a rummage, garage or house sale for much, much less than $150. Eggrolls were not in the index until I looked for Chinese, then I found their recipe for Cantonese Egg Rolls, which I have adapted.

It begins by advising to purchase 7 inch square noodle dough squares from Chinese noodle factories or bakeries in Chinatown. They noted:

Chinese cooks ordinarily dip these rolls into a thin fritter batter before they are fried the first time, but it is not necessary. They are more crisp if not dipped into batter.

The ingredients stated are:

1/2 pound fresh shrimp (with shells)
1 cup cooked pork, veal or beef, finely chopped
1 cup celery, chopped very fine
1/2 cup Chinese water chestnuts (measure after peeling), chop (not too fine)
1/2 cup fresh green onion and stems, chopped very fine, or 2 tablespoons finely chopped dry onion
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon white seasoning (C2- msg?)
1/8 teaspoon dark Oriental seasoning (C2 - 5 spice powder?)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon peanut butter

They gently boil the shell-on shrimp for 7-8 minutes, though only 5 minutes if medium. Let the shrimp cool in (cooking?) water until almost cool. Shell, devein and chop shrimp into very small pieces, which should yield 1 cup of shrimp.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. If it is too dry, then add a little more melted butter. Mixture should be moist though not too wet or dry.

Each egg roll was filled with 1/4 cup filling yielding a six inch long roll, whose edges were painted with beaten egg to seal. (They had more elaborate instructions, but I think the filling combination was what interested us the most.)

Their cooking method is in two steps:
1. As eggrolls are completed, they are cooked in peanut oil heated to 360 to 375 degrees, to fry until very lightly colored and set. Refrigerate if they are not served within an hour.
2. If refrigerated, then remove eggrolls 30 minutes before serving. Heat peanut oil to 360 to 375 degrees, then fry until golden brown and crisp, which should take 5 minutes.

Interestingly they do not suggest serving with any sauces, though the prior recipe of Cantonese Fried Shrimp is served with Sweet Sour Sauce or Hot Sauce, which was principally catchup (sic) and dry mustard.

***

I was recently at Kow Kow on Cicero Avenue, which made an eggroll pretty close to the Pope's recipe. In fact it seemed to have been dipped in something before frying, which may be the fritter batter the Pope's referred to.

***

While SteveZ is hardly I , I am of a slightly younger generation who watched Bozo. (BTW - my sister was selected for the Grand Prize Game, though didn't participate.) I watched Julia Child on Channel 11 at noon for years when my interest in Bozo faded.

SteveZ - what station were the Pope's on?

Regards,