All recipes

Old-fashioned 1950s tamale pie: ground beef cooked down with onion, bell pepper, corn, tomatoes and chili powder in a 9 by 13 inch dish, cheese over the top, then a stiff cornmeal batter smoothed to the edges and baked until the lid is gold. Cups and grams, oven temperature and time.

The Southern three-day coconut cake: two 9 inch layers split into four, filled with sour cream, sugar and sweetened coconut, refrigerated three days, then covered in a fluffy cooked white frosting beaten seven minutes over boiling water and rolled in coconut.

The old-fashioned tomato soup spice cake: one can of condensed tomato soup, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, raisins and walnuts, in a 9 by 13 pan or two 8 inch layers, with cream cheese frosting. Nobody can taste the tomato.

Old-fashioned chicken pot pie with a single crust on top: chicken, carrots, potatoes, onion and peas in a gravy of butter, flour, broth and milk, baked at 400°F for 35 to 40 minutes. Why there is no bottom crust, and the case for the peas.

Old-fashioned vinegar pie from the Depression years: a smooth golden custard of eggs, sugar, melted butter and a little flour, sharpened with two tablespoons of cider vinegar so it tastes almost exactly like lemon, in a press-in lazy crust with no rolling. Baked at 350°F until the center barely shakes.

The Depression era chocolate wacky cake, mixed with a fork in the ungreased pan it bakes in: flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt, three wells for the vinegar, the vanilla and the oil, and a cup of cold water over everything. 350°F, one 8 or 9 inch square pan.

The old community cookbook 7UP pound cake: three sticks of butter, five eggs, fresh lemon and three quarters of a cup of fizzy lemon-lime soda instead of baking powder, baked low and slow in a Bundt pan and finished with a soda glaze.

The famous shortcut apple dumplings: apple wedges wrapped in crescent roll dough, baked in a butter, sugar and cinnamon sauce with a can of lemon-lime soda poured around the edges. Sticky bottoms, golden tops, ready in 45 minutes. Cups and grams.

Old-fashioned Midwest beef and noodles: a chuck roast braised until it falls apart, thick egg noodles cooked right in the broth until it turns to gravy on its own, all of it ladled over a pile of mashed potatoes.

Old-fashioned Southern chicken and cornbread dressing baked in a 9x13 pan: day-old cornbread and stale white bread, onion and celery cooked in butter, sage, hot broth from a poached chicken, eggs and cream of chicken soup, baked until the top crisps and the inside stays soft.

The classic potluck chicken and rice casserole: cooked chicken, white rice, cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup, sour cream and cheddar, baked under a cheese and cracker top. Feeds ten, freezes whole, and it is what gets carried to new mothers and to families in a hard week.

The classic Texas and Oklahoma chicken spaghetti casserole: chicken poached with an onion, spaghetti cooked in the broth, cream of mushroom, tomatoes with green chiles, pimentos, green pepper and a lid of melted cheddar. Feeds a crowd and freezes before baking.