Dorothy Dean turns 80
With holiday dinners, drinks and decorations. With menus and games for children’s birthday parties. With any kind of domestic dilemma in the era before microwaves, America’s Test Kitchen, iPads and the Internet’s instantly searchable recipes.
Dorothy Dean was reliable and reachable, practical and economical, an expert who seemed more like a surrogate mom or grandmother than a series of newspaper editors.
Women who headed The Spokesman-Review’s Dorothy Dean Homemakers Service used the alliterative pseudonym for nearly 50 years.
Many readers believed she was real, and decades later, they still miss her. They call the newsroom, looking for replacement recipe leaflets. They continue to treasure her recipes, bound in worn, forest green, three-ring binders that are often taped together to keep the Christmas goose, sherried Cornish game hens or Patio Lickin’ Chicken from falling out.
This month marks 80 years since the birth of Dorothy Dean and the newspaper’s popular home economics department. The first Dorothy Dean weekly cooking matinee took place Oct. 17, 1935.
In addition to hosting cooking demonstrations and publishing recipe leaflets, the newspaper’s home economics department produced an “Ask Dorothy Dean” column and operated a free telephone hotline for homemakers to get on-the-spot advice for their latest cooking – and other domestic – disasters.
How to cook a piece of meat “the size of a telephone book.” How to break into one’s home after locking herself out. What to do after soaking a wild rabbit overnight in salted water – with its fur still on.
“This was the greatest, most wonderful thing that The Spokesman-Review has ever done,” said 79-year-old Marvel Carlson of Spokane. Her mother-in-law, an immigrant from Sweden, once worked as an assistant with the Dorothy Dean Homemakers Service.
“She always renewed my subscription to it,” Carlson said. “The recipes were out of this world. For 11 months, each month, you would get three pages of recipes on both sides and then the last month you would get the index so you would have a complete cookbook every year.”
Dorothy Dean offered recipes that were budget-friendly and easy to prepare. Instructions weren’t elaborate, usually running just a few, simple lines. That no-nonsense, three-hole-punch approach to home cooking endured through the war years and baby boom and past the Summer of Love and the 1970s until the Dorothy Dean Homemakers Service was shuttered in 1983.
Since then, it’s clear Dorothy Dean’s reach has gone far beyond the Inland Northwest. Throughout the decades, those prized green binders full of Oleo-stained pages have been passed down to daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters. Favorites have stood the test of time.
Charlotte Donahue’s favorite is California Casserole, which she used to make whenever company was coming.
“My very first cookbook was Betty Crocker,” said Donahue, of Mead. “The second one was the Dorothy Dean cookbook. How I love the Dorothy Dean cookbook! Today I have about 150 cookbooks, and the first place I go when I need a recipe is my Dorothy Dean cookbook. My 58-year-old daughter still calls me when in doubt about a recipe and has me look into Dorothy Dean, as she used to cook with me in her high school years and still remembers those wonderful recipes.”
With advances in science and technology, other instructions haven’t held up. Don’t use old Dorothy Dean recipes for canning; they haven’t been updated with longer processing times now recommended to kill clostridium botulinum bacteria. They could put people at risk for botulism, a serious and sometimes fatal neurotoxin. (Try the “Ball Blue Book” series by the Ball Corp. or the new “Complete Canning Guide” by Better Homes and Gardens instead.)
Others, though not unsafe, could use an update, too. Last month, The Spokesman-Review Food section asked readers for oldies but goodies in need of a little modernization. Local chefs agreed to update a few favorite Dorothy Dean recipes for the 21st century.
The newspaper received far more submissions than could be used. A special thanks goes to everyone who participated, especially the chefs who re-imagined the vintage recipes. They had no rules for their revamps, only that they be inspired by the Dorothy Dean originals.
Here are their inspirations and creations.
Fiesta Tamale Pie
From Dorothy Dean
“Once I made the Fiesta Tamale Pie for a school potluck and they ate everything and practically licked the pan!” said Charlotte Donahue, of Mead.
Slowly stir cornmeal and salt in boiling water in top of double boiler over direct heat. Cook, stirring, until thick and smooth. Place over hot water; stir in butter. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. In large skillet, fry bacon until crisp; drain off most of fat. Add onion, green pepper and garlic; cook about 5 minutes. Add meat; cook until lightly browned. Stir in seasonings, tomato soup, tomato sauce, corn and olives. Grease 9-by-13-inch baking pan; line bottom and sides with half of cornmeal mush. Spoon in meat mixture, then spread remaining mush over filling. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.
Corn Pan Fritters with Lime-Scented Beef Tenderloin and Tomatillo Salsa Verde
From Bob Lombardi, Inland Northwest Culinary Academy at Spokane Community College
Lombardi re-imagined the tamale casserole as individual corn and masa fritters with strips of marinated steak instead of a layer of ground beef. Like the original version, it features some canned or prepackaged ingredients. It also cooks quickly once all ingredients are prepped.
Slice tenderloin into long strips, combine all ingredients for the beef and let marinate for 20 minutes.
Meantime, strip corn from the cob, finely dice green onion and red bell pepper, sauté vegetables in the vegetable oil with seasoning for 3 to 4 minutes over medium heat, then let cool.
Combine and mix the pancake mix, masa, water and egg substitute. Add the sautéed vegetbles to the mix, fold together and let rest and absorb for 20 minutes.
Meantime, make the salsa. Grill char the whole tomatillos, onion, jalapeño and garlic. While still warm, process in a blender or food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill for later use.
Spoon corn mixture into hot vegetable oil in skillet. Pan fry the corn cakes and reserve warm.
Pan fry the beef tenderloin. Heat the soup.
Spoon two or three spoonfuls of salsa onto plate or serving platter and swipe with back of spoon to spread. Repeat with sweet chili sauce, if using. Arrange fritters on top of sauces. Arrange steak strips on top of fritters. Garnish with queso fresco, cilantro and radishes, if using. Serve with a side – bowl or cup – of soup.
Do-Ahead Sausage Fondue
This is Marilee Floener’s favorite Dorothy Dean recipe. Her late ex-mother-in-law made the dish for holiday breakfasts along with cinnamon rolls.
“She always sliced the sausage links into bite-size pieces and increased the milk that is added to the soup from 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup. I now make this when I have friends spending the night,” Floener wrote in her submission. The recipe dates to 1962, “making it 53 years old. Perhaps it’s time for a makeover!”
Place cubed bread in the bottom of a greased 8-by-12-inch baking dish; top with cheese. Brown sausage, drain, then place on cheese. Beat eggs with milk and mustard. Pour over sausage. Refrigerate casserole overnight. Next day, dilute mushroom soup with ½ cup milk. Pour over the dish. Bake at 300 degrees for about 1 ½ hours until set.
Gluten Free Sausage, Pepper, Mushroom and Cheese Soufflé
From Bob Lombardi
In a sauté pan, with vegetable oil or cooking spray, sauté 8 ounces button mushrooms, 8 ounces Italian brown mushrooms, ½ red bell pepper, 3 tablespoons thyme, 3 tablespoons rosemary and ½ pound breakfast sausage over medium heat until sausage is completely cooked and vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and cool.
In a mixing bowl, with a wire whip and spatula, combine baking mix, eggs and water and whisk until smooth. Add in the vegetables, herbs, breakfast sausage and cheese. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add garlic and onion powders, if using.
Use cooking spray to coat two 12-portion, nonstick muffin tins. Place ½ cup batter into each muffin cup of each tin. Bake at 325 degrees in a convection oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the middles are springy to the touch.
Meantime, break apart the Belgian endive leaves, spoon in the herbed cheese spread and set aside.
Sauté 1 pound breakfast sausage together with remaining button and Italian brown mushrooms, 2 tablespoons thyme, 2 tablespoons rosemary and asparagus slices. Remove from pan. Add heavy cream to the hot pan and reduce over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
Place the a little reduced cream on each serving plate, top with warm a breakfast soufflé, arrange some sautéed breakfast sausage, mushrooms and vegetables around the soufflé. Place a stuffed endive on each plate as an additional element to the dish.
Cheeseaghetti Casserole
From Dorothy Dean
This recipe was submitted without a name or return address, but with a note that said, “I have made cheeseaghetti for years, always a hit with kids as well as grown-ups.”
It appeared in a Dorothy Dean “Penny Pincher” column on May 18, 1983, under the headline “Ground beef doesn’t mean hamburgers.”
But the recipe must have appeared before that, too, because chef Lombardi said, “I honestly grew up on this one.”
He said his mom snuck in green peas as a way to get her kids to eat them. As a member of the church funeral committee, she also made it standard comfort fare for grieving families.
The anonymous submitter wrote that she, or he, makes this in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. The cost per serving was listed in the column as 90 cents.
“A little salad and garlic toast, you’ve got it made,” the submitter wrote.
Brown ground beef and onions in skillet. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, seasonings and brown sugar. Simmer for 30 minutes or until thick. Cook spaghetti; drain and rinse. Toss spaghetti with cottage cheese, spread over bottom of shallow, 3-quart casserole. Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese; spoon over sauce. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Baked Rigatoni and Penne Rigate in Vodka Sauce with Wilted Kale
From Bob Lombardi
Sauté vegetables and basil in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Add tomato puree, diced tomatoes, vodka sauce, onion and garlic powders, honey and salt and pepper, and simmer over low to medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes.
Meantime, bring salted water to a boil in a large pot, then cook pasta until tender, about 13 to 15 minutes, and drain.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked pasta, 2/3 of the sauce (save the remaining 1/3 sauce for plating), 2 cups Parmesan, 1 cup mozzarella and mascarpone. Place in two 8-by-8 baking dishes or one 9-by-14 baking dish, top with 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup Parmesan. Bake at 325 degrees in a convection oven for 20 minutes.
Just before serving, heat about 1 cup of olive oil, or more if needed, in a large and deep sauté pan. Add kale and salt and pepper to taste. Wilt for about 1 minute. Divide among 8 plates and top with Gorgonzola, Asiago and almonds. Serve with a slice of the baked pasta and reserved, warm tomato sauce and fresh basil, for garnish.
Fresh Cherry Pie
From Dorothy Dean
Marvel Carlson made this recipe with sweet red cherry tomatoes instead of actual cherries because she had an overabundance. She swears by her adaptation, which retained the almond extract. She said the combination of the tomatoes – she used Sweet 100s – coupled with the sugar and almond extract tastes like real cherry pie versus cherry tomato pie. We’ll take her word for it.
Below find the cherry pie recipe, along with Carlson’s tomato adaptation and several modernized versions from Ryan Stoy of Wandering Table in Spokane.
Combine the cherries (or cherry tomatoes) and sugar, tapioca (or corn starch), salt and almond extract. Let stand while preparing the pastry. Spoon the filling into a pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter. Fit on top crust. Slash top crust to let steam escape. Bake at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes until crust is nicely browned.
Fried Ground Cherry Fall Spice Hand Pies
From Ryan Stoy of Wandering Table
Make the biscuit crust: Mix and sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Fork in the butter until it is fully incorporated and the dough mix starts to crumble together. Quickly fold in the cold buttermilk and continue to fold for a few minutes or until the dough fully comes together. Be careful not to over-work the dough. Rest for 30 minutes under refrigeration.
Make the filling: Combine all ingredients and place in a non-reactive, microwave-safe container. Microwave the cherry mixture for 2 minutes, stir and repeat. The mixture should be thick and starting to come together. Set aside.
Assemble: Portion out about ½ cup of dough. Using your hands or a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 6-inch circle. Place ½ cup of filling in the center of the dough and fold the dough on itself to form a half moon. Crimp the sides together and try to keep all the filling inside of the dough.
Fry at 350 degrees for 2 ½ minutes, then flip the pie using a wooden spoon. Fry for an additional 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Carefully remove pie from fryer and allow to drain on paper towels.
Garnish with vanilla ice cream and powdered sugar as well as additional sweetened ground cherries.
Upside-Down Ground Cherry Biscuit Pie
From Ryan Stoy of Wandering Table
Spray a 6-by-3 (approximately a 2 ½ -diameter cup) muffin tin with nonstick spray. Take clumps of the biscuit dough and place into the base of each cup in the muffin tin. Fill the muffin cups about ½ way up with biscuit dough. Pour ½ cup of filling into each muffin cup.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes on 400 degrees. The biscuit pies are done when the biscuit dough rises through the filling and feels firm and baked to the touch.
Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes. Using a spoon or spatula, gently run the utensil along the edges of the pie. Place a cookie sheet over the muffins, and flip it over and carefully tap the pies out.
To serve, warm the pies in the microwave until very warm and slightly bubbly. Place into the center of a plate, dust with powdered sugar and serve with ice cream or gelato (Stoy recommends olive oil gelato).
Savory Tomatillo Pie
From Ryan Stoy of Wandering Table
Place halved tomatillos into a colander. Season with 1 tablespoon of salt and allow to drain for 20 minutes.
In a small amount of oil, saute the onions, apples and jalapeño. Once they are well sauteed and softened, add the tomatillos to the mix. Continue to cook until the tomatillos lose their water and start to break down. Cook until they are very soft.
Remove from heat and fold in the mayo, cheeses, seasonings and Tabasco. Adjust seasoning as needed.
Place half of the cubed butter into each pre-baked pie shell. Add the tomatillo mixture to each pie shell and fill nearly to the top. Sprinkle heavily with the additional cheese and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 400 or until top is golden brown.
Allow pies to cool completely before cutting. Serve at room temperature, chilled or re-heated in the microwave. Garnish with sour cream, salsa, guacamole cilantro and hot sauce for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.
Patio Lickin’ Chicken
From Dorothy Dean
Charlotte Donahue, of Mead, submitted this recipe. It’s her husband’s favorite dish.
Spread dry onion soup mix evenly in bottom of 4-quart baking dish; cover with raw rice. Arrange chicken pieces over rice. Combine soup and water; pour over chicken. Scatter mushrooms and pimento over top. Season with Ac’cent and pepper. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Remove cover and continue baking about 1/2 hour longer until chicken is tender and brown.
Chicken Leg Confit and Breast Milanese with Caramelized Onion Risotto, Chanterelles and Chili Coulis
From Travis Dickinson of Clover
Dickinson wanted to take a fresh, local and seasonal approach to this dish, which retains elements of the original without the canned ingredients or dry soup mix. He used a whole bird from Hangman Valley Farm. To keep with the flavor of the pimento – and add some spice and acidity – he used pickled chili coulis for the sauce. For color and another contemporary touch, he garnished the dish with lightly roasted Brussels sprout leaves.
Cook chicken legs submerged in duck fat in a 300-degree oven until very tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Let chicken legs cool in the fat, and store preferably overnight. (This makes the chicken much more moist.) To serve, warm the leg in a 350-degree oven until skin is crisp and chicken is heated through.
Pound out the breasts to flatten slightly, season with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour, then in egg wash. Then press breadcrumbs onto breast to coat. Pan fry the breasts over medium heat in oil until crispy and just cooked through.
Start adding the stock or water, a couple of ounces at a time, cooking down to nearly dry then adding a couple more ounces. Continue until rice is al dente (soft with just a slight bite). If you need to add more water to get there you can do so. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and fold in remaining ingredients.
Caramelized Onion Cream Sauce
From Travis Dickinson of Clover
Melt butter in a wide saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they begin to brown, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, and sugar and cook until well caramelized. Deglaze with sherry. Add beef stock and bring to a simmer. Cook to reduce by ¼, add sherry vinegar and cream and bring to a simmer. Reduce to thickness of a cream sauce, and puree.
Chili Coulis
From Travis Dickinson of Clover
Blend all but olive oil in a blender. Add the oil in a slow steady stream while blending to emulsify. Season to taste.
Burger-Mac Bake
From Dorothy Dean
Joy Erickson of Spokane has a nearly complete set of Dorothy Dean leaflets. She wanted to see this recipe adapted without the canned soup. Spokane food blogger Greg Kauwe, founder of nomnerd.com, updated it with a Hawaiian twist to pay homage to his roots.
Cook macaroni in boiling salted water; drain and rinse. Brown beef, onion, green pepper and garlic. Stir in soups and water; simmer 10 minutes. Stir in ½ cup cheese and cooked macaroni; heat to boiling. Spoon into a 2 ½-quart casserole; top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until bubbling.
Wagyu Mac-Bake
From Greg Kauwe of nomnerd.com
Season the wagyu with salt and pepper, then sear both sides in a skillet until browned. Set the oven for 350 degrees and place the wagyu in the oven to finish, 10 to 20 minutes, to desired doneness.
Meantime, cook the macaroni per package instructions, drain, and set aside.
In a cast-iron skillet, melt butter then whisk in flour. After the butter and flour form a paste, whisk in milk until the mixture is thick and smooth. Add miso and cheese, and stir. After the mixture reaches a thick and even consistency, stir in the macaroni. Top with the panko, and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until bread crumbs are toasted and browned. While the pasta bakes, shred or slice the wagyu. Remove pasta from oven, top with Parmesan.
To serve: scoop baked pasta onto plates, sprinkle bonito flakes, arrange wagyu and garnish with chives.
Sherried Cornish Hens
From Dorothy Dean
Sandra Atkinson of Ritzville submitted this recipe, noting it won honorable mention for the Dorothy Dean cookbook in 1977.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Place hen halves skin-side-up in dish and bake uncovered 1 hour.
Heat soup, milk and sherry in a saucepan, stirring occasionally. Stir in pineapple, grapes and mushrooms. Remove the baking dish from the oven and drain off fat. Pour the soup mixture over the hens. Cover with foil and continue baking until meat is fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve with a bed of fluffy white rice. Ladle soup mixture over the rice for added flavor.
Shoyu Cornish Game Hens with Furikake Rice
From Greg Kauwe of nomnerd.com
In a large pot or Dutch oven, combine chicken broth, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sugar together, and bring mixture to a boil. Add the 2 Cornish game hens and cook on medium heat for 1 hour, flipping after 30 minutes.
Meantime, cook the rice per package instructions, then mix in Furikake and set aside.
Carefully remove Cornish game hens (they will be very tender) and set each one on a large plate. Add tamari sauce and honey to the cooking liquid in the bottom of the pan, and scrape down the sides and bottom of the pan while mixing. Spoon mixture atop Cornish game hens, as desired.
Serve alongside rice and wilted spinach topped with crushed cashew nuts and sea salt.
California Casserole
From Dorothy Dean
This is Charlotte Donahue’s favorite Dorothy Dean recipe. She makes it whenever she has company and adapted it to suit her taste, adding 4 ounces more of noodles and doubling the creamed corn and tomato sauce. She also uses 3 teaspoons of chili powder.
Cook noodles in boiling salted water until just tender; drain. Cook ground beef, onion and green pepper in salad oil until well browned. Stir in remaining ingredients, except cheese. Alternate layers of noodles and meat sauce in greased 2 ½-quart casserole. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.
California Rice Casserole
From David Blaine of Central Food
“I wanted to stay true to the premise of a casserole, so I kept it simple, quick, scalable and easy to transport in the dish it was cooked in. All I did was adjust the freshness of the ingredients and made it less heavy,” Blaine said.
In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium high heat. Add onion, pepper, fennel, olives and tomatoes. Lower heat to medium and cook vegetables without browning, until soft; then cook for another 10 minutes. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic and bay leaves to vegetable mixture, and stir. Add rice and stock; simmer uncovered for 10 minutes on medium heat, then turn down to low heat for another 8 minutes. Season with salt and stir mixture to check moisture level. If you want a drier casserole, keep on low heat until it is to your liking. Serve with fennel frond garnish.
Salisbury Steak
From Dorothy Dean
When Laurie Walters of Spokane was a young bride in 1979, “We didn’t have a lot of money, and I was always looking for new ways to make ground beef stretch and taste good. My parents gave me a Dorothy Dean cookbook for Christmas that year, and I have loved it ever since. It has a lot of fun recipes and etiquette tips, craft ideas and is just a treasure.”
Walters has often made this recipe, halving it for herself and her husband. “I know that this recipe could stand some updating since its original publish year of 1975,” she said.
Sharon Bouten of Spokane thought so, too. She’s been using Dorothy Dean recipes for more than 50 years. This is one of her favorites.
Combine ground beef, cracker crumbs, ketchup, eggs, onion and seasonings. Shape into 8 oval patties. Place in shallow baking dish. Heat soup with milk, butter, sherry, and garlic salt. Pour over patties. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Add mushrooms and pimientos, bake 10 minutes longer.
Salisbury Steak
From Mark Miskiewicz of the Spokane Club
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, panko bread crumbs, ketchup, eggs, onion and seasonings. Shape into 6 to 8 oval patties. Place in shallow baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Meantime, bring soup and cream to a simmer and add sherry. To serve, spoon sauce over top.
Potatoes Romanoff
Dorothy Dean
This submission comes from Debi Falk on Spokane’s South Hill, who wrote: “My family has been making this recipe at Christmas since I can remember and have always enjoyed it. However, I feel it’s missing something. I was wondering: a chopped red pepper?”
Cook potatoes in jackets until fork tender. Peel, then shred into large bowl. Stir in sour cream, onions, 1 cup cheese, salt and pepper. Turn mixture into buttered 2-quart casserole. Top with remaining cheese; sprinkle with paprika. Cover; refrigerate several hours or overnight. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until heated through.
Potatoes Romanoff
From Mark Miskiewicz of the Spokane Club
6 large rose potatoes
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup chopped chives
1 1/2 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chopped, fresh thyme
Roast potatoes in jacket until fork tender. Peel, then shred into large bowl. Stir in sour cream, chives, 1 cup cheese, salt and pepper. Turn mixture into buttered 2-quart casserole. Top with remaining cheese; sprinkle with thyme. Cover, refrigerate several hours or overnight. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until heated through.