Ah yes! Another week in the saga of Food Trivia From Rudy’s. Such fun! And this week I’ll even post the Recipe of the Week – It has peanut butter in it. (I think, though, I would change the margarine to butter.)

Recipe of the Week: Celebrate National Peanut Butter Cookie Day (June 12th) with this recipe!

Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Margarine, Softened
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/4 Cups Rolled Oats
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

Directions:
In a large bow combine the softened margarine and peanut butter. Add the sugar or and the egg to the bowl. Mix until smooth, fluffy and glossy. Add the vanilla and stir. Add the salt, baking soda, oatmeal, and flour. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients. Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

These cookies don’t spread very well so flatten the cookies with a fork or the flat bottom of a cup which has been dipped into flour.

Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes.

Half a cup of chocolate chips may be added to the batter if desired.

June 7, 1867: At the Café Anglais, Chef Adolphe Duglere served the now famous ‘Dinner of the Three Emperors,’ for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, his son (later to become tsar Alexander III) and King William I of Prussia. The table service used for the dinner is still on display at the oldest existing restaurant in Paris, La Tour d’Argent.

June 8, 1784: (Author’s note: Sorry for the length of this day in history. Carême is just too huge a figure in food history to pass over lightly!)

Marie-Antoine Carême was born in Paris, France. Marie Antoine Carême was known as “the cook of kings and the king of cooks”. He is the founder and architect of French haute cuisine. His story is one out of a Dickens novel. He was one of 25 (?) children born to an impoverished family who put him out on the street at the age of about 10 to make his own way in the world. Lucky for the world he knocked on the door of a restaurant for a job.

By the age of 21 Carême was Chef de Cuisine to Talleyrand. He also served as head chef to the future George IV of England, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Baron James de Rothschild. He wrote several large books on cookery, with hundreds of recipes and menus, a history of French cooking, instructions for organizing kitchens, and directions for elaborate architectural constructions of food for display (pièces montées). Carême died at the age of 48.

June 9, 1902: Frank Hardart and Joe Horn opened the first Automat on June 9, 1902 at 818 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. The birth date of modern fast food. (My Note: I think Horn and Hardart’s is still in existance. Someone out there should know. I remember going there with my Dad, usually when we went to the Phillies baseball game.)

June 10, 1869: Frozen food was shipped long distance for the first time. Frozen Texas beef shipped by steamship to New Orleans.

June 11, 1742: Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin Stove. He purposely did not patent it, so that others could freely copy the design.

June 12: National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

June 13, 1789: Mrs. Alexander Hamilton served a new dessert treat for General George Washington. The highlight of the dinner party was ice cream! And all this time you thought Dolley Madison was responsible.