A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“Shoutout to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
“Thank you, ATM fees, for allowing me to buy my own money” (3/27)
“Anyone else boil the kettle twice? Just in case the boiling water has gone cold…” (3/27)
“Shout out to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
20-20-20 Rule (for eyes) (3/27)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from February 21, 2009
Food for the Gods

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Googlw Books
Queen Esther Cook Book
Compiled by The Queen Esther Circle
of the First Methodist Episcopal Church
of Evanston, Illinois
1911 (By Mrs. Alfred L. Lindsey)
Pg. 70:
FOOD FOR THE GODS.
One cup sugar, yolks of 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons of cracker crumbs (rolled, but not powdered), 1 cup English walnuts chopped, 1 cup dates, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 saltspoon salt, vanilla. Beat whites of eggs and add last. Bake slowly in flat buttered pan 25 minutes. Ice cream, or whipped cream may be served with this.
Alice Patterson Curl.
 
12 April 1911, Indianapolis (IN) Star, pg. 9?, col. 5:
FOOD OF THE GODS.
One pound of English walnuts and one-half of dates, chopped; two cupfuls of sugar, ten tablespoonfuls of cracjer crumbs, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one-half dozen eggs. Mix baking powder with the crumbs and sugar, then add the walnuts and dates and the eggs well beaten. Pour the mixture in a pan about two inches in depth, that has been well greased and floured and bake one-half-hour. When cold serve with whipped cream. 
MRS. BENJAMIN SCOTT.
Clayton, Ind.
 
Google Books
The Cook County Cook Book
Compiled by The Associated College Women Workers
Chicago, IL: McElroy Publishing Co.
1912
Pg. 531:
FOOD FOR THE GODS.—3 eggs, 3 heaping tablespoons cracker crumbs, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 l.b English walnut meats, chopped, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 lb. dates, seeded and chopped. Beat the eggs thoroughly and mix with the sugar; add the baking powder and cracker crumbs mixed together. Stir in the nuts and dates last. Bake 1 hr. in slow oven. Serve with whipped cream.—Mrs. Wm. P. WIlliams, 4463 Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, Ill.
 
Google Books
Favorite Recipes
Published by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Presbyterisn Church
Sunbury, Penna.
1913
Pg. 133:
FOOD FOR THE GODS
1 pound English walnuts chopped fine, 1/2 pound dates cut fine, 2 cups granulated sugar, 6 eggs beaten separately, 9 tablespoons cracker crumbs, 2 teaspoons Royal baking powder, mixed with crumbs. Beat yolks, sugar and cracker crumbs thoroughly, add nuts and dates and lastly fold in whites of eggs. Bake in shallow pan 40 to 50 minutes—for 16 persons. THis served with ice cream or the following is delicious.
 
Sauce for food or any steamed pudding—Cream 1/2 cup butter, add 2 cups confection sugar, add yolks of 2 eggs and vanilla and beat well. Just before serving add the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs.
Mrs. Thompson.
 
Google Books
Housewife Favorite Recipes for Cold Dishes, Dainties, Chilled Drinks, Etc.
Compiled by Whtie Enamel Refrigerator Co.
St. Paul, MN
1916
Pg. 82:
FOOD FOR THE GODS
6 eggs.
1 c. sugar.
1/2 lb. dates.
1/2 lb. English walnuts.
6 crackers.
3 tsp. baking powder.
Beat the whites of six eggs to a froth and add a few grains of salt and one cupful of sugar, then the well beaten egg yolks. Cut into small pieces one-half pound of dates and one-half pound of English walnuts, and stir all together. Then add six crackers rolled fine to make one tablespoonful crumbs and a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder. Bake in a slow oven and then break into small bits. Then take one pint of whipped cream and make a layer of the cake and then of cream and so on until all is covered with cream and smooth.
MRS. B. WAYNE, 611 W. THIRTY-THIRD ST., KANSAS CITY, MO.
 
Google Books
Culinary Echoes From Dixie
By Kate Brew Vaughn
Cincinnati, OH: The McDonald Press
Copyright 1914, 1917
Pg. 208:
Food for the Gods
1 lb. English walnuts (before cracked)
2 c. brown sugar
1/2 lb. dates cut in 4 or 5 pieces
6 eggs
7 tb. cracker crumbs
Beat yolks of eggs, add sugar and cream together well; add nuts (chopped) and dates, then cracker crumbs. Lastly add beaten whites of eggs and bake in slow oven 30 minutes. Cut in squares—serve with whipped cream.
   
Google Books
Stevenson Memorial Cook Book
Compiled by Mrs. William D. Hurlbut
Chicago, IL: Sarah Hackett Stevenson Memorial Lodging House Association
1919
Pg. 86:
FOOD FOR THE GODS Mrs. J. F. Nichols
One cup sugar; one teaspoonful baking powder; four tablespoonfuls, heaping, cracker crumbs; three eggs, beaten separately; one cup dates; one cup nuts. Bake slowly in oven. Serve with whipped cream.
 
Goolge Books
Aunt Caroline’s Dixieland Recipes
By Emma and William McKinney
Chicago, IL: Laird & Lee, Inc.
1922
Pg. 95:
FOOD FOR THE GODS
One cup of sugar,
One-fourth pound of dates,
One-fourth pound of nuts,
Three tablespoonsful of cracker crumbs.
Beat whites of three eggs stiff and add one heaping tablespoonful of baking powder and the above ingredients. Cut the dates and almonds into small pieces. Put mixture in a pudding pan set inside of a pan of water and bake in oven one hour. Cover while cooking. Serve with cream.
 
5 November 1924, Suburbanite Economist (Chicago, IL), pg. 13, col. 4:
Food for the Gods
The name alone of this unusual dessert should entice Southtown cooks to give it a trial. Mrs. Arthur R. Cunningham, 7923 Union ave., who contributed the recipe, adds that it may also be called by the plebian name of nut pie. The ingredients are as follows: 1/2 pound chopped dates, 1/2 pound chopped walnut meats, 3 eggs (yolks and whites separated), 2 tablespoons flour (hearping), 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 cup sugar.
 
Mix sugar and baking powder; add flour, nuts, dates, egg yolks, and finally egg whites. Put in pie tin and bake in a slow oven 40 minutes.
 
23 June 2004, Elyria (OH) Chronicle-Telegram, “Cook’s Corner” by Linda Cicero, pg. A5, col. 2:
Sleuth’s corner
Q. I’ve got a stumper. In the 1940s or early 1950s, there was a dessert called food of the gods.
 
It was very popular—served at every dinner party, it seemed—and yet I’ve never seen a recipe of mention of it anywhere, and I’ve been looking for the last decade. It was made with chopped nuts, dates and graham crackers, as I recall.
Miriam W.
Macon, Ga.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityFood/Drink • Saturday, February 21, 2009 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.