(Reblogged from firsttimeuser)
Lost Foods of New York City: Butter cakes from Childs Restaurant
At the turn of the century, Childs’ customers could order a lunch of corned beef hash or creamed oysters on toast for 15 cents, try the 10-cent bean soup or Graham cracker and milk combo, or order a glass of thick, cool buttermilk for a nickel. And then there were the butter cakes. The phrase butter cake may conjure up images of dense, sunshine-colored loaves worthy of a Paula Deen cookbook. But Childs’ take on the butter cake was decidedly humbler—thick rounds of griddled yeast dough that fell somewhere between a biscuit and an English muffin on the baked goods spectrum. The name is something of a mystery, considering butter cake dough contains just a small amount of its namesake fat. One hint comes from another downtown eatery, Butter-cake Dick’s, which predated Childs’ by several years. There, according to the late and great Michael Batterberry and Ariane Ruskin Batterberry’s On the Town in New York, “an army of sharp-faced adolescents gathered every midnight, hoarse from news-hawking, to consume a butter cake, ‘a peculiar sort of biscuit with a lump of butter in its belly…’” It would seem, then, that “butter cake” stems from its requisite topping, rather than the cake itself.
Recipe from this magnificent story. (We’re making it for Saturday breakfast!)
CHILDS BUTTER CAKES
I adapted this recipe from one written by former Childs cook Edna Sypher Kane, and retrieved from her recipe collection by her grandson, Glen Marshall. See the original handwritten recipe on The Leaven. Makes 12-14 cakes
4 1/2 teaspoons (two 1/4-oz packets) dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1. Stir together yeast and sugar in a medium bowl. Add water, mix gently, and let sit until mixture is frothy, about 5 minutes. Add butter, salt, and 1 cup of flour, mixing well until combined.
2. Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it turns supple and silky, 5-7 minutes. Return dough to the bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
3. Gently deflate dough. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out until it is 3/4-inch thick. Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut circles from the dough. Cover rounds with a towel and let rest until puffed, about 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat a seasoned griddle pan over medium-low heat. Transfer the rounds to the griddle and cook until golden brown and cooked through, turning once, 2-3 minutes per side. Like with pancakes, you may have to adjust the heat during cooking to avoid burning.
5. Transfer butter cakes to a wire rack to cool. To serve: slice in half, toast if desired, and serve with butter and maple syrup. Extra cakes can be stored in an airtight container the fridge or in plastic bags in the freezer. Reheat before serving.
Manhattan Bridge II (by Rudi1976)
Bronze on an old government building ignites in the sun. By gmacch
(Source: tychokepler)
The stone whispers to me of the old days, when it was warm and young. The wood sings long forgotten songs… I understand them, sometimes better than the living. It’s as if they remind me of somewhere I’ve been, long ago. They make me homesick… Yet, I can not go back…
Hex
Photograph of Food Drying Outdoors, 1932.
Item from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793 - 1999.
Photographer (by DeSonnaville.)
