As we noted last week, Peg Bracken, author of the I Hate To Cook Book and the original queen of recipe short cuts, died last week at the age of 89. This morning Weekend Edition aired an interview that Liane Hanson did with Bracken in 1999. She was witty and irreverent and hearing the interview sent me to my bookshelf to find my copy of her book.
Flipping through it, her voice leaped off the page. Some of her recipes are a bit dated and yet many of them are still very useful and relevant. One recipe that jumped out at me was her instructions for Fake Hollandaise, because that was one of my grandmother's go-to sauces. She would make it to pour over steamed broccoli, boiled potatoes and to fancy up asparagus. So, in honor of Peg Bracken's life and work, I offer you her Fake Hollandaise recipe after the jump.Fake Hollendaise Sauce
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the milk and mayonnaise together in the top of your double boiler (if you don't have an official double boiler, fake one with a bowl on top of a pot) for five minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the other things and stir just long enough for one good chorus of "Gloomy Sunday" and it's done.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-29-2007 @ 12:08AM
pedantic said...
Is that supposed to be 3/4 cup mayonnaise?
I will have to try this the next time I don't feel like making hollandaise.
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10-29-2007 @ 2:52PM
Michael Montgomery said...
Ya know my Mom who actually loved to cook - never made Hollandaise. She always heated up Marzetti's brand salad dressing in a double boiler and used that. Kinda tangy and although nothing really at all like Hollandaise, I remember liking it. I haven't thought of that in years. Thanks.
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10-30-2007 @ 8:06PM
Rainwriter said...
I live in Peg Bracken's house in Portland. That is, it used to be Peg Bracken's house. It's a sweet cottage on a beautiful street (you know what they say about having the smallest house in the best neighborhood...) with a to-die-for kitchen, designed by Peg herself. I bought the house from her after she'd gutted and remodeled the kitchen. It's been a dream to cook in; I always say I'll never buy another house unless the owner is a cookbook author - they really know how to design kitchens.
Peg actually was a marvelous cook and a very funny woman. We knew each other before I bought the house and saw each other occasionally afterwards. I will miss her. She told me she sold me the house because I was a writer, as she was, and I loved to cook. I made a chocolate cake that I presented with my offer when I bought the house. The recipe was from her cookbook. That might have helped, too!
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