September 3

Maple Leafer seeks recipes from '40s-'70s

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To Maple Leaf resident Karen Kurt Teal, there’s more than just antiques and hidden gems at the neighborhood estate sales she attends. There is also knowledge specific to Seattle and even Maple Leaf that she is hoping to help preserve.

Recently, Teal emailed us to let us know that she’s hoping to collect recipes and more from the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s from local residents with the goal of someday compiling them into a blog or perhaps even a book. She tells us:

“What I am trying to save are the memories, tips, and classic go-to recipes that people in Seattle might want to share. I just had an electrifying moment over the weekend when I visited yet another Maple Leaf estate sale on 103rd and saw the kitchen of another deceased Maple Leaf cook–and I realized that we are losing knowledge with each obit. The decedent was 96 at her passing, clearly a dedicated baker, continued on with all her marbles until the day she died, and I missed talking with her. I don’t want to let another minute slip by.”

Teal adds that this project has been “on the back burner” for about three years, but she’s ready to put it at the front before these memories are lost for good:

“I want to speak to men and women 50 years or better, who can talk to me about the local popular recipes of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. What I am trying to save are the memories, tips, and classic go-to recipes that people in Seattle might want to share. Who was the great cook in YOUR family? All you have to do is talk and together we can preserve our local wisdom in a cookbook.”

If you have a story for Teal or know somebody else who might, please get in touch with her at 206-522-9858 or kkteal@uw.edu.

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  1. A favorite from my childhood in th 70’s was “frito magic” – basically spagetti sauce with stewed tomatoes & ground beef, over a bowl of frito’s, topped with shredded cheddar.

    It was SO good.

  2. I used to, maybe I still do somewhere, have a 1940s Seattle-specific promotional softcover for postwar brides: extolling the architecture of rancher homes, the glory of automated kitchen appliances, and offering coupons for a local coffee supplier (preStarbucks, obviously). The promotional book had recipes too. But I am too young to be in the age range.

    Failing that, I live next to a nonagenarian… and I think Merrill Gardens and Aegis and Northaven, a few blocks outside Maple Leaf, might be good places to find people who can remember 1940s and 1950s-era recipes.

  3. I am reminded of a layered masterpiece dessert my sis used to make in the 70s that had red jello, Hostess Tiger Tails and Cool Whip. Yum! I think the filling of the Tiger tails included, among other despicable ingredients, raspberries and coconut. Any geezers out there remember? Not probably what you were looking for but it came to mind 🙂

  4. That’s an interesting idea but those eras don’t shout out to me great home cooking. An aunt was “the one” in our family but she always baked with a cigarette lit in the kitchen and her food often tasted of it. I recall that as a time of cooking with canned soup and the miracle of tv dinners.

  5. You should go down to the neighborhood gathering place in Maple Leaf for the last 80+ years and check with some of the regulars (a few of whom have been there that long, though most are waaay younger but have gleaned history) who often bring homemade dishes to community parties, 5th Ave Tavern on 85th. Ask Tara.

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