Food From An American Farm

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Mother's Kitchen

A sampler of one family's favorite recipes.

By Mary Karenou

WHEN JANEE N ALETTA SARLIN SET out to collect a few of her family's recipes, she probably didn't know she would create a treasure for generations to come. And not just for her family.

Food From An American Farm (Simon & Schuster, $24.95) is a wonderful look at farm food, complete with trimmings. Reading this cookbook is as fun as eating "Best Frosted Chocolate Creams" and as satisfying as "Great-Grandmother Broadwater's Chicken and Biscuits." Sarlin intended to create a book that celebrated the life of an American farm. She ended up with a celebration of a way of cooking that has fallen too far out of fashion in these low-fat, cholesterol-free days. In Food from an American Farm, the day starts with a hearty meal of "Brown and White Breakfast Fries,"

"Stove-Top Omelet," and perhaps some "Homemade Sausage with Gram's Down Home Flavor." In these days of 101 new ways with NutraSweet, it's comforting to know that the only eggbeaters used in this book were in Grandma's hands, whipping up a hearty batch of "Farmer-Style Crumbled Bacon and Eggs."

Sarlin also shares with us the stories behind several recipes, many of which are as delightful as the recipes themselves. Her section on cookies (each recipe being her "absolute favorite cookie," says Sarlin with complete sincerity), is prefaced by a story concerning her mother's habit of licking an oatmeal batter-smeared bowl while doing a convincing horse imitation involving "chewing, snorting, neighing, and stomping around on all fours."

Sarlin's description of basic methods, along with her inclusion of master recipes, is very helpful to those who are rediscovering the food of their youth. After all, not all of us were fortunate enough to grow up with Gram's black book (an unlined hardcover that Sarlin's grandmother wrote her recipes in, often with no detailed methodology-just misspelled ingredients), including techniques for perfect "Potato-Water Bread" and a hearty "Beef Broth."

As culinary trends leave the lean-and-mean California cuisine of the '80s behind, it's refreshing to see that the continuing search for perfect preparation of wholesome and natural ingredients has now ended right where it all started-on the American farm.

In the following excerpt from her book, Janeen describes the meals-and the memories-that make farm life special.

Autumn Sandwiches

In October we served these aromatic hot sandwiches to the crew of corn pickers. When the men opened the sandwich bags, fragrant steam curled out. These delicious sandwiches also warmed their cold fingers.

If there was a large crew, we filled and wrapped all the sandwiches and placed them in a large, dry roasting pan. Mom covered the pan and heated them in a hot oven for approximately 10 minutes. I car ried the whole business out to the men.