This is the last of the Clementine Paddleford recipes drafts. Looks like I’ve posted about 20 recipes from How America Eats. You can find them all here.

Pittsburgh once was a steamboat town, and at least part of its fame rests upon Steamboat Pudding. Helen Ruch, a Pittsburgh advertising writer, likes to recall vacation trips down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, piloting with Grandpa George Gibson. He was one of the very few licensed to pilot all the way from Pittsburgh down to New Orleans. The memory comes gently—the churning of the water made by the great wheel, the lonesomeness of the whistle reverberating against the low cliffs, the stevedores singing their hearts into the night.

“Floating palaces,” Grandpa said, “Finest of everything. And the food! No hotel in the land sets up better fare.” Grandpa told how the ladies of the river towns vied with each other copying the dishes they had eaten when taking the grand tour.

The abundant table precedent was set by Cap’n Jim Rees, when he warned the cabin crew of his famous Kate Adams, “I don’t want to see an inch of tablecloth showing during a meal.” When river-boat guests came to the table it was already covered with relishes, condiments, jellies, nuts, fruits. All the food except the meat was served in kidney-shaped side dishes and often a dozen of these “shells” flanked a guest’s plate. Hot breads were rushed continuously to the table. And no matter how many other desserts, a layer cake for the ending.

“Honey,” Grandpa would say when he took little Helen aboard, “be polite to the captain, but make friends with the cook.”

That’s just what she did. How well she recalls Cook Jim’s warning, “Never use sour cream in them flannel cakes, missy. Buttermilk—that’s what gives ’em the flavor.” It was Jim who taught her the verse about steamboat pudding. “Here comes the Cap’n with a snicker and a grin, wheelhouse puddin’ all over his chin.”

Clementine Paddleford, How America Eats (1960)

FLANNEL CAKES WITH CHICKEN HASH

Yield: 12 cakes

2 C sifted flour
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2½ C buttermilk
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 eggs, separated, whites beaten stiff
Chicken Hash

Preheat oven to 350˚ or broiler to low. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl, beat in buttermilk and melted butter, beat in egg yolks, then fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake cakes on a hot griddle. When brown, place a generous Tbsp of Hash on cake, roll cake, and fasten with toothpick. Place filled cakes in rows on a baking pan, and heat in oven or under broiler.

CHICKEN HASH

3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp minced onion
3 Tbsp flour
1 C chicken stock or turkey stock
1/3 C minced celery
2 tsp minced parsley
½ C light cream
2 C cold chicken meat or turkey meat, cut into small pieces
Salt, pepper, to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan, add onion, and sauté until tender. Add flour and cook 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add stock, celery, and parsley, and simmer 5 minutes. Add cream and stir well. Add meat, heat mixture to boiling point, season with salt and pepper, and “set aside to thicken while Flannel Cakes are baking.”