But what a way to go. [;)]
Another book related to Santa Fe’s Agreement with the Fred Harvey Company to provide the chefs and meals on its trains is The Harvey House Cookbook, first published in 1992. A large number of Harvey’s recipes are describded. I have extra softcover editions plus the original hardcover version.
The second dish prepared from the “Dining in the Diner” was B&O’s “Corn Bread Pie”. The description of the recipe indicated passengers were known to stay on the diner rather than exit at their stop. I can see why.
This dish is pure comfort food on a -5 degree wind chill day. It is a combination of cornbread and ground beef with onions, peppers, chicken broth and spices. The ingredient which makes it different than the “taco cornbread” I make is a can of tomato soup. Simple, but it adds such a rich flavor.
This dish will disappear quickly.
Ed
I’d say, “Be right over, Ed!”, but I guess that’s become almost impossible tonight.
I’m going to have to find my copy of this book!
Dining car experience: I rode in only one diner, pre-Amtrak, and I remember more about the car itself than I do the meal. It was 1970, and things were expensive for this college student. The trip was between Savanna and Chicago, and we caught BN’s combined Empire Builder/North Coast Limited. The diner was a GN car named Lake Ellen Wilson (it must have been retired soon afterward, because it didn’t get to Amtrak). I remember the name, because I’d just had a date with a cute girl named Ellen Wilson.
Besides not getting the amount of food I’d wanted because I didn’t have enough money for more, I also remember being required to fill out my own order form with a Big Sky Blue GN hard-lead pencil that was ridiculously small for even my hands. Other aspects of the trip were far more memorable in a positive sense.
Having the customer write their order on the check was the common procedure on all the railroad diners I ever had the opportunity enjoy - B&O, PRR, IC (on the Panama Limited), L&N, ACL and SAL. The practice did cut down on any argument as to whether something had been ordered or not.
To the unititiated, going into the dining car years ago was like visiting a foreign country, complete with its own protocols such a writing out one’s order. In what restaurant does the customer do that? No wonder people used to find dining cars intimidating. That being said, once I learned those protocols I had some great dining experiences, such as the memorable breakfast, lunch, and dinner (Rocky Mountain rainbow trout almondine!) I enjoyed aboard the Rio Grande Zephyr in 1976, or my first ride in an Amtrak dining car in 1971 as we headed up the Hudson toward Cleveland one evening with entire tables full of NYC silverplated flatware gleaming and rattling, redolent of the late, Great Steel Fleet.
Though not a dining car, a ride in an Amtrak parlor car (the Molly Pitcher, for instance) about 1972 featured those supremely comfortable rotating lounge chairs in which you could be served a small hot meal by a friendly and most professional car steward.
To my mind, a train is best judged by and admired for its dining car. Eating microwaved food, no matter how tasty, just isn’t the same thing at all, no matter how fast and new the train is. These days I see almost no dining cars in Europe and I find myself more appreciative of them than ever on the Lake Shore Limited and other Amtrak LD trains.
By the way, my personal chef (that’s my wife) followed the above-mentioned NYC recipe for Lobster Newburg with similar delicious results. It’s difficult to imagine railfans 50 years hence recalling with a sigh Veal Parmasean a la Acela microwave, let alone trying to re
In a typical brick & mortar restaurant, a mistake in the order is usually resolved by the manger OKing a replacement meal. On the railroad, it isn’t that simple today, and probably wasn’t that simple in the old days. When the passenger fills out his/her own meal ticket, the possibility of an error is (theoretically, anyway) reduced. There was always (and still is) the unspoken, but implied, suspicion that employees would try to steal from the Company.
I don’t think any Amtrak service employs this practice today, but I have served older passengers who entered the diner and expected to fill out their own meal ticket. It’s fairly obvious that their last LD train trip was a long, long time ago.
I’m not trying to justify this arcane practice; just telling it like it is.
Tom
After having written my requests for close to twenty years, I was taken aback momentarily when I sat down to breakfast one morning in North Dakota in the last monthe that the NP ran the North Coast Limited and the waiter asked me what I would have–and then I remembered having read that the NP dining car staff did not follow the customary practice followed by almost all of the other roads.
As to diner patrons starting to write not just their names and accomodations on the list given to first class passengers, I have seen younger people who are quite unfamiliar with Amtrak’s custom of the attendant’s asking what they will have to eat and then making the proper notations on the form–the diners start to note their desires.
And, there is the story of the man who had forgotten to put his glasses on before coming to the diner and asked the waiter to write his order, explaining that he did not have his glasses on. The waiter responded, “Bless you, Boss, I can’t read either.”
Since several posters have been raving about the B&O Corn Bread Pie how about posting the recipe for those of us not fortunate to own a copy of the book?
I have been assisting a friend with household duties and and am always on the lookout for new recipes since she has four English language students staying in the house and we do a lot of cooking!
Kurt Hayek
Kurt:
I cannot find the book right now…I will post as quickly as it is located.
Hmm, it was in the kitchen Saturday.
Ed
B&O Corn Bread Pie
"B&O passengers have been known to continue past their stations in order to have a second helping of this corn creation. It takes a little making, but it’s worth it.
1 lb. ground beef 3/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large onion, chopped 1 tablespoon chili powder
1 can tomato soup 1/2 cup green peppers
2 cups water 1 cup whole kernel corn (drained)
1 teaspoon salt
Brown the beef and onion in a skillet. Add the soup, water, seasonings, corn, and green pepper. Mix well and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Then fill a greased pie dish or casserole 3/4 full, leaving room for the corn bread topping. To make the corn bread top, sift together the following:
Note that the following additional ingredients are ‘buried’ in the text of the 2nd paragraph, and are not listed in either of the tabulations:
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon of melted fat
I noticed that omission yesterday, when I was reviewing it before trying to persuade my wife to make it (or let me try). If I’m successful in either attempt, I’ll let you know what we think.
- Paul North.
Thank you to both NKP Guy and Paul North for the B&O recipe; and yes, it would be easy to miss those extra ingredients buried in the text.
We are getting a bit low on corn meal so I have to wait until supplies are replenished later this week to try the recipe. Sounds good and I am eager to try it!
Kurt Hayek
We tried the cornbread pie recipe yesterday, with mixed results. First of all, I should mention that in the interest of authenticity, most of the ingreadients were brough home by train (it is easier to reach the store in Elmhurst without using the car, so that’s how I did it).
The “filling” was a lot wetter than I expected, so it was almost like soup. If that’s supposed to be a pie filling, I would have expected it to be stiffer.
The cornmeal was fresh, and mixed up very well. Perhaps fresh baking powder would have made it fluffier and more absorbent.
The entire concoction was very tasty. To suit our own tastes, we cut back on the chili powder by about 50 percent.
In a semi-related development, I located my copy of the book this morning!
My wife sees no problems with that recipe, and is intending to make it for a casual lunch with some long-time friends when they come over in the next week or two.
Thanks, Carl for that report on your experience.
- Paul North.
Thanks for posting the corn bread pie recipe. I misplaced my book (how in the world did that happen?).
The mixture was a little “soupy” and I countered that by bumping the baking time by about 10 minutes (to about 30 minutes). Also, I used a 10 ounce can of tomato soup.
I topped it with a little dollip of sour cream and taco sauce…OUTSTANDING. My son raved about it.
Any recommendations for this weekend? I will try another recipe.
Ed
New York Central Individual Deep Dish Chicken Pie…p 88
6 pcs boneless chicken (white and dark)
3 whole carrots
4 Parisienne potatoes
3 button onions
Chicken should be boiled well done and cut in large chunks at least one inch square. Saute lightly and season with above vegetables. Do not brown. Assemble with chicken in deep pie dish with plenty of “rich sauce”. Cover with flaky pie crust, cust crust large enough to fit completely over pie, allowing enough so the crushed may be pushed upward in the center. Crimp the edges and glaze with egg white.
Flaky pie crust
2 level cups shortening
1 level teaspon salt
5 level cups flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
Sift dry ingredients and rub shortening into flour but do not rub entirely smooth leaving some lumps the size of peas to make crust flaky. Moisten with ice water.
OK>>>modifications made:
I used turkey breast (leftover from earlier meal this week) and used purchased pie dough (frozen). I also added celery and diced mushrooms. The “rich sauce” i used was turkey gravy.
Assembled it in a deep dish pie pan and baked at 350 for about 70 minutes.
Really a good hearty, warm, satisfying meal on a cold winter night.
Will definately do this again, probably next Thanksgiving Friday…but also when we have chicken left over.
I wondered why I hadn’t noticed that Corn Bread Pie recipe before. One reason is that it’s indexed under “Miscellaneous” back on page 143 of my copy (Fifth printing, July 1974).
Our trial of that recipe is scheduled for a week from today. Thanks to all for your observations, details, and suggestions, etc.
Good photo of the far end half of a double-slip switch on the GN at St. Paul on pg. 144, too.
- Paul North.
Paul:
It is worth the effort to make the corn bread pie. Also the chicken pie. These are pretty hearty meals. Nothing lite in the book that I have found.
Ed
Check the bathroom. That’s where all my best books seem to wind up.