My paternal grandmother was not a great cook; she had several basic meals that she prepared which I thought were delicious, and since have learned differently. While they were not going to win any awards for flavor or presentation, they were good, hearty, stick to your ribs meals which would keep you going throughout the day’s hard work until time for the next meal. The one thing that she did make which I could never get enough of, were her incredible dinner rolls.
As soon as I was tall enough to reach the counter of the antique baking cabinet (which I rushed into by using an old milking stool), I was allowed to sink my hands into the warm, silky soft, floured dough and help shape the rolls for their last rise on special occasions such as a holiday meal or my grandfather’s birthday dinner. She used two pieces of baking equipment which I consider irreplaceable in the baking process, a stoneware bowl and an old fashioned baking cabinet.
When I moved back to the family farm, the baking cabinet remained in the kitchen. I don’t know that I ever remember my grandmother keeping flour and sugar in the sifters, but I remember rolling out lots of dough on the enamelware surface. Today, the flour sifter is full and used almost daily for bread, pie crusts, cakes, gravies, or any other recipe which requires the white fluffy powder. The sugar sifter remains unused as I think it stays fresher when stored in a sealable container. Summers keep the enamelware counter full of freshly baked pies or breads bound for farmers market. Dough for the loaves of bread rolled onto that counter came from one of the several stoneware bowls which I have acquired over the years at various yard sales and antique stores.
I have scoured antinque stores, online auctions, yard sales, and some very obscure little stores in the middle of rurality looking for my own baking cabinet only to discover that several hundred pie sales will be required before I am able to make that acquisition. In the meantime, I will cherish the memories of four-year-old Jen, perched on a wobbly milking stool, shaping dinner rolls with my grandmother each time I roll out another pie crust or knead another loaf of bread.
Any recommendations to sell as my wife and I have received this exact hoosier cabinet. Was in her fathers kitchen when he was a little boy at the turn of the last century. Time to move on.
ReplyDeleteAny recommendations to sell as my wife and I have received this exact hoosier cabinet. Was in her fathers kitchen when he was a little boy at the turn of the last century. Time to move on.
ReplyDeleteThese cabinets sell very quickly. They range anywhere from $200 for those in poor conditions to $800 or $1,000 for ones with both sifters in functional condition and the enamel in good shape. I would go to my local antiques store first then to craigslist or ebay local.
ReplyDeleteWe have one more like this except the sifter looks weird in this one. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/kitchen-queen-cabinet-lot-58-1785049835 Ours is on the list to do: strip it and expose original wood. We have breakfast on the counter. We acquired ours in an antique shop, in similitude of the one that was in my parent's kitchen from 1927 (wedding) until the '60s.
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