Now, Voyager
Menu cover art from a 1960s transatlantic crossing and a return to a beloved cookbook born in New York City
Welcome to new subscribers and, as always, thank you to all readers and subscribers.
A few weeks ago my friend
wrote me that she’d found the most beautiful menus and mementos of transatlantic cruises her mom had taken as a child in the 1960s.The artwork on each of the menus from the French Line are illustrated ‘Voyageur Songs’, French folk songs that tell stories of fickle winds and lost love or the rose bush that blooms in May.
Maddie had just completed the very difficult task, after the loss of her mom, of sorting through dozens of boxes of her mother’s papers, including all of the doctor’s reports.
But when I unpacked the last box, I was delighted by the treasures within: vintage ocean liner menus that sent me back in time, inspiring me to interview my Aunt Nancy about their family’s travels to Europe in the 1960s.
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Finding the menus from the SS FRANCE set Maddie on her own voyage.
Digging into this family history deposited me into the most joyful parts of my mom’s childhood: the ones defined by discovery, adventure and incredible food.
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You can read the entire beautifully written and thoughtful piece (that includes more stunning menu art) at the link below, it’s really wonderful.
A Return to The Silver Palate
Over the course of our conversation, Maddie told me she made sure she also retrieved from a bookcase a dog-eared and stained cookbook from 1982 that her mother had treasured. It was a first edition of The Silver Palate Cookbook and seeing this photo of her mom Debbie’s copy immediately took me back to the New York of the late 70s and early 80s.
In 1982 I was a 28-year-old newlywed, working as an admin during the day and going to grad school at NYU at night. I was a pretty basic cook— roasted or broiled chicken, meatloaf, my mother’s potato salad, brownies — that kind of fare.
But everybody in my circle, including me, owned a copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook — whether we had time to cook from it or not.
It was a comprehensive source for a generation of home cooks in America.
— Charlotte Druckman, The Washington Post, 2017
Before there was the cookbook, though, there was the tiny Upper West Side gourmet shop, The Silver Palate, founded in 1977 by the eventual authors of the book, Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso.
Ms. Lukins was a Cordon Bleu cooking school graduate who lived in the Dakota apartment building and was catering from her home. Ms. Rosso was an ad director and a client of Ms. Lukins. They became friends and with some persistent nudging from Ms. Rosso, they forged a business partnership. When their storefront opened on Columbus Avenue, they’d run with the food Ms. Lukins cooked from her kitchen in the Dakota to the shop just few blocks away. The Silver Palate was wildly successful from the jump.
On at least one occasion, her neighbor John Lennon helped her schlep food over to the shop.
— Aimee Levitt, EATER, 2022
I’ve attached the entire article from EATER by Aimee Levitt here. Its title: ‘The Silver Palate’ Changed Home Cooking (and Pesto Consumption) As We Know It. There’s so much history in this piece about the influential shop and cookbook, so if you have a minute, give it a read. From Ms. Levitt:
The Silver Palate closed in 1997. Sheila Lukins died in 2009 and Julie Rosso currently runs an inn in Saugatauk, Michigan near where she grew up.
The book, for its part, lives on.
The Silver Palate Banana Cake
When I asked Maddie what was one of her mom’s favorite recipes, without hesitation she said “The Banana Cake!”
I’d lost or left behind my original copy of The Silver Palate during one of my moves, so Maddie sent me the recipe. I was prompted to buy a copy of the 25th Anniversary edition published in 2007 and the recipe for the banana cake has been revised, reflecting changing tastes and times.
So I forged ahead, as one does, with the original recipe that contains twice as much butter as the updated version.
It’s described in the pages as “lush and delicious” and it did not disappoint. And since I was feeling luxurious, I served slices with a side of dark rum in cordial glasses.
My mom was a top notch home cook. I can almost taste the rich, frosted banana cake she’d whip up from her well-loved copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook.
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(Slightly) Adapted Recipe for The Silver Palate Cookbook Banana Cake
I kept all the butter, but pared down just a bit of the sugar, and all was delicious. Serves 10 easily.
Prep two 9-inch round cakes by buttering and flouring. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, room temp
1 scant cup granulated sugar (take out 2 Tbsp.)
2 eggs room temp
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 3/4 cups unbleached AP Flour
I’m 1/2 tsp salt
2/3 tsp baking soda
5 tablespoons buttermilk
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
Cream butter and sugar till fluffy and pale.
Add eggs one at a time, beating into the butter mixture well
Mix in mashed bananas
Sift in (in thirds) the flour and mix till incorporated
Add vanilla and buttermilk and mix for approximately a minute
Divide batter into pans and bake on middle rack for approximately 20 minutes (my cakes were done when tester was inserted at the 20 minute mark, but the original recipe says 25-30, so I’d start checking at 20)
Cool in pan for 10 minutes, release on rack and cool for about 2-3 hours
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
Splash vanilla
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Cream butter and cream cheese till fluffy, then sift in confectioners sugar, making sure there are no lumps. Add vanilla and lemon juice and mix in to butter mixture.
Add mixture to bottom layer and place sliced bananas (about 1 banana) on top of frosting. Place second layer on top, frost top and sides and add walnuts around the cake - cup your hand and press walnuts against circumference of the cake. Dust top with confectioners (optional)
Keep refrigerated.
Enjoy!
Now, Voyager
Bette Davis is responsible for my first early introduction to Walt Whitman because I watched the movie “Now, Voyager” umpteen times — whenever it was broadcast on network TV, I watched.
So I thought it only fitting to close today with the forever relevant words by Whitman as we sail forth into a new week of possibilities to seek and find.
And thank you, Maddie Burton, for so graciously sharing your memories and your mom with us here. ✨
THE UNTOLD WANT
The untold want, by life and land ne’er granted,
Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.
— Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1871-72
See you soon, Everyone.
Jolene
PS — If you would like to help keep me in Banana Cake, monthly subscriptions to Time Travel Kitchen are available for $5 per month. Thank you so much!
You already know how touched I am by your efforts here, Jolene, and by the friendship that we deepened through the course of this shared project. But I’m also overjoyed to have *learned* so much from you in this beautiful essay: about the history of the artwork on the menus, your personal connection to The Silver Palate Cookbook, and so much more.
Another beautiful coincidence: it seems that Julee Rosso settled in the adorable Michigan town that I visited with my parents as a kid! I have such fond memories of getting Easter baskets from Kilwin’s Chocolates in Saugatuck.
But perhaps my favorite detail here is how much more butter was in the original banana cake recipe. My mom would love knowing that, too! 😅
That cake looks incredible! 😍💛