Vintage Cookbook - Rumaki Recipe

This is the first post of the vintage cookbook series, where I try recipes from old cookbooks. One of my favorite items to pick for is vintage books and I often find very interesting and sometimes very old cookbooks. I'm doing these posts in an effort to not only provide more interesting content for the blog, but to also force myself to try different recipes for my family. I find that sometimes in the every day grind, I get stuck making the same things over and over. I thought this would be the perfect way to get myself out of that rut and possibly find some new favorite recipes that will become a regular part of our menu.

This week is a busy one for me. I have back to back weekend shows for the band, which requires us to practice a little extra. Plus, I brought in the largest haul of thrift items for the shop than I ever have before. Every day has been filled with laundering, measuring, taking pictures and listing items. And that is on top of all my regular mom duties that come with taking care of a family of 5. So, I wanted to find a quick and easy recipe to try. And I'm working with a small budget this week, so I needed to find something that was cheap too. Quick, easy and cheap are three keywords that every mom loves to hear about a recipe. 

I found this recipe for Rumaki in a 1969 Betty Crocker cookbook. I had heard of rumaki before, but never tried it and never knew what it actually was. I did a little research on it and it is an appetizer of mock-polynesian origin, according to wikipedia. Apparently, the earliest known reference to it is from the 1941 menu of Don the Beachcomber restaurant in Palm Springs. I believe this was the go to hors d'oeuvre recipe for many a mid-century housewife who was hosting a dinner party. 

Aside from the fact that it is quick, cheap and easy, it also includes ingredients that I love, but have never put all together in one recipe. The main ingredients are: chicken liver, bacon, water chestnuts, soy sauce and brown sugar. I might have lost some of you to chicken liver, but it's not the huge slabs of liver smothered in onion gravy that your grandma might have made. It's small bites of liver that are wrapped in bacon, so even those of you who hate the taste and texture of liver might enjoy it this way as it's masked a little by the crisp and salty deliciousness that is bacon. And I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't like bacon. 

So, let's get on with it shall we?

Here is what you will need.

Here is the recipe straight from the book.

Here is the bloody aftermath from cutting the livers. Looks so appetizing, doesn't it?

 Next time I make these, I will let the livers drain for awhile before attempting to cut them.

Sauce, livers and water chestnuts starting to marinate.

After about 4 hours marinating, it was time to wrap the livers and water chestnuts in the bacon. I forgot to first drain the teriyaki sauce off the livers before I wrapped them. This made them very juicy and hard to wrap. At this point, I was sure that I ruined the recipe, but I pressed on.

Before broiling.

And after broiling them for about 10-12 minutes, this is what they looked like when they came out.

They still don't look so great here. Very messy. It would have been wise of me to lay foil on the bottom of my pan for easy clean up, but I didn't have any on hand. It's a crappy pan anyway.

Here's one up close and personal.

and another one

This kid hates liver, but he tore these up.

Even the toddler approved.

So, the first vintage cookbook recipe was a success. They were delicious and I probably ate more than I should have. 

There are a lot of good looking recipes in this cookbook and I will definitely try another one from it.

Maybe even this one...

BRAINS?!?!