Out of Helen's kitchen - 1954

Details

Published on Saturday, August 19, 2017

Photo submitted by the Beautiful Plains museum
This is the store that Reg Williams owned named “Williams Tom Boy Neepawa Grocery.” Back then, telephone numbers were only two digits long and the phone number for this Neepawa Grocery store was 97. This store was located on Mountain Avenue. In 1967, the store moved to its current location, at the corner of Mountain Avenue and Hamilton Street.

Helen Drysdale
The Neepawa Banner

Infantile paralysis, or polio, had been around for many years, but in the early 1950s a polio epidemic broke out in Canada. With almost 9,000 cases and 500 deaths, Manitoba was the hardest hit of any province. In one Winnipeg hospital, 72 iron lungs operated continuously to keep patients alive. It took some time for a vaccine to be developed and produced, but Canada’s Dr. Jonas Salk did succeed. By 1965, polio incidence was almost zero in the developed world.
In the early 1950s a local group of Anglican ladies “The Evening Branch of the Women’s Auxiliary” was involved in church and community work. This faithful group of women sold carnations for Mother’s Day, catered to banquets, held rummage sales and did various other work to raise money. Discipleship in action, they supported the church, Children’s Aid, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army Red Shield among other things. At Beautiful Plains Museum, there is a cook book with some of their favourite recipes, published in 1954. Local merchants advertised in the cookbook and the ladies requested in numerous places that readers patronize the advertisers in their book. There were no 10 digit phone numbers in those days. At Neepawa Groceries, owned by Reg Williams, the number was 97.
I will share several of their recipes and perhaps you will remember these family names.

 Yorkshire steak dinner – Mrs. D. Bennet

1 lb. minced beef steak, brown in skillet

1/2 onion chopped fine

1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

7/8 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Combine meat, onion, poultry seasoning and salt. Put it in a very hot oven at 400° and heat it. Beat egg, add the rest of the ingredients and beat one minute. Pour over hot meat and bake at 400° for 30 minutes.

Savoury canned beets – Mrs. W. Greenhalgh

3 Tbsp. minced onion

6 Tbsp. butter

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. white sugar

1/4 tsp. cloves

3 Tbsp. vinegar

4 cups chopped canned beets

Sauté the onion in butter in a sauce pan until tender. Add the salt, sugar, cloves and vinegar and cook 5 minutes. Add the beets, stir and heat well.

Afternoon tea cakes—Mrs. P. Murray

2/3 cup Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk

2 cups coconut

1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries

1/2 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix milk, coconut, cherries, dates and walnuts. Drop by spoonfuls on greased baking sheets. Bake in moderately hot oven (350°) for 12 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven at once.