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From: Len
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 7:54 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Bain's Vegetable Soup
As a skinny kid with a bad appetitie in 50's-60's Philly, I feasted on
Bain's cafeteria's Vegetable Soup (around 12th and Chestnut Street).
Have tried to find or duplicate it for years. I live in L.A. now.
Any possibility of obtaining that recipe?
Len
Hello Len,
“Bain’s Cafeteria” became a big chain of sandwich shops called “Bain’s Deli”, specializing in
deli-style sandwiches. The corned beef is a favorite. There’s a history here: Philly.com
I could not find any recipe, not even a mention of “Bain’s Cafeteria vegetable soup”,
“Bain’s Deli vegetable soup” or "Bain's vegetable soup."
Bain’s Deli still serves “Mrs. Bain’s Soups”. However, there’s no vegetable soup on their regular menu.
They do have a rotating “soup of the day”, so vegetable soup may be offered as one of those.
Sorry that I could not be more help. I’ll post this on my site in the hopes that a reader can help.
Phaed
Thanks Phaed.
Interesting article.
Scary that its already almost 20 years old! lol. Then again, its
been over 40 years since I ate at Bain's. My mother reminded me
that the vegetable soup used to be a famously known meal in itself
for many of the working class immigrants who frequented Bain's on
Chestnut Street in the 50's and 60's.
Best regards,
Len
From: molly
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 11:52 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: lynn wilson tamales
hi
i am looking for the recipe for lynn wilson tamales. they were made by lynn wilson foods
in salt lake city, utah but the plant closed and reser foods bought them out. they do not
make them. the web says that walmart's has them but they don't.
they were a meat filling like ground beef wrapped in a soft cornmeal that surrounded the
t filling. they were sealed and you had to boil them in hot water and then unwrap the
paper from them. no husks involved. i sure would like to find a recipe for them.
i have looked and nothing comes close. i did notice that many other people want them too.
do you think that you can help?
thank you so much
molly
Hello Molly,
Well, Lynn Wilson Foods was bought by Reser’s Fine Foods in 2002. At the time, Reser's said they
were going to continue the Lynn Wilson line of products, but apparently they later changed their
minds.
However, this lady, who lives in Nevada, says that she found Lynn Wilson tamales reappearing in
her grocery as recently as March 21, 2012, so they may have brought them back. See the note at: Absent-Minded Housewife
Reser’s does not show a tamale product on their website. You might want to contact Reser’s and
ask about the tamales:
Reser's Fine Foods, Inc.
PO Box 8
Beaverton, OR 97075
Local: 503-643-6431
Toll-Free: 800-333-6431
The recipe for Lynn Wilson’s tamales, if it were available, would be a commercial recipe using
commercial ingredients and proprietary spice mixtures. It wouldn’t be a recipe that you could
use in your home kitchen. I had no success finding a recipe, a copycat recipe, or even a recipe
that was said to taste like Lynn Wilson’s tamales. Sorry.
Phaed
Subject: Recipe - Lynn Wilson Hot Tamales
From: Douglass
Date: 3/5/2021, 12:48 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
I was browsing the web looking for products when I came upon Molly's request.
I last purchased Lynn Wilson tamales at a Smith's (Kroger) food store in 2012.
They were in the frozen food section beside the Lynn Wilson burritos. I had
purchased them regularly after returning to Utah in 2006 after an absence of
19 years.
They disappeared from food stores after 2007. And I couldn't find them until
that single purchase in 2012. Again they were unavailable. Since then, all
stores have said that they have been discontinued. For a while, Reser's Baja
Cafe Beef Tamales were virtually identical to Lynn Wilson's tamales. However,
this product also has been discontinued
Occasionally a few Baja Cafe tamales show up in stores that handle Baja Cafe
products. I assume they are the last of the discontinued products from various
warehouses. Presently, Reser lists no tamales, but the filling of their Baja
Cafe Red Hot Beef Burrito tastes a lot like the Lynn Wilson "Hot Tamale" filling.
As to recipes. The Lynn Wilson tamale recipe was no secret. The recipe has been
floating around the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Relief Society
groups for years. I am enclosing a recipe that several of the ladies in our ward
have given me. They claim that it came from the late Gloria Barnett, the originator
of "Sue and Gloria's Baked Beans" (my wife is Sue), listed on many internet sites.
Gloria apparently got the tamale recipe through the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP),
who apparently got it from Eva Durrant Wilson, Lynn's wife, who also was a DUP member.
I'm surprised that somebody hasn't posted the Lynn Wilson tamale recipe before now.
Recipe - Lynn Wilson Tamales
Lynn Wilson Hot Tamales were Louisiana/Mississippi Delta style "Hot Tamales."
They were not Mexican or Central American style tamales, and unlike their
Mesoamerican counterparts, they were a lot spicier. They were made with cornmeal,
beef and Cajun & Creole style seasonings (chili powder, red pepper flakes, cayenne,
black pepper, cumin/comino, coriander/cilantro, oregano, thyme).
Lynn Wilson tamales were made with cornmeal dough, not with "nixtamalizado" corn masa.
They were paper-wrapped in vegetable parchment, not corn or banana leaves. And they
were pre-cooked to be reheated later in boiling water.
In 1938, Lynn Reynolds Wilson and his wife Eva began supplying the Salt Lake City
Safeway grocery store chain with potato salad, macaroni and cole slaw, which they
made in their home kitchen. When sales dropped off in the winter, they began cooking
homemade chili and Delta style "Hot Tamales" in their kitchen and supplying the stores
with them.
The folks in Utah, including my family invariably topped the tamales with Lynn Wilson's
chili, which included red beans. The chili was often topped off with ketchup, preferably
Heinz.
As business expanded the Wilsons incorporated as "Wilson Foods". They moved out of their
home kitchen and into a factory building that accommodated mass production machinery.
The recipe did not change much after mass production started. Only proportions changed
to accommodate machine production.
After Lynn Wilson's death in 1993, his son sold the company to Reser's Fine Foods of
Beaverton, OR. Reser's discontinued virtually all of the Wilson food lines except
frozen burritos. Tamales were discontinued after 2007. However, a few appeared in
Smith's (Kroger) Food Stores in 2012.
The recipe below, salvaged from Lynn Wilson company employees is a scaled down
approximation to the "Hot Tamales" Lynn and Eva Wilson did from their kitchen in
Salt Lake City before the company started mass production.
Ingredients
Masa Base
6 cups warm water
7 cups yellow corn meal
1 cups yellow or white corn flour (do not use Maseca nixtamalizada "masa harina")
2 Tsp salt
Filling
3.0 lbs ground beef (extra lean 93-98%)
0.5 cup oil (olive, soy or canola)
1.0 can tomato paste (6 oz)
3.0 Tbsp chili powder
2.0 Tbsp paprika
1.5 Tbsp garlic powder
1.5 Tbsp cumin
2.0 Tsp salt
2.0 Tsp black pepper (ground)
1/4 Tsp cayenne pepper (or chile arbol, guajillo, petin)
Optional Ingredients (various Relief Society Ladies may have added these)
2 Tbsp bread flour (gluten binder)
1/2 Tsp Tabasco sauce (optional)
1/4 Tsp Red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 Tsp Cumin (optional)
1/8 Tsp Coriander (optional)
1/8 Tsp Oregano (optional)
1/8 Tsp Thyme (optional)
Wrapper
Vegetable Parchment (preferable)
Baking Parchment
Baking Paper
DIY Greaseproof Paper
Oiled Brown Paper
Bacon Greased Brown Paper
Preparation
1. Stir corn meal, corn flour, bread flour or corn gluten and salt together
in a large bowl until well blended. Gradually stir in enough warm water to
make soft, spongy dough that is the consistency of thick mashed potatoes.
The dough should be moist but not wet. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and
let stand for overnight in refrigerator to allow ingredients to completely
hydrate.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Stir in the
chili powder, paprika, salt, garlic powder and cumin. Add in the meat and
stir to coat with the oil and spices. Cook, stirring often, until the meat
is cooked through, about 7 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
Assembling Tamales
1. Spread about 1/4 cup of the tamale dough in an even layer across the wide
end of the paper to within 1 inch of the edges. (Mississippi/Louisiana tamales
use cornmeal dough, not masa)
2. Spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of the meat filling in a line down the center
of the tamale dough.
3. Roll the paper so that the dough completely surrounds the filling and forms
a cylinder or package.
4. Twist the ends of the paper and tie them with twine to close the ends and
complete the package.
5. Place the completed tamales in a single layer on a baking sheet. Repeat the
process until all dough and filling is used.
Cooking Tamales
Lynn Wilson tamales were pre-cooked.
1. To Simmer: Place enough tamales in a large pot so that they do not come
unrolled. Carefully fill the pot with enough water to cover the tamales. Bring
water to a boil over high heat. Cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer until
the dough is firm and pulls away from the paper easily and cleanly, about 1 hour.
2. To Steam: Place enough tamales in a large steamer basket. Cover tamales with
a damp towel or damp paper towels. Steam the tamales over simmering water until
the dough is firm and pulls away from the husk easily and cleanly, about 1 to
1.15 hours.
3. Allow tamales to cool and refrigerate. Pre-cooked tamales are reheatable for
serving later. They also are freezer friendly. Lynn Wilson tamales were pre-cooked
and designed specifically for reheating.
Reheating
1. Reheat tamales in boiling water or steamer for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not microwave.
2. Serve pre-cooked, refrigerated tamales in their wrappers hot from from reheating
pot. Let diners remove remove wrappers from their tamales to eat with or without
chili and/or ketchup or sweet chili sauce topping.
From: Abigail
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 12:10 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Nutty Marshmallow from Cheesecake factory
Hello,
This is a fairly recently lost recipe, so hopefully its easier to find. It was a
spiked milkshake from cheesecake factory. Some of the ingredients included vodka,
Frangelico, Nutella, marshmallows, hazelnuts? Not sure on the marshmallows and
hazelnuts...
would appreciate whatever you can do
Abigail
Hello Abigail,
Well, I wouldn’t call it “lost” because nobody has ever had it except Cheesecake Factory, and they haven’t lost it....
I’d call it “has anybody created a copycat recipe for it?” Cheesecake Factory doesn’t give out their recipes,
and their employees are sworn to secrecy, so unless someone creates a copycat, seekers of their recipes are out of luck.
I had zero success finding a copycat for the Nutty Marshmallow spiked milkshake.
The list of ingredients that I found includes the ones you mention: nutella, hazelnuts, marshmallows, frangelico, and vodka.
I assume there is milk and ice cream as well. I’m afraid you’ll have to experiment until you get the right amounts.
I know of no other way for you to get this.
I’ll post this on my site just in case a reader has already come up with something similar, but I’m not optimistic.
Phaed
-----Original Message-----
From: Neva
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 2:23 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Recipe
Do you have The Peppermill's potato salad recipe from the Las Vegas restaurant?
Thanks Neva
Hello Neva,
Sorry, no success with a recipe or copycat.
Phaed
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