every food in: The Secret of the Forbidden City by Carolyn Keene
The Secret of the Forbidden City by Carolyn Keene
Originally published 1975
There are some weird, weird foods in this one. Weird and specific ones.
This book states pretty clearly that “hot-pepper salad” is Ned’s favorite dish, but a bit of searching online and through my recipe collection… just left me more confused. There’s no one single consensus for what hot-pepper salad is. I found everything from a panzanella-goes-Midwest combo of marinated peppers, bread, cheese and pepperoni – to a simple warm salad of chopped peppers, onions, and oil – to home canned peppers and artichokes. Rather bafflingly, a google books search targeted to a range of 1940 to 1979 returned this exact Nancy Drew book as the top result for “hot pepper salad.”
In Chapter 4, as well, George mentions a gravy Bess makes out of “chicken-leg gelatin and honey”. It’s not the strangest sauce ever, but I searched pretty extensively and couldn’t find any gravy recipe that included those ingredients. I tried another time targeted search, and once again the top result was - you guessed it - this book.
It’s decently possible that the ghostwriter is just a really inventive (or really terrible) cook, or it’s possible they were referencing recipes from a source I just haven’t found yet. Either way, super bizarre food choices. I may try the chicken honey gravy for a future retro recipe test because it sounds just weird enough to be intriguing.
I felt a bit conflicted about this book as a whole, and how to review it considering that a large portion of it is about white teenagers exploring and generally being a bit disrespectful towards native heritage sites. I feel that it would be a little amiss not to mention this aspect - though it’s not the most offensive Nancy book I’ve read this month, I think it can be summarized pretty concisely by describing it as “rather uncomfortable to read.” There’s an attempt to include positive representation but it just does not work well. Hell, at one point Burt finds human remains and USES THEM AS A PUPPET FOR A PAGEANT. I can’t believe I actually wrote that. Or that I had to read it in the first place.
It’s bad, you guys. Not that any of these books are literary masterpieces, but jeez.
Chapter 1: Fleetfoot Joe
Hot-pepper salad
Chapter 4: The Wiretapper
Venison stew with bitter tree roots
“Sweet gooey gravy made out of chicken-leg gelatin and honey”
Chapter 9: The Weird Valley
Wild desert game, edible cacti, cactus candy
Chapter 16: Gold!
Cold drinks and a packed lunch
