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-----Original Message-----
From: john
Sent: Tuesday, November 05, 2013 9:52 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Recipe for the unconventional Snow Chicken
Hi,
I wish you can help me out. I've only seen this dish served in the "Dragon
Buffet" up in Albany, NY. I googled it and the stuff that comes up often is
'Chicken w/ Snow peas,' and that recipe is waaayy off. The one I'm looking
for doesn't have any vegetables, just the chicken and the sauce. The chicken
is cooked a little bit on crispy side, golden brown and is cut into small
pieces. Kinda like nuggets. The sauce is where it's at. It has a milky
taste, very thick. Sweet with a bit of tartness. If I would guess, condensed
milk or coconut milk would be the most probable ingredient. I would guess
it's Chinese just because it's from a Chinese restaurant. I hope you can
find it. Thanks in advance. You're awesome.
--John
Hi John,
I had no success with a recipe or even a good description. I found recipe
requests for this on a couple of message boards: Blog - Times Union
Cafe Mom
I found mentions of this being served at several restaurants - Dragon Buffet,
Sake Cafe, Plum Blossom in Albany, and Tomo Asian Buffet in Troy.
It is on the online menus for Sake Café and Tomo Asian Buffet, but not on the menu
for Dragon Buffet:
Dragon Buffet
Sake Café
Tomo Asian Bistro
I wish I could help you but this is all I found - no recipes or detailed descriptions.
I 'll post this on the site in case a reader can help.
Phaed
===================================================
Hello John,
Not being one to give up too easily, I continued searching and found a recipe called
"Velvet Chicken Under Snow". It appears to fit your description, and the sauce is made
with condensed milk. There's a photo with the recipe.
See: Velvet Chicken Under Snow
Phaed
Velvet Chicken Under Snow
1 lb Chicken Breast (boned)
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
1 tbsp Sherry
1/2 tsp Ginger Root Juice
1 tsp Sugar
1 pinch Salt
1/2 cup Condensed Milk or Light Cream
Cornstarch Paste
1/4 tsp Sesame Oil
1 cup Rice stick (broken up)
2 cups Oil for deep-frying
Directions
The term "velvet" denotes a method of poaching chicken breast to turn it white and
make the texture very soft and smooth. Care must be taken to use simmering liquid for
just long enough to cook the chicken through. Boiling water or prolonged poaching will
toughen the texture.
1.Velvet chicken: Heat 6 cups of water to boil. Reduce to simmer. Remove skin from
chicken breast; cut breast into 1" chunks.
Simmer in uncovered pan for 3-5 minutes, until meat is cooked through.
2.Sauce: In wok or sauce pan, heat chicken stock, sherry, ginger juice, sugar & salt.
When sauce is very hot, slowly add
condensed milk or cream. Stir to combine. DON'T ALLOW SAUCE TO BOIL. Dribble in
cornstarch paste to thicken. Enrich with sesame oil. Add chicken before serving to reheat.
3.Rice stick: Heat oil in wok for deep-frying until hot enough to puff up rice stick but
not brown it. Fry in small batches; drain. Process takes just seconds.
Place rice stick on platter; cover with chicken.
4 Servings
====================================================================================
From: "Marla"
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Snow Chicken Recipe
Date: Thursday, December 04, 2014 11:49 AM
This is a recipe I have from a church friend who is from China.
The sauce sounds very similar to the Snow Chicken sauce your reader describes in your
post from 11/5/13
She calls it Chicken Velvets
Marla
Chicken Velvets
3/4 C chopped water chestnuts
6 green onions (tops only)
3/4 C mushrooms
4 eggs
2 C bean sprouts
2 boneless chicken breast (1 lb. ground chicken) raw ( I prefer thigh meat)
1 T cornstarch
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt
Sauce
1/2 C flour
1/2 C oil
1T sugar or more to taste
1 1/2 t salt
1 qt. milk
Chop or grind water chestnuts, onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and chicken.
Add eggs and blend well. Add sugar, cornstarch and salt. Blend.
Spoon by heaping tablespoon into deep fryer. Turn when
browned. (I fry in saute pan not deep fry.)
Sauce
Heat oil and cook flour in it until flour taste is gone but not brown.
Add milk, sugar and salt and stir until thick. Top velvets with sauce.
I always put soy sauce on them too.
From: Olivia
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 9:46 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: sweet crumb topping square rolls
I Attended Garfield high School, (LAUSD) 1971-1974 and would buy their square rolls for
breakfast or nutrition from the cafeteria. they were made fresh every morning, made in
a large cake pan and then cut into large squares and served hot!!! They were the best
sweet roll I have ever tasted!!! This is not the coffee cake or the cinnamon rolls....
They were called "Square Rolls". please find me the recipe! Thank you!... Olivia
Hi Olivia,
Sorry, I cannot find an LAUSD recipe called “square rolls.” There are several requests on
message boards for this recipe, and no one appears to have had any success.
There is a lot of discussion about them and some recipes here:
Chowhound
Phaed
From: "Gwen"
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Square Rolls/Sweet Crumb Rolls
Date: Saturday, November 30, 2013 1:07 PM
Hello again, and happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope this email finds you well.
In response to the search for Square Rolls recently posted, I believe the recipe is
one already on your site. It is here, the seventeenth recipe down:
http://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0509M11.htm#4
As an amendment to the recipe, some forum posts about these crumb rolls say they thought
leftover coffee cake was used for the cake crumbs, which is a common bakery trick.
And here's my reasoning- On Wednesday, January 16, 2008, The Press Enterprise newspaper
published this recipe request:
"Mary Ann Powers, of Lake Elsinore, has a memory that dates back to recess time.
She writes that she attended school in San Pedro, part of the Los Angeles Unified
School District, in the 1960s and '70s, and remembers two types of treats that were
available at recess. "One was a delicious crumb cake. The cake was a dark brown, moist,
and not too sugary. The other cake, sort of a cinnamon roll (although I don't remember
the cinnamon taste in it). We used to call them `square rolls' because they must have
been cut from a square pan. They were about 4-5 (inches) square."
This is the follow up, from January 23, 2008 (and a side note, the recipe was printed
first in 1975 in the LA Times):
Mary Ann Powers, of Lake Elsinore, isn't the only one who fondly remembers some tasty
sweet rolls served at school when she was growing up. So does Joanne Pease-Simpson, of
Riverside. Last week, we published Mary Ann's request for recipes for two types of
sweet rolls that were served at recess time at schools she attended in the '60s and
'70s in San Pedro, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Joanne, who grew
up in the San Fernando Valley and went to Northridge Junior High, remembers those rolls,
too. "I think it might be the same coffeecake (Mary Ann) remembers, and might have been
a school-district-wide cafeteria recipe ," e-mails Joanne. "I have had this coffeecake
only once since those days, at a friend's house about 30 years ago, and never was able
to get the recipe from her. My memory of this food makes my mouth water! I do hope
someone knows how to make it."
Well, Joanne and Mary Ann, those recipes are apparently alive and well. It seems there
are some folks who went to schools in the Los Angeles area and also remember those
sweet rolls. Katherine Perrigan, of Riverside, sent in a recipe for City Schools Sweet
Rolls. Katherine said she attended junior and senior high schools in South Gate and
remembers those delicious rolls.
City Schools Sweet Rolls
4 yeast cakes
2 cups lukewarm milk
1 large egg
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup cake flour
5 cups bread flour
3/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
Cake Crumb Filling ( recipe follows)
Powdered Sugar Glaze ( recipe follows)
Dissolve yeast in milk. Combine egg, shortening, sugar and salt in mixing bowl and
mix 1 minute at low speed. Add yeast mixture and mix 1 minute. Add cake and bread
flour and nutmeg and mix just long enough for flour to be incorporated. Not more
than 5 minutes. Roll dough out in rectangle shape on floured board. Brush with
butter or margarine and sprinkle with Crumb Cake Filling. Roll up jellyroll fashion
and then slice into 11/2-inch slices. Place on greased baking sheet, cut-side down,
and pat out flat. Let rise until double. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. When
partly cooled, brush with Powdered Sugar Glaze. Makes 18 rolls.
Crumb Cake Filling
1 cup plain cake crumbs
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Combine all ingredients and mix well.
Recipe Exchange note: For cake crumbs, use a prepared cake mix and follow directions
for cooking. Crumble cake and use what you need and freeze the rest, or simple use
leftover cake for crumbs.
Powdered Sugar Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix powdered sugar into hot water until smooth. Stir in vanilla.
Best,
Gwen
============================================================
On 1/25/2019 2:21 AM, lily wrote:
Hello Phaed
Wondering if the recipe for the square sweet rolls from L.A. City Schools has been found?
I also attended Garfield High School from 1976 to 1979 and agree with Olivia.
Would love to have the recipe. Let me know. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Lily
Hello Lily,
There is a recipe posted on that page just below Olivia's request and my reply. It was
sent by Gwen and is called "City Schools Sweet Rolls."
I have never received a reply from Olivia or anyone else saying that recipe is not the
one Olivia requested. Is it not correct or did you just overlook it?
If it not correct, please state why...
Phaed
On 1/25/2019 6:00 PM, lily wrote:
Hello Phaedrus,
Thank you for responding to my email.
That recipe is for Cinnamon Rolls, not the Square Rolls that Olivia and I are talking
about. I read a good amount of comments on Chowhound and it is not the recipe for the
sugar square rolls we are looking for. I have attached a few comments below with great
description of that popular roll. If you ever find that recipe PLEASE share it with me.
Thank you very much!
Comment #1
However, if you are referring to the "Sweet (Square) Roll" recipe, none of the recipes
floating around the Internet, especially the ones repeated and reprinted from the LA
Times (May 13, 1998) "L.A. SCHOOLS CITY SCHOOLS SWEET ROLLS" is correct.
All of these recipes instruct the reader to "roll up jellyroll fashion". You and I know,
that is NOT the correct recipe for the rolls. The cake crumb "filling" (actually the topping)
and glaze seem close. I am currently experimenting with other sweet roll recipes, but
I am having trouble making the rolls as light and fluffy as I remember. I'm not sure how
those cafeteria ladies accomplished that! All of my attempts seem to yield rolls that
are basically the density of sandwich bread. Tasty, but not quite there. I haven't
given up yet! It's become a quest! Any suggestions from anyone reading this, regarding
achieving the fluffiness we all remember, are welcome!
Comment #2
P Palliefry Mar 2, 201109:06 PM
I went to Nimitz Jr. High School from 1972 - 1975 and I would get there early in the
morning to get the cake/cinnamon rolls for 50 cents and slice. They were served right
off from large sheet pans and cut into large squares about 5 inches by 5 inches or so.
They were a few inches thick. They weren't like a cake. They were more like cinnamon
rolls that were NOT rolled with a filling. They were doughy but not wet doughy with a
very moist sweet top. I made the above cake and it was definitely a cake and the
topping was very dry. The rolls I would get had a very moist top and not too cake like
body. I was so disappointed if I got there late and they ran out. I am really hoping to
find that recipe. I still crave them to this day. It looked like they were made and the
batter poured onto sheet pans and baked. Can any help with this recipe? Like I said I
tried the one above twice and that wasn't it. The other cinnamon rolls are rolled into
a diagonal and rolled up with a filling. This was definitely not the type they served
then or that I am looking for. They were large cut squares with no filling. Thanks
7 Replies
Comment #3
donnav727 Dec 15, 201809:47 PM
I attended Madison Jr High in North Hollywood '72-'75... they offered large rectangular
cut pieces of a stretchy moist type of cake you could pull apart, with a moist light
crumble baked into the top. It seemed to include cinnamon and sugar but there was more
to it. This fine crumble appeared to be very lightly/finely drawn through the stretchy
cake itself. It may be that it just baked in that way. White icing was very lightly
drizzled on top of the cake. As you have said, the cake itself did not have a regular
cake texture. It was not a rolled and cut cake, but rather baked in a pan and cut into
large rectangular pieces. And, it definitely had the stretch to it that you mentioned.
Why or why can we not find this recipe? It was an amazing treat!!!
Comment #4
S shande Jul 15, 201803:31 PM
I know the one you are looking for. We had "square rolls" "round rolls" and "coffee cake"
all were different. I have not found the one you are looking for. I remember it like a
square of "glazed crumb doughnut, kinda stretchy.
Comment #5
sccosel Jul 15, 201810:12 PM
Yes, at Emerson Jr. High, circa 1977, the "square of glazed crumb doughnut, kinda stretchy"
as you describe were called "sweet rolls" on the menu. I've been trying to find that recipe
for years. If I recall correctly, I remember it having a very light, fluffy consistency with
an egg bread flavor. It tore apart effortlessly and tasted delicious!
Comment #6
shande Jul 17, 201808:49 AM
Yep, that was it! I too wish I could find that recipe. I don't remember it being on the menu
every day like the coffee cake was. I think they alternated at my school with the cinnamon
rolls. I wonder if it was a lazy version of the cinnamon roll and why the recipe hasn't been
found? I should bake just the cinnamon roll recipe dough to see if it is the same and then
mess with a combo of the glaze-crumb mixture part. Just an idea. :)
Hi Lily,
I'm afraid there is nothing new to be found in any of my sources about the LAUSD Square
Sweet Rolls. All that I could find were those same items that you cite from
Chowhound
This is a toughie. One would think that if anyone who uses the web had that recipe,
they would have posted it by now. The request has been on my site for 6 years now,
and other sites for even longer. It's a popular request, so popular that someone has
even set up a malware site with those keywords to draw in the unsuspecting and
defenseless.
I have no suggestions. Maybe someday it will turn up.
Phaed
Subject: good news... here's the recipe (square sweet rolls)... enjoy...
From: Janine
Date: 4/4/2020, 4:52 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Square Sweet Rolls
This recipe for square sweet rolls takes me right back to junior high school in Los Angeles!
It's early morning ...
See: Square Sweet Rolls
Janine
Lately, I have been finding that a lot of my links to recipes no longer work because bloggers
sometimes lose interest and take down their blogs and because newspaper sites decide to take
down older articles. So that this recipe (that has been requested numerous times) doesn't get
lost, I am posting it below. If you want to see photos and comments about this recipe, go to
the link: Square Sweet Rolls
Square Sweet Rolls
Ingredients
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 C warm whole milk 110 degrees
2 tsp honey or sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
1/4 C shortening or butter
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 C cake flour
2 1/2 C bread flour
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 C melted butter cooled)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C brown sugar
Powdered Sugar Glaze
2 C powdered Sugar
1/4 C hot water
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk. Mix gently and let stand for 10 minutes.
It should bloom and become bubbly.
In the stand mixer, cream the shortening and sugar. Mix in the egg and salt for 1 minute.
Add the yeast mixture(after 10 minutes) and mix for 1 minute.
Add the cake, bread flour and nutmeg, just until combined.
Grease a rectangle pan (9X13) with shortening. Set aside. Roll out dough to a rectangle
shape and transfer to prepared pan.
Brush with butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the top of butter.
Cover and let proof for 60-80 minutes in a warm spot until doubled in size.
Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20-22 minutes or until golden. Mix the ingredients for the glaze.
Drizzle with powdered sugar glaze while still warm.
-----Original Message-----
From: Martha
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 5:57 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: A&G Cafeteria
Hi Phaedrus,
I am trying to find a recipe from A@G cafeteria. It is a cake with a flaky
pecan dough and cool whip on top. It looks like a slice of cake but has no
layers like a cake. The cake was not compact but more airy.
Thanks
Hello Martha,
James, another of my readers and often a helper, has copies of the A&G
Cafeteria recipe manuals. Below is what he found in them. Note that this is
a cafeteria recipe for making ten pies. You will have to cut it down to make
one pie.
Phaed
On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 9:20 AM, James wrote:
It is a pie, not a cake. It is a very unusual recipe. A&G Cafeterias had
some great and unique recipes. They definitely were not copycats.
You might need to fix the Ritz crackers ...
it is three boxes at 1 1/2 lbs each or 4 1/2 lbs.
A&G Pecan Delight Pie
Yield: ten 9-inch pies
3 1 1/2 lb boxes Ritz Crackers
3 lbs pecans
4 lbs egg whites
5 3/4 lb sugar
Whipped Cream to finish
Grind pecans and Ritz crackers. Whip egg whites and sugar to stiff meringue.
Remove meringue from machine. Fold dry ingredients very carefully by hand.
Do not beat ...FOLD. Place in greased pie tin.
NO CRUST -- Bake in medium oven 350 - 275 for 35 - 40 minutes.
Garnish with whipped cream and serve.
========================================
Phaedrus,
Thank you very much for the recipe. It is the one that I was looking for.
Can't wait to make it. Like James said, it is a unique pie.
Regards,
Martha
From: Mary
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2013 1:35 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: German cookie
Hello! I stumbled across your website and thought you may be able to help me.
Years ago, a German lady I worked with made some cookies but she wouldn't
share the recipe. They were like nothing I've ever had before. They were round
and rolled in powdered sugar. The texture almost seemed like an unbaked cookie.
The best way I can describe it... finely ground nuts and possibly ground fruit with
a little spice. Years later I ate a Turkish Delight and realized it resembled that
Christmas cookie from years ago. Have you any clue what cookie it may have been?
Hello Mary,
Perhaps they were “pfeffernüse” or “peppernuts”. See the recipe here with pictures: Pfeffernüse
Phaed
No I tried that recipe right away but the cookies I had were not hard and crunchy
and didn't really seem to contain flour.
================================================================================
From: "Lisa"
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: German Cookies 11/29/13 Edition
Date: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 2:01 PM
Hi Unk,
In your 11/29/13 Edition, Mary asked about some German Cookies. They are
probably Elisenlebkuchen:
Fresh Loaf
which are a special kind of lebkuchen, they should be made only
with nuts, without any flour (I doubt that that is still the case with most
of them). In Germany they are usually sold in decorated tins, some with
chocolate glazing, some with white sugar glazing and some without.
Lebkuchen were invented by monks in Nuremberg, the best store bought ones
come from there. They were baked on wafers to prevent them from sticking to
the baking sheet (not necessary if you bake them on a parchment paper lined
sheet).
There are multiple descriptions and recipes found online. A recipe for them
can be found here:
Food.com
Lisa
==============================================================================
From: Anny
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2013 1:07 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: German Cookie
Hi Phaed,
I'm wondering if she's talking about rum balls, which are unbaked and rolled in
powdered sugar.
My German mother and aunt would make these every year around Christmas.
My Aunts were a little stronger than my mothers, which I truly miss because
she's gone now, but they were always a treat every year.
Thanks
Anny
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