- Remembering Younkers
- Tea Room recipes are nearly impossible to find
Like most Des Moinesians — and lots of Iowans in general — I have my own memories of the downtown Younkers. I don't remember being quite as awestruck with the Younkers experience as many of the fond reminiscences I've read since a fire destroyed the building in the wee hours of March 29. But I was a city kid whose mom worked at the Register and Tribune and who took pride in a (carefully cultivated) savoir faire beyond her years. So trips downtown were pretty mundane to oh-so-sophisticated moi.
Sure, we shopped at Younkers and ate at the Tea Room, where I eschewed the rarebit burger in favor of the chicken salad, which boasted the unheard-of addition of sunflower seeds. My mother was cooking things like Indian food and painstakingly-composed vegetable dishes in the '70s, so I prided myself on a palate beyond my years.
No "processed cheese food" — the key ingredient for a real throwback rarebit sauce — for this girl. Besides, to this day, a shiny "cheese food" sauce on a burger and the Tea Room's elegant appointments seems irreconcilable. And I deemed the famous sticky buns fair-to-middling — kinda dry, ya know? Proust's madeleine these dishes were not. (Yeah, I was sort of obnoxious.)
Despite my youthful disdain, I was aware of the beauty of the room, always. And as an adult, I took my children to the painful "Breakfast with Santa" events several years running. It certainly wasn't for the tepid eggs and dorky magician. Or because I wanted to drag my kids out of bed at 7 o'clock on a bitter winter morning, stuff them into their adorable (and probably matching) holiday duds and fight for parking and 30 seconds with a guy in a costume — along with hundreds of other mothers who also thought their kids needed this PRECIOUS CHRISTMAS MEMORY, BY GAWD.
But I did want them to get a taste of that elegant space and to ooh and aah over the enormous Christmas tree and fairy lights. I don't think I ever took them there for lunch before the space closed to public diners in 2005, and my guess is they don't remember those Santa breakfasts.
Maybe I'll make them some of those sticky buns I turned my nose up at so long ago, and even if they don't get the reference, I will have done my part to pay homage to the old dame.
Tea Room Sticky Rolls
INGREDIENTS
4 to 4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
Caramel Smear
Cinnamon Spread
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside
2. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, butter and salt just until warm (120 to 130 degrees) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to dry mixture along with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl; turn once to grease dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 hour).
4. Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Spread a 15x10x1-inch baking pan evenly with Caramel Smear (recipe below).
5. Roll each portion of dough into a 24x6-inch rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Spread half the Cinnamon Spread (recipe below) over each rectangle to within 1 inch of the edges. Roll up, starting from a long side. Seal seam. Cut into 1-inch slices. Place about 1 inch apart in a prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (about 30 minutes).
6. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes. Turn the pan of rolls over onto another 15x10x1-inch pan so the caramel is on top. Serve warm. Makes 40 rolls.
Caramel Smear: In a mixing bowl combine 1/3 cup butter, melted; 1 cup packed brown sugar; ¼ cup light-colored corn syrup; ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon; and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir until smooth.
Cinnamon Spread: In a small mixing bowl stir together ¾ cup packed brown sugar; 1 tablespoon cooking oil; 1 tablespoon light-colored corn syrup; and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Tea Room Rarebit Sauce
INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup cooking oil
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
2 cups whole or reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon bottled hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1 cup shredded process sharp American cheese (4 ounces)
DIRECTIONS
1. Place oil in a medium saucepan. Stir together flour, paprika, salt and dry mustard. Add flour mixture to oil; cook and stir for 1 minute.
2. Stir in milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more.
3. Remove from heat; stir in Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce. Add cheese and stir until melted. Makes 2 cups.
Note: To make Younkers popular Rarebit Burgers, cook 8 hamburger patties to 170º F or until no pink remains. Place each burger in a toasted hamburger bun. Spoon about ¼ cup of Rarebit Sauce over each bun. Serve immediately.
Tea Room Chicken Salad
INGREDIENTS
3 cups diced, cooked chicken thighs
1 cup chopped celery
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup shelled sunflower seeds
1 cup ranch salad dressing
1 teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon dried minced garlic
Salt and black pepper (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl combine chicken, celery, onion and sunflower seeds.
2. For dressing, in a small bowl stir together salad dressing, celery salt and garlic. If desired, season to taste with salt and black pepper.
3. Pour dressing over chicken mixture; toss to mix well. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Makes 6 servings.
Younkers recipes
The Rarebit Burger, Chicken Salad and Sticky Roll recipes reprinted here are all found in a cookbook published by Meredith Corp. in 2001 called "Holiday Celebrations With Recipes From Younkers." The first chapter of the book is called "Younkers Classics," and this is where the recipes for everyone's favorite food memories are found. Besides the big three, there are five more that don't ring a bell for me at all: Braised Lamb Shanks, Grilled Lamb Sirloin, Wilted Spinach Salad, Asparagus and Orange Salad and Yule Log (Buche de Noel). Though the book itself isn't that old, I'm sure the recipes themselves predate it by decades.
If you've got a mind to get yourself "Holiday Celebrations With Recipes From Younkers," good luck. It's out of print, and as I write this, there are two copies available on Amazon.com. One is listed at $199, the other at $499. The book's list price is also $4.99 — but the decimal place is in a different spot.
