Compiled by Polly Campbell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Required reading

Their names alone evoke nostalgia: the Pilgrim Diner, Miss Albany, the Mayfair, Webbies, the Night Owl. Diners, in stainless steel and neon, were the emblems of an up-to-date, mobile America. Now they're cherished relics of a different time.

The American Diner Cookbook (Cumberland House; $16.95) by Elizabeth McKeon and Linda Everett mines the diner tradition for recipes so you don't have to travel to small towns to have the experience.

Even the best meat loaf sandwich and pineapple upside-down cake can't re-create a diner. (Where are the red stools and the shiny stainless steel behind the grill?) But perhaps there's a recipe in here that will take you back to a diner experience of your own. You'll find recipes for biscuits, chicken fricasee, turkey croquettes, chocolate chiffon pie and velveteen cake.

Diner Lingo

Old-time diners had their own language for ordering, created to save time and probably to baffle and amuse the customers. Here's some diner slang, from a glossary in The American Diner Cookbook:

Adam and Eve on a raft: Two poached eggs on toast

Axle grease: Butter

Brown bellies: Baked beans

Bucket of hail: Small glass of ice

Clean up the kitchen: Hash

Go for a walk: Take-out order

Hot cha: Hot chocolate

M.D.: Dr Pepper

Nervous pudding: Jell-O

Mike and Ike: Salt and pepper shakers

Two cows - Make them cry: Two hamburgers with onions

Wrecked hen with fruit: Scrambled eggs and orange juice

Sinkers and suds: Doughnuts and coffee

Timely tip

You can always order Cream of Wheat for breakfast at a diner. I used to love to get it at small-town cafes, where it comes perfectly, smoothly set, so the milk just sits in a layer on the top until your spoon creates canals for it flow.

My daughter loves Cream of Wheat, too, but she likes it lumpy. I have always claimed that I am incapable of making it lumpy, though I've tried. But we just noticed that the box has directions for making it lumpy printed right on it. It's perfectly simple, and it makes nice lumps.

Here's what it says:

Boil water. Add cereal without stirring. Bring to a boil; then stir. Reduce heat to low; proceed as directed on package (i.e., cook for 2 1/2 minutes until thick, stirring constantly.)