Never heard of him.....never saw him on TV....must have been regional.
Linda c

My friend Suzanne has the cookbook, and uses several recipes with regularity. I also found it on Amazon, and you can buy it used.

I remember Mike Roy forever (I'm a lot older than you!) Loved the way he gave out the recipe on the radio and his partner (who was that), would repeat carefully and make sure you could follow along.. "1 tablespoon" would become "one tablespoon with a big T".

I see from this that the partner was Dennis Bracken. And that Mike was also the announcer for Duffy's Tavern, which I remember vaguely, too.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19760628&id=MxwMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dF0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5975,4055010

Try a Google search, it's very interesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mike Roy's crockpot book

So how about sharing his carrot cake recipe?
How is it different from today's carrot cake recipes?

Rusty

Linda, it was cooking on the radio, not TV. And I want the recipe, too!

Radio cooking! That explains a lot. It's not pretty. Here's the recipe I have. It may have changed from the original before I got it...heck, Mike Roy may have had nothing to do with it. It's only different from other recipes in that it's a glazed rectangular sticky mass instead of a pretty cream cheese layer cake. Yes, I might use additional cinnamon...

Mike Roy's Carrot Cake

3 eggs
2 C sugar
1 1/2 C Wesson oil
2 C grated carrots
1 C crushed pineapple, drained
1 C Angel Flake coconut
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 C chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line with waxed paper a 9x13" pan.

Beat eggs, add sugar and oil and beat well. Add carrots, pineapple, and coconut and mix well.

Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together and add to moist ingredients. Mix well, then add nuts and vanilla.

Pour into prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour. Do not open oven for first 50 minutes.

Spoon glaze over hot cake.

Glaze

1 C buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp white Karo syrup
1/2 cube butter or margarine
1 C sugar

Cook glaze ingredients at a rapid boil for 5 minutes in a large saucepan. Stir constantly. Then spoon over cake.

Here's what I got from Suzanne:

"LOVE MIKE ROY'S CROCKPOT COOKBOOK!!! It has the best split pea and ham soup recipe and many others, too. Poor book is a mess from being used so much. I don't remember where I got the book, but I think it was when I got my first crock pot --they were a very new 'trendy' thing at the time. Who knew how crucial a kitchen item they would become."

Hmmmm, although I suppose I am old enough, the only Mike Roy I remember is Erica Kane's true love from All My Children, maybe not food related, but he was a sweetheart!

I was going to say the same thing woodie... the only Mike Roy I know of is from AMC. He and Erica made a great team. NancyLouise

He was hot!

OMG woodie2 & nancylouise, that was my first thought too!!!! Erica Kane's hubby--the really cute hot one who was a genuine good guy and loved her truly and she had a good thing with him, finally!!! (then of course, you know soap operas...all that changes!)

Haha I used to watch AMC back in my high school and college days, but alas, DH teased me, so I quit. Erica was only interested in Tara's honey, Ruth and Joe's son. What was his name? Philip?

Mike Roy? My father used to listen to him while he was at work. If he had time he'd write down and bring home a recipe or two. I think the baked bean recipe was his and maybe some type of punch, but I'll ask Mom. That was even before AMC!

WOW!!!! Talk about a "Voice From The Past"! I used to listen to his popular radio broadcast, without fail, on WCAU, Philadelphia! Didn't know that he had authored any cookbooks. Any cookbooks that he wrote must be a valued collector's item by this time. I do have a few recipes around that I scribbled down while listening to his broadcasts.

P.S. Don't tell anyone, but am a very senior, senior citizen!!

Thanks for posting the recipe, fori.

Rusty

Hope you enjoy it, Rusty--it's almost a vegetable, right? Never mind it takes almost as much fat as sugar...

Thanks for passing on the review, Sushipup. Talk about sign of the times--he also did one called "Cooking with Astrology" with newspaper astrologer Sydney Omarr. (I went through much of my childhood thinking Omar Shariff did a horoscope column in addition to acting. I think this guy is the reason.)

I'm going to have to keep an eye out for the cookbooks. The Crockpot one ranges in online prices from around $6 to over $200. I guess it's time to go all retro myself and hit the LIBRARY?!

I vaguely remember a cooking duo on the radio from the sixties--was he the guy who had a cool sounding voice, sort of like a cross between Bing Crosby and the Sugar Smacks bear?

Yes, he had a wonderful radio voice.

Thanks to all for your interest after all of these years! Yes indeed, Dad was an exceptional chef and excellent writer.
Having just utilized "The Mike Roy Cookbook Number Two: Everyday Recipes (from 1968)" to prepare our Thanksgiving feast, I must say, his work is still delicious!
For those seeking more info, you might like to check out http://www.accuracyproject.org/cbe-Roy,Mike.html. I'm hoping to add more info to this site later this year.
Enjoy and be good to yourselves!

That carrot cake recipe looks a lot like the one I use to make in the 1970's. Only I also added cream cheese frosting. It was great! Here is a interesting article written by his daughter. He wrote 12 cookbooks!
Clare

Here is a link that might be useful: Radio Homemakers : Mike Roy, My Pop

What fun to hear from his son!!...I'm sorry to say I don't remember Mike Roy...but I sure do remember Duffy's Tavern...Arcie speakin'.

I remember him from the radio when I lived in California in the 60's. He was good cook and his rotund physique was a testament to it. I agree, he had a great radio voice. I still have his crockpot cookery book and use his recipes. The pages are starting to come loose but I just rubberband them together. It also was the first time I bought a crockpot.

How fun that after 3 years, Dana found this thread! Thank you for linking to the Times article. I now understand why my Dad liked listening to your dad. I do remember his imposing size but having a friendly voice.

I remember Chef Mike Roy.
He was a friend of our Senior Home Econiomist at the Gas Co. in Orange County, and usedd to stop by our office occasionally.
I have his recipe for Roquefort Cheese Dressing whch is the best ever.
Would love to share it with you...Can I scan it and send?
Jane Olinger

I guess I didn't get that show in Nebraska... or just didn't know about it. The Carrot Muffin recipe sounds just like one my Mum found in the very first issue of Bon Appetite. It is still our favorite - with the cream cheese frosting mentioned by Aptosca.

I love old-time recipes and appreciate this thread coming up again. I may have to try looking for Mr. Roy's Cookbooks.

Jane, post the recipe here.... pleeeeze!

Yes post it please!

(Meanwhile I just went and ordered some Mike Roy cookbooks off eBay. I don't actually have a functional kitchen at the moment but I do have a crockpot!)

I remember listening to Mike on KNX 1070 in the late sixties when I was in college at San Diego State. I had one of his cookbooks, it was paperback. I think my wife threw it out in one of her cleanings. I wish still had it.

I am late to this thread but grew up watching Mike Roy on TV with my mom. She would send in for his weekly newsletter that contained the week's recipes. I have searched for years but cannot find Mike's newsletter recipe for Chinese Almond Cookies. They used rice flour and because of that, were very white. Anyone have this recipe?

I have a crockpot that I never use, and so I ordered his cookbook to see if it will inspire me. His carrot cake looks good (without the glaze), and I was asked to make carrot cake when I worked in a restaurant in San Francisco in the 1970s, but I did not like carrot cake and did not have a good recipe for it. The restaurant only had fresh pineapples and fresh coconuts, and so it would have been a bit more work.

Here's a link to a Chinese Almond Cookie recipe made with rice flour (from a 1914 cookbook)...

Chinese Almond Cookies

I not only remember him but knew him personally and he taught me how to cook at his restaurant he opened at the Corriganville Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, California when I was 14 years old and he was the first Chef with a TV show in the United States so he was not a cook on just Radio.

And he was an outstanding Chef , and one of the best I ever met in the USA, Canada, and Mexico where I travel for over 50 years while doing business in not only in the USA but International as well in the Trucking Industry as a Company owner and Driver when the mood struck me to go on the road in my 18 wheeler.

I am going to be 75 in April and there were many other notables I have known in my life and actors, actresses and Musicians of rock and roll and Country Music, and many I met in Simi Valley, and even worked for Jim Arness, (Matt Dillon of Gun Smoke), during summer 1961, who lived in Simi Valley as well as his younger brother Peter Graves of Mission Impossible, and Airplane fame, and their father Rolf.

Many of them came to Mike Roy's restaurant at the Movie Ranch where I met them, and some years later I introduced to my present wife, including Jack Nickleson in 1982.

So Mike Roy was a very well known Chef during the early to late 1950's to the 1960's, and as I said he was an outstanding Chef, who gave me my love of all kinds of ethnic foods from all over the World.

I watched his cooking show on TV in the early 70s in Los Angeles. I liked Mike Roy a lot, and tried a lot of his recipes. They were all good. I watched Julia Child too, but never tried hers -- they intimidated me.

I tried many of hers and they were a bit complicated but given time they turned out very good, and still when I feel like giving my wife a break I still use both or theirs depends on mood.

That's great. I guess I wasn't that into cooking. Nice of you to give your wife a break.

she deserves everything I can do for her because as I battled Terminal Cancer she took care of me and did without sleep and worked so hard to make sure I had all I needed, so it is such little things that I can do for her now that she is 100% disabled with her own health that it is now my turn to do for her what I can, and she is not only my wife but more than just my Best friend, she is my all still after 36 years, and above all she knows I love her more to day than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow.

Your marriage sounds wonderful. I think it's so important to be married to a best friend.

I had never heard of him until a friend gave me his crock pot cook book. Before that, my crock pot stayed high up on a shelf in my pantry. Not anymore. That was in the early 90's, and even after my new puppy tore it it shreds, I still use it (I taped the pages back together). Every recipe I've tried is delicious. Thank you everyone for the interesting stories about Mike Roy.

Something about this thread makes me smile each time it's bumped.

This is the first time I've read this topic. How interesting, and it too makes me smile.

I too smile because I had the privilege of being taught by him to cook and I am sorry that many of my peers never saw or heard of him he was a great Chef, not just a cook, but top quality Chef., and Great Human Being who share much of his knowledge with those who wanted to learn.

and I still have his cook books and use them from time to time to impress my wife who herself is one of the best cooks I have ever had the pleasure to eat her food, she is a good cookie,,, LOL.

I still have his Crockpot recipe book from 1977 or so. In fact, I'm making the Beef Stroganoff for guests coming tomorrow. it's very good!

you can't just say a recipe is good without posting it ... hint hint

Beef Stroganoff (Mike
Roy)

Slice 2 lbs Flank or Round Steak
into 1/4-inch strips about 2 inches long.
Place in crockpot.

Mix together the following ingredients and add to meat:

1 smallOnion, sliced

1 Clove Garlic, minced (1 tsp. jarred)

8 oz. fresh Mushrooms, cooked & drained

2
cups Beef Broth or Bouillon

1
Tbsp. Catsup

1
Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1/4
cup Cabernet or dry
Sherry

1
tsp. Salt

1/4
tsp. Pepper

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Make thickening of 1/3 cup Flour, Milk, and Kitchen Bouquet
using a wire whisk.

Turn crock on high and stir in, allowing sauce to
thicken.

Turn off heat and, after a few minutes, stir in 1 cup SourCream.

Serve with Noodles. Serves 4 to 6.

thanks yapster.

ordered one of his cookbooks for cheap bayside when this was first posted. it's 'somewhere' in my cookbook arsenal, time to organize that ... again.

I DO have plenty of time on my hands.

Need to organize my tools too, but gotta buy at least three big 4' x 8' sheets of pegboard to do that ...

I remremember Mike, I used to listen to his radio program up untl his passing in 1976. I tuned in at work and was shocked and saddened when Dennis Braken announced his death that morning. (I was 14 at the time) Dennis carried on for a few days with the show, then he soon also passed. The show influenced me to take up cooking, and I was told I did it well. I recently decided to start using his recepies, so to me, Mike and Dennis live on!

I listened to Mike Roy in the 70s. Perfect gravy recipe, making a " roux", equal parts pan drippings and cornstarch..

Mike Roy’s bourbon baked beans were a standard patio barbeque featire when i grew up in Santa Barbara.

^^ Oh, now that sounds good...