Receipts For The Table-September 1857

Peterson's Magazine

Tomato Ketchup.- Take two dozen of ripe tomatas and a handful of salt; slice the tomatas, and put a layer into a jar, sprinkle salt over it, then another layer of tomatas and salt, until the jar is full. Stir the contents now and then for three or four days, keeping the jar in a warm place by the fire; at the expiration of which time press the juice from the tomatas by rubbing them with a wooden spoon through a sieve, and boil it with mace, pepper, allspice, ginger and cloves, in the proportion of about two ounces in all to one quart of juice, a few blades of mace, twelve cloves, a spoonful of pounded ginger, and the remainder pepper and allspice. In three months boil it again with fresh spice. Or:-Take six pounds of tomatas, sprinkle them with salt; let them remain for a day or two, then boil them until the skins will separate easily; pour them into a colander, or coarse sieve, and press them through, leaving the skins behind; put into the liquor one handful of shalots, one pint of Chili vinegar, half pint wine, pepper, cloves, ginger, and allspice; boil them together until a third part has wasted; then bottle it, closing the bottle securely. It must be shaken before it is used.

Tomato Sauce for Winter.- Use one peck of tomatas, six onions sliced, two heads of celery, a dozen shalots, one ounce of cayenne pepper, half ounce of black pepper, and one ounce of mace in powder. Slice them into a well-tinned saucepan, mixing the seasoning with them as they are cut up; boil, keeping them well stirred; when thoroughly soft, drain off the water, and rub through a hair sieve. Boil it again until it is as thick as apple-sauce. Put it into bottles, and cork close. Put the bottles into a stewpan, fill it with cold water, let it boil for twenty minutes. Keep in a cool place. Examine the bottles occasionally, and if there is the least indication of a change turn it into the kettle again, boil, and scum it, keeping it well stirred from the bottom that it may not adhere, and put it into the bottles again. When required for use, warm what is wanted with a little gravy. It is as nice as when fresh done, and will be found excellent with calf's-head or brains, veal, beef, mutton, pork, or goose. An onion or a shallot, boiled in the gravy with which it is mixed, will be an improvement.

Lemon Cakes.- Quarter as many lemons as you think proper: they must have good rinds. Boil them in two or three waters till they are tender and have lost their bitterness. Then skin them and put them in a napkin to dry. With a knife take all the skins and seeds out of the pulp: shred the peels fine, and put them to the pulp. Weigh them, and put rather more than their weight of fine sugar into a stewpan, with just sufficient water to dissolve the sugar. Boil it till it becomes perfectly dissolved, and then, by degrees, put in the peel and pulps. Stir them well before you set them on the fire. Boil the whole very gently until it looks clear and thick, and then put it into flat-bottomed glasses. Set them in a stove and keep them in a continual and moderate heat,  and turn them out upon glasses as soon as they are candied.

Orange Custards.- Having boiled the rind of a Seville orange very tender, beat it in a mortar to a fine paste. Put to it the juice of a Seville orange, a spoonful of the best brandy, four ounces of loaf sugar, and the yolks of four eggs; beat them all well together ten minutes. Then pour in by degrees a pint boiling cream; keep beating it till cold, and then put it into custard glasses. Place them in an earthen dish of hot water and let them stand till they are set; then stick preserved orange, or orange chips on the top. They may be served hot or cold.

Almond Pudding.- Blanch half a pound of sweet almonds and four bitter ones in warm water. Pound them in a marble mortar, with two spoonfuls of orange flower water, two of rose water, and a gill of white wine. Mix in four grated Naples biscuits, and three-quarters of a pound of melted butter. Beat eight eggs and mix them with a quart of boiled cream. Grate in half a nutmeg, add a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar, and mix all well together. Make a thin puff paste and lay it all over the dish. Pour in the ingredients and bake it.

Sago Pudding.- Boil two ounces of sago with some cinnamon, and a bit of lemon peel, till it becomes soft and thick. Mix the crumb of a small roll finely grated, with a glass of red wine, four ounces of chopped marrow, the yolks of four eggs well beaten, and sugar according to taste. When the sago is cold add this mixture to it; stir the whole well together, and put in a dish lined with a light puff paste, and set it in a moderate oven to bake. When done stick it all over with citron cut in pieces, and afterward blanched, and cut in slips.

Unidentified artist, American, mid-19th century, MFA



Historical Food Fortnightly: Challenge #7- Adelaide's Pudding

The Challenge: The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread. Create a food item that reflects historical food improvements. Showcase a new discovery in food preparation, a different way of using food, or a different way of serving it.

For this challenge I chose patent flour, for which you can find an article I wrote here.

From What I Know by Elizabeth Nicholson, 1856.

The original recipe is vague in a few points. I looked through other baked pudding recipes of the era to gauge a cook time and temperature. I used pippin apples since they are a period variety. The recipe did not call for a specific type of sugar so I chose brown, this being my personal favorite for baking. I sprinkled my apples with cinnamon prior to baking and served the pudding warm with homemade whipped cream.



 
My updated recipe:

Fill each pared and cored apple with 1 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg. Place apples into a greased baking dish.

Make batter of 1 egg, 1 cup self raising flour, and 1 cup milk. 

Pour around apples and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Knife should come out clean when inserted.

Serve quickly from oven, as the pudding will shrink as it cools.

The cost of this dish was nothing since I already had all the ingredients present.

Other than the modern convenience of baking in the oven, this dish was made with all period available ingredients and manner.

The dish was a success in my book and a hit with those who shared it.

 

 

Receipts for the Table- August 1857

Peterson's Magazine

Turkish Custards.-Wash in several lukewarm waters one pound and a half of Carolina rice, and set it on with cold water to blanch; as soon as it boils strain it on a sieve, turn it afterward into a large stewpan, with three quarters of milk, one pound of butter, one pound of sugar, on which the rind of an orange or lemon has been rasped, and a grain of salt; put the pan over moderate fire, that the rice may swell by degrees, but yet be kept whole; stir it a little, and add one pound of currants, washed and dried, adding twelve yolks of eggs, and some spoonsful of whipt cream, until the preparation becomes somewhat soft; if not, add a little more cream, after which, mix the twelve whites of eggs whipped with it; turn the whole into a crust already prepared, put it into a moderate oven, and give it two hours and a half baking: when ready to serve, brown it with a salamander, and serve immediately; it may be made without the currants.

Stock from Fowls.- Roast two well-fed fowls, coloring them before a clear fire; put them in a stewpan with two quarts of water; skim it, and add a carrot, a turnip, a clove stuck in an onion, two leeks, half a head of celery, and a lettuce, the whole having been minced and sweated in clarified butter; add a little salt, and simmer it nearly three hours; skim off the fat carefully, and pass it through a silk sieve. Use this stock for soups, a santé (healthy) as it is without beef, it is light and nourishing. A turkey may thus be used, giving it double the quantities of water and seasoning, and boiling it for five hours.

Pear Marmalade.-Take six pounds of small pears and four pounds of lump sugar. Put the pears into a saucepan, with a little water, and set it on the fire. When the pears are soft, take them out; pare, quarter, and core them. As you do this, throw each piece into cold water, in another saucepan; and when all are done, set them on the fire. As soon as they are sufficiently soft, rub them through a sieve; and, having in the meantime clarified the sugar, pour the syrup to the pulp, set it on the fire, and stir the whole together until the marmalade is of the proper consistence. Then take it off, and put it into pots; when cold tie them down.

Hot Cross Buns.- Rub four ounces of butter into two pounds of flour, four ounces of sugar, and one ounce and a half of spice, consisting of ground allspice, cinnamon, and mace, mixed together; put a spoonful or two of cream into a cup of yeast, add as much milk as will make the above into a light paste, and set it by the fire to rise. They will bake quickly on tins. When half done, press the form of a cross with a tin mould in the centre.

Greengage Jam.- Rub ripe greengages through a coarse hair sieve; put the pulp into a preserving-pan along with an equal weight of lump sugar, pounded and sifted. Boil the whole to a proper thickness, and put it into pots.

Indian Curry Soup.-Take three quarts of water, which may be added some beef stock, put half of it into a stewpan, with two small chickens, surrounded by slices of fat bacon, a bunch of parsley, two bayleaves, four cloves, a pinch of mace, the same of cayenne pepper and allspice, pepper, thyme, and basil; let them boil slowly three-quarters of an hour, then take up the chickens; skim the liquid, and strain it through a very fine sieve into a stewpan containing ten ounces of rice washed and blanched; add a slight infusion of saffron to color it of a fine yellow; after boiling nearly an hour, pour the rice into the tureen containing the fowls cut in pieces; add the remaining liquid quite boiling, and serve. This soup should taste of the herbs and spices, and triflingly of the cayenne pepper.




Apples on a Tin Cup, William Sidney Mount, 1864

 

"A Nourishing Meal"

While touring Europe in 1878, Mark Twain was less than satisfied with the food that he encountered there. In his A Tramp Abroad, Twain published the following fare for his "modest, private affair, all to myself...and be hot when I arrive..."

Radishes
Baked apples, with cream
Fried oysters; stewed oysters
Frogs
American coffee, with real cream
American butter
Fried chicken, Southern style
Porter-house steak
Saratoga potatoes
Broiled chicken, American style
Hot biscuits, Southern style
Hot wheat-bread, Southern style
Hot buckwheat cakes
American toast
Clear maple syrup
Virginia bacon, broiled
Blue points, on the half shell
Cherry-stone clams
San Francisco mussels, steamed
Oyster soup
Clam soup
Philadelphia Terapin soup
Oysters roasted in shell, Northern style
Soft-shell crabs
Connecticut shad
Baltimore perch
Brook trout, from Sierra Nevadas
Lake trout, from Tahoe
Sheep-head and croakers, from New Orleans
Black bass from the Mississippi
American roast beef
Roast turkey, Thanksgiving style
Cranberry sauce
Celery
Roast wild turkey
Woodcock
Canvas-back duck, from Baltimore
Prairie hens, from Illinois
Missouri partridge, broiled
'Possum
coon
Boston bacon and beans
Bacon and greens, Southern style
Hominy
Boiled onions
Turnips
Pumpkin
Squash
Asparagus
Butter beans
Sweet potatoes
Lettuce
Succotash
String beans
Mashed potatoes
Catsup
Boiled potatoes, in their skins
New potatoes, minus the skins
Early rose potatoes, roasted in the ashes, Southern style, served hot
Sliced tomatoes, with sugar or vinegar
Stewed tomatoes
Green corn, cut from the ear and served with butter and pepper
Green corn, on the ear
Hot corn-pone, with chitlings, Southern style
Hot hoe-cake, Southern style
Hot egg-bread, Southern style
Hot light-bread, Southern style
Buttermilk
Iced sweet milk
Apple dumplings, with real cream
Apple pie
Apple fritters
Apple puffs, Southern style
Peach cobbler, Southern style
Peach pie
American mince pie
Pumpkin pie
Squash pie
All sorts of American pastry



Greetings

To say I haven't posted in awhile is a gross understatement. Life has been a distraction that has kept me from writing the type of posts that I expected for myself. My goal is to get back to it. While I have a few posts outlined for this blog, I will also be starting a Facebook group where I can post the smaller tidbits that I come across. I hope for good things to come from all of this.

Thank you.



Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping

" Bad dinners go hand in hand with total depravity, while a properly fed man is already half saved." Thus begins The Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping.

Published in 1877 by the the Buckeye Publishing Company it was compiled by the ladies of the First Congregational Church of Marysville, Ohio as a fundraiser. Its further goal was to "pack between its covers the greatest possible amount of practical information of real value to all, and especially to the inexperienced" on how to manage their households. The book was published continually for the following twenty-eight years and again in 2008 by Applewood Books. Although created in Ohio it is not regionally strict. It consists of recipes submitted by ladies North and South, East and West.

Included in the book along with cooking recipes are hints for laundry, hygiene, first aid, market guide, and the sick room. Also included are bill of fares for seasons, holidays, picnics, and parties. The table of weights and measures and cooking time table are very informative for many who demonstrate period cooking techniques.

Enjoy reading through this book as one never knows what they may discover in it.

Patent Flour

Patent flour is another name for self-rising/self-raising and is occasionally referred to as prepared flour in the 19th century. It was invented by a baker from Bristol, England named Henry Jones and patented in that country in 1845. A patent was issued in the United States on 1 May 1849. The flour came in varieties of wheat, buckwheat, Graham, and corn meal.

In 1853 the Transactions of the American Institute of the City of New York saw patent flour as "an important revolution in domestic economy, and add much to the health and comfort of all who use it." Bread made with it was considered to be light, sweet, and wholesome.

The earliest receipt that I could find in an American cookbook was the 1856 What I Know; or Hints on the Daily Duties of a Housekeeper. This book gives instructions on creating your own flour as well as receipts for its use.

In 1864 E.N. Horsford published his work The Army Ration, which sought to break down marching rations for the army. He considered the flour to be a better choice than regular wheat as it "would yield twice as many rations" for the same weight. He also gave instructions on how a soldier may bake his bread using two canteen halves:

August V. Kautz also suggested the use of the flour for the army; as well as the use of the canteen halves for baking "or even rolled up in wet paper or covered with leaves."

In Hardtack and Coffee, John Billings states that "towards the end of the war sutlers kept self-raising flour, which they sold in packages of a few pounds. This the men bought quite generally to make fritters and pancakes." William Ray of the 7th Wisconsin Infantry notes in his diary on 6 October 1864 that he "indulged a little today by the way of buying half package of flour. This flour is put up in 6lbs packages and cost $1.00 and all we have to do is to mix it up with water and bake it. Ben and I made a nice mess of cakes. The boys call it patent flour."
Although Horsford's obituary states that "Gen. Grant ordered right off 500,000 of the rations", it does not appear that the army adopted the use of the flour during the time of the Civil War, however the 1896 Manual for Army Cooks calls for its use.

 

The ease of using the flour made it ideal for expeditions and those engaged in mining.

Kautz noted that this type of flour was " well-known and highly prized in the mining districts of California..." An 1856 advertisement shows that the flour was being milled in that state.

In the History of the Big Bonanza dough was made up "in the same pans that are used in prospecting for gold" and then "two or three men, each with a frying pan, are at work baking slapjacks". Browne's food stores on his expedition to survey the West consisted of "bacon, beans, self-rising flour, sugar, and coffee."

Those in the living history community will find this flour very useful as it will eliminate the need for yeast which can be unpredictable, as well as reducing the amount of supplies needed. It can be purchased at any local grocery store or you may prepare your own by combining 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

The State Register, & Yearbook of Facts, 1857

 The Canteen, 1864

Ann Arbor Courier, 1884

The Druggist's General Receipt Book, 1863

Ballou's Monthly Magazine, 1877

Margaret Sim's Cookery, 1883

 

Bibliography:

-American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record. Edited by Caswell A. Mayo and Thomas J. Keenan. New York: American Druggist Publishing Company, 1893.

-"New Patent Flour". Ann Arbor Courier (Ann Arbor, MI), Feb. 1, 1884.

-"Queen Drops". Ballou's Monthly Magazine, 1877

-Beadle, John Hanson. Life in Utah. Philadelphia: National Publishing Company, 1870. 

-Beasley, Henry. The Druggist's General Receipt Book. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blackiston, 1863.

-Billings, John. Hardtack and Coffee. Boston: George M. Smith and Company, 1888.

-Browne, J. Ross. Resources of the Pacific Slope. San Francisco: H.H. Bancroft and Company, 1869.

-The Canteen (Albany, NY), Feb. 23, 1864.

-De Quille, Dan. The Big Bonanza. Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company, 1877.

-Draper, Robert E. Sacramento City and County Directory. Sacramento: H.S. Crocker and Company, 1868.

-Horsford, E.N. The Army Ration.New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1864.

-Kautz, August V. Customs of Service for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Company, 1864.

-The Lancet . Edited by Thomas Wakley. London: John Churchill, 1845.

-Manual for Army Cooks. United States War Department. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896.

-Nicholson, Elizabeth. What I Know; or, Hints on the Daily Duties of a Housekeeper. Philadelphia: Willis P. Hazard, 1856.

-Sargent, Aaron Augustus. Brown and Dallison's Nevada, Grass Valley and Rough and Ready Directory. San Francisco: Town Talk Office, 1856.

-Sim, Margaret. Margaret Sim's Cookery. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1883.

-The State Register, and Yearbook of Facts. San Francisco: Langley and Mathews, 1857.

-Ray, William. Four Years with the Iron Brigade. Edited by Herdegen, Murphy. Cambridge, Ma: Da Capo Press, 2002.

-Transactions of the American Institute of the City of New York. Albany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1853.