For several years Pine Knoll Clock Shop was located across the road from our current shop in a one room school house known locally as Albin School. This school operated from 1870 - 1947. As many of us are spending a lot of time in our kitchens this Christmas season, I thought it might be fun to see how the kitchen evolved during the time this one room school was open 1870-1947:
1870
The 12 General Principles of Cooking
1. This delightful list was published in a little known cookbook of 1870 titled "Jenny June's American Cookery Book". Most of the twelve are still as applicable today as they were then. Besides, we find her wit delightful.
1. The object of cooking is to make food healthful, and palatable; the secret is therefore, how to combine elements and flavors, so as to produce the best results.
2. The best meat requires the simplest preparation.
3. A cardinal principle in cooking is cleanliness; a dirty cook cannot be a good cook, because all her dishes, no matter how distinct in quality, or costly in material, will taste as if, to use a common expression, they were "cooked in one pot."
4. As a general rule, to which there are very few exceptions, cook long and slowly, to cook well, and let the heat reach every part as evenly as possible.
5. Fresh meats, and fish are better than corned, pickled, or smoked provisions; and the flesh of grown animals, (beef or mutton) is to be preferred to young beasts, such as veal or lamb.
6. The natural order in cooking meats or fish, excepting oysters, is first to broil, second to boil, third to roast, fourth to stew, fifth to bake, and sixth to fry; and never to fry, as long as there is another method left.
7. To retain the juices in boiled meat, keep it in mass and plunge it in boiling water; this coagulates the outer coating and prevents the escape of the jucies, or soluable matter. To extract the jucies for soup, cut it up in small pieces, and put it in cold water; this draws out all the strength, making good soup, but poor meat.
8. Air should have access to roasting meat, hence spit roasting before a fire, is found much better than roasting in a closed oven.
9. Always retain as much as possible of the distinct flavor of every article of food used; mixtures which make all dishes taste alike, are dyspepsia breeding, as well as appetite killing.
10. Carefully avoid placing articles in contact, which have no affinity, such as fish and meat, etc. It is sufficient for people to do that in their stomachs.
11. A light hand in making, a quick step in baking, maketh a good conscience for eating bread, puddings, and pies.
12. Food for the well, is better than physic for the sick. Bad cooking is a crime; it is the cause of dyspepsia, and a host of other evils. A woman convicted of it ought to be arrainged for manslaughter.
A Handy Guide for Civil War-era Weights and Measures
TABLES OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Apples One Pd. = Three Cups
Beans One Pd. = Six Cups (cooked)
Butter (Soft) One Pd. = One Quart
Butter One Ounce= Two Tablespoons
Eggs Ten Eggs = One Pound
Flour One Ounce= One Quarter Cup
Flour One Pd. = One Quart or 4 Cups
Indian Meal One Pd., Two Oz. = One Quart
Salt One tbsp. = One Oz.
Sugar One Ounce= Two Tablespoons
Sugar One Pound= Two Cups
Sugar (Powdered) One Pd., One Oz. = One Quart
Sugar (Loaf) One Pd. = One Quart
Sugar (Brown) One Pd., Two Oz. = One Quart
LIQUIDS
Sixty Drops = One Teaspoon
One Dessert Spoon = Two Teaspoons
Three Teaspoons= One Tablespoon
Two Tablespoons= One Ounce
Four large tbsp. = Half a Gill or 1/4 Cup
Eight large tbsp. = One Gill or Half Cup
Sixteen large tbsp. = Half a Pint or One Cup
Two Gills = Half a Pint or One Cup
Twenty Ounces= One Pint
Four Noggins = One Pint
Two Pints = One Quart or Four Cups
Four Quarts = One Gallon or Sixteen Cups
Eight Quarts= One Peck
One Drachm (Dram) = One-eighth Oz. or 3/4 tsp.
Eight Drachm= One Ounce
Four Gills= One Pint
One Pottle = One Half Gallon
Half a Gallon = One Quarter Peck
One Gallon = One Half Peck
Two Gallons = One Peck
Four Gallons = Half a Bushel
Eight Gallons = One Bushel
Nine Gallons= One Firkin
Fifty Two & 1/2 Gallons= One Hogshead
Four Pecks= One Bushel
Eight Bushels= One Quarter
Thirty-Six Bushels= One Chaldron
Four Firkins= One Barrel
Tips and Tricks From the Authors of the Time (1870's - early 1900's)
WAIT TILL ARTICLES, fruit, fish, poultry and vegetables, are in full season, before purchasing. They are then not only much lower in price than when first brought to market, but finer in quality and flavor.
NEVER ALLOW CHILDREN to eat butter with meat or gravy; it is both wasteful and injurious.
HOT BUCKWHEAT CAKES will go farther and last longer than any other single article of food. A celebrated judge declared that he could remain in court all day, without feeling a symptom of hunger, after a breakfast of buckwheat cakes.
A STEW is not a bad dish for a family dinner, once a week; make it of good meat, and savory with sweet herbs, and the most fastidious will not object to it.
TAKE CARE OF THE FOOD that is brought into the house, and see that none of it is wasted; but do not be always on the lookout for cheap things. Beans are cheap, and very good sometimes; corn meal is cheap too, and even more available, because it can be made into a great variety of dishes, but people would not care to live on beans and corn meal all the time, because they are cheap. Eating is intended as a means of enjoyment, as well as of sustaining life; and it is right to avail ourselves of the abundant resources provided, as far as we can consistently.
MAKE A POINT of examining safe, refrigerator, closets, drawers, and all receptacles for food, and kitchen articles, at least as often as once a week, either Saturday, or washing day. Look into pickle jars, bread jars, cake jars, butter tubs, apple, and potato barrels, everything in fact, examine their condition, see if they are kept covered and clean, and that food put away, is not left to spoil, or be wasted.
WHAT MUST ALWAYS BE DONE, AND WHAT MUST NEVER BE DONE
These delightful tips come to us from The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker by J.M. Sanderson (1864). Concerning rule #19 - we knew we'd get a lot of letters asking what a "slut's wipe" is, so we checked. According to "Slang And Euphemism" by Richard A Spears, one definition of slut is "to work as a servant". So Sanderson seems to have been advising to clean better than a servant would.
1. Keep yourself clean and tidy; let your hands, in particular, be always clean whenever it is practicable. After a dirty job always wash them. A cleanly cook must wash her hands many times in the course of the day, and will require three or four aprons appropriated to the work upon which she is employed. Your hair must never be blowsy, nor your cap dirty.
2. Keep apart things that would injure each other, or destroy their flavour.
3. Keep every cloth, saucepan and all other utensils to their proper use, and when done with, put them in their proper places.
4. Keep every copper stewpan and saucepan bright without, and perfectly clean within, and take care that they are always well tinned. Keep all your dish-covers well dried, and polished; and to effect this, it will be necessary to wash them in scalding water as soon as removed from the table, and when these things are done let them be hung up in their proper places.
5. The gridiron, frying-pan, spit, dripping-pan, &c., must be perfectly cleaned of grease and dried before they are put in their proper places.
6. Attention should be paid to things that do not meet the sight in the way that tins and copper vessels do. Let, for instance, the pudding cloth, the dish-cloth, and the dish-tub, be always kept perfectly clean. To these may be added, the sieve, the cullender, the jelly-bag, &c., which ought always to be washed as soon after they are used as may be practicable.
7. Scour your rolling-pin and paste-board as soon after using as possible, but without soap, or any gritty substance, such as sand or brick-dust; put them away perfectly dry.
8. Scour your pickle and preserve jars after they are emptied; dry them and put them away in a dry place.
9. Wipe your bread and cheese-pan out daily with a dry cloth, and scald them once a week. Scald your salt-pan when out of use, and dry it thoroughly. Scour the lid well by which it is covered when in use.
10. Mind and put all things in their proper places, and then you will easily find them when they are wanted.
11. You must not poke things out of sight instead of cleaning them, and such things as onions, garlick, &c., must not be cut with the same knife as is used in cutting meat, bread, butter, &c. Milk must not be put in a vessel used for greasy purposes, nor must clear liquids, such as water, &c., be put into vessels, which have been used for milk, and not washed; in short, no vessel must be used for any purpose for which it is not appropriated.
12. You must not suffer any kind of food to become cold in any metal vessel, not even in well-tinned iron saucepans, &c., for they will impart a more or less unpleasant flavour to it. Above all things
you must not let liquid food, or indeed any other, remain in brass or copper vessels after it is cooked. The rust of copper or brass is absolutely poisonous, and this will be always produced by moisture and exposure to the air. The deaths of many persons have been occasioned by the cook not attending to this rule.
13. You must not throw away the fat which, when cold, accumulates on the top of liquors in which fresh or salt meat has been boiled; in short, you ought not to waste fat of any description, or any thing else, that may be turned to account; such as marrow-bones, or any other clean bones from which food may be extracted in the way of soup, broth, or stock, or in any other way: for if such food will not suit your table, it will suit the table of the poor. Remember, "Wilful waste makes woful want."
14. A very essential requisite in a cook is punctuality: therefore rise early, and get your orders from your mistress as early as possible, and make your arrangements accordingly. What can be prepared before the business of roasting and boiling commences should always be prepared.
15. Do not do your dirty work at a dresser set apart for cleanly preparations. Take care to have plenty of kitchen cloths, and mark them so as a duster may not be mistaken for a pudding-cloth, or a knife-cloth for a towel.
16. Keep your spit, if you use one, always free from rust and dust, and your vertical jack clean. Never draw up your jack with a weight upon it.
17. Never employ, even if permitted to do so, any knives, spoons, dishes, cups, or any other articles in the kitchen, which are used in the dining room. Spoons are sure to get scratched, and a knife used for preparing an onion, takes up its flavour, which two or three cleanings will not entirely take away.
18. Take great care to prevent all preparations which are delicate in their nature, such as custards, blancmange, dressed milks, &c., &c., from burning to which they are very liable. The surest way to effectually hinder this is to boil them as the carpenter heats his glue, that is, by having an outside vessel filled with water.
19. You ought not to do any thing by halves. What you do, do well. If you clean, clean thoroughly, having nothing to do with the "slut's wipe," and the "lick and a promise."
20. And last, though not least, be teachable: be always desirous to learn--never be ashamed to ask for information, lest you should appear to be ignorant; for be assured, the most ignorant are too frequently the most self-opinionated and most conceited; while those who are really well informed, think humbly of themselves, and regret that they know so little.
1900-1909 New Cooking Gadgets.
Electric toaster Drip coffeemaker
Egg beater with perforated blades
Thermos bottle
Tea bags
Dixie cups
Bakelite handles
1900-1909 New Foods
Instant coffee Decaffeinated coffee Hershey chocolate bars & kisses
Barnum Animal Crackers Triscuits Canned tunafish
Ice cream cone Banana split Puffed rice
Post Toasties French's Cream Salad Mustard Cliquot Club Ginger Ale
Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale Ovaltine "Hot dog" named
Bleached flour Hydrogenation Nutritious benefit of rice germ discovered
1900-1909 New Food Companies
Duffy-Mott Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Sheffield Farms
Drake Sunshine Biscuit Planters Nut & Chocolate
Kraft Rafetto Holly Sugar
Continental Can American Can Company Corn Products Refining
1900-1909 Food Industry Beginnings
US Food and Drug Act Kerr lids Coffee in vacuum tins
Homogenized milk Soda fountains & soda jerks Coin-operated restaurant
Cream of Wheat National ad
(Ladies Home Journal, 1902) Hershey ad (McClure's, 1902) Oranges name-branded 1907
1900-1909 Farming Progress
Concrete grain elevator replaces wood Steam tractors for threshing machines
1900-1909 RECIPES.
Cheese Straws
Roll piecrust dough the same thickness as for pies. Cut in strips from six to ten inches wide and cut the strips into straws or sticks a quarter of an inch in width. Lay upon baking sheets, leaving a space between the straws a third the width of the straws. Grate rich cheese, season to taste with salt and red pepper and scatter thickly over the straws and the spaces between them. Put in the oven where the greatest heat will be at the top and bake ten or fifteen minutes. Cut the cheese in the center of the spaces between the straws, remove from the baking sheet with a limber knife and pile tastily on a plate. Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book, 1903. Recipe by Emma P. Ewing.
Ling.
Ingredients. - Ling, breadcrumbs, herbs, butter, pepper and salt.
Mode.-Wash the fish and cut it in slices. Butter a shallow dish, put over some breadcrumbs, lay over the slices of fish. Season well with herbs, pepper, and salt, and add a little vinegar and water. Cover with a layer of crumbs, put small pieces of butter over the top, and bake in a slow oven from ¾ to 1 hour. Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book, 1905. Apple Charlotte.
Apples, castor sugar, grated lemon rind, butter or nutter, bread-crumbs or Granose flakes.
Bread-crumbs make the more substantial, granose flakes the more dainty, charlotte. Use juicy apples. "Mealy" apples make a bad charlotte. If they must be used, a tablespoon or more, according to size, of water must be poured over the charlotte. Peel, core, and slice apples. Grease a pie-dish. Put in a thin layer of crumbs. On this dot a few small pieces nutter. Over this put a generous layer of chopped apple. Sprinkle with sugar and grated lemon rind. Repeat the process until the dish is full. Top with crumbs. Bake from 20 minutes to half an hour. When done, turn out on to dish, being careful not to break. Sprinkle a little castor sugar over. Serve hot or cold. Boiled custard may be served with it.The Healthy Life Cook Book, 1908.
Bombay Pudding.
Cook a heaped tablespoon of semolina in ½ pint of mild to a stiff paste. Spread it on a plate to cool. (Smooth it neatly with a knife.) When quite cold, cut it into four. Dip in a beaten egg and fry brown. Serve hot with lemon sauce. This may also be served as a savoury dish with parsley sauce. the quantity given above is sufficient for two people. The Healthy Life Cook Book, 1908.
1940's Highlights
500 Delicious Salads, Edited by Ruth Berolzheimer. Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, IL 1940
Jeanne Owen's Book of Sauces, M Barrows & Co, New York 1941
Recipes From Antoine's Kitchens, United Newspapers Magazine Corp., 1948
Food Is Fun, American Gas Association, New York
The Sealtest Food Advisor, May/June 1942. Sealtest Inc. , New York City.
1942 Wisconsin State Fair presents Potato Recipes (flyer)
Tongue and Cabbage Salad
1 head cabbage
1 c diced cold cooked tongue
1 c diced cooked ham
1 green pepper, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 c. mayonnaise
Shred cabbage as for coleslaw. Add next 5 ingredients and blend mayonnaise with cabbage mixture. Sugar and salt may be added if desired. serves 8.
Culinary Arts Institutes says: "A new bowl gives a new flair to your favorite cheese and vegetable salad!"
Ice Bowls
Freeze water, colored pale green, in bowl shaped mold. When sufficient ice is formed for the wall, break through the thin ice layer in the center and pour out the water.
Freeze water in an enamel bowl, covered and packed in ice and salt. when frozen 1 inch thick, press down small bowl until water runs out. When freezing process starts again remove smaller bowl. To unmold, dip bowl into hot water.
Repeat process for individual bowls, coloring each in different pastel shades.
PS: I don't get it either (love, Peg)
Jeanne Owen's Book of Sauces, M Barrows & Co, New York 1941
Champagne Sauce
This sauce is served with baked ham.
Cut half a slice of raw, lean ham into very small dice; pour 1 cup of champagne over the diced ham and simmer gently for 10 minutes; add 1/4 c of seedless raisins that have been washed and drained; Thicken to desired consistency with arrowroot that has been moistened, add a small pat of butter and just before serving add 1/4 c of champagne to pep up the flavor.
Aioli or Ailloi
A native of Province, in southern France- where no one ever apologizes for the garlic. Briefly, a garlic mayonnaise. This sauce is served with boiled fish, hot or cold - especially cod; also with meats and plain boiled vegetables.
Crush to a pulp 4 cloves of garlic and mix thoroughly with the raw yolk of a fresh egg. Add a pinch of salt, and stir in slowly, a little at a time, 1/4 c of good olive oil. Keep stirring till it reaches the consistency of mayonnaise.
No doubt the roving Phoenicians brought this delicacy to Province from Greece. The Grecian version of this sauce adds finely ground almonds, bread crumbs soaked in milk and a touch of vinegar.
From the famous New Orleans kitchen at Antoine's comes this cook booklet, put out by This Week magazine for 25 cents
Oeufs Sardou
an aristocratic cousin to Eggs Benedict
8 artichokes
16 anchovy filets
8 poached eggs
1/2 c. chopped cooked ham
1 Tbsp glace de viande or meat glaze (demiglace)
4 slices truffle
1 cup Antoine's Hollandaise Sauce (see recipe below)
Cook artichokes in salted boiling water until tender. Remove petals and choke. Reserve bottoms. Place bottoms in a baking pan; place 2 anchovy filets on each. Run under low broiler flame to keep warm. Have poached eggs ready and warm on the side. Have the Hollandaise at hand, kept lukewarm. Now assemble:
On each artichoke, over the anchovy filets, place a poached egg. Cover with Hollandaise. Sprinkle chopped ham over, and add a few drops of glace de viande over ham and sauce. Place one slice truffle on the very top. Serve immediately.
Antoine's Hollandaise Sauce
1 c. clarified butter
2 tbsp tarragon vinegar
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp minced onion
3 peppercorns
4 egg yolks
juice of 1/4 lemon
In saucepan, place vinegar, water, onion and peppercorns. Cook over very low heat to reduce liquid to one teaspoon. Remove peppercorns and cool. Add egg yolks, beating slightly. Gradually add melted butter, beating constantly. Add lemon juice. Serve immediately.
Although this dish sounds like pure Heaven, by my calculations it would be both cheaper and easier to reserve a table at Antoines's and fly to New Orleans for Sunday brunch.
Put out by the American Gas Association, Food Is Fun was a long promo for gas appliances, not "Tums"
Apple Fritters
1 c. flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c milk
1 1/2 c baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3 or 4 tart apples
Sift flour, add baking powder, sugar and salt - then sift again. Add milk and well beaten egg. Mix well. Pare and core apples. Cut in slices crossways. Dip each slice of apple in the batter and fry in deep, hot fat until brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes 12-14 fritters, 1/4 in. thick.
If I bake this turkey just how my husband likes it, maybe the voices will stop... maybe...
Here's one from the May/June 1942 edition of The Sealtest Food Advisor. There are images from the cookbook here.
Mackerel Soufflé
1 1lb can Mackerel
1 Tbsp chopped onion
3 tbsp. butter
4 1/2 tbsp flour
1 c thick sour cream
3/4 to 1 tsp salt
few grains pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
4 eggs
Drain the mackerel and reserve the liquid. Remove skin and bones and break the fish into fine flakes. Cook the onion in butter over a low flame, stirring occasionally. Place over hot water, add the flour and mix well. Add the mackerel juice and sour cream and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add the salt, pepper and celery salt and stir into the slightly beaten egg yolks gradually. Cool slightly and fold in the mackerel and the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake in a moderate oven (325degreesF) for about 50 minutes. 6 servings.
If some of these directions seem confusing, then that makes two of us...
This little bonus came tucked inside another cookbook I bought. Note the tempting Mashed Potato Fried Cakes with Frosting, and Chocolate Potato Cake.
1870
The 12 General Principles of Cooking
1. This delightful list was published in a little known cookbook of 1870 titled "Jenny June's American Cookery Book". Most of the twelve are still as applicable today as they were then. Besides, we find her wit delightful.
1. The object of cooking is to make food healthful, and palatable; the secret is therefore, how to combine elements and flavors, so as to produce the best results.
2. The best meat requires the simplest preparation.
3. A cardinal principle in cooking is cleanliness; a dirty cook cannot be a good cook, because all her dishes, no matter how distinct in quality, or costly in material, will taste as if, to use a common expression, they were "cooked in one pot."
4. As a general rule, to which there are very few exceptions, cook long and slowly, to cook well, and let the heat reach every part as evenly as possible.
5. Fresh meats, and fish are better than corned, pickled, or smoked provisions; and the flesh of grown animals, (beef or mutton) is to be preferred to young beasts, such as veal or lamb.
6. The natural order in cooking meats or fish, excepting oysters, is first to broil, second to boil, third to roast, fourth to stew, fifth to bake, and sixth to fry; and never to fry, as long as there is another method left.
7. To retain the juices in boiled meat, keep it in mass and plunge it in boiling water; this coagulates the outer coating and prevents the escape of the jucies, or soluable matter. To extract the jucies for soup, cut it up in small pieces, and put it in cold water; this draws out all the strength, making good soup, but poor meat.
8. Air should have access to roasting meat, hence spit roasting before a fire, is found much better than roasting in a closed oven.
9. Always retain as much as possible of the distinct flavor of every article of food used; mixtures which make all dishes taste alike, are dyspepsia breeding, as well as appetite killing.
10. Carefully avoid placing articles in contact, which have no affinity, such as fish and meat, etc. It is sufficient for people to do that in their stomachs.
11. A light hand in making, a quick step in baking, maketh a good conscience for eating bread, puddings, and pies.
12. Food for the well, is better than physic for the sick. Bad cooking is a crime; it is the cause of dyspepsia, and a host of other evils. A woman convicted of it ought to be arrainged for manslaughter.
A Handy Guide for Civil War-era Weights and Measures
TABLES OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Apples One Pd. = Three Cups
Beans One Pd. = Six Cups (cooked)
Butter (Soft) One Pd. = One Quart
Butter One Ounce= Two Tablespoons
Eggs Ten Eggs = One Pound
Flour One Ounce= One Quarter Cup
Flour One Pd. = One Quart or 4 Cups
Indian Meal One Pd., Two Oz. = One Quart
Salt One tbsp. = One Oz.
Sugar One Ounce= Two Tablespoons
Sugar One Pound= Two Cups
Sugar (Powdered) One Pd., One Oz. = One Quart
Sugar (Loaf) One Pd. = One Quart
Sugar (Brown) One Pd., Two Oz. = One Quart
LIQUIDS
Sixty Drops = One Teaspoon
One Dessert Spoon = Two Teaspoons
Three Teaspoons= One Tablespoon
Two Tablespoons= One Ounce
Four large tbsp. = Half a Gill or 1/4 Cup
Eight large tbsp. = One Gill or Half Cup
Sixteen large tbsp. = Half a Pint or One Cup
Two Gills = Half a Pint or One Cup
Twenty Ounces= One Pint
Four Noggins = One Pint
Two Pints = One Quart or Four Cups
Four Quarts = One Gallon or Sixteen Cups
Eight Quarts= One Peck
One Drachm (Dram) = One-eighth Oz. or 3/4 tsp.
Eight Drachm= One Ounce
Four Gills= One Pint
One Pottle = One Half Gallon
Half a Gallon = One Quarter Peck
One Gallon = One Half Peck
Two Gallons = One Peck
Four Gallons = Half a Bushel
Eight Gallons = One Bushel
Nine Gallons= One Firkin
Fifty Two & 1/2 Gallons= One Hogshead
Four Pecks= One Bushel
Eight Bushels= One Quarter
Thirty-Six Bushels= One Chaldron
Four Firkins= One Barrel
Tips and Tricks From the Authors of the Time (1870's - early 1900's)
WAIT TILL ARTICLES, fruit, fish, poultry and vegetables, are in full season, before purchasing. They are then not only much lower in price than when first brought to market, but finer in quality and flavor.
NEVER ALLOW CHILDREN to eat butter with meat or gravy; it is both wasteful and injurious.
HOT BUCKWHEAT CAKES will go farther and last longer than any other single article of food. A celebrated judge declared that he could remain in court all day, without feeling a symptom of hunger, after a breakfast of buckwheat cakes.
A STEW is not a bad dish for a family dinner, once a week; make it of good meat, and savory with sweet herbs, and the most fastidious will not object to it.
TAKE CARE OF THE FOOD that is brought into the house, and see that none of it is wasted; but do not be always on the lookout for cheap things. Beans are cheap, and very good sometimes; corn meal is cheap too, and even more available, because it can be made into a great variety of dishes, but people would not care to live on beans and corn meal all the time, because they are cheap. Eating is intended as a means of enjoyment, as well as of sustaining life; and it is right to avail ourselves of the abundant resources provided, as far as we can consistently.
MAKE A POINT of examining safe, refrigerator, closets, drawers, and all receptacles for food, and kitchen articles, at least as often as once a week, either Saturday, or washing day. Look into pickle jars, bread jars, cake jars, butter tubs, apple, and potato barrels, everything in fact, examine their condition, see if they are kept covered and clean, and that food put away, is not left to spoil, or be wasted.
WHAT MUST ALWAYS BE DONE, AND WHAT MUST NEVER BE DONE
These delightful tips come to us from The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker by J.M. Sanderson (1864). Concerning rule #19 - we knew we'd get a lot of letters asking what a "slut's wipe" is, so we checked. According to "Slang And Euphemism" by Richard A Spears, one definition of slut is "to work as a servant". So Sanderson seems to have been advising to clean better than a servant would.
1. Keep yourself clean and tidy; let your hands, in particular, be always clean whenever it is practicable. After a dirty job always wash them. A cleanly cook must wash her hands many times in the course of the day, and will require three or four aprons appropriated to the work upon which she is employed. Your hair must never be blowsy, nor your cap dirty.
2. Keep apart things that would injure each other, or destroy their flavour.
3. Keep every cloth, saucepan and all other utensils to their proper use, and when done with, put them in their proper places.
4. Keep every copper stewpan and saucepan bright without, and perfectly clean within, and take care that they are always well tinned. Keep all your dish-covers well dried, and polished; and to effect this, it will be necessary to wash them in scalding water as soon as removed from the table, and when these things are done let them be hung up in their proper places.
5. The gridiron, frying-pan, spit, dripping-pan, &c., must be perfectly cleaned of grease and dried before they are put in their proper places.
6. Attention should be paid to things that do not meet the sight in the way that tins and copper vessels do. Let, for instance, the pudding cloth, the dish-cloth, and the dish-tub, be always kept perfectly clean. To these may be added, the sieve, the cullender, the jelly-bag, &c., which ought always to be washed as soon after they are used as may be practicable.
7. Scour your rolling-pin and paste-board as soon after using as possible, but without soap, or any gritty substance, such as sand or brick-dust; put them away perfectly dry.
8. Scour your pickle and preserve jars after they are emptied; dry them and put them away in a dry place.
9. Wipe your bread and cheese-pan out daily with a dry cloth, and scald them once a week. Scald your salt-pan when out of use, and dry it thoroughly. Scour the lid well by which it is covered when in use.
10. Mind and put all things in their proper places, and then you will easily find them when they are wanted.
11. You must not poke things out of sight instead of cleaning them, and such things as onions, garlick, &c., must not be cut with the same knife as is used in cutting meat, bread, butter, &c. Milk must not be put in a vessel used for greasy purposes, nor must clear liquids, such as water, &c., be put into vessels, which have been used for milk, and not washed; in short, no vessel must be used for any purpose for which it is not appropriated.
12. You must not suffer any kind of food to become cold in any metal vessel, not even in well-tinned iron saucepans, &c., for they will impart a more or less unpleasant flavour to it. Above all things
you must not let liquid food, or indeed any other, remain in brass or copper vessels after it is cooked. The rust of copper or brass is absolutely poisonous, and this will be always produced by moisture and exposure to the air. The deaths of many persons have been occasioned by the cook not attending to this rule.
13. You must not throw away the fat which, when cold, accumulates on the top of liquors in which fresh or salt meat has been boiled; in short, you ought not to waste fat of any description, or any thing else, that may be turned to account; such as marrow-bones, or any other clean bones from which food may be extracted in the way of soup, broth, or stock, or in any other way: for if such food will not suit your table, it will suit the table of the poor. Remember, "Wilful waste makes woful want."
14. A very essential requisite in a cook is punctuality: therefore rise early, and get your orders from your mistress as early as possible, and make your arrangements accordingly. What can be prepared before the business of roasting and boiling commences should always be prepared.
15. Do not do your dirty work at a dresser set apart for cleanly preparations. Take care to have plenty of kitchen cloths, and mark them so as a duster may not be mistaken for a pudding-cloth, or a knife-cloth for a towel.
16. Keep your spit, if you use one, always free from rust and dust, and your vertical jack clean. Never draw up your jack with a weight upon it.
17. Never employ, even if permitted to do so, any knives, spoons, dishes, cups, or any other articles in the kitchen, which are used in the dining room. Spoons are sure to get scratched, and a knife used for preparing an onion, takes up its flavour, which two or three cleanings will not entirely take away.
18. Take great care to prevent all preparations which are delicate in their nature, such as custards, blancmange, dressed milks, &c., &c., from burning to which they are very liable. The surest way to effectually hinder this is to boil them as the carpenter heats his glue, that is, by having an outside vessel filled with water.
19. You ought not to do any thing by halves. What you do, do well. If you clean, clean thoroughly, having nothing to do with the "slut's wipe," and the "lick and a promise."
20. And last, though not least, be teachable: be always desirous to learn--never be ashamed to ask for information, lest you should appear to be ignorant; for be assured, the most ignorant are too frequently the most self-opinionated and most conceited; while those who are really well informed, think humbly of themselves, and regret that they know so little.
1900-1909 New Cooking Gadgets.
Electric toaster Drip coffeemaker
Egg beater with perforated blades
Thermos bottle
Tea bags
Dixie cups
Bakelite handles
1900-1909 New Foods
Instant coffee Decaffeinated coffee Hershey chocolate bars & kisses
Barnum Animal Crackers Triscuits Canned tunafish
Ice cream cone Banana split Puffed rice
Post Toasties French's Cream Salad Mustard Cliquot Club Ginger Ale
Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale Ovaltine "Hot dog" named
Bleached flour Hydrogenation Nutritious benefit of rice germ discovered
1900-1909 New Food Companies
Duffy-Mott Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Sheffield Farms
Drake Sunshine Biscuit Planters Nut & Chocolate
Kraft Rafetto Holly Sugar
Continental Can American Can Company Corn Products Refining
1900-1909 Food Industry Beginnings
US Food and Drug Act Kerr lids Coffee in vacuum tins
Homogenized milk Soda fountains & soda jerks Coin-operated restaurant
Cream of Wheat National ad
(Ladies Home Journal, 1902) Hershey ad (McClure's, 1902) Oranges name-branded 1907
1900-1909 Farming Progress
Concrete grain elevator replaces wood Steam tractors for threshing machines
1900-1909 RECIPES.
Cheese Straws
Roll piecrust dough the same thickness as for pies. Cut in strips from six to ten inches wide and cut the strips into straws or sticks a quarter of an inch in width. Lay upon baking sheets, leaving a space between the straws a third the width of the straws. Grate rich cheese, season to taste with salt and red pepper and scatter thickly over the straws and the spaces between them. Put in the oven where the greatest heat will be at the top and bake ten or fifteen minutes. Cut the cheese in the center of the spaces between the straws, remove from the baking sheet with a limber knife and pile tastily on a plate. Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book, 1903. Recipe by Emma P. Ewing.
Ling.
Ingredients. - Ling, breadcrumbs, herbs, butter, pepper and salt.
Mode.-Wash the fish and cut it in slices. Butter a shallow dish, put over some breadcrumbs, lay over the slices of fish. Season well with herbs, pepper, and salt, and add a little vinegar and water. Cover with a layer of crumbs, put small pieces of butter over the top, and bake in a slow oven from ¾ to 1 hour. Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book, 1905. Apple Charlotte.
Apples, castor sugar, grated lemon rind, butter or nutter, bread-crumbs or Granose flakes.
Bread-crumbs make the more substantial, granose flakes the more dainty, charlotte. Use juicy apples. "Mealy" apples make a bad charlotte. If they must be used, a tablespoon or more, according to size, of water must be poured over the charlotte. Peel, core, and slice apples. Grease a pie-dish. Put in a thin layer of crumbs. On this dot a few small pieces nutter. Over this put a generous layer of chopped apple. Sprinkle with sugar and grated lemon rind. Repeat the process until the dish is full. Top with crumbs. Bake from 20 minutes to half an hour. When done, turn out on to dish, being careful not to break. Sprinkle a little castor sugar over. Serve hot or cold. Boiled custard may be served with it.The Healthy Life Cook Book, 1908.
Bombay Pudding.
Cook a heaped tablespoon of semolina in ½ pint of mild to a stiff paste. Spread it on a plate to cool. (Smooth it neatly with a knife.) When quite cold, cut it into four. Dip in a beaten egg and fry brown. Serve hot with lemon sauce. This may also be served as a savoury dish with parsley sauce. the quantity given above is sufficient for two people. The Healthy Life Cook Book, 1908.
1940's Highlights
500 Delicious Salads, Edited by Ruth Berolzheimer. Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, IL 1940
Jeanne Owen's Book of Sauces, M Barrows & Co, New York 1941
Recipes From Antoine's Kitchens, United Newspapers Magazine Corp., 1948
Food Is Fun, American Gas Association, New York
The Sealtest Food Advisor, May/June 1942. Sealtest Inc. , New York City.
1942 Wisconsin State Fair presents Potato Recipes (flyer)
Tongue and Cabbage Salad
1 head cabbage
1 c diced cold cooked tongue
1 c diced cooked ham
1 green pepper, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 c. mayonnaise
Shred cabbage as for coleslaw. Add next 5 ingredients and blend mayonnaise with cabbage mixture. Sugar and salt may be added if desired. serves 8.
Culinary Arts Institutes says: "A new bowl gives a new flair to your favorite cheese and vegetable salad!"
Ice Bowls
Freeze water, colored pale green, in bowl shaped mold. When sufficient ice is formed for the wall, break through the thin ice layer in the center and pour out the water.
Freeze water in an enamel bowl, covered and packed in ice and salt. when frozen 1 inch thick, press down small bowl until water runs out. When freezing process starts again remove smaller bowl. To unmold, dip bowl into hot water.
Repeat process for individual bowls, coloring each in different pastel shades.
PS: I don't get it either (love, Peg)
Jeanne Owen's Book of Sauces, M Barrows & Co, New York 1941
Champagne Sauce
This sauce is served with baked ham.
Cut half a slice of raw, lean ham into very small dice; pour 1 cup of champagne over the diced ham and simmer gently for 10 minutes; add 1/4 c of seedless raisins that have been washed and drained; Thicken to desired consistency with arrowroot that has been moistened, add a small pat of butter and just before serving add 1/4 c of champagne to pep up the flavor.
Aioli or Ailloi
A native of Province, in southern France- where no one ever apologizes for the garlic. Briefly, a garlic mayonnaise. This sauce is served with boiled fish, hot or cold - especially cod; also with meats and plain boiled vegetables.
Crush to a pulp 4 cloves of garlic and mix thoroughly with the raw yolk of a fresh egg. Add a pinch of salt, and stir in slowly, a little at a time, 1/4 c of good olive oil. Keep stirring till it reaches the consistency of mayonnaise.
No doubt the roving Phoenicians brought this delicacy to Province from Greece. The Grecian version of this sauce adds finely ground almonds, bread crumbs soaked in milk and a touch of vinegar.
From the famous New Orleans kitchen at Antoine's comes this cook booklet, put out by This Week magazine for 25 cents
Oeufs Sardou
an aristocratic cousin to Eggs Benedict
8 artichokes
16 anchovy filets
8 poached eggs
1/2 c. chopped cooked ham
1 Tbsp glace de viande or meat glaze (demiglace)
4 slices truffle
1 cup Antoine's Hollandaise Sauce (see recipe below)
Cook artichokes in salted boiling water until tender. Remove petals and choke. Reserve bottoms. Place bottoms in a baking pan; place 2 anchovy filets on each. Run under low broiler flame to keep warm. Have poached eggs ready and warm on the side. Have the Hollandaise at hand, kept lukewarm. Now assemble:
On each artichoke, over the anchovy filets, place a poached egg. Cover with Hollandaise. Sprinkle chopped ham over, and add a few drops of glace de viande over ham and sauce. Place one slice truffle on the very top. Serve immediately.
Antoine's Hollandaise Sauce
1 c. clarified butter
2 tbsp tarragon vinegar
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp minced onion
3 peppercorns
4 egg yolks
juice of 1/4 lemon
In saucepan, place vinegar, water, onion and peppercorns. Cook over very low heat to reduce liquid to one teaspoon. Remove peppercorns and cool. Add egg yolks, beating slightly. Gradually add melted butter, beating constantly. Add lemon juice. Serve immediately.
Although this dish sounds like pure Heaven, by my calculations it would be both cheaper and easier to reserve a table at Antoines's and fly to New Orleans for Sunday brunch.
Put out by the American Gas Association, Food Is Fun was a long promo for gas appliances, not "Tums"
Apple Fritters
1 c. flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c milk
1 1/2 c baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3 or 4 tart apples
Sift flour, add baking powder, sugar and salt - then sift again. Add milk and well beaten egg. Mix well. Pare and core apples. Cut in slices crossways. Dip each slice of apple in the batter and fry in deep, hot fat until brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes 12-14 fritters, 1/4 in. thick.
If I bake this turkey just how my husband likes it, maybe the voices will stop... maybe...
Here's one from the May/June 1942 edition of The Sealtest Food Advisor. There are images from the cookbook here.
Mackerel Soufflé
1 1lb can Mackerel
1 Tbsp chopped onion
3 tbsp. butter
4 1/2 tbsp flour
1 c thick sour cream
3/4 to 1 tsp salt
few grains pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
4 eggs
Drain the mackerel and reserve the liquid. Remove skin and bones and break the fish into fine flakes. Cook the onion in butter over a low flame, stirring occasionally. Place over hot water, add the flour and mix well. Add the mackerel juice and sour cream and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add the salt, pepper and celery salt and stir into the slightly beaten egg yolks gradually. Cool slightly and fold in the mackerel and the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake in a moderate oven (325degreesF) for about 50 minutes. 6 servings.
If some of these directions seem confusing, then that makes two of us...
This little bonus came tucked inside another cookbook I bought. Note the tempting Mashed Potato Fried Cakes with Frosting, and Chocolate Potato Cake.
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