Cookbooks - Because We All Eat

 Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the Author

We all eat, and before the wild growth of take-out/fast food, we've all spent time at the stove. There have been many replica cookbooks from the early days, but what if you could access those books that are in the public domain? To answer that question I went on a hunt. Below are links to information about accessing the cookbooks and other information on cooking during the early years. 

First is a link from the website 'Early American Cookbooks', a wonderful searchable site: https://wp.nyu.edu/early_american_cookbooks/ and the link to the cookbooks: HathiTrust

The next link is to an article about America's First Cookbook, published in 1796. The book, by Amelia Simmons, was the first cookbook by an American and published here in the United States. I found it fascinating. Smithsonian Article

The next link is to a collection of cookbooks from the late 1700s to the early 1920s. Since many of the settlers in the West came from other countries, this is a fun resource. Hope you think so too. 19th-20th Century Cookbooks

The final piece is from a site that speaks about influential and important Early American Cookbooks. The site gives you some background for how people felt about cooking and cookbooks. Culinary Lore 

In my short story, "Never Had a Chance", my heroine cooks a special dish for the hero as he is recovering from being shot.

Thomas Heath felt abandoned when his sister left him to the mercy of the people who were raising them. When he finally found her, she was on her way to getting married. Feeling left out again, Tom left to find something he didn't know he was looking for.

Maria Berñal lost her mother while still a young child. Pampered and coddled by her wealthy father, Maria is on the verge of becoming a woman. As her eighteenth birthday celebration approaches she feels the loss of her mother as she navigates her new insight of what it takes to catch and keep a man.

The deadly joke that brings these two young people together ignites both growth and love that neither Maria nor Tom expected.

Below is a short excerpt:

 Tom watched the crowd sway to the music floating across the open space behind the house. He'd never seen such an event as this party and celebration. But how did he know that? There was no indication his memory had returned, just those glimmers at unexpected moments. He studied his reaction to the scene he was seeing. In his heart, he truly felt this was a new experience.

Standing back, almost at the edge of the light, he hoped no one would engage him in conversation. There were only so many times you could say 'I don't know'. He was enjoying watching Maria swaying to the music, dancing with the young men. Turning his head away, he noticed two shadows moving furtively around the edge of the party, away from someone who reminded him of Merrick. Before he had the chance to investigate further, Maria walked over, a devilish smile dancing in her eyes.

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Victorian-American Christmas Figgy (or Plum) Pudding Recipes by Kristin Holt

by Kristin Holt

USA Today Bestselling- and RONE Award Winning-Author

Christmas is around the corner, again, and I'm reminded of those family recipes whose aromas evoke myriad memories of holidays gone by. My living grandmother will be 100 on her next birthday. She still made her famous Christmas Pudding (essentially Plum Pudding) every year until she hit age 90. I still miss its one-of-a-kind flavor... a treat so rich it needed the whipping cream to cut the hard sauce and "pudding" (cake).

Today I want to share a handful of vintage recipes for English Plum Pudding, Fig Pudding, and other Christmas pudding delicacies. Sources are listed in publication order, and citations are noted in image footers or quotation block final lines. All were published in the United States, and all were originally presented in the late-nineteenth century.

1885:

 

English Plum Pudding, 1885, The Homemade Cook Book.

1889:

Fig Pudding Recipe, pp164-165: The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts (1889).

1890:

Christmas Plum Pudding and two sauce recipes, published in 1890 by Improvement Society of the Second Reformed Church of New Brunswick, New Jersey.

 1892:

Two Plum Pudding Recipes from The Columbian Cook Book Containing Reliable Rules for Plain and Fancy Cooking. Published 1892.

 1895:

 

Fig Pudding, 1895, Three Hundred Tested Recipes.

 

Christmas Plum Pudding from The Boston Globe, Boston, Mass., December 15, 1895.

 1903:

Fig Pudding Recipe, published 1903 in Kentucky Receipt Book by Mary Harris Frazier.

Invitation:

After a peek at these vintage recipes, what do you think? Did ingredients or cooking methods surprise you? How about the length of boiling time to prepare the pudding?

Do you have a vintage family-heirloom recipe for Christmas pudding? Have you tasted Victorian-era or Edwardian-era "figgy pudding"? Please tell us about it. (Scroll down to the "conversation" fields.)

Related Articles:

Click on any blog article header image, to open the related article's page. You're invited to take a peek at more related history!

 

 

 

by Kristin Holt

Learn more about my books:

P.S. thanks for reading! We'd love to hear from you. "Conversation" is the best part! (See the comment box, below.)

Copyright ⓒ 2019 Kristin Holt LC

Croquettes: Economic Victorian Dining ~ by Kristin Holt

by USA Today Bestselling Author Kristin Holt

Throughout the nineteenth century, American Victorians enjoyed a dish known as “croquettes”—a thrifty dish that routinely “dressed up previously unused or otherwise unwanted meat” (and fish, macaroni, rice, potato, etc.). [American Restaurants and Cuisine in the Mid-Nineteenth Century by Paul Freedman]

What is a croquette?

“Croquettes, small shaped masses of some savory (or occasionally sweet) substance deep-fried, typically in a coating of breadcrumbs, get their name from their crisp exterior: for croquette is a derivative of the French verb croquer, crunch. The range of potential ingredients is limitless—meat, rice, cheese, fish, pasta, vegetables have all been pressed into service—but undoubtedly the croquette’s commonest filling today is mashed potato. It is far from new to the English kitchen; it is mentioned in the 1706 edition of Edward Phillipps’s New World of English Words: On Cookery, ‘Croquets are a certain Compound made of delitious Stuff'd Meat, some of the bigness of an Egg, and others of a Walnut.’” [An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press: Oxford] 2002 (p. 98), quoted on Foodtimeline.org]

Vintage sources such as newspapers, cook books (always two words rather than a compound in the era), and historian’s articles, list a wide range of croquettes including but not limited to:

salmon croquettes

chicken croquettes

turkey croquettes

beef croquettes

veal croquettes

cold meat croquettes

sweetbread croquettes (sweetbread is the culinary name for the thymus gland, or rarely, the pancreas, of an animal, especially as used for food)

“Philadelphia” croquettes (fowl, sweetbread, and calf’s brain)

potato croquettes

macaroni croquettes

rice croquettes (both savory and sweet)

hominy croquettes

apple croquettes

“Early instructions suggest this [chicken croquettes] “made dish” was a venerable culinary feat, not to be attempted by inexperienced cooks. Modern frozen products must be a far cry from the original offering. Careful notes on shape and presentation confirm croquettes were originally intended for elegant dinners.” [Foodtimeline.org]

The following sampling of recipes (with their original sources) illustrates the variety of croquettes known within American cuisine, as ‘receipts’ were included within cook books published in the United States and homemakers shared their best methods and ingredients via newspapers.

For sake of organization, I’ve listed recipes in order by date rather than by type. Notice that recipes (or receipts) in the nineteenth century required cooks to read through a paragraph-style accounting of ingredients, quantities, and methods, with vital instructions often listed as a near afterthought.

1824

“To Make Croquets. Take cold fowl or fesh meat of any kind, with slices of ham, fat and lean, chop them together very fine, add half as much stale bread grated, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, a teaspoonful of made mustard, a tabel spoonful of catsup, and a lump of butter; knead all well together till it resembles sausage meat, make them in cakes, dip them in the yelk of an egg beaten, cover them thickly with grated bread, and fry them a light brown.” (historic spelling preserved) [Source: The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, facsimile 1824 edition with Historical Notes and Commentaries by Karen Hess [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1984 (p. 106), quoted by Foodtimeline.org.]

1877

To Make Chicken Croquettes, Parts 1 and 2: New England Farmer of Boston, Massachusetts on February 10, 1877.

1879

Rice Croquettes, The Osage City Free Press of Osage City, Kansas on May 2, 1879.

Rice Croquettes, Washington Republican of Washington, Kansas on August 29, 1879.

Hominy and Hominy Croquettes, Washington Republican of Washington, Kansas on August 29, 1879.

 "...croquettes as the attractive French substitute for American hash, and ... how to make them...", The Weekly Star of Plymouth, Pennsylvania on June 12, 1879.

1881

Potato Croquettes, parts 1 and 2, Western Home Journal of Lawrence, Kansas on December 29, 1881.

1885

Apple Croquettes, The Boston Globe of Boston, Massachusetts on December 31, 1885.

1886

Philadelphia Croquettes, parts 1 and 2. The Citizen of Topeka, Kansas on May 8, 1886.

1892

Cold Meat Croquettes, The Columbian Cook Book Containing Reliable Rules for Plain and Fancy Cooking, 1892.

1895

Croquettes of Odds and Ends, Three Hundred Tested Recipes, 2nd edition, 1895.

1905

Chicken Croquettes, Dr. Sloan’s Cook Book and Advice to Housekeepers, 1905.

So there you have it. Croquettes: A nineteenth century favorite dining pleasure—leftovers tucked away in a crispy, fried coating. Like tater tots, only with various bits of leftover “hash”, including calf brains. Yummy.

Interested in more details about nineteenth century baking, cooking methods, and holiday meals? See the following links (click on the title images):

 

Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author, writes Sweet Victorian Romance set in the American West. She writes frequently about Old West history and contributes monthly to Sweet Americana Sweethearts.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

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