how to cook eels

The Century Cook Book circa: 1894

To cook eels. Skin and cleanse the eels and cut in two inch lengths. Slice half a pound of fat pork and fry to a crisp; take out pork and put the eel in the pan; if small set the lengths up on end, but if large you can put them in the pan lengthwise;

Sprinkle with salt and a very little pepper, add half a cup of water, cover lightly so that part of the steam can escape, put on the fire and cook until the water has all boiled away and one side of the eel is fried to a nice brown, then turn over carefully and fry the other side.

Black Cake (very rich)

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

Stir together a pound of sugar and a pound of butter for fifteen minutes, then stir in two wineglassfuls of brandy and two of wine, then beat in the beaten yolks of twelve eggs; put in two wineglassfuls of sour cream, one teaspoonful of soda, four grated nutmegs, one tablespoonful of cinnamon, one of mace, one of clove, three pounds of raisins, stoned and chopped, three pounds of currents, washed and dried; and three pounds of citron or two citron, and one-half each of orange and lemon peel;

When these are well mixed in, stir in a pound of flour, and last of all the beaten whites of twelve eggs.

Bake in a moderate oven for about four hours.

This cake is very rich; is nice enough for any entertainment, and will keep for months. It should be made at least two or three weeks before using.

A Word About Baking Powder

Mrs. Curtis's Cookbook circa 1909

Every Housekeeper should understand the nature of Baking Powder. This is important for two reasons; first, to insure perfect bakings and second, to avoid danger to health.

Baking Powder is not a food; it is a preparer of food only, and is used only for the leavening gas it produces to make the food light and sweet.

The perfect Baking Powder is the one which will evolve the most leavening gas and leave the smallest and most nearly neutral residue in the food.

A chemical examination of the many brands of baking powder on the market will show an enormous majority of them to be not only weak in gas, but either strongly acid or alkaline in reaction Sweet palatable food cannot be prepared with these powders.

The bread will be bleached and bitter on the one hand and yellow and alkaline on the other. This condition results from manufacturers working with a fixed formula year in and year out, regardless of the strength of their material.

An example of a perfect powder is the brand called Calumet Baking Powder. The makers use the very latest methods and employ competent chemists who analyze all ingredients. The result is a baking powder which gives the maximum of leavening gas and the minimum of residue, and that neutral left in the food.

The cream of tartar baking powders cannot be classed as modern powders, for they are made in the same way now as they were forty years ago. We cannot recommend them to our readers for two reasons; first the outrageously high price; Second, the residue of Rochelle salts they leave in the food.

Rochelle salts is the active principle of seidlitz powders and is harmful if its use is continued.

As authority, we quote the following:
The United States Department of Agriculture has declared in substance that: "A loaf of bread made from a quart of flour leavened with cream of tartar baking powder, contains 43 grains more of Rochelle salts that is contained in Seidlitz powder"
(see bulletin 13)

Dr. Moreau Morris, of the New York Board of Health, says: "It may be that I am a little prejudiced but I think I express the consensus of the medical profession when I say that Rochelle salts should never be used by a person except by a physicians advice. Its continued use induces a very unhealthy condition of the stomach and especially the bowels, and finally produces constipation of an aggravated type."

Dr. A, Warner Shepard, formerly Health Officer in Brooklyn, said: "I have not the slightest doubt that the mental and physical health of thousands is permanently injured by the excessive use of Rochelle salts in impure beers, bread and other forms of food and drink. It is certainly a factor in the alarming increase of Bright's disease of the kidneys, and similar complaints. It irritates the kidneys, bowels, and stomach and may therefore produce most unfortunate results."

Unfortunately a great deal of misinformation has been disseminated by interested manufacturers, and it is said upon good authority that $500,000 are now being spent every year by a single firm, to advertise the "pure" qualities of cream of tartar.

As a matter of fact, most of the cream of tartar used in the manufacture of baking powder is made from the dregs of wine vats, and the residue left after the chemical action in the process of baking take place, is unhealthful.

Calumet Baking Powder leaves little or no residue, while high price cream of tartar powders leave about 70 per cent of their weight in the food in the form of Rochelle salts.

Baking powder may be pure in the can and unwholesome in the bread. A reaction takes place in the process of baking, so that the substance left in the bread is entirely different that the material that entered the can, because of chemical processes in the baking.

The statement that a powder contains this or that substance may be misleading, for the reason that the consumer wants to know what goes into his stomach, and not what goes into the can.

Brands of baking powder put up with the private firm name of a local merchant are usually found to be of inferior quality at least. The local dealer's name is generally injured by this custom, since his own reputation, not that of the manufacturer, goes behind the powder, and the merchant is usually not competent to judge the quality of the product.

The cheap or big-can baking powders have but one recommendation; they certainly give the purchaser plenty of powder for her money. These powders are so carelessly made from inferior materials that they will not make light, wholesome food, as they have a very small percentage of leavening gas.

Cheap baking powders leave the bread sometimes bleached and acid, sometimes yellow and alkaline, and often unpalatable. They are never of uniform strength and quality.

There are in other words, two extremes that should be avoided by the careful housewife. On the one hand, the so-called trust made goods, sold at fabulous prices in order to pay the trust dividends of some ten million of dollars a year on a sale of something like ten millions of pounds a year, and on the other hand, the cheap, big-can powders just mentioned.

A first class powder may be sold at a fair profit for about twenty five cents a pound. Of course, this cannot be done if the manufacturer must pay five hundred thousand dollars a year for advertising, and also pay dividends of two millions of dollars a year on twenty millions of dollars of watered stock.

It has been estimated that it costs one company something like thirty cents a pound to sustain its business policy, before beginning to manufacture its powder. Obviously, the public must pay these huge bills and this fact would of itself account for fifty cents a pound price.

A careful study of the various brands of baking powder before the public has led us to believe that the powder which received the "highest award" at the World's Pure Food Exposition at Chicago- Calumet Baking Powder- embodies all the points desired in a perfect baking powder.

1st. Greatest leavening power.
2nd. Moderateness in price.
3rd. Absolute uniformity.
4th. Small amount of harmless residue in the food.

The makers of Calumet Baking Powder offer a reward of $1,000.00 to anyone who can find in food prepared with Calumet any substance injurious to health. This reward has never been claimed and because of this fact, and our belief in the goods after a very rigid examination, together with the moderate price, this powder has been especially recommended in the recipes in Mrs. Curtis's Cook Book.

Horseradish Sauce

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

(To serve with roast beef)

You need four tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish, 1 teaspoonful of pounded(powdered) sugar, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of pepper, 2 teaspoonfuls of made mustard, vinegar.


Grate the horseradish, and mix it well with the sugar, salt, pepper and mustard; moisten it with sufficient vinegar to give it the consistency of cream, and serve in a tureen; 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of cream added to the above, very much improve (sic) the appearance and flavor of this sauce.

To heat it to serve with hot roast beef, put it in a Bain Marie(double boiler), or a jar, which place (sic) in a saucepan of boiling water; make it hot, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle.

NOTE- This sauce is a great improvement on the old fashioned way of serving cold scraped horseradish with hot roast beef. The mixing of the cold vinegar with the warm gravy cools and spoils everything on the plate. Of course, with cold meat, the sauce should be served cold.

How to wash silk

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

The idea of washing silk dresses, and other articles of wearing apparel or furniture made of silk, will be novel to most of our readers.

For a dress to be washed, the seams of a skirt do not require to be ripped apart, though it must be removed from the band at the waist, and the lining taken from the bottom.

Trimmings or drapings, where there are deep folds, the bottom of which is very difficult to reach, should be undone so as to remain flat.

A black silk dress, without being previously washed, may be refreshed by being soaked during twenty-four hours in soft, clear water; clearness in water being indispensable. If dirty the black dress may be previously washed.

When very old and rusty, a pint of gin or whisky (sic) should be mixed with each gallon of water. This addition is an improvement under any circumstances, whether the silk be previously washed or not. After soaking, the dress should be hung up to drain dry without being wrung.

The mode of washing silk is this: The article should be laid upon a clean smooth table. A flannel should be well soaped, just made wet with lukewarm water, and the surface of the silk rubbed one way with it, care taken that this rubbing is quite even.

When dirt has disappeared, the soap must be washed off with a sponge and plenty of cold water, of which the sponge must be made to imbibe as much as possible. As soon as one side is finished, the other must be washed precisely in the same manner.

Let it be understood that not more of either surface must be done at a time than can be spread perfectly flat upon the table, and the hand can conveniently reach; likewise the soap must be quite sponged off one portion before the soaped flannel is applied to another portion.

Silks when washed should always be dried in the shade, on a linen horse, and alone.

If black or dark blue, they will be improved if, when dry, they are placed on a table and well sponged with gin or whisky , and again dried. Either of these spirits alone will remove, without washing, the dirt and grease from a black necktie or handkerchief of the same color, which will be so renovated by the application as to appear almost new.

How to make Elderberry Syrup

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

Elderberry Syrup
Take elderberries perfectly ripe, wash and strain them, put a pint of molasses to a pint of the juice, boil in twenty minutes, stirring constantly; when cold, add to each quart a pint of French brandy; bottle and cork it tight.

It is an excellent remedy for cough.

How to cook fish

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

General instructions-

Fish cannot be too fresh. The sooner it is eaten after coming out of the water the better.

In selecting fish for the table see that the flesh is firm, the eyes bright, the gills red, and the fins stiff. Nothing deteriorates more quickly than fish; as soon as it has lost its first freshness it has also lost its delicate flavor, and moreover becomes decidedly unwholesome.

The principal ways of cooking fish are Frying, Boiling, Broiling, Baking and Stewing, and with but a few exceptions all varieties can be rendered palatable by any of the above processes.

In preparing fish for cooking, cleanse and wash thoroughly in cold water, be careful not to bruise or break, and do not leave it in water longer than is absolutely necessary, as it destroys the flavor. An exception can be made in case of some varieties of fresh water fish which have a muddy flavor. These can be dressed, washed, and left in salt and water for two or three hours. Be sure and have cold water.

In boiling fish a fish kettle with a perforated bottom is a great convenience, but is not absolutely indispensable. Fish can be boiled very nicely in a deep dripping pan by wrapping it up in a thin cloth and if the pan is not deep enough to cover the fish is can be turned over once or twice.

The time required to boil a medium sized fish is from twenty to thirty minutes if the water is kept bubbling all the time. But the surest test is to insert the blade of a knife between the fish and the bone; if it flakes readily and separates easily it is ready to take from the fire.

Fish that is to be broiled whole should be split down the back.

With regard to sauces for fish it is difficult to give advice. There are many who would consider fish served without sauce utterly flat, stale and unprofitable. And again there are others, and they are by no means in the minority, who assume that delicate flavors are disguised if not utterly destroyed by the addition of highly flavored sauces.

As a rule people who live near a seashore, and who can obtain fish in the highest state of excellence, seldom use anything besides pepper and salt as seasoning. It is therefore a nice plan for the cook to study the tastes of those to whom she caters.

Irish Stew

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

Blanch Three pounds of mutton chops by dipping alternately in hot and cold water, put in a stewpan and barely cover with water;

let come to a boil;

skim carefully;

season with salt, parsley, mace and a few whole pepper-corns, boil half an hour;

then add a quart of small onions, boil until done;

lay the chops around the edge of a platter, skim out the potatoes and onions, and put in the middle;

thicken the gravy with a very little flour and pour over the vegetables.

Sprinkle over the whole two or three tablespoonfuls of finely chopped parsley.

Fried or Stuffed Eggplant

News Paper clipping circa 1900 (?)

Fried Egg-Plant-

Slice the egg-plant about one fourth of an inch thick. Pare and remove the seeds, and soak in very cold water for half an hour.

Drain, and dip first into beaten egg, and then into corn-meal, and fry in hot fat.

Cracker- or bread-crumbs may be used in place of the corn-meal if liked.

Serve hot.

Stuffed Egg-Plant-

Remove the inside portions of the egg-plant, and soak the remainder in cold salt and water.

Drain and fill with a dressing made of one pint of bread crumbs, two good sized tomatoes, a teaspoonful of onion- juice, butter the size of an egg, a teaspoonful of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Cover each egg-plant again with a piece that was cut off in order to remove the seeds, and place in the oven to bake.

Celery Sauce

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

Cut up fine two stalks of fine celery, leaves and all, and boil in a sauce pan for ten or fifteen minutes, drain off water and put in a sauce pan with the celery a lump of butter the size of an egg, and a tablespoonful of flour; cook, but do not brown, then add a pint of milk and season with salt and pepper, stir until smooth and serve hot.

The Republic

For the fourth of July,
The Twentieth Century Speaker circa 1899

Thou, too sail on, O ship of state!
Sail on, O union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,
With all its hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

We know what masters laid thy keel,
What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of hope!

Fear not each sudden sound and shock;
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!

In spite of rock and tempest roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee;
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee - are all with thee!

Pork Cake

The Century Cook Book circa 1894

Chop one pound of fat pork very fine, and pour over it a pint of boiling water, then stir in three cupfuls of brown sugar, one of molasses, one tablespoonful of ground cinnamon, one of ground cloves, one pound of stoned raisins, eight cups of flour, and two teaspoonfuls of soda dissolved in a little water; stir four or five minutes and bake same as fruit cake. (Bake two to three hours in pans lined with buttered paper)

How to sweep a carpet

The Century Cookbook circa 1894

It is an easy matter to sweep well, at any rate, if we may judge by experience; for when a broom is put into the hands of the uninitiated, more harm than good generally results from the use of it.

Without the greatest care and some little knowledge, furniture and paint, by being knocked about with the broom , may soon receive irreparable amount of damage.

Before sweeping rooms, the floors should be strewed with a good amount of dry tea leaves, which should be saved for the purpose; these will attract the dust and save much harm to the other furniture, which, as far as possible, should be covered up during the process.

Tea leaves also may be used with advantage upon drugget and short-piled carpets.

Light sweeping and soft brooms are here desirable. Many a carpet is prematurely worn out by judicious sweeping. Stiff carpet brooms and stout arms of inexperienced servants are their destruction.

In sweeping thick-piled carpets, such as Axminster and Turkey carpets, the servant should be instructed to brush always the way of the pile; by so doing they may be kept clean for years; but if the broom is used in a different way, all the dust will enter the carpet and soon spoil it.

Frozen Tapioca Custard

Newspaper clipping- Journal and Messenger July 6, 1905

Cook a cup of fine tapioca in a quart of warm milk in a double boiler until it looks clear and is quite thick, stirring frequently to prevent lumping.
Beat together the whites of two eggs and the yolks of three until very light, then add gradually a cup of sugar and beat again.
Stir this into the cooked tapioca and stir until it is as thick as custard.
Remove from the fire, cover, and set away to cool.
Add two teaspoonfuls of vanilla and turn into the freezer, well packed in ice, and freeze quite stiff. Beat up the remaining white of egg and mix a cup of thick cream, whipped to a stiff, dry froth.
Mix this thoroughly through the cream(Tapioca mixture) and finish freezing.
Repack in coarser ice and salt and let stand several hours.

Cooked Spinach

The everyday Cookbook circa 1887

An excellent way to serve spinach is to first look it over carefully; wash it in two or three waters. If the stalks are not perfectly tender, cut the leaves from the stalk. Boil for twenty minutes in water with enough salt dissolved in it to salt the spinach sufficiently.

When done let it drain. then chop it fine, put it on the stove in a saucepan, with a lump of better, salt, and pepper, and enough milk to moisten it. When the butter is melted and spinach steaming, take from the fire and put it in a dish in which it is going to the table.

Garnish with hard-boiled eggs cut in slices or in rings- that is, with the yolk removed and rings of the white only left.

Items worth remembering

The Everyday Cookbook circa 1887

A sun-bath is of more worth than much warming by the fire

Books exposed to the atmosphere keep in better condition than if confined in a book-case.

Pictures are both for use and ornament. They serve to recall pleasant memories and scenes; they harmonize with the furnishing of the rooms. If they serve neither of these purposes they are worse than useless; they only help fill space which would look better empty, or gather dust and make work to keep them clean.

A room filled with quantities of trifling ornaments has a look of a bazaar and displays neither good taste nor good sense. Artistic excellence aims to have all the furnishings of a high order of workmanship combined with simplicity, while good sense understands the folly of dusting a lot of rubbish.

A poor book had best be burned to give place to a better, or even to an empty shelf, for the fire destroys its poison, and puts it out of the way of doing harm.

Better economize in purchasing of furniture or carpets than scrimp in buying good books or papers.

Our sitting-rooms need never be empty of guests or our libraries of society if the company of good books is admitted to them.

Eclairs and Puffs

The Century Cookbook circa 1894

Cream Puffs-
Stir together in a saucepan one cupful of butter with two of flour; when well mixed add half a pint of boiling water, stir smooth, and when it boils set aside to cool, when cool add five eggs and beat for two or three minutes; cover bottom of a baking pan with buttered paper and drop the mixture on it in small spoonfuls, or it can be put in muffin rings. Bake for twenty-five or thirty minutes in a brisk oven.

Cream for filling-
Boil one pint of milk, heat together 1 cupful of sugar, 2 eggs and 1/2 cupful of flour, stir this into the boiling milk and let it cook for three minutes; flavor with lemon or vanilla; cut a circular piece out of the top of each puff , fill with the custard and replace top.

Eclairs-
One pint of milk, 6 ounces butter, 8 ounces corn starch, ten eggs. Boil milk and butter together, add corn starch and boil for three minutes. After removing the paste from the fire, let cool, and then add the eggs one at a time and beat thoroughly; bake in oval-shaped patty pans; when done, cut open and fill with whipped cream, (or cream filling above) flavored to taste; make an icing for the tops flavored the same as the filling.

Chocolate Eclairs-
Make the same as above, fill the center of the cakes with vanilla custard(or cream filling above) and ice with chocolate icing.

Transparent Puffs-
Mix together 1 pint of water, 2 ounces butter 6 ounces corn starch, then beat in 5 whole eggs and the white of five(more). Beat well and bake in patty pans or in small spoonfuls on buttered paper.

Pie Crust

The Century Cookbook circa 1894

Take one quart of flour and rub into it a cupful of butter or lard, add a teaspoonful of salt, and enough very cold water to make a stiff dough.

Mix with as little handling as possible, and put on ice or in a cool place, an hour or two before using; roll out thin, put in the filling, and spread a little butter on the upper crust, before baking.

Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Beef

The everyday cookbook circa 1887

Have your meat ready for roasting on Saturday, always. Roast upon a grating of several clean sticks (not pine) laid over the dripping-pan. Dash a cup of boiling water over the beef when it goes into the oven; baste often, and see that the fat does not scorch. About three-quarters of an hour before it is done mix the pudding.

Yorkshire Pudding;
One pint of milk, four eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately; two cups of flour-prepared flour is best(white flour?); one teaspoon salt.
Use less flour if batter grows stiff. Mix quickly; pour off the fat from the top of the gravy in the dripping pan, leaving just enough to prevent the pudding from sticking to the bottom. Pour in the batter and continue to roast the beef, letting the dripping fall upon the pudding below. The oven should be brisk by this time. Baste the meat with the gravy you have taken out to make room for the batter.
In serving, cut the pudding into squares and lay about the meat in the dish.
It is very delicious.

Eggs brouille

The everyday cookbook circa 1887

Six eggs, half a cupful of milk, or, better still cream; two mushrooms, one tablespoonful of salt, a little pepper, three tablespoonfuls of butter, a slight grating of nutmeg.
Cut the mushrooms into dice, and fry them for one minute in one tablespoonful of the butter.
Beat the eggs, salt, pepper, and cream together, and put them in a saucepan. Add the butter and mushrooms to these ingredients.
Stir over a moderate heat until the mixture begins to thicken.
Take from the fire and beat rapidly until the eggs become quite thick and creamy.
Have slices of toast on a hot dish.
Heap the mixture on these, and garnish with points of toast.
Serve immediately

Eggs A La Suisse

The everyday cookbook circa 1887

Spread the bottom of a dish with two ounces of fresh butter; cover this with grated cheese; break eight whole eggs upon the cheese without breaking the yolks.
Season with red pepper and salt if necessary; pour a little cream on the surface, strew about two ounces of grated cheese on the top, and set the eggs in a moderate oven for about a quarter hour.
Pass a hot salamander (A hot fire poker) over the top to brown it.

Lemon Pie

Very old newspaper clipping

One cup sugar, one cup boiling water, butter the size of a walnut, juice and grated rind of one lemon, yolk of one egg (reserving the white for frosting), one tablespoonful of corn-starch, moistened with a little cold water.

Heat all, except the corn-starch together to boiling. Then stir in the starch, and let cook until thickens.

Have any rich crust ready baked in a pie-plate, pour in the filling, frost with the white of egg beaten to a stiff froth with sugar, and set in the oven to brown.

Mrs.W.D. Delmore

Wood lubricator

Household discoveries circa 1908

Lubricate wooden bearings, as pulleys and the like, with common hard yellow soap or soft soap, taking care to evaporate with gentle heat any excess of water the latter may contain.
Rub window casings, bureau drawers, and the like freely with hard yellow soap slightly moistened with water.
This lubricates them permanently and prevents their sticking.

Stewed Cucumbers

The Century Cookbook circa 1894

Needed, 3 large cucumbers, flour, butter, rather more than 1/2 pint of good brown gravy.

Cut cucumbers lengthwise the size of the dish they are intended to be served in; empty them of the seeds, and put them into boiling water, with a little salt, and let them simmer for 5 minutes; then take out, place them in another stewpan with the gravy, and let them boil over a brisk fire until the cucumbers are tender.

Should these be bitter, add a lump of sugar; carefully dish them, skim the sauce, pour over the cucumbers, and serve.

The Red , White and Blue

(for flag day unofficially celebrated since 1861)
Twentieth Century speaker circa 1899


Oh, flag of a resolute nation,
Oh, flag if the strong and the free,
The cherished of true-hearted millions,
We hallow thy colors three!

Three proud, floating emblems of glory,
Our guide for the coming time;
The red, white and blue, in their beauty,
Love gives them a meaning sublime.

Thy red is the deep crimson life-stream
Which flowed on the battle-plain,
Redeeming our land from oppression,
And leaving no servile stain.

Thy white is a proud people's honor,
Kept spotless and clear as light;
A pledge of unfaltering justice,
A symbol of truth and right.

Thy blue is our nation's endurance,
And points to the blue above;
The limitless, measureless azure,
A type of our Father's love.

Thy stars are God's witness of blessing,
And smile at the foeman's frown;
They sparkle and gleam in their splendor,
Bright gems in the world's great crown.

By Montgomery

Stock

Yes I should of posted this one before....
The Century Cookbook circa 1894

In preparing stock, which is the basis of most soups and meat sauces, it is not necessary to go through the tedious process prescribed by some. It is simply to extract the juices of meats and bones by long and gentle simmering.
A shank or other meat bones, the carcass of a roast turkey or chicken, the trimmings of roast or steaks are all excellent to prepare stock from.
Put in a pot and cover with cold water, add a handful of salt and boil gently for several hours. Do not add any vegetables or spices, as all vegetables lose their freshness and flavor by long continued cooking and the flavor of spice might conflict with the other ingredients of the soup for which the stock is intended. Skim off all scum that may rise and add water from time to time as the stock boils away.
When you are ready to make the soup, take out all the meat and bones and strain the stock through a sieve, a hair one if you have it; the stock is now ready for use unless you want a perfectly clear soup. In that case, after the stock is strained put it back in the pot and stir in one or two beaten eggs; put back on the fire and as it boils up the egg will rise; skim off and strain again and your stock will be clear.
If you have more than you need for immediate use, put aside in a stone or earthen jar, it will keep for several days in a cold place.

Mulligatawny

The Century Cookbook circa 1894

Brown an onion and a turnip with half a pound of lean chipped ham in a sauce pan; stir in one cupful of flour and pour over all three quarts of hot stock(Three quarts of your basic soup stock, or see soup stock (forthcoming)), through a sieve. Have ready the meat of a chicken cut in dices and a cupful of boiled rice.
Season with a tablespoonful of curry powder, salt and pepper.

Walnut Hair Dye

Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis's Cookbook circa 1908

Press the juice from the bark or shell of green walnuts. Add a small quantity of rectified alcohol and a little allspice or a few cloves.
Let the mixture stand for a week or ten days and shake occasionally.
Filter through a linen cloth and add a small amount of common salt as a preservative.
Keep in a cool, dark place.

Ginger Wine

Every day cookbook circa 1887

One-half pound cinnamon bark, four ounces of pimento, two ounces of mace, three-quarters ounce of capsicum, three-quarters pound of ginger root, five gallons of alcohol; Macerate and strain or filter, after standing fifteen day. now make a syrup, thirty pounds of white sugar, half a pound of tartaric acid, one and a half pounds of cream of tartar, dissolved with warm water, clarify with whites of two eggs, and add soft water to make forty gallons.
Color with cochineal and let stand six months before use.

This is a direct copy from the book. If you are ambitious enough to make it let us know how it turns out.

Cherry Sauce

Century cookbook circa 1894

Cherry sauce (for sweet puddings. German recipe)

You need one pound of cherries, one tablespoonful of flour, on ounce of butter, one half pint of water, one wineglassful of port, a little grated lemon rind, four pounded cloves, two teaspoonfuls of lemon juice, sugar to taste.

Stone cherries, and pond the kernels in a mortar to a smooth paste; put the butter and flour into a sauce pan; stir them over the fire until of a(it is a) pale brown; then add the cherries, the pounded kernels, the wine and the water.

Simmer these gently for a quarter of an hour, or until the cherries are quit cooked, and rub the whole through a hair sieve; add the remaining ingredients, let the sauce boil for another five minutes and serve.

This is a delicious sauce the serve with boiled batter pudding, and when thus used, should be sent to the table poured over the pudding.

French Rarebit

The Farm and Fireside circa 1903

In a well-buttered baking dish place a layer of buttered toasted bread, and over this a thin layer of grated cheese.
Alternate, (layers) placing cheese on top. Add two cupfuls of milk to which has been added two beaten eggs, one half teaspoonful of salt, one half teaspoonful of mustard and a little red pepper.
Pour this over the bread and cheese.
Bake , covered in a slow oven thirty minutes.
Remove the cover and brown slightly.

Raspberry Jelly

From Journal and messenger circa 1905

Allow one pint of water to every three pounds of berries, and simmer for a few minutes until the fruit is soft. Then strain out the juice and allow one pound of sugar to one pint of juice.
Let the juice boil rapidly for ten minutes, add sugar, which should be made very hot in the oven, and boil rapidly again for ten to twelve minutes.
Then pour into glasses, and seal the following day.
One third red current juice will make a firmer jelly.
This make a very delicious, rich crimson jelly.

Raspberry Puffs

From journal and messenger circa 1905

Make a paste with one pound of self-raising flour, a pinch of salt and one-quarter pound of butter; add two well beaten eggs and a half pint of milk.
Mix well together, roll the pastry out thin, cut into rounds, and line well greased pan with them. Fill with raspberries which have been stewed to a jam with plenty of sugar, and bake for fifteen minutes.
Serve cold, with a spoonful of whipped cream on top of each.

Raspberry Jam

From Journal and messenger circa 1905

Allow equal weights of sugar and raspberries, and cook them together, stirring frequently, for one hour.
It should not be boiled rapidly, but allowed to simmer very slowly on the back of the range.
Seal while hot in glass fruit jars, screwing the covers on tightly at once, and again when cold.

Tapioca Custard Pudding

By Martha (hand written recipe from Martha(?))

One cup tapioca soaked overnight in cold water enough to cover it.
one quart of milk
One large cup powdered sugar
5 egg (separated)
half the grated peel of one lemon
a very little salt
make a custard of the yolks sugar and milk
warm the milk slightly before mixing in with other ingredients
Beat this custard into the soaked tapioca,
salt
Whisk the whites of the eggs to a standing froth
Stir in swiftly and lightly
Set the pudding dish (well buttered) into a pan of boiling water and bake covered in a moderate oven until the custard is well set.
Brown delicately by setting it for a minute on the upper grate of a hot oven.
This may be eaten warm or cold with or without sauce.

Small sugar cakes

from Martha

One heaping teacup of Sugar
3/4 teacup of Butter
1/4 teacup of sweet milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of baking power
1 teaspoon of soda dissolved in hot water
flour sufficient to enable you to roll out the dough
one spoonful salt
nutmeg and cinnamon to taste.
Cut in round cakes and bake quickly

Mrs Foulkes Cookies

This is a hand written recipe "Mrs Foulkse's Cookies" (sic)

2 eggs
2 cups Sugar
1 cup butter or lard
1 teaspoon soda
4 tablespoon hot water


This is one of the let the cook figure out the rest type of recipes,

A word about olde time recipes

Many old recipes assumed that the cook knew how to cook.

Many of the 100+ year old hand written recipes just list ingredients and let the cook figure out for themselves how to proceed.

Some of the recipes on this site will be just that, a list of ingredients.

Whenever possible I have included exact wording just to show the "flavor" of the writing or the mindset of the writer.

If I feel I need to add something I will put it in color in parenthesis (like this)

Some of these may be newer but most of the newspaper articles right along side them are circa 1905

Memorial Day 1899

Memorial Day
by Mary Hussey

Down by the clear river's side they wandered, Hand in hand on that perfect day;
He was young handsome brave and tender, She more sweet than flowers of May.

He looked on her with brown eyes adoring, Watching her blushes grow soft and deep;
"Darling," he said, with tones imploring, "Shall we not ever the memory keep

Of this bright day, so happy and holy; This sweetest hour my life has e'er known,
When you, dear, speaking gently and slowly, Answered me "Yes," when I called you my own"

Fair was the sky, the sunset, the river, Wind in the trees, the water's low psalm, Bird-song, scent of wild roses. Oh, never Was there an hour more blissful and calm!

Close in his arms he held her: the morrow Would bring to their fond hearts parting and pain,-
After love's rapture, bitterest sorrow; After May sunshine, gloom and the rain.

The country her sons to save her was calling; He answered her summons, fearless and brave;
On to the front, where heroes were falling, Love and all of life's promise he gave.

She by the hearth, through long hours' slow measure, Watched and yearned, and suffered and prayed;
Read o'er his letters lovingly treasured, Hoped his return,- to hope half afraid.

"God is good" she said. "His love will enfold him, Protect him, and bring him safe to me again;
I shall hear him once more, in rapture behold him,- Oh, blessed reward, for my waiting and pain!"

In camp, on the field, on marches long, weary, Her face and her voice in his heart's inner shrine
He kept; they brightened his way when most dreary, Lifted his life to the Life all divine.

He fell in the ranks, at awful Stone River, Blood of our heroes made sacred that sod;
On battles red tide his soul went out ever forward and upward, to meet with his God.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Worn, grown old yet tenderly keeping, every May month, sad tryst with her dead,
She knows not where her darling is sleeping, she lays no garlands on his low bed.

All soldiers' graves claim her love and her blessing; she decks them with flowers made by sacred tears.
Love of her heart for her soldier expressing,"Love that is stronger than death," through the years.

Soon in this land of unfading beauty, He faithful knight of valor and truth,
She living martyr tho country and duty, shall find the sweetness and love of their youth.

Honor the dead with richest oblation,- cover their graves with laurel and palm!
Honor the living for life's consecration, - give to their pierced hearts love's healing balm.