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OhioGirl: love the recipes! Thank you for posting this. My book is from 1928, so they are basically the same era. The Fairy Jelly is just adorable. This recipe isn't in my book, but several times I see a "glass of jelly" mentioned. I have a recipe that is very similar to the "Cheese Salad" one, although it uses pecans instead of walnuts. This is probably because the author is from south Georgia, where the pecans are grown. It's interesting that your book has an "Invalid Cookery Chapter" also. Mine mentions an orange and lemon albumen. What is Irish Moss?
Here are some HouseHold Hints.
To remove ink spots:
1. Before washing rub with kerosene.
2. Cover spot with a paste of soda and water. Let dry and rub off. Repeat if necessary.
3. Place spot in warm sweet milk and let stand until; when rubbed, ink will wash out. Repeat process if necessary.
4. Rub spot with damp match and the sulphur removes ink.
To Whiten Clothes
Add to a boiler of cold water 2 tablespoons of turpentine, 2 of kerosene, a bar of laundry soap shaved. Put in clothes, let come to a boil, but not boil. Rinse well and clothes are whiter than with the usual washing.
And finally tonight . . .
To Clean Lace, Etc.
To clean white fur, use hot meal, rub into fur, brush well when finished. Repeat if necessary.
To clean a felt hat, use 4 cups of corn meal, 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour. Mix all together, rub on hat, let stand over night, brush well.
(From Southern Cooking by Mrs. S. R. Dull, Former Editor of the Home Economics page in the Magazine Section of the Atlanta Journal, and Cooking School Instructor).
What great recipes!! This inspired me to pull out an old cookbook that belonged to my dh's great-grandmother. Tucked in the pages are several handwritten, tattered recipes. The cookbook is Rumford Complete Cookbook, 1918. I haven't gone through the recipes in years, but thought it would be fun to share something. The first handwritten recipe I pulled out was Pickled Onions. (I see now why I didn't keep the recipes, hopefully I'll find something more to our taste after looking through them all!) But I'm sharing one recipe, to show how limited recipes could be back then. People seemed to think you knew the basics to begin with. Looking through this book and recipes will give me some entertainment today, thanks for starting this thread!
Pickled Onions No. 1
Peel the onions and let them stand overnight in salt water strong enough to hold an egg then boil the vinegar, put spices in a bag & put in the vinegar then let it come to a boil. Put in a little sugar and a few red peppers pour over the onions in a stone jar & cover tight.
Pickled Onions No. 2
Put the onions in a kettle with water & salt and let them come to a boil then peel them and wipe them dry and husk them in the jar. Take the vinegar and boil it with allspice and cloves tied in a bag and pour over onions.
Oh, and speaking of "fairy" recipes, I also just found one for fairy cones:
Fairy Cones
6 egg yolks
3 level tablespoons sugar
2 level tablespoons flour
1 cup chopped English walnut meats
Whipped cream, sweetened and flavored
Beat the yolks of the eggs with sugar, add the flour, then the nuts and spread as thinly as possible on greased, flat baking tins. Bake about 7 minutes, and while still warm cut into squares and roll each in the form of a cone. When wanted for use fill with the sweetened and flavored whipped cream.
Oh, this is so much fun! I actually found several old family cookbooks I was given long ago, and tucked away. Included are numerous handwritten recipes. Another cookbook I have is Good Houskeeping Cookbook, 1908, among a few others. I was much younger when they were given to me, and didn't appreciate them as much as I will now.
I apologize for posting again, but this is too good to keep to myself. One of the last chapters from my 1918 Rumford cookbook is titled,
Recipes for the sick: (below is just a snippet)
The food eaten by a sick person has in many cases as much to do with rapid recovery as have drugs. It must be remembered that the palate is more sensitive in sickness than in health, both in seasonings and temperatures, so that less seasoning and more moderate degrees of heat and cold must be observed.
Daintiness in serving greatly influences the appetite of the patient, and, therefore, for this reason it is preferable to serve small portions and present the meal by courses rather than place all on the tray at one time. Have all hot beverages brought to the door of the sick room in a covered pitcher, then poured into the cup, thus avoiding the danger of spilling liquids into the saucer while carrying them to the patient.....
Here is just one of the many recipes listed for healing the patient, again from the 1918 Rumford Complete Cookbook:
Irish Moss
1 small handful Irish moss
3 cups milk
1 level tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring
Wash and pick over the moss carefully, add it to the milk in the saucepan, and simmer the two till the moss begins to dissolve. A double boiler is preferable as it prevents too rapid cooking. In about twenty minutes, if the moss is dissolving, strain through cheese cloth, add sugar and flavoring, and turn into wet moulds or cups to cool. Serve with cream and sugar.
The Irish Moss befuddles me as well. I'm assuming it's real moss; do you have to go to Ireland to get it, or it won't be as tasty and/or effective? Points to ponder.
I was curious myself yesterday, and Googled it. It does grow on northern U.S. coasts, and used to be used for medicinal purposes, like clearing congestion. It was probably sold in stores back then that carried herbs and tonics. Some of those old recipes are fascinating.
Regarding an earlier post, I believe old stoves and ovens back then were mostly wood-fired, without the temperature controls that we have today. So that would explain why recipes didn't have specifics like oven temperature.
I Googled the Irish moss also. Wonder if you can get it in a health food store?
You're right about the wood fired stoves. I am glad I don't have to cook on one! My book mentions gas, electric and oil ovens. It also mentions ice, oil, gas and electric refrigerators.
I'm going to share the suggested list of kitchen utensils (from Southern Cooking, Mrs. S. R Dull). Coffee pot, double boiler, bread pans, muffin pans, colander, mixing bowls, pint and quart measure, rolling pin, bread knife, kitchen forks, vegetable brush, grater, egg beater, towel rack, dish pan, flour bin, ice cream freezer, stew pan, frying pans, cake pans, pie pans, wire strainer, mixing spoons, scales, can opener, meat knife, meat grinder, home - made pastry brush, lemon squeezer, spatula, hand towels, dish towels, clock, dish drainer, boilers, roasting pan, baking sheet, potato masher, flour sifter, measuring spoons, bread boards, corkscrew, paring knives, chopping knife, spice containers, scissors, soap shaker, soap dish, asbestos mats, bread and cake boxes. Mrs. Dull ends this section with "If a cabinet is purchased quite a number of utensils mentioned above will be in the cabinet." Here are her directions for a homemade brush. I don't know if this is the brush she is referring to in the list or not, because the brush directions are in another section of the book. "A brush that is better than one you can buy is made of flannel, folded several times and fitted into a clothes pin. Trim, allowing 1/2 inch on all sides."
In an old cookbook from the '30s I saw a recipe for "City Chicken" where the "chicken" was actually veal. Apparently it was a cheaper chicken alternative at the time?
Back in "the day" chicken was a more expensive meat. There was a time when the top meat consumed in the United States was pork, I'm told.
My Mother in Law had an old Cookbook that belonged to her Mother. Most of the recipes would start out.."Get out your biggest cast iron skillet" Or "Get out your cast iron dutch oven." So cute.
This has nothing to do with cooking, but a friend of mine has an actaul article that appeared in "Good Housekeeping" back in the very early 50's. It was an article discussing the many uses of Lysol. One was the suggestion that it worked well for feminine hygiene and stressed that women keeping themselves fresh in that area was just as important as keeping a spotless house, cooking wonderful meals, greeting her weary, hardworking husband at the door with slippers and a cocktail and never, never complaining about her hard day until AFTER he had his cocktail, a good meal, had read the evening news and was comfy on the sofa.
I kid you not.
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One of the last chapters from my 1918 Rumford cookbook is titled,
