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Month: March 2021

Cooking raw oats for breakfast
Ways to Cook Old-Fashioned Oats

Ways to Cook Old-Fashioned Oats

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In these recipes from 1800s cookbooks, I was surprised to read oats had to cook from two to four hours! The recipes caution against cooking oats too quickly. They also don’t say to soak the oats overnight, which I found surprising. Groats take the longest to cook. Rolled Oats are groats that have been steamed and flattened. There are also steel-cut oats, ground oats (old-fashioned, quick-cooking oats, and instant oats), each one being processed more.   This article on the Food Revolution…

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Good Flour Makes Good Biscuits
Good Flour Makes Good Biscuits

Good Flour Makes Good Biscuits

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When I was young, my mother only made biscuits that came in a can. I’ve since eaten real homemade biscuits, and I can sure tell a difference. There were no canned biscuits or boxed mixes in the 1800s, though. Biscuits, breads, and other bakery items were made from scratch.  INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS BISCUITS The word biscuit means twice baked, from the old way of cooking the cakes which is now no longer in use. Plain biscuits are said…

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Refreshing drink
Refreshing Beverages for Luncheon

Refreshing Beverages for Luncheon

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With so many varieties of drinks available in stores and restaurants, I forget that people in the past had to make all their own drinks, both for family and guests.  The drink recipes below sound delicious. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS LUNCHEON BEVERAGES Inasmuch as coffee usually appears both at breakfast and dinner, it is well to bar it absolutely from the luncheon table. Too much coffee drinking is injurious, as the makers of imitation coffees assure us daily through…

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Blancmange Dessert
How to Make Blancmange (a Dessert)

How to Make Blancmange (a Dessert)

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Blancmange is a sweet dessert usually made with milk or cream, sugar, and thickened with gelatin, cornstarch, Irish moss or isinglass, and sometimes arrowroot and tapioca. Blancmange is usually set in molds, cups, or wine glasses and chilled before serving. Before commercial gelatin was produced, Irish Moss and isinglass were used. Irish moss is a reddish purple moss found in the Atlantic Ocean coastline, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. And Isinglass is a form of collagen made from the dried fish…

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