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Author: Angela Johnson

I’ve been interested in cooking since I was a teenager. Growing up in a small town in Illinois, I ate many home-cooked meals and tried out recipes (mostly cookies). Wherever I live or travel, I check out grocery stores for unusual foods, eat at local restaurants, and buy regional cookbooks. I’m also fascinated with learning how people in the past lived, and how they obtained food and prepared it.
bunch of raw almonds
Using Sweet and Bitter Almonds

Using Sweet and Bitter Almonds

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Cooks in the 1800s used bitter almonds to flavor dessert recipes, but they were cautious in using them. That’s because bitter almonds contain cyanide and are toxic if eaten raw. Cooking removes their toxicity, though. Sweet almonds are the edible almonds you usually buy in grocery stores, and are safe to eat raw or cooked. Bitter almonds are not sold for consumption in the U.S., although they are still available in many other countries, especially in Europe and parts of…

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plate of freshly baked biscuits
Making Homemade Biscuits

Making Homemade Biscuits

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Bread was an important addition to most meals, and biscuits were especially popular for breakfast. All breads and biscuits had to be made from scratch. In addition, people cooked in wood burning stoves, which had no temperature gauge. You had to learn how to regulate the heat of coals and firewood for whatever you were baking. Cooking times were rarely provided for the same reason. Baking was definitely a skill to be learned through trial and error. INFORMATION BELOW FROM…

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Black Walnuts in the shell
Recipes Using Native Black Walnuts

Recipes Using Native Black Walnuts

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Black walnuts are native to the eastern and midwestern U.S. The English walnut wasn’t cultivated in the U.S. until around 1870, in California. Black walnuts have a different taste from Engish walnuts. I especially like black walnut ice cream, and I use them in baked goods or add them to my homemade trail mix. Black walnuts grow with a green outer coating on them. This coating has to be removed before the hard nut inside can be reached. The outer…

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A plate of seafood salad
Unusual Fish and Seafood Salads

Unusual Fish and Seafood Salads

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The only seafood salad I’ve eaten has been purchased in the deli department at a grocery store. It’s the type of salad that is made from “fake crab” and has a mayonnaise base. I like it a lot. I don’t know that I’d like all of these fish and seafood salads that came from 1800s cookbooks, but I’d like to try some of them. RECIPES BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS FISH SALADBoil four flounders, or any medium sized fish. When done,…

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Variety of fresh garden vegetables
Ways to Preserve Vegetables for the Winter

Ways to Preserve Vegetables for the Winter

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During most of the 1800s, people ate fresh garden produce seasonally. People didn’t begin home canning until the invention of the Mason jar in 1858 and it took a while for canning to become popular. So they needed to preserve their produce to have during the winter months, and making sure it was as fresh tasting as possible. No one wanted mushy or rotten vegetables because they weren’t stored properly. RECIPES BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS PROPER PLACE FOR PRESERVING ROOTS…

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Bowl of beef stew
Beef Soup and Stew Recipes

Beef Soup and Stew Recipes

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Making soup in the 1800s was a long process, requiring it to simmer for hours on the stove. Commercially canned soup only became available in the late 1800s. The largest and most popular company was Campbell’s, which began selling canned soup in 1895. And in 1897, Campbell’s chemist John T. Dorrance developed condensed soup by removing much of the water. This made soup cheaper to ship, store, and buy. and was certainly more convenient. One of the recipes below is…

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chopped vegetable in wooden bowl
A Good Cook Never Wastes

A Good Cook Never Wastes

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It’s always good to save time and money on kitchen chores and food. Today, we can find advice in physical books, ebooks, on blogs, and on social media. In the 1800s, people found advice in cookbooks and newspapers. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS “A good cook never wastes. It is her pride to make the most of everything in the shape of food entrusted to her care, and her pleasure to serve it in the most appetizing form. In no…

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Potato pumpkin fritters
Recipes for Savory Fritters

Recipes for Savory Fritters

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The terms fritter and croquette are often used interchangeably, but there are differences. A fritter has a runny batter or dough that is dropped into hot fat and fried. A croquette has a thicker batter, often breaded, and is shaped into balls, patties, or logs before frying.  RECIPES BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS Fritters are served for luncheon, dinner or supper, as an entree, a vegetable or a sweet, according to the ingredients used. The foundation batter is much the same…

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