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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.
wooden barrel to make vinegar
How to Make Your Own Vinegar

How to Make Your Own Vinegar

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Vinegar was an important household item in the 1800s, especially for preserving food. Many people made their own vinegar; often a year’s supply. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS TO BUY VINEGAR Much of the vinegar that is offered for sale is excessively and disagreeably sharp; overpowering the taste of every thing with which it is combined. This vinegar is deleterious in its effects and should never be used; it is made entirely of drugs. Oysters and pickled vegetables have been…

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Forcemeat Balls to Accompany Meat
What is Forcemeat?

What is Forcemeat?

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Forcemeat is made by mixing finely chopped lean meat with fat and adding other flavorings. Forcemeat can be used as a stuffing, made into balls or patties, or formed into flat square or oval pieces. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS: FORCEMEAT This article makes a considerable part of good cooking by the flavor it imparts to whatsoever dish it may be added. Exact rules for the quantity cannot easily be given, but the following observations may be useful. The selection…

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Hot tea in china cup
How to Make a Perfect Cup of Tea

How to Make a Perfect Cup of Tea

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Only loose tea was used up until the early 1900s. People used a strainer before pouring the tea into cups, or a tea ball if only making tea for one or two people. Around 1908, Thomas Sullivan, an American, made an accidental invention – the tea bag. Sullivan was a tea merchant and started sending tea samples to his customers in small bags made of silk. They put the entire bag in the pot, thinking the tea was to be…

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Making Fresh Bone Broth Soup Stock
How to Make Soup Stock

How to Make Soup Stock

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So many recipes from 1800s cookbooks call for soup stock and all good cooks kept a supply on hand. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS MEANING AND USE OF STOCK Soup stock may be regarded as a liquid containing the juices and soluble parts of meat, bone, and vegetables, which have been extracted by long, slow cooking and which can be utilized in the making of soups, sauces, and gravies. Keep stock in small jars in a cool place. It makes…

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Fried Pigs Feet
Cooking Pigs’ Feet

Cooking Pigs’ Feet

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When people butchered a pig in the 1800s, no part of the animal went to waste. I’ve never seen fresh pigs’ feet in the grocery store, but I have seen pickled pigs’ feet in glass jars.  INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS FRIED PIGS’ FEET Thoroughly burn all the hairs off with a poker heated to a white heat. Then scald the feet and wipe them dry. Put them over the fire to boil in cold water, with two ounces each…

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mixed vegetable soup
A Good Cook Never Wastes

A Good Cook Never Wastes

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“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 other way can she prove her excellence, for poor cooks are always wasteful and extravagant. The day has passed for regarding cooking as a menial and vulgar labor; and those who give some thought to their daily food usually gain in vigor and…

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Roast goose with apples
Roast Goose and Christmas Goose Pie

Roast Goose and Christmas Goose Pie

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“A goose must never be eaten the same day it is killed. If the weather is cold, it should be kept a week before using. A goose, from its profusion of feathers, looks like a large bird when walking about, but when plucked and prepared for the spit, it will be found very deceptive. It is much more hollow than a turkey and except for the breast, there is but little eating on it. In large families, it is usual…

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raw meat
Ways to Preserve Meat Without Refrigeration

Ways to Preserve Meat Without Refrigeration

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Without electric refrigeration, people had to find various ways to keep meat fresh, especially in summer. Some methods could keep it fresh a few days or perhaps a week, and other methods could preserve it for much longer.  INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS TO KEEP MEAT FRESH Where persons live a distance from market and have no fresh meat but what they kill, it is important to know how to keep it fresh. Hang up joints of meat if not…

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