When I was young, the only ways my mother served peas was fron a can. Although frozen vegetables were available, maybe they cost too much or we didn’t have the freezer space. Most of the recipes below are for fresh peas, although the last three are for dried peas. I especially like the recipes for Pea Griddle-Cakes and Oatmeal and Peas. RECIPES BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS GREEN PEAS When green peas are purchased, they are always found in the pods….
It sure was a lot of work making candy in the 1800s. There were no electric mixers to help beat the sugar mixture, and you had to learn how to boil it into a syrup with just the right consistency. The recipes below are from “The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) by F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann.” Click here to access the cookbook for free on the Project Gutenberg website. RECIPES FROM THE WHITE HOUSE COOKBOOK, 1887 CONFECTIONERYIn the making of…
A cordial (liqueur) is a sweetened alcoholic beverage made from a distilled spirit, and sweetened with various fruits and spices. Most cordials aren’t aged long. In the 1800s, some cordials were also used as family medicine. A few of the cordial recipes below are rather unusual. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS MINT CORDIAL Pick the mint early in the morning while the dew is on it. Do not bruise it. Pour some water over it and then drain it off….
Summer squashes are picked before they’re mature. The rind is thin and edible, and you can also eat the seeds. But summer squashes can’t be stored like winter squashes. Some summer squashes in the U.S. are: Pattypan squash Crookneck squash Straightneck squash Zucchini (courgette) RECIPES BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS: BOILED SUMMER SQUASHIf the rind is tender, boil it whole in a little bag kept for the purpose. It should be put into boiling water. Three quarters of an hour is…
I have occasionally seen fresh pigs’ feet and pickled pigs’ feet in grocery stores., although I’ve never tried either one. In the 1800s, pigs’ feet were cheap and eaten mostly by poor households. Although they were more popular in the South, they were also eaten nationwide. Boiling and pickling the feet helped preserve them before refrigeration was available. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS FRIED PIGS’ FEET Thoroughly burn all the hairs off with a poker heated to a white heat….
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. These techniques are interesting, but they don’t follow today’s food safety advice. And of course, today we are fortunate to have home refrigerators and freezers. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS TO KEEP MEAT FRESH Where persons live a distance from market and…
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…
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…