I never ate any kind of squash when I was a child, but I’ve eaten summer squashes like green zucchini and yellow squash as an adult. It’s only been in the last couple of years that I’ve tried any of the winter squashes: Butternut Squash, Spaghetti Squash, and Delicata Squash. When people in the 1800s cooked foods in their wood burning stoves, there were no thermometers. So recipes referred to the oven temperature as a slow, moderate, or hot oven. The cook…
In the 1800s, cheese was made from unpasteurized raw milk. The first commercial pasteurized milk was produced in 1882, but the first law to require milk to be pasteurized wasn’t passed until 1908. (source). Cream cheese was a popular cheese to make in the 1800s since it doesn’t have to be aged. For more information on making cheese in modern times, you may want to visit the New England Cheese Making Supply Company website. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS PENNSYLVANIA…
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. The term “forcemeat” is often interchanged with dressing or stuffing, but stuffing and dressing rarely contain meat. 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…
Years ago, I received a cheese-making kit for Christmas. It called for a gallon of milk and I couldn’t believe the small amount of cheese it made. I thought I did something wrong. Now, as I’m going through 1800s cookbooks, I find it actually takes about five quarts of milk to make a pound of cheese. If you want to try making your own cheese, look at modern recipes. Milk in the 1800s was not pasteurized and could sour without…
Pumpkins were a popular crop in the 1800s. They were easy to grow and if stored properly in a warm, dry place, could be kept all winter. Recipes from old cookbooks used fresh pumpkins, but if one called for stewed pumpkin, it’s like the plain canned pumpkin we buy today. Recipes often did not include baking times or how hot to make your oven because oven thermometers hadn’t been invented yet. You were supposed to already know or learn through…
In these days of such rapid change, it’s nice to run across a product that was founded so long ago and has remained in business. As a concession to modern times, though, they did introduce a low sodium version in 2010. The Lea & Perrins Worchestershire Sauce company was founded in 1837 in Worcester, England, by chemists John Lea and William Perrins. It’s now a subsidiary of Kraft Heinz, though it is still being producens in Worcester, England. The sauce…
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…