Blog - Vintage Recipes and Cookery

Unusual Catsups – Elderberry, Currant, Cucumber, and more…

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Old cookbooks used the spellings, “catsup”, “ketchup”, and “catchup” in their recipe titles. For consistency, I used “catsup” for this post. The only catsups I’ve tasted were made from tomatoes. The catsup recipes below are quite interesting and made from what was plentiful during the 1800s. People were sure resourceful and wanted to make their foods interesting and flavorful. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS ELDERBERRY CATSUP1 quart of elderberries1 quart of vinegar6 anchovies, soaked and pulled to pieces 1/2 teaspoon maceA…

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Gruel Recipes – Food For The Sick

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These simple foods, the base of which is usually one of the grains, play an important part in the dietary for the sick, if properly prepared. Gruels are similar to porridge, but much thinner. Gruels may be varied with flavorings of cinnamon, nutmeg, almond, or a little grated lemon-peel, and sugar. Sugar is mentioned with great hesitancy, for a sweet gruel is an abomination, and yet a gruel with a very little sugar has a pleasanter flavor than one without…

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Making Homemade Marshmallows

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There is actually a marshmallow plant that usually grows wild in swamps and marshlands. The marshmallow plant (Althaea officinalis) is not the same as the common mallow plant (Malva sylvestris). Marshmallow has a thick, sticky consistency similar to the okra plant. Made into a candy, doctors often offered it to children to soothe their sore throats. But eventually, marshmallow root sap was replaced by other binding agents such as gum arabic and gelatin. Without the sap, the candy no longer…

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Roasting Meat in an Open Hearth Fireplace

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Years ago, meats were roasted in an open hearth, in FRONT of the fire, not over the fire like when cooking outdoors. Roasting was a skill learned through practice. Cooks learned to build a clear, brisk, and steady fire. It was quite an accomplishment to cook a joint with a nice crust on the outside, yet tender and juicy inside. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS ~ Roasting is done before the fire, and should not be confused with baking, which…

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How to Cook Ox-tails

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Ox-tail in cooking refers to the tail of cattle. An ox-tail can weigh weigh 7 to 8 pounds, is jointed and bony, and each section has some marrow in the center. When sold, it is skinned and cut into short sections. Ox-tail is rich in gelatin and takes a long time to cook; therefore, it’s usually used for soups, braising, or stews. You could also use a pressure cooker if you wanted to save time. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS OX-TAIL Cut…

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How to Cook Beef Brains

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You may have recently heard of eating “nose to tail,” meaning to eat the whole animal, not just cuts of muscle meat like we usually see at grocery stores. These parts of the animal are usually called “offal,” which includes the intestines, liver, heart, lung, kidneys, brain, etc. In the 1800s, there were many recipes for cooking brain, usually beef brain. But brain from other animals can be used. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS TO PREPARE BRAINPut the brain in…

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How to Roast and Boil Coffee

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“Coffee affords very little nourishment, and is apt, if drank strong, to occasion tremors of the nerves. It is very bad for bilious constitutions. The calm, phlegmatic temperament can bear it. With a good supply of cream and sugar, drank in moderation, by those who exercise much and take considerable solid food, it may be used without much danger.” Quote is from the book, “The Cook’s Own Book, And Housekeeper’s Register“, by N. K. M Lee. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s…

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Old-Fashioned Fruitcake Recipes

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Most commercially-made fruitcakes are alcohol-free, but traditionally, some fruitcake recipes included alcohol; both for the flavor and as a preservative. That way, fruitcake could be made months ahead of time for the Christmas holidays. In the 1800s, wood burning stoves didn’t have temperature gauges, and oven temperatures varied based on the type and size wood used. You were supposed to learn how to determine the heat through experience. Some recipes ignored the oven temperature and others used terms such as…

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