Blog - Vintage Recipes and Cookery

Fresh green dill, fennel seeds, bottle of spirits to make essence

How to Make Essences to Flavor Food

Angela Johnson Comments 3 comments

Herb, spice, and flower essences sold in stores are usually made by distilling. But the instructions below from 1800s cookbooks say to use alcohol to dissolve the plant oils and resins. Although not mentioned in these old cookbooks, you can also make essences with food grade liquid glycerine, although the process takes longer than using alcohol. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS ON ESSENCES The essences or essential oils sold for general use are, or ought to be, obtained by distillation….

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Sandwiches Made from Fruit and Nuts

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It took more time and work to make sandwiches in the 1800s. People often made their own bread but they could also buy it from markets and bakeries if they could afford it. However, it wasn’t until 1928 that bread was pre-sliced by machine. And although people sometimes used jelly and marmalade for sweet tasting sandwiches, they usually used dried or fresh fruit and nuts, which took more time to prepare. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS Sandwiches that have fruit…

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Homemade Dressing Recipes for Salads

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Until the early 1900s, dressings for salads were prepared at home, using ingredients that were in season or able to be preserved without refrigeration. Dressing was prepared fresh before each meal unless the household had enough ice to keep it cool. Even with ice, salad dressing could only be kept about a week because there were no chemical preservatives. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS SALAD DRESSINGTo one-half cup olive oil, add one teaspoon paprika, one teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, a…

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Ways to Cook Haricot (Navy) Beans

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The navy bean, haricot, pearl haricot bean, boston bean, white pea bean, or pea bean, is a variety of the common bean native to the Americas, where it was domesticated. It is a small, dry white bean which is smaller than many other types of white beans, and has an oval, slightly flattened shape. Wikipedia Cooking dried beans in the 1800s wasn’t much different from cooking them today except with no electricity, housewives had to keep a fire going the…

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Obtaining Pure Water to Drink

Angela Johnson Comments 2 comments

In the 1800s, depending on where a family lived, water might come from a pipe (in cities) or from a well, cistern, creek, lake, or river. Water was often contaminated and people had to know how to make it drinkable. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS WATER AS A BEVERAGEMost foods contain water. The water present in foods, however, is not sufficient for the needs of the body. It is necessary to use water as a beverage. When one rises in…

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Soups for Four Seasons

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In the days before electrical refrigeration, soups were usually made with vegetables that were in season. Preparing and cooking soup took many hours. These four seasonal soups have meat as a base for flavoring, but the meat is never left in the soup to be eaten. Because of the long, slow cooking, all of the flavor is extracted and the meat discarded. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS SPRING SOUPUnless your dinner hour is very late, the stock for this soup…

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Using Coconuts for Cooking

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Coconuts were used to produce a variety of interesting dishes. But you couldn’t buy coconut already shredded in grocery stores. You bought the whole coconut, cracked it, and shredded it yourself.

Corn Recipes: Pudding, Dumplings, Relish, Porridge, and more.

Angela Johnson Comments 1 comment

The seeds of the maize plant, or Indian corn, are eaten as a vegetable when they are immature. They grow on a woody cob, and when they are green, they are soft and milky. But when they become ripe, they are hard and are then ground as grain.

When the contents of the kernels is still in the liquid form, the corn is at the milk stage, and generally considered to be too young for table use.

On the other hand, when the liquid in the kernels has become thickened, the corn, which is then at the dough stage, too old for use as a vegetable.

To be ideal for culinary purposes, it should be just between the milk and dough stages.
On the other hand, when the liquid in the kernels has become thickened, the corn, which is then at the dough stage, is thought to be too old for use as a vegetable.
To be ideal for culinary purposes, it should be just between the milk and dough stages. Then, if it is in good condition, a most satisfactory vegetable is the result.