Blog - Vintage Recipes and Cookery

Mushroom Pie Recipes

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Many recipes in older cookbooks assume you know the basics. For instance, these recipes for mushroom pie assume you know how to make a crust. They also assume you know how long to bake a dish. They either just say “bake” or else give general information such as a slow, moderate or quick oven. Although some people did gather their own mushrooms, mushrooms were available in tin cans or bottles. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS MUSHROOM PIEIngredients—Puff, flaky, or…

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Coffee Substitutes and Adulterations

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Before U.S. Food Inspections became law, it was “buyer beware.” It was important to find a grocer or food supplier you trusted. But it was also necessary to know how to tell if your food was adulterated. Some foods had extra ingredients or fillers that were harmless, but not always; some were dangerous to ingest. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS COFFEE SUBSTITUTES AND ADULTERATIONSGround coffee is extensively adulterated, and mainly with the much cheaper. Rye, beans, peas, acorns, carrots,…

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Hearty Family Breakfasts for Autumn

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People in the 1800s usually ate a hearty breakfast because they worked hard physically. They didn’t waste any food, either. Food left over from the night before was often used for breakfast. Note that none of these recipes use eggs as the main dish. Chickens lay less eggs in autumn and winter, so eggs were scarcer during those times. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS AUTUMN BREAKFASTS DURING the early part of the autumn, and indeed until late in the…

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To Keep Vegetables for Winter

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Although you could dry or can vegetables for winter, it was nice to have some fresh ones, too. Vegetables both had to be protected from freezing winter conditions, but also stored so they wouldn’t spoil before spring. People usually had a cellar underneath their house or a root cellar outdoors for food storage. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS SQUASHES should never be kept down cellar when it is possible to prevent it. Dampness injures them. If intense cold makes…

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The Creation of Margarine and Other Butter Substitutes

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Margarine was created in the late 1800s as a cheaper substitute for butter, which is made from the butterfat of milk. Originally, margarine was made from beef fat, and then from lard and various seed oils. Margarine wasn’t accepted right away, and there was often deception in its manufacture. Today, of course, the food industry is much more regulated. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS BUTTER SUBSTITUTESIn about the year 1870, through a desire to procure a cheaper article than…

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Vegetable Sandwich Recipes

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In the 1800s, sandwiches were not a common item for meals. Bread was usually homemade and all bread, even from bakeries, had to be sliced. Pre-sliced bread wasn’t available until 1928. The bread was almost always buttered prior to adding the fillings in order to keep the ingredients from soaking into the bread and making it soggy. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS Certain vegetables may be used with bread and butter to make very appetizing sandwiches. The vegetables most…

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How to Properly Cook Fish

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When I buy fish, I often pan-fry it in butter, rather than deep fry it. Sometimes I’ll bake fish, but I’ve never boiled it. I like fish a lot and need to cook it more often and in different ways. INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS DRESSING FISH In dressing fish of any kind for the table, great care is necessary in cleaning it. It is a common error to wash it too much, and by this means the flavor…

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The Best Tea and Coffee at the Grocer’s

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It wasn’t until the late 1800s that there were true grocery stores with more than just the basic staples. Then there were many more teas and coffees to choose from. But the buyer had to learn how to tell quality goods from inferior, as well as identify if a product had been adulterated. There were no government food inspectors in those days. THE INFORMATION BELOW CAME FROM A BOOK CALLED: GROCER’S GOODS: A Family Guide to the Purchase of Flour,…

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