Blog - Vintage Recipes and Cookery

Bowl of pumpkin soup on a wooden cutting board.

Pumpkin Mush, Pudding, Chips, Parmesan, Soup

Angela Johnson Comments 2 comments

Pumpkin is a common term for mature winter squash, of which there are many varieties and sizes. They are a hot weather crop and need a long growing season. Commercially canned pumpkin puree is usually made from different varieties than those used for jack-o’-lanterns. Pumpkins grown for food in the 1800s were the smaller sized ones. Did you know a pumpkin is not actually a vegetable, but a fruit? Anything that starts from a flower is botanically a fruit and…

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How to Use Quinces, an Old-Fashioned Fruit

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Quinces resemble a pear, and are yellow when ripe, but the exterior is bumpy. They have a sour, astringent taste unless completely ripened, so they’re usually cooked. This fruit bruises quickly and very rapidly turns to a dark brown. The quince tree was brought to the American colonies by English settlers. During the 18th century, there was usually a quince at the lower corner of the vegetable garden [reference]. Today, there aren’t many commercial quince tree orchards in the U.S….

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herbs and spices can season a bland meal

Season Food with Herbs and Tinctures

Angela Johnson Comments 0 Comment

“Many people have the idea that a finely flavored dish must cost a great deal. That is a mistake. If you have untainted meat, or sound vegetables, or even Indian meal [corn meal] to begin with, you can make it delicious with proper seasoning. One reason why French cooking is so much nicer than any other is that it is seasoned with a great variety of herbs and spices, which cost very little. If you would buy a few cents’…

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How to Cook Eels (Elongated Fish)

Angela Johnson Comments 7 comments

Although eels look like water snakes to me, they are actually elongated fish. There are many species and they can be from 2 inches in length to 13 feet. Most eels live in the shallow waters of the ocean and are nocturnal. But the American eel lives mostly in freshwater and returns to the ocean to spawn. Recipes using eels were common in 1800s cookbooks, but so far I haven’t seen any in cookbooks printed in the 1900s and later….

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Preserve Meat by Pickling with Salt

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“Salting is the process of preserving food with dry edible salt. It is related to pickling in general and more specifically to brining (salty water) and is one form of curing. It is one of the oldest methods of preserving food.” (Source: Wikipedia) NOTE: While looking online at modern methods of preserving with salt, most of the information says to use canning salt, also called kosher salt, and not to use iodized salt. In 1800s cookbooks, pickling is usually the…

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How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut

Angela Johnson Comments 4 comments

If you’ve never eaten sauerkraut before, you may not like the taste or texture. But as with any new food, you can get used to it, especially if you use it in recipes rather than eating it plain. I especially like raw sauerkraut over the canned variety. It’s easy to make yourself and you can make a small batch or enough to preserve. All you need is cabbage and salt (kosher or pickling). That’s it! INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS:…

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Make Homemade Flavored Vinegars

Angela Johnson Comments 4 comments

“These vinegars will be found very useful, at times when the articles with which they are flavored cannot be conveniently procured. Care should be taken to have the bottles that contain them accurately labeled, very tightly corked, and kept in a dry place. The vinegar used for these purposes should be of the very best sort.” (quote from an 1800s cookbook) INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS TARRAGON VINEGAR Tarragon should be gathered on a dry day, just before the plant…

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Tasty Sauces for Chicken and Other Poultry

Angela Johnson Comments 2 comments

Are you looking for different ways to cook chicken and other poultry? You might want to try these recipes for poultry sauces from various cookbooks published in the 1800s. The word “poultry” is used for domestic fowls including chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks. “Fowl” is often used the same as poultry but may include game birds. NOTE: Poultry and Fowls are used interchangeably in older recipes. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS CHICKEN SAUCE An anchovy or two boned and chopped,…

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