Blog - Vintage Recipes and Cookery

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

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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

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“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

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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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Old-Fashioned Cooking Hints and Advice

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Most old cookbooks also included cooking and household advice. Here are some hints from cookbooks published in the 1800s. Please note that the advice about preserving meat and milk is not safe according to today’s food safety standards. But these were the days before electricity and refrigeration were available in homes. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS Lemons will keep fresher and better in water than any other way. Put them in a crock and cover them with water. They will…

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How to Make and Cook Hominy

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Hominy is made from dried corn (maize), soaking the corn kernels in a weak solution of lye. Then it can be cooked or dried for later use. Ground hominy is known as masa or grits, and it can also be ground more finely to make flour. Today’s canned hominy is already cooked and ready to eat. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS MAKING HOMINY Use field corn to make hominy; yellow dent, flint corn, and Indian corn are all good varieties….

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Unusual Sandwiches from the 1800s

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I don’t make sandwiches often, but they’re not anything like these from 1800s cookbooks. I was especially intrigued by the baked bean sandwich recipe and the one for an anchovy sandwich. In the 1800s, bread was mostly homemade and had to be sliced evenly for sandwiches, as the first automatically sliced loaves of bread weren’t produced until 1928. Also, plastic wrap and aluminum foil weren’t invented yet, so most sandwiches were eaten soon after they were made. INFORMATION BELOW FROM…

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Cauliflower Recipes from the 1800s

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Cauliflower wasn’t very popular during most of the 19th century because it was expensive to buy. In the latter part of the century, though, when hot houses became common, cauliflower became more affordable. The recipes and advice below are from cookbooks published in the 1800s. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS CAULIFLOWER Cauliflower is similar to cabbage, but its flavor is a little more delicate. The cauliflower possesses a most agreeable flavor and is sufficiently delicate to be served at the…

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