Suet or the fat from around the kidneys and loin of beef and mutton. It has a high smoke point, and usually used for making pies and pastries. Suet is usually rendered to remove the impurities from the fat. It’s then called tallow, but the 1800s cookbooks I’ve gone through just call it suet. Additionally, suet can be used to make soap and candles, as well as seed cakes to feed wild birds. SUETChoose the firmest part as soon as…
Most of the dumpling recipes from 1800s cookbooks are for rounded dumplings. Some recipes say to wrap the dumplings in cloth, like when boiling a pudding. Others say to roll the dumplings in a ball or drop the dumpling mixture from a spoon into hot liquid. The only dumplings I’ve ever eaten were ones rolled out flat and cut into small rectangular strips before being dropped into a soup. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS: FINE SUET DUMPLINGS Grate the…
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…
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:…
“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…
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…
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….
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…