In a 1926 cookbook called, Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking, Mrs. Peterson writes that one of the most frequent questions she gets when conducting a cooking class is “What shall I do with egg yolks?”
Both a hundred years ago and now there are numerous recipes that call for egg white, and the cook ends up with leftover egg yolks. To assist readers, Mrs. Peterson provided a list of ways to use them.
Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)
Intrigued by the Yellow Jacket Frosting suggestion, I flipped to the cookbook’s index and found the recipe for Yellow Jacket Frosting. According to the recipe, it is a lemon-colored, cooked frosting made using egg yolks, marshmallows, sugar, and Karo.
A recipe for Chicken Roll in a 1926 magazine intrigued me. The roll was made using Baking Powder Biscuit dough, then filled with a chopped chicken and olive mixture and rolled similarly to how a jelly roll is made.
The roll can be cut into rounds prior to baking. After it is baked, it is served with White Sauce.
The recipe turned out well. The Chicken Roll rounds made a nice presentation and were tasty. The tangy, briny olives provided the predominate flavor, with the taste of the chicken being much more nuanced. If I had been the recipe author, I would have called this food a Chicken and Olive Roll.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (June, 1926)
One-half teaspoon of scraped onion did not seem like very much, so I used 2 tablespoons of finely chopped onions.
I assumed that “olives” in the recipe referred to green stuffed olives.
I have made White Sauce so many times over the years that I didn’t need a recipe for it, but I did need a recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits. Here’s a hundred-year-old that I found for them:
Source: Pennsylvania State Grange Cook Book (1926)
As directed in the original Chicken Roll recipe, I doubled the amount of shortening when making the Baking Powder Biscuit dough.
After I added the milk, I mixed the dough with a fork rather than a knife.
When I rolled the dough to 1/3-inch thickness, it seemed rather thick, so I rolled it a little more to make it about 1/4-inch thick.
I cut the roll into rounds prior to baking. Two-inch thick rounds are very thick, so I cut them into 1-inch rounds.
My husband and I ate half the rounds one day, and I reheated the remainder the next. I made a half recipe of white sauce each day that we poured over the baked rounds of Chicken Roll.
Step 2. Put the chopped chicken, olives, onions, and paprika in a bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Step 3. Make the Baking Powder Biscuit dough by combining the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl, then cut in the shortening; add milk, and stir with a fork until the dough forms.
Step 4. Put the biscuit dough on a prepared surface, and roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick (approximately 9″ X 12″).
Step 5. Spread the chicken and olive mixture on the dough, then roll the dough starting at one of the short edges (similarly to how a jelly roll is rolled).
Step 6. Cut the roll into 1-inch thick rounds, then place the rounds on a lightly greased backing sheet.
Step. 7. Put in oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until the rounds are lightly browned.
Step 8. In the meantime, make the White Sauce. In another pan, using medium heat, melt butter, then stir in the flour and salt. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce begins to thicken.
Step 9. To serve, put the baked Chicken Roll rounds on a plate, and serve with the White Sauce (or, if desired, pour the White Sauce on the baked rounds prior to serving).
Source: Pennsylvania State Grange Cook Book (1926)
Sometimes old community and organizational cookbooks contain poems or sayings about food and cooking. The 1926 Pennsylvania State Grange Cookbook includes a recipe for doughnuts written in rhyme. I didn’t try making the recipe (Can you trust a recipe written as a poem?), but it was a fun read.
I recently was surprised to find several recipes for Asian foods in a hundred-year-old U.S. cookbook. The introduction to the chapter on luncheon and supper dishes in a 1926 cookbook called Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking says:
So many persons have asked for some reliable recipes for Chinese dishes that I have included some favorite ones here. These dishes are unusual and delicious in flavor. The bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and sauces called for may be purchased canned from any grocer who imports.
The cookbook included recipes for Chop Suey, Chinese Rice, Fried Rice, Chow Mien, and Egg Foyung. The cookbook author spelled both the Chow Mein and Egg Foo Young differently than we spell them today. I am not sure if she was uncertain how to spell them and tried to spell the words the way they sounded to her, or whether they are archaic spellings.
I have no idea how authentic the recipes are, but am guessing that they are different from foods actually served in China. In any case, I decided to give the Egg Foyung (Egg Foo Young) a try.
The old recipe calls for many of the same ingredients that modern Egg Foo Young recipes call for (eggs, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, pork or chicken); however, the process for making the dish is a little different from most modern recipes. Many modern recipes call for pouring a soy sauce mixture on egg pancakes (or omelet), while this recipe calls for coating the cooked egg pancakes with a soy-based gravy by putting them in a skillet with the hot gravy, and then flipping to coat the other side.
The verdict: The Egg Foyung (Egg Foo Young) was fun to make and tasty.
Here’s the original recipe:
Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)
This recipe makes a lot of Egg Foyung, so I halved the amount of batter that I made, but used the amount of vegetable oil that the original recipe called for to ensure that the oil was an adequate depth. I also made the original amount of the gravy; however, when I started putting the egg pancakes into the gravy to absorb some of the liquid, I quickly ran out of it and had to make more. So, when I updated the recipe, I doubled the ingredients used to make the gravy.
When I halved the batter-portion of the recipe, I used half of an 8-ounce can of sliced water chestnuts and half of an 8-ounce can of bamboo shoots. I refrigerated the extra water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. To use the remaining water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, I made the recipe a second time several days later.
I assumed that “Chinese sauce” referred to soy sauce. I reduced the amount of salt when I made the recipe. It seemed like the old recipe called for too much, especially since the gravy contained substantive salt because of the soy sauce in it.
1/2 cup bamboo shoots (I used half of a 7-ounce can.)
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts (I used half of a 7-ounce can.)
1/2 cup cooked pork or chicken, cut into thin 2 inch strips (I used pork.)
6 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons corn starch
4 teaspoons water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup broth or water (I used beef broth.)
Step 1. Cut the water chestnuts and bamboo shoots into thin strips. If the bamboo strips are longer than two inches, cut them in half.
Step 2. Put the eggs, water chestnuts strips, bamboo shoot strips, and pork or chicken strips into a mixing bowl; stir to evenly distribute all the ingredients.
Step 3. Put the oil and salt in a large heavy skillet and stir, then heat until hot using medium heat.
Step 4. Drop the egg mixture from a tablespoon into the hot oil. Evenly space the spoonfuls of the mixture in the pan. Cook until the egg mixture thickens, then flip and cook the other side. Remove from pan and put on a warm oven (275° F.) while while making the remaining ones. The egg pancakes will need to be cooked in several batches.
Step 5. Once all the egg pancakes have been made, pour any remaining oil out of the skillet. Turn off heat until the soy gravy is mixed.
Step 6. To make the soy gravy, put the cornstarch in a bowl, add 4 teaspoons water, then stir until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the 1 cup of broth or water.
Step 7. Reheat skillet using medium heat, then add the gravy mixture. Heat until the mixture thickens, while stirring continuously.
Step 8. Place a few of the egg pancakes in the gravy, then flip, and remove from the skillet. Repeat until all of the pancakes are coated with the gravy. Serve immediately.
According to a 1926 Jell-O advertisement, Jell-O is the most famous American dessert. Really? Was that an accurate statement a hundred years ago? . . . or was it the aspirations of a company advertising a product?
I think that the old ad was referring to the U.S. when the it said “America,” but I’m not sure. Maybe it meant North America or all of the Americas.
Based on an informal survey of two people – my husband and myself – the most famous dessert in the U.S. is apple pie. Of course, it could have been something different a hundred years ago (Jell-O????).
The season for picnics, reunions, grilling outside, and potlucks is upon us. It is also the season for old-fashioned pasta salads. A hundred-year-old issue of Ladies Home Journal contained a recipe of Macaroni Chicken Salad, and I decided to give it a try.
The Macaroni Chicken Salad differed from many modern pasta salads in that it contained no celery or onion. Instead, the recipe called for a cucumber, as well as for two chopped pimentos (which I interpreted to mean red peppers), in a mayonnaise dressing.
The salad was creamy, colorful, and flavorful. The chopped cucumber added a refreshing crunch, with the chicken providing a slightly savory protein. It would be a perfect side dish at a pot luck or other gathering. It is also lovely as a light lunch or dinner main dish.
Here is the original recipe:
Source: Ladies Home Journal (April, 1926)
The original recipe called for one cup of mayonnaise. If this much mayonnaise was used, the salad components would be thickly coated. I wanted a lighter dressing, so used ½ cup of mayonnaise.
I used a boneless chicken breast when making this recipe – though other parts of the chicken (or left-over rotisserie chicken) would also work well. If the water was not salted when making the macaroni (or if the diced chicken did not contain salt), a little salt might enhance the flavor.
I chopped an unpeeled cucumber rather than slicing it.
My sense is that red peppers were smaller a hundred years ago than what they are today, so I used just one red pepper.
I ignored the serving suggestions. I ate this salad for lunch, and it was sufficiently substantive without the addition of brown bread sandwiches. The salad was colorful with just the chopped red pepper and cucumbers, so I did not garnish with julienne strips of red pepper.
2 cups cold, cooked macaroni (approximately ¾ cup uncooked macaroni)
2 cups cold cooked chicken, coarsely chopped or shredded
1 cucumber, chopped or thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 medium red pepper
½ cup mayonnaise
½ teaspoon salt (optional)
Put the macaroni, chicken, cucumber, and red pepper in a bowl; stir gently to mix. Add mayonnaise (and, if desired, salt); stir gently to coat the other ingredients.
Source: The New Winston Cook Book of Guaranteed Recipes (1926)
The only time that I’ve had the luxury of getting breakfast in bed was when my husband and children used to serve me breakfast in bed on Mothers’ Day. A hundred-year-old cookbook suggests serving breakfast in bed to houseguests. I think that any of my friends or relatives who are overnight guests would be shocked if I served them breakfast in bed. Maybe this is one of the things that has changed over the years.
