Month: September 2022

Hundred-year-old Advice for Keeping a Husband Interested

Strawberry Bavarian CreamHere’s some advice in a 1922 issue of American Cookery magazine on how to keep a husband interested and in love.

The Spice of Life

To keep a husband interested and in love with her, a wife must vary her costumes, argues every woman. A simple blue gown one evening, and a somewhat vampish green one the next, is what keeps hubby fascinated.

Undoubtably that is true. But let me ask that same woman how much thought she has given to the old adage, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” How often does she change her menus? Or, is it pork and beans every Saturday night in the year, and the proverbial stew of Sunday’s left-over dinner every Monday night? Fish, of course on Fridays, and always Wednesdays a delicatessen dinner, because she goes to play bridge every Wednesday afternoon, so hasn’t the time to prepare anything else. Not much chance for variety of diet there.

Or, perhaps, she hasn’t definite nights for definite things, but her range of recipes is so narrow. I have see the statement given as a fact by those who have made a study of it, that the average woman, in an American home, uses less than thirty separate recipes. Think of it, when the number of cookbooks is legion, and the magazines and newspapers print, each week, more than two thousand recipes.

Get out of your recipe rut! Give your family a change. Try adding, for instance, two new recipes a week to your menus. Even if you have your favorite way of making pie crust, and your special recipe for layer cake, experiment with a new one once in a while.

The culinary art is not behind the other arts in its progress. Benefit by it. A new dish is just as gratifying and alluring to your husband’s palate, as a new dress is to his eye. Try it and see. And wouldn’t it take the monotony out of planning three meals a day for every day for you, if you varied the menus with a new dish occasionally?

American Cookery (August/September, 1922)

Old-fashioned Hawaiian Delight

Hawaiian Delight on plateI remember enjoying cakes with pineapple when I was young, so was intrigued by a hundred-year-old recipe for Hawaiian Delight. Hawaiian Delight is a cake that includes a cinnamon and sugar topping – which is then served with crushed pineapple spooned on top of cake pieces.

The recipe was easy to make. The Hawaiian Delight is an old-fashioned classic type of dessert and was quite tasty.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Hawaiian Delight
Source: Good Housekeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (1922)

The list of ingredients for this recipe includes shortening, but the directions refer to butter, so when I updated the recipe, I listed butter rather than shortening. I think that grated canned pineapple is just an older name for crushed pineapple, so I used a can of crushed pineapple. The recipe called for pastry flour, which is difficult to find where I live, so I used all-purpose flour, and it worked fine.

The old recipe said that Hawaiian Delight should be served hot – though I enjoyed it both hot and cold.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Hawaiian Delight

  • Servings: 8 - 10
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar + 1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 can crushed pineapple, 20 oz.

Preheat oven to 400° F.  Put flour, baking powder, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, egg, milk, and butter in a mixing bowl; beat until smooth. Put in a greased and floured 8-inch square cake pan.

Put cinnamon and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl. Stir together, then sprinkle the top of the cake batter with the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

To serve, cut into squares, and spoon crushed pineapple on top. May be served hot or cold.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Eggs and Mushrooms on Toast

Eggs and Mushrooms on Toast

I recently came across a recipe for Eggs and Mushrooms in a hundred-year-old cookbook. The Eggs and Mushrooms are served on toast.

The recipe was quick and easy to make – though I found the Eggs and Mushrooms to be a little bland.

Eggs and Mushrooms Recipe
Source: Mrs. DeGraf’s Cookbook (1922)

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Eggs and Mushrooms

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

1 cup mushrooms, sliced (or 1 8-ounce can of mushrooms)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

4 eggs

4 slices toast

Put tomato sauce and mushrooms in a skillet. Using medium heat, heat until hot and bubbly, and the mushrooms are tender. Add salt and Worcestershire sauce.

Break eggs into a bowl, and then slip into the hot tomato and mushroom mixture. Break yolks and stir gently until the mixture thickens. Serve on toast.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Hundred-year-old Cookbook Poems

Poem about bread
Source: Cement City Cook Book (1922)

Every church and community cookbook is unique, and contains many clues about the characteristics of those who compiled the cookbook. I recently came across a hundred-year-old cookbook called the Cement City Cook Book that included fun poems in chapter headings.  It was compiled by the First Baptish Church, Alpena, Michigan.

Poem about fish
Source: Cement City Cook Book (1922)
Poem about doughnuts
Source: Cement City Cook Book (1922)
Poem about cookies
Source: Cement City Cook Book (1922)

Old-fashioned Rice Ressetto (Risotto?)

Rice Ressetto (Risotto)

I occasionally see recipes in hundred-year-old cookbooks where the name of the recipe doesn’t seem quite right – and I think that either the spelling of the name has changed across the years, the recipe author didn’t know how to spell, or that  there was a typo. This is one of the times. The recipe is for Rice Ressetto, but I think that it is really a tomato risotto recipe.

This dish contained rice, tomatoes, and green peppers. It turned out okay, but was much less spicy than similar recipes typically would be today.

Rice Ressetto (Risotto)
Source: Cement City Cook Book (1922) published by First Baptist Church, Alpena, Michigan

I’m not sure how Spanish sweet pepper differs from green pepper, so I only used green pepper when I made the recipe. The ratio of rice to water is less than typical for cooking rice which means that the rice was still semi-firm when prepared. It was quite dry, and did not need to be drained. This semi-cooked rice then absorbed juice from the tomatoes and softened while baking.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Rice Ressetto (Risotto)

  • Servings: 5 - 7
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1 cup rice

1 cup water

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 pint tomatoes, diced (14.5 ounce can)

1 medium green pepper,  chopped

Preheat oven to 350° F. Put water in a large saucepan; bring to boil. Stir in rice, butter, salt, and pepper, then put cover on pan and reduce heat to low. Cook for five minutes, then turn off heat. Let rice sit for at least 10 minutes. (The rice will still be somewhat firm.) In the meantime put the tomatoes and green pepper in another saucepan. Heat until hot and bubbly, then stir in the rice. Put into a casserole dish and cover. Heat in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove and serve.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com