Month: July 2023

Old-fashioned Pineapple and Lemonade

2 glasses Pineapple & Lemonade

Old-fashioned lemonade is refreshing on a hot summer day, but it can get a little boring, so when I saw a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Pineapple and Lemonade, I decided to give it a try. The Pineapple and Lemonade was a little sweeter than the typical lemonade, and the pineapple flavor predominated over the lemon, but it was tasty.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Pineapple and Lemonade
Source: Order of the Eastern Star Relief Fund Cook Book compiled by the Michigan Grand Chapter (1923)

This recipe was in an Order of the Eastern Star organizational cookbook. The Order of the Eastern Star is affiliated with the masons. The recipe author was John Hamill. I think this is the first male recipe author that I’ve seen in a hundred-year-old cookbook. The initials after his name (R.W.G.T.) mean that he was the Right Worthy Grand Templar or Right Worthy Grand Treasurer.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Pineapple and Lemonade

  • Servings: 3-4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple

juice of 3 lemons

4 cups mixture of ice and water

Put water and sugar in a saucepan; bring to a boil using medium heat while stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in the contents of the can of pineapple and the lemon juice, then strain. Add the ice and water mixture, and serve.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

If You Have No Scales in the Kitchen

Conversions - cooking ingredients
Source: Order of the Eastern Star Relief Fund Cook Book compiled by Michigan Grand Chapter (1923)

Here’s some hundred-year-old advice about the weight equivalents of various common ingredients. It’s interesting how a given volume of some foods weighs less than other foods. For example, 2 cups of granulated sugar equals a pound, but a pint (2 cups) of brown sugar equals 13 ounces.

I found this list in a cookbook compiled by an organization. It made me smile to see how the one item on the list that spilled over to a second line was out of alignment with the other items in the list. I’d probably do something like that – though maybe that’s how it’s supposed formatted.  Not sure.

Old-fashioned Cherry Salad (Cherry Waldorf Salad)

Cherry Salad

Must a Waldorf Salad be made with apples? I’ve always thought it was an apple salad until I made a Cherry Salad recipe that I found in a hundred-year-old cookbook. The recipe called for cherries, walnuts, celery, and mayonnaise – and it sure seemed like a Waldorf Salad, but was made with cherries rather than apples. The Cherry Salad was delicious, and is perfect for a hot summer day.

The old recipe called for creating individual servings of the salad, which were put in “lettuce nests” on salad plates. I replicated the old recipe and made individual servings, but if I did it again, I would just put the entire salad in a bowl to serve.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Cherry Salad
Source: Cookbook compiled by Bethany Shriner Patrol No. 1, Rochester, NY (1923)

This recipe calls for English walnuts. These are the type of walnuts that are typically sold in stores. They were called English walnuts to differentiate them from black walnuts.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Cherry Salad (Cherry Waldorf Salad)

  • Servings: 3 - 5
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

2 cups cherries, pitted (If desired, keep several cherries whole and unpitted for garnishing.)

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

3/4 cup mayonnaise (Use less if desired)

lettuce leaves (if desired)

If the cherries are large, halve or quarter them; if small they can be left whole. Mix together the cherries, walnuts, celery, and mayonnaise. If desired, for each serving, arrange on lettuce leaves and garnish with a whole cherry; or just put the salad in a dish to serve.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Hundred-Year-Old Timeline for Canning Fruits and Vegetables

canning timeline
Source: Order of the Eastern Star Relief Fund Cook Book compiled by Michigan Grand Chapter (1923)

I don’t think that the timeline for canning fruits and vegetables has changed much across the years – though I’m guessing that this timeline is most appropriate for the northern parts of the U.S. since it is from a cookbook compiled in Michigan. The dates probably would be shifted earlier in more southern locales.

 

Old-fashioned Chives and Cottage Cheese Salad

Chives and Cottage Cheese Salad

Cottage cheese is a nutritious and healthy food, and I’m always looking for new ways to eat it, so was intrigued when I came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Chives and Cottage Cheese Salad. The salad included cottage cheese, a bit of mayonnaise, chives, parsley and pimiento. The ingredients worked well together, and the salad was very tasty.

A unique feature of the Chives and Cottage Cheese salad was that the mixture was supposed to be shaped into marble-sized balls, and served on lettuce. This gave the salad a very old-fashioned look, though I was a little disappointed that the balls were very moist and didn’t stay together very well.

The verdict: The salad was lovely, but if I made it again, I just put it into a dish and skip shaping it into balls.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Chives and Cottage Cheese Salad
Source: The Calorie Cook Book (1923) by Mary Dickerson Donahey

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Chives and Cottage Cheese Salad

  • Servings: 3 - 4
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

1/2 pound (1 cup) cottage cheese

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 tablespoon chives, finely chopped (Green pepper may be substituted for the chives.) – I used chives.

2 sprigs parsley, finely chopped

1 tablespoon pimiento, finely chopped

lettuce

Put cottage cheese and mayonnaise into a bowl; stir to combine. Add chives, parsley, and pimiento; stir until evenly distributed throughout the cottage cheese mixture. Shape into balls the size of large marbles, and put on a plate covered with lettuce leaves.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-fashioned Club Sandwiches

club sandwichI recently was browsing through a hundred-year-old funding-raising cookbook compiled by the Michigan Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star, and was amazed to see a recipe for Club Sandwiches. Somehow I didn’t think that they existed back then – though perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised because I can remember eating Club Sandwiches with my mother years ago when I was a child at a department store restaurant – so they’ve clearly been around for awhile.

The Club Sandwiches were made about the same as modern ones with bacon, chicken or turkey slices, tomatoes, lettuce, and mayonnaise – though they weren’t double decker and crusts were trimmed off the bread. They were perfect for lunch on a hot summer day.

Here’s the original sandwich:

Club Sandwiich Recipe
Source: Order of the Eastern Star Relief Fund Cookbook (Michigan Grand Chapter, 1923)

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Club Sandwich

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

For each sandwich:

2 slices bread

butter

2 slices bacon, cooked

2 slices tomato or dill pickle slices (I used tomato slices.)

1 ounce thinly sliced roasted chicken or turkey

1 lettuce leaf

mayonaise

parsley sprig (if desired)

Trim crusts from bread, then toast the bread. Spread with butter. On one of the slices of bread, place a layer of bacon. Next add a layer of tomato or pickle slices. Then add the chicken or turkey slices; top with the lettuce. Spread mayonaise on the second slice of bread (on top of the butter), then put this slice of bread on the sandwich as the top cover. Cut the sandwich diagonally to create two triangles. If desired, garnish with a sprig of parsley.  Serve immediately.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com