Author: Sheryl

Entertaining at Home Versus at a Restaurant

Decorative ImageToday it’s generally considered impolite to show up at a friend or relative’s home without texting first. And, I’m often uncertain about whether friends prefer me to make a home-cooked meal or for us to go out for dinner. I’ve always assumed that it was very different a hundred years ago, and that people just dropped by with no advance notice and that home-cooked meals were the norm when it came to entertaining, so I was surprised to learn that it was much more nuanced back then. Here are few excerpts from an articletitled “When We Entertain Our Friends” that was in a 1924 issue of American Cookery

In the old days, such a thing as taking our friends out to eat would have been considered inhospitable in the extreme. Our mothers and grandmothers considered that relatives and social acquaintances came for the joy of sharing the intimate association of the family life whether it was humble or elaborate.

The visitors often came unannounced, and for a stay of considerable length. It was nothing to have a “load” drive up just a meal time, and the well-stocked cellar and pantry always responded nobly to such emergency demands.

—

[The homemaker] reasons that, everything considered, it is easier and no more expensive to take her friends out to a hotel or restaurant, than to go through the nervous strain of trying to play the gracious hostess under more or fewer handicaps.

And so, this hotel, and that well-known eating place, and some noisy restaurant, where an orchestra discourses sweet (?) and very loud jazz music, all are enriched by our money. Quite as likely as not, the meal is followed by an evening of paid entertainment, and anything in the nature of a comforting exchange of confidences or inspiring discussions, or brilliant conversations is crowded out entirely.

—

We are just learning in how many ways we follow a cycle in our lives today. We do not go backward in doing this. We keep moving ahead. And one of the progressive signs of the times is the increasing interest in having our friends share with us as good as we have, right where we live.

American Cookery (October, 1924)

The article’s advice is a hundred-years old, but it reinforces what I intuitively knew – entertaining at home is special. It builds memories, supports the development of strong relationships, and is just plain fun.

Old-Fashioned Scalloped Fish

Scalloped Fish

Both a hundred years ago and now, cooks sometimes struggle to figure out how to use leftovers. I recently had some leftover fish and some leftover mashed potatoes, so when I saw  a recipe for Scalloped Fish in a 1924 cookbook that called for both cooked fish and mashed potatoes it seemed serendipitous, and I knew that I needed to give it a try.

The recipe was a winner. The Scalloped Fish was delightful, and I felt like I was being very frugal by using left-overs.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Scalloped Fish
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)

I did not cook the milk mixture for the entire 20 minutes called for in the recipe. It seemed like it might begin to scorch on the bottom of the pan if I cooked it that long. I just cooked it until it came to a boil and thickened.

I added 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper when I made this recipe.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Scalloped Fish

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

2 hard-boiled eggs

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon butter + additional butter for topping

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups cooked  or canned fish, flaked (I used flounder.)

1/2 cup mashed potatoes

1 cup fine bread crumbs (I grated a slice of bread.)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Cut hard-boiled eggs in half. Mash the yolks with a fork. Press the whites through a sieve. (I used a Foley mill.)  Set aside.

Put the cornstarch and 1/4 cup milk into a small bowl; stir until smooth. Put the milk mixture into a saucepan, then add the remaining 1 3/4 cups milk and stir together. Add 1 tablespoon butter. Bring to a boil using medium heat while stirring constantly. Reduce heat and gently simmer until the liquid thickens. Stir in the mashed egg yolks and egg whites that have been put through a sieve. Remove from the heat and add the flaked fish and the mashed potatoes; stir until combined. Put in a baking dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and dot with small pieces of butter. Bake in oven until hot and bubbly (approximately 15-25 minutes).

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-Fashioned Cider Frappe

I tend to think of frappes as a fairly modern cold coffee drink, but frappes actually have been around for at least a hundred years – and they are not necessarily a coffee drink.  They actually are just a chilled drink served with ice or frozen to a slush. I recently came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Cider Frappe and decided to give it a try.

The Frappe was wonderful. The recipe called for mixing cider, orange juice, and lemon juice together. This worked really well. The sweetness of the apples in the cider blended nicely with the citrus undertones provided by the orange and lemon juice.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Cider Frappe
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Cider Frappe

  • Servings: 6 - 8
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups water

4 cups cider

2 cups orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

Put sugar and water in a saucepan. Using medium heat bring to a boil; stir occasionally. Reduce heat and gently simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cider, orange juice, and lemon juice. Put the mixture in ice cube trays or freezer boxes. Freeze until a slush. If desired put the slushy mixture into the blender and blend for a few seconds to make the mixture smoother.  Put into glasses and serve.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-Fashioned Spinach with Noodles

Spinach with Noodles

I recently came across a  lovely recipe for Spinach with Noodles in a hundred-year-old cookbook. The spinach and noodles were smothered with cheese and milk, and then baked until hot and bubbly. It makes a nice side dish – though it is hardy enough that it could be the entree.

Spinach with Noodles

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Spinach with Noodles
Source: Modern Priscilla Cook Book (1924)

This recipes calls for a lot of milk. The key to it not being too juicy, is to not cook the noodles too thoroughly. They should just be cooked in boiling water until they are al dente. They then will absorb the milk and soften some more while in the oven baking.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Spinach with Noodles

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

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked spinach

water

1 1/4 cups noodles

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cheese, grated (I used cheddar cheese.)

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350° F. Put water in a large saucepan, place on the stove and bring to a boil using high heat. Add noodles and reduce heat; simmer until the noodles are al dente. Remove from heat and drain.

In a separate pan heat the spinach; then remove from heat and drain any excess liquid.

Put half of the noodles in a baking dish. (I used a 3-cup baking dish; a quart dish would also work well.) Top with half of the spinach. Sprinkle with half of the salt and pepper, then add half the cheese. Add the other half of the noodles, followed by the remaining spinach. Sprinkle with the remaining half of the salt and pepper. Top with the remaining half of the cheese. Pour the milk over the layered mixture, then bake in the oven until hot and bubbly (about 45 minutes).

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Simply Recipes Adapts This Blog’s Feather Cake Recipe

Image of Simplify Recipes post

Years ago I did a post on a hundred-year-old recipe for a spice cake called Feather Cake. I was anticipating a cake that was as light as a feather. But when I made the recipe, it had a nice taste – but was rather heavy. After I did the post, I promptly forgot the recipe. I had no desire to make it again, and it never was a popular post and got very few hits. So I was amazed last week when I suddenly started lots and lots and lots of hits on my Feather Cake post. I started researching the reason for the sudden bump in hits, and discovered that Simply Recipes had done a post on my hundred-year-old recipe for Feather Cake.

The Simply Recipes post was done by a baker at a Danish cafe in London. He made the Feather Cake recipe posted on my blog, and like me, concluded that it was not as light as a feather. He then adapted the recipe by adding additional fat and an additional egg. He also adapted how the ingredients were mixed together. Instead of putting all of the ingredients in a bowl and mixing, he first beat together the eggs and sugar, then beat in the fat and vanilla extract, and finally gently folded in the dry ingredients. He concluded that the “result is a fluffy, lightly spiced cake that lives up to its name.”

It’s amazing how a mediocre recipe was adapted to make an awesome cake. I think that I need to revisit some of the other “just okay” recipes that I’ve made over the years, and consider about how I might adapt them to turn them into amazing recipes.