Grilled Apples (Apples with Caramel Sauce)

Grilled Apples (Apples with Caramel Sauce) in baking dish

Sometimes hundred-year-old cookbooks contain recipes with names that seem incorrect or make little sense. I recently came across a 1926 recipe for “Grilled Apples” that basically was for peeled apple quarters that were smothered in a caramel-flavored sauce and then baked until tender. Dark corn syrup provided the caramel flavor in the sauce. The recipe did indicate that the baked apples were supposed to be put under the broiler to brown the apples after they were baked, so maybe that’s why the recipe author called them “Grilled Apples.”

The Grilled Apples (Apples with Caramel Sauce) were tasty and made a nice fruit dessert. The sauce had a rich, robust sweetness with hints of caramel and a slight molasses flavor.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Grilled Apples (Apples with Caramel Sauce) — Source: The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1926)

This recipe was in a cookbook published by the Corn Products Refining Company. The cookbook promoted the use of Karo corn syrup, but any dark corn syrup would work in this recipe. I have a somewhat negative opinion of corn syrup, but the brand I used said on the label that it contained “0 grams” of high fructose corn syrup which reassured me a little.

I also did an online search to learn more about high fructose corn syrup, and found a FAQ page on the Karo website. It says that Karo does not currently contain high fructose corn syrup:

When Karo^® was introduced in 1902, it did not contain high fructose corn syrup. In the 1970s, high fructose corn syrup was added to the Karo^® Light, Karo^® Dark and Karo^® Pancake Syrups. In response to consumer requests, high fructose corn syrup was removed from Karo^® Light and Karo^® Dark.

It’s interesting that cooks using Karo both a hundred years ago and now are not using a syrup that contains high fructose corn syrup, but that during some of the intervening years they were.

Mazola Corn Oil is another product made by the same company that makes Karo. I didn’t bother to grease the baking dish, but, if desired, it could be greased with butter or any cooking oil.

Here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Grilled Apples (Apples with Caramel Sauce)

Servings: 3 - 4
Time: 50 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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4 cups quartered apples (Use an apple variety that keeps its shape when baked – Haralson, Rome, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Braeburn, etc.)

3/4 cup corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1/8 teaspoon salt

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

Step 2. Put the corn syrup, water, and salt in a bowl; stir to combine. Set aside.

Step 3. Put the quartered apples in a single layer in a flat baking dish. (A 9-inch by 9-inch baking dish works well.)

Step 4. Spoon the corn syrup mixture over the apples, then put the apples in the oven.

Step. 5. Bake until the apples are tender (approximately 30 – 45 minutes); occasionally baste the apples with some of the syrup while baking.

Step 6. Put the cooked apples under the broiler for 1-2 minutes to lightly brown the apples. The apples can be served either hot or cold.

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1926 Mueller’s Egg Noodles Advertisement

Advertisement of Mueller's Egg Noodles — Source: American Cookery (July/August, 1926)

Hundred-year-old advertisements provide a window into the times. Sometimes these ads say things that are offensive or make little sense today. A 1926 advertisement for Mueller’s Egg Noodles in American Cookery magazine does both. It makes me cringe that the ad assumes that the magazine readers are white.

The ad is also very confusing. I get that noodles are a substitute for potatoes, and I also know that, both then and now, people were concerned about rough, dry hands. But then I get lost. Does peeling potatoes somehow result in rough hands?

Many people a hundred years ago ate potatoes at almost every meal. Potatoes were often peeled to make boiled, fried, or mashed potatoes. But, is peeling potatoes more likely to cause rough hands than other tasks related to cooking?

I don’t peel potatoes twice a day, and potatoes purchased at a store today generally have already been washed. But, I do regularly peel potatoes, and my hands are rough (though fortunately not grimy). Maybe I should decrease my potato consumption and serve more noodles. Peeling Potatoes

The ad also highlights that it takes less time to prepare noodles than to make potatoes. It says that that noodles can be cooked in 9 minutes, while it takes 35 to 40 minutes to peel and cook potatoes. Cooks, generally women, a hundred years ago embraced commercially-produced foods, and dishes that could be prepared quickly.

Old-Fashioned Marshmallow Fudge

Pieces of Marshmallow Fudge on plate

It’s always fun to look through hundred-year-old cookbooks and magazines to find recipes to make for this blog. I generally select recipes I think would be tasty and fun to make. Often the recipes use seasonal ingredients.

This week I decided to make a hundred-year-old recipe for Marshmallow Fudge for a very practical (and perhaps boring) reason. Several weeks ago, I made Apple Mallows (Baked Apples with Marshmallows), and I had some left-over marshmallows. When I was flipping through an old cookbook and saw a recipe for Marshmallow Fudge, I immediately thought, “What a great way to use up those marshmallows in the cupboard!”

The recipe called for melting marshmallows in a hot fudge mixture. The melted marshmallows helped create a lovely smooth fudge, as well as provided some of the sugar in this recipe.

I’m glad I decided to make Marshmallow Fudge. It was easier to make than many candies and turned out beautifully. The fudge contained walnuts, was rich, and melted in my mouth. It was not the least bit grainy.

Here is the original recipe:

And, here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Marshmallow Fudge

Servings: about 40 pieces
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
Print

1 tablespoon butter

3 cups sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon salt

5 teaspoons cocoa

3 tablespoons water

8 ounces marshmallows

1 cup chopped walnuts

Step 1. Melt and lightly brown butter in a large saucepan. (Use care not to burn the butter.)

Step 2. Add sugar and cream; stir until combined.

Step 3. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat, but continue to gently boil until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (235-240° F.). (Do not stir the boiling mixture to avoid crystallization.)

Step 4. In the meantime, put the cocoa in a small bowl; Gradually add the water while stirring. Stir until the mixture is smooth.

Step 5. Add the salt and the cocoa mixture to the boiling sugar mixture which has reached the soft ball stage; gently stir until thoroughly combined.

Step. 6. Continue boiling for a little longer until the mixture again reaches the soft ball stage (235 – 240° F.).

Step 7. Add the marshmallows to the mixture and immediately remove pan from heat; stir until the marshmallows are melted, then continue stirring until the fudge is creamy and begins to thicken.

Step 8. Stir the chopped walnuts into the fudge.

Step 9. Line a 9-inch by 9-inch pan with parchment paper (or thickly butter the pan), then spread the fudge in the pan. Lightly score the fudge to mark where it will be cut.

Step 10. Allow fudge to cool, then cut into pieces.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Brussels Sprouts with Sauce Piquante

Brussels Sprouts with Piquante Sauce in dish

When browsing through hundred-year-old cookbooks, I came across a recipe for Brussels Sprouts with Sauce Piquante. Sauce Piquante is known for its complex, spicy flavor. Since many old-time sauce recipes make very mild and delicate sauces, I was intrigued by this recipe and decided to give it a try.

The Brussels Sprouts with Sauce Piquante was excellent. The delightful, tangy sauce worked well with the earthy, slightly bitter Brussels sprouts. I may not see many old recipes for spicy sauces, but based on how well this recipe turned out, cooks a hundred-years ago definitely knew how to make lovely, lively sauces.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Brussels Sprouts - Sauce Piquante — Source: 1926 cookbook compiled by the Domestic Science Class of the Peoria (IL) Women’s Club

The recipe calls for “mustard.” It does not say whether it is for dry mustard or prepared mustard. In general, hundred-year-old recipes call mustard in a jar “prepared mustard,” so I assumed that the recipe author was referring to dry mustard.

Since the Brussels sprouts were boiled in salted water, adding an additional 1 teaspoon of salt in the sauce seemed like a lot, so I reduced it to 1/2 teaspoon when I updated the recipe.

I didn’t use a double boiler when I made the sauce. Rather I cooked the sauce using medium-low heat while stirring constantly.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Brussels Sprouts with Piquante Sauce

Servings: 4 - 6
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
Print

1 quart (about 1 pound) Brussels sprouts

water and 1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup vinegar

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon, chopped parsley (or use parsley flakes)

1/2 teaspoon onion juice (or use finely minced onions or onion powder)

Step 1. Trim Brussels sprouts and remove any damaged outer leaves. Put in a saucepan and cover with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until tender (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and drain.

Step 2. In the meantime, put the olive oil, vinegar, beaten eggs, dry mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, powdered sugar, and paprika in a saucepan. Stir to combine, then heat using medium-low heat until the mixture thickens while stirring constantly. (If the thickened sauce is lumpy, strain and then return the sauce to the saucepan.)

Step 3. Add the melted butter, curry powder, chopped parsley/parsley flakes, and onion juice/minced onions/onion powder to the sauce. Stir to combine; heat with medium-low heat while stirring constantly until the mixture is hot and just beginning to bubble.

Step 4. Put the cooked Brussels sprouts in a serving dish, then pour the sauce over Brussels sprouts. Serve immediately.

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Exhibit on American Home Cooking in the 1920s

Image of cooking exhibit webpage — Source: University of Michigan

The 1920s were an exhilarating time. At the beginning of the decade, women in the U.S. got the right to vote and prohibition went into effect. Women foresaw an era of expanded personal freedom and independence. They wanted more time for leisure activities as well as well-managed homes. Scientific home management and home economics were greatly valued. Changing technology, and forward thinking women, supported the implementation of this vision.

I recently virtually attended a wonderful opening event for the Faster and More Fun: American Home Cooking in the 1920s exhibit at the University of Michigan. The exhibit goes through December 16 at the Hatcher Gallery in the University of Michigan library. It features materials from the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive and other special collections.

The exhibit opening event featured a panel moderated by Juli McLoone, Janice B. Longone Librarian for Culinary History. The panel was comprised of:

Margot Finn (University of Michigan), author of Discriminating Taste: How Class Anxiety Created the American Food Revolution
Mark A. Johnson (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), author of American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon
Helen Zoe Veit (Michigan State University), author of Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History

The panel discussion was very engaging, and I’d like to share a few things I found interesting.

Modernization

By the 1920s, cooking and eating had modernized in many ways. Women (it generally was women who prepared foods at the time) did not want to spend all day cooking.

Recipes were largely standardized by this time and typically contained a list of ingredients, directions, and oven temperatures. Many kitchens contained a refrigerator and a gas or electric stove. Foods were becoming less seasonal as transportation improved. It also was less regional.

Commercially-produced food was seen as the hallmark of quality food. Efficiency was a key consideration in the 1920s, and mass-produced, uniform foods were held in high esteem. Jello was very popular, and cooks appreciated that it could be prepared ahead of time. Commercially-canned foods reduced food preparation time. Mechanically sliced bread became readily available in the later part of the 1920s.

Diet Culture

As the jazz age progressed, women’s dresses became more revealing than in the past, often with a body-skimming straight silhouette and a skirt that exposed the legs. Women wanted to look good in these outfits. This shift led to a diet culture with an increased focus on calories (and calorie counting).

Food Trends

The panel discussed changing food preferences.

Dr. Johnson said that salted and pickled foods became less popular in the 1920s as more modern ways of preserving food were developed and popularized. For example, bacon was seen as a residual of a previous era. When compared to other breakfast foods, such as “modern” cold cereals, it was considered time-consuming and messy to cook. Meat processers focused on ways to make bacon more modern, and began to promote the sale of pre-sliced bacon.

There was a focus on foods being produced under sanitary conditions in the 1920s. Consumers remembered The Jungle, the muckraking novel published early in the 20^th century, about the horrific and unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry.

To help allay fears about food safety, advertisements for bacon in the 1920s sometimes indicated that the bacon was “okayed by Uncle Sam,” which meant that it had been inspected by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) meat inspectors. It wasn’t until the late 20^th century that bacon once again became extremely popular.

Many of the safety issues surrounding various foods were resolved by the 1920s. For example, Dr. Veit said that milk was much safer than it had been in the past. Pasteurization, milk inspectors, and better transportation made high-quality milk more readily available.

In the 1920s, milk was promoted as the perfect drink, and consumers were told that children should drink a quart of milk a day. However, an unintended consequence was that if children actually drank that much milk, they often were not hungry at meals. This contributed to children becoming fussier eaters. At the same time, processed foods made it easier to cook special foods for children.

Upcoming Library Event

You might enjoy another hybrid event that the University of Michigan library is sponsoring. Rebecca Sharpless will be presenting Biscuits, Cornbread, Tortillas, Naan: Making Sense of the American South through Baking on Thursday, October 22, 2026 from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Eastern time. There is a Zoom link to the event on the event webpage. This event is not focused on the 1920s, but will include lots of information about the history of baking in the South.

Old-Fashioned Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Since photos are few and far between in hundred-year-old cookbooks, I was surprised to see a photo of Halloween Spice Cupcakes in a 1926 cookbook. The adorable cupcakes (Can cupcakes be called adorable?) were decorated to look like jack-o-lanterns. Raisins were used to make the faces.

I decided to try to replicate the cupcakes in the photo. The recipe on page 180 of the cookbook is for a loaf cake and does not specifically mention Halloween Spice Cupcakes, so I just put the batter in a cupcake tin that I had lined with paper liners.

Recipe for Spice Cakes — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

I decorated the cupcakes similarly to the way the cupcakes in the old photo were decorated. Since the photo in the old cookbook is black and white, it is difficult to tell what color the icing was. Since food coloring was readily available in 1926, I assumed that the icing was tinted orange.

The cupcakes were fun to make, and turned out wonderfully. The cupcakes were tasty and had a lovely spice flavor.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Servings: 12 - 14 cupcakes
Time: 1 hour active prep time
Difficulty: moderate
Print

1/2 cup shortening or butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

frosting, tinted orange

raisins

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Put paper cupcake liners in cupcake tin(s).

Step 2. Put the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and allspice in a bowl. Stir to combine, then set aside.

Step 3. Put the shortening (or butter) and sugar in a mixing bowl, then cream.

Step 4. Add the eggs; beat until combined.

Step 5. Add the milk and dry ingredients; beat until smooth, then put in the prepared cupcake tin(s). Fill each cupcake cup 2/3 full.

Step 6. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Step 7. Let the cupcakes cool, then ice the cupcakes with icing that has been tinted orange.

Step 7. Use raisins to make the faces on the cupcakes. Use round raisins for the eyes, elongated raisins for the nose, and chopped raisins to make the mouth.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-Fashioned Escalloped Cabbage

Escalloped Cabbage in baking dish

The farmers’ market had some lovely cabbages, so I bought one and then started looking through my hundred-year-old cookbooks for a cabbage recipe. I found a recipe for Escalloped Cabbage in a 1926 women’s club cookbook from Peoria, Illinois

The Escalloped Cabbage was a delightful, simple, side dish. It’s just boiled shredded cabbage in a white sauce. It is then put in a baking dish. topped with bread crumbs, and put in the oven until it is hot and bubbly.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Escalloped Cabbage — Source: 1926 cookbook compiled by the Domestic Science Class of the Peoria (IL) Women’s Club

The bread crumbs for the topping can be made by grating 1/2 slice of bread using a box grater.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Escalloped Cabbage

Servings: 4 - 6
Time: 50 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Print

1/2 cabbage, coarsely shredded

water

1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon butter (melted)

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Step 1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

Step 2. Put the shredded cabbage in a large saucepan, then add about a quarter inch of water. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the cabbage is tender (about 20 minutes). (If the water evaporates while cooking, add a small amount of additional water.) Then remove from heat, and drain to remove any remaining liquid.

Step 3. In the meantime, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens.

Step 4. Pour the white sauce on the boiled cabbage; stir to combine.

Step 5. Put the cabbage mixture in a baking dish.

Step 6. In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon melted butter, then spread the bread crumbs on top of the cabbage mixture.

Step 7. Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly (20 – 30 minutes).

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