Old-Fashioned Sweet Potatoes a la Pecan

Sweet Potatoes a la Pecan in baking dish

Sweet potatoes are a delightful, but often under-utilized vegetable. Often, they are served on Thanksgiving and then forgotten until the following November. That’s unfortunate. They are a seasonal, widely available vegetable in January, and they are very nutritious.

A cup of sweet potatoes contains more than 100% of the daily value (DV) for Vitamin A and almost half of the daily value for Vitamin C. They also contain substantive amounts of manganese (43% of DV), copper (36% of DV), pantothenic acid (35% of DV), Vitamin B6 (34% of DV, potassium (20% of DV), and niacin (19% of DV). Additionally, they contain 6.6 grams of fiber. So when I saw a recipe for Sweet Potatoes a la Pecan while browsing through a hundred-year-old cookbook, I decided to give it a try.

The recipe for Sweet Potatoes a la Pecan did not call for any added sweeteners, so the natural, rich, almost caramelly taste of the sweet potatoes had the opportunity to shine. The creamy mashed sweet potatoes combined with crunchy chopped pecan resulted in a lovely texture. This dish is perfect for these cold winter days.

Here’s the original recipe:

I’m uncertain about the origins of this recipe. It is from a cookbook page that was neatly pasted onto the inside front cover of a 1926 cookbook compiled by the Domestic Science Class of the Peoria, Illinois Women’s Club. At first, I thought that the page had fallen out of the cookbook, and had then been pasted by the cookbook’s owner onto the inside cover to keep it from getting lost. But the page number is more than a hundred pages higher than the last page of the cookbook, so it originated from another book.

Six sweet potatoes would make a lot of Sweet Potatoes a la Pecan, so I halved the recipe (except for the pecans). It seemed like a recipe that had pecans in the title should contain a substantive amount of chopped pecans, so I stirred two tablespoons of chopped pecans into the mashed sweet potato mixture, and also sprinkled some additional chopped pecans on top of the dish.

I’m surprised that the recipe called for sherry. The cookbook was published a hundred years ago, which was during prohibition, and I seldom see recipes calling for alcohol in cookbooks published during those years. However, since the recipe was pasted into the book, perhaps it is from a book published either prior to or after prohibition. I didn’t have any sherry, but Spruce Eats indicates that wine or apple cider vinegar can be substituted for sherry, so I used white wine.

I could not figure out how to make a mound of the sweet potato mixture on a baking sheet that could be successfully transferred in one piece to a serving plate after it was baked, so I just put the sweet potato mixture in a casserole dish.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Sweet Potatoes a la Pecan

Servings: 3 - 4
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
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3 medium sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sherry, wine, or apple cider vinegar (I used white wine.)

2 tablespoons chopped pecans + additional chopped pecans for garnish (if desired)

Step 1. Preheat oven to 425° F.

Step 2. Peel the sweet potatoes, then cut into 1-inch cubes. Put in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes).

Step 3. Remove the sweet potatoes from the heat and drain, then mash the sweet potatoes. (An electric beater can be used to mash them.)

Step 4. Add the butter, salt, and sherry/wine/vinegar to the mashed sweet potatoes, and beat until well mixed. Stir in the 2 tablespoons of chopped pecans.

Step 5. Put the sweet potato mixture in a baking dish; and, if desired, top with additional chopped pecans.

Step 6. Put the baking dish in the oven to bake until the mixture is hot and lightly browned. (About 20 minutes if the sweet potatoes were hot when mashed; longer if they had partially cooled.). Remove from oven and serve.

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Old-Time Standard Cream of Vegetable Soup Recipe

Cream of Vegetable Soup in Bowl Brrr . . . it’s cold outside. I’ve also made a new year’s resolution not to waste food. The winter weather, plus my resolution, led me to search for hundred-year-old soup recipes that used left-over vegetables. I found an old general description of how to make soup using left-over vegetables as well as a recipe for Standard Cream of Vegetable Soup. I combined the directions from the two sources to make a lovely Cream of Vegetable Soup.

Similarly to now, soup was a popular winter comfort food a hundred years ago. According to an article titled “Soups – Economical and Delicious” – in the January, 1926 issue of Farm Journal:

With plenty of good soup, good bread and butter, some fruit or a simple dessert, a good, hearty meal can be prepared in a short time. Cold weather is just the time for a hearty soup, too.

The article identifies three “classes” of soup: (1) soups made using a single vegetable; (2) soups using meat stock as the foundation; and (3) soups made using left-over vegetables. Here’s what it says about using left-over vegetables to make soup:

Soups of the third class are perhaps the simplest and most economical. Such soups can be made entirely of left-over vegetables or can include both left-over and new cooked vegetables. Perhaps there are some cooked potatoes (cooked any way) on hand, a little gravy, a few spoonfuls of peas or shelled beans, and a little turnip. Put in a kettle enough boiling water to make the required amount of soup for your family. Into the kettle slice one or two onions, two or three carrots and a few more raw potatoes if needed. Cook until tender the left-over vegetables, gravy, and some salt (pepper if liked) and boil up. Now use a wire potato-masher to reduce the vegetables to a smooth, delightfully blended mixture. A most pleasing variety of soups can be had by varying the ingredients. Ripe tomatoes in any form can be used, even the rinsings of the catsup bottle. Boiled beans, baked beans, squash, corn, a little cabbage, a bit of parsnip, celery, macaroni, rice, oatmeal, the left-over meat pie (crust and all) can all be utilized in this way. Celery makes a most delicious soup. The celery itself can be used or crushed dried leaves or celery salt can be used for flavoring. When a straight vegetable soup is made, add fresh or evaporated milk or a little cream to give the desired richness. Lacking these, butter or a good cooking oil can be used.

Farm Journal (January, 1926)

A recipe in a 1926 cookbook contained a “standard” recipe for this type of soup:

Recipe for Standard Cream of Vegetable Soup — Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

My research was complete. I now was ready to make the soup. I used the Standard Cream of Vegetable Soup recipe as the basis for the soup, but pulled in some of the suggestions from the Farm Journal article. I had some left-over mashed potatoes, and cooked carrots that I used. I thought that onions and celery would be a nice addition. so I chopped up about half a cup of each. These items didn’t make the 2 cups of vegetables called for in the “standard” recipe, so I added small amounts of frozen green peas, corn, and lima beans that had languished in my freezer in almost empty bags.

And, I was intrigued by the suggestion in the Farm Journal article to add the “rinsings of the catsup bottle” to the soup. It’s difficult to get the lid off many modern catsup bottles, so I just added 2 tablespoons of catsup to the vegetable mixture.

The vegetables (including the water they are cooked in) are pureed after they are cooked, and added to milk that has been thickened with butter and flour. The soup is then heated until it is hot and steamy. The resulting soup had a lovely, delicate flavor. The seasonings should be adjusted if a bolder flavor is desired. The soup is garnished with croutons.

The old recipe said that it made enough soup to serve six. In my opinion, six servings is a stretch. This recipe makes 4-5 generous servings.

The bottom line is that this recipe is extremely flexible and cooks should adjust the recipe based on the left-overs and other vegetables they have in their kitchen. My daughter-in-law often says that she cooks “free style.” This is a recipe for free style cooks. Here’s my combined and updated recipe for Standard Cream of Vegetable Soup.

Standard Cream of Vegetable Soup

Servings: 4 - 5
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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2 cups vegetables (Any combination of left-over vegetables work well in this recipe. I used left-over mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. I also added about ½ cup chopped onions and 1 stalk celery. I then added a few frozen green peas, lima beans, and corn to get a total of 2 cups of vegetables.)

2 tablespoons catsup (optional)

2 cups water

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

croutons

Step 1. Put water and all the vegetables in a sauce pan. If desired, stir in the catsup. Bring to boil using high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender (about 10 – 15 minutes). Remove from heat and cool slightly. (Do not drain.)

Step 2. Puree the cooked vegetables and the water they were cooked in. (A blender or food processor works well.)

Step 3. In the meantime, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Stir in the flour. Gradually add the milk, while stirring constantly; cook using medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken.

Step 4. Add salt, pepper, and vegetable puree to the milk mixture. Cook, while stirring constantly, until hot and steamy. If a bolder flavor is desired, add additional seasonings.

Step 5. Put in soup bowls. Garnish with croutons.

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Old-Time Cheese Delight (Cheese & Bread Custard)

Cheese Delight (Cheese and Bread Custard) As the holidays are beginning to wind down, I’m in the mood for comfort food. So, when I came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Cheese Delight, I was intrigued and decided to give it a try.

Cheese Delight is a delicate cheese and bread custard. It is not the same as modern egg and cheese casseroles that often contain bacon, onions, and green peppers. If you can set aside any possible expectation that Cheese Delight will be the same as modern egg and cheese casseroles, you will will enjoy this dish.

The original recipe called for using American cheese. I thought about updating it to go with a natural cheese that has a tangier flavor, but decided to stick with the recipe author’s choice. The mild and creamy nature of American Cheese (and velvety smoothness when it melts) worked well in this recipe, and made this dish a delightful, old-fashioned comfort food.

Here is the original recipe:

Cheese Delight Recipe — Source: Ladies Home Journal (September, 1925)

I decided to put the custard in a baking dish rather than make individual cups of custard.

When I made this recipe, I added chopped parsley to the egg mixture. I sprinkled a little paprika on the top before putting in the oven to bake, but I could not see the paprika when I took the dish out of the oven, so would not bother putting any on it if I made the dish again.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Cheese Delight (Cheese and Bread Pudding)

Servings: 3 - 4
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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2 eggs

1 1/2 cups bread torn into 1/2-inch cubes (I used half white bread and half whole wheat bread.)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 pound American cheese, grated (about 6 slices) (I folded the cheese slices to make a small stack and then grated with a box grater.)

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Step 1. Preheat oven to 325° F.

Step 2. Put the eggs in a mixing bowl and beat. Stir in the milk, salt, and pepper. Add the bread cubes and the grated cheese; stir until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Stir in the chopped parsley.

Step 3. Pour into individual custard cups or into a 1-quart baking dish.

Step 4. Place the custard cups or baking dish in a pan of hot water and place in the oven.

Step 5. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the pudding comes out nearly clean. (It may not be totally clean because of the melted cheese.) It will take a less baking time if individual cups were used than if the mixture was put into a baking dish.

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Cracking Walnuts with Family and Friends Over the Holidays

walnuts in bowl — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1925)

A DIAMOND Walnut advertisement in a hundred-year-old magazine said:

Be sure to have [walnuts] throughout all the holidays – a standing invitation to partake of the distinctive hospitality of your home. They are fireside companions that the entire family will enjoy.

Ladies Home Journal (December, 1925)

Some traditions don’t change (at least not much). I have a bowl of nuts — I went with mixed nuts instead of walnuts — ready for my family to crack and eat as we sit around the fire.

nut bowl

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

“Food for the Gods” (Date Crumbles) Recipe

Date Crumbles with whipped cream topping I recently came across an intriguing recipe in a 1925 issue of Farm Journal. The recipe was labeled “food for the gods or date crumbles.” What a bold assertion! Could this recipe possibly be that good? I had to find out, so next thing I knew I was making the recipe.

Date Crumbles had a crispy crust, with lot of nuts in the middle. The dates cooked down to create a lovely, sweet date filling on the bottom. I scooped the Date Crumbles out of the pan, and put it in serving glasses (dishes would also work just fine). I served it with whipped cream. I thoroughly enjoyed this dessert.

Here is the original recipe:

recipe for "food for the gods" — Source: Farm Journal (April, 1925)

It’s fascinating that the old recipe directs cooks to serve it in “tall glasses.” I took this to mean stemware. I envision Farm Journal readers, living in remote rural locations, feeling like they were serving a very elegant dessert when they put the Date Crumbles in stemmed glasses and topped it with whipped cream. After all, they were serving “food for the gods.”

I did not want 16 servings, so I made half of the recipe. That said, I don’t think that half of this recipe would be enough for 8 people, so when I updated the recipe, I indicated that it would make 5 – 7 servings.

I assumed that a “slow oven” meant setting the temperature at 300° F.

As I prepared to bake the date mixture, I considered putting it in a baking dish instead of a pie pan as indicated in the old recipe; but, in the end just used an old 9-inch metal pie pan that I had and that worked well. A baking dish would also work. Date Crumbles in pan

I would not store Date Crumbles in a tin box. When I made this recipe, I ate some of it right away, and covered the remainder in the pan that it was baked in. It also could be stored in a food storage container.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Food for the Gods (Date Crumbles)

Servings: 5 - 7
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: easy
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1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup nuts, chopped (I used pecans.)

1/2 cup dates, chopped

whipped cream

Step 1. Preheat oven to 300° F.

Step 2. Put egg, sugar, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

Step 3. Stir in the chopped nuts and dates.

Step 4. Put the mixture in a greased pie pan or other baking dish (an 8″ X 8″ dish would work well), and spread it out.

Step 5. Put in oven and bake for 45 minutes.

Step 6. Use a spoon to “crumble” the baked dessert; put into dessert dishes or glasses to serve. May be served hot or cold. Top with whipped cream.

Note: The Date Crumbles can be covered and stored in the pan that it was baked in or it can be “crumbled” and stored in a tightly covered container.

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Old-Fashioned King George’s Steamed Pudding

Steamed puddings, with their subtle blending of flavors, are a traditional cold weather dessert. For generations, cooks regularly made steamed puddings on their wood or coal stoves. The stoves were used for both cooking and heat, so they were hot all day, and it was easy to cook a pudding that needed to be steamed for several hours.

Hundred-year-old cookbooks contain numerous steamed pudding recipes, but as people shifted to more modern heating and cooking methods, steamed pudding become less popular because of their long cooking time (and concerns about the energy cost of steaming a food for several hours). That’s a pity. Steamed puddings make a lovely dessert.

I found a nice recipe for King George’s Pudding in a 1925 cookbook and decided to give it a try. Myth has it that King George I requested steamed pudding for a Christmas feast in the 1700’s, and that the request resulted in him being considered the “pudding king.”

The King George’s Pudding was sweet and moist with a dense texture that is characteristic of steamed puddings. The old recipe says to serve the pudding with a sweet sauce. I decided to make a lovely Lemon Sauce that I previously posted. A Vanilla Sauce or Brandy Sauce would also work well.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for King George Pudding — Source: The Rumford Complete Cookbook (1925)

Cooks regularly update recipes to adapt to changing tastes or to use new ingredients. This recipe clearly is not a replicate of the steamed pudding served at King George’s Christmas feast. It calls for both very traditional pudding ingredients such as suet and an ingredient (flaked cereal) that would have be considered “modern” in 1925. Suet has a high melting point which results in it melting slowly. This gives the pudding a lovely spongy texture. When I made the recipe, I used bran flakes for the flaked cereal.

King George's Pudding with Lemon Sauce

Servings: 7 - 9
Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup suet, finely chopped

1 cup flaked cereal (I used bran flakes.)

1 egg

1/2 cup dark-colored jam (e.g., plum, raspberry, blackberry, currant) (I used currant.)

1/3 cup milk

Step 1. Put flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl; stir to mix. Add chopped suet; stir to coat the suet with the flour mixture. Add flaked cereal; stir until evenly dispersed in the mixture. Set aside.

Step 2. Put the egg in another bowl. Beat egg, then add jam and continue beating until mixed. Add milk and stir. Add this mixture to the bowl with the other ingredients.

Step 3. Put the batter into a greased mold or bowl (1 1/2 pint or larger), cover and steam for 3 hours.

Step 4. Remove bowl or mold from pan or steamer. Let sit for 15 minutes, then unmold.

Step 4. Serve hot with a sweet sauce such as Vanilla Sauce or Lemon Sauce.

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1925 “Charles Dickens” Christmas Menu + Recipe for Apples Stuffed with Prunes and Nuts

For close to two hundred years, the story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens has been told and repeated. It was published in 1843, and its story of redemption and transformation has resonated ever since. Some people today even host Dickens’ themed dinners with classic foods based on the cuisine in the book. For example, Food and Wine provides guidance on how to serve Scrooge’s menu on Christmas.

Amazingly, people have been hosting dinners with menus based on the foods in A Christmas Carol for at least a hundred years. A menu for a Charles Dickens Christmas Dinner appeared in the December, 1925 issue of Ladies Home Journal. It included roast goose, boiled onions, mashed potatoes, plum pudding, and other foods. A companion article described how to roast and carve a goose.

In the old magazine, there were red-tinted apples stuffed with chopped prunes and nuts in the foreground of an image of the roast goose. The articles included directions for making the stuffed apple garnish:

Recipe for Stuffed Apples — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1925)

I had no desire to roast a goose, but I was fascinated by the stuffed apple garnish. The directions called for tinting peeled apples red, poaching them, and then stuffing them with chopped prunes and nuts. I decided to try making a few stuffed apples.

The Stuffed Apples with Chopped Prunes and Nuts were a vibrant red, and would make an impressive garnish or dessert. They were very tasty with a lovely mix of tastes and texture. When I got ready to eat an apple, I cut it in half, and was amazed how beautiful the white interior of the apple looked against the red background of the parts of the apple that had the red coloring. An optional way to present the apples would be to cut them all in half.

The old directions were for twelve apples. I didn’t want that many, so when I updated the recipe, I reduced it to 3 apples. For the syrup that the apples are poached in, I divided the amount of sugar by three, but proportionately used more water than in the original recipe. I did this because even though I made fewer apples, I still needed sufficient syrup to successfully poach the apples. I also had some issues with the syrup getting too thick if I didn’t add additional water.

The old recipe doesn’t identify what type of nuts to use. I used walnuts.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Apples Stuffed with Prunes and Nuts

Servings: 3 apples
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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3 apples (Use a variety that maintains shape when cooked. I used Honeycrisp.)

6 prunes

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup sugar + additional sugar to sprinkle on top

1 cup water + additional water to cook prunes

1/2 teaspoon liquid red food coloring (Adjust amount if very light or dark red apples are desired.)

Peel and core the apples. Combine the sugar and water in a pan that is large enough to hold the apples; bring to a boil using medium heat. Stir in the red food coloring, and add the apples. Reduce heat so the syrup very gently boils while the apples poach. Periodically roll the apples to get them evenly colored. Add additional water if the syrup gets too thick. The lid can be put on the pan to help the apples cook more evenly. Cook until the apples are just barely tender (and not so long that they begin to fall apart).

In the meantime, put the prunes in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat. Let sit for a few minutes, then drain and chop the prunes. Combine the chopped prunes and chopped walnuts. Set aside.

Line a dish or pan that can be put under the broiler with foil. Set the cooked apples in the lined dish and stuff with the chopped prune and walnut mixture. Sprinkle sugar on top of the stuffed apples. Put under the broiler and broil until the sugar melts (1 – 2 minutes).

The stuffed apples can be served whole or cut in half before serving. They work well as either a garnish or a dessert.

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