Hundred-year-old cookbooks often contain household tips. Sometimes they leave me scratching my head or wondering if they really work. For example, I had my doubts about the following tip:

When boiling old potatoes, put a tablespoon of milk in the water in which they are cooked and they will be much whiter.

General Welfare Guild Cook Book (Beaver Valley General Hospital, New Brighton, PA, 1923)

When I saw the tip, I could think of no reason why boiled potatoes would be whiter if cooked in water that had a little milk added. And, I wondered why anyone would care. My boiled potatoes generally look fine (even if they are cream colored).

When I tried this tip, I think (much to my surprise) that it actually worked. The potatoes seemed whiter than usual.

This tip also made me wonder about the use of the term “old potatoes.” Is there such a thing as old potatoes in today’s world? When I was young, I can remember potatoes starting to sprout, and getting soft and mealy in the spring – but I seldom see those types of potatoes during any season any more.

A 1923 cookbook called The Calorie Cook Book by Mary Dickerson Donahey contained menus for those who wanted to lose weight, as well as menus for those who wanted to gain weight. Here’s the sample Autumn “upbuilding”  menu for gaining weight. The cookbook also contained the following tips for those who believed they were too thin:

Hints for the Thin

The thin folks may feel that I have been stingy with them. They have been given only one menu a season instead of seven.

It is from no lack of interest or sympathy. It is simply that in their case there is a distinction with a difference.

There is always the fact that excessive thinness may mean ill health or overwork. No one can recommend a diet of more food, or richer food, unless quite certain that the person who is to eat all that extra stuff is able to get away with it.

So if your collar bones make you resemble a hat rack, and your vertebrae are altogether too interested in popping out to look at the world for themselves, first see your doctor. If he says you are physically fit – fall to and eat up! Only don’t try to pad out with dill pickles or sauerkraut.

Eat more of everything. Be sure you eat a variety. Eat starches, fats and the simpler sweets. Don’t think it necessary to dispose of French pastries by the dozen. You may gain flesh but you’ll lose your health. And good health is more to be prized than beauty. There’s no comfort without it, and really no lasting beauty, either.

You will notice in your menus that I have simply arranged a variety of fattening foods, well interspersed with green salads and fruits, and that things easy of digestion have been chosen most often. In your own planning, do likewise.

The meals suggested here are not so very big. No second helpings are allowed for, and almost everybody wants a second helping of something. If you can eat them, do of course. But if the meals on the other hand, seem too big, don’t force yourself to the point of disgust.

Don’t eat between meals – that is bad for everybody. But arrange for extra meals at regular hours. Milk is the best thing to take at such meals, as you aren’t apt to get enough anyhow, and it’s the best thing for you. but you may take cocoa, or simple ice cream, without extra rich sauces, or a bowl of rice – brown rice preferably – or oat meal, or whole wheat, steamed soft, with whole milk or cream and brown sugar. Have maybe five meals a day. Breakfast, early lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and a bedtime supper. Food eaten just before you sleep produces more fat than food eaten at any other time.

You should reverse the advice given the fat folk. If possible have your food portions made with more butter, more creamy, than those served to other people – and if you can eat them, more generous, too.

Remember you need all the fresh air you can get, exercise, though that in moderation, and above all – peace! Don’t worry! You very, very seldom see a fat worrier!

The Calorie Cook Book (1923) by Mary Dickerson Donahey

Some foods just seem to go together – bacon and eggs, burgers and fries, meat and potatoes. . . I could go on and on. I recently came across a list of food combinations in a hundred-year-old cookbook, and was surprised to see some of the suggestions.  Roast mutton, mashed potatoes, brown sauce, and turnips anyone?

Hundred-year-old cookbooks are filled with lots of household tips. Some tips stand the test of time better than others. Here’s one that leaves me scratching my head.

Warm some mutton tallow and put on the ink stain; place in hot sun or over the hot register for half an hour. Apply soap and rub on washboard with warm water. If white material, put in the boiler; if colored, apply the tallow, etc., until stain disappears.

Order of the Easter Star Relief Fund Cookbook (Michigan Grand Chapter, 1923)

Where do I find mutton tallow? And, for that matter, where do I find a washboard? And, I don’t have a boiler. (What is a boiler?)

Some things that were considered polite a hundred years ago, are no longer considered polite and vice versa. Whether a guest should tell a host about food dislikes or dietary restrictions has changed across the years. In 1923, it was considered polite to eat what was served, whether or not the guest liked it. Allergies were not generally considered. Here’s what it said in the introduction to a 1923 cookbook:

Personal culinary dislikes are not assets to boast of, though most people seem to think they are. They are liabilities to be got rid of as quickly as possible. Learn to like the things that are good for you. Can’t. Bosh! Nonsense! And again, tut, tut! I guess I know. I did it.

Up to my twenties I ate only bread, meat, potatoes, and sweets. I got sick – very sick- and suffered more than I should have suffered had I eaten properly. That was one reason for waking up and behaving. There were two others though.

First – if other people ate and relished all these things I despised, they must be good, and I was missing something. I wished to miss nothing.

Second- I discovered my limited diet made me a terror to hostesses. People dreaded to invite me, as I since have dreaded to invite people with limited tastes. No one likes to have to keep a card index system of the intricate dislikes of one’s friends. It’s a nuisance. I realized this as I saw harassed glances at things I wasn’t eating. I was unhappy. I didn’t want the particular hostess of the moment to worry about me, but she did, of course, and I do not like to be a worry and a bother to other folks, and I do like to be invited out. I was afraid if I didn’t reform I’d be an unwelcome guest. So I set to work. Seafoods, salads, vegetables – I can eat ’em all, though I freely acknowledge there are some I like better than others, and coconut and caraway seeds still do go down very, very hard, and only when I’m being polite. I am hoping to like them eventually.

The Calorie Cook Book (Mary Dickerson Donahey, 1923)

Proper etiquette has changed across the years. Here is what it said in Reader’s Digest in a 2023 article:

Not Telling Your Host about your Dietary Restrictions

If you have food allergies or other dietary restrictions, you’re probably well aware that talking about what gluten does to your tummy doesn’t make for the most artful dinner party conversation starter. If you’re a vegetarian, you might also not want to force them to cater to you. (After all, there’s always a salad or a side dish, right?) Accordingly, you may be under the impression that when invited to a dinner party, the politest course of action is to keep your dietary concerns to yourself and hope there will be something you can eat.

But if you don’t talk to your host about this in advance, it could be awkward for both you (you’ll go hungry) and them (they’ll definitely notice if you’re not eating the food they’ve put on the table and wonder why). Remember: They’ve taken a lot of time to prepare the meal and want you, as their guest, to be happy.

Do this instead: If you have dietary issues, mention them to your host in advance. Then you can decide, together, what works best for both of you and for the sake of the party’s flow.

Reader’s Digest (June 6, 2023)

I have an early apple tree that is just loaded with apples this year. There’s no way my husband and I can eat all the apples, so last week-end I canned 14 quarts of apples. When I was flipping through a hundred-year-old cookbook for ideas for this post, this quote at the beginning of the chapter with jelly and preserves recipes really resonated with me. Maybe I’m the exception, but when it comes to canning for me, some things haven’t changed over the last hundred years.

Here’s advice in a hundred-year-old cookbook on the care of vegetables:

Care of Vegetables

Summer vegetables should be cooked as soon after gathering as possible; in case they must be kept, spread on bottom of cool, dry, well-ventilated cellar, or place in ice-box. Lettuce may be best kept by sprinkling with cold water and placing in a tin pan closely covered. Wilted vegetables may be freshened by allowing to stand in cold water. Vegetables which contain sugar lose some of their sweetness by standing; corn and peas are more quickly affected than others.

Winter vegetables should be kept in a cold, dry place. Beets, carrots, turnips, potatoes, etc., should be put in barrels or piled in bins, to exclude as much air as possible. Squash should be spread, and needs careful watching; when dark spots appear, cook at once. . .

A few years ago native vegetables were alone sold; but now our markets are largely supplied from the Southern States and California, thus allowing us fresh vegetables throughout the year.

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (1923)

Wow – it’s amazing that already a hundred years ago that the transportation system in the U.S. was good enough to allow vegetables to routinely be shipped across the country.