Old-Fashioned Corn Souffle

Corn Souffle

I recently came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Corn Souffle, and decided to try it. The recipe called for separating the eggs and stiffly beating the egg whites, then folding them into a white sauce and corn mixture which is baked.

The Corn Souffle turned out well. It was delicious, and had a light, creamy, pudding-like texture.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Corn Souffle
Source: Cook Book Compiled by Women of Country Club Christian Church (Kansas City, Missouri), 1925

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Corn Souffle

  • Servings: 4 - 5
  • Difficulty: moderate
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2 eggs, separated

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2/3 cup milk

1 cup cooked corn (I used canned creamed corn.)

Heat oven to 375◦ F. Put egg whites in bowl; beat until stiff. Set aside.

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Put egg yolks in a small bowl; stir until smooth. Place a small amount (approximately 1 – 2 tablespoons) of hot mixture into dish with egg yolk, stir quickly. (The egg is first combined with a little of the hot mixture to prevent it from turning into scrambled eggs when introduced into the hot combination.)  Add egg mixture to the remaining hot mixture in the saucepan; stir. Add the corn and stir. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Pour into an 8″X8″X2″ or similar-sized casserole dish. Bake in oven uncovered until thickens (approximately 25 – 35 minutes.)

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1925 Sioux Falls Grocery Company Advertisement

Advertisement for Sioux Falls Grocery Company Advertisement
Source – Home Economics and Cook Book: The Daily Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Supplement – March 13, 1925

This hundred-year-old ad appeared in a cookbook that was a supplement to The Daily Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) newspaper. This grocery store advertisement suggests how much has changed (and not changed) over the years. I seldom have unexpected guests who would expect to be fed; and, if I did, I probably won’t serve them canned goods.

I can still buy Del Monte canned goods – though Del Monte may no longer sell salmon or berries. I think that they still sell prunes, but they are no longer sold in a can.

Old-Fashioned Deviled Cheese

Deviled Cheese on crackers

I recently came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Deviled Cheese. It basically was a recipe for hot crackers with a tangy cheese topping. In addition to cheese, the topping contained olive oil, vinegar, ground mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. The zesty topping was tasty. This recipe was easy to make and is a fun twist on more modern ways of serving crackers and cheese.

Here’s the original recipe:

Deviled Cheese Recipe
Source: The Rumford Complete Cook Book, 1925

I spread the cheese topping on the crackers, and then heated in the oven for five minutes.  I did not add any salt or pepper. The cheese and Worcestershire sauce already made this a bit salty and, in my opinion, it did not need pepper.

I didn’t try the toast option, or the option of spreading the topping on hot, toasted crackers. The cheese, oil, and vinegar did not combine very well until they were heated, so I didn’t think that it would work very well without actually heating the topping.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Deviled Cheese

  • Servings: 5 - 8
  • Difficulty: easy
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1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used cheddar cheese.)

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

crackers

Preheat oven to 400◦ F. Put the grated cheese, ground mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl; stir to combine. Add the olive oil and stir. Then add vinegar and stir until all ingredients are combined. Put crackers on a baking sheet then spread the deviled cheese on top of them. (Do not go quite to the edge.). Put in oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

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Old-Fashioned Valentine Wafers

Valentine WafersIn some ways it is hard to believe that it is already February, and time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day. I have warm memories of helping my children prepare valentines to distribute at school and baking heart-shaped cookies, so when I saw a hundred-year-old recipe for Valentine Wafers, I decided to give them a try.

The Wafers were delightful. Each cookie has half of a candied cherry in the center. A unique feature of the recipe is that it calls for whole wheat flour, so I guess that the cookies are marginally healthier than the typical cut-out cookie.

Here’s the original recipe:

Valentine Wafers

Recipe for Valentine Wafers
Source: American Cookery (February, 1925)

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Valentine Wafers

  • Servings: approximately 36 cookies
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1 egg white

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup water

2 cups whole wheat flour

candied cherries, cut into halves (approximately 18 cherries needed; may be more or less depending upon size of cookie cutters)

Preheat oven to 400◦ F.  Put egg white into a bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add cream of tartar, baking soda, and vanilla; stir to combine. Then add half the water and half the flour; stir. Add remaining water and flour; stir until thoroughly combined, then fold in the beaten egg white. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour to get it to a good consistency for rolling. Roll out the dough on a prepared surface to 1/4 inch thick; then cut into heart shapes. Place on greased baking sheets. Put half a candied cherry in the center of each heart, and press firmly. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

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Hundred-Year-Old Tips for Caring for Wood and Coal Stoves

coal stoveHere’s some abridged tips for caring for wood and coal stoves from a hundred-year old magazine:

  • Stove grates will last ten years, or longer, if well cared for (that is if the ashes were removed once or even twice daily).
  • Grates should not be kept red hot with ashes banked up against them.
  • Do not bank the fire overnight with the ashpan fun of ashes, thereby keeping the grated heated all of the twenty-four hours, never giving them a chance to cool.
  • A cheap stove is poor economy. Therefore, always purchase a stove of a well-known make, and then take care of it.
  • Clean out the soot from underneath the stove.
  • Brush the soot and ashes from around the sides of the stove. The butterfly, in the back of the stove, should be opened, and the stove rake, or poker, slipped in, so that the soot may be pushed downward into the space below the oven, where it may be taken out through the opening made for that purpose. This pipe is often entirely clogged or closed by the unburned particles of carbon deposited there from the coal.
  • Clean the stove pipe, which may be responsible for lack of draught and may be half full of soot, especially if it is a long pipe, or has more than one turn in it.
  • Keeping the stove red hot, for any length of time. will warp the lids, and burn out the various parts. After a fire is started, the drafts should be adjusted, so that it burns well, but not so as to permit the stove to become red hot.
  • Piling up coal until it is against the top of the stove will also cause the lids to warp.
  • Another cause of injury to a stove is the burning of wet garbage. Coffee grounds or liquids should not be poured on the red hot lining of the stove. This may produce cracking.
  • If one is going away for some time, the stove should have a liberal coating of grease, or liquid black shellac, to prevent rusting; or otherwise the dampness of a closed house may cause serious damage. Under such conditions the stove pipe should be taken down, oiled and left down, or else rain, coming down the chimney may cause the pipe to rust out in one season.
  • Even if one is at home and does not use the coal stove in summer, papers should be burned in it occasionally to dry out the stove pipe and inner parts of the stove.
  • If the stove has an enameled back or trimmings, these may be cleaned with a scouring powder, which is not gritty.
  • Foods, grease, etc. must not be allowed to collect on the surfaces, or these will be burned on from the intense heat, and cannot be removed without injury to the surface.
  • Clinkers will not form so readily if the fire is made every day.

Excerpts from American Cookery (March, 1925)

Old-Fashioned Clove Cake

Slices of Clove Cake

I love Spice Cakes, so when I saw a recipe for Clove Cake in a hundred-year-old cookbook I was intrigued. Was it similar to Spice Cake or quite different? I decided to give it a try and see what it was like.

The verdict– The recipe makes a small loaf cake. I have mixed feelings about this cake. It was tasty, but not very aesthetically pleasing.  The cake had an old-fashioned goodness with the warm, sweet, spiciness of cloves. The flavor is more intense than the typical spice cake, but it was good. My husband said that the worst thing about the cake was that there was not enough of it. The texture of the cake was nice, however, the cake fell when I took it out of the oven, so it did not look that great. The recipe called for a really high ratio of sugar to flour, and I think that this might be the issue.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Clove Cake
Source: The Home Makers’ Cooking School Cook Book (1925)

I am unclear why the recipe calls for adding the raisins before adding the baking soda and some of the flour. It’s difficult to get a well-mixed batter when there are chunky raisins in the mixing bowl, so I updated the recipe to add the raisins last.

When I made this recipe, the chopped raisins sank to the bottom. In hindsight I realized that I probably should have tossed them in flour prior to stirring them into the batter. This probably would have helped keep them dispersed throughout the cake. When I updated the recipe, I indicated that the raisins should be floured.

Sweet milk is just regular milk. In the days before pasteurized milk, some cake recipes called for sour milk. I’m not sure why the recipe author felt the need to clarify that milk that had not soured should be used.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Clove Cake

  • Servings: 5 - 7
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup flour + 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup chopped raisins

Preheat oven to 350◦ F. Grease and flour a loaf pan (bread pan). In a small bowl, toss the raisins with two tablespoons to flour. (This will help keep them from sinking to the bottom). Set aside.

Put butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream. Add  the eggs, milk, 1/2 cup flour, baking soda and cloves; beat until combined. Stir in the chopped raisins.  Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 35 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. If desired, glaze or frost cake after it has cooled.

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