Here’s the poem in a hundred-year-old cookbook at the beginning of the Cookies and Small Cakes chapter. Enjoy!
Hundred-Year-Old Poem About First Attempt at Making Cookies
Alphonso Potatoes Recipe
Now that the weather’s getting cold and wintery, potatoes hit the spot. I recently made a hundred-year-old recipe for Alphonso Potatoes which are diced potatoes and green pepper are in a milk sauce, and topped with Parmesan cheese. This dish is very attractive and makes a nice presentation. The green of the pepper and the white of the potatoes made a visually appealing combination. The Parmesan cheese topping added flavor to the dish, and it was very nice.
Here’s the original recipe:
When I made the recipe, I cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch cubes prior to cooking. Perhaps cooks a hundred-years-ago often had left-over boiled potatoes that could be diced and used in this recipe, but since I didn’t have any left-over potatoes it seemed easier to just dice them into small pieces prior to cooking. I boiled the diced potatoes for a few minutes and then added the green pepper pieces to the simmering potatoes. It didn’t seem like a separate pan was needed. After the cubed potatoes were soft, I drained them, and then added the milk. I salted the water when cooking the potatoes, but did not add additional salt when I added the milk. I cooked for a few minutes more minutes, while occasionally gently stirring (but it was substantively less than 15 minutes). Some of the milk evaporated, and it began to thicken. I then removed from the heat and put into the casserole dish.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Alphonso Potatoes Recipe
5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/4 inch cubes
water
1 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon salt (if desired)
1 medium green pepper, diced into 1/8 inch pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375° F. Put the diced potatoes into a saucepan; cover with water and add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the diced green pepper and simmer for an additional 6 minutes. Remove from the heat, and drain. Pour milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt (if desired) on the drained potatoes and green pepper in the saucepan. Heat using medium heat while stirring gently occasionally (do not cover). Simmer for a few minutes until some of the milk evaporates and the liquid thickens a little. (Use care that the milk and potatoes don’t burn.) Remove from the heat and put into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the Parmesan cheese is lightly browned.
Hundred-Year-Old Advice for Selecting a Turkey
Here’s some hundred-year-old advice for selecting a turkey:
Turkey is the king of the winter table. It may be that there are people who don’t enjoy roast turkey, but the poor things are luckily few. But – if you aren’t careful, your turkey will not be as good as he ought to be. First, don’t pick out a bird whose breast bone is as unbending as iron, and the legs shouldn’t be nice and white, but sort of bluish. Gentlemen turkeys are said to be the best, but I think that’s sex prejudice. I’ve had some delectable meals from lady birds. Clean your turkey thoroughly, pull the tendons from the legs – if you can- and cut out the oil bag at the root of the tail. Wash, and then dry him, inside and out.
The Calorie Cook Book by Mary Dickerson Donahey (1923)
I probably should have done this post earlier in November – though somehow I don’t think that it would have been very helpful when you selected your Thanksgiving turkey.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes and Apples
I love candied sweet potatoes, but they can be a bit boring, so I decided to look for another way to serve sweet potatoes. I found a recipe for Scalloped Sweet Potatoes and Apples in a hundred-year-old cookbook and decided to give it a try.
The Scalloped Sweet Potatoes and Apples were delightful. Sliced sweet potatoes and apples were embedded in a buttery brown sugar sauce.
I knew this recipe was a winner when my husband said, “You should make this again for Thanksgiving.”
Here’s the original recipe:
And, here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes and Apples
3 medium sweet potatoes
water
1 1/2 cups sour apples (Granny Smith, Braeburn, etc.), peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt (if desired, use less)
Put sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender when tested by inserting a knife (30-40 minutes). Remove from heat, drain, and cool slightly so the sweet potatoes can be handled. Gently remove the peels from the cooked sweet potatoes, then slice into 1/4 inch pieces.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Put 1/2 of the sliced sweet potatoes into a 1-quart baking dish, then top with 1/2 of the sliced apples. Sprinkle with half of the brown sugar; dot with small pieces of half of the butter and sprinkle with half the salt. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Put in oven and bake for 1 hour.
Are Soups the “Antigarbagepail”?
I’ve often heard that leftovers can be turned into wonderful soups, but was taken aback when a hundred-year-old cookbook referred to soups as the “antigarbagepail.”
As I remark in another portion of this work, what won’t go into a salad will go into a soup. It is very true. The soup kettle, if you will forgive me, should be a sort of antigarbagepail. Many a time and oft has my family smacked its collective lips and said, “Um-m-m, that’s good soup. What kind is it?” And when I repeat the component parts they sit aghast – but they don’t stop eating it!
The Calorie Cook Book by Mary Dickerson Donahey (1923)
The author may be right, but personally I prefer to “repurpose” my leftovers to make soup. . . or to use leftovers to “enrich” my soup. . . .or . . .
Old-fashioned Cranberry Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
Here’s the original recipe: 
‘Tis the season for cranberries, so when I saw a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Cranberry Pudding I decided to give it a try. The Cranberry Pudding was delightful. The old-fashioned cake-style pudding was embedded with tart cranberries, and smothered in a lovely vanilla sauce. This recipe is a keeper.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
The recipe says to serve with either hard or sweet sauce. Hard sauce of more of a spread than a sauce. I prefer an actual sauce, so decided to go with the sweet sauce. The cookbook that contained the Cranberry Pudding recipe did not have any recipes for Sweet Sauce. However, it did have a recipe for Vanilla Sauce, so I decided to go with that.
I didn’t boil the water that I stirred into the mixture because it didn’t seem necessary, since the mixture is heated to make the sauce.
Cranberry Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup raw cranberries
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
Preheat oven to 350° F. Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and lemon extract in a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Stir in the cranberries. Put in a greased and floured 8″ X 8″ baking pan. Bake 35 – 45 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm with Vanilla Sauce.
Vanilla Sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon butter
Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan; add the water gradually while stirring constantly. Bring to a boil using medium heat while continuing to stir, then reduce heat and continue to stir and simmer for 10 minutes (or less if desired thickness is reached sooner). Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Serve warm.
1923 Lux Advertisement
I think of Lux soap as a bar soap, not a dishwashing soap. Based upon this 1923 advertisement, it appears that a hundred years ago, Lux came in small pieces in boxes. The advertisement is about using Lux to wash dishes, though the box in the picture says that it is “for all fine laundering.” Apparently back then, the same soap was used both laundry and dishwashing.
