I’m a bit foggy on how steaks and pork chops were broiled a hundred years ago, but the price of a Dundee Broiler is right. At just $3.50, I want one.
1923 Dundee Broiler Advertisement
Old-Fashioned Marcaroni with White Sauce
My first reaction when I saw a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Macaroni and White Sauce, was Mac and Cheese – yes. Mac and White Sauce. . . hmm, that’s different. But, I decided to give Macaroni and White Sauce a try. I was pleasantly surprised by the delicate taste of Macaroni and White Sauce. It’s similar to Mac and Cheese and has a creamy milkiness but without a cheesy taste.
Here’s the original recipe:
A hundred years ago macaroni came in long pieces that were broken into pieces. I just used the modern small pieces of macaroni when I made the recipe. I think that the tablespoon of salt was supposed to be added to the water that the macaroni was boiled in – however, that seems like a lot to me, so I put 1 teaspoon salt in the water.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Macaroni with White Sauce
1/2 cup macaroni
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
Put water and 1 teaspoon salt into a large saucepan, and bring to a boil using high heat. Add macaroni, and reduce heat so that the water gently simmers. Cook the macaroni until al dente, then drain and rinse with cold water.
In the meantime, in another pan, using medium heat, melt butter, then stir in the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce begins to thicken. Stir in the macaroni and gently simmer for 5 – 10 minutes while stirring occasionally, or until excess liquid has been absorbed by macaroni. Remove from heat and put in serving dish.
Old Proverb About How to Make a Good Salad
It can be tricky to make a good salad. Here is a proverb that was in a hundred-year-old cookbook about how to make the perfect salad:
Old-Fashioned Luncheon Caraway Bread
I recently came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Luncheon Caraway Bread, and decided to give it a try. It is a white quick bread with caraway seeds. This tasty, easy-to-make bread was flavorful and slightly sweet.
Here’s the original recipe:
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Luncheon Caraway Bread
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
3 teaspoons caraway seeds
Preheat oven to 400° F. Put butter in a mixing bowl, cream with the sugar. Add the egg and milk; stir. Stir in the baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Add flour and stir until mixed. Add caraway seeds, and stir. Put into prepared bread pan or 8″ X 8″ pan. Put in the oven and bake for 35 -45 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm.
Hundred-Year-Old Tip for Whiter Boiled Potatoes
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.
Old-fashioned Apple Pudding
Fall is in the air, and it’s apple season. I found a recipe for Apple Custard in a hundred-year-old cookbook, and decided to give it a try. The Apple Pudding is made by putting stewed apples in a casserole dish, adding a lovely custard, and then topping with meringue.
This recipe is different from most modern recipes for apple desserts because it uses no cinnamon or other spices, and it calls for very little sugar (only 4 tablespoons). The result is a tasty, yet delicate dessert.
Here’s the original recipe:
Apples vary a lot in size. Apples often were smaller a hundred years ago then they are today, so I interpreted the 4 apples called for in the recipe as approximately 2 cups of peeled, cored, and quartered apples.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Apple Pudding
4 apples (approximately 2 cups, peeled and quartered apples)
water
1 cup milk
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour
Peel apples, remove cores, and cut into quarters. Place them in a saucepan and add a little water to prevent scorching until the apples begin to soften. Bring to a boil using medium heat and then reduce heat. Continue to simmer gently until the apples are soft (approximately 10-15 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.
Put egg yolks, 2 tablespoons sugar, and flour in a small bowl. Stir to combine then set aside.
In the meantime, put the milk in another saucepan. Bring to a boil using medium heat, while stirring frequently.
Place a small amount (approximately 1 – 2 tablespoons) of hot milk into the bowl containing the egg, sugar and flour mixture; then add the mixture to the hot milk. 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 milk.) Continue heating using medium heat, while stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a custard. Remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 400° F. Put the cooked apples in a casserole dish. (I used a 1-quart dish, which was quite full; an 8-inch square pan would also work.) Pour the custard over the apples.
Place egg whites in a bowl, and beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar while continuing to beat. Then spoon on top of the custard and swirl. Put in oven for 10 minutes or until the meringue is lightly browned.
Hundred-Year-Old Tips for Gaining Weight
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
