Most companies are constantly changing advertising campaigns and taglines. Maxwell House Coffee is the exception. It has used the slogan “good to the last drop” for at least a hundred years.
I got a request for a “healthy cake” that was low fat and low sodium, so looked through my hundred-year-old cookbooks and magazines for something that might work. I found a recipe for Orange Loaf Cake that I think fits the bill.
The recipe only calls for 1/3 cup of butter, and just 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and no salt. So this loaf cake is both low fat and low sodium. The cake was very easy to make, had a nice texture, and a delightful sunny, orange flavor.
Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Put butter and sugar in a mixing bowl; beat until combined. Then beat in the eggs. Add the flour, baking soda, orange juice, and lemon juice; beat until combined. Stir in the grated orange rind. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
It always is complicated to travel with a baby. Here’s some tips that were in a 1924 magazine.
Planning for Baby’s Vacation: Hints for the Journey
The following are good rules for the baby’s vacation, as indeed they are for the proper conduct of his life no matter where he may be:
Keep the baby quiet, clean and contented.
See that his feeding comes at regular hours.
Have his naps come at the same time and last for the same duration each day.
See that his milk supply is pure and safe. Keep the milk clean, covered and cold. It should never be allowed to be warmer than fifty degrees Fahrenheit, until it is finally heated for use.
Dress the baby lightly and in the simplest possible clothing.
Protect the baby from flies, mosquitoes and other insects.
Do not let anyone outside of the family handle the baby.
Keep the baby out-of-doors as much as possible. Let him learn to sleep out-of-doors if it can be arranged.
Remember that no matter where you may take your baby his health and comfort will depend upon what you do for him rather than upon the way in which he travels or the kind of place in which you spend your holiday.
While you are traveling have everything that you will need for the baby easily accessible and where you can get at it at a moment’s notice.
And finally remember that, generally speaking, babies do not need vacations, but if it seems necessary or wise to take them on one there need be no fear of any bad consequences as long as the simple methods of baby care are followed.
Yesterday I colored eggs with my grandsons. Today I have lots of hard boiled eggs, so looked for a hundred-year-old recipe that used hard boiled eggs. I found a lovely recipe for Eggs Au Gratin.
The Eggs Au Gratin were tasty and easy to make, and would be a perfect brunch dish. This recipe is a keeper.
Here’s the original recipe:
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)
I made a white sauce rather than going with the “yellow sauce” option that contained an egg yolk. Two cups seemed like a lot of white sauce, so when I updated the recipe, I used 1 1/2 cups of milk rather than 2 cups.
Preheat oven to 375° F. Slice hard-boiled eggs into a casserole dish. (I used a 750 ml dish that holds about 3 cups.)
Put 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat and gently pour over the sliced eggs.
Sprinkle cheese and bread crumbs on top, in that order. Dot with small pieces of butter (a total of about 2 teaspoons). Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly (about 25 minutes).
A hundred years ago technology was rapidly changing. By 1924 many homes had electricity, and lots of electric appliances were available in stores (or through mail order catalogs). One appliance was the electric table stove.
I love to have friends over and cook a meal together. If I’d lived back in 1924, here’s how it could be done using a table stove:
Buffet Spreads Made Perfect
For the woman who entertains informally a delightful acquisition is the combination table stove. Constructed with a double set of heating coils between which the toast drawer or the waffle iron may be inserted, it is possible to cook something over the top grill while other food is browning beneath in the lower grill. All these things can be done at the same time, but it requires more time than if just one thing is being cooked, because this device depends upon a single lamp socket for available electricity, and just so much heat and no more can be procured. When three pieces of work are attempted the heat must necessarily be divided among the three.
The electric table stove is just the things on which to cook the evening spread of chicken a la King, shrimp wiggle or any other favorite creamed dish. Get ready beforehand a tray filled with everything which will be needed for your cooking, with all ingredients measured out. Sometimes it adds to the interest to leave one or two tasks undone as seen in the illustration. The mincing of the green pepper and the opening of the can of fish have been left for the guests to do, thus making the affair as informal as possible –usually the most successful kind of entertaining. While the foundational white sauce is being made in the deep pan placed on top of the grill stove, the slices of bread may be toasted in the toaster drawer.
I was intrigued by a hundred-year-old recipe for Banana and Nut Salad, so decided to give it a try. This recipe was quick and easy to make. Just quarter a banana and roll in finely chopped nuts. The old recipe said to serve on a lettuce leaf and garnish with mayonnaise.
The Banana and Nut Salad was lovely, but I’d definitely skip the mayonnaise if I made this recipe again.
Here’s the original recipe:
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book
When I was cutting the bananas lengthwise, I accidently broke one of the banana halves into two – but I was pleasantly surprised how much better the presentation looked with the broken banana half, than with the whole half. So I adapted the recipe to indicate that the banana should be quartered.
I put mayonnaise on the Banana and Nut Salad. I didn’t try boiled dressing, and I didn’t try mixing whipped cream with mayonnaise. It seemed like mixing whipped cream and mayonnaise could potentially ruin some perfectly good whipped cream. However, just using whipped cream with no mayonnaise might be a nice addition.
Peel bananas and cut each into two lengthwise, then cut each piece again to quarter. Roll each piece in the finely chopped nuts. If desired, place on lettuce leaves and garnish with mayonnaise.
When baking, many cooks a hundred years ago used a variety of informal ways to figure out whether an oven was very hot, hot, or less hot. However, times were changing and recipes were beginning to indicate the temperature that should be used. This was confusing to some cooks. The April, 1924 issue of Ladies Home Journal advocated for the use of oven thermometers. Here’s a few excepts:
Taking the Hazards and Heartaches Out of Baking: Oven Thermometers Save You Time and Money
Commercial bakers have been using temperature methods these many years in order to produce uniform baking results, while the majority of women who do their own baking still depend upon the hit-or-miss way of oven regulation. The housewife who has used the same range for a long period of time usually judges fairly well, but the inexperienced cook is completely at a loss when she is told to thrust her hand in the oven and count ten, or given some other antiquated method of judging heat.
No longer need women employ such indefiniteness for there are on the market at the present time small portable oven thermometers, reasonably durable in construction, which make guess work in baking a thing of the past, and put the home kitchen on a par with the scientifically correct bakeries of commercial use.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (April, 1924)
One can depend on the results every time. There is no chance for burnt or underdone food, once you have learned the control of your oven by temperature. This means a real saving in money because food is not wasted. There’s an added saving, too, for one never need worry about results.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (April, 1924)
Temperature can play a large part in accomplishing perfection in cake baking. A dependable recipe and painstaking mixing are essential, but more cakes are spoiled in the baking than in any other way. This because, by the ordinary method, there has been no way of being absolutely sure that your baking oven today was just like it was yesterday. Luck, good or bad, is a nonessential factor in cake baking if the temperature method outlined is adopted. It becomes an accurate science in which the terrors of possible failure have no place. Different types of cake batter require baking at different temperatures, but the size and depth of the pan also have their effect.
