Is Ice Water or Room Temperature Water Healthier?

water with ice cubes in glass
Source: American Cookery (August/September, 1922)

I like very cold water with lots of ice on hot summer days, but I’ve heard others say that water at room temperature is healthier. The debate over water temperature has been going on for a least a hundred years. Here’s what it says in a 1922 magazine:

A word about drinking water is not amiss just here. Iced water may seem very desirable when one is thirsty, but water without ice is far better for drinking purposes, as it does not so suddenly reduce the temperature of the stomach.

American Cookery (August/September, 1922)

Black Plum Soup (with Cheese Balls)

Black Plum Soup in Bowl

I love plums so was excited to find a hundred-year-old recipe for Black Plum Soup. I was slightly less excited after I read the recipe and realized that it called for putting cheese balls into the soup before serving (which sounded very strange to me), But, nevertheless, I decided to give the recipe a try.

The Black Plum Soup is served hot. It tasted like plums with a hint of cinnamon though was quite tart. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually really liked the cheese balls in the soup. The cheese balls added some texture to the otherwise clear soup – and sharpness of the cheese was a nice contrast to the tartness of the soup.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Black Plum Soup
Source: American Cookery (June/July, 1922)

This recipe makes a lot of soup, so I divided it in half when I updated it.  The smaller amount I made still makes enough soup to for about 6 cups of soup or three bowls.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Black Plum Soup with Cheese Balls

  • Servings: 3-6
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

Soup

1 dozen (12)  black plums

3 cups water or chicken broth (I used water.)

grated rind of 1/2 lemon

small piece of stick cinnamon (about 1 1/2 inches long – or longer if a very thin stick)

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

juice from 1/2 lemon

Remove pits from plums and quarter. Put in a Dutch oven or large saucepan; add water or chicken broth, stick of cinnamon, sugar, salt, and white pepper. Put on the stove and bring to a boil using high heat; then reduce heat and simmer for 1/2 hour.  Remove from heat and strain. (Discard the plum pulp.) Add the lemon juice to the plum soup. Reheat then serve. Add cheese balls (see recipe below) right before serving.

Cheese Balls

1/2 cup grated hard cheese (I used cheddar cheese)

1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

1/8 teaspoon salt

dash cayenne (red) pepper

1/2 egg, beaten

1/2 cup fine plain breadcrumbs

shortening or cooking oil

Put grated hard cheese, parmesen cheese, salt, cayenne pepper, and beaten egg in a bowl, then mix to combine all ingredients. Shape the mixture into small balls, each about 1/2 – 3/4 inch in diameter. Roll each ball in the breadcrumbs. Put about 1/2 inch of shortening or cooking oil in a skillet, then heat until hot using medium heat. Place the cheese balls in the hot fat or oil, and fry until the bread crumbs are lightly browned (about 20-30 seconds). Using a fork roll the balls to fry on the other side.  Remove from skillet using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Hundred-year-old Advice for Making a Flaky Pie Crust

cutting shortenind into flourWhen I was young, I learned how to “cut” (or “chop”) shortening into the flour when making a pie crust, and I still use the old-fashioned technique -so enjoyed reading advice in a hundred-year-old cookbook about how to make crisp and flaky pie crusts. Here are a few excerpts:

Contrary to the general opinion, pastry is not hard to make. In fact, once the fundamental principles are understood, pastry is much easier and more quickly made than cake. When making pastry, keep these rules in mind. Fat makes a pie crust crisp, therefore, to economize on shortening will produce poor pastry.

The amount of air which is incorporated in the dough makes the crust flaky, so the dough requires careful handling. Water makes pastry tough and only enough should be used to hold the dough together.

Pastry flour is recommended because if absorbs less moisture; however, the regular family flour will give good results.

If all the ingredients are cold, the dough will be much easier to handle. Chopping the fat into the flour is recommended. Do not chop the fat into the flour too thoroughly; mix until the consistency of coarse meal.

Add only enough water to hold the mixture together. If too much water is used it will be necessary to use more flour when the dough is rolled out, and if that is the case, the pastry will be tough from handling, and the fat and flour will not be in the right proportion.

Handle the dough as quickly and lightly as possible.

Mrs. DeGraf’s Cook Book (1922)

Old-fashioned Mashed Summer Squash

 

Mashed Summer Squash in dish

Squash, squash everywhere – zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, yellow straightneck squash, pattypan squash. What should I do with all of them?

A hundred years ago people had similar concerns. This is what an article said about summer squash in a 1922 magazine:

 Summer Squash

Is summer squash one of your favorite vegetables, or do you consider it a rather tasteless thing, to be used as Hobson’s choice, but not to be hailed with joy? . . .

Few vegetables repay so amply for the small amount of garden-plot, fertilizer, and cultivation they require. They bear heavily though the season, and do not, like so many vegetables, require to be cooked immediately after picking in order catch the finest flavor. They are delicious when properly seasoned. They are also amongst the easiest vegetable to prepare for cooking.

American Cookery (August/September, 1922)

The article also includes a recipe for Mashed Summer Squash. I seasoned the squash with butter and celery salt, and it made a delightful side. dish.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Mashed Summer Squash
Source: American Cookery (August/September, 1922)

This recipe has so many options and permutations that I didn’t know where to began: Boil the squash or steam it; Season with salt or celery salt; peel the squash or don’t.

In the end. I cut the squash into chunks, but didn’t peel, and I used a Foley mill to mash (and remove the squash skin and seeds). The resulting mashed squash was very juicy, so I then partially strained the mashed squash.

Here’s how I made the recipe:

Mashed Summer Squash

  • Servings: 3 - 4
  • Difficulty: moderate
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5 cups, diced or sliced summer squash

1/2 teaspoons celery salt

1/8 pepper

1 tablespoon butter

Put squash in saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil using high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until tender (about 5-7 minutes). Remove from heat and drain.  Press through a strainer or sieve. (I used a Foley mill.)

If the mashed squash is too juicy, partially strain until squash is the desired consistency. Then put in a dish and serve.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

1922 Wagner Cast Aluminum Preserving Kettle Advertisement

Wagner Ware Preserving Kettle Advertisement
Source: American Cookery (June/July, 1922)

As canning season swings into full gear, I’m taking inventory of my canning equipment and supplies, and figuring out what I may need to purchase. The pan I use when making jams and jellies doesn’t have a very thick bottom, and I’ve occasionally scorched jams and jellies – especially when making old recipes that don’t call for pectin and require a lot of boiling to thicken the mixture. So I found this hundred-year-old advertisement for a Wagner Cast Aluminum Preserving Kettle intriguing. I think that I need a modern version of this kettle with it’s thick bottom and sides.

Escalloped Celery with Chicken

Escalloped Celery with Chicken

I don’t see many recipes for casseroles when browsing through hundred-year-old cookbooks. There are a few casserole recipes in 1922 cookbooks, but they didn’t become really popular until the mid-20th century. In any case, I was intrigued by a casserole recipe that I found in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Escalloped Celery with Chicken, and decided to give it a try.

Though I made this recipe from scratch, the Escalloped Celery with Chicken brought back vague memories of creamed chicken and celery dishes I ate as a child that were made using cream of celery soup. In any case, I enjoyed this dish. It was tasty and made a  nice casserole.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Escalloped Celery with Chicken
Source: Good Housekeeping’s Book of Recipes and Household Discoveries (1922)

I used a little less salt than was called for in the original recipe. It called for boiling the celery in water with 1 teaspoon salt, plus an additional 3/4 teaspoon salt in the sauce. I decided that an additional 1/2 teaspoon would be plenty – and the recipe tasted fine. I also thought that 500° F. seemed very high – so I baked at 425° F. until the bread crumbs were lightly browned and it was hot and bubbly (about 15 minutes). The recipe says it serves four. In my opinion, if this is served as the main dish, that it is a little skimpy for four, so I listed it as 3-4.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Escalloped Celery with Chicken

  • Servings: 3-4
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

2 cups celery, diced into 1 inch pieces

water

1 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup diced cooked chicken

3 tablespoons pimento, diced

2 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup celery water (reserved when celery is drained after cooking)

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup fine dry plain bread crumbs

Put diced celery in a saucepan. cover with water and add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the celery is tender (about 10-15 minutes). Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of the celery water.

In the meantime, preheat oven to 425° F. In a skillet, using medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter; then stir in the flour. Gradually, add the milk, cream, and celery water while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce thickens. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Add the cooked celery and diced chicken. and stir to combine.  Put in a 1-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and using 1 tablespoon of butter, dot with small pieces of butter. Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly, and the bread crumbs are lightly browned.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

 

Breakfast – One of the Important Events of the Day

bacon and eggs

A hundred-year-old cookbook emphasized the importance of breakfast. Here are a few excerpts:

Breakfast – One of the Important Events of the Day

Breakfast in most homes is, without doubt, the simplest meal of the day and the one requiring the least thought and effort in preparation. But when we consider the fact that breakfast is also the first meal of the day and is the one that should furnish the necessary food principles to the body to aid it in starting and carrying on the work for the day, we can readily understand the importance of this meal and why it is necessary to begin the day with proper food. 

The right kind of food, properly prepared, keeps the body in a healthful condition. And a healthy body is able to resist and throw off disease; an undernourished body is very susceptible to germs and will not recover from a severe illness so readily as one that is properly nourished and kept in a resistant condition.

Many persons consider breakfast of so little importance that they omit this meal entirely. This seems a mistake, for in the morning the stomach is practically empty and, in order “to start the day right,” some food should be taken unless for some good reason a physician has advised otherwise.

Again, breakfasts are often eaten very hurriedly, which is wrong. In order to receive the greatest benefit from the food, it should be thoroughly broken up in the mouth so that the digestive juices may begin their action. If food is not broken up before entering the stomach it must done there and this means a strain on that organ. Overwork will gradually cause it to weaken; so in time the stomach will not be able to perform its functions properly.

It may seem difficult to get the variety in our breakfast menus that the large number of luncheon and dinner dishes afford, because there is a limited number of so-called typical breakfast dishes. But there is an endless variety of methods of preparing these different foods, so that there is really no need of monotony at this meal.

Mrs. DeGraf’s Cook Book (1922)