Tag: recipe

Brussels Sprouts with Sauce Piquante

Brussels Sprouts with Piquante Sauce in dish

When browsing through hundred-year-old cookbooks, I came across a recipe for Brussels Sprouts with Sauce Piquante. Sauce Piquante is known for its complex, spicy flavor. Since many old-time sauce recipes make very mild and delicate sauces, I was intrigued by this recipe and decided to give it a try.

The Brussels Sprouts with Sauce Piquante was excellent. The delightful, tangy sauce worked well with the earthy, slightly bitter Brussels sprouts. I may not see many old recipes for spicy sauces, but based on how well this recipe turned out, cooks a hundred-years ago definitely knew how to make lovely, lively sauces.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Brussels Sprouts - Sauce Piquante
Source: 1926 cookbook compiled by the Domestic Science Class of the Peoria (IL) Women’s Club

The recipe calls for “mustard.” It does not say whether it is for dry mustard or prepared mustard. In general, hundred-year-old recipes call mustard in a jar “prepared mustard,” so I assumed that the recipe author was referring to dry mustard.

Since the Brussels sprouts were boiled in salted water, adding an additional 1 teaspoon of salt in the sauce seemed like a lot, so I reduced it to 1/2 teaspoon when I updated the recipe.

I didn’t use a double boiler when I made the sauce. Rather I cooked the sauce using medium-low heat while stirring constantly.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Brussels Sprouts with Piquante Sauce

  • Servings: 4 - 6
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1 quart (about 1 pound) Brussels sprouts

water and 1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup vinegar

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon, chopped parsley (or use parsley flakes)

1/2 teaspoon onion juice (or use finely minced onions or onion powder)

Step 1. Trim Brussels sprouts and remove any damaged outer leaves. Put in a saucepan and cover with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and simmer until tender (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and drain.

Step 2. In the meantime, put the olive oil, vinegar, beaten eggs, dry mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, powdered sugar, and paprika in a saucepan. Stir to combine, then heat using medium-low heat until the mixture thickens while stirring constantly. (If the thickened sauce is lumpy, strain and then return the sauce to the saucepan.)

Step 3. Add the melted butter, curry powder, chopped parsley/parsley flakes, and onion juice/minced onions/onion powder to the sauce. Stir to combine; heat with medium-low heat while stirring constantly until the mixture is hot and just beginning to bubble.

Step 4. Put the cooked Brussels sprouts in a serving dish, then pour the sauce over Brussels sprouts. Serve immediately.

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Old-Fashioned Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Halloween Spice Cupcakes

Since photos are few and far between in hundred-year-old cookbooks, I was surprised to see a photo of Halloween Spice Cupcakes in a 1926 cookbook. The adorable cupcakes (Can cupcakes be called adorable?) were decorated to look like jack-o-lanterns. Raisins were used to make the faces.

Halloween Spice Cupcakes
Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

I decided to try to replicate the cupcakes in the photo. The recipe on page 180 of the cookbook is for a loaf cake and does not specifically mention Halloween Spice Cupcakes, so I just put the batter in a cupcake tin that I had lined with paper liners.

Recipe for Spice Cakes
Source: Mrs. Peterson’s Simplified Cooking (1926)

I decorated the cupcakes similarly to the way the cupcakes in the old photo were decorated. Since the photo in the old cookbook is black and white, it is difficult to tell what color the icing was. Since food coloring was readily available in 1926, I assumed that the icing was tinted orange.

The cupcakes were fun to make, and turned out wonderfully. The cupcakes were tasty and had a lovely spice flavor.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Halloween Spice Cupcakes

  • Servings: 12 - 14 cupcakes
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1/2 cup shortening or butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

frosting, tinted orange

raisins

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Put paper cupcake liners in cupcake tin(s).

Step 2. Put the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and allspice in a bowl. Stir to combine, then set aside.

Step 3. Put the shortening (or butter) and sugar in a mixing bowl, then cream.

Step 4. Add the eggs; beat until combined.

Step 5. Add the milk and dry ingredients; beat until smooth, then put in the prepared cupcake tin(s). Fill each cupcake cup 2/3 full.

Step 6. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Step 7. Let the cupcakes cool, then ice the cupcakes with icing that has been tinted orange.

Step 7. Use raisins to make the faces on the cupcakes. Use round raisins for the eyes, elongated raisins for the nose, and chopped raisins to make the mouth.

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The Charm of Candlelight

Tapioca in serving dishes
Source: Ladies Home Journal (November, 1926)

Candlelight evokes so many warm, cozy feelings. Candles are calming and make me feel peaceful and hopeful.  And, sometimes candles help create a lovely romantic atmosphere. I recently was browsing through several hundred-year-old magazines, and was surprised to see two items that featured candles.

The first was an advertisement for Minute Tapioca in a 1926 issue of Ladies Home Journal. It included a recipe for Cream Supreme that was embedded in an image of a beautiful tablescape with candles. I probably will never make that recipe, but my eyes lingered for several minutes on the picture. It was so relaxing, and it made me remember times long gone when I ate a special dessert in a room decorated with candles.

A few minutes later, I flipped through a hundred-year-old issue of American Cookery and was surprised to find an article titled “The Charm of Candles.” Here are some excerpts:

The Charm of Candles

Candlelight and the romantic evolution of lighting devices is a truly fascinating thing to think about.

The romance of candlelight remained a shadowy companion to progress. Like some silvery-haired, gentle-faced old lady, candlelight kept alive hallowed memories that linked the present with the past.

Within my own memory is the friendship of candlelight – that little bedside candle of childhood, linking us to a world of reality, with its warm glow after prayers were said.

Have you never lain in a big-four-poster bed watching the dancing shadows your candle cast on the old, hard-hewn timbers? If you have never seen your candle “burn blue with terror”, as the wind steals in noisy gusts about the house, then you certainly have missed a deep, undefinable kinship with the past.

Candlelight against our modern backgrounds has a soothing, quieting influence, like old hands. It offers a sort of antidote for that ache of antiquity which sends us on passionate quests after old furniture, old books, old ships, old pictures, and old things. It indicates our inability to quite sever our life cord from the past.

American Cookery (August September, 1926)

Much has changed over the past hundred years, but some things stay the same. Candlelight still has a soothing, quieting influence.

Old-Fashioned Escalloped Cabbage

Escalloped Cabbage in baking dish

The farmers’ market had some lovely cabbages, so I bought one and then started looking through my hundred-year-old cookbooks for a cabbage recipe. I found a recipe for Escalloped Cabbage in a 1926 women’s club cookbook from Peoria, Illinois

The Escalloped Cabbage was a delightful, simple, side dish.  It’s just boiled shredded cabbage in a white sauce. It is then put in a baking dish. topped with bread crumbs, and put in the oven until it is hot and bubbly.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Escalloped Cabbage
Source: 1926 cookbook compiled by the Domestic Science Class of the Peoria (IL) Women’s Club

The bread crumbs for the topping can be made by grating 1/2 slice of bread using a box grater.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Escalloped Cabbage

  • Servings: 4 - 6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

1/2 cabbage, coarsely shredded

water

1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon butter (melted)

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Step 1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

Step 2. Put the shredded cabbage in a large saucepan, then add about a quarter inch of water. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the cabbage is tender (about 20 minutes). (If the water evaporates while cooking, add a small amount of additional water.) Then remove from heat, and drain to remove any remaining liquid.

Step 3. In the meantime, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens.

Step 4. Pour the white sauce on the boiled cabbage; stir to combine.

Step 5. Put the cabbage mixture in a baking dish.

Step 6. In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon melted butter, then spread the bread crumbs on top of the cabbage mixture.

Step 7. Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly (20 – 30 minutes).

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Old-Fashioned Overnight Waffles with Yeast

Overnight Waffles with Yeast on plate

Often waffles taste almost like pancakes, so when I came across a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for traditional Waffles with Yeast, I decided to give it a try. The recipe included an option for making overnight waffles, and I decided to go that route since it can be hectic in the morning, and I liked the idea of doing most of the prep work the previous evening.

The Overnight Waffles with Yeast were tasty with an old-fashioned goodness. The waffles were heartier and chewier than the typical modern waffle.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Waffles with Yeast
Source: New Winston Cook Book of Guaranteed Recipes

A cake of compressed yeast contained about the same amount of yeast as a packet of active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast).

Since I made the waffles using the overnight method, I updated the recipe for that option. Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Overnight Waffles with Yeast

  • Servings: 3 - 5
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

2 cups milk

2/3 teaspoon active dry yeast (1/4th of  packet)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon butter or lard, melted

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Step 1. Put milk in saucepan, then heat with medium heat while stirring until the milk is scalded (180 – 185° F.). Remove from heat and cool to 105 – 110° F.

Step 2. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar on the warm milk, then stir to dissolve.

Step 3. Put the milk mixture in a mixing bowl, then add the melted butter or lard, eggs, flour, and salt; beat until the batter is smooth.

Step 4. Cover and put in the refrigerator overnight (10 – 15 hours).

Step 5. Remove from refrigerator, gently stir, then ladle batter onto a hot waffle iron and cook following the waffle iron directions.

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Old-Fashioned Watermelon Salad

Watermelon Salad in bowlI’m still enjoying locally-grown watermelon, but know that the season will end soon. I came across a lovely hundred-year-old recipe for Watermelon Salad that bridges the summer and fall seasons, and decided to give it a try. This salad contains watermelon cubes that are coated with sugar, warm fall spices (cinnamon and nutmeg), and orange juice.

The Watermelon Salad was delightful. The cozy, warm cinnamon and nutmeg on the refreshing,  juicy cubes of watermelon reminded me a bit of the apples in apple pie – though the texture was different. This salad is a lovely fall treat, though it would also work well during the summer (and, during any season, since watermelon can now be purchased year-round).

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Watermelon Salad
Source: The New Winston Cook Book of Guaranteed Recipes (1926)

When I made this recipe there was a lot of  liquid, so I drained the salad before serving. Additionally, I skipped lining the bowl with lettuce.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Watermelon Salad

  • Servings: 2 - 3
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

2 cups watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons orange juice

Step 1. Put the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl; stir until combined.

Step 2. Put the watermelon cubes in a bowl, then sprinkle the sugar mixture over it.

Step 3. Pour the orange juice over sugar mixture and watermelon; stir gently, then let sit for a few minutes.

Step 4. To serve, drain excess juice and put in serving bowl(s).

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Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Squares

Butterscotch Squares

A hundred years ago (and throughout much of the 20th century) promotional cookbooks distributed by food companies were very popular. Pre-internet and social media, companies frequently used them to publicize their products.

In 1926, the Corn Products Refining Company published a cookbook by Ida Bailey Allen called The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods. The cookbook contained recipes that used Karo Corn Syrup, Mazola Corn Oil, Argo Cornstarch and other products made by the company. At the time, Mrs. Allen was a popular cookbook author. She later became a radio cooking celebrity, as well as an editor of Good Housekeeping magazine.

woman putting food on outdoor table
Source: The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1926)

I wanted to make some bar cookies for a pot luck picnic, so decided to try  a recipe in the book for Butterscotch Squares.

I have mixed opinions about this recipe. If I set aside my preconceived notions about what these squares would be like (dense bars with a rich butterscotch flavor), and just enjoyed the squares I ended up with, I’d say that the Butterscotch Squares were tasty.

However, I couldn’t detect any hint of butterscotch when I nibbled on the squares, so I feel like I need to lower my rating of them. Also, the base of the Butterscotch Squares had a cake-like texture, rather than the typical more substantive, dense, moist texture of bar cookies. This base was topped with a thin layer of corn syrup and chopped nuts. (I used pecans.) The only sweetener that the recipe called for was the corn syrup in the topping, which resulted in the squares not being very sweet.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Butterscotch Squares
Source: The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1926)

The recipe says that the dough should be put in a “medium-sized dripping pan.” I’m not sure what that is or how large it is, so I used a 9″ X 13″ rectangular baking pan. I didn’t measure the thickness of the dough, and it may have been slightly thicker than 1/2 inch. If I had used a pan which was a little larger, the texture may have been a little less cake-like.

The recipe calls for 4 teaspoons baking powder. This seems like a lot of baking powder, so I used 2 teaspoons baking powder.

I used olive oil instead of the Mazola Corn Oil, but any vegetable oil would work in this recipe.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Butterscotch Squares

  • Servings: approximately 60 bars
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

2 cups bread flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup olive oil or other vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups milk

1 cup dark or light corn syrup (Karo, etc.) (I used dark corn syrup.)

1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans.)

Step 1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

Step 2. Sift together flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder.

Step 3. Add olive/vegetable oil and milk; stir until combined.

Step 4. Grease a rectangular 9″ X 13″ baking pan, and put the mixture in the pan. (A pan that is a little larger could be substituted for the baking pan, if a less fluffy bar is desired.)

Step 5. Place in oven and bake.

Step 6. In the meantime, put the corn syrup in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil using medium heat. Reduce heat and cook until the syrup reaches the thread stage (230 – 235° F).

Step  7.  When the bars are lightly browned, remove from oven and spread hot syrup on top, then sprinkle with the chopped nuts Press lightly to help ensure that the nuts stick to the top of the bars. (Depending upon the size of the pan, there may be a little more syrup than needed. It should be thinly spread and not gloppy.)

Step 8. Return to pan to oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then cut into squares approximately 1 1/4″ X 1 1/4.”

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