Tag: recipe

Old-fashioned Spiced Cranberries

Now that cranberries are in season, I just had to try a hundred-year-old recipe for Spiced Cranberries. Spiced Cranberries are NOT like the ubiquitous cranberry sauce that seems to be everywhere each holiday season, but rather are more of a chutney with a delightful sweet-sour flavor that is a perfect accompaniment to meat or poultry.  In addition to cranberries, this recipe calls for sugar, vinegar, and a lovely mixture of fall spices (cinnamon, cloves, allspice).

Here is the original recipe:

Source: Good Housekeeping (November, 1917)

The old recipe makes a lot – and indicates that the Spiced Cranberries should be canned. I decided to make less – and purchased one 12-ounce package (about 3 cups) of fresh cranberries, and then adjusted all of the other ingredients based on the amount of cranberries. Here is the updated recipe:

Spiced Cranberries

  • Servings: about 1 pint
  • Difficulty: easy
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1 12-ounce package (about 3 cups) fresh cranberries

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 1/4 cups sugar

2 1/8 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon allspice

Wash cranberries, then combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil using medium heat, reduce heat to low and gently simmer for 45 minutes. (Do not cover pan. This mixture boils over very easily.)  Remove from heat.  May be served either warm or cold.

Traditional Spice Cookies

Tailgating. . . fall campfires on chilly evenings . .  . kids’ (and adults’) Halloween parties. .  . They all call for hearty cookies.  And (of course), I found a hundred-year-old recipe that fits the bill.  Spice Cookies are a molasses cookie spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. These cookies are slightly crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside.

Here’s the original recipe:

Source: Larkin Housewives’ Cook Book (1917)

This recipe was on  a page in the old cookbook that was covered with (nearly 100-year-old?) food stains. Was this recipe a particular favorite of the original owner of the cookbook?

Here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Spice Cookies

  • Servings: approximately 50 cookies
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1 cup molasses

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening or lard

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups flour

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375° F.  Put molasses in a dutch oven or a large saucepan; bring to a boil using medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, butter, and shortening or lard. Add ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda, stir to combine. Then add flour and eggs, and stir until well-mixed. Refrigerate dough 1/2 hour or until chilled. On well-floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch circles. (I used an upside-down water glass as the cookie cutter.) Place on greased baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Do not over cook if a moist cookie is desired.

Hundred-Year-Old Peanut Butter Bread Recipe

Want a cross between peanut butter cookies and homemade bread? If so, a hundred-year-old recipe for Peanut Butter Bread may be just the recipe for you.

Here is the original recipe:

Source: Ladies Home Journal (January, 1917)
Source: Ladies Home Journal (January, 1917)

And, here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Peanut Butter Bread

  • Servings: 1 loaf
  • Difficulty: easy
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2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup milk

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add peanut butter, milk, and eggs.; beat until well mixed.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. May be served warm or cold.

The hundred-year-old recipe called for 2 “rounded” teaspoons baking powder. I used 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder – and that worked well.

I used less salt than called in the original recipe. One teaspoon of salt seemed like a lot for a loaf of bread, so I reduced it to 1/2 teaspoon.

The old recipe says that this bread is best when it is a day old.  In my opinion, the bread was good the day after I made it – though it also was good shortly after I took it out of the oven.

Apple Flamingo Recipe

Fall is here – and apples abound; so I dug through my hundred-year-old cookbooks looking for the perfect apple recipe. I found a recipe for Apple Flamingo, and think that I found a winner.

Apple Flamingo is basically a baked apple with the skin removed following baking.  Red apples are used in this recipe, so the cooked apples take on a bit of the color from the apple skins,  and have a lovely reddish hue. The apples are served with a citrus syrup that contains bits of lemon and orange zest, and are topped with whipped cream.

Apple Flamingo is delightful and seems almost decadent. This apple and citrus dessert is a welcome change from the usual cinnamon apple desserts.

Here is the original recipe.

Source: Lowney’s Cook Book (1912)

And. here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Apple Flamingo

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: moderate
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8 apples (use a red variety that maintains shape – Rome, Braeburn, Winesap, etc.)

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons orange juice

grated rind of 1/2 lemon

grated rind of 1/2 orange

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F. Core apples, and put in a baking dish. Place in oven and bake until tender (about 45 – 55 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool slightly, then gently remove skin using care to leave the reddish color on the apple flesh and maintain apple shape. (I started removing the skin at the bottom of the apple where the skin was moister and easier to loosen and worked up to the top.)

In the meantime, make the sauce by putting the sugar and water in a saucepan; stir to combine. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the liquid thickens into a syrup (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, orange juice, grated lemon rind, and grated orange rind.

Also, in the meantime, make the whipped cream. Place the whipping cream in a bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Add confectioners sugar, and continue beating until thoroughly mixed.

To serve, spoon sauce over the baked apples. Top with the whipped cream. Serve warm.

Note: This recipe makes a lot of the citrus sauce. I had some left-over when I made this recipe, so I baked several additional apples the following day.

I put a little confectioners sugar in the whipped cream. The original recipe didn’t call for adding any sugar to the whipped cream, but I thought that the whipped cream was tastier when sweetened a bit.

Old-fashioned Carrot Timbales

Vegetables can be boring, so I’m always looking for interesting new recipes. I recently found a hundred-year-old recipes for Carrot Timbales. The timbales are delightfully light, have a texture similar to a custard, and a delicate flavor. This recipe is a keeper, and I anticipate that I’ll be making it again soon.

Here’s the original recipe:

Source: The Housewife’s Cook Book by Lilla Frich (1917)

And, here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Carrot Timbales

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: moderate
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4 carrots, peeled and sliced (approximately 2 cups sliced)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon onion juice

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream

Put sliced carrots in a saucepan and cover with water. Using high heat bring to a boil; then reduce heat, cover, and cook until tender (about 20 – 25 minutes). Remove from heat and drain.  Puree carrots until smooth or put through a ricer. (I used a ricer.)

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, onion juice, sugar, salt, pepper, and whipping cream. Add the pureed carrots – a small amount at a time –  while stirring constantly. Beat until thoroughly combined. Put the mixture into greased custard cups, and place in a pan filled with hot water that reaches half way to the top of the custard cups. Put in oven and bake until the mixtures has set – and a knife inserted in the timbale comes out clean. Remove from oven. To remove the timbales from custard cups,  gently loosen each timbale from the custard cup using a knife or spatula, then flip onto a plate and serve immediately. If desired, may be served with peas, cauliflower, or stewed meat.

I used only half as much salt as the original recipe called for. One teaspoon of salt seemed like a lot, so I instead used 1/2 teaspoon.

Old-fashioned Fried Green Tomatoes

I think of Fried Green Tomatoes as a classic comfort food – but I never actually tried them until I recently made a hundred-year-old recipe.

This is a food that I should have tried years ago. The Fried Green Tomatoes turned out wonderfully.  They were delightful with a crispy cornmeal coating.

Here is the original recipe:

Source: The Blue Grass Cook Book (Compiled by Minnie C. Fox, 1917)

And, here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Fried Green Tomatoes

  • Servings: 3 - 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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4 medium green tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch slices

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

sugar

salt

pepper

1/2 cup corn meal

shortening or lard

Combine  the water and  1 teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl, then soak the sliced tomatoes in the water for approximately 30 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the water and drain on a paper towel, then lay the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet, and sprinkle with sugar, salt, and pepper. Put the cornmeal in a small bowl, then roll each tomato slice in the cornmeal.

Heat 1/2 inch of shortening or large in a large frying pan. Carefully place the breaded green tomato slices in the pan in a single layer. Depending upon pan size, the slices may need to be cooked in several batches. Fry for about 3 minutes or until the bottom side of each slice is lightly browned, then gently turn and fry until the other side is browned. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Old-fashioned Potato O’Brien

When browsing through hundred-year magazines, I came across a recipe for Potato O’Brien. Diced potatoes (that are first boiled) and green pepper are immersed in a hot and bubbly mild cheese sauce. The dish is then browned in the oven.

This version of Potato O’Brien is a little different from most modern recipes (which generally call for frying the potatoes), but it’s delicious. It reminds me a little of Scalloped Potatoes, but with cheese and green peppers.

Here’s the original recipe:

Source: American Cookery (June – July, 1918)

This recipe contained several firsts for me. It’s the first hundred-year-old recipe that I’ve ever seen that called for American Cheese. I googled it, and learned from Wikipedia that:

After the official invention of processed cheese in 1911, and its subsequent popularization by James L. Kraft in the late-1910s and the 1920s, the term “American cheese” rapidly began to refer to this variety, instead of the traditional but more expensive cheddars also made and sold in the US.

Apparently by 1918, American cheese was commonly enough available that it was included in recipes published in magazines.

It’s also the first hundred-year-old recipe that I’ve ever seen that called for skim milk. I’m not clear to me why skim milk is preferred in this dish, so when I updated the recipe I just listed milk as an ingredient.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Potato O'Brien

  • Servings: 3 - 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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4 medium potatoes (about 2 cups, diced)

1 tablespoon butter

1 green pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup milk

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup American cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Peel and dice the potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces. Put diced potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Put on high heat and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender (about 10 minutes).

In the meantime, in a skillet, melt butter using low heat. Add the green pepper;  saute until tender, and then stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. While stirring constantly, slowly pour in milk and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add cheese, and stir until the cheese is melted. Gently stir in the cooked potatoes. Put into a baking dish and place in the oven. Bake until the top is lightly browned (about 20 – 30 minutes).

One teaspoon of salt seemed like a lot to me, so when I updated the recipe, I used less salt than was called for in the original recipe. I also sauted the green pepper in butter, rather than cooking it separately first.