Harry & Edna present interactive talks and reenactment videos of rationing in the UK during WWII.
Recipes
By 1916 Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book was the standard culinary textbook in Oklahoma public schools. Before 1916, the textbook Austin’s Domestic Science was known to be used. Here is a pdf copy of a later edition of the Oklahoma school textbook, Austin’s Domestic Science. Note: The pdf eBook may take a minute to appear.
In another old cook book, Modern Women of America Cook Book, two modern women from 1913 Oklahoma share their “Smothered Chicken” recipes.
Smothered Chicken.
One young chicken, one-half cupful butter, little lard, yolks two eggs, one cup cream, three potatoes, one onion, stalk celery. Dress and cut up a nice young chicken. Put the butter and lard in a deep frying pan and when very hot put in the chicken, dredged in flour. Slice the potatoes and onions one-quarter of an inch thick and lay on top of the chicken and add the celery chopped fine, and the seasoning. Fry until brown, then without turning pour on enough hot water to cover. Cover closely and cook until tender. Beat the yolks of the eggs and add the cream. Be sure the chicken is covered with water, then add the thickening and let boil up once. A year-old chicken can be used.—Mrs. Walter Thrasher, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1913.
Smothered Chicken.
One large chicken, flour, seasoning, butter. Dress and cut up the chicken as for frying. Dredge with flour and place in a dripping pan. Season, add a little butier and cover with boiling water. Put in the oven and bake until tender.—Mrs. Etta Owen, Poarch, Oklahoma, 1913
Remember to catch the Smithsonian’s exhibit at six locations in Oklahoma in 2011-2012, “Key Ingredients: America By Food.”
Thank you to Oklahoma Pastry Clothe Company for duplicating historic recipes from the original Austin’s Domestic Science book.
Old-fashion cranberry sauce recipe handwritten in the 1880s.
Cranberry Jelly
1/2 as much sugar as cranberries
1/2 as much water as sugar
Cook cranberries fast till they
stop popping — Rub through sieve –
Add sugar — Just let boil up &
pour in molds.
Refrigerate or freeze the cranberry sauce in mold. An old fashion method of releasing the cranberry sauce is to dip the metal mold into hot water before release, if necessary.
Music from wikipedia VocalLessonNumber51910_64kb
The Bride’s 1880s Handwritten Cook Book
An ebook of Ella’s other recipes in her own handwriting when she was a newly married in Fairfield Iowa in 1881 is available here alongside a transcription for easy reading.
eBook (Adobe PDF) Instant Download
$3.88
Instant Download
Acorns are everywhere in October…you may wonder “Why don’t we eat these?” The answer: they are bitter. But early Americans used them, and Jackie Clay describes how to process them to taste sweet and includes a few recipes! Jackie Clay’s online archive.
6 cookbooks for or by historic cooking-school teachers:
The New York Times selected a husband-and-wife chef team to create a new dish based upon their published 1881 Chocolate Caramel recipe.
La Cuisine Francois by François Tanty Chicago: Baldwin, Ross & Co.
BEEF SAUTE A LA STROGONOFF. (Entree.)
PROPORTIONS.–For five persons:
Beef (tenderloin, roll or steak)….2 lbs.
Onion………………………….1.
Butter…………………………3 tablespoonsful.
Flour………………………….1 tablespoonful.
Cream………………………….2 glassesful.
Worcestershire sauce…………….2 tablespoonsful.
Time.–25 minutes.
PREPARATION.–1st. Slice your beef in slices the size of a half dollar but twice as thick. 2d. Let brown 1 chopped onion in a sauce pan with 3 tablespoonsful butter, add the sliced meat and let fry for about 5 minutes. 3d. Sprinkle over 1 tablespoonful flour, 2 glassesful cream, 2 tablespoonsful Worcestershire Sauce. Add some chopped parsley, let cook awhile and serve in a warm hollow dish.
The Canadian government required those going to the Klondike gold fields to bring a year’s supply of food with them to avoid starvation during the long Yukon winter. Some of the recommended supplies included 400 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of bacon, and 100 pounds of beans! (1)
(1) Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park
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Baked Alaska
It was probably about the time of the Klondike Gold Rush when the dessert Baked Alaska was so named. The ingredients are:
- Sponge Cake [invented 1700s - early 1800s] or other sweet base
- Meringue [invented in the 1600s]
- Ice Cream [invented in China 3000 BC ]
The recipe itself was earlier, probably from China, and introduced to the Parisians by the Chinese in the mid 1800s. The Paris cooks revised the recipe from a pastry casing to a meringue casing for ice cream, and that is how it was introduced to the United States. It was probably from Delmonico’s NY kitchen under Chef Charles Ranhofer that the recipe was adapted and renamed to honor the American rush to Alaska. [See The Big Apple article by for a well-reseached time-line with recipes from different times.]
Directions
Place on a board a thin layer of sponge cake cut an inch larger than your brick of ice cream [any size rectangular block] Place the very-hard frozen ice cream brick on the sponge cake and cover quickly with a meringue, spreading it thickly all over the ice cream, using a pastry tube for the finish. Place in a hot oven to brown the meringue, and then transfer to a serving plate.
Or you could use a pie shell or cookie as a base. For how-to videos on Baked Alaska and for a thourough reflection on the history please see The Big Apple article by Barry Popik.
