Onions

"The white silver-skins are the best species. To boil them:- Peel off the outside, cut off the ends, put them into cold water and into a stew-pan, and let them scald two minutes; then turn off that water, pour on cold water, and boil slowly till tender, which will be in thirty or forty minutes, - according to their size; when done, drain them quite dry, pour a little melted butter over them, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and serve hot."

"Onions are very nice fried in butter. Many people like them roasted, by burying them in ashes without removing the outer skin: when roasted, pull off the skin and season them with salt and butter."

The Practical Cook Book pg 94

Luncheon

"Fried Turn Overs - Have ready a kettle of boiling lard. having made a pie crust not very rich, cut it in squares, roll them out even and put in a table spoonful of dried apple sauce, make it very fine and sweet, add a little nutmeg or allspice if you prefer it. Eat them when just cold, with a little sweet cream. They must have the edges pinched very tight so as not to let a particle of apple escape in the lard. They are delicious if rightly made."    From The Practical Housekeeper 1855

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"Sausages Cold - Take fried sausages, cut them into picea three inches long, roll them up in nice pastry and bake them. They are nice for supper or luncheon."  From The Practical Housekeeper 1855

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"no 3 Mince Pie (temperance) - Boil until very tender, three pounds of beef's heart; then chop it as fine as possible and add half a pound of beef suet, cleansed from its skin and filaments, and finely minced; mix all these well together, and add one pound of brown sugar, two pounds of Zante currants, two pounds of raisins, stoned and cut in halves, the grated rind of one orange, the grated rind and the juice of three lemons, one fable spoonful of powdered cinnamon, one of ginger, one of cloves, one of mace, two of salt, and one quart of the best West India molasses; stir all well together; the mixture should be very moist, but not thin.

If you wish to use this mince immediately, add two pounds of finely minced apple, and half a pound of citron cut in slices, to every pound and a half of meat; the apples should be very acid."   From Practical Cook Book 1850

Apple or Junk Pie

Since it's apple season, I figured that we could all use a simple recipe calling for them. This is a recipe very similar to the modern one that I use.

Paste or Crust Translation: Cut 2 sticks of softened butter into 4 cups of flour. Add a teaspoon of salt and about 1 cup of water, a little at a time. Mix well and allow to rest for a few minutes, then roll out on floured surface. This makes 2 pie crusts with tops.

Apple Filling Translation: Cut, core, peel and slice 5-7 apples. Line a pie tin with your crust and heap it full of prepared apples. Sprinkle on a bit of salt, drizzle with 2 teaspoons of molasses and shake over with cinnamon. I used a good bit of cinnamon.

To Finish: Wet the edges of the bottom crust and add the top crust. Pinch and trim the edges. Make a slit in the top to allow the steam to escape. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Green Tomatoes

Our tomatoes are just not turning red. We have loads of green ones just staying green with no sign of change. Here are a few recipes for green tomatoes that I have found. I will probably update this next week as we have a picnic to cook for.

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"Green Tomato Pie - Scald green tomatoes, peel and slice them thin, lay them in a deep plate and plenty of sugar, a little lemon peel. Cover with a thick crust. Bake one hour."

From The Practical Housekeeper 1855

 

Green Tomato Pie Translation: Plunge large, green tomatoes in boiling water until the skins peel back. Take out of the boiling water and plunge into cold water. Peel off the skins, slice them thin, drain them and lay them in a deep plate. Add a cup of sugar and some lemon. Cover with your favorite pie crust and bake for an hour at 350 degrees.

 

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"Green Tomato Pickle Cut in thin slices one peck of green tomatoes sprinkle them with salt and let them stand a day or two. Slice ten or twelve small onions. Mix together one bottle or small tin box of mustard, half an ounce of mustard seed, one ounce of cloves, one ounce of pimento, two ounces of turmeric. Put in the kettle a layer of tomatoes, then one of onions and spice till all are in. Cover it with good vinegar and let it simmer till the tomatoes are quite clear."

From Mrs Hales Recipes For The Million 1857

 

"GREEN TOMATO PICKLES Take any size, but those ready to ripen are the best, place them in a vessel and throw on a hand full of salt, cover with boiling water and let them stand till cold then slice them through transversely once or twice, according to the size, then lay them in a crock with thin sliced onions. Prepare the vinegar with cloves, cinnamon, and allspice, and pour on hot. Cover and set away for a few days. They will be found very delicious and will keep all winter. Those who dislike onions may omit them."

From Practical American Cookery 1860

 

 

  

Pickled Onions

"Pickled Onions - Boil small onions (until about half cooked) in salted water then while hot drop them into a jar of spiced vinegar. Pepper is the best spice for this vinegar."

From Breakfast, Dinner and Tea 1860

 

"PICKLED ONIONS Take the smallest onions that can be procured, just after they are harvested, for they are never in so good a state for the purpose as then proceed, after having peeled them, exactly as for the eschalots, and when they begin to look clear, which will be in three or four minutes put them into jars, and pour the pickle on them. The vinegar should be very pale, and their colour will then be exceedingly well preserved. Any favourite spices can be added to it."

 

" PICKLED ESCHALOTS For a quart of ready peeled eschalots, add to the same quantity of the best pale white wine vinegar, a dessertspoonful of salt, and an ounce of whole white pepper; bring these quickly to a boil, take off the scum, throw in the eschalots, simmer them for two minutes only, turn them into a clean stone jar, and when they are quite cold tie a skin, or two folds of thick paper over it.

Eschalots, 1 quart; vinegar, 1 quart; salt, 1 dessertspoonful; whole white pepper, 1 oz

Obs. - The sooner the eschalots are pickled after they are ripe and dry, the better they will be."

From Modern Cookery 1858.

 

I made 3 batches of these.  My onions are a type that is comparable to shallots so I was happy to find the pickled onion and pickled shallot recipes were so similar. I started with the recipe for Pickled Eschalots.

 

For my first batch I substituted apple cider vinegar and whole black pepper corn for the white wine vinegar and whole white pepper. I had 2 quarts of onions, so I doubled the recipe, except for the pepper. For that, I used only 3/4 of an ounce for the whole batch. While I was making it I didn't think it would be edible. However, these fit at the table of a poor farm family that is making due with what they have.

 

For my second batch, I used white vinegar and half as much ground white pepper. I had 3 quarts of onions, so I multiplied the recipe accordingly. It looks very nice.

 

For my third batch, I used white wine vinegar and whole white pepper. I had 2 quarts of onions, so I doubled the recipe. These are the best but the white wine vinegar was not as clear as the white vinegar. However, my onions are not a white type but instead a white with purple shoulders type.

 

I used the directions, from a modern canning book, for processing the onions. I salt brined the onions over night and rinsed them in the morning. Then I prepared the vinegar, salt and pepper and brought that to a boil. The onions were packed into clean hot jars and the boiling vinegar was poured over them. It was processed in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Potato Soup

"Potato Soup - Put over two quarts of water, peel and slice eight potatoes and put in as soon as the water boils; a small piece of red pepper, a teaspoonful of salt, just before you take it off. Take a piece of butler the size of an hen's egg and scorch it on a round tin. Sprinkle in some flour to thicken it, and then scrape it into your broth. Let it boil up a few minutes, and then pour it in your tureen on a slice of toast."

From The Practical Housekeeper 1855

This is essentially the way that we make potato soup at our house and we like it very much.

Modern directions: Chop 1 - 2 potatoes for each person. Potatoes should be in nice bite sized pieces. Boil in salted water for 5 minutes or until just soft enough to mash with a fork. Do not overcook. Drain and set aside. Melt a good amount of butter in a pan. Mix 2 tablespoons of flour in one cup of milk. Add this to the butter. Heat until thickening starts. Stir constantly. Add the cooked potatoes. Add more flour mixed in milk until it covers the potatoes. Set heat to high and stir every 1-2 minutes. When thickening becomes frothy it is done. Salt and pepper to taste. You may use broth instead of milk. Onions sauteed in the butter at the beginning is also very good.

The main difference is that we make it with milk or broth instead of using the cook water. We also generally make this in very large batches and do not serve it over toast. The toast idea is very interesting and tasty if you have stale bread that needs to be used up.

Peaches

PEACH SALAD.

Peel four or five ripe, juicy peaches, and slice them neatly, and have each slice as much alike as possible in shape and thickness; lay them in a glass dish, and cover them with loaf-sugar, pour over them a spoonful of brandy or wine; turn them off the top to the bottom, so they may all be seasoned alike.
The most of fruits may be prepared in the same way; but never mix fruits.

TO PRESERVE PEACHES WHOLE.

Take the cling-stone peaches before entirely ripe, wash them and put them in a jar; put a tablespoonful of pearlash to some soft water, and pour it over them boiling hot; cover them, and let them stand all night, then put them into cold water, wash and wipe them well; and to every pound of peaches, have a pound of loaf-sugar. Make a syrup of the sugar, and put the peaches in it while hot; simmer them slowly till they are done, take the peaches out, and boil the syrup down till it is quite thick. Put the peaches in jars, pour the syrup over them, and when cold cover them with paper dipped in brandy.

TO PRESERVE PEACHES.

Select good plum-peaches, pare, and cut them from the stone. Take equal weights of fruit and crushed sugar, lay them in an earthen vessel, and let them remain all night. In the morning, drain the fruit from the syrup, place it in dishes, and set it in the sun. Put the syrup into a preserving pan, and boil it three hours, skimming it well; then put the fruit into jars, and pour syrup over every two or three layers of fruit until the jar is filled; observe that the fruit must be entirely covered with syrup. Cover them tightly with brandied paper, and set them in a dry place.

BRANDY PEACHES.

Take the best cling-stone peaches, wash and wipe them, to get the furze off, prick them with a needle, and scald till you can pierce the skin with a straw. Make a syrup with loaf-sugar, taking three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of peaches. Let the syrup boil till it is quite thick, then let it cool, and when it is milk-warm, put an equal quantity of good brandy with it, and pour it over the fruit.

PEACH PIE.

Slice some nice, ripe peaches, very thinly, put them in a dish, and sprinkle them with sugar; let them stand an hour; have ready some rich puff-paste, line your plates neatly, and fill them full; add some more sugar, and bake them in half an hour.

PUFF-PASTE.

To a pound and a quarter of sifted flour, rub gently in with the hand, half a pound of fresh butter; mix it up with half a pound of fresh butter; mix it up with half a pint of spring-water. Knead it well, and set it by for a quarter of an hour; then roll it out thin, lay on it, in small pieces, three-quarters of a pound more of butter, throw on it a little flour, double it up in folds, and roll it out thin three times, and set it by an hour in a cold place.

PEACH-WATER ICE.

Take one pound of the pulp of ripe peaches, half a pint of syrup, half a pint of water, the juice of two lemons, and mix them well. If the fruit is not ripe enough to pulp, open them and take out the stones, put them in a stewpan with the syrup and water, boil until tender, and pass them through a sieve; mix in the pounded kernels; when cold, freeze.

From The Great Western Cookbook 1857

Poached Eggs

In Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-day Cookery there is given a bill of fare for Breakfast. In that list is mentioned poached eggs. Here are directions for preparing them.

"Half fill a bright frying pan with boiling water; add a salt spoonful of salt and two teaspoonfuls of vinegar; break each egg separately into a cup, pour them carefully into the water while boiling; with a small slice throw the white over the yolk; drain for half a minute, then serve either on hot buttered toast, or on spinach or sorrel. Two and a half or three minutes will be sufficient time to give them."

From The Young Housewife's Daily Assistant 1864

Notes: My salt spoon holds just less than 1/2 teaspoon. I used white vinegar, as I found it mentioned in other cook books of the time. I am assuming that a "slice" is a slotted spoon and was able to find a reference; "passing the slice or a spoon". I used a lined copper frypan as cast iron is not good to boil water in.

Over all, it really wasn't hard to do. I just made 2 eggs for myself and they turned out beautifully. The key is to not have the water boiling when you add the eggs and to gently add them to the water. Otherwise, if you add the egg too fast, it will slide to the other side of the pan and stream the white behind it. As I had no spinach or sorrel, I ate my poached eggs on modern toast with salt and pepper.

Mrs. Beeton also gives her own instruction for making poached eggs here along with an explanation of the importance of fresh eggs and an illustrations of a tin egg-poacher .

Radishes

 "Radishes are of three sorts; the long red, the small button or turnip radish, and the winter or white radish.

Radishes should be fresh pulled and tender, to be in perfection for the palate, or to be healthful; to many persons they are positively injurious.

To prepare them for the table cut off all tho leaves, leaving about an inch of the stalk, trim them neatly, and lay them in cold water for an hour, serve the long ones in a tumbler or celery glass half filled with water, serve the small ones on a plate; they are generally eaten with salt only; they may be served cut in thin slices, with vinegar, pepper and salt over."

From The American System of Cookery 1864

Spinach, Toast and Eggs

To prepare the spinach:
"Cut off all the roots, and put it in boiling water with a tea-spoonful of salt; let it boil ten or fifteen minutes according to its age and size; when done, drain through a colander, and serve with coddled eggs laid on top, a spoonful of butter, and a little salt.

Or, when the spinach is boiled, you may chop it, and dish it in snippets of buttered toast, seasoned with pepper and salt."         

The Practical Cook Book pg 97

Coddled Eggs:

"Break the eggs and slip them separately, so as not to break the yolks, into a stew-pan of boiling water; let the whites just set, then take them up in a skimmer, drain off the water, and serve on slices of buttered toast."

         The Practical Cook Book pg 86

Milk Griddle Cakes & Delicate Omelettes For Breakfast

Both of these recipes came from Peterson's 1862, February issue.

Milk Griddle Cake for Breakfast - Take a pound and a half of flour, and about three ounces  of butter, and a little salt; rub the butter into the flour well, and wet it with milk enough to make it a stiff paste. Knead and work it well, roll it out very thin, cut the cakes out with either a tin cutter or a tumbler, prick them all over with a fork, and bake them on a griddle. A little additional butter will make them richer, but that is according to taste; cream may be used in place of milk.

A Delicate Omelette - Break eight eggs in a stewpan, to which add a teaspoonful of very finely-chopped parsley, half ditto of salt, a pinch of pepper, and three good tablespoonfuls of cream; beat them well together; then put two ounces of butter in an omelette-pan, stand it over a sharp fire, and, as soon s the butter is hot, pour in the eggs, stir them round quickly with a spoon until delicately set; then shake the pan round, leave it a moment to color the omelette, hold the pan in a slanting position, just tap it upon the stove to bring the omelette to a proper shape, and roll the flap over the spoon; turn it upon your dish, and serve as soon as done. Take care not to do it too much.

Research: What is a ditto measure?

Conclusion: The griddle cakes reminded us of modern day English Muffins. I was surprised how well they turned out without any sweetener. The children loved them. Jam was also provided on the table but the young children ate the cakes without. The eggs were very similar to the egg puffs that I have grown up with. They were also very good. I used fresh parsley from a plant that I over-wintered in a sunny window.

Modern translation:
Griddle Cakes
4 1/2 cups flour plus some to flour your table
6 Tablespoons butter at room temperature
salt
1 - 1.5 cups of milk or cream

Mix all together, adding enough milk to make a stiff dough. Kneed it on a floured surface until smooth. Roll it out thin and cut with biscuit cutters or a large mouthed glass or jar. Prick the tops all over and "bake" them on a buttered griddle. They should turn out like short biscuits, not crackers.

A Delicate Omelette
8 eggs
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley
half ditto of salt
a pinch of pepper
3 Tablespoons of milk or cream
4 Tablespoons of butter

In a bowl combine the eggs, parsley, salt, pepper and milk or cream. Beat them until well mixed. Melt the butter in a pan, preferably an omelet pan. Once it is melted, add the egg mixture. Cover the pan for a moment until the egg has set. Shake the pan or loosen the egg from the sides with a spatula, being careful not to break it. Once it is done, fold the omelet onto your dish and serve hot.

Rice Custard

This was listed as a desert in Peterson's Magazine, January 1863

Rice Custard - Sweeten a pint of milk with loaf sugar, boil it with a stick of cinnamon, stir in sifted ground rice till quite thick. Take it off the fire; add the whites of 3 eggs well beaten; stir it again over the fire for 2 or 3 minutes, then put it into cups that have lain in cold water; do not wipe them. When cold, turn them out, and put them into the dish in which they are to be served; pour round them a custard made of the yolks of the eggs and a little more than a half-pint of milk. Put on the top a little red currant jelly or raspberry jam. A pretty supper dish.

Research/questions for this project:

1) What is "loaf-sugar"?
According to Lessons on Common Thing, published in 1857, the qualities of loaf-sugar are: "it is soluble, or dissolvable in water. fusible, or may be melted by heat. brittle. hard. sweet. white. solid. opaque." and is used "To sweeten our food".
Here is a wonderful resource on sugar Essay On Sugar and Treatise on Sugar Refining, 1864

2) Was there white rice or rice flour?
Searching on Google Books from 1860-1865 there are many references to white rice as well as red rice and rice flour.

3) Needed recipe for Raspberry Jam - From The Royal English and Foreign Confectioner, 1862
Raspberry Jam without seeds
Ingredients: 12lbs of raspberries, 12lbs of sugar, 2 lbs of red currants.
Time: twenty minutes
Bruise the currants in the preserving pan, with a pint of water, then add the picked raspberries; stir the whole on the fire for a few minutes, and then rub the pulp through a cane sieve into a large pan. Boil the sugar with just water enough to dissolve it, to the pear, add the pulp, boil sharply for twenty minutes, stirring the jam the whole time, and as soon as it drapes on the edge of the spoon, pour it into the pots.

Raspberry Jam with seeds.
Ingredients: 12lbs raspberries, 12lbs of sugar.
Time: twenty minutes
Boil the sugar to the ball degree, add the fruit, stir over a brisk fire for twenty minutes, when the jam will be ready to pour into the pots; finish in the usual manner.

4) Need recipe for "a custard made of the yolks of the (3) eggs and a little more than a half-pint of milk" -  Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cooking 1865
Custard Sauce, for Sweet Puddings or Tarts
Ingredients - 1/2 pint of milk, 2 eggs, 3 oz. of pounded sugar, I tablespoonful of brandy.
Mode - Put the milk in a very clean saucepan, and let it boil. Beat the eggs, stir to them the milk and pounded sugar, and put the mixture into a jug. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water; keep stirring well until it thickens, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle. Serve the sauce in a tureen, stir in the brandy, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. This sauce may be made very much nicer by using cream instead of milk; but the above recipe will be found quite good enough for ordinary purposes.

Conclusion: The custard is quite good and creamy. Most people will probably want to add more sugar but it was sweet enough for my household. It was relatively quick to make, with the exception of beating the eggs by hand. According to the last statement in the recipe, "A pretty supper dish", this would be served at the evening meal.

Modern translation: Chill custard cups in the refrigerator. Beat the whites of 3 eggs until stiff peaks form. In a double boiler, heat 2 cups of milk with 1/4 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add a cinnamon stick and bring to a boil. Remove the cinnamon and stir in sifted rice flour until it becomes thick. Take this off your heat and fold in the egg whites. Return to the stove and heat, stirring for 2 or 3 minutes. Spoon the custard into the chilled cups and set aside to cool. When completely cool, turn out onto serving dishes and top with currant jelly or raspberry jam.