CARROTS A LA CREME
Pick out the smallest new carrots that can be obtained, boil them in salted water till almost done, then drain off the water. Melt 1 oz. of butter in a saucepan, add to it a dessertspoonful of flour, pepper, salt, grated nutmeg, a pinch of powdered sugar, and a small quantity of cream. Put in the carrots, simmer gently a few minutes and serve.
FRENCH TOAST
From a recipe published in 1892
Beat 4 eggs very light, and stir with them 1 pt. of milk; slice some nice white bread, dip the pieces into the egg and milk, then lay them into a pan of hot butter and fry brown. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar and cinnamon or nutmeg on each piece, and serve hot.
PORK CHOPS AND TOMATO GRAVY From Ransom's Receipt Book 1897
Rub the chops with powdered sage. Put them in a frying pan and cook thoroughly. Lay them on a hot dish. Add a cupful of hot water to the gravy and a large ripe tomato cut fine; stew five minutes, add pepper and salt and thicken with flour to proper consistency. Pour over the chops and serve hot with mashed potatoes. Strain before thickening if liked very smooth.
TO FRY HAM From Ransom's Receipt Book 1897
Run the slices of ham with a little syrup or a sprinkle of sugar the night before. In the morning put on in a frying pan and cover tightly for three minutes. Take off the cover, turn the slices and steam again for three minutes. Then uncover and fry until brown.
STAFFORDSHIRE BEEFSTEAKS The Model Cook Book 1903
Flour and season your steak, and fry with sliced onions; then lay into a stew-pan, after frying, and pour as much boiling water over it as will serve for sauce; stew very gently for half a hour, and add a teaspoonful of catsup or walnut liquor before you serve.
POTATO SOUP
An 19th Century Recipe
Fry 7 or 8 potatoes and a small sliced onion in a pan in some butter or drippings. When they are a little colored, put them in 2 or 3 pts. of hot water (stock would, of course, be better; yet hot water is oftenest used); add also a large heaping tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Let it boil until the potatoes are quite soft. Put all through the colander. Return it to the fire and let it simmer 2 or 3 mins. When just ready to serve, take the kettle off the fire; add plenty of salt and pepper, and the beaten yolks of 2 or 3 eggs. Do not let the soup boil when the eggs are in, as they would curdle.
OLD ITALIAN PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE
This is the way the Italians have done it.
Dissolve 1/2 cake of yeast in a half cup of lukewarm water. Sift 2 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt onto a board. Add the dissolved yeast and knead the mixture 15 minutes. Now add a tablespoon of olive oil and keep on kneading until it can be worked into a smooth ball. Cover it with a cloth and set it in a warm place until it doubles in size. Then you can roll it out into one large or several small circles to suit your needs.
BEEF AND VEAL LOAF Daily Bread 1901
Three pounds raw lean beef chopped fine, 3 eggs beaten together, 6 large crackers rolled fine, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 teaspoonful pepper, sage, summer savory and sweet majoram to taste. Mix well and mould into a loaf, put a little water and bits of butter into the pan around the loaf, invert a pan over it, baste occasionally and bake 1 1/4 hours. When cold slice very thin.
FRIED FROGS Mrs. I.P. Wodell 1901
The hind quarters alone are used. Put them into hot water and let come to a boil. Remove from water, roll in flour and fry in butter. If desired, they may be broiled or made into a fricassee with cream thickened with flour.
HAM PUFFS Buckeye Cook Book 1890
One pint each water and flour, five eggs, three or four tablespoons chopped ham, pinch of cayenne. While water is boiling stir in flour, beat well and cook until the stiff batter parts from the pan, then beat in the eggs one by one, and add the ham and seasoning; drop in hot lard and fry until brown. A nice breakfast dish.
CHILI SAUCE Rumford Complete Cook Book 1908
2 dozen tomatoes, 3 green peppers, 3 onions, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon each ground cloves, nutmeg, ginger and allspice, 1 quart vinegar.
Scald and peel the tomatoes, cut them in small pieces and put with all the other ingredients into a granite saucepan. Cook very slowly for three hours, and then bottle and seal.
ORANGE OMELET Rumford Complete Cook Book 1908
4 eggs, 4 tablespoons water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons butter, 2 oranges, sugar to taste.
Prepare the oranges by removing the skins, every particle of white pith, the seeds and as much as possible of the inner dividing skin; then cut or break into small pieces and add sugar to sweeten. This should be done some time before making the omelet so that the orange juice and sugar may form a syrup.
Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs; beat first the whites, then the yolks (by beating the whites first the same beater will do for both); add the salt and water to the yolks, then blend with the stiffly-beaten whites. Heat the butter in a omelet pan and when hot, but not browned, pour in the eggs and cook over a moderate, steady heat till the bottom of the omelet is set. This can be ascertained by gently inserting a knife between the omelet and the pan. As soon as set, place the pan on the upper shelf of a fairly hot oven to cook the top. When firm to the touch and slightly browned, remove from the oven and put a few pieces of the orange on the omelet; mark across the centre with a knife, double the two sides together quickly and turn or roll onto a hot dish. Pour the remainder of the orange around it and serve at once, as it soon falls.
