Grandmother's recipes from the Victorian Era. Enter the fascinating world of century old recipes. Many of these old-time recipes didn't list cooking times and frequently gave few of the details we have come to expect.
Many of the recipes came from the following books: Woman's Favorite Cook Book 1902, WWW Society Cook Book (early 1900s), West Bend Cook Book 1902, The Original Buckeye Cook Book 1890, Monarch Cook Book 1905, Gem Chopper Cook Book 1902, Dr. Chase's Recipes 1866 and 1900, The Model Cook Book 1903, Doctor Carlin's Recipes 1892, Daily Bread 1901 and Rumford Complete Cook Book 1908.
Definitions of Terms Used in Cookery
From Rumford Complete Cook Book 1908
A la Creole - Cooked with tomatoes, onions and peppers.
A la Printaniere - a soup or stew served with young spring vegetables.
Aspic - A savory jelly for meats, fish, vegetables and salads. Frequently used as a garnish.
Au Gratin - Cooked with browned crumbs and usually with grated cheese.
Bain-marie - A vessel containing hot water in which other vessels cotaining foods are placed to keep hot without further cooking. Literally a double boiler on a large scale.
Bechamel - A rich white sauce made with stock, milk or cream.
Bisque - A thick white sauce or soup generally made from shellfish.
Blanch - To whiten by scalding.
Bouillon - A meat broth.
Bombe - Moulded ices having the outside one variety and gthe centre another.
Bouquet of Herbs - A bunch of various flavoring herbs, used for soups or stews.
Braise - To cook in a closely covered stewpan with vegetables, having a gentle heat, that neither flavor nor juices are lost by evaporation.
Canape - A finger strip of bread or toast spread with a savory compound, usually either fish or egg, daintily garnished and served as an appetizer before lunch or dinner.
Croustades - Small pieces of bread fried or toasted. Used as a garnish for minced or hashed meat.
En Brochette - Small portions of meat, such as chicken livers, cooked with bacon on a skewer.
Entree - A savory made dish served as a course itself, or between heavier courses, at dinner.
Farci - Stuffed.
Fondue - Cheese and eggs cooked together.
Frappe - Half frozen.
Glace - Glazed over. In savory dishes with meat-stock, boiled down to a glaze; in sweet cookery, iced or brushed over with white of egg.
Hors-d'oeuvres - Small dishes served during the first course of a dinner.
Jardiniere - Mixed vegetables.
Lard - To insert strips of fat pork or bacon in meats deficient in fat, with a larding needle.
Macedoine - A mixture of vegetables and fruits.
Marinate - To make savory in a mixture of seasonings: oil and vinegar, or oil and lemon juice.
Mousse - May be savory or sweet. A light, frothy mixture thickened with gelatine, whipped with a whisk till spongy in texture and then packed in ice and salt for three or four hours.
Mulligtatawny- A rich soup flavored with curry.
Pate - A small pastry shell, usually made from puff paste. May contain either a sweet or savory filling.
Puree - Meats, vegetables, fish, etc. cooked in liquid till tender, then passed through a sieRe.
Roux - A cooked mixture of butter and flour for thickening soups, sauces and gravies.
Salmi - A rich stew of game, half roasted and then cut up and cooked in a sauce.
Saute - To cook till brown ina shallow pan with a little fat.
Souffle - Puffed up and made light by use of well-beaten eggs. May be savory or sweet.
Vol-au-vent - A very light case of puff paste in which savories or sweets may be served.
BREADS AND PASTRIES
Hints: To have a crisp crust on bread do not cover it when taken out of the oven; to have moist crust, cover with towel until cool; to have a dark crust, brush with milk when about half baked. Heat a breadknife before slicing a warm loaf of bread or cake and the slices will be smooth and even. Daily Bread 1901
Old Fashion Bread
by: Andrew Krause
This is a bread for bread lovers, it’s a bread similar to what people had made in the old fashion brick oven that was found in most peoples back yard many years ago.
It is a firm bread but with great taste and texture, it is especially good when served hot right from the oven with butter and jam. This recipe makes six loaves but you can break it down to two loaves just by dividing by three.
4 ½ pounds all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup oil
½ pound sugar
1 ounce dry yeast
6 cups warm water
In a stainless steel bowl place your yeast and 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 cup warm water and let the yeast work, when the yeast starts to rise you know that it is ok to use and that your bread is going to rise properly.
In a 10 quart mixing bowl place your flour, salt, sugar, oil, yeast you had started and 5 cups warm water. Mix on low speed using a dough hook on your mixer until well blended, then mix on second speed for about four minutes, at this time you should have a nice well textured dough, if the dough seems too dry to you just add a little more water and mix for about one more minute.
Remove dough from mixer and divide into 24 ounce balls well rounded and tight, let them stand for 5 minutes on table covered with a towel, at this time grease your bread pans, take a ball of dough and flatten it removing any air in the dough (don’t get too rough with it) flap the bottom part of the dough up to the middle and the top of the dough in to the middle and press it down then fold it in half again and with the heal of your hand seal the seam of the dough, (it should look like a six inch hoagie bun) now place it in a well greased bread pan with the seam on the bottom and let it rise under a towel until it is double in size.
In a preheated 350 degree oven place all your loaves of bread and let it bake for 20 minutes then rotate it and let it bake for another 20 minutes, remove from oven and remove from pan, let it cool on a wire rack, even a refrigerator rack is good.
When it is cool enough to cut “enjoy it”.
About The Author
Andrew Krause is a Chef and Pastry Chef for over 30 years, at persent I own a Gourmet Bakery called The Cheese Confectioner. You can visit my site at http://www.andies.cashhosters2.com
DOUGHNUTS From WWW Society Cook-Book
4 cups of sifted pastry flour, 2 rounding teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs well beaten, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 cup of milk. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Rub sugar and butter together and add the well beaten eggs and milk, and then flour gradually. Roll out 1/2 inch thick and fry in hot lard. Use cinnamon or nutmeg for seasoning.
GRAHAM BREAD Edna Rounds 1899
Two cupfuls sour milk, 2 cupfuls graham flour, 2 cupfuls white flour, 1/2 cupful molasses, a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoonful soda. Bake in a slow oven one hour. It is better to keep it covered the first three quarters of an hour.
