Banana Pancakes (1920) ★★★

12:00 AM 1920s , 20th century , 3 stars , breakfast , fruit , interwar , united states 2 Comments

Banana pancakes! Something about that phrase is just fun to say. Anyway, I had some reeeeally ripe bananas and thought this would be a fun recipe to make. It seemed so easy too, with only 7 ingredients.

Cocoa Cookies (1921) ★★★★★

12:00 AM 1920s , 20th century , 5 stars , cookies , dessert , interwar , snacks , united states 6 Comments

With this quick and simple recipe, you can have warm cookies straight out of the oven in a jiffy.

Berkshire Muffins (1896) ★★

12:00 AM 1890s , 19th century , 2 stars , breakfast , rice , snacks , united states , victorian 4 Comments

In my last post I mentioned that cooked rice is sometimes used in historical recipes. Here's one I found for a breakfast muffin.


Original Recipe:











The Verdict:
Even though this muffin has some sugar, it tastes really savory. It also had an eggy taste, even though there was only one egg. I'm not sure if this could be because I didn't fold in the egg white enough or if it's just the recipe. I thought I had mixed things pretty well. I tried one with some jam, but it just tasted weird. I would've given this one star, but Little Y ate hers happily enough, so I decided on two. Unfortunately this just wasn't a tasty recipe.

Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook)

The original recipe is easy to follow. Bake at 350F for 20 to 30 minutes.

Refreshing Drink (1885) ★★

12:00 AM 1880s , 19th century , 2 stars , australia , beverages , gluten-free , vegan , victorian 2 Comments

This seems like an economical drink, as the cooked rice mush could probably be used as porridge or in a pudding (I've seen some recipes that use cooked rice).




The Verdict:
Well I guess this is basically rice milk, isn't it? I'm not a huge fan of rice milk (or cow's milk for that matter), but for some reason I thought this would have only a faint rice flavour. Little Y did like it though, but she's had rice milk for over a year now and likes it. After 45 minutes of boiling, I decided to take it off the stove, but even then the rice had soaked up way too much of the water. I ended up having to add a little water to the strained rice water, because it was thick like tapioca pudding or something. For flavouring, I added a bit of honey and vanilla. Overall, I wouldn't make this again, but for those who like rice milk, this could be a nice treat.

Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from The Kingswood Cookery Book, found in Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer And Lamingtons: Australian Family Recipes 1868-1950)

The original recipe is easy to follow.

Banana Muffins (1920) ★★★★

12:00 AM 1920s , 20th century , 4 stars , breakfast , dessert , fruit , interwar , snacks , united states 2 Comments

These banana muffins can easily be vegan if shortening and vegan milk are used.


Original Recipe:
bananas
1 cup of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of shortening
2 cups of flour
5 teaspoons of baking powder
1 cup of milk
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

Orange Mallow Frost (1974) ★★★

12:00 AM 1970s , 20th century , 3 stars , dessert , fruit , gelatin , post-modern , united states 0 Comments

Can you believe that this is actually the first gelatin recipe I've posted on this blog?! I'm not a huge fan of jello, mostly because of the fake taste and artificial coloring. I could never be as brave as the people who make chicken mousse or lemon vegetable salad with gelatin - ick!
But I do make exceptions every now and then. I had some marshmallows that needed to be used and I thought this recipe sounded kind of yummy, actually.

Original Recipe:
1 3-oz. pkg. orange-flavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 pint orange sherbet
1 11-oz. can manderin orange segments, drained
2 cups Kraft Miniature Marshmallows or 20 Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add sherbet; stir until dissolved. Chill until almost set; fold in fruit and marshmallows (quarter Jet-Puffed Marshmallows directly into gelatin using scissors dipped in water). Fill 6 dessert dishes; chill until firm. Garnish with additional mandarin orange slices and mint, if desired. Makes 6 servings.

Variations:
Substitute 1 cup ginger ale for sherbet.
Substitute one of the following for the orange gelatin and sherbet:
lime gelatin and sherbet
lemon gelatin and sherbet
raspberry gelatin and sherbet

The Verdict:
This dessert tastes like orange creamsicle! I wouldn't make this myself, but it was tasty, so I would eat it voluntarily. I liked the freshness of the mandarins, but there were too many marshmallows, especially for that sweet of a gelatin. I would cut the number of marshmallows in half. Mr. Man, on the other hand, spat this out in the sink because of the "soggy marshmallows". I didn't really find them soggy (they were a bit wet of course, but nowhere near soggy or liquified). He did like the gelatin with the oranges, however. I'm giving three stars for average, because it needed tweaking and I wouldn't want to make this myself or eat it very often. It reminds me of something you eat once a year at a summer barbecue.

Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from Kraft found at Hey, My Mom Used to Make That!)

The original recipe is easy to follow.

Pokerounce (c.1420) ★★★

12:00 AM 1420s , 15th century , 3 stars , british isles , dessert , late middle ages , sandwiches , snacks 5 Comments

I just love the names of medieval recipes! They're always so strange and interesting.
By the way, I had no idea what Galangal was, but I was able to find it easily in my local Asian grocery store.


Original Recipe:
.xxxvj. Pokerounce. Take Hony, & caste it in a potte tyl it wexe chargeaunt y-now; take & skeme it clene. Take Gyngere, Canel, & Galyngale, & caste þer-to; take whyte Brede, & kytte to trenchours, & toste ham; take þin paste whyle it is hot, & sprede it vppe-on þin trenchourys with a spone, & plante it with Pynes, & serue forth.

The Verdict:
Well, I wasn't a huge fan. I really didn't like the pine nuts, but the honey spread was okay. I overcooked it so it kept sticking to my teeth, which was kind of gross. I also added a bit too much galangal, so it was quite peppery. I also feel like maybe it would've been nicer to spread the honey on the bread before toasting. On the other hand, Little Y gobbled up both pieces, so I guess she liked it! In this case, I feel that it's really all about personal preferences, so I give it an average rating.

Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books)

HONEY
GINGER
CINNAMON
GALANGAL
WHITE BREAD
PINE NUTS

1. Cut slices of white bread into rectangles, removing the crusts. Toast.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the honey until thickened. It will thicken as it cools; mine only took a minute.
3. Add ginger, cinnamon, and galangal to the honey to taste.
4. Spread the thickened honey on the toast and top it with pine nuts.

Blueberry Grunt (1977) ★★★★★

12:00 AM 1970s , 20th century , 5 stars , canada , dessert , fruit , post-modern , The Laura Secord Canadian Cook Book 4 Comments

I recently bought this cookbook at a used book store in my city. The copy I have is the 7th edition, printed in 1977, but the original publishing date is 1966.

Original Recipe:

From New Brunswick we received this recipe with the comment "a quick and easy steamed dessert for summertime," indirectly indicating that even in summer, the evenings are cool enough to warrant a hot dessert. The sound of the pudding steaming led to the traditional name "grunt" for this kind of dessert.

In a saucepan with a tight-fitting cover combine
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
pinch of salt

Stir in
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Cook on top of range, stirring constantly, until mixture boils for about thirty seconds. Keep warm.
Sift or blend together
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in until crumbly
1/2 cup shortening

Beat together and stir in
1 egg
1 cup milk

Mix lightly with a fork to make a soft, sticky dough. Drop by tablespoonfuls into hot blueberry mixture. Cover tightly, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve hot, spooning sauce over top.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.

The Verdict:

At first I thought this was just okay, but then I realized I had scraped my bowl clean and was going back for seconds...and thirds. So this is delicious! The only major issue I had was that the recipe made way too much dough for my cast iron skillet. I ended up cooking 4 biscuits in the oven to use up the leftover dough. The solution here is to either make the droppings bigger or reduce the dough recipe slightly. I also substituted butter for shortening because when I opened up my (never used) shortening...well, there was a colony of baby ants inside. Ew.
Also, I did love this the way it was, but I think that the dough could have been slightly improved by maybe adding some flavour by way of vanilla extract or perhaps lemon zest.

Modernized Recipe:

(Adapted from The Laura Secord Canadian Cook Book)

Follow the original recipe. Add vanilla or lemon zest to the dough if desired.

Notice

6:05 PM misc 1 Comments

I feel bad doing this every year, but now that school is started I will unfortunately have to stop posting as often. I may even stop posting all together. I have a full course load (5 courses) this semester, including a very reading-intensive 4th year honours course.
The good news is that I spent a lot of time this summer making recipes, so I have almost the entire month of September scheduled with posts. Other than that, my goal is to have one post a week in November and December. For about a month in December and January I will have a break from school, so hopefully at that time I can make a bunch more recipes to last until April, when school is out again. Mainly, I just don't want to stop posting all together like I have before, but in the end school does come before blog.
So please don't abandon me if my posts become sparse! I will come back, I promise!

Oatmeal and Peanut Pudding (1918) ★★★

12:00 AM 1910s , 20th century , 3 stars , breakfast , dessert , fruit , pudding , united states , WWI 2 Comments

Original Recipe:
2 cups cooked oatmeal
1 cup sliced apple
1 cup peanuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Mix and bake in greased dish for 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold. This is a very nourishing dish.

The Verdict:
I thought this would be really good...clearly I have no luck with puddings. First off, it was kind of mushy. I mean, it was oatmeal-texture, but I was expecting something firmer, like a baked oatmeal bar. The taste was okay, edible, but I really didn't like the peanuts in there. The raisins were so-so. I think using peanut butter or pulverized peanuts would have been much better. Also, it needed more cinnamon and maybe some vanilla. I won't make this again. I gave this 3 stars, which I think was generous, but I think some people might not find this as offensive as I did.

Benes y fryed (c. 1390) ★★★

12:00 AM 1390s , 14th century , 3 stars , british isles , gluten-free , late middle ages , legumes , vegetables 4 Comments

Today's recipe comes from The Forme of Cury, one of Europe's earliest English cookbooks. Unfortunately, this is not a Medieval tome of curry recipes - "cury" is actually the Middle English word for "cookery".

Modern Transcription:
Take beans and boil them until they are almost burst. Drain them and wring out the excess liquid. Add to them boiled and minced onions and garlic. Fry them in oil or in grease and mix in powder douce and serve it forth.

Honey Balls (1911) ★★★★★

12:00 AM 1910s , 20th century , 5 stars , australia , candy , dessert , edwardian , gluten-free , snacks 29 Comments

This is a simple and rustic little candy recipe from an Australian cookbook.


Original Recipe:

Noodle Mixup (1933) ★★★★

12:00 AM 1930s , 20th century , 4 stars , beef , interwar , legumes , pasta , united states , vegetables 0 Comments

For a 1933 recipe, this meal seems quite modern.


Original Recipe:
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp. fat
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. canned tomatoes
1 c. water
3 c. cooked egg noodles
1 c. canned kidney beans, well-rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt

Fry onion in fat until brown; add meat, tomatoes, and water and cook slowly until meat is done, about 25 minutes. Add egg noodles, beans, and seasoning. Heat thoroughly and serve.

The Verdict:
Although this meal was a little plain, it wasn't bad. Mr. Man and I both enjoyed it. It was very meaty though, with a whole pound of beef. A little less might have been nice. It also could have benefited from some garlic fried with the onion and we added cheese on top for some extra flavour. I would probably make this again.

Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from The Farmer's Wife)

The original recipe is easy enough to follow.