Sea Voyage Gingerbread

This recipe comes from Miss Leslie's Lady's New Receipt book ©1850. It could be used by your characters when sending off their spouse, father, brother or sequestered away in the folds of her shirt to prevent sea-sickness, or better yet to hide the morning sickness your character might be expecting. Or what about some busybody seeing your character eating such treats and gossiping that she is pregnant. The list can go on and on. Enjoy playing with the idea of this kind of a recipe for your characters.

SEA-VOYAGE GINGERBREAD.—Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a pound and a quarter of fresh butter; rub the butter well into the flour, and then mix in a pint of West India molasses and a pound of the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs till very light. Stir into the beaten egg two glasses or a jill of brandy. Add also to the egg a teacup-full of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with a tea-spoonful of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the flour, &c., with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a little flour on your paste-board, and with a broad knife spread portions of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in flour, cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, slightly buttered ; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven, and bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.
You may cut them out small with the lid of a cannister (or something similar) the usual size of gingerbread nuts.
These cakes will keep during a long voyage, and are frequently carried to sea. Many persons find highly spiced gingerbread a preventive to sea-sickness.

Almond Cream Pudding

Okay this was a new recipe for me. Perhaps, some of you have heard of it and possibly have eaten it before and if that is so, let us know. On the other hand, this recipe is a lot of work and has items I've never heard about before (definitions of those are below the recipe) so many it isn't made any longer.

Below is a recipe from the Miss Ledlie's Lady's New Receipt Book ©1850

ALMOND CREAM.—Take a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and two ounces or more of shelled bitter almonds, or peach-kernels. Blanch them in scalding water, throwing them as you proceed into a bowl of cold water. Then pound them (one at a time) in a mortar, till each becomes a smooth paste; pouring in, as you proceed, a little rosewater to make the almonds white and light, and transferring the paste to a plate as you go on. Then when they are all done, mix the almonds with a quart of rich cream, and a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Add half a dozen blades of mace; put the mixture into a porcelain kettle, and boil it, slowly, stirring it frequently down to the bottom. Having given it one boil up, remove it from the fire, take out the mace, and when it has cooled a little, put the cream into glass cups, grating nutmeg over each. Serve it up quite cold. You may ornament each cup of this cream with white of egg, beaten to a stiff froth, and heaped on the top.

Definitions:
Loaf-Sugar it is sold in a solid block and is granulated. A tool such as a sugar nip was used to break off chunks of this sugar.

Blades of Mace: is the outer lacy looking shell of nutmeg. Ground mace which we all tend to be accustomed to today is made from this lacy scarlet-colored shell. Once the shell is dried fades to light brown.

Superior Muffins

It's been a while since I've had some recipes and I stumbled on this while searching for ways to stay cool in the summer. I hope you enjoy.

Superior Muffins. 1 quart of flour. 1 teaspoonful of salt. 1 tablespoonful of white sugar.
Rub in one heaping tablespoonful of butter and lard mixed, and one tablespoonful of Irish potato, mashed free from lumps.

Pour in three well beaten eggs and a half teacup of yeast. Make into a soft dough with warm water in winter and cold in summer. Knead well for half an hour. Set to rise where it will be milk-warm, in winter, and cool in summer. If wanted for an eight o'clock winter breakfast, make up at eight o'clock the night before. At six o'clock in the morning, make out into round balls (without kneading again), and drop into snow-ball moulds that have been well greased. Take care also to grease the hands and pass them over the tops of the muffins. Set them in a warm place for two hours and then bake.

These are the best muffins I ever ate.—Mrs. 8. T.
Source: Housekeeping in Old Virginia ©1879

PS Remember a teacup is one cup, so she's suggesting 1/2 cup of yeast.

Chocolate Cake

This recipe comes from "Six Little Cooks" By Elizabeth Stansbury Kirkland ©1877 Note the debate about the one cup measurement at the end of this entry.

No. 5—Chocolate Cake.
One cup butter, two of sugar, three and a half of flour, one scant cup sweet milk, five eggs, omitting two whites, one teaspoonful cream tartar, one-half do. soda, one do. extract vanilla.

Meringue for the same. Beat the whites of the 'two eggs very light with one and a half cups powdered sugar; six tablespoon fills grated chocolate, two teaspoonfuls vanilla. Put the meringue on while the cake is hot, and leave it in the pan to cool.

"I don't see how any one can judge of what a 'cupfull ' is, Aunt Jane," said Hose, "cups are of such different sizes. Papa's coffee-cup is a perfect monster, and' mamma's tea-cup is a mite, small enough'for a fairy."

"Kitchen cups are not apt to vary much in size^" replied Aunt Jane, "and those are what are taken as a measure. If there is a great difference, we should choose one of a medium size. Then, you must remember, that when there are several things measured in cups, they will be proportioned to one another; so if you find after one experiment that your cake has not enough eggs in proportion to the other ingredients, you will know that your cups are too large; if the egg is too predominating, it will be because the cups are too small; so you will-'sbon . learn the happy medium."

"Besides," said Edith, "I suppose every little girl will have some grown person to show, her about these things , the first time, and then, after that she can remember. Won't you give us some more receipts, Mrs. King?"

Chicken Pot-Pie

This is one of my family's favorite meals. I put chicken, a broth-gravy, potatoes, carrots, peas an various spices cover with biscuits or pie crust. However, as I searched recipe books from the 19th century there were no vegetables added to the dish. Personally, we love our veggies.

Below are various recipes:

Veal and Chicken Potpie. Joint the chickens, if made of them, and boil them till half done ; take them out; put them, dry, into a pot, making alternate layers of crust and fowl, seasoned with pepper and salt; then, pour in the liquor in which the fowls were boiled, upon the upper layer of crust, which covers the fowls. If a brown crust is desired : with a heated bake pan lid, keep the pot covered. Add, from the teakettle, boiling water, as that in the pot wastes. Raised piecrust , *- * is preferable to that made for fruit pies, though, if but, little
shortened, that is good. For raised crust, mix a teaspoonful of salt, and a teacup of melted butter, with three pints of flour, and then pour in half a teacup of yeast, adding cold water to make it stiff enough to roll out; placing it where warm, it will require from se'ven to eight hours to rise, unless you use brewer's yeast. Roll it out, when risen, and cut it into small cakes.
Potato pie crust is good. Peel and mash fine eight boiled potatoes ; mix with them half a pint of milk, a teaspoonful of salt, a hen's egg size piece of butter, and flour enough for rolling out. Put with the meat, the cakes after rolled out and cut.
By working into unbaked wheat dough, a little melted lukewarm butter, nice crust may be made. Before putting it with the meat, let it lay ten or fifteen minutes, after it is cut and rolled into cakes.
Source: The Improved Housewife ©1847

Chicken Pot Pie.—Cut a chicken in pieces; if it is not a young chicken parboil it in water enough to cover it, with half a pound of salt pork cut in slices, or a tea-spoonful of salt in it. Skim it carefully. Make a paste with half a pound of sweet lard rubbed into one pound of flour and a tea-spoonful of salt; add enough water to work it to a smooth paste ; roll the crust about half an inch thick, and line with it the sides of n stew-pan nearly to the bottom. Lay the chicken in the crust, and add a piece of butter the size of an egg rolled in flour; put in the water the chicken was parboiled in, and if necessary add more hot water till the stew-pan is nearly full. Cut part of the paste in small diamonds, and put them in the pie. Put on the top crust, first laying skewers across the top of the stew pan. Cut a slit in the centre. Put on the lid of the stew-pan, and let it boil slowly three-quarters of an hour, or more, if necessary. When the crust is well done the dish can be served.
Source: Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book ©1857

A CHICKEN POT-PIE.
Mrs. F. D. J.
Cut in small pieces one chicken, not too young; wash and put into a stone or earthen basin with sufficient water to cover, set this on the stove and let it cook until quite tender; then add to this broth (which will have cooked away a little,) half a pint of sweet milk, (perhaps not quite so much,) and one-half a can of fine oysters; season with pepper and salt, and mace if liked; put in bits of butter, and two tablespoons of flour. Now make a nice soda biscuit crust; roll out about an inch-thick and cover the meat; cut a hole in the middle of the crust, and put in the oven. When the crust is baked a rich brown set the dish on the stove, where the meat will gently simmer in the gravy, and steam the crust, (with a tin cover over,) for about ten minutes. Serve in the dish in which it is cooked, with a knitted cover.
Source: The Home Cook Book ©1876

Chicken Pot-pie.—Clean, singe, and joint a pair of chickens. Pare and slice eight white potatoes; wash the slices and put with the pieces of chicken into a stewpan lined with pie-crust; season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and cover with water. Cover with-paste, making a hole in the centre; cover the kettle, and either hang it over the fire or set it in the oven. If in the oven, turn occasionally to brown evenly. Two hours' cooking is sufficient. When done, cut the upper crust into moderate-sized pieces and place them on a large dish; with a perforated ladle take up the potato and chicken, put it upon the crust; cut the lower crust and put on the top. Serve the gravy hot in a gravy tureen.
Source: Our New Cook Book ©1883

Millefleurs Perfume

In the New Receipts for Cooking by Miss Leslie ©1854 you'll find lots of recipes for general food cooking. However in the middle chapters of the book are recipes for Perfumes, Remedies, Laundry-work, Needle work, etc. One of the perfume recipes for hair is listed below: Millefleurs literally means a thousand flowers.

MILLEFLEURS PERFUME.—Mix together an ounce of oil of lavender; an ounce of essence of lemon; an ounce and a quarter of oil of ambergris; and half an ounce of oil of carraway. Add half a pint of alcohol, or spirits of wine, which should be of the inodorous sort. Shake all well together. Let it stand a week, closelycorked, in a large bottle. You may then divide it in small bottles.
By mixing this perfume with equal quantities of olive oil, and oil of sweet almonds, instead of alcohol, you will have what is called millefleurs antique oil, which is used to improve the hair of young persons.

This began a search for me about the various hair treatments of the 19th century on Monday I'll continue to share what I've learned so far.

Dressing Rice

A Black Man's Recipe to Dress Rice.—Wash him well, much wash in cold water, the rice flour make him stick. Water boil all ready verj fast. Throw him in, rice can't burn, water shake him too much. Boi> quarter of an hour or little more; rub one rice in thumb and finger, if all rub away him quite done. Put rice in colander, hot water run away; pour cup of cold water on him, put back rice in saucepan, keep him covered near the Are. then rice all ready. Eat him up!
Source: Dr. Chase's Recipes ©1887

Jewelry Cleanser

JEWELRY—Cleaning And Polishing Compound—Aq'i» ammonia 1 oz.; prepared chalk J oz.; mix, and keep cor'ied.

To use, for rings, or other smooth-surfaced jewelry, wet a bit of cloth with the compound, after having skaken it, and rub the article thoroughly; then polish by rubbing with a silk handkerchief or piece of soft buck-skin. For articles which are rough-surfaced, use a suitable brush. It is applicable for gold, silver, brass, britannia, plated goods, &o.
Source: Dr. Chase's Recipes ©1870

Toad Ointment

Toad Ointment.—For sprains, strains, lame-hack, rheumatism, caked breasts, caked udders, &c., &e.

Good sized live toads, 4 in number; put into boiling water and cook very soft; then take them out and boil the water down to 1 pt., and add fresh churned, unsalted butter 1 lb. and simmer together; at the last add tincture of arnica 2 ozs.

This was obtained from an old Physician, who thought more of it than of any other prescription in his possession. Some persons might think it hard on toads, but you could not kill them quicker in any other way.
Source: Dr. Chase's Recipes ©1870

Itch Ointment

Itch Ointment.—Unsalted butter 1 lb.; Burgundy pitch 2 oz.; spirits of turpentine 2 ozs.; red-precipitate, pulverized, 1 1/4 ozs.; melt the pitch and add the butter, stirring well together; then remove from the fire, and when a little cool add the spirits of turpentine, and lastly the precipitate, and stir until cold.

This will cure all cases of psora, usually called "The Itch," and many other skin eruptions, as pimples, blotches, &c.

Dr. Beach thinks the animal which infests the skin, in real itch, is the result of the disease, whilst most authors think it the cause.
Source: Dr. Chase's Recipes ©1865

Milk Paint

Milk Paint

A fellow historical author Vicki McDonough asked about Milk paint on a writer's loop. I'm posting some recipes and information about this commonly used paint. It was even used in the 20th century. As you'll see by the recipes below there were other additives placed in the paint, like the first recipe adds linseed oil. This changes the paints drying time and luster. If the paint is simply milk and lime it is a flat paint, without color it was used on many walls to brighten up the homes. The lack of fumes was another consideration of preference for this paint. Vicki's question dealt with aged paint, in my limited experience, I've mainly seen it worn off, I've never seen in flake or peel. (however, I spoke with my husband who's been house painting for 40 years, he says it powders.) You can still purchase milk paint today and if you like the antique look on furniture milk paint might just be the way to go.

Many of the sources in Google books take from the 1825 copy from Smith's Art of House Painting. This source notates that it comes from Smith's book but was written much later in 1839.
Milk Paint. Take of skimmed milk nearly two quarts; of fresh slacked lime, about six ounces and a half; of linseed oil four ounces, and of whiting three pounds: put the lime into a stone vessel, and pour upon it a sufficient quantity of milk to form a mixture, resembling thin cream; then add the oil a little at a time, stirriitg it with a small spatula; the remaining milk is then to be added, and lastly the whiting. The milk must on no account be sour. Slake the lime by dipping the pieces in water, out of which it is to be immediately taken, and left to slack in the air. For fine white paint, the oil of caraways is best, because colourless; but with ochres the commonest oils may be used. The oil, when mixed with the milk and lime, entirely disappears, and is totally dissolved by the lime, forming a calcareous soap. The whiting, or ochre, is to be gently crumbled on the surface of the fluid, which it gradually imbibes, and at last sinks: at this period it must be well stirred in. This paint may be coloured like distemper or size-colour, with levigated charcoal, yellow ochre, ftc., and used in the same manner. The quantity here prescribed is sufficient to cover twentyseven square yards with the first coat, and it will cost about three-halfpence a yard. The same paint will do for out-door work by the addition of two ounces of slaked lime; two ounces of linseed oil, and two ounces of white Burgundy pitch; the pitch to be melted in a gentle heat with the oil, and then added to the smooth mixture of the milk and lime. In cold weather it must be mixed warm, to facilitate its incorporation with the milk. (Smith's Art of House-Painting, 1825, p. 26.)
Source: An Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa architecture and furniture ©1839 pg277

Another recipe:

"Milk Paint.—A paint has been used on the-Continent with success, made from milk and lime, that dries quicker than oil paint, and has no smell. It is made in the following manner: Take fresh curds and bruise the lumps on a grinding-stone, ! or in an earthen pan, or mortar, with a spatula or strong spoon. Then pmt them into a pot with an equal quantity of lime, well slacked with water, to make it just thick enough to-be kneaded. Stir this i mixture without adding more water, and a white : coloured fluid will soon be obtained, which will serve as a paint. It may be laid on with a brush with as much ease as varnish, and it dries very speedily. It must, however, be used tho same day it is made, for if kept till next day k will be too thick: consequently no more must be mixed up at one, time than can be laid on in a day. If any colour be required, any of the ochres, as yellow ochre, or red ochre, or umber, may be mixed with it in any proportion. Prussian blue would be changed by the lime. Two coats of this paint will be sufficient, and when quite dry it may be polished with a piece of woolen cloth, or similar substance, and il will become as bright as varnish. It will only do for inside work ; but it will last longer if varnished i over with white of egg after it has been polished." j "The following receipt for milk paint is given in •Smith's Art of House Painting:' Take of skimmed milk nearly two quarts ; of fresh-slacked lime i about six ounces and a half; of linseed oil four I ounces, and of whiting three pounds ; put the lime j into a stone vessel, and pour upon it a sufficient quantity of milk to form a mixture resembling thin cream ; then add the oil, a little at a time, stirring i it with a small spatula ; the remaining milk is then to be added, and lastly the whiting. 1116 milk must I on no account be sour. Slack the lime by dipping the pieces in water, out of which it is to be immediately taken, and left to slack in the air. For fine white paint the oil of caraway is best, because -colourless; but with ochres the commonest oils may be used. The oil, when mixed with the milk and lime, entirely disappears, and is totally dissolved by the lime, forming a calcareous soap. The whiting or ochre is to be gently crumbled on the surface of the fluid, which it gradually imbibes, and at last sinks: at this period it must be well stirred in. This paint may be coloured like distemper or size-colour, with levigated chartoal, yellow ochre, &<:., and used in the same manner. The quantity here prescribed is sufficient to cover twenty-seven square yards with the first coat, and it will cost about three halfpence a yard. The same paint will do for outdoor work by the addition of two ounces of slacked lime, two ounces of linseed oil, and two ounces of white Burgundy pitch: the pitch to be melted in a gentle heat with the oil, and then added to the smooth mixture of the milk and lime. In oold weather it must be mixed warm, to facilitate its incorporation with the milk."
Source: Western Farmer and Gardener Vol 2 ©1846 pg327

And finally at the end of the century we have this recipe:
Skim Milk Paint.
A method of painting farm buildings and country houses, while by no means new, is yet so little known and so deserving of wider application as to warrant a description, says an exchange. The paint has but two parts, both cheap materials, being water lime or hydraulic cement and skim milk. The cement is placed in a bucket, and the skim milk, sweet, is gradually added, stirring constantly until just about the consistency of good cream. The stirring must be thoroughly done to have an even flow, and if too thin the mixture will run on the building and look streaked. The proportions cannot be exactly stated, but a gallon of milk requires a full quart of cement, and sometimes a little more. This is a convenient quantity to mix at a time for one person to use. If too much is prepared the cement will settle and harden before all is used.
A flat paintbrush about four inches wide is the best implement to use with this mixture. Lay it on exactly as with oil paint. It can be applied to woodwork, old or new, and brick and stone. When dry, the colour is a light creamy brown, or what some would call yellowish stone colour. The skim milk cement paint, well mixed, without adding colour has a good body, gives smooth satisfactory finish on either wood or stone and wears admirably.—American Mechanic.
Source Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope Vol. 10 ©1897 pg424

Custard Pie

Custard goes back long before the 19th century. The recipe below is from the White House Cook Book, not to be confused that this cook book is authorized from the White House in Washington, DC. However later editions of this cook book were co-authored by White House steward Hugo Ziemann. The name was chosen as a marketing ploy, which seemed to work. Fannie Gillete the original author started her writing career and fame when she was sixty years old and with the first edition of the White House Cook Book in 1887.


BAKERS' CUSTARD PIE.
Beat up the yolks of three eggs to a cream. Stir thoroughly a tablespoonful of sifted flour into three tablespoonfuls of sugar; this separates the particles of flour so that there will be no lumps; then add it to the beaten yolks, put in a pinch of salt, a teaspoonful of vanilla, and a little grated nutmeg; next the well-beaten whites of the eggs; and lastly, a pint of scalded milk (not boiled) which has been cooled; mix this in by degrees, and turn all into a deep pie-pan, lined with puff-paste, and bake from twenty-five to thirty minutes.
I received this recipe from a celebrated cook in one of our best New York bakeries. I inquired of him "why it was that their custard pies had that look of solidity and smoothness that our home-made pies have not." He replied, "The secret is the addition of this bit of flour—not that it thickens the custard any to speak of, but prevents the custard from breaking or wheying, and gives that smooth appearance when cut."
Source: White House Cook Book ©1889 pg293

Milk Toast, Milk Biscuits & Yeast

Today I'm including an old recipe for Milk Toast and Milk Biscuits from Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book ©1857

Milk Toast.—Boil a pint of rich milk;  then take it off the fire and stir into it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, with a small tablespoonful of flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. Let it come again to a boil. Have ready two deep plates with 6 slices of toasted bread in each. Pour the milk over them hot, and keep them covered till they go to table. Milk toast is generally eaten at breakfast.

Milk Biscuit—Take three-quarters of a pound of flour, and put in a wine-glassful of yeast, half a pint of milk, and a little salt. Roll the dough into small balls, and set them to rise. When risen sufficiently, bake them in a quick oven.

I have to wonder from the above recipe what the size of their wine-glasses were. It seems like a lot of yeast. Today, I use one or two teaspoons for an entire love of whole-wheat bread. Mrs. Cornelius in The Young Housekeeper's friend ©1846 says 1 teaspoonful of saleratus (baking soda) for butter-milk biscuits. However in The Improved Housewife ©1847 it says a half pint of yeast.

So I searched further and found this information in Mrs. Hale's cookbook about Yeast:
Yeast.—It is impossible to have good light bread, unless you have lively, sweet yeast. When common family beer is well brewed and kept in a clean cask, the settlings are the best of yeast. If you do not keep beer, then make common yeast by the following method :—
Take 2 quarts of water, 1 handful of hops, 2 of wheat bran: boil these together 20 minutes ; strain off the water, and while it is boiling hot, stir in either wheat or rye flour, till it becomes a thick batter; let it stand till it is about blood-warm; then add a half pint of good smart yeast and a large spoonful of molasses, if you have it, and stir the whole well. Set it in a cool place in summer, and a warm one in winter. When it becomes perfectly light, it is fit for use. If not needed immediately, it should, when it becomes cold, be put in a clean jug or bottle; do not fill the vessel, and the cork must be left loose till the next morning, when the yeast will have done working. Then cork it tightly, and set in a cool place in the cellar. It will keep 10 or 12 days.
Obs.—Never keep yeast in a tin vessel. If you find the old yeast sour, and have not time to prepare new, put in saleratus, a tea-spoonful to a pint of yeast, when ready to use it. If it foams up lively, it will raise the bread ; if it does not, never use it.
To Preserve Yeast.—Lay the yeast with a brush on a board or tub, and as it dries, lay on more, and continue to do so till it cracks and falls off; put it into clean bottles, and cork it well. This is excellent for taking to sea, where sugar-beer with little trouble might be made in any quantity, and always fr«sh.
To Assist Yeast.—When there is a scarcity of yeast, use the following method: Work into half a pint of water a spoonful of flour, until it becomes smooth, and boil it; put it into a jug, and stir it till it cools. When milk-warm, put in a spoonful of yeast, and a spoonful of moist sugar; stir them well, and put in a warm place, and if well made, there will be as much in a short time as will raise 3 pecks of flour; the bread made of this yeast requires to be laid 5 hours before it is baked.
To Extract Bitter from Yeast.—Beat it up with the white of an egg; add a double quantity of water; beat all well together : cover it; let it stand all night, and pour off the water, when it will be sweet; 1 egg is sufficient for a quart of yeast.
Milk Yeast.—Take 1 pint of new milk; 1 tea-spoonful of fine salt, and a large spoon of flour—stir these well together: get the mixture by the fire, and keep it just lukewarm ; it will be fit for use in an hour. Twice the quantity of common yeast is necessary ; it will not keep long. Bread made of this yeast dries very soon; but in the summer it is sometimes convenient to make this kind when yeast is needed suddenly.
Hard Yeast.—Boil 3 ounces of hops in 6 quarts of water, till only 2 quarts remain. Strain it, and stir in while it is boiling hot, wheat or rye meal till it is thick as batter. When It is about milk-warm, add half a pint of good yeast, and let it stand till it is very light, generally about 3 hours; then work in sifted Indian meal till it is a stiff dough. Roll it out on a board; cut it into oblong cakes about 3 inches by 2, and half an inch thick. Lay these cakes on a smooth board, over which a little flour has been dusted; prick them with a fork, and place the board in a dry clean room, where the sun and air may be freely admitted. Turn them every day. They will dry in a fortnight, unless the weather be damp. When the cakes are perfectly dry, put them in a coarse cotton bag ; hang it up in a cool, dry place. If rightly prepared these cakes will keep a year.
Two cakes will make yeast enough for a peck of flour. Break them into a pint of lukewarm water, and stir in a table-spoonful of flour, the evening before you bake. Set the mixture where it ceo be kept moderately warm. In the morning it will be fit for use.

Chowder

Occasionally it is cold in Florida and making stews and chowders is wonderful to warm us. So, I thought I'd add an old recipe of a New England Fish Chowder. This comes from De Witt's Connecticut Cook Book by N. Orr ©1871


Chowder.
Having sliced very thin some salt fat pork, season it with pepper, lay it in the bottom of a large iron pot, set it over the fire, and let. it fry. When done, take out the pork, leaving the liquid fat in the bottom. Next, peel and slice some onions, and lay them on the fat. Pour in sufficient clam or oyster liquor to stew the onions. Have ready a sufficient quantity of sea-bass, blackflsh, tutaug, porgie, haddock, or fresh cod. Cut the fish in small pieces,. and put it into the pot. Add plenty of potatoes pared and quartered. Then some clam liquor; and lastly, some crackers (soaked and split), or some soda biscuit; the crackers to cover the top. If you wish to fill a large pot, repeat all these ingredients, arranging them in layers. If there is not gravy enough, add some boiling milk, poured in at the last, and enriched with bits of butter mixed, with flour. Cover the pot closely, and let it strew half an hour, or more, till all the contents are thoroughly done. You may bake the chowder in an iron oven, over a wood fire, heaping liver coals on the oven lid. '.

Shrimp Sauce

A secondary character in a novel I worked on, went shrimping. In Florida, shrimp go through canals, play in the shoals of the shore line and during the fall, they run in large groups. The fact that my character is fishing for shrimp, I was dwelling on what he would do with all that shrimp and how he'd eat it. Below are a couple of recipes from the 19th century for Shrimp Sauce.

Shrimp sauce is made as follows: make some melted butter, with which mix a little essence of anchovies; throw in the shrimps, some cavice, and send up in a sauce-boat. The French Cook by Louis Eustache Ude © 1822

Cavice is a traditional British recipe for a classic Victorian sauce of anchovies, and shallots with spices and lemon zest in a white wine and white wine vinegar base. 


SHRIMP SAUCE. Wash half a pint of shrimps very clean—mince and put them in a stew-pan, with a spoonful of anchovy liquor, and a pound of thick melted butter; boil it up for five minutes, and squeeze in half a lemon. Toss it up, and put it in a sauce-boat. 
The Virginia housewife: or, Methodical cook
By Mary Randolph ©1838


SHRIMP SAUCE, for Various Kinds of Fish
Ingredients.—1/3 pint of melted butter, 1/4 pint of picked shrimps, cayenne to taste. Mode.—Make the melted butter very smoothly, shell the shrimps (sufficient to make 1/4 pint when picked), and put them into the butter; season with cayenne, and let the sauce just simmer, but do not allow it to boil. When liked, a teaspoonful of anchovy sauce may be added. Time.—1 minute to simmer. Average cost, 6d. Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons. 
Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of every-day cookery By Mrs. Beeton ©1865

Roast Goose

Over the years we've seen the movies and televisions shows of older times and a Christmas Goose was often on the menu. Below is a recipe from Miss Leslie's New Cook Book © 1857 by Eliza Leslie  on how to prepare Roast Goose.

ROAST GOOSE.—A goose for roasting should be young, tender, and fat; so tender, that the skin can easily be torn by a pin; the bill and legs smooth and of a light yellow color, and the toes breaking when bent under. If the skin is thick and tough, and the bill and legs a dark reddish yellow, rough and hairy, do not buy the goose. It is old, and no cooking can make it eatable. A goose, from its profusion of feathers, looks like a large bird when walking about; but when plucked and prepared for the spit, it will be found very deceptive. It is much more hollow than a turkey; and, except the breast, there is but little eating on it. In large families it is usual to have a pair of roast geese, one not being sufficient. Geese are not good except for roasting, or in a pie.
In preparing a goose for cooking, save the giblets for the gravy. After the goose has been drawn, singed well, washed and wiped, inside and out; trussed so as to look round and short; make a quantity of stuffing, (as its hollow body will require a great deal.) For this purpose, parboil two good sized onions, and a large bunch of green sage. Mince both the sage and onions, seasoning them with a small salt-spoon of salt, half as much black pepper, and still less cayenne. Add a hard-boiled egg finely minced (yolk and white;) the chopped egg giving a nice smoothness to the sage and onion. •If your gooseis large, take two chopped eggs.
To make the stuffing very mild, fif preferred so,) add a handful of finely grated bread-cruru Ds ; or two or three fine juicy chopped apples. Fill the body and craw with this stuffing, and secure it with a needle and thread from falling out. Set the goose before a clear, steady fire—having a little warm water in the dripping-pan to baste it till the gravy begins to fall. Keep it well basted all the time it is roasting. It must be thoroughly done all through. * Ro;ist it according to its size, from an hour and a half to two hours or more.
Boil the giblets in a sauce-pan by themselves, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and having among them a bit of butter dredged with flour. When done, remove the neck, and retain the heart, liver, and gizzard, cut into pieces, and served in the gravy, which should be well skimmed. Also, skim carefully the fat off the gravy in the bottom of the dripping-pan. Put the two gravies together, and serve them up in a gravy tureen. To eat with the goose, have plenty of apple-sauce, made of fine juicy apples, stewed very dry, well sweetened, and flavored with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon; or with some rose-water and nutmeg stirred in after the sauce is taken from the fire. Rose-water evaporates in cooking, and should never boi i or be kept on the fire. A bain marie, or double kettle, is excellent for stewing fruit; putting the fruit inside, and the water outside.

For a family dinner a goose is very good stuffed with well-boiled potatos, mashed smooth, with plenty of fresh butter or gravy. Sweet potatos' make an excellent stuffing. So do boiled chestnuts, mashed with butter or gravy.

Carrot Pie

I stumbled on this recipe in The New England Economical Housekeeper ©1845.

Carrot Pie
A very good pie may be made of carrots in the same way that you make pumpkin pies.

Yes, that's all they had for the recipe. So, I decided to hunt down a few more.

Carrot Pie. from The American Housewife and Kitchen Directory ©1869
Scrape the skin off from the carrots, boil them soft, and strain them through a sieve. To a pint of the strained pulp put three pints of milk, six beaten eggs, two table-spoonsfu of melted butter, the juice of half a lemon, and the grated rind of a whole one. Sweeten it to your taste, and bake it in deep pie plates without an upper crust.

The New England Cook Book's recipe is similar but slightly different. Original publication 1836
Scrape three good sized carrots, boil them till very tender. Then rub them through a sieve, and mix them with a quart of milk, four beaten eggs, a piece of butter of the size of half an egg, a table spoonful of lemon juice, and the grated peel of half of a one. Sweeten it to your taste. Bake it in deep pie plates with an under crust and rim.

I could find recipes from other sources but they were all similar to the ones above.

Lady's Derby Soap

I've searched to find out who Lady Derby is but as of this date, I have not found any information about her. I did however find out that the soap was also called Almond Soap. The earliest use of this recipe I've found is the one below. I did however find many Lords and Ladys of Derby in England over the years. To which Lady this recipe comes from, is unknown to me at the moment.

Below is from The New Families Receipts book ©1810

To make Lady Derby's Soap.
Two ounces of bitter almonds blanched, one ounce and a quarter of tincture of benjamin, one pound of good plain white soap, and one piece of camphire the size of a walnut. The almonds and camphire are to be beaten in a mortar until they are completely mixed; then work up with them the tincture of benjamin. The mixture being perfectly made, work the soap into it in the same manner. If the smell is too powerful of the camphire and tincture of benjamin, melt the soap by the fire, and the perfume will go off. This soap has been tried by many persons of distinction, is excellent in its qualities for cleansing the skin, and will be found greatly to assist the complexion, the ingredients being perfectly safe, and free from those jjernicious properties that are mostly incorporated with other soap.

Substitute for Brewer's Yeast

Forgive me for posting another interesting tidbit from The New Family Reciepts ©1810, there are so many interesting pieces of information.


Substitute for Brewers Yeast.
Take a small tea cup, or wine glass full of -split peas, pour on it a pint of boiling water, and set the whole in a vessel all night on the hearth, or any other warm place ; the water will have a troth on its top the next morning, which will be good yeast. The colder the place the longer it will be forming.

Birch Tree Wine

Below is another entry from The New Family Receipts book ©1810. Personally Birch Tree Wine was something I'd never heard of before. For more information about Birch Sap Wine check out this from The Winemaking Home Page and you can always google it and find out more information.


To make Birch-tree Wine.
The vernal sap of the birch tree is made into wine. In the beginning of March, while the sap is rising, holes must be bored in the body of the tree, and fassets, made of elder, placed in them, to convey away the liquid. If the tree be large it may be tapped in several places at a time, and thus, according to the number of trees, the quantity of liquid is obtained. The sap is to be boiled with sugar, in the proportion of four pounds to a gallon, and treated in the same manner as other made wines.

One great advantage attaching to the birch is, that it will grow on almost any barren ground.