Recipes & Kitchen Hints from Long Ago

The rain is falling, again. Time to browse my bookshelves before I have to do the evening meal.

It is far too long since I last opened my very old recipe books - they are packed with outdated and old-fashioned recipes, but I love reading them.




Cookery was very different then. I don't just mean that our attitude to food has changed, I mean that ovens didn't come with temperature gauges and electric mixers, food processors, etc were a long way off.

Image borrowed from cookingwithmavis

Caledonian Cream

Mix 2ozs of each, raspberry jam, redcurrant jelly and castor sugar with the whites of 2 eggs stiffly whipped. OK so far? Beat for 3/4 hour. Serve piled in custard glasses.

Can you imagine standing there beating the mixture for 45 minutes?







How to Select Flour:

In selecting flour first look to the colour. If it is white, with a yellowish, straw-coloured tint, buy it. If it is white, with a blueish cast, or with black specks in it refuse it. Next examine its adhesiveness. Wet and knead a little of it between the fingers. If it works soft and sticky it is poor. Then throw a little lump of dried flour against a smooth surface. If it falls like powder it is bad. It is perfectly safe to buy flour that will stand all these tests.

I wonder how well this would go down in the supermarket!




Use for Old Curtains- Old curtains well washed make excellent poultice cloths, also for tying cauliflowers and asparagus in when cooking. It prevents them breaking, and is easy to try if done. I wonder how long they were being boiled for...

Image by Delicious Magazine

Talking of Vegetables...




"Young carrots take about an hour to boil, those which are older from an hour and a half to two hours..."




It makes me wonder whether, perhaps, the varieties of carrot which they used to have were more fibrous than modern ones.




I searched for the method of cooking Brussels Sprouts, expecting to be told to boil them for three hours, but was pleasantly surprised to find the recommended time was 13 minutes.




A 1796 recipe for Parsnips Fried to Look Like Trout

Why would you want to, was my first thought. Then I wondered whether they could look like trout, seeing this image makes me think that perhaps it would be possible...if you squint and look through one eye... perhaps? Or do they look like baby stingrays?

Image borrowed from offthespork.com

Take a middling sort of parnsips, not over thick, and boil them as soft as you would do for eating; peel, and cut them, in two the long way. You must only fry the small ends, not the thick ones. Beat two or three eggs, put to them a tablespoonful of flour, dip in your parsnips, and fry them a light brown in the butter. Have for your sauce a little vinegar and butter.




...and finally... a 'fish' recipe.




Mackerel Bones Grilled




Sprinkle the bones with pepper and salt. Broil over a clear fire, but don't burn. Serve on hot buttered fingers of toast.




Bon appetit!