French Pancakes

I was looking through an old Royal Baking Powder recipe book that although I couldn't find a date is probably from the early 1900's. As someone who makes pancakes frequently I was intrigued by the title of French Pancakes. Upon reading, it is what we today call crepes.

1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
jam
powdered sugar

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs which have been beated with the sugar, milk, and cream. Beat until smooth. Heat small frying pan in which a little butter has been melted. Pour in just sufficient batter to cover bottom of pan. Cook over hot fire. Turn and brown other side. Spread with jam and roll up. Sprinkle with posdered sugar and serve hot.

Peanut Brittle

Grandma loved a good peanut brittle. That and old fashioned ribbon candy were two staples at Christmas time.

2 cups chopped roasted nuts
3 cups granulated sugar

Put sugar in frying pan. Stir over slow fire. It will lump, then gradually melt. When pale coffee color, and clear, add nuts and pour quickly on greased tin. When cold break into pieces.

Economical Soup

I love reading through old recipes. This one reminds me that it wasn't always the case that if you wanted soup for dinner that all you had to do was open a can. Today's recipe comes from a promotional booklet of the 1920's given out by the McNess salesman as he made his rounds selling everything a housewife could need to cook and clean.

This is a brown soup and very tasty. Take 2 good sized onions, peel then and cut them into small pieces, put 2 ounces of good dripping in the stew pan; when melted put in the onions, cover the pan and let them cook for an hour. The steam will prevent them from frying. Then pour in slowly the liquid in which a cauliflower has been boiled. Put in any stale pieces of bread you may have, using crusts as well. Add a little pepper but no salt. Simmer for at least an hour and a half, then put through a fine sieve. If it appears too thin boil longer to reduce it. Then pour into the tureen and add a very little hot milk. Serve very hot.

Boiled Brown Bread

Grandma used to make a great brown bread. She kept the large coffee cans after they were emptied and used them to make the bread. After the can was filled with the dough it was covered with aluminum foil. When the bread was done, the bottom of the coffee can was cut off and the bread pushed out. I can still remember those round loaves with the rings in them from the ribs of the coffee cans.

Mix 1 pint each rolled oats and rolled wheat, 1/2 pint each of cornmeal and whole wheat flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Dissolve a level teaspoon of baking soda in a teaspoon of warm water; add to 1/2 pint of molasses and then to 1 pint sour milk. Mix with the dry ingredients an pour into a brown bread mold. Cover and boil (or steam) for 4 hours. Remove lid and bake 1/2 hour.

Fig Pudding

3/4 cup dried figs, ground
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup fruit juice or milk
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cut off the stems of the figs and grind with a food chopper. Soften the butter and whip until fluffy. Then mix in the sugar, add the eggs and stir well. Then add the figs, fruit juice (or milk), salt, soda, cinnamon, and vanilla. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly blended. Place in muffin pans or molds and steam 45 minutes. (To steam: Place pan in large roaster pan. Pour about 2 cups water in the roaster around the pan, then place in the oven and steam.) Serve with whipped cream. These will keep in the refrigerator and may be reheated to serve.

Stuffed Peppers

6 large green peppers
3/4 lb. ground beef
4 Tbsp. minced onions
2 Tbsp. salad oil
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. powdered sage
3 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. melted butter
3 tsp. salt

Wash peppers, cut off stem end top and remove seeds. Cover with boiling salt water and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain. Meanwhile, cook beef and onion in salad oil. Add salt, pepper, sage, rice and tomatoes and mix thoroughly. Stuff peppers with this mixture and top with the bread crumbs which have been combined with the butter. Arrange peppers upright in a baking dish and bake in a moderately hot oven until brown on top.

Hungarian Goulash

4 Tbsp. fat
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. chuck beef, cut in 1 inch cubes
1 lb. lean pork shoulder, cut in 1 inch cubes
1 can tomatoes (No. 2 size)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Dash cayenne pepper
1 tsp. paprika
12 small whole peeled onions
6 medium pared potatoes, cut in quarters
2 cups celery chopped fine
2 Tbsp. flour
3 Tbsp. water

Combine fat and garlic, and brown in a deep kettle. Add meat and brown all sides. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, cayenne and paprika, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add onions, cover and simmer 1/2 hour longer. Add potatoes and celery, cover, and cook until potatoes and celery are tender. Blend flour and water to a smooth paste, and stir into goulash. Heat until thickened.

Swiss Steak

One of the cookbooks that my grandmother used is called "The Victory Handbook for Health and Home Defense." It is a WWII era cookbook that was printed locally (the last half of the book is filled with advertisements for local businesses) and contains the names of all the local people who were serving in the military at the time - including my great uncle - my grandmother's brother - Don.

1 1/2 lbs. round, or rump beef, 1 1/2 in. to 2 inches thick
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. salad oil or melted fat
1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes
3 large peeled onions. sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 peeled clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. thick condiment sauce or catsup
2 drops tobasco sauce

Trim excess fat. Mix flour, salt, and pepper, and with the edge of a saucer, pound 1/2 of it into one side of the beef. Turn beef over, and pound remaining flour into other side. Heat salad oil in skillet, and when oil is hot, brown beef in it very quickly on both sides. Then add balance of ingredients; cover; and bake in slow oven. Uncover for last 1/2 hour in order that sauce may cook down to a rich thickness.

Recipe to Preserve Children's Lives

We've reached the end of the recipes in grandma's handwritten notebook. I'm now looking at some of the recipe booklets that she had that date to the late 1800's and will make a decision soon about putting up some of those recipes soon. In the meantime, I found this recipe in a 1929 Rawleigh's cook book and thought it quite cute.

Recipe to Preserve Children's Lives

Take one large, grassy field, one-half dozen children, two or three small dogs, a pinch of brook and some pebbles. Mix the children and dogs well together and put them in the field, stirring constantly. Pour the brook over the pebbles; sprinkle the field with flowers; spread over all a deep blue sky and bake in the hot sun. When brown, remove and set to cool in a bathtub.

Corn Bread

1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
4 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbsp. melted shortening
1 egg

Mix and sift dry ingredients; add milk, shortening and beaten egg; beat well and pour into greased shallow pan. Bake in hot oven about 25 minutes.

Blushing Bunny

Put into a chafing dish 2 Tbsp. butter; when melted add 2 Tbsp. flour. Pour in gradually 1 cup of thin cream or milk. When thickened add 1/2 cup of tomatoes and 1 cup of cooked macaroni. Then add 1/2 pound cheese, grated and 2 eggs slightly beaten. Season with salt and a little cayenne pepper and mustard.

Potatoe Patties

Back to a recipe from grandma. This one she marked as delicious and I'll attest to that!

Mash cold potatoes smooth with a fork. Add one tablespoon of flour, a little butter, salt and pepper; work all together and pat into thin round cakes. Fry in hot fat. Delicious!

Elm River Chowder

This is NOT one of my grandmothers' recipes. Here in southern Illinois, the Elm River Chowder has been a big event for over a 100 years. Our local newspaper printed a copy of the original recipe used and it is such a hoot I couldn't resist sharing. The chowder is still today prepared using the original methods - in huge kettles over an open flame. It's quite the local tradition.

1 cow
600 pounds potatoes
325 pound carrots
38 stalks celery
150 pounds onions
100 gallons green beans
40 gallons corn
110 gallons tomatoes
50 gallons tomato juice
400 pounds cabbage
Dishpan full of salt and pepper

Cheese Potatoes

Put a layer of sliced cold potatoes into a baking dish, then a layer of cracker crumbs; salt and pepper to taste, and specks of butter and cheese. Another layer of potatoes and so on until all are used. Sprinkle with grated cheese on top. Cover with milk and bake 25 minutes in a hot oven.

Chocolate Fudge

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. cocoa or 2 squares chocolate
pinch of salt

Mix sugar and cocoa together, add milk and boil until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water. Take from fire, add butter and vanilla, cool and beat until creamy. Pour onto buttered pie dish and cut in squares when cool.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Around Christmas time grandma would get busy making fudge. For several days in a row it would be batch after batch until she had made enough to give to everyone.

Cook together 2 cups sugar, 2 Tbsp. peanut butter and 1/2 cup milk until it forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, cool and beat until creamy. Pour into a buttered pie plate and when nearly cool cut in small squares.

Grandma notes that she often makes a double batch of these.

Butterscotch Pie

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup cold water
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar and flour together, add water gradually and stir over fire until thick. Add beaten egg yolks and butter, then vanilla. Fill baked crusts, beat the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, add 2 Tbsp. sugar. Put this on top of pie and brown in a slow oven.

Lemon Pie

1 lemon
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour, heaping

Mix sugar and flour, add juice of lemon and 2 egg yolks beaten, slowly add 1 cup of boiling water. Mix well and pour in pie crust and bake. Make a meringue with the two egg whites.