What's Cookin'?
Different Century, Same Question
December 26, 1999, article five

"What's for dinner?"

Whether you live alone or are a family of eight, that question pops up once a day (or more). It wasn't any different a century ago.

Therefore, the Focus Odd Operations Department (F.O.O.D.) Has once again been thrown into high gear and here, by dint of extraordinary research, are some century-old recipes.

Most are from the "Presbyterian Cook Book" assembled by the ladies of the First Presbyterian Church of Fostoria in 1904 and the "Rehoboth Cook Book" assembled by the ladies of the Rehoboth Methodist Episcopal Church (date uncertain, mid 1920s, I'd guess).

So the selections have, if we may say, a decidedly local flavor. We do say just that.

Mrs. Myrtle McEwen's ginger snaps:
1 cup Orleans molasses
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup boiling water
3 tsp. Cinnamon
3 tsp soda
2 scant tbl. Ginger & 1 heaping cup lard
Roll thin and bake brown

Lard, for those too young to know, is fat from hogs, especially the internal fat of the abdomen. It's what people used before cooking oil

Low fat? Heck, no! It's pure fat. Was it a health problem? Maybe, but today less than 2% of the workforce labors on farms. In 1900, 37.5% did. Furthermore, walking is no longer an important form of transportation.

While earlier generations ate a diet higher in fat, their way of life was less sedentary. Even manual labor today is easier with power tools, air hammers and the like. Those old-timers burned up a lot of that fat.

Pop Corn Cake: Pop corn in kettle, taking a lump of lard to a handful of corn. Salt to taste. Make taffy as follows:
1 cup sorghum molasses
1 cup sugar, pinch of soda
When taffy is almost done, flavor with vanilla
Have corn in large pan, and pour taffy over it, mixing thoroughly. Then put a crock with a heavy weight on it and when cold, it can be sliced as other cake.

Gingered Pears: 1 peck pears, ½ oz. ginger root.
Peal and quarter pears.
Place in a stew pan with ginger root and enough water to prevent burning.
Cook slowly until tender and quite dry. Make a thick syrup of 4 cups granulated sugar and add to pears. This must be a thick preserve when taken from fire. Seal in jars or jelly glasses.

A peck is a dry measure of 8 quarts, 1/4 of a bushel or 537.6 cubic inches. And what's this "taken from fire" business? Imagine cooking indoors over a fire?

Anna Florian's Cold Catsup:
12 ripe tomatoes chopped fine. Drained well overnight is
best.
½ doz. Small onions
1 mango also chopped
1 tbl. Black and white mustard seed
2 lb. Granulated sugar
1 tbl. Salt, 1 tsp. Cinnamon, ½ tsp. Allspice,
½ cup grated Horseradish
4 bunches Celery cut fine but not chopped Mix well. Cover with cold vinegar. This is fine and it will keep.

Sounds tasty. I may try it myself.

Ever heard of "pork cake?" You're about to, courtesy of Laura Dibble of Ashland, Ky:
1 lb. Solid fat, fresh pork, 1 lb. Raisins
1/4 lb. Citron (a pale yellow fruit)
2 cups sugar, 1 cup molasses
Stir 1 tsp. Soda in the molasses until it foams
7 ½ cups flour
1 pint boiling water poured over meat.
1 nutmeg, 1 tsp. ea. of allspice, cloves and salt
Chop meat very fine. Bake 2 hours.

Mrs. S.O.Slosser's "Good Pie Crust":
4 cups flour
1 cup lard. Pinch of salt
Mix with cold water until moderately stiff.
Makes four good sized pies.

Now that you have the crust, here's how Margaretta Lindsay made her apple pie.
Peel and core 6 bell-flowers or any tart, ripe apples. Grate them. Line pie tin with rich crust. Fill with grated apple. Sweeten to taste. Sprinkle evenly with 1 tbl. of flour. Add 1 tbl. of butter cut into small bits and scatter over top. Sprinkle with crust. Put on upper crust and press edges closely together.

Lest anyone think only women contributed to the cookery, here's a concoction by Andrew Emerine Jr. He called them "Jolly Boys."
Sift 2 ½ heaping tbl. yellow corn meal
2 tbl. sugar, 1 salt-spoon salt
1 tbl. Royal baking powder.
Beat 1 egg and add to dry mixture.
Add enough milk to make a drop batter.
Stir in quickly 1 tsp. melted butter.
Beat well and drop by teaspoonfuls into smoking lard.

Potato Salad is a traditional American favorite. Emma Lytle thought so, too.
Boil 4 large potatoes. Chop fine while warm.
Mince and add 2 small onions.
Make a dressing of the yolks of 2 hard boiled eggs
A small teacup of vinegar
1 tsp. black pepper, 1 dessert-spoon salt
1 tbl. prepared mustard, 1 tbl. melted butter
Mix well with potatoes and garnish with slices of egg and celery or lettuce.

Finally, we mustn't neglect main dishes. Mrs. W.A. Solether made a stuffed beefsteak.
Take a large round steak and remove bone. Beat it well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Moisten 3 cups bread crumbs with cold water.
Season with salt and pepper. Add a walnut-sized lump of butter and a well beaten egg.
Mix and spread dressing evenly over meat. Roll up, fasten with skewers.
Bake, basting often.

There's an old poem, just as true for Fostoria today as it was at the last turn of the century.
We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart.
We may live without friends;
We may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
By Owen Meredith

Bon appetit.