This little paperback cookbook is a gem that my mom sent to me as a gift. It's pages are fragile (I'll be fragile too if I'm around for nearly 100 years!) but it is a treasure. It was published in 1915 by a women's Sunday school class from a Quaker church in Carmel, Indiana. I believe they used it as a fund raiser, possibly, because there are advertisements in it for local businesses. A car dealer has a space showing off the newest that Ford Motor Company has to offer; The Ford Touring Car, with the claim that there are, "now more than 750,000 of them in use."
As enjoyable as it is to read the ads, the recipes are a peek back in time, as well. I guess, because most girls and women of the time were so adept at cooking, there's very little explanation given by way of instructions. In fact, most of the time it doesn't give a temperature for baking. I'm guessing it was the days of sticking your arm in the oven to see if it was hot enough. I'm glad those days are past! The recipes are so brief that they remind me of times that I've asked elderly relatives for a recipe and all they give you are the ingredients, but no real measurements; " a pinch", " a little bit", "the size of your thumb", "til it looks done." These are not helpful directions to an aspiring cook.
I loved reading the three page section of "Household Helps". There are tips on stove blacking, and what to put in your "winter washing" so your clothes will not freeze while you're hanging them on the clothesline. For the sample recipe today I chose two recipes because I love chicken pie, and how often do you find a recipe for Chow Chow?! Enjoy!
P 57 Chicken Pie
One large or two small chickens; cook until meat will slip from bone, put meat in baking dish.
3 TBSP flour
3 TBSP melted butter
salt and pepper to taste; rub altogether, add three cups stock and cook to a smooth sauce; one cup cream or milk, pour over meat and set in oven to keep warm.
Crust: two cups flour, one teaspoonful salt, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, two tablespoonfuls butter, one egg beaten until light, one cup milk; stir into a batter, pour over the chicken and bake.
Mrs. Nina Taylor
Chow Chow
One half peck green tomatoes
five onions
one head cabbage
eight green peppers
two red peppers
Chop fine and mix well with salt,and let stand over night. In the morning squeeze all juice out and mix in one pound brown sugar, one half cup grated horseradish, one teaspoonful pepper, make good and sour, pour boiling vinegar over and seal.
Thanks for visiting with me. My mother used to cook with a handful of this, a pinch of that, etc. She never knew any measurements for her recipes. She used to make chow chow, too, but she called it green tomato ketchup. I enjoyed your blog. My windows are filthy, too. It is 75 degrees here in Kentucky today but it will get cold again next week. Kentucky weather is forever changing.
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