Banana Drop Cookies (1941) ★★

12:00 AM 1940s , 2 stars , 20th century , cakes , cookies , menu , snacks , united states , WWII 4 Comments

A little while ago I bought some bananas on a whim (I usually don't buy them) and to my surprise Little Y was very excited about eating bananas....for two days. And then she refused to eat bananas and I had a bunch of very ripe bananas with no one to eat them. I had discovered this fun little banana pamphlet a while ago and saved it, so I thought this would be the perfect way to use up my ripe bananas.

This pamphlet was published in 1941 by the Home Economics Department of New York. There are some interesting recipes included, such as Ham Banana Rolls, Broiled Bananas and Bacon, and Banana Rice Savory. The illustrations are quite amusing, and I love how they include menus using each recipe.


Original Recipe:


The Verdict:
I was a bit disappointed by these cookies. The taste of the shortening is really prominent - too much so. If the recipe used butter instead I would probably give the recipe 4 stars, but like this it only gets 2. The texture is not like a cookie at all. These are basically like little banana breads - very light and fluffy (not a bad thing, just not like a  typical cookie). They are not very sweet either, even though I used extra ripe bananas. They are not bad, however. I think these would also be delicious with some chocolate chips mixed in - you can never go wrong with chocolate!


Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from Bananas..how to serve them found at Curly Wurly)

The original recipe is very easy to follow. The only change I would make is to use at least half butter in place of half of the shortening. I haven't tested this, but I think it should work and would make the recipe quite edible.

Cider Cake (1840) ★★★★

12:00 AM 1840s , 19th century , 4 stars , breakfast , cake , canada , dessert , egg-free , The Frugal Housewife's Manual , victorian 0 Comments

Last semester I was working on a website project for school, which I named Early Canadian Cookbooks Online. I'm actually still working on it, but I hope to have it completed eventually! Anyway, I had planned to make this cake for a blog post on the website. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned...




Original Recipe:

11. Cider Cake.

Take two pounds of flour, one pound of sugar, half a pound of butter, one pint of cider, cloves and cinnamon, with or without fruit, two teaspoonsful of saleratus; put the saleratus in the cider, and mix it while foaming.
N.B. - As a general rule, every thing mixed with saleratus should be put in the oven immediately.

The Verdict:           
Well, as you can see by the pictures, I kind of undercooked this cake. Um, a lot. And the worst bit of it is that this is actually a really delicious cake! The taste is very similar to the Dutch breakfast cake called ontbijtkoek. Also, this recipe only has 5 ingredients (not counting spices)! And no eggs! I'm pretty impressed, actually. The texture is was nice and fluffy, with a hard-ish crust. I think what I would do next time is divide the dough in half and make two cakes, rather than trying to shove it all into one pan. Or maybe use a bundt pan. That might be big enough. I was really alarmed at the amount of sugar in this recipe, but it actually doesn't taste that sweet. Mr. Man and I both enjoyed this cake (we ate the cooked part).






Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from The Frugal Housewife's Manual)

1/2 lb. butter, softened
1 lb. sugar
2 lbs. flour
Cloves, to taste (I used 1 teaspoon)
Cinnamon, to taste (I used 2 teaspoons)
2 cups apple cider
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9 inch cakes pans or a large bundt pan.
2. In a very large bowl, beat together the butter and the sugar until combined and fluffy. Add in the flour and the spices. The mixture will be crumbly like a pastry dough. Using your hands to mix is beneficial.
3. Add the baking soda to the apple cider and mix it into the dough. Make sure it is well combined, but be gentle and get the dough into the oven quickly.
4. Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes for one large cake or 15 - 20 for each small cake.

The Verdict is In!

12:56 PM 0 Comments

You may have noticed a little poll that popped up on the sidebar about a month ago.

Well, I was looking over my blog one day and I noticed that there was a distinct preference in terms of recipes from the early 1900s, especially the 1910s! It's a bit ironic, really, as when I first started this blog I fully intended to focus on the 1800s. I really want to try and have a diversity of time periods covered here at Kitchen Historic, so this was troubling to me. I knew that I had been making a lot of twentieth century recipes lately, but I didn't realize just how much so!

And so, the poll. I wanted to hear from my readers what they wanted to see more of. And the verdict is in!
The winner is the...

1300s with 9 votes!

Runners up:
1400s with 5 votes
1700s with 5 votes
1500s with 4 votes
1600s with 4 votes
1900s with 3 votes

My aim here is to make at least one recipe from each time period, going down the list. So expect a recipe from the 1300s in the next few weeks!

In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them! I may in fact just create a suggestions page up at the top to keep track of them.

I'm excited! Hope you are too :)

Roll Jelly Cake (1893) ★★★★★

12:00 AM 1890s , 19th century , 5 stars , cake , dessert , united states , victorian 0 Comments

When I lived in Japan in 2008 roll cake was one of my favourite desserts. My first host mother, Mama, once brought home a chocolate roll cake with whipped cream filling because she knew how much I enjoyed it. I had never tried the deliciousness that is roll cake before I arrived in Japan.
This recipe from 1893 is quite different from that Japanese roll cake, and not just because it is from an American cookbook. The flavour and texture are completely different. But that doesn't mean its bad, it just means its different.




Original Recipe: 

Roll Jelly Cake.

From MRS. FLORA BEALL GINTY, of Wisconsin, Seventh Vice-President Board of Lady Managers.

Five eggs, two cupfuls of sugar, two of flour, one-half cupful of milk, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, one of soda; bake in square tins, spread with jelly and roll while warm. Lemon jelly is very nice. This recipe makes four rolls.

Flora Beall Ginty

Maple Syrup Doughnuts ★★★★

1:15 PM 4 stars , breakfast , dessert , snacks 2 Comments

"Our Doughnut Girl." War Cry, November 9, 1918.

I've noticed a recent trend has been to celebrate various food holidays. Most of them seem pretty random, both in date and food, and I generally thought of them as a modern invention. So I was surprised to see that today, the first Friday in June, is National Doughnut Day and that the tradition dates back to 1938! Unfortunately this is a national holiday in the United States - But! This doesn't mean we non-Americans can't celebrate the history and tastiness of doughnuts! I have to say though, considering Canada is home of Tim Hortons and consumes the most doughnuts per capita, why do we not celebrate this holiday too?!

National Doughnut Day was created by the Chicago Salvation Army as a way to honour women who had served doughnuts to soldiers during World War One and to act as a fundraiser during the Great Depression (1930-1940s). During World War One, "huts" were set up in Europe by the Salvation Army which served baked goods, mended clothing, and provided basic supplies for writing letters. Women were chosen to run these huts so that they could "mother" the male soldiers. No doubt they provided a comforting presence. Providing doughnuts at the huts was the idea of Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance, two volunteers. Doughnuts became so popular that the women who served them became known as "Doughnut Dollies."

If you haven't had your fill of doughnuts today, fear not! You can also take part in International Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day (tomorrow! June 8th), National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day (September 14), and Buy A Doughnut Day (October 30).

Doughnuts themselves have an even older history, and are present in some sense on every continent - beignets in France, churros in Spain and Latin America, zeppole in Italy, paczki in Poland, dolcho in Africa, jam doughnuts in Australia, and sufganiyah in Israel. The unassuming doughnut can be traced back as far as Ancient Rome, where sweet dough was fried in oil. In the middle ages, deep-fried yeast cakes were invented in Northern Europe. There is a long tradition of these kinds of fried dough being eaten for breakfast or as fair food. Here in Canada we particularly love to eat Beaver Tails at fairs - yum!

Young woman with a cooking pot of oliebollen (oliekoecken) by Aelbert Cuyp, c. 1652.

It is generally assumed that the Dutch (thumbs up for my ancestors!) were responsible for introducing the doughnut to the New World, in the early form of their recipe, called oliekoecken (literally, oil cakes). These sweet balls were traditionally eaten during the winter holiday season, which isn't surprising, as they contain many of the typical ingredients in Christmas fruit cake, such as almonds, cinnamon, ginger, currants, raisins, and citrus zest.

Anthropologist Paul R. Mullins determined that the first cookbook to mention doughnuts (by that name) was published in England in 1803. By the mid-1800s doughnuts became popular in American cookbooks and were so ingrained in the local culture that they became a staple in the American kitchen.

If you'd like to read more about the doughnut, particularly in the Canadian context, I highly recommend Steven Penfold's The Donut: A Canadian History.

As you might imagine, there were a ton of recipes to choose from for today's theme. I really had a hard time choosing. I was going to make a recipe for Dutch Krullen (Crullers) from the 19th century, but then I remembered another recipe...A few days ago I bought this book which caught my eye, Handwritten Recipes by Michael Popek. The book includes recipes written on scraps of paper, which Popek found slipped inside various books at his used book store. One of the recipes included in the book is for Maple Syrup Doughnuts. I cannot verify the time period of this recipe, but it was found in a book published in 1953. A brief internet search didn't turn up much, except for this recipe from Cooks' Woods, which is practically identical.

Original Recipe:
Maple Syrup Doughnuts
1 cup Maple Syrup
2 Eggs
3 tbl shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup sour milk
Flour to make workable dough. Mix ingredients as stated adding enough flour to make dough workable. Pat out on floured board to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with doughnut cutter. Fry in hot fat, heated to 370 degrees.




The Verdict:
This recipe doesn't specify any kind of sugar or glaze to go on top of these doughnuts, although that is often included in other recipes I've read. I'm not sure if this is because they are not meant to have a glaze, or if it was considered standard practice and didn't need to be included in the recipe. Anyway, these doughnuts are not very sweet. They are good plain, but don't really taste of maple (mostly nutmeg) and are barely sweet. I brushed some maple syrup over the tops of some of them and I think it really improved them, but of course it wasn't "authentic". That said, these aren't bad at all, and Mr. Man and Little Y and I all enjoyed them plain.

It also took me a bit of time to get the temperature of the oil (I don't have a thermometer) and the timing right, but I always expect the first few batches to be a mess anyway. However, this recipe is pretty forgiving, and even when overcooked the doughnuts were edible.

The texture of the doughnuts was dense and bread-like, especially when overcooked. They will sink to the bottom when you first put them in the oil, but will come quickly to the surface and float. They need to be flipped over at least once and should be cooked to a golden brown, as in my photographs. Any darker and they will be edible, but very dense. They cook very quickly.




Modernized Version:
1 cup MAPLE SYRUP
3 tablespoons SHORTENING
2 EGGS
Pinch of SALT
1 teaspoon BAKING SODA
1 teaspoon BAKING POWDER
1/2 teaspoon NUTMEG
1 teaspoon VANILLA
2/3 cups SOUR MILK (use buttermilk or milk with a splash of lemon juice in it)
~5 cups of FLOUR

1. In a large mixing bowl, blend together the maple syrup and shortening. Add the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the flour. Mix well and slowly add the flour until it becomes a thick dough which can be rolled out. I used about 5 cups, I think.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll or pat out the dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Use a doughnut cutter or two different sized circle cutters to cut out doughnut shapes.
3. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan (a couple inches, to deep fry the doughnuts) and cover a plate with paper towels. Fry the doughnuts in the oil, turning at least once and cooking until golden brown. Remove to the paper towels and let cool. If desired, brush the tops with maple syrup or dust with powdered sugar.


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Sources

"Doughnut." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 May 2013. Web. 06 June 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut>.

Olver, Lynne. "Doughnuts." The Food Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 June 2013. <http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq1.html#doughnuts>.

"National Donut Day." Donut Day USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 June 2013. <http://donutdayusa.com/>.

Chocolate Syrup/Refreshing Drinks for Summer (c.1909) ★★★

4:56 PM 1900s , 20th century , 3 stars , beverages , condiments , edwardian , egg-free , gluten-free , united states 0 Comments

I was browsing historical cook books online and I came across this recipe for "Refreshing Drinks for Summer." Even though the first day of summer isn't officially for another month or so, it certainly feels like it's here already in Canada! This seemed like a simple yet tasty recipe for a nice warm-weather beverage.
The cookbook today's recipe comes from was written by Miss Parloa and Mrs. Hill as an advertisement for the Walter Baker Chocolate Company, which many of you might recognize as simply "Baker's chocolate", still widely used in baking today. The company has had remarkable longevity, having been established in Massachusetts 1764. Perhaps their advertising tactics worked!


Original Recipe:

CHOCOLATE SYRUP

Into a granite-ware saucepan put one ounce—three tablespoonfuls—of Walter Baker & Co.'s Soluble Chocolate, and gradually pour on it half a pint of boiling water, stirring all the time. Place on the fire, and stir until all the chocolate is dissolved. Now add one pint of granulated sugar, and stir until it begins to boil. Cook for three minutes longer, then strain and cool. When cool, add one tablespoonful of vanilla extract. Bottle, and keep in a cold place.

REFRESHING DRINKS FOR SUMMER

Put into a tumbler about two tablespoonfuls of broken ice, two tablespoonfuls of chocolate syrup, three tablespoonfuls of whipped cream, one gill of milk, and half a gill of soda-water from a syphon bottle, or Apollinaris water. Stir well before drinking. A tablespoonful of vanilla ice-cream is a desirable addition. It is a delicious drink, even if the soda or Apollinaris water and ice-cream be omitted. A plainer drink is made by combining the syrup, a gill and a half of milk, and the ice, shaking well.

The Verdict:
Although this tasted fine, I was kind of disappointed. All this really is is homemade chocolate milk. I thought it would be more like a float, but with only 1/4 cup of soda water, the fizz is pretty much nonexistant. The chocolate syrup is good, but it's a fairly basic recipe to begin with. The amount of vanilla was a tiny bit too much, and I think if possible a vanilla bean boiled in there would have been much tastier than extract. If I were to make this again I would go fancier - forget the ice altogether, mix the milk and chocolate syrup with more soda water, and add the whipped cream and ice cream on top, perhaps with a drizzle of syrup. I give this recipe 3 stars, not because it tasted bad, but because was pretty average and tasted just like chocolate milk which could have been made without the ice, whipped cream, and soda water. Anyway, the rest of the syrup will make a yummy ice cream topping!


Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes By Miss Parloa and Home Made Candy Recipes By Mrs. Janet McKenzie Hill)

Chocolate Syrup
1 ounce COCOA POWDER
1 cup BOILING WATER
2 cups SUGAR
1 tablespoon VANILLA EXTRACT

Refreshing Drinks for Summer
2 tablespoons BROKEN ICE
2 tablespoons CHOCOLATE SYRUP
3 tablespoons WHIPPED CREAM
1/2 cup MILK
1/4 cup SODA WATER
1 tablespoon VANILLA ICE CREAM (optional)

1. To make the chocolate syrup: boil 1 cup of water, dissolve the cocoa in it when boiling, add the sugar, simmer about 3 more minutes, remove from heat, and add vanilla extract. Let cool before using.
2. To make a refreshing drink: Essentially mix all ingredients together. See "The Verdict" for serving suggestions.