Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-02-16
Cookery Il Hundred Years Asn.

quaint old volume, issued in 1776 from a
Hartford printing house, forms reading mat
ter OF an interesting character.
1t is entitled american Cookery or the art
OF dressing viands, ETC., adapted to all grades
OF llfe.' Just here it may be remarked, that
if the manual de cuisine in question was adapt
ed to all the grades of the American people
one hundred years ago, the people of that era
must have been generally more prosperOusly
situated than are those who came a hundred
years later; for 'all the grades" in this nine
teenth century of ours Can by no means COM
mand the somewhat expensive materials that
entered into the "viands" which Miss Sim
mems, the authoress, treats Of
For instance, the cheapest pudding, for
which she furnishes the receipt, is ''Whitpot,'
which in addition to the bread OF which it is
manly compounded, calls for two quarts of
milk, a half pound of sugar and nutmeg, and
rosewater to taste. Her receipt for 'spump-
KIM pie sets forth as the necessaries for its
construction, one quart of stewed and strained
pumpkin, three pints Of sweet cream, ten
Well-beaten eggs, two glssses of wine, with
sugar, mace, nutmeg and ginger, to be baked
pie rice pudding" she directs the
use of six ounces of rice in a quart
of sugar, and fourteen eggs beaten
to a stiff froth, one pound of raisins, and vine,
spices and salt to taste, together with rich
lined. The ingredients for "a plain economi-
cal Indian pudding" are seven spoonfuls of In
dian meal, three pints of very sweet cream
seven we'll beaten eggs, a half pound OF rails
ms, half pound of butter, the same compli-
ment OF sugar, besides 1avoring Of Spices
An imperial plum pudding fol eight persons
was to be composed of four pounds of raisins,
two of currants, three of slivered citron, three
OF sugar, two of finely chopped suet, and two
OF tine bread crumbs, six ounces of candied
peel, one each of nutmeg, mace and CHINA
mon, pint of brandy, the same of Madeira
wine, two lemons and three dozen of eggs,
well beaten. For "a plain loaf cake" there
are to be six pounds of sugar, two of lard,
three OF butter, twelve of flour, one quart of
milk, two ounces of cinnamon. two ounces of
nutmeg, a tea cup full of cOriander seed, one
pint of brandy, the same compliment of Ma
deira Wine, twenty four well beaten eggs, six
pounds OF stoned raisins, and one pint of
"emptlns:" Miss Simmons does not state the
number of persons which this "plain cake"
may serve, but she does add, if large milk pans
are to be used in baking it, that the cake
would then require two hours baking
in proportion to smaller loaves.
Among those samples of the cooking of our
great grandmothers there are creams, and
tarts, and trifes, and Syllabus upon equally
generous foundations and of marvellous con-
struction. "a fine syllabub from the cow''
was made of quart of hard cider, sWeetened
with double refined sugar, and seasoned with
plenty of nutmeg. Into this the COW was
MIXED in the proportion deemed necessary,
and over it a pint Of cream or more, as wished,
OF the sweetest cream Obtainable was poured.
In view of this sort of fare adapted to all
grades of society,"" it might be pertinent to
inquire what becomes of the theory of the
simple habits in force in the early homes of
our ancestors; SO far as cookery is to be con-
sldered, IT these specimens are to be accepted
as fair representative Of the whole, the
hOusekeeper must have had weigbty subjects
to deal with in the relation of the family fare.
and dyspepsia, it must be supposed, was a
malady less prevalent then than now In
deed nothing short of robust digestive
organization could have dealt successfully
with such bills of fare as Miss Simmons book
provides for, and, in that view perhaps, we
find the solution of the tough sinews and
dauntless spirits that won us the freedom of
the land we cherish" Here is receipt for plain
soft gingerbread which, superadded to whose
given above, would be a revelation to the
geniuses of to-day, who undertake to guide
families in the discovery of nutrimental ele-
ments in a few cents worth of food, and where,
tive, six, or eight persons are supposed under
such direction to find full and satisfactory fare
in the material that might be purchased for
less than the half of an American dollar. 10
make this "plain soft ginger bread" you rub
three pounds OF sugar and two pounds of but
vi ILL oAl &c poul1uo VI uOul, anu GWcuGf eggs,
four ounces each of ginger and cinnamon and
four spoons OF rose water. These being the
plain dishes, imagination must suggest what
the more elaborate ones must have been.
Traditionally we know our forefathers were
fond of rOasts whether of animal game or
poultry; their allowances of the "best brandy
and wines" were something more liberal than
the usages of the present day permit at the
family table. "They delighted in oysters,
smothered fowls in the same, and dressed
turtles after the mode of today" Breakfast
tables were laden with tlapjacks composed
principally of eggs,( delicate golden watfles,
swimming in melted butter and sugar, with
hot biscuits and ruskes, with fried sausages
(home made), with ham and eggs, and crisp,
fried potatoes, and aromatic coffee, of which
one pound of coffee, cleared with
four eggs, and stepped, not boiled was thought
to be sufficient for the refreshment of six per.
sons. Perhaps this picture of alimentary life
in the past holds justification of the saying
"the good old times" In that sense how is
the progress of this nineteenth century to be
estimated? Beside Miss Simmons Manual of
American Cookery" printed in the stormy
times of 1776, which comes to us to-day like a
leaf futtering DOWN the years, we have the
production of another maiden entitled
twenty-five cent dinners for family Of six"
printed in 1878. The coffee alone for the
breakfast of the family of six in the last centu-
airy would cost nearly double the sum that the
writer in the present devotes to the whole
family dinner of six persons, and this author