Daily globe., 1879-02-16
Cookery a Hundred Years AGO

quaint old volume, issued in 1776 from
Hartford printing house, forms reading mat
ter OF an interesting character.
1t is entitled American Cookery or the ar
OF dresslng Vlands, etc., adapted to all grades
OF life" Just here it may be remarked, thai
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 hun ireS
years later; for call the grades' in this nine
teenth century of ours can by no means com
mand the somewhat expensive materials thai
entered into tie "viands" which Miss Sim
mems, the authoress, treats Of
For instance, the cheapest pudding, fo1
which she furnishes the receipt, is a a:Whltpot,'
which in addition to the bread of which it is
mainly compounded, calls fer two quarts Of
milk, half pound of sugar and nutmeg, and
rosewater to taste. Her receipt for pump.
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
in deep dish with rich puff paste For "sim.
pie rice pudding" she directs the
use of six ounces of rice in quart
OF very sweet cream, pound
of sugar, and fourteen eggs beaten
to Stiff froth, one pound of raisins, and VINE,
spices and salt to taste, together with rich
puff paste with which the baking dish is to be
lined. The ingredients for "a plain economi
cal indian pudding" are seven spoonfuls of In
dian meal, three pints of very sweet cream
seven well beaten eggs, a half pound of rails
ms, half pound of butter, the same compli
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 fine bread crumbs, six ounces of candieG
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 O.
milk, two ounces of cinnamon. two ounces O.
nutmeg, tea cup full of coriander seed, one
pint OF brandy, the same compliment of Ma
delra wine, twenty-fo we'll beaten eggs, s1
pounds of stoned raisins, and one pint O.
! ''emptins." 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 ou,
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 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 tc
inquire what becomes Of the theory of the
| simple habits in force in the early homes o1
our ancestors; so far as cookery is to be con.
sidered, if these specimens are to be accepted
as a 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 g
| 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 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
! five, six, or eight persons are supposed under
such direction to find full and satisfactory fare
| in the material that might be purchased fol
| less than the half of an American dollar IL
| three pounds of sugar and two pounds of but
| ter into three pounds of flour, and twenty eggs
four ounces each of ginger and cinnamon anC
| four spoons of rose water. These being the
| plain dishes, Imagination must suggest wha
| the more elaborate ones must have been
Traditionally we know our forefathers were
fond Of roasts whether of animal game o.
poultry; their allowances of the "best brandy
and wines" were something more liberal thar
| the usages of the present day permit at tht
family table. "They delighted in oysters
smothered fowls in the same, and dressed
turtles after the mode of to-day" Breakfas
tables were laden with dapjacks composed
principally of eggs,) delicate golden watt1es
swimming in melted butter and sugar, will
hot biscuits and ruskes, with fried sausage'
(home made), with ham and eggs, and crisp
fried potatoes, and aromatic coffee, of which
one pound of coffee, cleared witt
four eggs, and STEPPED, not boiled was though
to be sufficient for the refreshment of six per
sons. Perhaps this picture of alimentary life
in the past holds justification of the saying
'sthe good old times" In that sense how il
the progress of this nineteenth century to bt
estimated? Beside Miss Simmons Manual O
| "American Cookery" printed in the storm,
| times of 1776, which comes to us to-day like
| leaf fluttering down the years, we have tht
production of another maiden entitled
| ''twenty five cent dinners for family of six.
printed in 1878. The coffee alone for tn,
| breakfast of the family of six in the last centu
ary would cost nearly double the sum that th'
| writer in the present devotes to the whole
family dinner Of six persons, and this autho