The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-02-19
Cookery Il Hundred Years Ago.

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 life" 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 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 a ':Whitpot,'
which in addition to the bread Of which it is
mainly compounded, calls for two quarts of
milk, half pound Of sugar and nutmeg, and
rosewater to taste. Her receipt for dpump-
kim pie sets forth as the necessaries for its
construction, one quart of stewed and strained
pumpkin, three pints Of sweet cream, ten
weI-beaten eggs, two glssses of wine, with
in deep dish with rich puff paste For sim
use of six ounces of rice in a quart
OF very sweet cream, pound
OF sugar, and fourteen eggs beaten
to stiff froth, one pound of raisins, and wine,
spices and salt to taste, together with rich
puff paste with which the baking dish is to be
lined. The ingredients for "a plain economic
cal Indian pudding" are seven spoonfuls of In
dian meal, three pints of very sweet cream.
seven well beaten eggs, half pound of rails
ms, a half pound OF butter, the same compli-
ment OF sugar, besides aavoring 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 fine bread crumbs. six ounces of candied
peel, one each of nutmeg, mace and CHINA
mon, pint of brandy, the same of Madeira
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, tea cup full of coriander seed. one
pint OF brandy, the same compliment of Ma
delra Wine, tWenty-four we'll beaten eggs, six
pounds of stoned raisins, and one pint of
"emptins." Miss Simmons does not state the
number Of persons which this "plain caken
may serve, but she does add, if large milk pans
are to be used in baking it, that the cake
", YOU'D n. then require two hours baking
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
AoAi oOuClS lCuuCu sugar, duu 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 to
inquire what becomes Of the theory of the
simple habits in force in the early homes of
our ancesters; so far as cookery is to be con-
sldered, ii these specimens are to be accented
as fair representative of the whole. the
housekeeper must have had weigbty subjects
10 deal with in the relation of the family fare
ana dyspepsia, it must be supposed, was a
deed nothing short of a robust digestive
organization could have dealt sucessfnl1v
With such bills of fare as Miss Simmons hoolx
proVloes Tor, and, in that view perhaps. we
lind the solution of the tough sinews and
dauntless spirits that won us the freedom of
'the land we cherish" Here is a recent for Main
soft gingerbread which, superadded to whose
given above, would be revelation to the
geniuses Of to-day, who undertake to o,,ide
families in the discovery of nutrimentai ele.
ments in few cents worth of food. and where
five, six, or eight persons are supposed under
such direction to find full and satisfactory ia 70
in the material that might be purchased Tor
less than the half of an American dollar. 10
make this "plain soft ginger bread" Won rnh
three pounds of sugar and two pounds of hit,
ter into three pounds Of flour, and twenty 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.
lradltionally 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
tables were laden with fapiacks COMPOSED
principally of eggs,) delicate golden waffies,
swimming in melted butter and sugar, with
hot biscuits and ruskes, with fried sausages
(home made), with ham and eggs, and crisp,
lrled potatoes and aromatic coffee, of which
four eggs, and stepped, not boiled was thought