Dressing or Stuffing for Fowls (TAC)

For and eight or ten pound turkey, cut the brown crust from slices or pieces of stale bread until you have as much as the inside of a pound loaf; put it into a suitable dish, and pour tepid water (not warm for that makes it heavy) over it; let it stand one minute, as it soaks very quickly. Now take up a handful at a time and squeeze it hard and dry with both hands, placing it, as you go along, in another dish; this process makes it very light. When all is pressed dry, toss it all up lightly through your fingers; now add pepper, salt-- about a teaspoonful of powdered summer savory, the same amount of sage, or the green herb minced fine; add half a cup of melted butter, and a beaten egg, or not. A little chopped sausage in turkey dressing is considered by some an improvement, when well incorporated with the other ingredients. For geese and ducks the stuffing may be made the same as for turkey with the addition of a few slices of onion chopped fine.

OYSTER DRESSING OR STUFFING

This is made with the same ingredients as above, with the exception of half a can of oysters drained, and slightly chopped and added to the rest. This is used mostly with boiled turkey and chicken, and the remainder of the can of oysters used to make an oyster sauce to be poured over the turkey when served; served generally in a separate dish, to be dipped out as a person desires.
These recipes were obtained from an old colored cook; who was famous for his fine dressings for fowls, fish and meats, and his advice was, always soak the stale bread, either in milk or water, when used for stuffing or for puddings, as they were much lighter. Hot liquid makes them heavy.

Baker's Ginger Snaps (TAC)

Boil all together the following ingredients:  Two cups of brown sugar, two cups of cooking molasses, one cup of shortening, which should be part butter, one large tablespoonful of ginger, one tablespoonful of ground cinnamon, and one teaspoonful of cloves; remove from fire and let cool. In the meantime sift four cup of flour and stir part of it into the above mixture. Now dissolve a teaspoonful of soda in a tablespoonful of warm water and beat this into the mixture, stir in the remainder of the flour, and make stiff enough to roll into long rolls about once inch in diameter, and curt of from the end in 1/2 inch pieces. Place them on well buttered tins, giving plenty of room to spread. Bake in a moderate oven. Let cool before taking out of the tins.

NOTE: I was missing the part of the page that mentioned the amount of cloves, but since it's a strong spice I wrote in 1 tsp. If you think that is too much make it half a tsp. Did you notice there are no eggs in this recipe?

Custard Ice-Cream (TAC)

Sweeten one quart of cream or rich milk with half a pound of sugar, and flavor to taste; put it over the fire in a  farina-kettle; as soon as it begins to boil, stir into a tablespoonful of cornstarch or rice flour which has been previously mixed smooth with a little milk; after it has boiled a few minutes, take it off the fire and stir in very gradually six eggs which have been beaten until thick; when quite cold freeze it as ice-cream.

NOTE:  I would temper my beaten eggs with some of the hot liquid before pouring them into the custard. Other ice cream recipes in this book have one pound of sugar to 1 quart of cream. Should we add the same amount?

NOTE:  A Farina Kettle is a Double-Boiler

Methelin or Honey Wine (TAC)

   This is a very ancient and popular drink in the north of Europe.  To some new honey, strained, add spring water; put a whole egg into it; boil this liquor till the egg swims above the liquor; strain, pour it in a cask.  To every fifteen gallons add two ounces of white Jamaica Ginger, bruised, one ounce of cloves and mace, one and a half ounces of cinnamon, all bruised together, and tied up in a muslin bag; accelerate the fermentation with yeast; when worked sufficiently, bung up in six weeks draw off into bottles.
   Another Mead.-- Boil the combs, from which the honey has been drained, with sufficient water to make a tolerably sweet liquor; ferment this with yeast, and proceed as per previous formula.
   Sack Mead is made by adding a handful of hops and sufficient brandy to the comb liquor.

NOTE: I can't imagine making this recipe even 1/15th or a gallon of it for a trial run without knowing the amount of honey and yeast.

To Make Tea (TAC)

Allow two teaspoonfuls of tea to one large cupful of boiling water.  Scald the teapot, put in the tea, pour on about a cupful of boiling water, set it on the fire in a warm place where it will not boil, but keep very hot, to almost boiling; let it steep or "draw" ten or twelve minutes.  Now fill up with as much boiling water as required.  Send hot to the table.  It is better to use a china or porcelain teapot, but if you do use a metal let it be tin, new, bright and clean; never use it when the tin is worn off and the iron exposed.  If you do you are drinking tea-ate of iron.
   To make tea to perfection, boiling water must be poured on the leaves directly as it boils.  Water which has been boiling more than five minutes, or which has previously boiled, should on no account be used.  If the water does not boil, or if it be allowed to overboil, the leaves of the tea will only be half-opened and the tea itself will be quite spoiled.  The water should be allowed to remain on the leaves for from ten to fifteen minutes.
   A Chinese being interviewed for the Cook says: Drink your tea plain. Don't add milk or sugar.  Tea-brokers and tea-tasters never do, epicures never do; the Chinese never do.  Milk contains fibrin, albumen or some other stuff, and the tea delicate amount of tannin.  Mixing the two makes the liquid turbid.  This turbidity, if I remember the cyclopaedia aright, is tannate of fibrin, or leather. People who put milk in tea are therefore drinking boots and shoes in milk disguise.

Cocoanut Candy (TAC)

One Cocoanut, one and one- half pounds of granulated sugar. Put sugar and milk of cocoanut together, heat slowly until sugar is melted, then boil five minutes; add cocoanut (finely grated), boil 10 minutes longer, stir constantly to keep from burning. Pour on buttered plates, cut in squares. Will take about 2 days to harden. Use prepared cocoanut when other cannot be had.

Superior Bread Puddings (TAC)

One and one-half cupfuls of white sugar; two cupfuls of fine, dry bread crumbs, five eggs, one tablespoonful of butter, vanilla, rose water or lemon flavoring, one quart of fresh, rich milk, and one half a cupful of jelly or jam.  Rub the butter into a cupful of sugar; beat the yolks very light, and stir these together to a cream.  The bread-crumbs soaked in milk come next, then the flavoring. Bake in a buttered pudding dish- int  a large one, and but two thirds full- until the custard is "set."  Draw to the mouth of the oven, spread over with jam or other nice fruit conserve. Cover this with meringue made of the whipped whites and half a cupful of sugar.  Shut the oven, and bake until the meringue begins to color. Eat cold, with cream. In strawberry season, substitute a pint of fresh fruit for preserves. It is delicious. Serve with any warm sauce.

Puff Balls (TAC)

A piece of butter the size of an egg, stirred until soft; add three well beaten eggs, a pinch of salt, and half a teacup full of sour cream. Stir well together, then add enough flour to make a thick batter. Drop a spoonful of this into boiling water. Cook until the puffs rise to the surface. Dish them hot with melted butter turned over them. Nice accompaniment to a meat dinner as a side dish- similar to plain macaroni.

NOTE: A real, old fashioned China tea cup holds 6 Ounces if filled to the brim. That's 3/4 cup.. so whats half of that? 3 ounces or a rounded 1/3 cup? I bet they would taste good cooked in broth or soup.

Onion Soup (TAC) unusual

One quart of milk, six large onions, yolks of four eggs, three tablespoonfuls of butter, a large one of flour, one cupful of cream, salt and pepper.  Put the butter in a frying pan. Cut the onions into thin slices and drop into the butter.  Stir until they begin to cook; then cover tight and set back where they will simmer but not burn, for half and hour. Now put the milk on to boil, and then add the dry flour to the onions and stir constantly for three minutes over the fire, then turn the mixture into the milk and cook fifteen minutes.  Rub the soup through a strainer; return to the fire, season with salt and pepper.  Beat the yolks of the eggs well, add the cream to them and stir in the soup. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly. If you have no cream, use milk, in which case add a tablespoon of butter at the same time. Pour over fried croutons in a soup tureen. This is a refreshing dish when one is fatigued.

Salt-Rising Bread (TAC)

This recipe would be good if you had no yeast, although it takes quite a while to make.

SALT-RISING BREAD

While getting breakfast in the morning, as soon as the tea-kettle has boiled, take a quart tin cup or an earthen quart milk pitcher, scald it, then fill one-third full of water about as warm as the finger could be held in; then to this add a teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of brown sugar and coarse flour enough to make a batter of about the right consistency for griddle-cakes.  Set the cup with the spoon in it, in a closed vessel half-filled with water, moderately hot, but not scalding. Keep the temperature as nearly even as possible, and add a teaspoonful of flour once or twice during the process of fermentation. The yeast ought to reach the top of the bowl in about 5 hours. Sift your flour into a pan, make an opening in the centre, and pour in your yeast. Have ready a pitcher of warm milk, salted, or milk and water, (not too hot, or you could scald the yeast germs,)  and stir rapidly into a pulpy mass with a spoon.  Cover this sponge closely and and keep warm for an hour, then knead into loaves, adding flour to make the proper consistency. Place in warm, well greased pans, cover closely, and leave till it is light. Bake in a steady oven, and when done let all the hot steam escape. Wrap closely in damp towels, and keep in closed earthen jars until wanted.
This in our grandmother's time used to be considered the prize bread, on account of it's being sweet and wholesome, and required no prepared yeast to make it. Nowadays yeast-bread is made with very little trouble, as the yeast can be procured at any grocery.

NOTE: Well.. what do you think?. A 'pinch of brown sugar'? I'd add a TB at least.  Coarse flour is whole wheat I suppose, but whole grain rye would work as it ferments even better. No real measurements on the salt and milk..  How much is 1/3 of a quart of water? 10 ounces approx? There is no fat added to make the crumb tender.. Did she use "coarse flour" in the whole recipe?  
I have seen other salt rising breads made with at least a tablespoon of salt.

Grape Pie (TAC)

Did you ever hear of such a thing as Grape Pie? Boy do I love The American Cookbook. Here's the recipe:

GRAPE PIE
Pop the pulps out of the skins into one dish, and put the skins into another. Then simmer the pulp a little over the fire to soften it; remove it and rub through a colander to separate the seeds. Then put the skins and pulp together and they are ready for pies or for canning or putting in jugs for further use. Fine for pies.

NOTE: What do you think? How would we go about making a pie with the pulp and skins? Cook it with sugar, flour and lemon juice? Or cook it with sugar and cornstarch? It sounds very interesting. Since we have seedless grapes now should we still separate the pulp from the skin, then cook it and puree it? Hmm

German Bread (TAC)

One pint of milk well boiled, one teacup of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of nice lard or butter, two thirds of a teacupful of baker's yeast. Make a rising with the milk and yeast; when light, mix in the sugar and shortening, with flour enough to make a soft dough as can be handled. Flour the paste-board well, roll out about one half inch thick; put this quantity into two large pan; make about a dozen indentures with the finger on the top; put a small piece of butter in each, and sift over the whole one tablespoonful of sugar mixed with one teaspoonful of cinnamon. Let this stand for a second rising; when perfectly light bake in a quick oven fifteen or twenty minutes.
NOTE: A pint of milk is 2 cups, so I would use one pack of dried yeast (2 & 1/4 tsp) or at the most 3 tsp dried yeast, in place of the homemade BAKER'S YEAST. 

A quick oven is hotter than a "Moderate" (350) oven. I would bake at 400 degrees and see how it turns out.

NOTE: This recipe reminds me of some very delicious coffeecakes my old Sunday school teacher used to make. Since she passed away many years ago, no one had made them since. The only difference is, she placed a layer of sour cream perhaps sweetened with sugar, on top of the indentations instead of butter and sprinkled the top with cinnamon. I remember them only rising as high as the aluminum pie tins she baked them in. 

Home-Made Yeast (TAC)

Boil six large potatoes in three pints of water. Tie a handful of hops in a small muslin bag and boil with the potatoes; when thoroughly cooked drain the water on enough flour to make a thin batter; set this on the stove or range and scald it enough to cook the flour, (this makes the yeast keep longer), remove it from the fire, and when cool enough, add the potatoes mashed, also half a cup of sugar, half a tablespoon of ginger, two of salt and a teacupful of yeast. Let it stand in a warm place until it has thoroughly risen, then put in a large mouthed jug, and cork tightly; set away in a cool place. The jug be scalded before putting in the yeast. two-thirds of a coffeecupful of this yeast will make four loaves.

Rye Bread Recipe from The American Cookbook (TAC)

To a quart of warm water stir as much wheat flour as will make a smooth batter; stir into it half a gill of home-made yeast, and set it in a warm place to rise; This is called setting a sponge; let it be mixed in some vessel which will contain twice the quantity; in the morning, put three pounds and a half of rye flour into a bowl or tray, make a hollow in the centre, pour in the sponge, add a dessertspoonful of salt, and a half a small teaspoon soda, dissolved in a little water; make the whole into a smooth dough, with as much warm water as may be necessary; knead it well, cover it, and let it set in a warm place for three hours; then knead it again, and make it into two or three loaves; bake in a quick oven one hour, if made in two loaves, or less if the loaves are smaller.

Fried Corn (TAC)

Cut the corn off the cob, taking care not to bring off any of the husk with it, and to have the grains as separate as possible. Fry in a little butter-just enough to keep it from sticking to the pan; stir very often. When nicely browned, add salt, pepper, and a little rich cream. Do not set it near the stove after the cream is added as it will be apt to turn. This makes a nice dinner or breakfast dish.