{"id":2111,"date":"2010-12-16T14:45:41","date_gmt":"2010-12-16T19:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=2111"},"modified":"2010-12-17T10:29:26","modified_gmt":"2010-12-17T15:29:26","slug":"holiday-receipts-davenport-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2010\/12\/16\/holiday-receipts-davenport-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Receipts, Davenport-style"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the oldest cookbooks in our collections is from the First Presbyterian Church in Davenport.\u00a0 Titled Cook Book,<\/em> its pages are brittle and smudged with use.<\/p>\n

This item\u00a0has no official copyright date, but there are\u00a0a few clues to its age:\u00a0 the rare telephone numbers in the sponsor ads are only two to four digits long—the earliest telephone lines in Davenport were installed around 1878.\u00a0 Also, a former owner of this cookbook inserted a recipe written on a piece of stationery from the Northern Steamboat Company—the line for the date is pre-printed 1915.<\/p>\n

Other\u00a0hints that this book was compiled around the turn of the last century can be found in the recipes\u2014or receipts,<\/em> as the book calls them.\u00a0 The\u00a0donors\u00a0apparently assumed that everyone <\/em>knows what a \u201cmoderate\u201d or \u201cfairly quick\u201d oven might be, how one would steam or fry something—or even how to put together a list of ingredients without any instructions at all:<\/p>\n

\u201cNever Fail\u201d Pie Crust:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two tablespoons of lard, four tablespoons of water, eight tablespoons of flour and a pinch of salt.\u00a0 Quantities are easily remembered by \u201ctwo times four equals eight.\u201d<\/p>\n

—Mrs. C. E. Adams<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or, for that whimsical touch:<\/p>\n

\n

Sponge Cake.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Never Fails.)
\n\u201cStand on your legs
\nAnd beat four eggs,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One cupful of sugar
\nAnd beat like a \u201cbooger,\u201d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One cupful of flour,
\nAnd bake half an hour.\u201d*<\/p>\n

—Mrs. Wm. Johnson<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, an art of some kind has been lost, as well as the original meaning of a certain word. . .<\/p>\n

The recipes in Cook Book<\/em>\u00a0range from simple, nourishing Oxtail Soup and Fried Corn Meal Porridge, to dishes meant for holiday dining:<\/p>\n

Braised Tongue:<\/strong><\/p>\n

One large, fresh tongue.\u00a0 Two heaping tablespoons of flour.\u00a0 Any kind of vegetables, like carrots, celery, peas, turnips, etc.\u00a0 Large bunch of parsley, one onion, one potato, sliced, one bay leaf, one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, two tablespoons of butter.\u00a0 Wash tongue thoroughly, put in two quarts of water and cook for two hours.\u00a0 Take out and skin the tongue, cut off rough piece at the roots.\u00a0 Put butter and flour in iron kettle, brown and thicken with the bullion from the tongue, put in all the vegetables, then put in the tongue, cover tight and back two hours more, basting every fifteen minutes.\u00a0 When done, slice tongue, put on plates, and pour sauce and vegetables over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

—Mrs. August Reimers<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or perhaps<\/p>\n

Jellied Veal:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get four veal shanks, boil, skim several times; then add salt and two onions, cut up.\u00a0 When the meat falls from the bones, remove from the fire and strain.\u00a0 When the meat is cool, cut into small pieces; add one can of mushrooms and sliced sweet red pepper.\u00a0 Salt and pepper to taste.\u00a0 Put in mold and pour over it the strained liquor until it shows at the sides.\u00a0 This is nice molded into individual molds.<\/p>\n

—Mrs. J. L. Manker<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And we mustn\u2019t forget dessert!<\/p>\n

Snow Pudding:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four tablespoons of corn starch dissolved in one-half cup of cold water; to this add one pint of boiling water, one and one-half cups of sugar, and the juice of two lemons.\u00a0 When cooked and cold, fold in the whites of three eggs beaten stiff.<\/p>\n

Custard Sauce for Pudding:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cook in double boiler the yolks of three eggs, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, one pint of milk, salt.<\/p>\n

—Mrs. L. M. Coffman<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anyone who feels confident in puzzling out these recipes is welcome to visit us and take a look at First Presbyterian\u2019s book—or any of the\u00a0many locally-connected cookbooks in our collection.\u00a0 We can\u2019t promise that they\u2019ll help you with a holiday feast ala Alice French<\/a>, but the results should be unique!<\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

*An addendum to this poem suggests that one separates the eggs first before beating each part, and adds the stiff whites just before baking.\u00a0 For what it\u2019s worth, the oven should be moderate.<\/p>\n

(posted by Sarah)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the oldest cookbooks in our collections is from the First Presbyterian Church in Davenport.\u00a0 Titled Cook Book, its pages are brittle and smudged with use. This item\u00a0has no official copyright date, but there are\u00a0a few clues to its … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[555,526,556],"class_list":["post-2111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-history","tag-cook-book","tag-cookbooks","tag-first-presbyterian-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-y3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2111"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2118,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2111\/revisions\/2118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}