Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Research Log - Recipes

Going through cookbooks I came across some family recipes.  Genealogy should take in all aspects of family history, not just names and dates.  Also including some items from my historical cookbooks.  Share family recipes in the comments if you have them. 

Banana Cake - Betty (Richardson) White
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour milk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. mashed, ripe bananas
2 1/2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream shortening. Add sugar and eggs. Beat well. Add soda to sour milk. Add bananas to egg and sugar mixture. Sift dry ingredients. Add alternately with sour milk and add vanilla. Bake in 375 degree oven. When cool, top with your favorite icing.

Bean Bake - Diana (Shaw) Shields
1 lb. hamburger
1/2 c. chopped onions

1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 can kidney beans
6 slices bacon
1/2 c. ketchup
1/3 c. white sugar
1 can pork & beans
1 can lima beans

Brown hamburger with the bacon and onions. In large baking dish, mix together remaining ingredients. Add hamburger mixture. Bake for 1 hour at 350°.

Black Devil Food's Cake - Trixie (Erkman) Lathrop
Mix together 1/2 cup cocoa & 1 c hot water or strong coffee - stir well until blended.

Sift together:
1 1/2 c sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon double-acting or (1/2 teaspoon fast-acting) baking powder

Mix together:
1/2 c shortening
1 1/4 c sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add cocoa mixture alternately with sifted flour mixture. Beat only enough to blend well.  Pour batter into greased deep 8 inch square cake pan or two 8 inch layer cake pans.  Bake 350° for 35 to 45 minutes.

Buttermilk Biscuits - Kay (Hall) McKinney
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. shortening
3/4 c. buttermilk

Measure dry ingredients in bowl. Cut in shortening. Make a well in mixture and pour in all buttermilk. Stir with a fork until it will form a ball. Turn dough onto lightly floured board. Roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place in greased pan, greasing the top. Bake at 450° F for 10 to 15 minutes

Chili Soup - Nova (Crumbacher) Anderson
1 lb. ground beef
3 small onions
1 can red beans
1/2 can tomatoes
1/3 chili brick

Cut onion up fine. Mix and fry with ground beef for 15 minutes. Then mix all ingredients together and cook 30 minutes.

Dish Pan Cookies - Beverly (Lousignont) Robertson
1 c white sugar
1 c oil
1 tsp soda
2 c coconut
3/4 c oats
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 c nuts
2 c flour

Mix; drop by teaspoonful. Bake at 350°.

Egg Custard Pie, 9 inch - Tonia (McKinney) White
4 large eggs
2/3 c. white sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 2/3 c. scalded milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat eggs slightly. Beat in the sugar, salt, milk and vanilla. Pour into pastry lined pie pan. Sprinkle nutmeg evenly over top. Bake at 450° F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 425° F and bake 10 minutes longer. The center will quiver, but will harden as it cools.

French Dressing - Sylvia (Withrow) Richardson
1/2 c catsup
1/3 c vinegar
1/2 c Mazola oil
1/2 c sugar
1 garlic button
salt to tast

Mix together. Shake well. Makes 1 pint.

Gooey Butter Cake - Debbie (Blackford) McKibben
1 yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 stick oleo
1 t vanilla
8 oz. cream cheese
1 15 oz. box powdered sugar

Mix cake mix, 1 egg, and oleo together. Press in bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Mix cheese, powdered sugar, 2 eggs and vanilla. Pour on top of cake mixture. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

Goulash - Trisha (McKinney) McCormick
1 lb. hamburger
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
1 c. frozen peas
1/2 pkg. noodles
Salt and pepper

Brown hamburger. Drain off grease. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.

Homemade Buns - Mabel (Butler) Robertson, this may be the same recipe used by her sister Grace (Butler) Lathrop
2 c. warm water
1/2 c. sugar
3 c. flour
2 pkg. yeast
2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. shortening
3 c. flour
1 egg

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix together sugar, salt and 3 cups flour with yeast. Beat well. Add shortening, 3 cups of flour and egg. Mix well.  Let rise, double size.  Make into buns or loaf. Let rise again, double size. Bake at 400° about 20 minutes or until buns are golden brown.

Lemon Bread - Bonnie (Lathrop) Holler
1/2 c shortening
2 eggs beaten
1 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 c milk
Grated rind of 1 lemon

Glaze: juice of 1 lemon & 1/4 c sugar

Mix shortening, eggs and sugar. Combine salt, flour and baking powder. Add to batter, stirring well.  Add milk in 2 parts. Mix well after each addition. Add grated lemon rind. Bake 1 hour at 350° in a greased loaf pan. Combine lemon juice and 1/2 c sugar. Spoon over baked loaf while hot. Allow juice to soak in. Slice then and serve with butter while warm or cool, and serve with tea.

Oyster Dressing - Vivian (Morger) Robertson
2 1/2 loaves bread, broken up
2 onions, chopped
4 to 5 sticks celery, cut up
salt
pepper
4 eggs, beaten
3 cans oysters, cut up

Cook your onions and celery in pan of water until done; don't drain water off. Stir your bread crumbs, salt, pepper and eggs together then add onion and celery along with water and stir. Add cut-up oysters with juice. Pour your broth over all and stir together; don't have broth too hot. Line pan with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour at 350°.hr> Pork Chop Potato Bake Casserole - Wanda (McKinney) Richardson
6 pork chops
5 medium potatoes, peeled
1/2 small onion, sliced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can water
salt and pepper to taste

Slice potatoes and place into large buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add onion slices. Brown pork chops. Place over potatoes. Spread soup over chops. Pour water over soup. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours.

Pumpkin Pie - Mrs. Reva Meeks - this came across the Wayne County Historical Society's facebook page

1 c sugar
1 1/2 c canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 2/3 c undiluted evaporated milk, Carnation
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
9 inch single crust unbaked pie shell

Mix filling ingredients until smooth. Place in unbaked pie shell. Bake in hot oven, 425 degrees, for 15 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 degrees, moderate, and continue baking about 35 minutes or until custard is firm. 

Rice Chantilly - Ellen (Wagner) Shreve
3 c. rice
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
1 c. Cheddar cheese

Combine with 1/2 cup of the cheese and spoon into baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

Skillet Cookies - Cari Jo Gammon
1 stick oleo
1 small box chopped dates
1 c. chopped nuts
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. Rice Krispies

Cook oleo, sugar and dates over low heat for about 10 minutes; stir in nuts, vanilla and Rice Krispies. Roll into small balls and then roll in powdered sugar.

Snap Bean Salad - Grace (Butler) Lathrop
2 1/2 c. snap beans, cooked
2 hard cooked eggs, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 c. French dressing

Place beans, eggs and seasoning in bowl. Pour on French dressing and toss lightly with a fork. Serve on lettuce leaf. Serves 4. For a treat, try using a little grated onion or finely sliced green onion in this salad.

Steak Soup - Pam (Teeter) Holler
1 c celery - diced
1 c carrots - diced
1 c onions - diced
1 c peas
1 can diced tomatoes
3 lbs. hamburger
1 T accent
1 T black pepper
4 T beef soup base or 4 bouillon cubes
1 stick oleo
1 c flour

Dissolve 1 c flour in 2 cups to 3 cups water. Add enough water to make 1/2 gallon. Heat to thicken and add 1 stick oleo. Saute 3 lbs. hamburger - drain and add to crock pot plus vegetables and seasonings. Simmer in crock pot for 3 to r hours.

Texas Caserole - Cheri (Roberson) Downey
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (8 oz.) Herb tomato sauce
2 tsp. sugar
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3/4 c grated cheese
1 lb. hamburger
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1 (8 oz.) egg noodles
1 (4 oz.) sour cream, softened

Grease an 8 x 8 inch or 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Double recipe for 9 x 13 inch dish. Brown hamburger and onion in skillet. Drain. Add tomato sauce, salt and sugar and stir together. Cook on low heat. In separate pan, cook noodles according to package directions. Drain. In greased baking dish, layer noodles in bottom of pan. Mash sour cream and cream cheese together with a fork. Mixture will be crumbly. (If preferred, you can mix the cream cheese, sour cream and noodles together before putting in dish.)  Layer cheese mixture on top of noodles.  Spoon meat mixture over cream cheese and sour cream layer. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. At 35 minutes, remove casserole and put grated cheese on top. Return to oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Triple Lemon Treat - Staci (Robertson) Gammon
1 c flour
 1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 c powdered sugar
3 c cold milk
1 stick oleo, melted
1 large Cool Whip (reserve 1 cup)
2 (3 oz.) pkg. instant lemon pudding
chopped nuts

Mix flour and oleo together; put in glass pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes; let cool.
1st layer: Beat together cream cheese, Cool Whip and powdered sugar. Add to top of crust.
2nd layer: Mix lemon pudding and milk together; beat about 1 minute. Spread on top of first layer.
3rd layer: Spread Cool Whip on top of second layer; add nuts to the top. Refrigerate.

Twenty-three Minute Angel Food Cake - Anna (Erkman) Wheeler
Sift together 5 times: 1 c. powdered sugar and 1 c. flour

1 1/2 c. egg whites
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. extract (any flavor)

Light oven and turn to 400 degrees.  Put pan in oven and heat. Sift flour and sugar together. Beat egg whites to a foam. Add salt. Beat until stiff and then add cream of tartar. Continue beating until nearly dry. Add flour and sugar that have been sifted together. Add extract and pour into the hot cake pan and bake 23 minutes. Take from oven and turn upside down until cool.

Zucchini Cake - Verna (Shehorn) Robertson
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. zucchini, grated
1 tsp. vanilla
chopped nuts
1 c. corn oil
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3 c. flour
1 c. raisins

Combine eggs, sugar and oil in bowl; beat a medium speed for 3 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients; add the zucchini alternately with dry ingredients. Mix well. Add raisins and nuts last. Bake at 325° for 40 to 45 minutes or until done. Bake in a tube pan. Makes a large cake.

Black, Maggie. The Medieval Cookbook, New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 1992.  Original recipes with modernized copies.  It includes a section on herbal remedies for migraines, colic and nose bleeds.

Grilled Quail serves six
Quayle roasted. Take a Quayle, and sle him. And serue him as thou doest a partrich in all Degre . . .
(As for partrich) roste him as thou doest a ffesaunte in the same wise . . .
(as for ffesaunte rosted) . . . pull him dry, kutte away his hede and the necke by the body, and the legges by the kne, and putte the kneys in at the vente, and roste him: his sauce is Sugur and mustard.

6 prepared quail
Salt & pepper
Melted butter or other fat

Split the birds along the back and beat them to flatten them as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. Thread a wooden kebab skewer through each bird lenghways, then secure the quail in shape by pushing another wooden skewer at right angles to the first one, through the wings and also through the legs. Season the birds well, brush them with melted butter or other fat and grill for 16-20 minutes, turning once or twice.

Rose Pudding serves six
Rosee. Take thyk milk; sethe it. Cast thereto sugur, a gode porcioun; pynes, dates ymynced, canel & powdour gynger; and seeth it, and alye it with flours of white rosis, and flour of rys. Cole it; salt it & messe it forth. If thou wilt in stede of almounde mylke, take swete crem of kyne.

Petals of one full-blown but unshrivelled white rose
4 level tablespoons rice flour or cornflour
1 1/4 cups milk
2 oz. caster sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 1/2 cups single cream
pinch of salt
10 dessert dates, stoned and finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped pine nut kernels

'Thyk milk' in the old recipe looks suspiciously like sour milk or curd cheese, but in fact it means almond 'milk' for a 'fasting' meal. Hastily cream is offered as an alternative for other diners.

Take the petals off the rose one by one, and snip off the end which was attached to the seed-case. Blanch the petals in boiling water for 2 minutes, then press them between several sheets of soft kitchen paper and put a heavily flat weight on top to squeeze  them dry. (They may look depressingly greyish but blending will cure the dish's complexion.) Put the rice flour or cornflour in a saucepan, and blend into it enough of the milk to make a smooth cream. Stir in the remaining milk. Place the pan over low heat, and stir until the mixture starts to thicken. Turn it into the goblet of an electric blender, and add the sugar, spices and rose-petals.  Process until fully blended, then add and blend in the cream and salt.

Turn the mixture into a heavy saucepan, and stir over very low heat, below the boil, until it is the consistency of softly whipped cream. Stir in most of the chopped dates and pine nut kernels, and stir for 2 minutes more. Turn into a glass or decorative bowl and cool. Stir occasionally while cooling to prevent a skin forming. Chill. Just before serving decorate with the remaining dates and nuts.

Calumet Baking Powder cookbook with no cover owned by Grandma Anna (Erkman) Wheeler.

Seven Minute Frosting
2 egg whites, unbeaten
1 1/2 c sugar
5 tablespoon water
1 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put egg whites, sugar, water and corn syrup in upper part of double boiler. Beat with rotary egg beater until thoroughly mixed. Place over rapidly boiling water, beat constantly with rotary egg beater, and cook 7 minutes, or until frosting will stand in peaks. Remove from fire, add vanilla, and beat until thick enough to spread.  Makes enough frosting to cover tops and sides of two 9 inch layers.

Gurley Milling Company. Facts & Recipes for GMC Corn Meal & GMC Grits, Princeton, NC, nd.  This booklet is special because my friend Ann found it in her mother-in-laws belongings and gave it to me because she knows that I am related to the Gurleys of Princeton.  I own a flour bag for Gurleys Best that I found in an antique store when I lived in North Carolina.

Hush Puppies
2 cups GMC Enriched COrn Mean
1 tablespoon Enriched Flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 whole egg
(6 tablespoons chopped onion if desired)
2 cups buttermilk

Mix all dry ingredients, add chopped onion, then milk and egg. Drop by spoonfuls into deep hot grease where fish are cooking. When done they will float. Put on brown paper to drain. 

Red Horse Bread is made quite similarly - the onion may be omitted. If eggs are plentiful, the milk and the baking powder are left out and enough eggs are used to make a batter.

No fish fry is complete without Hush Puppies or Red Horse bread.

Siltich, Clarissa ed. . The Old Farmer's Almanac: Colonial Cookbook, Dublin, NH, Yankee Books, 1982.

Original Plymouth Succotash
Hulled corn was probably originally used for this very hearty meal. Serve in bowls.

2 pounds corned beef
2 to 3 pound frying chicken
2 cups navy or pea beans
1 turnip, peeled and sliced
1 onion, sliced thin
4 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups cooked corn, hulled corn or hominy
1/2 teaspoon summer savory
Salt and pepper
1/2 pound butter

Simmer corned beef and chicken together until tender. Drain reserving broth, and cut beef and chicken into serving pieces, discarding chicken bones. Soak beans overnight in water to cover. Next day, add more water if necessary to cover, bring to boil and simmer until beans are soft enough to mash. Skim fat from reserved broth and cook turnip, onion, potatoes in broth until tender. Drain beans and mash to pulp or leave whole. Add beans and corn to turnip, onion and potatoes when they are almost done. Stir frequently until heated through. Season to taste, stir in butter and arrange meat and chicken pieces on top. Serves 10.

Simmons, Amelia. American Cookery: Or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry & Vegetables, & the Best modes of Making Puff-Pastes, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards & Preserves, & All Kinds of CAKES, From the Imperial PLUMB to plain CAKE. Adapted to the Country & All Grades of Life, Albany, New York, 1796.

Seriously the title is longer than the book (64 pages)!  And of course my copy is a reprint.  The author, Amelia Simmons is a self-described American orphan. Beyond that little is known about her.  Apparently, she learned her cooking skills by working in homes of well-to-do Americans who could afford to hire a cook.

To Roast Beef
The general rules are, to have a brisk hot, fire, to be placed on a spit, to baste with salt and water, and one quarter of an hour to every pound of beef, tho' tender beef will require less, while old tough beef will require more roasting; pricking with a fork will determine you whether done or not; rare done is the healthiest, and the taste of this age.

Independence Cake [possibly enough to feed Washington's army?!]
Twenty pound flour, 15 pound sugar, 10 pound butter, 4 dozen eggs, one quart wine, 1 quart brandy, 1 ounce nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, mace, of each 3 ounces, two pound citron, currants and raisins 5 pound each, 1 quart yeast; when baked, frost with loaf sugar; ;dress with box and gold leaf.

Diet Bread
One pound sugar, 9 eggs, beat for an hour, add to 14 ounces flour, spoonful rose water, one do. [ditto] cinnamon or coriander, bake quick.

Not quite my idea of a diet, but compared to the Independence Cake and having to beat the eggs and sugar for an hour maybe it would have an impact.

Revised 11/16/2019

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