cooking the old way....like two centuries ago.

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Mon May 01, 2017 5:55 pm

Amongst things i inherited after dad died was a mish mash of old cooking books. I do a lot of bottling (canning, to my foreign friends) so ive been looking through these books for interesting ideas.

I have a copy of a book which is a copy of a 19th century american cook book. (This update was 1966)

I love the language in it.......i dont know what a. "Smelt" is but apparently you can fry it. And stewed pigeon anf frogs look delightful.

Ill put interesting recipes up if anyone is interested.

Post by **LarsMac** » Mon May 01, 2017 6:10 pm

magentaflame;1508799 wrote: Amongst things i inherited after dad died was a mish mash of old cooking books. I do a lot of bottling (canning, to my foreign friends) so ive been looking through these books for interesting ideas.

I have a copy of a book which is a copy of a 19th century american cook book. (This update was 1966)

I love the language in it.......i dont know what a. "Smelt" is but apparently you can fry it. And stewed pigeon anf frogs look delightful.

Ill put interesting recipes up if anyone is interested.

Is it, perhaps, the Boston Cooking School Cookbook?

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Mon May 01, 2017 6:37 pm

Nope, rural american cooking. Practical adaption of 19th century cookbook. (In one part it mentions woodfire stoves and cauldron stands where the hell am i going to find a woodfired stove???? ...nah just kidding. The adaption is the language and tempertures, weights etc. )

"Gra.dmothers country cookbook".... "nearly 500 authentic, unusual recipes for delicious fishes from rural american kitchens ....Ted and Jean Kaufman. Copyright 1966. Third print june 1972.

Corenet communications, 315 park avenue south, new york 10010.

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Mon May 01, 2017 6:53 pm

Oooh heres one...(something i dont have to worry about though).

A poultice of cornmeal (corn flour?) amd hops (illegal here) thoroughly cooked is exelent for oak and ivy poisoning .

Whats taffy? Pulled taffy? Its in the candy (lollie) section.

I have another problem here. Conversion from old american to modern day american to metric.

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Mon May 01, 2017 6:56 pm

And using fresh snow instead of wster for a bread recipe? I may have a problem there unless climate change hurries up

Post by **LarsMac** » Mon May 01, 2017 7:26 pm

magentaflame;1508806 wrote: Oooh heres one...(something i dont have to worry about though).

A poultice of cornmeal (corn flour?) amd hops (illegal here) thoroughly cooked is exelent for oak and ivy poisoning .

Whats taffy? Pulled taffy? Its in the candy (lollie) section.

I have another problem here. Conversion from old american to modern day american to metric.

Corn meal is Corn(maize) dried and ground coarse. It makes Cornbread, or Hushpuppies, stuff like that.

Taffy is a mix of sugar, cornstarch (Maize VERY finely ground and sifted.) a bit of corn or cane sugar syrup, a little bit of water and salt. All mixed together and manipulated to make use of the tensil strength of the compound. different fruit flavorings are added. Very tasty and chewy, but also very high in glucose.

Have fun with the conversions, though.

Post by **spot** » Tue May 02, 2017 1:14 am

I'd find it hard to distinguish a smelt from a sardine except the smelt has been commercially fished into an endangered status in large parts of the world, which is bad news for all the bigger fish for whom the smelt was a mainstay snack until recently.

If hops are illegal in Oz then that explains your curious imitations of beer.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861) remains in use over here, both the recipes and the advice.

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2017 9:58 am

Mag I hope you have a good set of cast iron pots and pans to go with these recipes

I would enjoy reading some of the recipes.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Tue May 02, 2017 12:54 pm

LarsMac;1508808 wrote: Corn meal is Corn(maize) dried and ground coarse.

I have just this moment finished eating cornmeal and oxtail, cooked by my wife.

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Tue May 02, 2017 2:39 pm

spot;1508814 wrote: I'd find it hard to distinguish a smelt from a sardine except the smelt has been commercially fished into an endangered status in large parts of the world, which is bad news for all the bigger fish for whom the smelt was a mainstay snack until recently.

If hops are illegal in Oz then that explains your curious imitations of beer.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861) remains in use over here, both the recipes and the advice.
Its illegal to grow hops and tobacco in your own backyard. You need a lisence.

magentaflame · Post by **magentaflame** » Tue May 02, 2017 3:02 pm

minks;1508825 wrote: Mag I hope you have a good set of cast iron pots and pans to go with these recipes

I would enjoy reading some of the recipes.

As soon as i get yo a computer i shall do just that.

I do have iron pots, but i normally use them for camping. I think youre right though. I think tje times has a lot the do with the thickness of tje pans and the holding of heat.