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Monthly Archives: June 2016

What to do With Loads of Summer Squash©

28 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by thehistoricfoodie in 19th century food, gardening, homesteading, Self-sufficiency, Uncategorized

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Tags

summer squash

summersquash

I have been blessed with an abundance of yellow squash this year and yet I hold my breath for fear insects will destroy my vines and my crop along with it.  I have sprayed the base of the plants to control squash bugs and once they were killed I began destroying any eggs I found to prevent a second hatch.

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I am harvesting from one row of summer squash, but I have two more rows that should be producing by the time this row has played out.   I haven’t harvested any of the Pennsylvania Crookneck squash yet.  I’ve put several quarts in the freezer from which I will make squash casseroles, soup, and fritters, and since I want to get the most out of the fresh ones while they last, I took a quick peek at squash recipes from days gone by.

Having grown up in the South the first thing I think of is slices breaded in cornmeal and fried nice and golden brown, but for a change I discovered we really like them breaded in Jiffy cornbread mix.  An old method that is still excellent is to dust the slices with salt and pepper, dip them into beaten egg, and then into bread crumbs before frying.  Panko bread crumbs are a welcome change and the slices can be baked in a hot oven until the squash is tender and the crumbs brown for those who want to avoid the oil in frying.  There’s always squash sautéed in butter, with or without onions.

SUMMER SQUASH CUSTARD. 

2 lbs. summer squash

½ lb. well-flavored cheese

Pepper, ½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

¾ cupful of milk

Corn flakes or cracker crumbs

1 tablespoonful of butter

Boil the squash until tender, drain, put into a deep baking dish.  Add the cheese, reserving a little to go on top.  Add salt and pepper, the eggs which were beaten just enough to combine the white and yolk, and the milk.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Cover with crushed corn flakes or crackers and dot with butter.  Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until the top is brown and the mixture firm.

[WINTER] SQUASH SOUFFLE.

2 cupfuls of hot, steamed squash

¼ cupful of butter

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

1 teaspoonful of salt

1/8 teaspoonful of pepper

1 ½ cupfuls of half milk and cream

2 beaten egg yolks

2 egg whites, beaten stiff

Force squash through a sieve, add the brown sugar, butter, salt, pepper, milk, cream, and egg yolks beaten.  Fold in the beaten egg whites and place in a buttered baking dish.  Bake at 350 until firm and lightly browned.

SQUASH CAKES.

Mix fine flour with half its bulk of stewed squash or pumpkin, and add milk enough to make a thick batter, about a cup of milk to each cup of squash.  Cook on a griddle.

[Winter] SQUASH PIES.

Pare, boil, and sift a good dry squash.  To one quart of the squash pour on two of boiling milk, and then stir in two cups of sugar, two spoonfuls of salt, one of cinnamon, one grated nutmeg [1/2 to 1 teaspoon], and five well-beaten eggs.  Line deep plates with plain paste, fill with the mixture, and bake one hour in a moderate [350] oven.  The pies look nice to boil a stick of cinnamon in the milk instead of using ground.

For those who find winter squash hard to cut and peel, this may be the recipe for you.

WINTER SQUASH.  The small Hubbard squash is best for baking.  Saw the squash in halves; scrape out the soft part and the seeds.  Put the halves in the oven, and bake about three-quarters of an hour, or until tender.  Serve in the shell.  Help out by spoonfuls.

WINTER SQUASH WITH ROAST MEAT.  Pare, and cut in long slices, about 1 ½ or 2 inches thick.  Cook in a dripping-pan with a roast.  Baste when the meat is basted.  It is nice baked in a pan by itself with meat drippings.

SQUASH CROQUETTES.  Mix a pt [pint] of mashed squash with ½ a cup of bread crumbs, a tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper to season.  Heat thoroughly, shape into croquettes, dip in egg and crumbs and fry in deep fat.

STUFFED SUMMER SQUASH.  Hollow out center of squash.  Fill with dressing made of bread crumbs, celery, boiled ham, onion, summer squash cut from centers.  Season with butter, celery, salt, cayenne, etc.

SQUASH SOUP.  To one quart of thoroughly cooked pumpkin or squash allow two quarts of milk, plenty of butter, pepper, and salt.  Serve with toasted bread.  [This soup can be improved upon by topping each bowl with a dollop of sour cream, grated cheese, and/or a bit of crumbled cooked bacon].

Blissful Meals, yall.  Enjoy those bumper crops while you can for soon we’ll be emptying those Mason jars and dipping into our freezer stash.  – Thehistoricfoodie©, aka, Vickie Brady.

Bibliography:

Callahan, Genevieve Anne.  “Sunset All-western Cook Book”.  1933.  “What to Eat, and How to Cook It”.  1874.  Parloa, Maria.  “Appledore Cook Book”.  1880.  Rorer, Sarah Tyson.  “Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cook Book”.  1886.  Owens, Frances.  “Mrs. Owens’ Cook Book.  1903.  “The Cook County Cook Book”.  1912.  “Twentieth Century Cook Book”.  1914.  “Vaughn’s Vegetable Cook Book”.  1898.

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A Look at Various Breads©

24 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by thehistoricfoodie in 19th century food, historic food, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

fry bread, tortillas

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In 1809, “A Dictonary , Spanish and English, and English and Spanish”, defined tortilla simply as “a little cake”.

“Tortillas, which are a sort of cake made of Indian corn, are a general article of sustenance in Mexico.  They were prepared in precisely the same way as at present before the conquest of that country.  The maize, of which the tortillas are composed, is first parboiled, to cleanse and soften the grain, and then, in a quantity sufficient for the day’s consumption, is left to cool.  For the purpose of crushing or mashing the maize, the women have a large square block of black lava, or basalt, about two feet in length and sixteen inches broad, which stands on two, three, or four legs, so arranged as to give it a gentle slope.  There is a very slightly-elevated rim on either side, and the great solidity and weight keep the stone steady, while the operator bruizes [sic] the maize with a long stone, not unlike a rolling pin, which is held at each end, and so moved that it crushes the grain to paste, and at the same time pushes it down to a bowl placed ready to receive it.  This process is gone through once, twice, or more, according to the fineness required; and, where great care is taken it is passed through a fine sieve.  A lump of this paste is then taken, and patted skillfully between the hands until it becomes as thin as a light pancake; and the great art consists in thus flattening it out without breaking the edges.  The cake is then laid on a smooth plate of iron or flat earthenware, which is placed over some charcoal or wood embers, and kept at a certain heat; here, first one, and then the other side of the tortilla, receives a toasting, and great care is taken that it should not be at all browned.  The grand object in the latter part of the process is to serve up the tortillas hot and hot, as fast as possible, in a clean napkin; and a slow eater who begins his first tortilla, will find twenty or thirty piled up in a smoking heap at his elbow, long before he has made any progress with  his dinner.  The making of tortillas is so important an art, that in the houses of respectable people a woman, called from her office “tortillera,” is kept for this express purpose; and it sounds very oddly to the ear of a stranger, during meal-times, to hear the rapid patting and slapping which goes forward in the cooking-place until all demands are satisfied.”  – “The Young Gentleman’s Book”.  1832. London.

Church noted the presence of someone to bake tortillas during a meal so that they were always hot and fresh.  “When stale, the tortilla not only loses its elasticity, but becomes hard, dry, and tasteless as a chip”.  He described the “chile Colorado” referred to earlier as a sauce of red pepper and tomatoes cooked with a little lard, and sometimes with jerked meat and described the manner of smearing this paste between two tortillas and rolling them into a thick round sandwich.  Church, William Conant.  “The Galaxy”.  June 1868.

Thomas Jefferson Green, likewise, referred to the tortilla as, “a cake of bread made of Indian corn, about the thickness of upper leather, and quite as pliant”.  He wrote that it served the Mexicans as bread and also as knife, fork and spoon, the eater using his thumb and first two fingers to form a spoon shape with which food was dipped up and placed in the mouth.  “At every dip the spoon shape disappears”, or was eaten and a new piece used for the next bite.  – “Journal of the Texian Expedition Against Mier”.  New York.  1845.

Edward Thomas Stevens described the difference in texture of tortillas made in Mexico and those made in Central America.  Taylor described the former as “soft and leathery” whereas Stevens found those made in Nicaragua “hot and crisp”.  Brantz Mayer described Mexican tortillas as, “tough buckskin-like victuals”.  Stevens noted that tortillas could be purchased on the street from an Indian woman and chile to go in it from another, but his use of the word “Indian” referred to native peoples of Central America and not native people of the U.S.  “ Flint Chips:  A Guide to Pre-historic Archaeology”.  London.  1870.

No references were found of natives in the U.S. making tortillas.  James Henry Salisbury noted they boiled the maize and ate it with fish or venison “instead of bread”.  – “History and Chemical Investigation of Maize, Or Indian Corn”.  Albny.  1849.

Carver penned an excellent description of Indian bread which is vastly different from Mexican tortillas.  “Among this people [Indians of North America] I ate of a very uncommon kind of bread.  The Indians, in general, use but little of this nutritious food:  whilst their corn is in the milk, as they term it, that is, just before it begins to ripen, they slice off the kernels from the cob to which they grow, and knead them into a paste.  This they are enabled to do without the addition of any liquid, by the milk that flows from them; and when it is effected, they parcel it out into cakes, and enclosing them in leaves of the basswood tree, place them in hot embers, where they are soon baked.  And better flavored bread I never ate in any country”.  – Carver, Jonathan, Capt. “Three Years Travels Throughout the Interior Parts of North America”.  Charlestowne.  1802.

Bailey spoke of savages from the Rocky Mountains who came down to St. Charles who had never eaten bread prior to their encounter with the whites.  Napier, James Bailey.  “Sketches of Indian Character”.  1841.

Joseph Taylor wrote that the bread of New England Indians and, “many other parts of America” was made of maize and called “weachin”.  It seems doubtful he saw them eat much bread as he went on to say they, “boiled it whole in water, till it swelled and became tender, and then they fed on it, either alone, or eat it with their fish and venison, instead of bread”.  – “The Wonder of Trees, Plants, and Shrubs Recorded in Anecdotes or A Description of Their Wonderful Properties…”  London.  1823.

In a treatise published in 1841, is found mention of North American Indians pounding maize to make a, “sort of cake”, which they bake by means of hot cinders.  This serves them, and, indeed occasionally the Anglo Americans, as a substitute for loaf or leavened bread…”  There was no mention of flattening it as one would with a tortilla.  – “The Guide to Trade:  The Baker Including Bread and Fancy Baking”.

Let’s touch on the modern day Native American fry bread before we go our separate ways.  This food is passed off as authentic at practically every re-enactment period, however, there is no indication that this was made prior to the reservation period.  It was produced from the limited supplies they received in an effort to produce as much food as possible from as little as possible.

“Fried bread” referred to more than one product.  Throughout the 19th century there are numerous mentions of frying bread, for a process in which bread was diced, or cut it into fanciful shapes, and browned in butter to serve with soup.  Bread crumbs were prepared in a similar manner to serve on top of various dishes.  Recipes for French toast were also sometimes titled Fried Bread in 19th century cookery books.

A recipe for Fried Bread similar to modern Navajo fried bread was published in Mrs. Chadwick’s “Home Cookery:  A Collection of Tried Receipts, Both Foreign and Domestic” in 1853, but the index contained nothing that might be construed as Native American food.  It is this author’s belief that the fried bread recipe was copied from other books published during that time on East Indian food, thus the word “foreign” in the title.

Fried bread is mentioned five times in “Indian Domestic Economy and Receipt Book”, 1860, however this book was certainly written about the country India and not North American Indians.

The following was penned by Mrs. Marcus Whitman who accompanied her missionary husband on his travels and to the Oregon territory.  “Our dinner consisted of dry buffalo meat, turnips, and fried bread which was a luxury.  Mountain bread is simply coarse flour and water mixed and roasted or fried in buffalo grease.”  Those lines were most likely written in 1843 when Whitman led the first large group of wagons west from Fort Hall in southeastern Idaho because his wife did say the meal in question was taken at Fort Hall.  She went on to elaborate on the fort’s builder, appearance, and history.  Whitman died in 1847.  – Humphreys, Mary Gay.  “Missionary Explorers Among the American Indians”.  1913.  NY.

Assumptions are not acceptable proof of an item’s history so one must ask if the inhabitants of Fort Hall who served the dinner were preparing foods they’d seen Indians in the area making or also just making what they could from supplies on hand.

Blissful Meals, I leave you with the following recipes to tempt you in your kitchen endeavors.  – Thehistoricfoodie, aka, Vickie Brady.  ©

TO FRY BREAD TO SERVE WITH SOUP.  – Acton, Eliza.  “Modern Cookery in all its Branches”.  1858.  Cut some slices a quarter-inch thick, from a stale loaf; pare off the crust, and divide the bread into dice, or cut it with a deep paste-cutter into any other form.  For half a pound of bread put two ounces of the best butter into a frying-pan, and when it is quite melted, add the bread; keep it turned, over a gentle fire, until it is equally coloured to a very pale brown, then drain it from the butter, and dry it on a soft cloth, or a sheet of paper placed before a clear fire, upon a dish, or on a sieve reversed.

FRIED BREAD, VERY NICE.  Mrs. Chadwick.  Make a sour-milk cake, put in just saleratus enough to foam the milk, then melt a piece of butter the size of an egg in a great spoonful of hot water.  Salt to taste.  It must only be made just stiff enough to roll out.  Fry in lard, as you do symballs.

MRS. HILL’S FRIED BREAD PUDDING.  Knight, S.  “Tit-Bits”.  1864.  One pint of milk, three eggs, a little salt, and flour enough to make a thin batter.  Cut a stale (baker’s) loaf in slices; half an hour before using, place the sliced bread in the batter.  It must be removed carefully when ready to cook, and fried as griddle cakes; to be eaten with sauce.

Got Tomatoes? Make Preserves©

07 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by thehistoricfoodie in 19th century food, canning and preserving, gardening, historic food, homesteading, Self-sufficiency, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

tomato jelly, tomato marmalade, tomato preserves

800px-Melba_toast_(cropped)

Photo (public domain) from Wikipedia, melba toast, goat cheese, and tomato preserves

I have 60 tomato plants out this year in three varieties – Big Boy, Better Boy, and Atkinson – so unless the horn worms find them or in spite of regular watering the drought and blistering sun render them incapable of setting fruit I should have enough to preserve.  We enjoy home-made soups and stews so a good portion of them will be canned or frozen, perhaps I’ll try my luck with the dehydrator, and then preserves could be made from any remaining fruit.  I envision a toasted bagel and cream cheese topped with tomato preserves and if I’m feeling particularly decadent some crispy bacon on the side.

tomatojam1

The earliest published receipt this author found for tomato preserves was the mid-1840’s, but mixtures under different names were published much earlier.  The Oct. 31, 1828 issue of the “New England Farmer” contained a receipt entitled “Towit of Tomatas”.  The housewife was to take a pint of tomatoes and a pound of fine sugar and reduce them in the same way as any other jam [cooked until thickened], then add the juice of a lemon.  “This makes a very good to wit.”

Mary Randolph’s “The Virginia Housewife” contained a form of the preserves called Tomato Sweet Marmalade in 1836.

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Half of the author’s garden, some of the tomato plants in front (before staking)

Randolph’s Tomato Marmalade was made from stemmed green tomatoes stewed and rubbed through a sieve, and the pulp combined with pepper, salt, pounded cloves, and garlic.  It was stewed thick, “keeps well”, and was considered an excellent seasoning.  Her sweet tomato marmalade instructed the housewife to add loaf sugar to the tomato pulp and stew until it was a stiff jelly.  It isn’t clear if the salt, pepper, and garlic were used in the sweet version.

“Tomatoes Preserve.—Mr. Editor—The tomato is favorably mentioned in your last number:  it is a valuable vegetable.  But I do not recollect, that in the variety of uses to which it has been applied, your paper assigns it any place among the different species of preserves.  As we are deprived this season of that pride of the fruit of Georgia, the peach, it may be of service to housekeepers to know that the tomato forms a most admirable substitute for the peach as a preserve.  The flavor is almost precisely the same—it looks as well, and is altogether an excellent article for the tea table.

Directions:–Take good ripe tomatoes—peel them and preserve them with good brown or loaf sugar.  If not peeled they burst, and do not retain the consistency so much desired by housekeepers, though they are very good without peeling.  I give you this, at this time, that the industry of the fair hands about your flourishing town may profit by it, before Jack Frost shall cut off their hope from this new source of table ornament and luxury.  “The Gennessee Farmer”, Aug. 1834, as quoted from the “Southern Planter”.

Old-Fashioned Tomato Preserve:  Take six pounds fruit, five pounds sugar, a bag containing two large tablespoons of ground ginger, and cook till quite thick.  Allow one lemon, sliced, to every quart can of preserve.  It can be cooked with the tomato or sliced into the can as it is being filled.  – “Good Housekeeping”.  August, 1904.

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Date and original source unknown.  Clippings found online at the Milwaukee Public Library digital collection of historic recipes.

Tomato Preserve.  8 qts ripe tomatoes (after peeled and sliced), 4 qts sugar, 3 lemons sliced very fine; boil down tomatoes and lemons before adding the sugar.  – “The Warren Cook Book.  1920.

Historic Recipe File, Milwaukee Public Library

Green Tomato Preserve.  To one pound of fruit use three-quarters of a pound of granulated sugar.  Allow one sliced lemon to two pounds of fruit, first tasting the white of the lemon to be sure it is not bitter.  If bitter [as most are], use the yellow rind [zest], grated, or shaved thin, and the juice.  Put the sugar on with just water enough to melt it, add the tomato and lemon, and cook gently until the tomato is tender and transparent.  Cut the tomatoes around in halves, and then quarter the halves.  This shape is preferable to slices.  This will keep without sealing, but it is better to put it in small jars, as it is so rich that only a little is wanted at a time.  – “The American Kitchen Magazine”.  Sept. 1898.

Tomato Preserve.  4 lbs. green tomatoes, sliced, 2 lemons, 2 ½ lbs. sugar, 3 or 4 small pieces gingerroot [sic].  Cook until rich preserve.  – “Woman’s Club of San Matco”.  1909.

About the only thing that has changed in these receipts in recent years is the process of putting them up.  Directions:  After boiling  a spice bag containing 1 Tablespoon mixed pickle spice and a 1 ½ inch piece of ginger, sliced, with 4 cups sugar, 2 medium lemons, seeded and sliced, and ¾ cup water for 15 minutes, add 6 cups peeled tomatoes (quartered or sliced if large), boil until the tomatoes are transparent.  Let set in a cool place from 12 to 18 hours.  Heat jars in hot water and heat water for processing the jars.  Transfer cooked tomatoes and lemon slices to a glass or stainless steel bowl and set aside using a slotted spoon.  Discard spice bag.  Bring syrup to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.  Boil hard, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 3 minutes.  Add reserved tomatoes and lemons.  Bring back to a boil and boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and skim off foam.  Ladle hot preserves into hot jars leaving ¼ inch headspace.  Wipe the rim clean.  Place the tops on the jars until fingertip tight and process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes, adjusting for altitude.  Remove jars and cool.

As always, Blissful Meals yall, from thehistoricfoodie, Vickie Brady.  thehistoricfoodie.wordpress.com©

 

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