A staple form of bread during the 19th and early 20th century, biscuits can be made in large batches to feed a crowd. As noted, the recipe can be used for shortcakes. My mother often made similar biscuits then top with butter and chopped berries for dessert.

Baking Powder Biscuits
[and use same for shortcakes]

2 cups flour
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 T lard
Milk

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Work in lard using fingers, then mix with enough milk to pat out dough with fingers. Cut into circles and bake in a hot oven.

Notes:
1 heaping cup of flour will make about four biscuits
2 heaping cups of flour will make about eleven biscuits

Coconut gained widespread use during the 20th century and gives an exotic flavor to the common pound cake. I imagine this tasting delicious on its own but would also be nice drizzled with a berry sauce or a heaping scoop of ice cream.

Coconut Pound Cake
3 cups sugar
2 sticks margarine
1/2 cup Crisco oil
5 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
2 T coconut extract
1 cup flaked coconut

Beat sugar, margarine and oil until creamy. Add eggs one at a time.

Add flour and baking powder, then gradually add milk. Stir in coconut extract and flaked coconut.

Pour batter into a greased and floured tube pan (large size). Bake at 325F for 1 1/2 hours (90 minutes).

A small and simple cake loaded with apples and dusted with a cinnamon-sugar mix. The number of apples seems large for the amount of batter but maybe that is what makes this cake unique and interesting.

With an almost even ratio of cake to apples, I imagine it being extremely moist. And lots of cinnamon? Well, that's a must-have when dealing with apples.

Grace's Dutch Apple Cake
1 cup pastry flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 T sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
2 T milk
3 apples
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 T sugar
1 T butter

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut shortening into the mixture.

Add beaten egg and milk to the mixture and stir until combined. Spread batter in a greased 10 x 6 x 1 1/2 pan.

Peel and core apples, then slice thinly. Arrange apples flat side up in rows over the batter. Sprinkle top of cake with a mix of 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 T sugar. Dot with 1 T butter.

Bake at 400F for 30 minutes.

I enjoy bananas in few dessert situations, but banana cream pie is one of my favorites. The following pie creates a base custard which is then used to cover the bananas in a pre-baked pie shell. Topped with stiff egg whites, the pie should be baked briefly to set the meringue.

You could consider making this a bit richer by using milk in place of the water.

Banana Pie
1 scant cup sugar
1 heaping teaspoon, Butter
2 egg yolk's, beaten
3 heaping tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cup boiling water
1-2 bananas, sliced
1 pie shell, pre-baked and cooled

Cream together the sugar and butter. Add egg yolks, flour, and boiling water. Cook until thick. Fill pie shell with this cream and sliced bananas. Cover with egg whites.

Notes:
Be careful to not scramble the eggs when adding the hot water. For the egg whites, I would suggest beat 4 egg whites with 1/4 cup sugar until stiff. After topping the pie, bake at 375F for about 10 minutes until the meringue is cooked through and lightly browned.

Popular during the depression due to the easily accessible ingredients in a trying time, poorman's pudding utilizes sour milk and meat drippings to form a deliciously flavorful dessert.

I've not made a classic pudding before and need to attempt one soon. For an added bit of flair, this pudding could be served with a custard sauce or drizzle of cream.

Poorman's Pudding
1 cup sour milk
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup lard (or drippings, suet)
1 cup raisins
1 level teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Flour

Mix together ingredients, adding enough flour to mix as thick as cake batter (about 2 cups). Steam pudding for 3 hours.

Add any fruit or nut if wanted to suit taste.

"It's Aunt Bessie's recipe, and it's a yum yum!"

Well, what more is there to say? It's clearly a good recipe based on this recommendation - and with the amounts of cheese, oleo, and nuts in the recipe, it's easy to understand why.

I imagine these being similar to a savory shortbread, equal parts fat and flour with the added flavorings of cheese and nuts. And since the dough freezes well, it's a handy treat to keep in the freezer to make for late night snacks or unexpected guests.

If you click on the image, you can view it in full-size and can read the small cartoon in the lower left corner. I quickly researched 'Wearpact Products' and found that it's a company from South Africa, so intriguing how this recipe found its way to the states (where I purchased it from an estate sale).

Cheese Crackers
1/2 lb sharp cheese
2 sticks oleo
2 cups flour
2 cups chopped pecans
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red pepper

Grate cheese, then cream with oleo. Fold in the flour, salt, red pepper, and nuts. Divide it into for 4 rolls and roll in waxed paper, pressing out air as you go. Freeze until firm, then cut into 1/4 inch thick slices.

Bake 12 minutes at 375F.

Don't let cheese get too hard before using. They cut easier if you let them set out a few minutes before cutting.

[on backside - not shown in scanned image]

You may leave them for some time in the freezing compartment before you decide to get them ready for the table.

This is going to be a dumb question, but is this a fudge recipe? I think so.

I must admit, the proportions seem way out of whack on this one. I've checked the recipe as written and expected there to be more peanut butter and marshmallow cream. However, maybe it's more lightly flavored and not as marshmallow-centric as more modern day recipes. Either way, it's worth a try.

Peanut Butter Fluff
2 cups sugar
2 squares chocolate
1/2 cup milk
2 T butter
2 T peanut butter
2 T marshmallow cream
Pinch of salt

Boil sugar, chocolate and milk till forms a soft ball.

Remove from fire (i.e. stove) and stir in butter, peanut butter, marshmallow cream, and salt.

Beat until creamy.

I assume this would poured into a greased pan and refrigerated until firm enough to cut.

Although this is a souffle, it appears to be cooked entirely on the stove top, at least that's how the instructions appear to read (i.e. cook covered). It seems to make for a delicious, hot pudding ... even though it's called a souffle due to the addition of egg whites. Either way, I'm sure it turns out tasting good. But then again, I love anything with tapioca.

Hot Pineapple Souffle

1 can crushed pineapple
1 cup water
1/2 cup quick cooking tapioca
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
Sugar and cream (for serving)

Scald a can of crushed pineapple and a cup of water in a double boiler. Stir in one half cup of a quick cooking tapioca.

Cover and let cook until the tapioca is transparent.

Add one half cup of sugar and the stiffly beaten egg whites of two eggs. Let cook covered until set.

Serve hot with sugar and cream.

Front [recipe]


Back [see written note: 341 windows in both buildings]


Which came first -- the recipe or the notation regarding the number of windows in the buildings? We will never know, but something about this piece of scrap paper feels familiar. It reminds me of something my grandmother often did, writing small notations on the nearest piece of paper.

Likely, the buildings were the talk of the town, a large-scale building for the time period. Whether intrigued by the number of windows or merely recording publicized information on the building, this person felt the need to write it down across the piece of paper. And whimsically, the words hovering over the building like clouds.

The recipe itself seems suspect though. I've not see a pie recipe like this which does not call for eggs. Raisins, sugar and sour cream? I'm not sure how this would turn out without eggs to bind it into a custard. Possibly, the window counting drew attention away from capturing the full recipe.

Ma's Raisin Pie Sour Cream
1 cup chopped raisins
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of cinnamon

Use 2 crusts.

Note: I assume this is to be a baked pie, using both a top and bottom crust (?).

A delicious pudding made from rice and evaporated milk, whipped until stiffened and flavored with fruit. The recipe likely came from a Carnation milk recipe booklet or newspaper clipping. There's something intriguing about the illustration of the author - it looks as though she even has a beauty mark. How striking!

Heavenly Rice Pudding
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 T lemon juice
16 dice marshmallows (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 cups cooked rice
1 1/4 cups drained, crushed pineapple
1 T grated lemon rind (zest)

Chill evaporated milk in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. Whip until stiff, about 1 minute. Add lemon juice and continue whipping until very stiff (about 2 minutes). fold in remaining ingredients and place in refrigerator. Chill. Garnish with maraschino cherries and pineapple chunks.

In place of pineapple, you can use any well-drained fruit.

Learn more about the historical context of food and recipes through the following books.

The American History Cookbook
By Mark H. Zanger
More than 350 recipes, from the First Nations and early settlers up to the 1970s. Zanger takes you on a chronological journey, explaining the ingredients, cooking methods, and historical context of the recipes presented.

Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People
By Linda Civitello
The author explores how historic events shaped the culinary traditions of various societies. This second edition provides expanded features and coverage.


Food in the United States, 1890-1945
By Megan Elias
The American food industry changed radically from the Gilded age to the end of WWII and in this book Megan Elias captures the key changes which effected how and what we eat today. [publication date: June 30, 2009]

The Market Basket: More Cooking and Eating in Lawrence, Kansas, 1921-1949
By Jane Garrett
Relive a weekly recipe competition from the Lawrence Journal-World which spanned three decades. In this book, Jane Garrett brings the 600+ winning recipes to life for everyone to enjoy.

Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters:
More than 100 Years of Recipes Discovered from Family Cookbooks, Original Journals, Scraps of Paper, and Grandmothers Kitchen




Online Publications

• Feeding America - Cookbooks
  A digitization project from Michigan State Univ. in which 76 historic cookbooks are made available for online viewing.


• Feeding America - Historic Cooking Utensils
  A selection of cooking implements from the Michigan State University Museum are shown, along with additional information.


• Cookery by Amy G. Richards (1895); browse over 400 pages from this cookbook as scanned by the National Library of Canada.

Online Food History Resources

• Not by Bread Alone: America's Culinary Heritage (Cornell Univ. Library)


• The Food Timeline

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A perfect meal for vegetarians, this 'mock' salmon recipe creates texture and flavor by combining grated carrots, cooked rice, and onion. It's seasoned with peanut butter and sage, an intriguing combination.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of salmon, certainly not a large enough fan that I would want to create a mock version of it. I'm curious if this tastes anything similar to salmon though?

Mock Salmon Roast
1 1/2 cups grated carrot
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup warm milk
1 egg
2 T oil
1 medium onion
Sage and salt to taste

Mix peanut butter with warm milk until blended. Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined. Bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes.

Although not stated, I wonder if this would be molded into a roast shape and baked on a greased baking sheet. An alternative would be to bake in a loaf pan, like you would a meatloaf.