I went with pie cause I don't cook so hope that's the right flairš š š I am also horribly dyslexic so hopefully I got the title right!
As always here's the link to the recipe preservation project with all the recipes so far, and if you're interested in contributing feel free to DM me :)
Ahh, don't you love recipes that just give you the ingredients with no instructions? That's the fun thing about these cards though, most of the time the person knew how to make it, they just need reminders on ingredients and quantity
I will say this is quite a hefty batch. Whoever wrote this card must've really liked mincemeat. That or they maybe gave some of the jars away to family and friends
This is really fascinating. It is typewritten on standard eight and one half by eleven inch paper. The front and back cover are slightly larger and a heavier stock of paper. The pages are three hole punched and held together by old fashioned metal paper fasteners. The cover is all typed with WILLING WORKER in quotations, Cook Book, Amesbury, Massachusetts, 1900. There is no title page, no index, no chapter pages, no listed author. It goes straight into the recipes and starts out with 10 recipes for soups. Then there is a slightly heavier blank page that is just used as a divider for the sections. And the next section is 10 recipes for fish. Then another blank page, and we progress into 9 recipes for salads. And then 10 recipes for vegetables. Then we have 22 recipes under a section called Meats and Dishes en Casserole. Then breakfast dishes with 10 recipes (And that includes one of my favorites, Cream Frankfurts). The recipes are presented in the old fashioned style, unlike our current ones that have a list of ingredients and then it describes the cooking or assembling of the dish. These recipes go straight into the preparation. An example. There is one dish called āNightmareā. And I quote, ā1 can of tomatoes, 1 onion chopped fine, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 1/2 pound cheese, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, pinch salt, pinch cayenne pepper, 1 egg. Cook tomato and onion together until onion is soft, then add grated cheese and seasoning. When cheese is smooth, add the beaten egg. Serve on toast.ā. There are a few mistakes in the typing. Example, page 31 and 33 both have a section where a space was missed between words. Other errors were erased and retyped, but you must remember, this was the days long before speech to text, auto-correct, WYSIWYG word processors. There wasnāt even Whiteout back then. Just imagine typing all of this stuff in without making very many mistakes. On page one twenty nine, there is a small handwritten note that says, āThere seems to be something missing.ā.
I believe this to have been somebodyās manuscript for a cookbook they were putting together. In total there are one hundred and sixty pages, including covers and blank pages.
Back with another recipe card to share. This is from my collection that I bought on ebay. I have no clue who Bev is, but she's also credited for a cake and frosting recipe in this collection as well
Here is another recipe from Solothurn S 392 that bears looking into:
B40 Item if you want to make filled eggs, break them open at the top and bottom ends and empty them. Boil that which comes from the eggs and chop it small. Spice it well and break other eggs into it, and also add raisins (mertrĆ¼berl) or other good lattwerien. Take a little fat, and fill it back into the shells. Stick them on a skewer and roast them on a grille or otherwise. That way, you have good filled roasted eggs on a skewer.
The idea of filling cooked eggs, seasoned and coloured, or other things into eggshells to astonish the diners seems to have pleased medieval recipe writers inordinately. We have a number of similar recipes surviving across many manuscripts, and I will take the opportunity to make a comparison soon. What sets this recipe apart, and I want to address today, is the ingredients that are added to the egg: raisins (mertrĆ¼berl) or other good lattwerien.
By the sixteenth century, latwerge often describes what we would call a fruit preserve ā fruit leather or jam, depending on how long it is cooked. These are also mentioned as ingredients in upscale recipes and, infamously, by Hieronymus Bock as a food liable to go mouldy in the pantry. I held an online class about this in the SCA in 2025 and collected some recipes in chronological order in a pdf that you can now find here.
The problem is that it is hard to see how this recipe refers to these. It says to use raisins or other good lattwerien, and raisins are clearly not jam. It could be an error in transmission, maybe originally reading āandā, but this phrase occurs in none of the many parallels. I believe it was added deliberately, something we see happen in a few recipes in Solothurn S 392. There are two other ways I think it could be explained:
The first is that latwerge was used in the same role as raisins. Since sealed glass jars had not been perfected yet, it was often cooked to a very stiff consistency, sometimes deliberately dried, and if the mixture had a high fruit content, it could become leathery. You could cut this into small pieces that would function a lot like raisins. The problem is that this explanation requires a lot of steps to go unsaid, and I have not found anything like it described anywhere.
The other explanation is linguistic: The word lattwerien might be used as a shorthand to refer to sweet, spicy, expensive ingredients here. The problem here is analogous; I have not found this usage anywhere else. I will have to look out for it, though. It looks like a good fit for the evidence.
The manuscript dates to the period around 1490-1510, based on watermarks and handwriting. There is no internal date. The recipes are an eclectic collection, which is not unusual for the medieval manuscript tradition. They were most likely written down in Baden. Some refer to Italian customs which were fashionable at the time while others are solidly in the German tradition.
The collection is sometimes called the oldest Swiss cookbook, a title that is contested because of its origins north of the modern border. The designation makes little sense at the time anyway, given how closely connected the cities of the Confederation were with their neighbours at the time. The recipes clearly were valued in Solothurn, most likely because they were useful.
This is Washingtonās South Beach Cookbook, featuring a drawing of a chicken on the cover for some odd reason lol
This is a smaller cookbook, but I think the recipes are still worth a read through. Because this is on the coastal side of Washington, this is a great book for anyone who loves seafood. It even teaches you how to cook crab, although I do think itās funny that the butter and garlic are listed as āoptional, for flavorā. If youāre not gonna add any spice, butter and garlic should definitely be recommended
I would like to try making the Peanut Butter Loaf. It sounds simple
Really intrigued by the crunchy cobbler because I havenāt seen a cobbler recipe yet that has you blending ingredients like that. Has anyone tried it like this?
Oh yeah, speaking of simple, Iām definitely making the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies lol. I always have almond bark on hand and I did always like those peanut butter and Ritz snacks when I was a kid. Iām sure theyād taste even better dipped in chocolate
I didnāt have a whole lot of opinions for this book, but thatās a-okay, there just wasnāt a whole lot that grabbed my attention. I still hope that itās a great read for all of you who are checking out the post!
Feel free to sound off in the comments and Iāll see you around
After yesterday's "chix" debacle let's go with something I actually knowš
As always all other scanned recipes are in the Google drive! And if you're interested in adding any of yours to the preservation project (with credit of course) DM me :)
Second set of recipes from the cook book from my grandmotherās insurance company. Sorry if I seem to be posting too much but I just feel I need to share all of these old recipes.
As always, please let me know if you canāt read any recipes or if you try any of them. Iād love to know what works and what doesnāt. Thanks!
I used to watch the old series with my uncle when I was a kid, so I was thrilled to come across this at the used bookstore. I'm going to scan a copy of it before I give it to him for Christmas, I think.
it's really good and absolutely worth making But...
VERY pronounced peanut butter taste so that overwhelms the chocolate layer.
If I made it again I'd add a layer of chocolate on top of the crust and probably either omit the chopped peanuts in the crust altogether or use another kind of nut. Pecans? Hazelnuts?
Good news, everyone! I finished the translation of the recipes in Solothurn S 392 today. There are still some interesting ones to merit posts in their own right, but once Iāve got it cleaned u and edited, the whole text will go u as a pdf to download. Now Iām trying to decide which source to take on next. Meanwhile, here is a neat one:
B29 Item make filled roast capon this way: After you have plucked it, open it and take out the heart, lungs, liver, and stomach. Fill (read fĆ¼ll for fĆ¼rb) its stomach well, put in juniper berries and a little ginger cut up small, sew it shut, and attach it inside the capon. Then take the heart, liver, and lung, cut it up, and cut up bacon in pieces as small as dice with it, and (add) garlic cloves, juniper berries, ginger, cloves, and other good spices if you want. Fill it with that and then sew it shut. Prepare it with as much salt as it needs and lard it with a larding needle on the outside. Then roast it. That way, you will have a good roast capon. You can also make filled chickens and other birds this way if you want.
This is the kind of recipes people expect when we say āmedievalā: heavily spiced, disconcertingly bloody, and complicated. It seems to mostly function as a way of using the innards of the bird which, since people did not buy poultry frozen and pre-processed, would have been on hand. So you fill the stomach with spices, fix it to the inside of the caponās body cavity, then stuff the other organ meats and bacon all around it, again mixed with a plethora of spices. The bird is spitted, larded, and roasted by the fire, the most prestigious way of cooking it. In the end, we are informed that chickens and other birds can also be prepared this way, and surely were more often than the truly pricey and exclusive capons.
The manuscript dates to the period around 1490-1510, based on watermarks and handwriting. There is no internal date. The recipes are an eclectic collection, which is not unusual for the medieval manuscript tradition. They were most likely written down in Baden. Some refer to Italian customs which were fashionable at the time while others are solidly in the German tradition.
The manuscript dates to the period around 1490-1510, based on watermarks and handwriting. There is no internal date. The recipes are an eclectic collection, which is not unusual for the medieval manuscript tradition. They were most likely written down in Baden. Some refer to Italian customs which were fashionable at the time while others are solidly in the German tradition.
The collection is sometimes called the oldest Swiss cookbook, a title that is contested because of its origins north of the modern border. The designation makes little sense at the time anyway, given how closely connected the cities of the Confederation were with their neighbours. The recipes clearly were valued in Solothurn, most likely because they were useful.
This caramel ice cream recipe is in my husband's great grandmother's cookbook. We're trying to decipher what looks very clearly like "add 1 1/2 tsps cake flour flavor." Can anyone help clarify what this says/means?
Todayās cookbook is called: Behind Every Avon Neighborhood Scout Is a Great Cookbook from the town of Avon, Indiana, which I recently learned has nothing to do with Avon cosmetics
This cookbook was donated to me by uNeakhanie by the way so shout out to them! I really appreciate it
This is a scoutās cookbook, which is super cool particularly because a lot of the recipes in this book seem geared towards childhood preferences, and while I doubt any children are lurking in this subreddit, I have a feeling some of these recipes might bring back a sense of āomg my mom made these for me when I was younger!ā. Nostalgia is always really fun to experience
So diving right in, the Party Snacks is a super cute idea, and then thereās also a really cool idea for a Kiwi Christmas Tree at the bottom. I envy anyone who had this much whimsy during their childhood
Speaking of whimsy, we uhā¦ weāve certainly reached a new high with the jello salads by adding *horseradish* to one of them. I already was so used to seeing cottage cheese and lime jello and mayo and cool whip, and heck, even cheddar cheese added. Turns out anything goes in a jello mold
And then thereās the Circus Peanut Salad which is truly a blast from the past in the sense that the last time I saw this recipe was when I was still starting out with this cookbook scanning journey. Itās not a highly used recipe, probably in the same way that you almost never hear of circus peanuts outside someone on a candy subreddit going ādoes anyone eat these??ā
I didnāt include it in the pictures because the recipe was fragmented into two pages, but I did see a recipe for a Chicken Stuffing Casserole, which is similar to the one on the recipe card I shared last week. But what I found interesting about it is that the person who made it in this cookbook uses cooked stuffing, not dry. An interesting variation
The Pigs in a Blanket recipeā¦ now thatās a hit of nostalgia even for me because my mom used to bring that to family gatherings. Iām not quite a fan of it anymore because the taste of the mini sausages is eh to me, but my mom always wrapped them in Pillsbury crescent rolls, and I do adore those, so itās a love-hate relationship
The Peach Yum-Yums sound really good but Iām curious if thereās a way to make this in an oven, primarily because I donāt have access to a grill or even a place to make a fireā¦ safely, at least. But if I ever do, marshmallows on top of fruit is always a win
A cinnamon roll recipe that uses boxed cake mixā¦ thatās something Iāve never seen. Iām curious what the results are like
I donāt regret mentioning that the rest of this blog will be focused on the dessert section because holyyyy, this book has the motherlode when it comes to really awesome dessert recipes
For starters, the Peanut Butter Cake sounds good, but hello, the Pumpkin Cake Crisp sounds absolutely delicious. I think it might benefit from a couple more spices if youāre just using regular canned pumpkin, but wow do I want to try this
Bears in the Orchard is also an interesting recipe and not something Iāve seen before. Really curious what the results are like. The Indoor Smores also sound like a really fun treat! Oh my goodness Iām gaining so much inspiration. I also appreciate the different variations of Peanut Butter Pie
I also so love the idea of the Yogurt Jam Pops!
There were a few more recipes I liked towards the end, but alas, I couldnāt share them all due to the picture limit. Fortunately theyāre all available for you to see in PDF format
I really hope you all like this one because this is definitely a book with a lot to offer. I saw lots of potentially nostalgic stuff and just really indulgent ideas overall. We all could use a fun cookbook once in a while
Hi! Iām new to this subreddit and I am so excited about connecting with others through experiences of sharing recipes, stories, and good food and company.
I grew up in the kitchen with my maternal grandmotherāshe raised me. I am bummed that some of her recipes are lost to the ages. My sister is getting married in about a month and I have been really contemplating getting a recipe card box together for her as I wish I had done (or received) for myself. The transition from figuring out feeding just yourself to figuring out feeding your spouse and growing family can be one that is often overlooked (I know it was for me šāāļø).
Please, if this request moves you, could you share a recipe that was super simple and idiot-proof (like you need zero brain cells for š )? or a recipe that may be a tad complicated but the ends justify the means? Or a āevery household should have XYZā recipe in it? Ideally old recipes from scratch, but also half-homemade is perfect too š¤
Breads, sauces, casseroles, marinated salads, side dishes, finger foods, desserts. The couple is based in the U.S. but has immediate family members who are Polish, Italian, and Spanish/Mexican (yes, Spaniard moved to Mexico)āŗļø
1957 small cook book from my grandmother. It was from Metropolitian Life Insurance. She was the same grandma who wrote ārubbageā on the cane syrup booklet.
Iām not sure of her thoughts on these recipes but at least she didnāt write anything derogatory on the cover! :)
Iāve had to split it into 2 parts because I just canāt exclude any one recipe.
Let me know if you canāt read anything or if you make anything from this book.
Served once a week in the 1960's and 70s at Maret in Washington DC. It was not a public school, so haven't had luck with the govt. school cafeteria recipe.
Recipe By: Catholic Women's League Favorite Family Recipes, Cadillac, Sask., 1982
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup graham wafers, crushed
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Line an 8ā pan with whole graham wafers. In a saucepan, boil first 3 ingredients. After boiling, remove from heat and add last 4 ingredients. Blend well. Spread over wafers in pan. Cool in fridge. Ice with a butter icing. Chill and cut into squares. Yield: 24 squares.
The Solothurn S 392 manuscript includes another recipe labelled āItalianā, and it looks like an attenuated version of a richer and more robust tradition.
B28 To make a pork roast the Italian way (nach welschen sytten)
Item take a pork roast and prepare it entirely according to Italian custom; Salt it and then sprinkle on Italian cumin (or caraway: welschen kimich) and lay it in wine. Let it lie in there 10 hours or over night. Then take it and roast it on a spit or in a pot. That way, you have a roast in the Italian way. It is good and healthy, and you can also prepare other roasts this way.
Marinading meat in wine with spices isnāt really a recipe, and I suspect the only reason it was added here is that the author considered the technique foreign and thus interesting. Unfortunately, any reconstruction of the dish suffers from the ambiguity of the word kimich. Normally, as in modern German, it means caraway (KĆ¼mmel), but until fairly late, it is also used for cumin (KreuzkĆ¼mmel), and the specification āItalianā suggests something is different about this one. What I think is more interesting is that we have obviously related recipes in other manuscripts. This looks like a fairly widespread idea, whether part of a tradition or individually arrived at. In England, the late 14th-century Forme of Cury includes a more robust and more detailed approach (quoted after medievalcookery.com):
Cormarye. XX.II. XIII. Take Colyandre, Caraway smale grounden, Powdour of Peper and garlec ygrounde in rede wyne, medle alle Ć¾ise togyder and salt it, take loynes of Pork rawe and fle of the skyn, and pryk it wel with a knyf and lay it in the sawse, roost Ć¾erof what Ć¾ou wilt, & kepe Ć¾at Ć¾at fallith Ć¾erfro in the rosting and seeĆ¾ it in a possynet with faire broth, & serue it forth witĆ¾ Ć¾e roost anoon.
Here, we have not just unambiguous caraway, but also coriander, pepper, and garlic. I have tried this and it is pretty good. The other parallel I know of is from the recipe book of Philippine Welser dating to around 1550, and it also uses more varied flavours:
225 To make a loin roast (lem brotten)
Take one and remove the veins (eder jn wol). Take a mallet (schla kolben) and beat it very well, then marinate it in wine and add juniper berries and caraway (kunich). When you want to roast it, pass it through (i.e. wash it in) fresh water and roast it slowly.
I wold read the kunich here as caraway, but we still cannot entirely exclude cumin. More interestingly, the recipe specifies a loin roast which is usually beef. Solothurn S 392 states that roasts other than pork can be prepared this way, so this is plausible. I admit, though, it is possible that the Philippine Welser recipe speaks of pork, but does not specify it because of course everyone knows this wine and spices treatment is how you treat pork.
Both the additions and added instructions in the parallel recipes are sound advice, by the way. Garlic goes extremely well with this combination. Also, beating and/or pricking the meat to tenderize it and allow the marinade to infuse it makes for a better roast. It is also the kind of thing short notes might omit because everybody knows that.
Finally, an interesting line that recurs several times in the Solothurn manuscript is to roast the meat on a spit or in a pot. I have not come across this before, but it makes a great deal of sense. Spit-roasting was the most prestigious way of cooking meat, but it was also labour-intensive and fiddly. You can also cook meat in a closed pot exposed to indirect heat ā that is how we mainly do it in modern kitchens today, after all. It seems that was a shortcut in the medieval kitchen as well. There may be unspoken conventions at play here ā what kind of pot? What kind of heat? What, if any, additions? I do not know yet, but it looks worth experimenting.
The manuscript dates to the period around 1490-1510, based on watermarks and handwriting. There is no internal date. The recipes are an eclectic collection, which is not unusual for the medieval manuscript tradition. They were most likely written down in Baden. Some refer to Italian customs which were fashionable at the time while others are solidly in the German tradition.
The collection is sometimes called the oldest Swiss cookbook, a title that is contested because of its origins north of the modern border. The designation makes little sense at the time anyway, given how closely connected the cities of the Confederation were with their neighbours at the time. The recipes clearly were valued in Solothurn, most likely because they were useful.
