Irish moss seems to show up in Irish stuff occasionally. I don’t know if it’s the thickening agents, and the iodine or people liked the flavor too. It ends up in brewed beverages too. I can’t imagine a reason for toast water ever.
Not bad, fun to read, though I retired from the SCA as I got seriously peeved at the politicing going on. I was one of the ancient members of the ansteorran cooks list [the Rock is mine] I would rather use the florethingy and Cariadoc’s stuff, though I also have Cindy’s take a thousand eggs. I prefer to do my own redacting of recipes, and Cariadoc’s cookbook collection is pretty much the extant cookbooks in one huge binder.
I recently received a copy of Charleston Receipts - said to be the original junior league cookbook. First published in 1950, it’s currently in its 32nd printing.
It, also, has a calf head recipe. Also plenty of “low country” shrimp recipes that sound great along with many odd selections. Eggplant is referred to as Guinea Squash, the only place I’ve seen it called that
One recipe is for Flip - a relative of Egg Nog
4 jiggers whiskey
4 egg yolks
4 teaspoons sugar
1 qt. rich milk
nutmeg to tast
Directions: Beat yolks, sugar, and seasoning together. Add milk and whiskey. Shake well with crushed ice, strain and serve in stemmed glasses with a dash of nutmeg on top.
Every chapter has a little poem and what appears to be a fairly racist quote of something that would presumably be said by a cook or servant. For example, at the start of the desserts chapter is the poem:
Now some receipts say “Stir” - some “Whisk”
With rapid motion, light, and brisk.
But whether wisk or whether stir,
Result is soft as kitten’s fur.
No man can stay depressed or wroth
While eating Syllabub’s fragrant froth!
And the quote:
…“w’en de preachuh eat to de ‘ooman house, him fuh nyam de bes’! Nuttin’ but de bes’ fuh suit.”
I love old cookbooks. My favorite new acquisition is “Electric Refrigerator Recipes” from 1925 (I’m moving and it’s packed, so I might be off a bit). A little hardcover book that GE apparently made available with their new refrigerators, filled with recipes that need a refrigerator. A good part of the book is devoted to convincing the housewife that refrigerators can be useful. Lots of nice little color illustrations of women in drop-waist dresses and men in suits sitting around enjoying a sorbet.
I cooked two this weekend, one from the 1908 cookbook that I mentioned upthread and one from the :shudder: 1970s.
Guess which one turned out edible? Yeah, that would be the recipe from the era before refrigeration.
I posted an entry with pictures in my blog, if you’d like to point and laugh with me.
I have a lovely much-used book I inherited from my mother The Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery, dated 1949. I remember being fascinated by this book as a child. It covers everything and it’s actually rather useful. My mom used it a lot as evidenced by the lack of a cover and several of the front and back pages falling out. It does include many recipes but so far I haven’t found any too scary. Being that I am recovering from pneumonia and the after effects of too many antibiotics on my GI tract I didn’t look too closely for anything revolting but maybe later I’ll be up to it.
Cowgirl Jules, I love the title of your blog! “. . . there’s got to be a pony in here.” It seems oddly fitting for this thread.
The corn did look acceptable, or at least edible. But the jellied chicken! I can’t believe you sprang that on your kids – isn’t that grounds for child abuse? Or the basis for a good psychological warfare campaign? Maybe you ought to send a link to your blog post to the folks in our nation’s capital. The grapes suspended in the gelatin remind me of corn fungus, as exalted in Steve, Don’t Eat It!.
Of course, I also feel that your sacrifice in making jellied chicken has removed the heat from me. So I guess . . . oh, god, chicken breast pudding it is.
This thread would not be complete without a link to the Gallery of regrettable Food
make sure you check out meat, meat, meat
<evil giggle>
Actually, I can make you the same chicken en gelee and you would enjoy it.
You need to start with a good homemade chicken stock, filtered to get out any floaties and thoroughly skimed of the fat. You can adjust the seasonings as you make the stock and it won’t be bland and yucky=) Instead of reducing your own gelee from chicken and veal bones, use powdered plain gelatin.
Arrange the grapes and meat pieces nicely, and make the cubes small, not larger than half inch cubes. Smaller is good! You can also cut the meat into shapes - I have seen a mold where the pieces of chicken and ham were actually shaped so they fit inside the shape of the mold so it presented a much nicer overall outside appearance.
I personally wouldnt have put in the watercress, but used it as part of a frise salad that the mold was placed on.
Yeah, I make a kick-ass chicken stock, but there was no way I was wasting it on this project! (I saved the rest of the deli chicken in the freezer for my next stock.)
I’ve been looking through my old cookbook. Any interest in Avocado Ice Cream?
And this thread is one of the reasons I love this board.
VCNJ, I have that same cookbook. I always wanted to make English Monkey. Their banana cake recipe is pretty good, and my mother has scratched some ingredients out and listed her own instead.