the Virginia Housewife

[feather]

A cookbook called The Virginia Housewife, or The Methodical Cook, was published in 1860 by Mrs. Mary Randolph.

It's free on the project Gutenberg. www.gutenberg.org/files/12519/12519-h/12519-h.htm#SOUPS

I looked through the recipes, didn't see one called chow chow or brown sauce, so I'm wondering when those name of recipes came into being and by what nationality. Or maybe they just called it by some other name.

It's interesting. Asparagus soup has a big chicken in it. She talks about her methods for each type of food. I saw but butter is commonly added in every recipe category.

My favorite part is the preserving or canning part. Go Figure.

TOMATO CATSUP.

Gather a peck of tomatos, pick out the stems, and wash them; put them on the fire without water, sprinkle on a few spoonsful of salt, let them boil steadily an hour, stirring them frequently; strain them through a colander, and then through a sieve; put the liquid on the fire with half a pint of chopped onions, half a quarter of an ounce of mace broke into small pieces; and if not sufficiently salt, add a little more--one table-spoonful of whole black pepper; boil all together until just enough to fill two bottles; cork it tight. Make it in August, in dry weather.

Back in 1860, no sugar catsup wasn't even a 'thing'. Just normal healthier eating.

When I went to visit my son and his room mate, his roommate has quite a recipe collection. He copied some pages for me, from a book from 1908, if I'm remembering right. I'll have to share that with you here. Very cool stuff. Stuff I never would have thought of.

[dustawaits]

Gutenberg is an excellent source of various learning.

Decent fiction for children, agriculture, 1000’s of books, of most every subject.
Free to read online or download. Your choice if you want to donate.

[susannah]

Oct 18, 2019 2:05:04 GMT feather said:

A cookbook called The Virginia Housewife, or The Methodical Cook, was published in 1860 by Mrs. Mary Randolph.

It's free on the project Gutenberg. www.gutenberg.org/files/12519/12519-h/12519-h.htm#SOUPS

I looked through the recipes, didn't see one called chow chow or brown sauce, so I'm wondering when those name of recipes came into being and by what nationality. Or maybe they just called it by some other name.

It's interesting. Asparagus soup has a big chicken in it. She talks about her methods for each type of food. I saw but butter is commonly added in every recipe category.

My favorite part is the preserving or canning part. Go Figure.

TOMATO CATSUP.

Gather a peck of tomatos, pick out the stems, and wash them; put them on the fire without water, sprinkle on a few spoonsful of salt, let them boil steadily an hour, stirring them frequently; strain them through a colander, and then through a sieve; put the liquid on the fire with half a pint of chopped onions, half a quarter of an ounce of mace broke into small pieces; and if not sufficiently salt, add a little more--one table-spoonful of whole black pepper; boil all together until just enough to fill two bottles; cork it tight. Make it in August, in dry weather.

Back in 1860, no sugar catsup wasn't even a 'thing'. Just normal healthier eating.

When I went to visit my son and his room mate, his roommate has quite a recipe collection. He copied some pages for me, from a book from 1908, if I'm remembering right. I'll have to share that with you here. Very cool stuff. Stuff I never would have thought of.

Sounds like an interesting read! 

I'm intrigued by a no-sweetener ketchup. I've hated ketchup forever, due to being able to taste sugar or sweetness in it (including the sweetened-with-honey ketchup my grandson talked me into trying). On those rare occasions when when we'd have McDonald's burgers when I was a child, that was no treat for me. They had ketchup on them and it made the burgers too sweet. Ick. Zero sweet tooth when I was a child; unfortuantely sometime in my late teens the sweet tooth kicked in, at least somewhat (I still can't stand anything sweet in the morning). This reference to old style ketchup has gotten me interested in finding an unsweetened ketchup recipe so I'll be googling around some this weekend.

Oh, and the mention of mace brought back a childhood memory, too. Of me and my cousin standing in grandma's big old walk in pantry, looking at all her spices and finding ground mace. Which we'd never heard of and thought was a hoot because great grandma's name was Mace. You can probably follow where our ten year old minds drifted from there. Mace is a spice I've never had in my kitchens since I've never made a recipe that called for it. I do remember what it smelled like, though. The sense of smell is very powerful.

Anyway, thanks for the cookbook idea, and for the little trip down memory lane!

[feather]

susannah , funny story about your grandma and mace.
Here's a picture of the nutmeg, with the red (or it can be orange/yellow), covering, which is the mace part of nutmeg.

I've never bought mace. I've bought ground nutmeg but listening to chef Walter Staib, on a Taste of History, he talks about nutmeg and says to never buy it ground, buy it whole and then use a nutmeg grater, or you won't get the flavor of the nutmeg. Maybe I'll put that on my Christmas list.

The cookbook from 1908 was literally crumbling, a small local group published it (stapled it together). Here's the section I had copied.

[Tim Horton]

Somewhere here we have a couple cook books that are war time recipes from both WW1 and WW2 eras.
Without finding it, I believe the WW1 book is called "Recipes to Win the War"

We have occasionally made bread from the WW2 book, the bread called "The British National Loaf" Or Hitlers secret weapon. It isn't that bad, I though.

Interesting things in both.

There is a History Channel, DVD, you tube series, maybe all 3, called "War Time Kitchen" Set in WW2 it is an interesting insight to what the world was like then.

[bowdonkey]

Manybooks.com is the site it may be in Tim. Everyday Foods in Wartime by Mary Swartz Rose and Foods that will Win the War by Alberta Goudiss

[Tim Horton]

Thanks for the info.....
I found it as manybooks.net

Signed up and downloaded a couple books from 1918.
Suspect they will be somewhat similar to the one we have. When I find it.....

[feather]

www.gutenberg.org/files/15464/15464-h/15464-h.htm
Foods that will Win the War and How to cook them. 1918

www.gutenberg.org/files/14066/14066-h/14066-h.htm
Everyday Foods in War Time. 1918

Interesting meals. Not much mention of catsup or ketchup, no recipes of it. It seems like the recipe books of 1918 were geared more towards 'consumers' and not so much people wanting to make their own basics, like ketchup.

Corn syrup is showing up and does anyone know how that is made?

Maybe that's when the government started treating everyone as a consumer. In early America, the states had their own rules, then their was a push to consolidate the states and the rules everyone had. They were instead talking about the people of the country, as doing what was best for the country, the greater good. This lack of talking about self reliance, or responsible people completely responsible for their own survival, kind of undercuts self reliant people. This seems like the beginning of the dependence of people on government/corporations. It shifted at some point, the responsibility of self reliance to the government being responsible for people's survival. The cookbooks were just reflecting that change.

Society seems a bit crippled by all this.

People don't even talk about making ketchup and anyone crazy enough to do it must be a homesteader. While homesteader is an antiquated legal term, it is a social term used for self reliant people.

[Tim Horton]

Maybe that's when the government started treating everyone as a consumer. In early America, the states had their own rules, then their was a push to consolidate the states and the rules everyone had. They were instead talking about the people of the country, as doing what was best for the country, the greater good. This lack of talking about self reliance, or responsible people completely responsible for their own survival, kind of undercuts self reliant people. This seems like the beginning of the dependence of people on government/corporations. It shifted at some point, the responsibility of self reliance to the government being responsible for people's survival. The cookbooks were just reflecting that change.

Society seems a bit crippled by all this.

>>>>>>
Have both of the books in the links you listed in my "CookEat" folder. Will have time later to go through them.

Yes.. Switch to national rather than state regulations etc.. However.. What has to be realized is there was a world crisis at the time. Which means it takes a world organized response to resolve.. Pretty much a thread of its own, I think. Another place, another time...

[susannah]

Oct 19, 2019 18:20:04 GMT feather said:

People don't even talk about making ketchup and anyone crazy enough to do it must be a homesteader. While homesteader is an antiquated legal term, it is a social term used for self reliant people.

This just reminded me that my sister-in-law used to make her own ketchup. I remember trying it maybe 35 years ago - and actually liking it. It was not sickeningly sweet the way I find most commercially produced ketchup to be, and it had a lot of seasonings and spices that I'd never tasted in ketchup before. I also remember that it wasn't bright red but was a dark red, with maybe a little brownish cast from all the spices. We'll be visiting her in the near future and I'll see if by any chance she still has the recipe. I hope she does. Otherwise, a lot of experimenting will be happening - but then again, I love to experiment when cooking.

[feather]

susannah, the brown red, brick red, darker color, happens with mine when I cook it in a roaster, overnight, because I want it thicker, not a sauce.