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19th Century Thanksgiving Flipbook PDF
Receipts from the 19th century for a traditional American Thanksgiving feast
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Thanksgiving Receipts from the mid 19th century
Corn Bread
From: The Virginia Housewife , or Methodical Cook by Mary Randolph, 1838 --Rub a piece of butter the size of an egg, into a pint of corn meal--make it a batter with two eggs, and some new milk--add a spoonful of yeast, set it by the fire an hour to rise, butter little pans, and bake it. What I Did: Butter (1 stick) Cornmeal (4 cups) Eggs 2 Milk Yeast (1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast)
Proof the yeast. Melt the butter. Mix together cornmeal, butter, and milk. Add yeast and set aside to rise. Bake at 400* for 30 minutes.
French Rolls
From: The Virginia Housewife , or Methodical Cook by Mary Randolph, 1838 --Sift a quart of flour, add a little salt, a spoonful of yeast, two eggs well beaten, and half a pint of milk-knead it, and set it to rise: next morning, work in an ounce of butter, make the dough into small rolls, and bake them. The top crust should not be hard. What I did: Flour quart– 4 cups Salt “little” Yeast spoonful– 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast granules Eggs 2 Milk ½ pint (1 cup) Butter 2 tablespoons
Proof the yeast. Mix together salt, yeast, eggs, and milk. Add flour slowly. Knead the dough and set aside overnight. Work in butter. Form the rolls, and bake at 375* for 15 minutes.
East India Pickle
From: Directions For Cookery, In It’s Various Branches by Eliza Leslie, 1840 —This is a mixture of various things pickled together, and put into the same jar. Have ready a small white cabbage, sliced, and the stalk removed; a cauliflower cut into neat branches, leaving out the large stalk; sliced cucumbers; sliced carrots; sliced beets, (all nicked round the edges;) button-onions; stringbeans; radish pods; barberries; cherries; green grapes; nasturtians; capsicums; bell-peppers, &c. Sprinkle all these things with salt, put them promiscuously into a large earthen pan, and pour scalding salt and water over them. Let them lie in the brine for four days, turning them all over every day. Then take them out, wash each thing separately in vinegar, and wipe them carefully in a cloth. Afterwards lay them on sieves before the fire, and dry them thoroughly. For the pickle liquor.--To every two quarts of the best vinegar, put an ounce and a half of white ginger root, scraped and sliced; the same of long pepper; two ounces of peeled shalots, or little button-onions, cut in pieces; half an ounce peeled garlic; an ounce of tumeric; and two ounces of mustard seed bruised, or of mustard powder. Let all these ingredients, mixed with the vinegar, infuse in a close jar for a week, setting in a warm place, or by the fire. Then (after the vegetables have been properly prepared, and dried from the brine) put them all into one large stone jar, or into smaller jars, and strain the pickle over them. The liquid must be in a large quantity, so as to keep the vegetables well covered with it, or they will spoil. Put a table-spoonful of sweet oil on the top of each jar, and secure them well with a large cork and a leather. If you find that after awhile the vegetables have absorbed the liquor, so that there is danger of their not having a sufficiency, prepare some more seasoned vinegar and pour it over them. East India pickle is very convenient, and will keep two years. As different vegetables come into season, you can prepare them with the salt and water process, and add them to the things already in the jar. You may put small mangoes into this pickle; also plums, peaches and apricots. What I did: Veggies Salt- sprinkle, salt water Vinegar- wash, 2 quarts Ginger- 1.5 ounces (3 tablespoons) Pepper- 1.5 ounces (3 Tablespoons Shallots- 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) Garlic- 1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) Tumeric- 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) Mustard Seed- 2 ounces (4 tablespoons)
To Dress Salad
From: The Virginia Housewife , or Methodical Cook by Mary Randolph, 1838 --To have this delicate dish in perfection, the lettuce, pepper grass, chervil, cress, &c. should be gathered early in the morning, nicely picked, washed, and laid in cold water, which will be improved by adding ice; just before dinner is ready to be served, drain the water from your salad, cut it into a bowl, giving the proper proportions of each plant; prepare the following mixture to pour over it: boil two fresh eggs ten minutes, put them in water to cool, then take the yelks in a soup plate, pour on them a table spoonful of cold water, rub them with a wooden spoon until they are perfectly dissolved; then add two spoonsful of oil: when well mixed, put in a teaspoonful of salt, one of powdered sugar, and one of made mustard; when all these are united and quite smooth, stir in two table spoonsful of common, and two of tarragon vinegar; put it over the salad, and garnish the top with the whites of the eggs cut into rings, and lay around the edge of the bowl young scallions, they being the most delicate of the onion tribe. What I Did: Greens Eggs 2 Water tablespoon Oil 2 tablespoon Salt teaspoon Sugar teaspoon Prepared Mustard teaspoon Common Vinegar 2 tablespoons Tarragon Vinegar 2 tablespoons Onions or Scallions Prepare the dressing first. Boil the eggs. When they are hard-boiled, peel and slice them neatly. Remove the yolks into a small bowl. Mix the water with the yolks until dissolved. Then add oil, salt, sugar, and mustard. Blend well. Then add vinegar and tarragon vinegar. Set dressing aside. Prepare the greens. Garnish with sliced egg whites. Add dressing.
Boned Turkey
From: The Lady’s Receipt Book; A Useful Companion for Large or Small Families by Eliza Leslie, 1847
-For this purpose you must have a fine, large, tender turkey; and after it is drawn, and washed, and wiped dry, lay
it on a clean table, and take a very sharp knife, with a narrow blade and point. Begin at the neck; then go round to the shoulders and wings, and carefully separate the flesh from the bone, scraping it down as you proceed. Next loosen the flesh from the breast, and back, and body; and then from the thighs. It requires care and patience to do it nicely, and to avoid tearing or breaking the skin. The knife should always penetrate quite to the bone; scraping loose the flesh rather than cutting it. When all the flesh has been completely loosened, take the turkey by the neck, give it a pull, and the whole skeleton will come out entire from the flesh, as easily as you draw your hand out of a glove. The flesh will then fall down, a flat and shapeless mass. With a small needle and thread, carefully sew up any holes that have accidentally been torn in the skin. Have ready a large quantity of stuffing, made as follows:--Take three sixpenny loaves of stale bread; grate the crumb; and put the crusts in water to soak. When quite soft, break them up small into the pan of grated breadcrumbs, and mix in a pound of fresh butter, cut into little pieces. Take two large bunches of sweet-marjoram; the same of sweet-basil; and one bunch of parsley. Mince the parsley very fine, and rub to a powder the leaves of the marjoram and basil. You should have two large, heaping table-spoonfuls of each. Chop, also, two very small onions or shalots, and mix them with the herbs. Pound to powder a quarter of an ounce of mace; a quarter of an ounce of cloves; and two large nutmegs. Mix the spices together, and add a tea-spoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of ground black pepper. Then mix the herbs, spice, &c., thoroughly into the bread-crumbs; and add, by degrees, four beaten eggs to bind the whole together. Take up a handful of this filling; squeeze it hard, and proceed to stuff the turkey with it,--beginning at the wings; next do the body; and then the thighs. Stuff it very hard, and as you proceed, form the turkey into its natural shape, by filling out, properly, the wings, breast, body, &c. When all the stuffing is in, sew up the body, and skewer the turkey into the usual shape in which they are trussed; so that, if skilfully done, it will look almost as if it had not been boned. Tie it round with tape, and bake it three hours or more; basting it occasionally with fresh butter. Make a gravy of the giblets, chopped, and stewed slowly in a little water. When done, add to it the gravy that is in the dish about the turkey, (having first skimmed off the fat,) and enrich it with a glass of white wine, and two beaten yolks of eggs, stirred in just before you take it from the fire. If the turkey is to be eaten cold at the supper-table, drop table-spoonfuls of currant or cranberry jelly all over it at small distances, and in the dish round it.
Boned Turkey
What I Did: Turkey Breadcrumbs Butter 1 lbs Majoram, Basil, Parsley Onions/Shallots 2 small Mace, Cloves, Nutmeg 1/4 oz. Salt, Black Pepper teaspoon Eggs 4 I needed to save time, so I bought a pre-cooked turkey. So I heated the turkey according to included directions. I made the stuffing separately according to above directions. I used crouton pieces. I soaked them in water. Drain them by hand. It’s a messy process not meant for those who don’t like to get their hands dirty. :-p I added the seasonings. I melted the butter and added it. I added the eggs. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes. It will have the consistency of bread pudding. Once the turkey and stuffing are both done, introduce them to each other.
Cranberry Sauce
From: Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie, 1840 --Wash a quart of ripe cranberries, and put them into a pan with about a wine-glass of water. Stew them slowly, and stir them frequently, particularly after they begin to burst. They require a great deal of stewing, and should be like a marmalade when done. Just before you take them from the fire, stir in a pound of brown sugar. When they are thoroughly done, put them into a deep dish, and set them away to get cold. You may strain the pulp through a cullender or sieve into a mould, and when it is in a firm shape send it to table on a glass dish. Taste it when it is cold, and if not sweet enough, add more sugar. Cranberries require more sugar than any other fruit, except plums. Cranberry sauce is eaten with roast turkey, roast fowls, and roast ducks. What I Did: Cranberries quart Water Brown Sugar 1 lb
Add the cranberries to the stewpot. Add water enough to cover them. Stew them until all the cranberries are burst. Mash them to a pulp. Add the sugar and stew until bubbly.
Potato Snow
From: Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie, 1840 -- For this purpose use potatoes that are very white, mealy, and smooth. Boil them very carefully, and when they are done, peel them, pour off the water, and set them on a trivet before the fire till they are quite dry and powdery. Then rub them through a coarse wire sieve into the dish on which they are to go to table. Do not disturb the heap of potatoes before it is served up, or the flakes will fall and it will flatten. This preparation looks well; but many think that it renders the potato insipid. What I Did: Potatoes Water Butter, Salt, Pepper for Butter Sauce
Boil the potatoes with the skins on. Peel the skins and remove the spots. Take a cheese grater on one of the larger settings and grate the potatoes into a heap on the serving plate.
Microwave the butter. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Sweet Potatoes
From: Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie, 1840 --If among your sweet potatoes there should be any that are very large and thick, split them, and cut them in four, that they may not require longer time to cook than the others. Boil them with the skins on in plenty of water, but without any salt. You may set the pot on coals in the corner. Try them with a fork, and see that they are done all through; they will take at least an hour. Then drain off the water, and set them for a few minutes in a tin pan before the fire, or in the stove, that they may be well dried. Peel them before they are sent to table. (Fried Sweet Potatoes). --Choose them of the largest size. Half boil them, and then having taken off the skins, cut the potatoes in slices, and fry them in butter, or in nice dripping. Sweet potatoes are very good stewed with fresh pork, veal, or beef. The best way to keep them through the cold weather, is to bury them in earth or sand; otherwise they will be scarcely eatable after October. What I Did: Sweet Potatoes Butter Brown Sugar (optional) In a large pot add potatoes and enough water to cover plus a bit more. Boil until the potatoes become tender. Drain the water and allow them to cool enough to remove skins. Add butter and a bit of brown sugar. Heat until butter and sugar melt. Transfer to a serving dish and serve.
Potatoes a la Crème, au Gratin From: The Modern Cook by Charles Elme Francatelli, 1857 1190. Potatoes, a la Crème, Au Gratin Cut some boiled potatoes in slices, about an inch in diameter, prepare the same kind of mixture as directed for cauliflowers au gratin (No. 1159): stick some neatly-cut pointed croutons of fried bread round the bottom of the dish, in the form of a coronet; place a close circular row of the slices of potatoes within this border of croutons; spread a layer of the mixture over them: then, repeat the row of potatoes and the mixture until the dish is complete. Smooth the top over with some of the sauce, shake some fried bread-crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese over the surface, so as entirely to cover it: put the potatoes in the oven for about twenty minutes, to be warmed through, and serve. What I Did: Potatoes– sliced Béchamel or Velote Sauce– 2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese— 4 ounces Butter– 2 ounces Egg Yolks– 4 Glaze Lemon Juice, Nutmeg, Pepper, Salt Croutons, Breadcrumbs Parboil the potatoes, and when cool, slice. Prepare the cheese mixture. Add béchamel sauce, parmesan cheese, butter, egg yolks, lemon juice, nutmeg, pepper, and salt to a sauce-pan. Heat until blended. Layer the plate with croutons, potatoes, cheese mixture. Add another layer of potatoes and cover with cheese. Repeat until potatoes are used. Cover with final layer of cheese mixture and grated Parmesan cheese. Broil until browned.
Cauliflower a la Crème, au Gratin From: The Modern Cook by Charles Elme Francatelli, 1857 1159. Cauliflowers, with Parmesan Cheese Prepare and dish up the cauliflowers as directed above. Put a large ragout-spoonful of Bechamel or Veloute sauce, into a stewpan, with four ounces of grated parmesan cheese, two ounces of fresh butter, the yolks of four eggs, a small piece of glaze, some lemon-juice, nutmeg, pepper and salt; stir this preparation over a stove-fire, until it be well mixed, without boiling; then, pour it on to the cauliflowers, so as to mask them entirely with it. Smooth the dome over with the blade of a knife, and cover the top with a coating of grated Parmesan cheese; place them in the oven to gratinate for about a quarter of an hour; when they have acquired a bright-yellow color, put a border of coutons of fried bread round the base, and serve. The croutons may be stuck round the bottom of the dish in the form of a coronet, previously to dishing up the cauliflowers, so as to prevent them from spreading.
What I Did: Potatoes– sliced Béchamel or Velote Sauce– 2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese— 4 ounces Butter– 2 ounces Egg Yolks– 4 Glaze Lemon Juice, Nutmeg, Pepper, Salt Croutons, Breadcrumbs
Blond Broth, Veloute Sauce, & Bechamel Sauce From: The Modern Cook by Charles Elme Francatelli, 1857 Prepare the base stock Blond Broth
Veloute Sauce, or White Sauce
Grease the stock pan with butter. Add the broken beef bones and scrap pieces of beef. Add water to half fill the stock pot. Leave it to boil gently, skimming periodically. Add carrots, turnips, leeks, and celery. Boil for seven hours. When cooled, strain it through a cloth.
To the blond or white stock base add white mushrooms and blond stock. Simmer until it clears. Strain through a cloth and set aside until needed.
White Sauce base Grease two stock pans. Lay lean ham slices. Lay veal slices. chicken carcass Add Base Stock. Boil until reduced to a glaze. White Sauce= stock, carrot, onion, cloves, mace, parsley, green onion, bay leaf, thyme Bring to a boil, then skim and leave to simmer. Simmer for two hours. Strain through a cloth. Add Blond Broth, chicken broth Simmer 20 minutes Strain through a cloth. Set aside until needed.
Béchamel Sauce Add desired quantity of veloute sauce to a stewpan. Add a quart of boiling cream. Boil further. Strain it through a cloth.
Squash
From: The Virginia Housewife , or Methodical Cook by Mary Randolph, 1838 --Gather young squashes, peel, and cut them in two; take out the seeds, and boil them till tender; put them into a colander, drain off the water, and rub them with a wooden spoon through the colander; then put them into a stew pan, with a cup full of cream, a small piece of butter, some pepper and salt-stew them, stirring very frequently until dry. This is the most delicate way of preparing squashes. What I Did: Acorn Squash Cream 1 cup Butter Pepper Salt
Prepare squashes for baking by making a deep slice into the flesh. Microwave for 5 minutes on high to loosen the skin. Slice the squash into two pieces. Remove seeds. Place the halves onto a baking tray with a lip. Add a pat of butter. Bake for 30 minutes or until skin gives when squeezed. Remove flesh from skin into a stew-pot. Add a cup of cream, another pat of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Stew them on medium heat until the liquid is absorbed.
Ragout of French Beans
From: The Virginia Housewife , or Methodical Cook by Mary Randolph, 1838 --Let them be young and fresh gathered, string them, and cut them in long thin slices; throw them in boiling water for fifteen minutes; have ready some well seasoned brown gravy, drain the water from the beans, put them in the gravy, stew them a few minutes, and serve them garnished with forcemeat balls; there must not be gravy enough to float the beans. What I Did: Green Beans Seasoned Brown Gravy Forcemeat Balls Well… time being a factor, I used frozen green beans and frozen prepared meatballs. The first step is to microwave the meatballs. Then microwave steam the green beans. I used prepared gravy too. Pour the gravy over the green beans and lightly toss. Garnish with the meatballs.
Apple Pie
From: New England Cookery by Lucy Emerson, 1808 Apple Pie. Stew and strain the apples, to every three pints, grate the peal of a fresh lemon, add cinnamon, mace, rose-water, and sugar to your taste --and bake in paste No. 3. Every species of fruit, such as pears, plums, raspberry, black berries may only be sweetened, without spices -- and bake in paste No. 3. Puff Paste No. 3 No. 3. To any quantity of flour, rub in three fourths of its weight of butter, (12 eggs to a peck) rub in one third or half, and roll in the rest. What I Did: Flour Butter Eggs Apples Lemon Peel Cinnamon Mace Rose-water Sugar Prepare the paste Stew the apples Combine and bake
Custard Tart (with apples)
From: The Good Housekeeper, or The Way To Live Well and to Be Well While We Live by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, 1839 --Line a deep plate with puff-paste; have ready six or eight middling-sized apples, pared and the cores taken out. They should be mellow and pleasant. Put into each apple any kind of preserve you have, or a bit of sugar flavored. Now fill the dish with rich custard and bake it about half an hour. Make in the same manner without crust--it is then called custard pudding. Custard- New milk, 1 quart; eggs, 8; sugar, 5 to 8 ozs.; salt, one-quarter salt-spoonful; nutmeg or lemongrate: baked, slow oven, 20 to 30 minutes, or more. What I Did: Note I doubled the ingredients to accommodate our number of portions. Puff Paste Apples 20 Preserves/Flavored Sugar Milk 2 qt. Eggs 16 Sugar 2 cups Salt ¼ saltspoon Nutmeg
Pare and core apples while leaving the apple whole. Prepare the custard as directed. Combine the milk, eggs, sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large pitcher with spout. Stir until blended and set aside. Wrap the bottom of the apple with puff paste, making sure there are no holes or weak spots in the paste. Place a dollop of preserves in the hole of each apple. Fill the rest of the hole with custard. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes or until puff paste is fluffy and golden. If you’d like a yet more golden brown to the paste, brush with egg white before baking.
Pumpkin Pudding
From: Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie, 1840 --Take a pint of pumpkin that has been stewed soft, and pressed through a cullender. Melt in half a pint of warm milk, a quarter of a pound of butter, and the same quantity of sugar, stirring them well together. If you can conveniently procure a pint of rich cream it will be better than the milk and butter. Beat eight eggs very light, and add them gradually to the other ingredients, alternately with the pumpkin. Then stir in a wine glass of rose water and two glasses of wine mixed together; a large teaspoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon mixed, and a grated nutmeg. Having stirred the whole very hard, put it into a buttered dish and bake it three quarters of an hour. What I did: Pumpkin: 15 oz. can of pumpkin Table Cream: 1/2 pint Sugar: 1 cup Eggs: 8 Rose Water: 4 tablespoons (modern tastes prefer less, maybe 1 tablespoon) White Cooking Wine: 2 wineglassful Nutmeg: 1 teaspoon Cinnamon 1 teaspoon Mace 1 teaspoon Bake in a buttered dish on 400* for 30-45 minutes or until solid.
Happy Thanksgiving