Historical Nibbles

Chicken Gumbo Soup Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

This recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

I love chicken gumbo soup and am always on the lookout for recipes. This makes 4 servings.

Chop half of an onion and set aside.

Chop 1 sweet red pepper. You will need ½ cup for this soup.

You will need either 1 can of diced tomatoes or 1 1/2 cups of fresh chopped tomatoes.

Prepare 1 cup of cooked rice.

Boil 3 cups of water.

Rinse and pat dry 3 pounds of chicken. Cut into 8 pieces. (I prefer smaller pieces, so I cut them in about 2-inch cubes.)

Melt 3 tablespoons of bacon fat in a Dutch oven and brown chicken on all sides. (The recipe called for a large skillet but my largest skillet didn’t hold all the ingredients.) Remove the chicken and set aside.

Add onion, 4 cups of okra, and red pepper to the Dutch oven. Over medium heat, cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of basil, and 3 cups of boiling water. Add chicken and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Reducing heat to low, cover and simmer 30-40 minutes. Mix in the rice and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Serve in soup bowls.

Delicious! I really like this soup. My mom made it differently when I was a child, but this was very good, too. It’s a spicy, comforting soup.

I will make this again. I’d love to hear if you try it.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

Quick Graham Bread Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

The author of 1877 Cookbook Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping included meal suggestions. A springtime breakfast meal suggestion is: fried ham, scrambled eggs, fried mush, potatoes boiled in jackets, Graham bread, radishes, coffee, tea, and chocolate. Sounds like a lot of food!

The cookbook includes recipes for some of these. Today I’m sharing one for Quick Graham Bread. This recipe from Mrs. E.J.W. makes 2 loaves. Next time I will halve the ingredients.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a bread baking pan or use cooking spray.

The first ingredient is 3 cups of sour milk. To make this, stir 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk so I added 3 tablespoons of vinegar and set it aside to rest for at least 5 minutes.

Dissolve 2 teaspoons of baking soda in a small amount of hot water and set aside.

Stir ½ cup molasses into the sour milk. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the dissolved soda. Stir. Add “as much Graham flour as can be stirred in with a spoon.” I used about 6 ½ cups.

Immediately pour into prepared bread pan and bake about 45 minutes.

Molasses gives this bread a sweet flavor, but not sweet like banana bread or blueberry bread. I ate it with salami and cream cheese, which gave the whole sandwich an unusual flavor that I enjoyed. I think it would taste good with chicken salad or ham salad.

This makes a hearty bread.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.

 

Tart Pastry Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

This tart pastry recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

I was making following a cheese and bacon quiche recipe that called for a tart pastry.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Separate 1 egg and set aside the yolk. You won’t need the egg white for this recipe.

Mix 1 cup of flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt in a medium mixing bowl. (If you want sweet dough, add 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar. Since I needed for quiche, I did not add sugar.)

Cut 6 tablespoons of cold butter into small pieces. Then blend the butter into the flour with your fingers until it resembles tiny peas or coarse meal. (You can use a pastry blender if you like but I used my fingers.) This takes several minutes.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water. Add it to the flour mixture. With your hands, work this dough together until smooth and it forms a ball.

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 20 minutes. I gave it about 40 minutes.

The recipe says that this can be rolling with a rolling pin, but the cook suggested patting it, piece by piece, into place into a springform pan or pie pan with your hands. I used the latter method and a springform pan.

Take pieces of dough and pat it in place on the pan using the heel of your hand. Work it over the bottom and then up the sides. Try to get it even. It should be thick enough to hold the filling but not too thick around the bottom edge. This takes a few minutes.

Follow the recipe for the filling you will add from here. Or, after using a fork to add tiny air holes to the bottom, bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes. If using a springform pan, remove the sides when ready to serving.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

Beef and Corn Casserole Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

This recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

I like making meat and vegetable casseroles for my family and this one did not disappoint me.

Chop 1 onion and set aside. Chop 1 green pepper and set aside. Peel and slice 2 firm, ripe tomatoes and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute the green pepper and onion in 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. (I used my cast iron skillet.) Cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft. Add 1 pound of lean ground beef, breaking it into small pieces. Cook meat in the onion until no longer pink.

Drain and return to the skillet.

To the beef mixture, add 1 can cream-style corn and salt to taste. (I used ½ teaspoon salt.) Mix well.

Prepare a 2 ½ quart baking dish with cooking spray and pour in the beef mixture. Arrange the tomato slices over the top.

The recipe calls for a topping of buttered bread crumbs. I used plain, store-bought crumbs and drizzled melted butter on top.

Bake until the crumbs are lightly browned, about 25 minutes.

I enjoyed this meal. The flavor of green pepper stood out, enhancing the whole dish. I like fresh tomatoes so I didn’t know how I’d like the cooked tomatoes on top, but I did. It worked well with the other ingredients. The only thing I didn’t really taste is the corn. Maybe add a second can of corn to the recipe.

This casserole is delicious. If your family doesn’t like to eat plain vegetables, I think it would also work to add another vegetable, such as peas, to the dish.

I’d love to hear if you try it.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

Corn Pone Pie Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

This cornbread recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

I remember my dad talking about eating corn pone pie so when I found this recipe, I was intrigued.

Chop 1 onion and set aside. Chop 1 garlic clove and set aside. (I used ½ teaspoon of chopped garlic.)

Melt 3 tablespoons bacon fat in a large skillet over medium heat. (Cast iron skillets work well for this.) Saute the onion until soft. Add 1 pound of lean ground beef, breaking it into small pieces. Cook meat in the onion until no longer pink.

Drain and return to the skillet.

To the beef mixture, add 1 can chili beans, the chopped garlic, 1 can (or 2 cups) diced or stewed tomatoes, and 1 tablespoon chili powder. Salt to taste. (I used ½ teaspoon salt.)

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

While the beef mixture simmers, prepare a topping of cornbread batter  and set aside.

Select a shallow 2 ½ quart baking dish and prepare it with cooking spray.

After simmering, pour chili mixture into the prepared baking dish. Spoon cornbread batter over the top and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

This was delicious. It was similar to eating a bowl of chili with a serving of cornbread. I was surprised what a “comfort food” dish this turned out to be.

I will plan on making this for a family gathering soon.

I’d love to hear if you try it.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

Cornbread Recipe

/ sandramervillehart / 1 Comment

This cornbread recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

I was making a corn pone pie recipe and it called for a cornbread batter topping.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare an 8×8 square baking pan with cooking spray.

Mix together ¾ cup yellow cornmeal, 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 3 teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon of salt in a large mixing bowl.

Add 1 cup milk, 1 beaten egg, and 2 tablespoons of melted shortening or bacon fat. Mix well.

Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and bake about 20 minutes.

Since I was using this batter for another recipe, I didn’t bake it. I set it aside until needed. It made a delicious topping for the corn pone pie.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

Sugared Pecans Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

This Sugared Nuts recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

I needed to take something to share at a recent writers’ meeting. Because it travels easily, this recipe caught my eye. You can use either pecan halves or walnut halves. I chose pecans.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

I used a pound of pecans since I was taking these to a meeting. You may need less depending on the size of the crowd.

Mix together ½ cup sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon in a flat bowl and set aside.

Take 1 egg white (room temperature works best for beating) and add 1 tablespoon of water. The recipe did not say how long to beat the egg white mixture, so I beat it until stiff, frothy white peaks formed.

It worked best for me to set up an assembly line: beaten egg whites next to the sugar mixture and then the cookie sheet.

Dip the pecans into the egg whites. Roll it in sugar and then place it on the cookie sheet. One by one grew tedious quickly. I put a handful of pecans into the egg whites and then placed them on a separate plate. I added pecans to the plate until the excess egg whites were absorbed. Then I rolled them by small bunches into the sugar.

I had to make a second batch of cinnamon sugar to finish a pound of pecans.

Bake the sugared pecans for 1 hour at 225 degrees, stirring them every 15 minutes. They smell heavenly!

Delicious! Baking made the pecans a crunchy dessert that later softened. The aroma made me hungry. I like cinnamon so I will double it the next time I make these.

A pound of pecans filled the whole cookie sheet, so let that guide you in guessing how many you will need to serve. These make a delicious appetizer for a party.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

 

 

Corn Crisps Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

I bought The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

A recipe for corn crisps caught my eye. I’d never eaten them. The recipe is quick and easy so I decided to try it with two different corn meals.

The first batch was made using a coarse grind corn meal.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and prepare a cookie sheet with cooking spray. (The original recipe says to use butter on the baking pan. That probably enhances the buttery flavor of the crisp.)

Set aside a ½ cup of yellow cornmeal and ¼–½ teaspoon of salt.

Add 2 tablespoons of butter and ¾ cup of water to a small saucepan. Bring this to boil and then immediately stir in the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 10 to 15 minutes.

The batch with the coarse grind corn meal lightly browned in 12 minutes. They tasted good but very salty.

I then made the recipe using some cornmeal milled in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. These took longer to bake. I took them out at 16 minutes. The bottom was lightly browned but the top was still pale. These retained their shape. They still tasted salty, so I think reducing salt by half may be better.

Leave them in the oven longer for a crispy consistency.

All in all, an easy salty snack that can be cooked and served within a half hour.

I halved this recipe and it made 6 crisps each time.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

Popcorn Balls

/ sandramervillehart / 2 Comments

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook was originally published in 1896. Fannie Farmer’s name is still well-known today.

A recipe for Popcorn Balls stated that it was “an authentic old-fashioned version.” Intrigued by a recipe considered “old-fashioned” in 1896, I decided to make it.

Preheat oven to 250. (All temperatures are Fahrenheit.)

Pop 3 quarts of unbuttered, unsalted popcorn. To do this frugally, add 1/3 cup of popcorn to a lunch-sized paper bag. Important—tape the bag shut. Microwave it on the popcorn setting until popping slows. This makes at least 10 cups of popcorn, which was plenty.

Coat a large, oven-safe bowl with shortening. Pour the popcorn in the bowl and keep warm in a 250 oven.

You’ll need 2 to 4 tablespoons of butter later. For now, butter a large spoon or fork and set it aside. You’ll need some wax paper for the hot popcorn balls as well.

In a 3-quart heavy pot, combine 2 cups light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir to mix together.

Cook over medium heat. Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature of the syrup until it reaches the hard-ball stage of 250 degrees.

There was a strong vinegar smell when the syrup began to cook that dissipated after a few minutes.

The recipe says you can stir occasionally, but I had to make this twice because I forgot to add vanilla at the end the first time. The final caramel-type mixture worked better without stirring.

When the temperature reaches 200, watch carefully as it begins to shoot up quickly.

Remove from heat when it reaches 250. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla. I was surprised that the vanilla sizzled. Stir to mix it in.

Remove the warm popcorn from the oven. Moving quickly, use the buttered spoon to toss the popcorn as you pour it slowly from the kettle. The caramel is very thick and pours in a thin ribbon while you move the popcorn around to cover it.

Butter your fingers. Since the popcorn sets quickly, as soon as the popcorn mixture cools enough to handle, begin shaping it into 3-inch balls. Start from the outside parts that have cooled a bit. Keep buttering your fingers to enable you to work with the sticky popcorn.

My husband and I both thought these popcorn balls tasted like Cracker Jacks. Delicious! But, if you cook it until 250, the caramel is little hard. I’d remove it at about 240—or even a little less. Experiment for the caramel consistency you enjoy.

I had fun learning how to make this, but the makers of Cracker Jacks have perfected it long ago. I think I’d buy a box next time. I bought Cracker Jacks a few months ago for a baseball party so they are still around.

Enjoy!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

 

 

Early Baseball Snacks

/ sandramervillehart

Doscher Brothers, a Cincinnati confectioner, made a type of flat popcorn ball and named it Popcorn Fritters. The snack, resembling a rice cake, was sold to the Cincinnati Red Stockings, probably beginning in the mid-1870s. Their home ballpark from 1876-1879 was Avenue Grounds, located about four miles from the center of Cincinnati. Fans traveled in trains and horse-drawn streetcars to games.

Two brothers, Frederick and Louis Rueckheim, experimented with adding molasses and peanuts into popcorn and introduced the treat when the World’s Fair came to Chicago in 1893. They perfected the product and began selling it as “Cracker Jacks” in 1896.

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks” is a line from the popular 7th inning stretch baseball tune “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” This song, written by Albert Von Tilzer and Jack Norworth in 1908, immortalized both baseball snacks.

Sometime from 1896 to 1908, Cracker Jacks had become a popular snack at ballgames.

The song also mentions peanuts. That salty snack got its start in 1895. Harry Stevens, a ballpark concessioner, sold advertising on scorecards. A peanut company paid for their advertisement with peanuts—a very wise decision because Stevens sold them to fans at the ballparks.

It seems we can also thank Harry Stevens for bringing hot dogs to ballparks.

Ice cream—another early ballpark food!—wasn’t selling well on a cool Spring day in 1905. Stevens sent his employees to buy sausages and Vienna rolls. The sausages were served on the rolls to fans and called “red hots.” They sold so well that he kept them on the menu. In 1910, a cartoonist shortened the name to “hot dog.”

What about drinks?

Brooklyn’s first enclosed ballpark included a saloon on an outfield corner where they sold beer.

The Cincinnati Reds ballpark from 1902-1911 was the Palace of the Fans, a grandstand designed after the Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. This park either had a bar on the grounds or one nearby because waiters served beer to standing-room crowds on “Rooter’s Row,” an area underneath opera-style boxes that jutted out three rows from the grandstand.

Since families attended baseball games, it seems likely those early ballparks also sold lemonade, tea, or coffee.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

“Reds Ballparks,” Reds.com, 2019/03/23 http://mlb.mlb.com/cin/history/ballparks.jsp.

Suess, Jeff. “Red’s legendary Palace of the Fans symbol of baseball’s growth,” Cincinnati.com, 2019/3/22 https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/04/05/reds-legendary-palace-fans-symbol-baseballs-growth/100063096/.

“The History of Ballpark Food,” History.com, 2019/03/23 https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-ballpark-food.

“The Story Behind Peanuts and Baseball,” National Peanut Board, 2019/03/25  https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/news/whats-story-behind-peanuts-and-baseball.htm.

Weber, Roger. “A History of Food at the Ballpark,” SportsLibrary.net, 2019/03/25 http://baseballjudgments.tripod.com/id45.html.

Wilson, Laurnie. “Candy History: Cracker Jacks,” Candyfavorites.com, 2019/03/25 https://www.candyfavorites.com/blog/history-of-cracker-jacks-retro/.

Woellert, Dann. Cincinnati Candy—A Sweet History, American Palate, 2017.