Recipes From Yesteryear

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Addie

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After seeing the recipe from my childhood for Tomato Pudding I began to think. (That was not wood burning folks.)

I would like all of you to look at some of your older cookbooks and find recipes from yesteryear. There is a reason libraries and folks like us collect those old cookbooks. It will give you older more senior ones a reason to travel down memory lane and you younger folks to get an idea of what we ate as a child. And it will give all of you a chance to slow down and do some great reading. :angel:
 
Thanks Addie :) My Grandmother's old recipes are some of my favourites. I still make her Curried Brawn, Roly Poly Pudding, Spiced Biscuits, Lamb Cheeks, Lammingtons, Beef and oyster pies, Tomato Bredie, Waterblommetjie Bredie ( not sure what waterblommetjies are called in English), Skilpadtjies (minced lambs liver mix wrapped in caul fat and grilled) etc.
 
The cookbook American Dish by Merrill Shindler is a good one for this thread. It lists a few popular recipes from each decade starting with 1900-1910 and ending with 1990-2000.

It is interesting how certain dishes go in and out of favor over time.

In the 70's every restaurant had a Carrot Cake and in the 50's everything had an envelope of onion soup tossed into it.
 
I have both my Mom's and my Grandmother's old cook books and magazine/newpaper clipped recipes. There are some really good dishes in there. Cerise, those pictures are great.

I think we should all find "a recipe from yesteryear", make it, and share the pics and experience. Maybe even a full yesteryear meal!!! How fun would that be?!?!?!
 
Before I retired I was asked to research and write some Victorian recipes for a Dickensian themed magazine using food that might be liked by some of the characters in his books. I loved researching these recipes, and the Victorians (in the U.K., don't know about the U.S.A) ate some foods that I think might not be liked that much now.

I'll see if I can find some of them, but I do remember the Bill Sykes Calf's head stew with the brains made into little piles to decorate the plate.:wacko::ROFLMAO:
 
I love to hear of old cooking traditions, I forgot where I heard it or read it but one of my favorites was:
A women preparing dinner for her family slices big chunks off each end of the ham before putting in the pan and cooking it with no explaination. As her daughter watching she learns from her mother that was the way her mother did it. She carries the tradition over again to her daughter so when her husband ask why does she do that to the ham everytime she said because thats the way my greatgrama, my mom did it. so at a celbration for the the great grandmother she ask greatgrama when cooking a ham why did you always cut the ends off the ham? The great grama replys, because I never had a pan big enough for it to fit. funny how traditons get carried over.
 
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Back to the subject of cookbooks which I forgot to add.
I love to go to garage sales and find the old cookbooks, the ones from churches are great. You always could tell the favorite of each book as it was the page with the most stains or a rip or 2.
I was recently aunt my 90 year old aunts house looking for a favorite recipe of my dads (85) that she might have and she dug out my grandmothers (their mother) recipe box for when they were kids. When a treat looking through that. My aunt till has a coffee cup that my grama used for measuring. I had to laugh as she had a recipe for making hot tea - boiling the water etc. What a great memory trip.
 
I went to a potluck where retro food was the theme. I brought a chiffon cake and a dessert made with Jello and molded, it was delightfully jiggly. The jello dessert was one weird one that my grandmother brought to every function and as weird as it was, it was delicious. Here are some of the ingredients- Lime Jello, cream cheese, mayonnaise (not kidding), crushed pineapple and whipped heavy cream. I grew to love it before knowing what was in it, because as a child I would have never eaten it otherwise! May have had melted marshmallows in it too.
 
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I went to a potluck where retro food was the theme. I brought a chiffon cake and a dessert made with Jello and molded, it was delightfully jiggly. The jello dessert was one weird one that my grandmother brought to every function and as weird as it was, it was delicious. Here are some of the ingredients- Lime Jello, cream cheese, mayonnaise (not kidding), crushed pineapple and whipped heavy cream. I grew to love it before knowing what was in it, because as a child I would have never eaten it otherwise! May have had melted marshmallows in it too.

My Mom was stuck on Lime Jell-O with shredded lettuce stirred in. Ugh!
 
I went to a potluck where retro food was the theme. I brought a chiffon cake and a dessert made with Jello and molded, it was delightfully jiggly. The jello dessert was one weird one that my grandmother brought to every function and as weird as it was, it was delicious. Here are some of the ingredients- Lime Jello, cream cheese, mayonnaise (not kidding), crushed pineapple and whipped heavy cream. I grew to love it before knowing what was in it, because as a child I would have never eaten it otherwise! May have had melted marshmallows in it too.

You reminded me of Watergate Salad (made w/ pudding). It went something like this...

Watergate Salad recipe
 
The best source for turn of the century recipes:

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If you can't find it at your local bookstore (are there any of those left?) you can get it at Amazon.com
 
I have both my Mom's and my Grandmother's old cook books and magazine/newpaper clipped recipes. There are some really good dishes in there. Cerise, those pictures are great.

I think we should all find "a recipe from yesteryear", make it, and share the pics and experience. Maybe even a full yesteryear meal!!! How fun would that be?!?!?!

I like your idea for a menu or recipe from the past.

Taste of Home used to run an article called Mom's Best Meals, I always enjoyed the recipes and stories associated with them.

I would probably be skinny if it was not for the memories I attach to various foods from the past! :ermm::ohmy::LOL:
 
PrincessFiona60 said:
My Mom was stuck on Lime Jell-O with shredded lettuce stirred in. Ugh!

Omg that sounds dreadful! Reminds me of aunt Bethany's jello mold from national lampoons Christmas vacation, but I think hers had cast food in it, :LOL: !
 
I like your idea for a menu or recipe from the past.

Taste of Home used to run an article called Mom's Best Meals, I always enjoyed the recipes and stories associated with them.

:ermm::ohmy::LOL:

I used to love that feature. I don't think they do that since they were bought out.
 
I just want to take a second to thank all of you for your input. I wasn't sure if this subject would get much attention. My daughter asked me Sunday if I could make a small pot of Boston Baked Beans and Brown Bread. I will have to find a metal coffee can for the brown bread. That is what set me off on this trip. She was talking about all her favorite foods she wants me to make for her. A lot of the foods are what I learned from my mother. :angel:
 
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You reminded me of Watergate Salad (made w/ pudding). It went something like this...

Watergate Salad recipe

I just clicked on your link to see what watergate salad is. My mom used to make this when I was little but she put the mix on top of a biscuit base. She claimed it was her recipe :ohmy:
Next time she visits I'm going to make Watergate Salad and see if she fesses up :LOL:
 
This thread is a keeper. It has me rembering things I'd forgotten and this memory refresh is wonderful. Thanks Addie for starting it and mentioning Tomato Pudding,
kades
 
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