During the 1800's most homemakers probably had favorite recipes they prepared for their families. Perhaps recipes handed down from their own mother, or passed along from a neighbor or friend, or
from a well-used cookbook.
I am lucky enough to have treasured recipes passed down to me from my grandparents. Ooh, the wonderful memories those scents bring transporting me back to my childhood. Some of my fondest memories are of my grandma in the kitchen, an apron around her waist and scrumptious apple pie wafting into the dining room. She never used a recipe. She had it memorized! I'd be beside her, baking my own miniature apple pie and tarts for my grandpa, while she told me stories of her childhood.
Here is a collection of recipes pioneer women, and even your own ancestors, may have used.
Needin' an old west cooking measurements translator? Click here
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Apple Pie
Use with your favorite double pie crust, or try the recipe down below.
I can honestly say this is my all-time favorite apple pie recipe.
6 to 8 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
2 9-inch pie crusts
About 4 teaspoons butter to dot apple mixture and top crust
Slice apples into a bowl, then toss with the sugar, cinnamon and flour until apples are covered. Heap the apples in a pie shell. Dot randomly with about 2 teaspoons butter pats over apples.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out second half of dough. Moisten edge of bottom crust. Cover apples with top layer of dough and cut slits in top to let out steam. Slice off edges of excess pastry with knife. Press top and bottom together with a fork. Dot randomly with about 2 teaspoons butter pats on outer crust. (Optional: sprinkle cinnamon on outer crust.)
Place pie pan on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and continue baking for 45 to 50 minutes until apples are tender. Remove and let cool.
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1800's recipe for pie crust
Dissolve in a piece of saleratus the size of a pea in a very little warm water, stir it into a cup of rich sweet cream, mix in enough flour to make a firm dough, roll thin, little patches of butter quite thick over it, fold three or four times, and roll thin. Do not pass the rolling pin backward and forward over the dough, but roll only in one direction.
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Marionberry Pie
* In Oregon and Washington, marionberries are a favorite - from pies to ice cream to shakes. Similar to blackberries, marionberries are purplish black, plump and oh-so-yummy!
4 cups marionberries
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoon butter
Your favorite pie crust recipe; 2 9-inch shells, unbaked
Combine marionberries, salt, flour and sugar. Spoon in the mixture into bottom of pie shell, mounding high in the center, letting the edges hang over. Dot marionberries with butter. Moisten edge of pie crust with water, fit top crust over marionberries and pinch edges. ( * can also lattice pastry across the top of marionberries.)
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes; then 30 minutes at 350 degrees until crust is golden brown.
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Mock Mince Pie Receipt
1/2 Cup of Molasses
2/3 Cup of Water
2/3 of Vinegar
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Cup of Bread crumbs
1 Cup of Currents
1 Tablespoon of Cloves
1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
1 Nutmeg, grated
1 Butter size of hen egg
For four pies. Eat while hot with a spoon
* This recipe must have been a favorite of Bud Campbell's, as he carried it in his diary for many years during the late 1800's. Bud ran the Frying Pan C Brand, located a few miles east of Payson, AZ (now known as Star Valley) his wife was Rosa Dee Ellison and their daughters were Gertude and Rose. Rosa died in December 1894 at age 23. Bud was shot and killed on July 5, 1896.
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Mincemeat pie
Remember those pies that grandma made during Christmastime? Mincemeat is
a British tradition that came to America and is served between Christmas and
New Year's. Modern pies normally do not contain any meat.
1800's version:
8 pounds beef stew meat
2 pounds suet
12 pounds chopped apples
2 pounds raisins
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon cloves
1 pound chopped citron
3 pounds brown sugar
1 lemon
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons salt
boiled cider
In a large pot, simmer the unsalted meat until very tender. Cool the meat and then run through a food grinder twice.
Place the ground meat back into the pot with the same water. Most of the water will be boiled down. Add all other ingredients to the pot and add enough boiled cider so the mixture is moistened well, but not too wet. Simmer and stir until the apples are cooked -- about an hour. Seal in sterilized jars while still hot.
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Duke of Devonshire Cake
(Circa 1867 recipe)
One pound of flour, one pound of currants, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, half a pound of butter, half ther peel of a lemon, half a pound of citron, whisk all together, with eight eggs; add a little brandy; bake in a slow oven, two hours and a half.
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Poor Man's Pudding
Take 2 quarts of rich milk; 1 teaspoonful of salt; 1 teaspoonful of allspice; 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar; 3 tablespoonfuls of molasses; two-thirds of a cupful of rice. Bake one and one-fourth hours, or longer if
the fire is slow.
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Rhubarb Pie
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup shortening, melted
3 cups diced rhubarb
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt; stir in oats and 1/2 cup sugar. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly. Pat half of the mixture into a 9 inch pie pan; set aside remaining half for the topping. Arrange rhubarb in pie shell. Sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon and water over rhubarb, then dot with butter. Spread remaining oat mixture over filling. Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until rhubarb is tender.
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Rhubarb Tart
(Recipe circa 1861)
Cut some rhubarb into pieces an inch long, place it in a saucepan without a cover, adding chopped lemon-peel and sufficient sugar to sweeten - in water; let it simmer till reduced to a pulp; stand aside
till cool. Line a flat dish with paste*, put in the rhubarb, and, before putting it into the oven, add a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and a good sprinkling of nutmeg. Serve with custard-cream.
To make the cream: Beat up two eggs with a tablespoonful of cold milk, have ready a half pint of milk boiling hot, to be poured gradually on the eggs, stirring all the time, pour backward and forward in the saucepan. If not sufficiently thickened, place on the fire for a moment, but be careful it does not boil, or
it will curdle and be spoiled.
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Custard Pie
3 large eggs
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 2/3 cups milk
Unbaked pie shell
Beat eggs slightly, then add sugar, salt, nutmeg and milk. Beat well together and pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake for 40 minutes in moderate oven (350 degrees.) Remove pie from oven and sprinkle with ground nutmeg.
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Fried Peaches
(Serve with pork or beef)
6 fresh peaches, peeled
2 tbs. butter
12 tsps. brown sugar
Halve peaches. Melt butter in an iron skillet. Arrange peaches in skillet, hollowed side up. Put a teaspoon of brown sugar into each hollow. Cover skillet and let cook until tender.
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Fried Apples
(recipe Circa 1866)
Take any nice sour cooking apples, and after wiping them, cut into slices about one forth of an inch; have a frying-pan ready, in which there is a small amount of lard, say 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch in depth. The lard must be hot before the slices of apples are put in. Let one side of them fry until brown; then turn, and put a small quantity of sugar on the browned side of each slice. By the time the other side is browned, the sugar will be melted and spread over the whole surface.
Serve them up hot, and you will have a dish good enough for kings and queens, or any poor man's breakfast; and I think that even the President would not refuse a few slices, if properly cooked.
(submitted by Jeannie Wagner)
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Ginger Snaps
One pint of New Orleans molasses, one coffee cup of melted butter, boil together ten minutes. When cold add one teaspoon of ginger, one of cinnamon, and two of soda. Use as much flour as will work in conveniently; roll, very thin and bake lightly.
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Molasses Crinkles
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
2 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and molasses. Sift dry ingredients together and stir into egg mixture. Chill dough several hours. Shape into one-inch balls, flatten slightly and sprinkle tops with sugar. Sprinkle each cookie with 2-3 drops water just before baking. Bake in 375 degree oven for
12 - 15 minutes.
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Pralines
1 cup water
1 Tbs. butter
1 cups pecans
Combine sugars and water and boil. Let boil until a drop of the hot liquid forms a hard ball in cold water. Remove from heat. Add butter and nuts. Beat until creamy. Drop by the size of an egg onto marble slab. Let stand until firm.
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Scotch Butter Candy
One pound of sugar, one half pint of water. Boil as hard as possible without graining. When done add half a cup of butter, and lemon juice for flavor, if desired. Turn on a buttered dish, or better, a marble slab, and when partly cool, cut with a knife into small squares and when cool a slight tap will break them off.
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Rock Candy
From "Aunt Babette's Cook Book, Foreign and Domestic Receipts for the Household" by Aunt Babette, published by Bloch Publishing and Printing Company, Chicago, c. 1889
A brass kettle, if kept perfectly clean, is best for boiling sugar in for confectionery. Dissolve two pounds of white sugar in one pint of water and place this in the kettle over a slow fire for a quarter of an hour. Pour into it a small quantity of gelatin and gum arabic dissolved together. Skim off at once all the impurities that rise to the surface. If you allow the syrup to boil a few moments longer you will have what is called "Rock Candy."
To make other candies, bring the syrup very carefully to such a degree of heat that the "threads" which drop from the spoon when raised into cold air will snap like glass. When this desired stage is reached, add a teaspoonful of vinegar or cream of tartar to prevent granulation, and pour it into pans. To make stick candies, pull and roll into shape with buttered hands.
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Sugar cookies
1 tsp. lemon juice (or vanilla)
2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter
Pinch of salt
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, then lemon juice (or vanilla) Sift dry ingredients together and blend into egg mixture. Chill dough several hours. Roll dough into balls and roll in sugar, flatten. Bake 350 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes.
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Cinnamon Ornaments
I am not quite certain how far this recipe dates back, but is fun for kids and adults, and they smell heavenly!
DO NOT EAT! For decoration ONLY.
1 Cup ground cinnamon
3/4 Cup applesauce
Form stiff dough; adding more applesauce if needed. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out shapes with various shape cookie cutters. Make hole for ribbon or twine. Let air dry for 2 to 3 days, carefully turning each day. Yield: 12 heavenly scented ornaments. When completely dried, can decorate with paint and/or glitter glue.
Note: To make ornaments that will last year after year, mix in 1/4 cup Elmers glue in dough mixture. Place dough on wax paper, fold over and roll out. Let air dry appx. 5 days.
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Snow Ice Cream
1 cup sugar
2 tsps. vanilla
1 tsp. nutmeg
In a bowl beat eggs and milk, then sugar. Beat until sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in vanilla and nutmeg. Pour mixture over snow that has been piled into a large bowl or kettle. Fold mixture into snow until blended. Children love it.
