Sunday, May 15, 2011

Under Cover


My older sister sent me a collection of vintage cookbooks she found at a local used book sale. There is one from 1932 that is worth revisiting but for right now I have been trying to decipher some of the recipes the original owner has written inside the front and back covers. Her handwriting is almost as bad as mine and she had a habit of labeling her recipes with (I assume) the name of the person she got it from.

This one is a potato bread recipe under the name of “Gordon.” I give it as she wrote it.

Lard
2/3 c. fat
1 tsp salt
2/3 c. sugar
1 c. potatoes (mash measure 2-3 medium save water cool wire sieve)
2 eggs beat
Mix.
1 ½ c. lukewarm water in which dissolve T. yeast.
7 ½ cups Gold Medal. More. Hard Wheat.
Alternate flour and lukewarm mixture. Let come up once – punch down. Put in ice box. Will be better second day.

Her pie crust recipe (with only the initials “M.T.” tacked onto it) is a little clearer.

Sift 2 ½ c flour, 1 t. BP (baking powder), ½ t. salt, 7/8 cup lard. Pour ½ cup boiling water and stir thoroughly. 2 pies.

This icing recipe (Sayer is the name given) has one ingredient I don’t think you’re going to find sitting around on a supermarket shelf today.

½ teaspoon gliscerine (sp.)
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cup sugar
1 cup water
Boil til hard soft ball (?) – white 2 egg stiff – pour beat – vanilla stiff.

5 comments:

Packrat said...

These kind of things are so great. Love reading and looking and wondering about the people who owned the books and made the recipes. I recently picked up a few 70's vintage cookbooks at the thrift store. Each had the same woman's name written in the front. I tried to find where she might have lived, but no luck at all.

Gina said...

Love reading what the owners wrote in them! I have one that is over 100 years old and it's such a trip to read all the little notes and recipes.

Sharon-The OKI StampQueen said...

Too funny! My grandmother's tart recipe called for 2 cents yeast?! Thankfully, she was still alive and could give us the inflation amount needed!

Alice said...

All those ingredients are readily available today.

Alice said...

All these ingredients are readily available today.