Posted on by missminamurray

January 25

01-25

Pimiento Soup
Marshmallow Fudge
Salted Almonds
Roast Quail, Rice Croquettes with Jelly
Brussels Sprouts
Lettuce Nests, *Alberta Mayonnaise
Toasted Crackers
Coffee Ice Cream
Swedish Rolled Wafers

In 1914 January 25 was a Sunday.

I have no idea what is going on with this menu. Dessert seems to come right after the soup course, but we also have dessert after the salad course. I guess I can see salted almonds as a crunchy accompaniment to soup, but marshmallow fudge?

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed to continue my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 22

01-22
Creamed Cauliflower Soup
Crisp Crackers
Ox Joints en Casserole
Dressed Lettuce
*Keswick Pudding
Marguerites

In 1914 January 22 was a Thursday.

Keswick is a market town in the Lake District in England, associated with a number of poets. Maybe that’s why the pudding is named after it.

The Marguerites may be left over from the formal dinner on the 20th.

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed to continue my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 20, Formal Dinner

01-20
Finnan Haddie Canapés
Potage d’Avignon
Bread Sticks
Celery
Olives
Broiled Trout, Maître d’Hôtel
Dressed Cucumbers
Bouchées of Sweetbread
Roast Crown of Lamb, Currant Mint Sauce
Potato Balls
Oyster Plant au Gratin
Sautéd Quail à la Moquin
Grape Fruit and Pepper Salad
*Vanilla Ice Cream, Fruit Sauce
Marguerites
Crackers
Cheese
Café Noir

In 1914 January 20 was a Tuesday. Why are we having a formal dinner on Tuesday? It’s my sister’s birthday and that’s a good enough reason for me.

There is a lot going on in this meal…

Finnan Haddie is cold-smoked haddock. Our local butcher shop carries it, so I should give it a try.

Bouchées are small pastry cases.

The Potato Balls are shaped with a French vegetable cutter. They were used to cut fruits and vegetables into ball shapes, but I have yet to find an image of one, let alone an actual cutter. Let me know if you’ve ever seen one!

Oyster Plant is a common name for salsify and according to Fannie Farmer “Oyster plant is in season from October to March.” I haven’t found a recipe for Oyster Plant au Gratin, but you could probably make Potatoes au Gratin and substitute salsify root. Fannie Farmer says to cook it so: “Wash, scrape, and put at once into cold acidulated water to prevent discoloration. Cut in inch slices, cook in boiling salted water until soft, drain”.

Quail à la Moquin is presumably named after restauranteur Henri Mouquin. Mouquin came to New York from Switzerland, via Paris, and began his career as a waiter at the famed Delmonico’s. Mouquin opened three restaurants in New York, with his wife, Marie Granjean as chef. She is credited with introducing French onion soup to the United States.

There are two recipes for Marguerites in The Boston Cookery-School Cook Book. Both look like sweet little treats. One is a pastry and the other is more like divinity, but baked on saltines!

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed to continue my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 15

01-15

Broiled Oysters
Celery
Bread Sticks
*Boiled Calves’ Tongues
Mashed Squash
Riced Potatoes
Lettuce and Cucumber Salad
Saltines
Mince Pie
Cheese
Café Noir

In 1914 January 15 was a Thursday.

Ricing potatoes was a pretty common treatment at this time, which seems to have fallen out of favor. Does anyone use a ricer? I’ve got one on my wish list…

The lettuce and cucumber salad is deceptively simple, but the presentation is everything — alternating leaves of lettuce and slices of cucumber. 
“A Chapon. Remove a small piece from end of French loaf and rub over with a clove of garlic, first dipped in salt. Place in bottom of salad bowl before arranging salad. A chapon is often used in vegetable salads, and gives an agreeable additional flavor.” (The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, p. 323)

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed to continue my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 13

01-13
Royal Soup
Imperial Sticks
Breaded Lamb Chops, Tomato Sauce
*Baked Potatoes, Hotel Style
Moulded Spinach
Wafer Crackers
Cream Cheese
Bar-le-duc Strawberries
Café Noir

In 1914 January 13 was a Tuesday.

Royal Soup with Imperial Sticks sounds so grand! The reality is a very frugal soup with toasted stale bread.

I found a recipe for Breaded Mutton Chops, but not lamb. It should work about the same, maybe with a shortened cooking time.

Bar-le-Duc strawberries are a kind of preserve. The town is famous for their currant preserves, in which the ripe currants are hand-seeded using a goose quill, leaving the fruit intact, like little pearls or caviar. I’m told that they pop delightfully in your mouth, but I haven’t been lucky enough to taste it. I also haven’t found much information about the strawberry version, but I assume it was just as delicious and just as much of a status symbol.

UPDATE: Canning, Preserving and Pickling by Marion Harris Neil (1914) has a recipe!

STRAWBERRY BAR-LE-DUC, p. 124
Perfect strawberries. Sugar.
Three things are indispensable in making strawberry bar-le-duc. The first is strong, steady sunshine, the second, hot platters or plates, the third plenty of window-glass.
The fruit should be of good flavor, the sugar pure. To every pound of fruit allow three cupfuls of sugar. Heat the sugar on plates in the oven, taking care not to let it melt or get too brown. It should be as hot as possible without melting.
Spread a thin layer of hot sugar over the bottoms of hot platters or deep plates, then a layer of fruit and then another layer of sugar.
Cover the platters with a clean sheet of window-glass and place outdoors in the hot sun or in a sunny window. If the fruit is outdoors it must be brought in when the sun sets and put in a dry place indoors.
Return to the sun in the morning. In a few days the fruit will grow plump and firm and the syrup almost a jelly.
Pack in tumblers and seal.
If the syrup is not thick, boil until clear and thickened, then pour in the glasses over the fruit.

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed in my quest for greater historical accuracy in my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 11

01-11
French Chicken Soup
Hominy Croûtons
*Rabbit à la Southern
Anchovied Potatoes
Endive Salad
Celery in White Sauce
Wheat Crispies
Chocolate Ice Cream
Lady Baltimore Cake
Café Noir

In 1914 January 11 was a Sunday.

Wheat Crispies are a brand of cracker made by O. B. Gilman, a Boston bakery.

The chocolate ice cream calls for squares of Baker’s chocolate. This is a brand of unsweetened chocolate still available today, originally made in a factory in Boston, right down the road from me (it’s luxury apartments now).  In Fannie’s the unsweetened chocolate came in individually wrapped squares, each weighing one ounce. Now the chocolate comes in bars, but it’s easy enough to convert squares to ounces.

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed in my quest for greater historical accuracy in my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 9

01-09

Berkshire Soup
Crisp Crackers
Baked Cod, Oyster Stuffing
*O’Brion Potatoes
Moulded Spinach
Orange Puffs, Orange Sauce

In 1914 January 9 was a Friday. And we’ve got fish again!

I presume Berkshire Soup is named for the picturesque region in Western Massachusetts and not the county in England.

O’Brion Potatoes (usually spelled O’Brien) might have originated in Boston at the turn of the 20th century, or maybe New York. One more thing for the two cities to squabble over… The recipe usually calls for bell peppers, but here it’s canned pimientos. 

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed in my quest for greater historical accuracy in my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 8

01-08

*Bisque of Oysters
Celery Oysterettes
Pork Steaks
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Turnip Cubes, White Sauce
Apple Tapioca with Cream

In 1914 January 8 was a Thursday.

Oysterettes were a brand of oyster cracker. I have yet to find anything that shows that they were available in celery flavor. Let me know if you do!

Note from 2023: I’m pretty convinced that there was a typesetting error and that Celery and Oysterettes are two separate items. Thanksgiving Dinner No. 1 from What to Have for Dinner has a first course of Oyster Stew and Celery and Oyster Crackers.

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed in my quest for greater historical accuracy in my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 7

01-07
Turkey Soup
Souffléd Crackers
*Baked Rockingham Halibut
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Escalloped Tomatoes
Meringue Lemon Tartlets
Cheese Squares

In 1914 January 7 was a Wednesday.

The turkey carcass from the 4th now becomes soup.

Souffléd Crackers are made with common crackers, a large round cracker, slightly puffed, like an oyster cracker, so they could be split easily. They’re very plain and much improved by toasting, serving with cheese, or crumbling into chowder. One of the bakeries that made them (as well as hardtack and other durable crackers) is just down the road from me.

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed in my quest for greater historical accuracy in my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!

Posted on by missminamurray

January 4

01-04

*Tomato Soup (without stock)
Croûtons
Roast Stuffed Turkey, Giblet Gravy
Cranberry Jelly
Curled Celery
Mashed Potatoes
Onions in Cream
Orange Ice
Nut Caramel Cake
Toasted Crackers
Roquefort
Café Noir

In 1914 January 4 was a Sunday, presumably which is why the menu is rather elaborate.

I’m still looking for the recipe for the Nut Caramel Cake. If anyone has a lead, send it my way, please,

There should probably be more spacing between Toasted Crackers and Roquefort, as I believe they are two menu items and not cheese-flavored crackers.

This is our first appearance of Café Noir, merely the French way of saying “black coffee”. However, it will not be the last.

M2This project is supported by my Patrons on Patreon and donations from other enthusiasts of historic cookery. With your help I can acquire the unusual ingredients and equipment and do the research needed to continue my culinary adventures. Thank you so much!