Historical Food Fortnightly #3: Plain Muffins

I started out quite stumped on this challenge. The theme was "History Detective," or trying to interpret a vague or confusing historical recipe, but while I have of course read plenty of weird, vague recipes, when the time came for this challenge, everything seemed to (infuriatingly!) make sense. Maybe I have been reading historic cookbooks for too long, and the strange terms for foods and the archaic measurements are now more familiar to me.

I could have just picked a recipe at random and claimed it was vague to me, but that would be cheating! So instead I spent many fruitless hours poring over cookbooks and having dead-end brainstorms, until I finally ran out of time.

I finally just decided I would make some kind of quick bread, and found a pretty vague recipe in the Open Door Cookbook. I went to check the book's publication date and found - AHA! - there was none to be found. Here was my historical food mystery! Not my recipe but the date of my cookbook. I made my muffins and used clues from the book to guess its date.

The Challenge: 3. History Detective (January 29 - February 11) For this challenge, you get to be the detective! Either use clues from multiple recipes to make a composite recipe, or choose a very vague recipe and investigate how it was made.

The Recipe: Plain Muffins, submitted by Mrs. C. R. Parker to the Open Door Cookbook, published by the Open Door Congregational Church. I got this book and a few others at a local garage sale last summer.

 

The Date/Year and Region: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. For the date, let's look at some clues from the book.

First we have this Lux advertisement. The hair on this gal looks absolutely like early 19-teens; up-swept, over the ears, but without the full front pompadour of the early 1900s. See an example here. Plus her shirtwaist blouse is very 1905.

Another illustration with a late 19-teens look. The little puffs of hair over the ears are a dead giveaway! See a similar example from 1917 here.

A doughnut recipe in the book calls for Crisco, which was introduced in 1911.

Then there is this great color ad. Without this I would have just said 1918 and left it. The woman's collar has a late 19-teens look, but the shape of her apron is very flat and boxy, with no waist, suggesting a 1920's style.

Also, this is a flour ad, not a high fashion print, so the clothing represented would have to be considered mainstream, not too new or avant-garde. The clothing couldn't be too out-of-date though, or it would look dowdy and old fashioned. As we all know, that's not how you sell flour!

These clues all place this book's date definitely after 1915, and as late as 1925.

How Did You Make It: Only ingredients were given in this recipe, no method or cooking time, so I just mixed the dough like I normally would for muffins. First I beat the eggs in a bowl, then added the melted butter, then stirred in my dry ingredients and milk. I did sub in half a cup of whole wheat flour because I can't leave well enough alone. Given the amount of recipes in this book for "graham" and bran biscuits and muffins, I don't think this is an unreasonably inaccurate change.

The large amount of baking powder in this recipe - 4 teaspoons to 2 cups of flour - made the batter thicken up immediately with a foamy texture. No baking directions were given, so I checked a couple other muffin recipes. All they suggested was "a quick, hot oven," no time given. I gave these about 17 minutes at 400 F.

That thick foamy texture made a bumpy, irregular finished muffin, with little toasty edges everywhere. Yum!

There is no such thing as too much butter.

Time to Complete: 15 minutes of prep, 17 minutes in the oven.

Total Cost: Pretty cheap, just pantry stuff. A couple dollars?

How Successful Was It?: Yummy. The crumb was soft and springy, the exterior slightly crisp like a biscuit. Slathered with butter they were the perfect companion to a cheese and spinach omelet.

How Accurate Is It?: I subbed in some whole wheat flour, and I greased my pan with an organic palm oil shortening, whereas Crisco (hydrogenated cottonseed oil) or lard would have been the more likely choice at the time. Otherwise I followed as written.

Historical Food Fortnightly #2: Cherry Trifle

I consider myself an adequate cook. I can make good wholesome meals with ease, my bread is light, and my desserts are toothsome. But one area I am sorely lacking is Making Food Pretty. Or presentation as they say these days.

So while I enjoyed eating this challenge, I am the first to admit that the looks are... pretty sloppy. Judge for yourself.

The Challenge: 2. Culinary Vices (January 15 - January 28) Some foods are really, really naughty. Globs of butter, lashings of sugar and syrup, decadent chocolate and wine. Bring out your naughty, indecorous side with foods associated with all the bad things, in the best ways.

I am no stranger to trifle; I have been in love with them ever since Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess came out. And the concept is pretty simple: take some old cake, soak it in booze, top with jam or fruit, and add custard and whipped cream.

What could be more vice-ridden than combining cream, sugar, and alcohol?

The Recipe: I used three separate recipes, one for the trifle itself, one for the custard, and one for the cake. The first two are from Mrs. Beeton's and the cake is from National Cookery.

The Date/Year and Region: mid-late 19th century, England/America

How Did You Make It: I admit I played fast and loose with the trifle recipe. For one thing, I didn't have any macaroons or ratafias (whatever they are) and for another I didn't particularly like the idea of mixing raw egg whites into my whipped cream. Plus I hate sweet sherry, so instead I used a fruit-flavored liqueur.

For the other two I followed as written, but for the custard I used 5 whole eggs plus 4 yolks, and half milk/half cream.

Baked my cream sponge cake.

Made my custard in the double boiler. Usually I just make it in a pot and the double boiler took FOREVER.

I wish I had had more time to let my cake stale. Alas.

Lined two bowls with cake. I made a separate, non-alcoholic version for my young daughter.

Cherry booze and cherry jam!

Cakes soaked and sprinkled with lemon zest.

Jammed it and sprinkled almonds.

And finally, whipped cream and more almonds.

Oh, trifle, you are not pretty, but I wanna eat you anyway!

Time to Complete: Two days overall, about 2 hours actual work time.

Total Cost: Two pint of cream at $4-ish, a jar of jam, eggs, sugar, flour, liqueur. . . maybe $20.

How Successful Was It?: It looked. . . homely. It tasted amazing. The alcohol-soaked cake was soft and strong, the custard creamy and sweet, the jam full of big fruity chunks.

 How Accurate Is It?: I improvised a lot. Cherry liqueur instead of sherry, cherry jam in place of strawberry, and normal whipped cream (made with the electric mixer!) in place of that with eggwhites added. I also omitted the macaroons and ratafias. However, all the ingredients were available at the time, and I don't think anything I did sticks out like a sore thumb.

Historical Food Fortnightly #1: Potatoes and Cabbage With Cheese Sauce

The Challenge: 1. Meat-and-Potatoes (January 1 - January 14) They’re a staple for the tables in the most rustic cottages as well as the fanciest banquet tables - and it’s also an idiom meaning a staple or the most basic parts of something. Make a historic “meat-and-potatoes” recipe - however you interpret it. 

My household is mainly vegetarian, so I had to kind of work around this challenge. Taking “meat-and-potatoes” as an idiom steered me toward basic, wholesome foods, and of course I took the "and potatoes" part literally. I couldn't resist this great little book from 1941, 250 Ways of Serving Potatoes.

 The Recipe: Potatoes and Cabbage With Cheese Sauce

   

3 cups diced potatoes 

1 quart chopped cabbage 

1 pint boiling water 

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup grated cheese

The Date/Year and Region: 1941, USA 

How Did You Make It: Following the recipe's directions, the potatoes and cabbage were boiled in shallow salted water.

The cheese sauce was made in a separate pan. First the evaporated milk was scalded. I don't use evaporated milk much and it looked awful brown to me!

Grated cheddar to add.

Done! Still looks kinda weird and brown.

The vegetables were arranged in a dish and the cheese sauce poured over.

The sauce was thin and they nearly drowned!

Yum!

 Time to Complete: About 30 minutes.

 Total Cost: About $7.

 How Successful Was It?: This was delicious, as I would expect potatoes in cheese to naturally be. The sauce was a little thin, but very cheesy and the dish had a nice amount of salt. I was skeptical about the evaporated milk but the overwhelming flavor was the cheese.

Overall, it was a basic, hearty dish. Very "meat-and-potatoes!"

 How Accurate Is It?: I am not sure what kind of cheese would have been used; the recipe doesn't specify. But otherwise I followed as closely as possible. A mid-20th century recipe is pretty easy to duplicate with 21st century techniques.

Historical Food Fortnightly 2016

I am going to be participating in the 2016 Historical Food Fortnightly!

I did half the year in 2014, and really enjoyed the experience. I am looking forward to this year's challenges, and lots of combined historical cooking and costume posts!