Groceries are so expensive, and it’s often difficult to figure out which sizes and varieties of fruits and vegetables and other produce are least expensive. For example, if large oranges cost $1.75 per pound and a 3-pound bag of small oranges costs $5.99, I can easily figure out which has a lower cost for 3 pounds. But, it’s much harder to figure out which has more waste, and which ultimately is less expensive. Will there be more waste with small oranges than large ones? Which has a thicker skin? How will the serving size differ? Will I eat one orange at lunch regardless of its size, or might I eat two small ones (but only one large one)? If I want to juice the oranges, are the small ones or the large ones juicer?
People have grappled with these types of questions for at least a hundred years. Here’s what it said in a 1926 magazine article:
How much do you pay for the food you eat? Not for the food you buy, but for the food you actually eat. You are, of course aware that many foods as purchased, have more or less waste material that is discarded when food is prepared in the kitchen or when served at the table. In either case, this wasted material finds its way to the garbage can and contributes no food value to the daily meals. It follows, then, that the market price of any food having wasted material does not represent the actual cost of the food to us. . . .
We find that the waste portion of any one fruit or vegetable may vary widely according to size and other factors. . . . [Large oranges] had a large percentage of juice, but the price was high for the quality of juice. We found this order to vary somewhat according to the price of the oranges in other stores. You may also find variation with the prices of oranges in your market. Therefore, if you buy oranges of different sizes and observe the quantity of juice from these various sizes, you may find a particular size most economical for you. . .
We found that small potatoes have a greater percentage of waste than large ones and take half as long again to pare. Cooking the small potatoes in the skin, of course, shortened their time in preparation. . . .
We found shelled walnuts actually cheaper than those bought in the shell, but in the case of all other nuts, the shelled were more expensive, not taking into account, of course the time it takes to shell the nuts.
Dishes made using condensed canned soups are stereotypical of mid-20th century cuisine. However, there were recipes that called for canned soups long before that. According to Wikipedia, condensed canned soups were first introduced in 1897. And, recipe authors began listing them as an ingredient in the early 20th century. I recently came across a 1926 recipe for Pork Chops with Tomato Sauce that called for condensed tomato soup.
The Pork Chops with Tomato Sauce were easy to make, made a lovely presentation, and were very tasty. The pork chops were seared on the top of the stove, and then slowly baked in the tomato soup.
I’m sure that I’ll make this recipe again. The pork chops were juicy and tender with a lovely, flavorful tomato sauce.
Here’s the original recipe:
Source: Westminster Cook Book 1926 (Cherokee, Iowa)
This recipe is very flexible. The original recipe called for 6 to 8 pork chops, but I only made two pork chops. My skillet was large so I used the entire can of condensed tomato soup, but I could have easily just used half of the can of soup, and reserved the remainder to make a serving of soup. Similarly, if desired, as indicated in the original recipe, up to 6 to 8 pork chops could be made using one can of soup.
I seared the pork chops on top of the stove before pouring the tomato soup over them. I then placed them in the oven. The old recipe does not explicitly indicate that the pork chops should be seared, but I decided to do it to help seal in the meat juices.
* If desired, more than two pork chops may be used, as long as they comfortably fit in the skillet. If additional pork chops are added, or if a large skillet is used, use the entire can of soup.
Step 1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
Step 2. Put the cooking oil in a cast iron skillet (or other heavy oven-proof skillet). On the top of the stove, heat the skillet using medium to medium-high heat. Put the pork chops in the pan and sear for 3 minutes; flip and sear the other side for 3 minutes.
Step 3. Remove from heat and spoon the condensed soup over the pork chops; spread the soup to thickly cover the pork chops. Extra soup should be spooned into the pan.
Step 4. Dot the smothered pork chops with small pieces of butter, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Step 5. Cover skillet (the skillet may be covered with aluminum foil if there is no lid) and place in oven. Bake for 1-2 hours depending on the thickness of the pork chops. (Check pork chops after an hour to make sure that there is still sufficient liquid in the skillet.) (I baked medium thick pork chops for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.)
When I update hundred-year-old recipes for baked goods, I regularly get comments that say something like, “I can only eat gluten-free foods. Would it be possible to convert this recipe to a gluten-free one?”
Since I’m not gluten-free, I had never revised a recipe to make it gluten-free, but I decided that now was the time to give it a try. And, I knew just the person who might be able to help. My friend Christine Rooney at The Rustic Foodie posts seasonal gluten free recipes.
I asked Christine if she’d help me adapt a hundred-year-old recipe to make it gluten free, and I was thrilled when she generously agreed.
We decided to adapt a recipe for Date Muffins. A hundred years ago, the muffins might have been served at any time during the year, but they probably were primarily a winter food. Years ago, dried dates were a very popular winter fruit. Back then, most fresh fruits weren’t available in the winter, and those few that were available (such as oranges and other citrus fruits) were quite expensive in most parts of the U.S.
Christine adapted the recipe to make it gluten free. She then made the muffins and photographed them. I also made the muffins and took them to a coffee group gathering. We then made a few final tweaks to the recipe directions.
Our adventure adapting the recipe was a success. The date muffins had a great taste and texture. The texture was somewhere between a drop biscuit and a scone; the outside was a bit crispy and the inside was moist. They were sweet; but not overly sweet. The dates gave them lovely bursts of rich caramel.
Here’s the original recipe:
Westminster Cook Book 1926 (Cherokee, Iowa)
Gluten free baked goods sometimes tend to crumble. The key to making them less crumbly is to use the right gluten free blend flour, to ensure that the batter has sufficient moisture, and not to overbake them.
Christine said that a gluten free 1-to-1 blend flour (Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, Cup4Cup Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour, or other similar gluten free blend flour) should be used. The flour should contain xanthan. Baked goods made with gluten free flours can be crumbly because of a lack of binders in some gluten free flours. Xanthan is a binder that mimics the elasticity provided by gluten in wheat flour recipes. It helps ensure that gluten free baked goods are not crumbly. (Do not use gluten free all-purpose flour, or other gluten free flours, such as almond flour or oat flour, when making the recipe as this will likely yield different results).
Christine suggested adding a little additional milk when making the batter. Gluten free flour is a little denser and absorbs more liquid than all-purpose wheat flour. The additional milk also reduces the chance that the muffins will be crumbly.
It is also important not to overcook the muffins (they will tend to crumble) or to undercook them (they will be gummy).
2 cups 1-to-1 gluten free flour blend (Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, Cup4Cup Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour, or other similar gluten free flour that contains xanthan)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 pound (4 ounces) dried dates, chopped
Step 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 2. Place muffin liners in a 12-cup muffin pan.
Step 3. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl, then use an electric mixer to beat until light and fluffy.
Step 4. Add egg to the butter and sugar mixture, and beat until light and fluffy.
Step 5. In a separate bowl, put the 1-to-1 gluten free flour blend, baking powder, and kosher salt. Stir until completely combined.
Step 6. Add the butter mixture and 3/4 cup of milk to the dry ingredients alternately, stirring to combine after each addition. Continue until all of the ingredients are combined. The batter will be very thick; Add an additional 2-3 teaspoons of milk to thin it out a bit and stir again until combined. (It will still be quite thick).
Step 7. Add chopped dates to the batter and fold until combined.
Step 8. Place an equal amount of the batter into each muffin cup. (An ice cream scoop can be used to measure to help ensure that an equal amount is put in each cup.)
Step 9. Place the muffin tin in the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes. A toothpick poked into the center should come out clean when done baking.
Kidney bean and corn dishes are having their day in the sun. I see recipes for them all the time, and they are served at many restaurants. Last week I went out for lunch, and had a lovely kidney bean and corn salad. So I was pleased to come across a Baked Succotash recipe that called for kidney beans in a hundred-year-old magazine.
I was a little surprised by the recipe name. I generally think of succotash as a mixture of lima beans and corn, but it apparently is a general term for bean and corn combinations. In any case, I decided to give the Baked Succotash recipe a try.
In addition to the kidney beans and corn, the recipe called for a little chopped green pepper. Beaten egg is stirred into the vegetables, and then it is baked.
The Baked Succotash was tasty, but a little dry (and a few of the kidney beans split). The vegetables were lightly bonded to one another other by the egg coating, but since there was no milk, it did not have the creaminess of a scalloped vegetable dish. After I made this dish, I actually wondered why the recipe author decided to bake the succotash. If I made this recipe again, I might have a tendency just to heat the vegetables on the top of the stove . . . or I might adapt the recipe and add a white sauce to the egg to make Scalloped Succotash . . . or . . .
Bottom line: Kidney beans and corn are a wonderful combination. And, I want to make dishes with this combination again in the future, but I’ll probably experiment a little when I do rather than replicating the Baked Succotash recipe.
Here’s the original recipe:
Source: Ladies Home Journal (May, 1926)
When I made this recipe, it took more than 30 minutes for the food to get hot and for the egg to thicken.
Here’s the Bake Succotash recipe updated for modern cooks:
An article in the February, 1926 issue of Good Housekeeping showed photos of heads of cauliflower, and indicated whether they were high- or low-quality heads:
The head of cauliflower shown above represents an ideal purchase. Its jacket is fresh and bright, while the head is compact and of good color.
Below is shown a poor head of cauliflower. Its leaves are yellow and wilted, and the head is slightly opened.
The old article also contained three questions to ask when considering which head of cauliflower to purchase:
Is the jacket green and bright?
Is the flower clean and pearly white?
Is it solid, closely grained, and free from discoloration and decay?
The characteristics of high-quality cauliflower haven’t changed much over the years. According to the Postharvest Research and Extension Center at the University of California – Davis, these are current quality indices for cauliflower:
Quality Indices
A firm and compact head of white to cream white curds surrounded by a crown of well-trimmed, turgid green leaves. Additional quality indices are size, freedom from severe yellowing due to sunlight exposure, freedom from handling defects and decay, and an absence of ‘riciness’.
When I saw the old 1926 article, I was surprised that cauliflower was considered a winter vegetable a hundred years ago. I knew that it was a cool-season crop, but didn’t think of it as a winter vegetable. But, after doing a little research, I learned that cauliflower can be grown during the winter months in southern parts of the U.S.
The Postharvest Research and Extension Center states that the “storage of cauliflower is generally not recommended for more than 3 weeks for good visual and sensory quality.” Assuming that cauliflower a hundred years ago could be stored for a similar length of time, it probably was transported to the north via train back then and available during the winter months throughout the U.S.
My weekday breakfasts are boring — think oatmeal or cereal, but I like to make breakfast foods that are a little fancier on weekends, so I was thrilled when I came across a recipe for Raisin Nut Omelet in a hundred-year-old cookbook.
The Raisin Nut Omelet is topped with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. For the omelet, the eggs are separated and the whites beaten, which makes the omelet a little fluffier than many modern omelets. The raisins (and the powdered sugar) give the omelet a lovely sweetness, and the nuts add a delightful crunchy texture. The omelet is perfect for breakfast or brunch – though it almost has a dessert-like essence and could also be served at other times of the day.
Here’s the original recipe:
The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1926) by Ida Bailey Allen
This recipe was in a cookbook published by the Corn Products Refining Company, so it calls for specific brands for the corn-based ingredients. When I updated the recipe, I just listed the ingredients without the brand names.
The recipe calls for cutting the raisins in half. They probably don’t really need to be cut, but I followed the recipe directions and cut them. The resulting raisin pieces were a nice size when dispersed throughout the omelet.
I could not figure out why the recipe called for boiling water (and thought it might prematurely cook some of the egg yolk), so I just used regular water.
Step 2. Place egg whites in a bowl, then beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Step 3. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then stir in the salt, corn starch, and water. Add raisins and nuts; then stir until evenly distributed in the mixture.
Step 4. Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Step 5. Grease a large oven-proof skillet (or use an omelet pan) with olive oil or cooking oil, then heat on the top of the stove using medium-low heat.
Step 6. Pour the egg mixture into skillet, and gently cook for 2 minutes. Then gently stir, lifting the cooked portion from the bottom of the pan to allow the uncooked portion to flow to the bottom. After another minute, again gently lift the cooked portion from the bottom of the pan to help ensure that the omelet cooks evenly, and gently cook for another minute.
Step 7. Move the skillet to the oven, and bake for about 8 – 10 minutes or until the egg mixture is set.
Step 8. Remove from oven, and loosen the edges and bottom of the omelet from the skillet with a spatula, then turn onto a plate.
Step 9. Fold omelet in half. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the omelet. Serve immediately.
Source: An advertisement for Unifruitco Bananas (Fruit Dispatch Company), Good Housekeeping (April, 1926)
Bananas are tasty, inexpensive, nutritious, and easy to eat. They are wonderful in smoothies, and delightful sliced on top of cereal or oatmeal. They also are tasty in banana breads and muffins. Mashed bananas are one of the first solid foods that babies typically eat, and they are equally popular with older children and adults of all ages.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, bananas are sometimes called “nature’s perfect snack.” They are a higher fiber food, and contain lots of vitamins and minerals. They are especially known for being a good source of potassium, which can help reduce blood pressure.
Bananas have been popular in the United States since the latter part of the 1800s. As people became aware of germs, they liked how the peel kept the banana clean until it was ready to be eaten.
By the early 1900’s, large quantities of bananas were imported into the United States from Latin America and the Caribbean. The Fruit Dispatch Company had an advertisement for Unifruitco bananas in the April, 1926 issue of Good Housekeeping. The Fruit Dispatch Company was a selling agency for the United Fruit Company back then. (United Fruit Company is now Chiquita Brands International.) Here are some excepts from the 1926 advertisement:
Offer a child a ripe banana, and see eager eyes light up with the joy of anticipated goodness. Children find an appetite allure in ripe bananas – and do you know what it is? It is sugar – mellow sweetness in its most easily digested form.
Bananas are rich in carbohydrates – the energy-building food values so necessary for children, and so good for everyone. In bananas that are fully ripe, this valuable food element is present in the form of fruit sugars, nature’s most easily digested and most wholesome form of sweetness. . .
Buy them in advance of use and let them ripen at home. . . When all green is gone from the tip, and the yellow skin has turned to a mellow gold, flecked with brown, then a banana is fully ripe and most delicious. . .
The choicest bananas you can find are Unifruitco Bananas. They are grown and harvested down in the tropics, under the most modern methods of cultivation. They come north in specially constructed ships. The Fruit Dispatch Company, Importers of Unifruitco Bananas, distributes them all over the country to wholesalers and jobbers, who keep this fruit in banana rooms until your dealer wants them.
Good Housekeeping (April, 1926)
Both a hundred years ago and now, there was recognition that bananas contain more sugar when fully ripe than when they are greener. The old advertisement recommended eating completely ripe bananas that were a “mellow gold, flecked with brown.” Today people who are concerned about maintaining a steady blood sugar often prefer greener bananas that contain more starch. According to the Cleveland Clinic article:
Green bananas can contain less than half the amount of sugar than ripe ones.
For those concerned about blood sugar levels with more yellow bananas, pairing the fruit with a protein source (such as a handful of nuts or a cheese stick) can help better regulate the increase.
My weekday breakfasts are boring — think oatmeal or cereal, but I like to make breakfast foods that are a little fancier on weekends, so I was thrilled when I came across a recipe for Raisin Nut Omelet in a hundred-year-old cookbook.
