Vintage Green Bean Casserole - From The Campbells Test Kitchen

 

Dorcas Reilly, who worked in Campbell’s test kitchen, created the recipe in 1955. Reilly’s dish was originally called the “Green Bean Bake,” and it gained its popularity when Campbell began printing the recipe on its mushroom soup cans.

“As one of the first full-time members of Campbell’s Home Economics department, Dorcas created ‘the mother of all comfort foods’ by simply combining two things most Americans had on hand in 1955: green beans and Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup.” 

Libby's Pumpkin Pie - The Tried & True Vintage Classic

 

Created in a test kitchen in 1929, the Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe created by Mary Hale Martin is still the classic no fail recipe that most use today.  The recipe has been on the can label continuously since the 1920s, with a very few small changes.  Read more of the history below [and see some of the  vintage labels and ads] but first, here's the recipe:

Demon Cake - A Very Vintage Recipe

 
Demon Cake - A Vintage Recipe for a Ginger Molasses Cake

"The Oldest Cake Recipe From The Oldest House In New York"

Vintage Dumb [or Silent] Cake

Dumb [or "silent] Cake "A Halloween Dainty"
In the 1914 Table Decorations & Delicacies by Hester Price, a guide for hostesses, the Dumb Cake is specified to be a "Halloween Dainty".  The cake however, which had to be both prepared and consumed in complete silence,  was featured at several holidays, including  St Agnes’ Eve, St Anne’s Eve,  Halloween, and  Christmas Eve,

Old Fashioned Shoo Fly Cake

My mother in law asked for shoo fly cake for her birthday.  Thankfully, I had her old recipe in the recipe drawer.  :-)  For the cake shown above, the first batch of crumbs sunk into the mix, so I mixed up another small batch of crumbs and added them to the top when the cake was about half baked.  It made the BEST cake - with layers of crumbs baked down in  almost like a poke cake.

I don't like shoo fly pie - but I love this cake.  Do not over bake - better to under bake ever so slightly than to over bake this.

Shoo Fly Cake Recipe

Preheat Oven to 325

Crumbs:

4 c flour

2 c sugar

1 c butter

1 t salt

Beat, until the mixture forms crumbs.  Reserve 1 cup.

Add whats left of the crumbs with:

1tsp  ginger

1tsp  cloves

2tsp  cinnamon

Add 1 tsp baking soda into 2 cups warm water.  Then add 1 cup light brer rabbit molasses to the water.

Add the water mixture to the crumb mixture. Beat until smooth.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan

Sprinkle the reserved cup of crumbs on top of the batter

Bake at 325 for one hour.

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"Figgy" Fig Pudding Recipes

A recent internet meme about the song "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" sent me on a search for a true "figgy pudding" recipe.  A search through the archives of old local newspapers did not disappoint.  Unfortunately, we are a bit late to make it this year - this dish is traditionally made on the last Sunday of Advent, 5 weeks before Christmas, to be served on Christmas Day.  Letting the pudding sit allows the alcohol to "draw out its flavors".  Traditional figgy pudding would be left to cool in a  cool dry place for 4-5 weeks!  Then it is steamed again for an hour or two before being sat on the table, doused in brandy, and set on fire.  Our local recipes mention none of this, but any good English recipe, and Agatha Christie's Poirot novel "The Adventure Of The Plum Pudding" give the traditional instructions.  

(A bit of additional, untested, research shows that shortening can be used in place of beef suet, although it will "change the texture and taste", and a  metal bundt pan can be used as a mold.  True suet can be purchased at most butcher shops.)  

The Sunbury American

10 Jan 1908

Now, I am well known for "winging it" in all recipes..  but even I need a bit more to work with than the instructions above.  Thankfully, an 1881 edition of the same newspaper provides more details:

The Sunbury American

April 1 1881

 

The Lewisburg Journal

March 02 1887

This more modern version, from 1923, was part of an ad  in the Allentown Morning Call

Williamsport Sun-Gazette 07 May 1915, Fri

This recipe from the White House Cookbook in 1911 was reprinted in many local papers

The Sun Gazette 1913

In the Indiana Gazette in Nov 1935

From Mary E. Dague "Sister Mary's Kitchen"

The Lewisburg Journal

November 9 1939

 

This award winning recipe in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in 1940 won a cash prize of $1.

In the Danville Morning News in 1947, the recipe was very modernized - using a box of pudding.  (Not as instant as ours today, in 1947 boxed puddings still needed cooked on a stove)

This 1983 recipe in a Scranton newspaper uses shortening in place of suet

A Modern, ButTraditional, Recipe For

Christmas/Plum/Figgy Pudding Recipe

Cooking time: 8 hours

Ideal aging time: 4-5 weeks

Ingredients

9 oz. brown sugar

9 oz. suet (raw beef or mutton fat)

14 oz. golden raisins

14 oz. raisins

9 oz. currants

5 oz. chopped candied orange peel

5 oz. plain flour

5 oz. white or brown breadcrumbs

Grated zest of one lemon

5 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. mixed spice

1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/4 pint [1/2 cup] brandy

Directions

Place all dry ingredients into large bowl and mix well.

Stir in the eggs and brandy.

Grease a 2-liter/4-pint pudding basin, then pour in the mixture. [Editor's note: If you don't have a pudding basin, also known as a steam bowl, a heat-proof metal or pyrex mixing bowl can stand in. Make sure it has a lip at the top, so your string will stay in place.]

Place a circle of baking parchment and a circle of foil over the top of the basin and tie securely with string.

Put the basin into a large steamer of boiling water and cover with a lid. [Editor's note: If you don't have a steamer, you can use a large pot. Place a trivet or a small inverted plate at the bottom to raise your pudding basin up from the bottom of the pot].

Boil for 5-6 hours. Top up the water as necessary so the pot doesn't boil dry.

Allow pudding to cool.

Refresh parchment and foil covers and re-tie.

Store in a cool, dry place for 4-5 weeks until Christmas Day (You can get away with preparing it on Christmas Eve, though.)

Steam pudding again for 1-2 hours immediately before serving.

Place on table, douse with brandy and set aflame!

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Fig Pudding Ads

In 1937 we could have just purchased it in a can for 15 cents

at "Weis  Pure Food Stores"

Ad in the Nov. 1937 Williamsport Sun Gazette

In case you were wondering what a can of fig pudding looked like, 

here's an ad from the 1940 Philadelphia Inquirer

A 1938 Ad in the Williamsport Sun Gazette

A figgy ancedote from the Sunbury American in 1909

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From the front page of the Miltonian, January 1899

Vintage Thanksgiving Recipes From Pennsylvania Newspapers

From The Shamokin Dispatch In 1965 A Recipe that may go out of style, but never fails when followed.

By 1895, According to the Miltonian Newspaper our Thanksgiving Dinners had become "dainty".  Apparently they included "Chops in lace, paper frills, and sandwiches tied with pink ribbon".  I'm not familiar with those Thanksgiving trends, they apparently did not last.

Below are a variety of old recipes pulled from local newspapers.  They include a great article on pie making for "those who may be out of practice" in 1935, and recipes from everything from Oyster Stew to Pineapple Cabbage Jello.

For the clippings that are smaller, and harder to read, right click and "save as", then you can enlarge the photo on your computer. Sometimes just clicking on the photo will enable you to enlarge it as well.

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A Traditional Menu Before Thanksgiving Became "Dainty"

"In the days of the good old Thanksgiving a well spread table was not considered complete unless it was provided with all of the following dished. here is an old fashioned Thanksgiving Menu: Oyster Stew, Roast Turkey, Roast Chicken, Sparerib, Sausages, Head Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Hot Slaw, Boiled Onions, Turnips, Pickles, Raised Biscuits, White Bread, Currant Jelley, Preserves, Honey In Comb, Fruit Cake, Doughnuts, Mince, Apple Custards and Pumpkin Pies. Cheese. Apples and Nuts. Cider. Tea and Coffee."

Friday December 6, 1895

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One of MANY Table Service Ads that ran around Thanksgiving . This one from 1935

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Several Excellent Thanksgiving Pie Recipes For "Those Who Need Some Practice" in 1935

Wilkes Barre Time Leader 1935

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A Full Thanksgiving Menu, With Recipes, in 1941

Oyster Stew, Cranberry Orange Relish, Sausage Stuffing,
Magic Yeast Rolls & More -

The Snyder County Tribune 1941

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A Collection Of Recipes From 1928, Including Date Pudding

The Warren Times Mirror, 1928

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A Full Thanksgiving Menu From 1940

Escalloped Oysters, Fruit Cocktail, Honey Almond Sweet Potatoes, Zucchini Squash With Tomatoes, and More-

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The "New Thanksgiving Recipe" for Rice Betsy in 1958 Does Not Appear To Have Caught On

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1939s Thanksgiving Recipes Included

Cabbage-Pineapple gelatin salad, Creamed Onions With Cream Cheese, and Oranged Sweet Potatoes

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Health Advice For Enjoying Your Thanksgiving Meal, From 1928

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Tips For Choosing A Turkey, and A Recipe For Turkey Pot Pie To Use Up Leftovers

From 1935

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Lets Not Forget The Boilo - A Coal Country Tradition

Spiced Honey Whiskey

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/11/its-time-to-make-boilo-coal-country.html

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Vintage Cooking Items Defined

When we bought the farm from my mother in law, it came with a recipe drawer.  Her recipes, recipes from aunts, friends, sister in laws, mostly in family members handwriting. My daughter & I have been working through the drawer, trying as many of the recipes as we can.  In this process, we have come across some ingredients that we had to define before we could use them.  I'll continue to update this post as we work through the drawer and find more ingredients we don't quite understand at first.

Canned Milk
Both evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk, come in cans - but in vintage recipes that call for canned milk, they typically mean condensed milk.

Mangoes

When transcribing my husbands grandmothers cookbook, I came across a recipe that used "mangoes" where it did not sound like mangoes would have been used.  Especially since this is a depression era cook, and mangoes are not grown anywhere near us.  If they DID have access to mangoes in this area in 1935, I am sure they would have been way too expensive for most of the housewives to ever use.  

So I asked my mother in law, and she explained that a mango is a bell pepper.  I found this site that speculates on why, based on the word meaning pickled and stuffed pickled peppers being so popular..  it's a theory, anyway.

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Oleo 
Oleomargarine is the full term - it was the margarine of the 1950's.  In the recipes in the drawer here at the farm, I substitute half shortening/half butter for oleo.  I do not like margarine, but if I use just butter it often is not the right consistency. 

In 1886, dairy farmers were opposed to margarine.  Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan and Maine banned the product, & 32 states passed laws requiring it to be a color other than yellow, to make it clear to the public that this product was not butter. 

Originally margarine could not be colored yellow, as dairy farmers did not want it to be confused with butter.  It was sold white, and you could add yellow food dye to color it yourself.  In the ad above, you could buy it with the dye pack right in and mix it without putting it in a mixing bowl.

 Rep. William Price of Wisconsin, referred to margarine as "counterfeit butter" and sought a "tax so high that the operation of the law would utterly destroy the manufacture" of the butter competitor.  The margarine tax continued until 1950.

During the depression, when there were butter shortages, margarine gained popularity.  A gallup poll in 1948 showed that 33% of households were using margarine, with just 45% using butter.  Legislation was then introduced to repeal the margarine tax, and in 1950 the tax was repealed.  In a 1991 gallup poll, 63% of households were using margarine, with just 20% using butter.

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Sour Milk

Sour Milk is buttermilk  

Or, take 1 cup of water, remove 1 Tablespoon.  Add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice, or vinegar.

Spanish Style Tomato Sauce

In a goulash recipe, I came across the ingredient "One small can Ideal spanish style tomato sauce".  I wasn't sure if this was spaghetti sauce, or a certain kind of tomato sauce.. the recipe also called for tomato juice, so plain sauce feels like overkill here. 

 I cannot find anything on the "Ideal" brand.  The best I could find was this description of the Goya tomato sauce: "Traditional Spanish style all-purpose tomato sauce made with rich tomatoes, peppers, and spices. Recognized for its consistency and multiple uses, it adds a special flavor to your meals"  

Here's a chart for what "slow oven", and "moderate oven", mean today.

Sorting through some vintage recipes this week, I came across the term "slow oven". As in, "cook in a slow oven".

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Printable Page For Our Family Cookbook

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