Vintage Receipts

As you may have noticed, there was no posting last week. I did make a vintage receipt, but it was repeat of one already posted: Blueberry Muffins. Having taken advantage of farmer’s market special on blueberries, the past two weeks I’ve made blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes (modern recipe), and tonight, Sour-Cream Blueberry Cakes.

This receipt comes from page 100 of the 1891 cookbook New England Breakfast Breads, Luncheon and Tea Biscuits by Lucia Gray Swett. Using these vintage receipts for “sweets” such as this reminds me how today’s “sweets” are overly sweet. Although this is called a “cake” I would define it more as a biscuit in the American sense. (In Europe, “biscuits” are what Americans know as “cookies.”)  The texture is like a drop biscuit, only slightly sweetened and with blueberries.

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After pouring through various cookbooks, I couldn’t decide on an entree for this week. Nearly all cookbooks before the 20th century have receipts that, upon reading ingredients, seem quite bland. Either that, or the receipts call for certain parts of animals that aren’t normally found in meat departments of modern grocery stores.

So, I thought I’d try something easy… like pancakes. I came across an 1877 receipt that sounded pretty simple. It was from Every Day Meals: being economic and wholesome recipes for breakfast, luncheon, and supper by Mary Hooper. 

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