VINTAGE RECIPES

[Welland Telegraph 1900]

Corn Dumplings

Cook a piece of shoulder of pork into a big pot until tender, then mix the desired quantity of corn meal to a thick dough as in making bread (the addition of an egg to the dough improves the dumplings). Drop balls of the dough about the size of a walnut in the boiling water about the meat in the pot, and cook 20 minutes when the dumplings will be done and will have a thick gravy around them. Take care not to let the mixture burn. The fat and juices of the meat season the dumplings excellently.

Cut one pound of beefsteak into pieces, melt one ounce of the dripping in a stewpan which has already been dredged with flour. Turn meat about until it is brown, but not cooked, and add two sliced onions. Stir all together, and then cover the meat with good gravy. Let all simmer very slowly until cooked, then take up the meat and thicken the gravy with half an ounce of dripping rolled in flour. Garnish with small sprigs of boiled cauliflower and baked tomatoes and serve.

Trim off the outer leaves and soak. head downward, in salted water. Place in a saucepan, head up, covering with boiling salted water, and boil gently but steadily until tender when tested with a fork then drain. Break off the branches and put on layers in a baking dish with salt, pepper and grated Swiss or American cheese Pour over all about. a pint of white sauce, cover with a thick layer of buttered bread crumbs and place in a hot oven until browned.

Take two pounds lean beef, the tougher parts will do. Put in a chopping bowl and chop fine, or run through a sausage mill. An eighth of a pound of fat pork also chopped  fine, one quart rolled crackers, work all together in a bowl, season with salt, pepper, sage, and onion. Bind together with two eggs, make into loaves and bake basting often. This will be found an exciting substitute for roasts and is much cheaper, and there is no waste. It is very good cold.

Cream together one cup sugar and one cup butter. add three beaten eggs, three tablespoons sour milk in each one teaspoon soda has been dissolved, half teaspoon each of ground cloves, ground cinnamon, ground allspice and grated nutmeg, one cup any kind of jam and two cups flour, to be baked in a loaf. Raisins chopped may be sustituted for the jam if desired.

One quart small pea beans. Soak simmer till tender. Put the lean strip from one pound pork in a bulging bean pot, add one small onion, most of the beans, the fat pork with the rind scraped and scored, the remaining beans, and water to fill the pot, with one teaspoon, each salt and mustard and two tablespoons molasses. Bake very slowly eight or ten hours. Cover until the last hour.

To make a chicken oyster pie, melt a little butter in a deep baking dish, scatter over it cracker and bread crumbs, then add a layer of chicken meat, picked up fine; then a layer of oysters, over which put salt and pepper and bits of butter, then a layer of cracker crumbs; alternate with the oysters and chicken till the dish is full, seasoning each layer. Pour over the whole oyster liquor, to which add a well-beaten egg and a cupful of milk. Put bits of butter on top and bake an hour

Mince the ham fine, and allow one egg to each tablespoonful. Beat the yolks till light, season with salt and pepper and stir in the ham; beat the whites stiff, and fold then into the mixture. Butter the omelet pan or the spider, pour in the mixture, and after it has set on the bottom put in the oven to finish. When done, fold double, and lift to a hot platter. This is a most toothsome way of disposing of bits of cold ham either boiled or fried..

Put one pint of canned tomatoes in a saucepan, add one-half tablespoon of salt, one-quarter teaspoonful of butter and cook until reduced one-half. Take from the fire a moment or two, then add three eggs well beaten and stir till the mixture thickens like custard. Pour over buttered toast and serve.

With a sharp carving knife split a thick round steak, thus making two thin steaks. Spread the lower half of this with bits of butter, a little minced ham and a cupful of tomatoes. (use the canned tomatoes, straining off the juice and reserving it for the sauce). Lay the upper half of the steak, sandwich-wise, upon the lower half and fasten the two together with small stout skewers. Lay the meat in a covered roasting pan, dash a cup of boiling water over it and cook, allowing twenty minutes to each pound. Transfer to a hot dish, remove the skewers and pour over the steak a savory tomato sauce.

These are nice in cold weather for lunch or supper. Make a raised muffin batter and when filling the tins scatter on finely cut cheese, Some prefer to insert one wedge shaped piece in each. With good coffee they constitute a satisfying beginning for those blessed with good appetites, and the pleasant odor stimulates those who must be tempted and attracted by novelties.

One cup stale bread crumbs, two cups scalded milk, one ounce chocolate, one egg, three quarters of a cup of sugar, piece of soda size of a small pea, vanilla to flavor. Soak the crumbs in the milk and add the soda. Melt the chocolate by standing over hot water, add a half cup of the sugar and a half cup of milk drained from the bread. Beat the egg and remaining quarter cup of sugar, add chocolate mixture and soaked bread; bake an hour in a well buttered pudding dish.

To make peach cordial at its best select ripe juicy peaches. Rub the down off thoroughly and gash them to the stones. To each peck of the peaches allow one gallon of French brandy. Pack in a stone jar, cover tightly and let  stand for two months. Then draw off the brandy from the peaches and add enough cold water to reduce it to the strength of good white wine. To every three gallons of this mixture add four pounds of white sugar, stir thoroughly, cover and let stand for three days, stirring well each  night and morning. Then pour into bottles or demijohns, cork tightly and serve as required.

Scrape and wash five nice parsnips; cut into oblong pieces, place in boiling water, boil until tender. When done mash and salt to taste, with a teaspoonful of butter. Make them into oval balls the size of an egg and half an inch thick. Fry in a little butter until brown and serve hot.