Memory Monday: Black Butter

my great-grandmother

BLACK BUTTER

While I was researching for my historical magazine last month, I came across an interesting recipe. Well, the recipe might not be all that interesting, but the name was—Black Butter. The more I looked at the recipe, the more I realized that I wanted to make it—especially with blackberries, which I love. It’s really a very simple recipe and I think it would be good on some warm homemade bread—I could do that with my bread machine. This recipe came from a book titled, The Ready Adviser and Family Guide. It was published in 1866—my great-grandmother would have been eleven at the time, so she may have made something like this.

Black Butter.—Put to any kind of ripe berries half their weight of brown sugar; mash and stew them gently for half an hour, stirring them frequently. This is a good substitute for butter spread on bread and is usually much liked by children, and is more healthy than butter, particularly for those afflicted with humors in the blood.

I have no idea what “humors in the blood” are, but blackberry spread would make anything better.

By the way, if you like history and things of the past, please take a look at my historical magazine at worblysmagazine.com Almost everything in it is taken from books and magazines published prior to 1868. Some of the hints and recipes from that time are very interesting to read.

What are some of the things your mother/grandmother/great-grandmother made that you have wanted to try and create yourself? What are some of the things they talked about or made that you never, ever want to make or try again?

Memory Monday: Dirty Diapers in Our Family

four generations of our family

DIRTY DIAPERS IN OUR FAMILY

Several years ago, my mother noticed that (at church) many of the fathers were the ones who took their little ones out of the service because the child was acting up, crying, or (if the dad was carrying a diaper bag) to change the baby’s diaper. That observation really amazed her. But when you think back about when she raised her children (starting in the late 1940s), most women were “stay-at-home” moms and care of the children was just part of what they were responsible for.

I don’t think my dad ever changed a diaper—wet or dirty--in his life. Now move forward to when my husband and I had children. He will tell you that he changed a couple of wet diapers, but never a dirty one. I got all that “fun.” But then, like my mother, I was a full-time at-home mom. Last year while we watched our new granddaughter during the day while both of her parents worked, my husband didn’t want me to go anywhere and leave him alone with our granddaughter for fear that she might have a dirty diaper. Now that she is potty-trained, he’s fine with me going on a few errands and leaving him alone with her.

The other day, my daughter and I were talking. She mentioned that the father of one of their friends wouldn’t change his grandchild’s dirty diaper. I told her about her father’s aversion to the same thing last year. She shook her head and said, “Men of my generation are different from that.” And I agree with her. I’ve seen her husband change his daughter’s dirty diapers.

All I can say is that my husband is happy that our granddaughter has passed the dirty diaper stage and hasn’t reached the “boy” stage yet.

Memory Monday: Coffee in Our Family Part 2

my great-grandfather's brother and sister-in-law

COFFEE IN OUR FAMILY—Part 2

Last week I wrote about how we drink coffee in my family. This week I want to share some interesting tidbits about making coffee. Recently as I was researching for my historical magazine—Worbly’s Family Monthly Magazine—I came across ways to make coffee without coffee beans. My great-grandfather and his brother would still have been at home when the following book came out. Here the hints for the homemaker from The Ready Adviser and Family Guide by Isaac Shinn, published in 1866:

Acorn Coffee (a pleasant beverage).—Take sound, ripe acorns, peel off the hull or husk, divide the kernels, dry them gradually, and then roast them in a close vessel. When roasted, add a little butter in small pieces, while hot, in the roaster. Grind like other coffee, and to each teacup­ful add a tablespoonful of common coffee. To be made and drank as common coffee.

A Substitute for Coffee.—Boil clean white rye until the grains swell; then drain and dry it. Roast it to a dark brown, and prepare as other coffee, allowing twice the time for boiling. This alone makes good coffee, but if you add a little of the extract of coffee, or some beets or carrots sliced thin and dried in an oven till brown, it will make a coffee but little, if any, inferior to the genuine article.

Another.—Roast Indian meal in a bread-pan to a very dark brown; then mix it with molasses to a thick batter, and put it in a pan, and bake slowly until it becomes dry. It can be stirred often, so as to make it crummy, or baked in a cake, and a piece ground, or pounded fine, when wanted for use. This is said to make good coffee.

Last week, I said that I love cream/half & half. Well, 150 years ago, the people also needed something to lightened that black beverage. But what to do if there was no cream handy? Here is the solution they had for that problem:

A Substitute for Cream.—Cream, when unattainable, may be imitated thus: Beat the white of an egg to froth, put in a small lump of butter, and mix well; then turn the coffee to it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done it will be an excellent substitute for cream. For tea, omit the butter, using only the egg. This might be of great use at sea, as eggs can be preserved fresh in various ways.

I am so thankful we have several grocery stores nearby so I can get my canisters of Folger’s Black Silk ground coffee, my cream, and flavored syrups. Think I’ll go make a large glass of iced English toffee coffee.

Memory Monday: Coffee in Our Family Part 1

my father and grandfather - they both loved their coffee

COFFEE IN OUR FAMILY—Part 1

I didn’t start drinking coffee until after I graduated high school, but I remember my parents and grandparents drinking it. My grandfather had a special cup that he used. It was oversized and part of a set of light yellow and brown plaid dishes that my grandparents always used. Every morning at the breakfast table, he would pour his coffee from his cup into his equally-large saucer, then sip it. As a child, I thought that odd, but later learned that was how many of his generation (and those before him) drank their coffee. My dad always had at least one cup of coffee before he got out of bed. My grandmother-in-law would only pour an inch of coffee into her cup at a time—she liked it really hot.

Today, my husband has a metal insulated mug that he fills in the morning and drinks from it all day. I, on the other hand, have several large glasses that I use to make iced coffee year round. I fill one of the glasses full with ice cubes, at a bit of fat-free half & half or heavy cream (depending on which diet I am currently on), a good splash of flavored syrup (sugar-free since I’m diabetic), then give it a good stir. This is the way I drink my coffee year round.

On the other hand, our husband and daughter always drinks their black and unsweetened whether it is from their Keurig, their French press, cold-brew container, or the local coffee place. (A side note—a couple of those coffee devises were lost when a tornado passed by their home.)

It doesn’t matter how we drink our coffee—hot, cold, black, sweet, unsweetened, or (as my husband says of mine) not real coffee, we love it.

Throwback Thursday: Woman with an Infant and a Buggy

LADY WALKING WITH BABY—“Wonder whose buggy this is? Hope they don’t mind that I borrow it.”

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave your caption in the comments.

Throwback Thursday: Cowboys and One Cow

All these cowboys and just one cow?

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave your caption in the comments.

Throwback Thursday: Three Women Chatting

The latest from my "old and known" file

Woman standing—“And this is proof positive that 100% of women who sit will cross their left leg over their right.”

Throwback Thursday: A Girl with a Stuffed Animal

The latest from my "old and known" files:

Little girl “My puppy's taking me for a walk.”

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments.

Memory Monday: Some of the Ways They Did Things Back Then

my grandmother with one of her children

SOME OF THE WAYS THEY DID THINGS BACK THEN

I was reading a book recently—Things Mother Used to Make, published in 1913. My grandmother, who was married in 1922, might have done some of these things. Here are a few items from that book that I found interesting—especially compared to the way we do things today:

To Save Confusion in the Home "Plan your work, then work your plan."

Monday—Wash, if you have it done in the house. If sent out, use that day for picking up and putting things in order, after the disorder of Sunday.

Tuesday—Iron.

Wednesday—Finish ironing and bake; wash kitchen floor.

Thursday, Friday—Sweep and dust, thoroughly.

Saturday—Bake, and prepare in every way possible, for the following day.

Homemade Shortening

Do not throw away small pieces of fat from pork, lamb or steak. Put them on the stove, in a skillet or agate dish and cook them till there is nothing left, but scraps. Then pare a potato, wash clean, cut into thin slices and cook in the fat for a half hour to clarify it. Strain through a cloth. This will be good to fry doughnuts in and for all purposes, where shortening is needed, except for pie crust.

Pieces of fat, not fit for shortening can be saved in some old utensil and made into kitchen soap.

Never Throw away Old Underclothes

Keep them for housecleaning, for washing windows and for washing lamp chimneys. Old pieces of calico or flannel make good holders to use about the stove. Wash, boil and dry cleaning cloths when soiled, that they may be ready for use again.

To Keep your Hands White

Keep a piece of lemon in your bathroom or kitchen. It will remove stains from the hands.

Save your Old Stockings

Old stockings are fine for cleaning the range. Slip your hand into the foot and rub hard, or place an old whisk broom inside. It will make the sides and front of the range clean and shiny. In fact, you will seldom need to use blacking on these parts.

To Remove Disagreeable Odors from the House

Sprinkle fresh ground coffee, on a shovel of hot coals, or burn sugar on the shovel. This is an old-fashioned disinfectant, still good.

To Lengthen the Life of a Broom

Your broom will last much longer and be made tough and pliable, by dipping for a minute or two, in a pail of boiling suds, once a week. A carpet will wear longer if swept with a broom treated in this way. Leave your broom bottom side up, or hang it.

To Soften Boots and Shoes

Rub them with kerosene. Shoes will last longer if rubbed over with drippings from roast lamb. Old-fashioned people always used mutton tallow on children's shoes.

Now aren’t these wonderful hints. Do you think you will use any of them? Really, aren’t you happy that you live today and not 100 years ago?

Throwback Thursday: Girl Riding a "Horse" Leg

From my "old and known" file:

Little girl—"What do you mean this isn’t a real horse?"

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments below.

Throwback Thursday: Smiling Boy

From my "old and known" file

“Look, Mom! No cavities!"

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments below.

Throwback Thursday: Girl Asleep in Ice Cream

From my "oldish and known" file:

She likes to eat. She likes to sleep.

Sometimes she likes to do both at the same time.

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave in the comments.

Memory Monday: A 19th Century Summer Bill of Fare

My Great-grandmother

A 19^th CENTURY SUMMER BILL OF FARE

I was looking at some of my old editions of Worbly’s Family Monthly Magazine and came across something I thought was very interesting. It is from Mrs. Goodfellow’s Cookery As It Should Be, published in 1865. (My great-grandmother, pictured above would have been a young girl of 13 at that time.)

In this article, there is a summer’s Bill of Fare for the young housekeeper. Here is a suggested menu for a week in the summertime:

MONDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, fish, boiled eggs.

Dinner. Lamb and peas, calves' head, vegetables,

Dessert. Fruits.

Tea. Cold bread, light cake, fruit, curds and cream.

TUESDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, broiled ham, poached eggs.

Dinner. Ochra soup, fried chickens, calves' feet boiled, parsley sauce, vegetables.

Dessert. Fruit, floating island.

Tea. Cold bread, corn bread, fruits.

WEDNESDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, chops, boiled small hominy.

Dinner. Roast lamb, mint-sauce, green peas, boiled pigs' feet, parsley sauce, boiled tongue, vegetables.

Dessert. Pie, trifles.

Tea. Cold bread, toast, cream cheese, fruits.

THURSDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, fish, fried mush.

Dinner. Lobster, boiled mutton, stewed liver, vegetables

Dessert. Pudding and fruit.

Tea. Corn bread, light cake, stewed fruit.

FRIDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, clam fritters, boiled rice, and boiled eggs.

Dinner. Fish, beef steaks, vegetables.

Dessert. Pudding, fruit.

Tea. Corn bread, cold bread, fruit, cream cheese.

SATURDAY.

Breakfast. Corn bread, cold bread, fish and boiled eggs.

Dinner. Boiled fowls, egg or celery sauce, tongue, cutlets, vegetables.

Dessert. Pie, floating island, &c.

Tea. Cold bread, sliced tongue, fruit.

SUNDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, boiled ham and eggs, and small hominy.

Dinner. Roast beef, fricasseed chicken, vegetables.

Dessert. Fruit, jelly, or blanc-mange.

Tea. Cold bread, fish, fruits, light cake.

Now you have to realize that while I live in 2017, I write mid-19^th Century historical fiction, a lot of the time about farmers or ranchers, not city dwellers who go to the butcher shops every day or two. So if the reader of this cookbook was a farm wife, Mrs. Goodfellow would, in one week, have the young housekeeper take apart a whole cow and serve it part by part. Notice: Monday—head, Tuesday—feet, Thursday—liver, Friday—hips or ribs (steaks), Saturday—tongue, and Sunday—hips or ribs again (roast). My question is: if this young farm wife uses all those parts one week, what is she supposed to do the next week when there is not head, feet, or tongue? Let her family starve? Or just give them more cold bread to eat? And why does the bread have to be cold? Why can’t she toast it or at least let it come to room temperature? And don’t even get me started on all this fish for breakfast? The one saving thing about this bill of fare is that there are plenty of desserts.

My final thought after reviewing this suggested menu for a week—Thank goodness for McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Subway! With these three, I can eat all summer without worrying how I can find a cow’s head, tongue, and feet every week.

Throwback Thursday: 9 kids and a car

From my "old and unknown" file:

"Oh yay. Another road trip."

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments.

Memory Monday (A Little Late): Mini-Family Reunion

My granddaughter and her second cousin

A MINI-FAMILY REUNION

I’m sorry that this blog post is a day late. Several things happened last weekend—Memorial Day holiday, my niece’s wedding, and a family reunion. And it was all wonderful. My siblings and I had not gotten together for over ten years. It was a time of great enjoyment where not only did we get to attend the wedding of my niece (who happened to be the flower girl in my daughter’s wedding thirteen years earlier), but we got to share lots of time talking and sharing memories of the past and dreams of the future.

Since we were all from out of town, we stayed at the same hotel. A niece (sister of the bride) and her family had already checked in when we got there. In fact, we pulled up right behind my brother and his wife, so we got to start visiting as soon as we got there. A little later, a sister arrived and the next morning my daughter and her family got in.

We shared meals, laughter, ideas, and that all-important connection of family that has been apart too long. One of the best things that happened was that my granddaughter was able to meet second cousins. Pictured above is my granddaughter with one of her second cousins, Ari (her father’s name spelled backward). They seemed to hit it off wonderfully.

I can’t wait for the next family reunion when we can again gather, share, and strengthen family bonds.

Throwback Thursday: Baby and Toddler on a Blanket

From my "old and known" file:

Little Girl—“Hurry up and take the pic before he cries again.”

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments. 

Throwback Thursday: A Woman with a Baby

The latest from my "old and known" file:

Woman with newborn—“Mother’s Day has a whole new meaning now.”

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments.

Memory Monday: My Mother

My mother

MY MOTHER

As I did in last week’s blog about my mother-in-law, I want to share a couple of my mother’s recipes as we approach Mother’s Day this year. I’m not sure how much Mother enjoyed cooking when her children were growing up as she also milked her cows, made butter, tended her chickens, took care of her large garden, did laundry on an old Sears wringer washing machine (with no dryer—clothes lines all the way), and raised five children. I do know that in her later years she enjoyed cooking, especially coconut cream pies and banana nut bread.

Below are two of her recipes. I don’t know why she called the first one Swiss Steak (I learned years later after looking at cookbooks, that this is not technically Swiss Steak, but it is good). I still make both recipes and always think of my mother when I do.

SWISS STEAK

Round steak, cut into serving sizes

Salt and Pepper to taste

Flour

Oil

Canned condensed tomato soup

Season meat and dredge in flour. Brown steak in hot oil, then put meat to an ovenproof casserole. Drain most of the oil out of the pan. Add 2-3 Tablespoons of flour. Stir. Add tomato soup, diluted with one soup can of water. Bring to a boil, stirring until well mixed. Pour over meat in casserole dish. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

(Mother made this quite often while I was growing up. There were seven in our family, so she made a large amount of this at a time. Now that I make it for just my husband and myself, I use two cube steaks and a regular-size can of tomato soup. Lately, I have been adding some of the seasoning my son mixed up for smoking brisket instead of salt and pepper. That really adds a great taste to this dish.)

BANANA NUT BREAD

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 t. salt

1 t. soda

1 cup shortening or oil

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk or milk

4 bananas, mashed (1 cup)

1 cup nuts

1 t. vanilla

Mix together all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spray loaf pans with Pam. Divide batter between loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Makes 6 small loaves or 2 large loaves.

(Mother used one cup of nuts, but I LOVE nuts and add 4 cups of nuts. Also, I usually use about 5-6 bananas—I figure with more nuts, more bananas, but I use the same amount of everything else. Doing it this way, I usually end up with 12 mini-loafs—but how many you get will depend on the size of mini-loaf pans you are using. I have three different sizes.).

What are your favorite family recipes? How have you changed them?

Memory Monday: Why Did They Do It Like This Back Then?

My Great-grandmother Emma

WHY DID THEY DO IT LIKE THIS BACK THEN?

While I was doing research for my historical magazine, Worbly’s Family Monthly Magazine (if you haven’t seen it, here is the link http://worblysmagazine.com/ ), I came across a cookbook that left me wondering a bit. It had an interesting section titled: MEDICINAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. Now I might be a bit odd at times, but normally I would put medical recipes and miscellaneous recipes in different sections—who knows, I might skip a line and bathe my feet with toast and cider if I didn’t.

Anyway, I wanted to share the names of the recipes that were grouped together in this section. Do you see any problem with the way it was done (the rest of the book was done as a traditional cookbook—meats, vegetable, pies, cakes, etc.)? The name of the book is The Improved Housewife, published in 1855—the same year my great-grandmother Emma was born.

Here are the recipes—in order—from the section MEDICINAL AND MISCELLANEOUS:

831. For Sprained Ankle.

832. Roast Apple Tea, and Acid Jelly.

833. Toast and Cider.

834. To Bathe the Feet.

835. R—f and R—y's Cure for Corns.

836. Mild Cathartic for Dispepsia.

837. Mustard Drafts.

838. Dropped Eggs.

839. For Teething Complaints of Children.

840. For Over Dose of Laudanum.

841. Chicken or Cracker Panada

842. For Prickly Heat.

843. Red Mixture, for Summer Complaint.

844. Ringworms.

845. Runaround.

846. Tobacco Salve. Royal.

847. For the Tetter.

848. To Stop Vomiting.

849. To Cure Seed Warts.

850. Toast Water.

851. Cure for Wens.

852. Cheap Cement for Bottles and Jars.

853. To make French Pomalum. Nice.

854. Southern Yellow Pickles.

855. Virginia Temperance Preserves.

856. Charleston Pudding.

857. Norfolk Spoonful Pudding.

And then they added these final two in the section—the only two that are not recipes:

858. General Rule

If a thing be worth doing at all, it is worth well doing:—best done, by self.

859. Punctuality

Fifteen minutes before the time.

Please help me—do you see the logic in this grouping? By the way, I just love this picture of my great-grandmother. I wish that I had known her.

Memory Monday: Tidbits from the Year My Great-Grandfather Was Born

My Great-Grandfather

TIDBITS FROM THE YEAR MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS BORN

In my research, I recently came across some tidbits that I find really interesting—especially as I live in the 21^st Century. We have always had a fridge with freezer, store-bought mattresses, and a short distance to any grocery story in town.

But back in the 19^th Century, things were very different. I came across a book titled The Frugal Housewife from 1841 (the year my great-grandfather was born. Maybe his mother did some of the things listed in this book).

Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen.

Suet keeps good all the year round, if chopped and packed down in a stone jar, covered with molasses.

Pick suet free from veins and skin, melt it in water before a moderate fire, let it cool till it forms into a hard cake, then wipe it dry, and put it in clean paper in linen bags.

When mattresses get hard and bunchy, rip them, take the hair out, pull it thoroughly by hand, let it lie a day or two to air, wash the tick, lay it in as light and even as possible, and catch it down, as before. Thus prepared, they will be as good as new.

It is poor economy to buy vinegar by the gallon. Buy a barrel, or half a barrel, of really strong vinegar, when you begin house-keeping. As you use it, fill the barrel with old cider, sour beer, or wine-settlings, &c., left in pitchers, decanters or tumblers; weak tea is likewise said to be good: nothing is hurtful, which has a tolerable portion of spirit, or acidity.

Barley straw is the best for beds; dry corn husks, slit into shreds, are far better than straw.

Straw beds are much better for being boxed at the sides; in the same manner upholsterers prepare ticks for feathers.

Always have plenty of dish-water, and have it hot. There is no need of asking the character of a domestic, if you have ever seen her wash dishes in a little greasy water.

Have all the good bits of vegetables and meat collected after dinner, and minced before they are set away; that they may be in readiness to make a little savoury mince meat for supper or breakfast.

It is thought to be a preventive to the unhealthy influence of cucumbers to cut the slices very thin, and drop each one into cold water as you cut it. A few minutes in the water takes out a large portion of the slimy matter, so injurious to health. They should be eaten with high sea soning.

Poke-root, boiled in water and mixed with a good quan tity of molasses, set about the kitchen, the pantry, &c. in large deep plates, will kill cockroaches in great numbers, and finally rid the house of them.

Even though these tidbits are interesting to read, I am thankful that I have a French-door refrigerator, an adjustable bed with a really, really thick mattress that never needs to be taken apart and washed, and three nearby grocery stores.