Have you ever wanted to know what your great-great-grandmother’s egg nog tasted like? Or perhaps the cooking methods your great-great-aunt used to “roast” her Christmas Eve ham? If you’re looking to try something different this holiday, some of these recipes may interest you!
Modern-day cookbooks typically tell you exact amounts, specific ingredients, cooking methods, timing, cooking temperature, and may include images of what the food is meant to look like, a description of how the food tastes, or graphics on how to shape specific foods, but less than 100 years ago, cookbooks left a lot up to the cook’s discretion.
Portrait of James and Agnelina Maria Lorraine Collins, New Albany, Indiana, ca. 1865
The first cookbook ever published in Indiana was Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery, written by Agnelina Maria Collins (pictured above) in 1851 in New Albany, Indiana. Other cookbooks of the time cover other areas of the US, but it’s believed that this is one of the earliest “Midwestern” cookbooks. The cookbook covers multiple areas of cooking, sauces, soups, roasting, vegetables, desserts, drinks and has a number of holiday recipes that are very similar to things that are still holiday favorites today!
Many people are familiar with local cookbooks, and many churches/ parishes publish their own. Another historic cookbook in the Indiana Room’s collection is the New Albany Cook Book, published in 1904, which is a collection of German Evangelic recipes from the area. If you’re interested in trying these, there are lots of recipes online as well, since these are a little sparse with details!
Our local chapter of the Daughters of the Amerian Revolution, the Piankeshaw Chapter, has compiled a collection of historic recipes as well! This cookbook, like the others mentioned, is available in the Indiana Room to browse. Like others, the recipe for gingersnaps from this book is also sparse, but if you attempt it, or any other recipes, please send it to us!
Egg Nog.
*WARNING, consuming raw eggs may cause you to become sick if not handled properly!*
Beat the whites of six eggs separately; add a teacupful of sugar to the yolks, beat them well, then pour very slowly on a half pin of brandy; stir it all the time hard, or the brandy will harden the eggs; put a quart of milk on the fire in a saucepan, let it become quite hot, but do not let it boil; pour it over the mixture, beat it all well together; then add the whites — be sure to have them very stiff, or your nogg will not be good — beat it all again, then grate a nutmeg over the top. If you like it cold, add cold milk, instead of warming it.
– Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery,
page 144 in 1851 in New Albany, Indiana
Apple Toddy.
Roast or bake three fine pippins; let them be thoroughly done; put them in a bowl, beat them well with sugar, to your taste; pour over them a half pint of brandy, beat well; then add a pint of water, beat again, so as to have it well compounded; add a few cloves, and half a nutmeg.
– Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery,
page 144 in 1851 in New Albany, Indiana
Puff-Paste. (Pie Crust)
To a pound and a quarter of sifted flour, rub gently in with the hand, half a pound of fresh butter; mix it up with half a pint of spring-water. Knead it well, and set it by for a quarter of an hour; then roll it out thin, lay on it, in small pieces, three-quarters of a pound more of butter, throw on it a little flour, double it up in folds, and roll it out thin three times, and set it by an hour in a cold place.
– Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery,
page 113 in 1851 in New Albany, Indiana
Pumpkin Pie.
Stew a rich, sweet pumpkin, pass it through a sieve. Take five eggs, beat them well with two tea-cupsful of sugar, half a pound of butter, a little salt, half a nutmeg, two tea-spoonsful of essence of lemon; beat this well then thicken it with pumpkin, and bake it on puff-paste.
– Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery,
page 115 in 1851 in New Albany, Indiana
Roasted, or Baked Ham.
Parboil a ham, if very salt, change the water, draw off the skin, set it before the fire, or on a stove, for at least half an hour, let the fire be very moderate, then set it off, baste it with a small lump of butter, grate a stale cracker thickly over it, sprinkle it with wine, or a little sweetened vinegar, put it back, let it roast slowly for an hour, then serve it with sauce.
– Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery,
page 69, 1851 in New Albany, Indiana
Christmas Cake.
One-half pound butter, five eggs, one pound sugar, two teaspoonfuls cinnamon, one-half pound almonds, one and one-half teaspoonfuls baking-powder, two pounds flour. Roll to fit pans, bake then cut the cake in small squats while hot in pan.
– Mrs. Chas Day, 1904 from
The New Albany Cook Book page 97
Stollen.
Four pounds flour, one pound butter, eight eggs, about one pound sugar, two tablespoons salt, one cake compressed yeast dissolved in about three-fourths quart luke-warm milk. Let it rise well. Then add one pound raisins, same of currants and finely cut almonds, a little cinnamon, grated rind of a lemon, two ounces of finely cut citron. Knead well and let rise again. Then form into loaves like bread, pour over melted butter, sprinkle with chopped almonds. Bake at least one hour. Then dust with powdered sugar.
– Mrs. J. Hieb, 1904 from
The New Albany Cook Book page 97
Gingersnaps.
- 2 c. Molasses
- 1 c. lard
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 2 tsp. Baking soda
Place on fire and boil up once, then add enough flour to stiffen; 1 teaspoon ginger; roll thin.
– Anna Frederick, 1923 from
Dining With The Daughters
Sources:
Byrd, Cecil K. (1984). “Indiana’s First Cookbook, Sumptuous Beginnings.” Indiana Alumni Magazine.
Collins, A. Maria (1850). Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery. New Albany, Indiana.
Piankeshaw Chapter of the DAR (1996). Dinning With The Daughters. Audubon, IA.
Ladies of The German Evangelic (1904). New Albany Cook Book. New Albany, Indiana.
