I got into this whole The Historical Food Fortnightly http://historicalfoodfortnightly.blogspot.com/p/about-historical-food-fortnightly.html only recently so am doing a bit of catch up as well as trying the current challenges. Fun, the emphasis on research and documentation, & the goal  to learn more about historic cooking through experience and trial; will make this whole process INTERESTING to say the least

oh, and their definition of 'historic' is anything prior to 1960.. now i feel just a tad old.. haha!!

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  Challenge 9:  The Frugal Housewife…September 21-October 4

Throughout history, housewives and housekeepers have kept a close eye on their budgets and found creative ways to pinch pennies while providing delicious and nutritious food. Create a dish that interprets one historically-documented method of frugal cooking.

 I feel it fits the catagory really well. I can easily see it as a way to use up left over vegetables with a simple biscuit dough and a gravy to add to a simple frugal meal - perhaps a way of coaxing the 'kids' to eat their veggies by calling it a cake :).

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From:   Upside-Down Vegetable Cake

America's Cookbook New & Revised Edition

cookbook page instructions 

all vegetables in baking pan

started with onions sauted in butter

in 425 oven for 25 min

baked but not on plate yet

right side up on serving plate.

The Date/Year and Region: 

  1944 page 434 = American
How Did You Make It:  

I made the cake batter as per instructions - was more of a biscuit dough although its called a cake - in both texture and taste.  for the Vegetables i used fresh onions and canned peas, carrots corn & lima beans.  I did not make the gravy accompaniment.

Time to Complete: 
Less than one hour, start to finish.

Total Cost:

  everything i used was in my cupboard - probably in the $4 range all told if that much

How Successful Was It?:  
had several compliments on it. I would count it as successful as i personally plan to make it again.
How Accurate Was It? I would say very close though not perfect.
the instructions were somewhat incomplete such as it called for mixed vegetables & then said to arrainge hot seasoned vegetables in greased pan- it did NOT say if they were to be fully cooked or simply sauted or just warmed.. it also does not specify if fresh or canned vegetables were to be used. I did not use celery (i dont like it cooked) but i did add corn. also the instructions failed to say When to add the batter - i made an educated guess it was the last item added.

Also, the recipe called for a mushroom gravy i did not make.
as we had a gravy at the dinner for the meat I didnt bother. it was good without & I think it would go with any preferred gravy.

Further thoughts:several things. 
1st: the batter, because its consistancy & taste were more biscuit dough than cake like i will try a basic bisquick type mix the next attempt.
2nd: the vegetables. I really liked the combination that I made but i felt that the 4cups called for were too much.. it overwhelmed the dish..
3rd: the pan - i used what i had available (a springform) and it was too big for the amount of dough i had. a proper 8x8 would have been better - easier to put on platter too.
 

Round TWO


Challenge 12:  If They’d Had It…  November 2 - November 15
Have you ever looked through a cookbook from another era and been surprised at the modern dishes you find? Have you ever been surprised at just how much they differ from their modern counterparts? Recreate a dish which is still around today, even if it may look a little - or a lot - different!
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 From "The Lily-Wallace New American Cook Book
1943 Edition (first published 1941) page 230 in the Breads chapter.
  MINCEMEAT COFFEE CAKE 

 

In a deep cake pan Melt two tablespoons butter. Sprinkle two tablespoons brown sugar over butter and cover evenly with one cup mincemeat.

 
Over this pour  pour the batter made of the remaining ingredients and bake in a moderately hot oven. (425F) 25 minutes

 

 The Date/Year and Region: 

American/1943

How Did You Make It: As it was a very basic recipe I simply followed the instructions  verbatim

 
Time to Complete: 
Less than two hours, start to finish.

Total Cost:

About $2 for the mincemeat - I had everything else on hand (correction: cost of jar was $5.57 but i only used half of jar- for a cost of $2.85)

How Successful Was It?: Very – easily made and smelled delicious coming out of the oven- and the taste is very pleasant.. (am not a huge mincemeat fan & found it tasty. the cake itself is somewhat dense - a bit like a pound cake rather than a standard airy cake but the butter flavor is very nice. mom has already said she would not mind if I make it again :)

 
How Accurate Is It?: Very Accurate. All the ingredients are pretty much the same as in 1943 – I researched the mincemeat product I used and found the following:  

History of the None Such Mincemeat:

The Merrell-Soule Company, manufacturer and distributor of canned goods, successfully introduced condensed mincemeat under the None Such® brand name for Borden. Merrell-Soule Company was purchased by Borden in the late 1920’s.

And in asking my 78yr old mom of her memories of family making mincemeat dishes when she was a child, she said that her mother always bought her mincemeat from the local market rather than make it from scratch – pretty much as I did tonite. 

Living our history. and the Interesting things we come across.

Suffice it to say that i am a living historian.. I didn't always call myself that, you understand - previously i "just re-enacted civil war" and i didnt really consider every other aspect of things other than being there, in what i still considered costume, & that was that.
But then i started studying, & I started Learning about what i was doing and then even THAT started branching out more and more.. Now i have research materials, access to experts on their specialties for reference and support and a LOT of people i can ask questions of.. even on such mundane & interesting  various things like gloves, china ware, fabrics, dresses of other periods. have finally made my first corset, I am even participating with a costuming guild :),  and the list goes on..
So now i feel i am LIVING the hobby, rather than just showing up for it. To me this is how one becomes a Living historian.. you dont have to Be an expert, just Truly participate in what you are doing........... 

Did I mention I collect vintage cookbooks..- while most are of the late 1930s to mid 1960s, a few are much older. but i dont JUST collect them, I am now starting to COOK from them, now they too are part of my living history :) 
 One of the pleasures of this collection is the odds and ends that one often FINDS in such books. the one i am referring to today is from a 1944 book, and inside it I found a partial Newspaper clipping..

the DETAILS are amazing The clipping is dated Friday April 5, 1946 San Antonio Evening News. and suddenly we have a glimpse in the life of an every day newpaper reader & grocery shopper!.

To give you an Idea
in the bottom right corner is "Tomorrow's Menu" :)
Breakfast: Stewed dried prunes and apricots, cooked cereal, enriched toast butter or fortified margerine, jam or marmalade, coffee, milk
Luncheon: Sausage apple betty, soft rolls butter or fortified margerine, haw celery, citrus fruit gelatin, tea, milk.
Dinner: Beef stew with vegetables, boiled potatoes, lettuce & grapefruit salad, hard rolls butter or fortified margerine, gingerbread with whipped cream, coffee, milk.

 in the lower right corner a store advertises 
Live or Dressed Poultry!
Young ducks at 33cents a pound
New Zealand Rabbits (cleaned) at 49cents a pound
Baby beef(??) Turkey Hens at 39cents a pound
Baking Hens at 39cents a pound 
Fryers at 41cents a pound
and Fresh Gulf Trout at 39cents a pound
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what I also find Delightful on the back side are sales items and many of the brands are ones we recognize even today (even if the product might not be still around)

Armour's Star Tamales 10.5 oz glass for 15cents
Cudahy's 3oz can Deviled Ham 12.5cents
Armour's 16oz can Chili con Carne at 24cents
Gerbers baby food can at 6.5cents
Welch's Orange Marmalade 16oz glass 19cents
RealLemon Juice 8oz bottle at 19cents
Heinz White Vinegar one gallon at 49cents
and my favorite Sunshine  CHEEZITS  6.75 oz for 10cents!!!! 

I love these glimpses into my recent ancestors lives  - dont you??