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Category: 19th Century (Page 1 of 2)

Tomato Pie (For the Next Time You Run Out of Pumpkin?)

August 30, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose…and sometimes you fall in between. That’s how my modern rendition of Lydia Child’s tomato pie turned out – in my opinion, at least.

In her book, the American Frugal Housewife, Child mentions various methods for making squash pies. But in an endnote, she writes that stewed and salted tomatoes can be “prepared the same as rich squash pies, only an egg or two more,” (pg. 115).

I was intrigued. In the past, I’ve been pleased with other historical recipes that break modern expectations of which foods should be sweet or savory.* Furthermore, I like pumpkin pie and I like tomatoes, so how bad could a tomato pie be?

Not horrible. But I didn’t think it was fantastic either. There were mixed reviews among my taste-testers…so maybe you just need to try it for yourself;)

In case you desire to create a tomato pie, here is what I did based upon this 19th century recipe:

Tomatoes make excellent pies. Skins taken off with scalding water, stewed twenty minutes or more, salted, prepared the same as rich squash pies, only an egg or two more….

For common family pumpkin pies, three eggs do very well to a quart of milk. Stew your pumpkin, and strain it through a sieve, or colander. Take out the seeds, and pare the pumpkin, or squash, before you stew it; but do not scrape the inside; the part nearest the seed is the sweetest part of the squash. Stir in the stewed pumpkin, till it is as thick as you can stir it round rapidly and easily. If you want to make your pie richer, make it thinner, and add another egg. One egg to a quart of milk makes very decent pies. Sweeten it to your taste, with molasses or sugar; some pumpkins require more sweetening than others. Two tea-spoonfuls of salt; two great spoonfuls of sifted cinnamon; one great spoonful of ginger. Ginger will answer very well alone for spice, if you use enough of it. The outside of a lemon grated in is nice. The more eggs, the better the pie; some put an egg to a gill of milk. They should bake from forty to fifty minutes, and even ten minutes longer, if very deep.

Lydia Maria Child, The American Frugal Housewife

After reading that misleading but very informative receipt (recipe), I decided on this method:

First, blanche your tomatoes. Child doesn’t mention how many – I chose five, which, combined with the rest of my ingredients, actually made two pies.

Once the tomatoes are blanched and peeled, mash the tomatoes until only small chunks remain. Feel free to blend them to ensure a smoother pie filling.

[Technical issue: unfortunately, many of my photos would not load, so this spare collection will have to do for now. The center photo is the pie mix before I added the tomatoes.]

In a separate bowl, whisk together some milk and eggs – I used four, which comes out to Child’s recommendation of one egg per gill (1/2 cup) of milk. More eggs probably would have been better.

Add to the milk and eggs molasses, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Avoid scrambling your eggs by adding small amounts of the pie mixture to the tomatoes while stirring. Once the tomatoes are successfully incorporated into some of the egg mix, pour them into the rest of the filling.

Line a pie plate with your favorite pie crust (I left my to chill in the refrigerator for too long – freeze it if you’re going to make it a few days apart).

The bake! Mine took about 60 to 70 minutes.

Unfortunately, I cut the pies too soon after they exited the oven – they were not set. Though they settled more after cooling, an additional egg or two would aid the firmness. Furthermore, the piecrust in the glass pie plate was crisper than the cast iron one, if you have an option.

As I mentioned before, these pies were by no means repulsive – some found them delicious! They were a combination between tomato soup and pumpkin pie. I’m all for trying new foods, but tried-and-true foods are sometimes still the best.

Full recipe to come!

*My previous savory/sweet mix-ups include onion pie – a family favorite – chicken and cranberry pie, and salmon with cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. Keep your eye out for those recipes in the future!

The Curious History of Ketchup

July 31, 2020 / / 1 Comment

Bright red ketchup – or perhaps catsup – is so familiar: squirted onto hotdogs, hamburgers, or next to fries. You see the condiment everywhere, gracing restaurant tables, filling fast food packets, and stashed in your refrigerator.

But I had never paused to question where ketchup originated, who made it, or that it might not have always come in its sweet, smooth, tomato-y form.

My handy-dandy copy of Lydia Child’s the American Frugal Housewife is where my ketchup quest began. When speaking of a recipe for ketchup, she writes that “the best sort of catsup is made from tomatoes.” Which immediately implies that there were other sorts of ketchup not made with tomatoes.

I soon discovered that if you were to ask a 19th century seat mate to “please pass the ketchup,” you could be handed a variety of different sauces.

I used the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museum’s (ALHFAM) member database to find my answers. It’s a wonderful resource for anyone interested in historical subjects! There are no requirements for membership, and it’s not very expensive if you want to join 😀

Many thanks to the Past Masters articles of Summer 2005 and Spring 2011!

One of the earliest ketchup recipes is from the East Indies and uses Kidney beans along with many spices and orange juice. This recipe qualifies the ketchup as being “in paste” form.

But much more popular ingredients for ketchup were mushrooms or walnuts.

Many of the recipes actually produce a very thin sauce, more akin to Worcestershire sauce. Oftentimes the base ingredient was the strained juice from pickled or cooked walnuts or mushrooms.

Nuts to You English Walnuts quotes this recipe:

WALNUT Ketchup. Take green Walnuts, and pound them to a Paste; then put to every Hundred two Quarts of Vinegar, with a Handful of Salt; put it all together in an Earthen Pan, keeping it stirring for eight Days; then squeeze the Liquor through a coarse Cloth, and put it into a well-tinn’d Sauce-pan, and when it being to boil skim it as long as any Scum rises, and add to it some Cloves, Mace, sliced Gin-ger, sliced Nutmeg, Jamaica Pepper-corns, sliced Horse-radish, with a few Shalots, and a little Garlick; let this have one Boil up, pour it into an Earthen Pan, and after it is cold bottle it up, dividing the Ingredients equally into each Bottle.

Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery, Made plain and easy

Tomatoes only started gaining popularity as ketchup ingredients in the late 18th century. But as Lydia Child advises that these red fruits make the best catsup, I made my own modern adaptation of her recipe.

Child’s first instruction is to squeeze the tomatoes up with your hands, salt them, and let them sit for a day.

After the 24 hours, the tomatoes should be “passed through a sieve,” the spices added, and then the mixture boiled down one third.

Mashing tomatoes through a sieve proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. After much squishing by me and other parties, there was still a lot of tomato left. I didn’t want to waste it all, so I decided to use some modern tech: a blender.

I pureed the tomatoes until the seeds wouldn’t be bothersome, and poured the thick soup into the tomato water. Then I added the called for spices.

I brought it to a boil, and then left it to simmer. The ketchup ended up simmering for about 8 hours! It got a bit forgotten about, but it turned out to be just what it needed.

The resulting dark red sauce was looser than Heinz, but definitely a consistency that could be dolloped onto a plate for meat, french fries, or whatever else you might want.

Perhaps the most striking difference to me was the lack of sweetness – there is no sugar in the recipe. Despite this, I really liked the “catsup!” It was very flavorful with all those spices and went well with meat.

Here is Lydia Child’s original recipe and my modern adaptation:

Mrs. Child’s Tomato CatsupDownload

For now, have fun experimenting with your own ketchup recipes! If you’re interested in learning more about the condiment, I’m looking forward to reading ALHFAM’s recommended Pure Ketchup: A History of American’s National Condiment with Recipes by Andrew F. Smith.

Pederson, Carla. “Nuts to You English Walnuts.” Past Masters News, Spring 2011.

“Clarissa’s Corner: Catchup, Catsup, Katchup, Ketchup?” Past Masters News, Summer 2005.

ALHFAM – Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums – Home

ALHFAM Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums

Gruel and More Gruel

July 5, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Well. I had grand plans of a cleverly-themed Fourth of July post. Instead, not only did I neglect to write said post, I forgot to post at all. Ah well, in lieu of that, today we’ll turn again to Mrs. Child’s, The American Frugal Housewife. More summer/Revolution-themed posts will be in your future….

Gruel. Thoughts of watery, hot oatmeal come to mind. Not exactly images of delicious, nourishing food.

However, both of those terms came up as I recently whipped together some of Lydia Child’s gruel recipes. (And yes, there are more than just these two.)

Child introduces gruel as the perfect food for invalids: easy to digest and good for you. “Gruels” are also super simple to make.

The original recipes and their modern adaptations will be available at the bottom of this post!

The first recipe for Gruel produced something very familiar, a cereal akin to polenta or grits. To make it yourself, start with course-ground or stone-ground cornmeal and water.

Stir a few tablespoons of cornmeal mixed with a little cold water into a pan of boiling water. Boil for 8-10 minutes, throwing in a small handful of raisins part way through.

  • Cold water with hard cornmeal
  • Stir together
  • Boil
  • Add the raisins
  • Serve!

When the time is up and the water is absorbed, scrape the gruel into a bowl and season with salt, nutmeg, and sugar if you want. I skipped the sugar and still really enjoyed the cereal – ahem, gruel. The raisins give a little bit of sweetness, and the nutmeg adds a unique flavor I liked.

Egg Gruel

Far more unique than nutmeg, however, was Mrs. Child’s recipe for egg gruel. I assumed that eggs would be added to the standard gruel recipe – but I was most definitely incorrect.

Instead, begin with a small pot of milk and carefully bring it to boiling. While you are waiting, whisk four eggs until a thin froth forms on top.

Next, make sure your arm is rested. XP Then when the milk boils, rapidly whisk it as you pour the eggs in very slowly. Continue whisking until the mixture becomes a thick cream, almost like a partially-set jello.

The egg gruel was like a form of custard! As the recipe directs, I mixed in a pinch of salt and nutmeg, but omitted the recommended white sugar. I’m sure the addition of sugar would make a scrumptious custard dessert, perhaps with some fruit mixed in.

But even without the sugar, I – along with my taste-testers – enjoyed the unusual breakfast. It was creamy, eggy, and with a dash of nutmeg, a simple but rich meal.

For good health, Child recommends drinking half of the egg gruel while hot, and the other half two hours later. So if you’re feeling in the mood for a creamy, protein-full breakfast, give it a try!

Mrs. Child’s GruelDownload recipe here!
Mrs. Child’s Egg GruelDownload recipe here!

Brush Your Teeth!

June 13, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Brushing our teeth is something we do – hopefully – at least twice every day without even questioning it. Mindlessly squeezing a fluoride paste onto plastic bristles, we rub our teeth and rinse it out.

Foul breath has always been a human concern, but what is involved in the maintenance and understanding of healthy teeth has come a long way.

According to Alberto Angela, who wrote the book, A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, some tooth practices have been consistent over time.

“The Romans take good care of their teeth,” he writes. “At table they use toothpicks…[which]…are often made of silver and are the size of dinner forks,” (Angela, 2009)

Angela even says that the Romans used forms of toothpaste that included baking soda! However, these same people were also known to clean their teeth with urine… (Angela, 2009).

In the book, The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century, Ian Mortimer describes Medieval dental care as focused on breath, not teeth.

Chewing on cardamom, licorice, fennel, or other spices were ways to eliminate foul breath.

Interestingly, “the increasing availability of sugars [meant] that dental caries [was] actually worse in the fourteenth century than it was in Anglo-Saxon times,” (Mortimer, 2008). However, methods of preventing rot were less than effective.

Mortimer writes that cavities were believed to be caused by small worms which could be gotten rid of by burning a candle “as close as possible” to the offending tooth. Needless to say, a lot of individuals were missing multiple teeth, (Mortimer, 2008).

By the 16th century, striking improvements in dental care had taken place. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England, also by Mortimer, says that sugar was now known to be the main cause of tooth rot.

In addition to chewing on spices for improved breath, Elizabethans picked their teeth frequently, used mouthwash, and rubbed their teeth with a “tooth cloth,” a.k.a. wet linen, (Mortimer, 2014).

Lydia Child, in her early 19th century book, The American Frugal Housewife, mentions the benefits of brushing your teeth. Her methods are much more recognizable to modern readers, but still different from a standard 21st century routine.

Child’s first suggestion is not that odd: “Clean teeth in pure water two or three times a day; but, above all, be sure to have them clean before you go to bed,” (Child, pg. 88).

The second is definitely unusual: “Honey mixed with pure pulverized charcoal is said to be excellent to cleanse the teeth, and make them white. Lime-water with a little Peruvian bark is very good to be occasionally used by those who have defective teeth, or an offensive breath,” (Child, pg. 114).

For a week, I tried brushing my teeth solely with “pure water,” a.k.a. tap water. And for the most part, I didn’t even miss toothpaste. (Though maybe you should ask my family, lol).

The morning was the only time when sometimes the water didn’t seem to fully erase the unpleasant taste in my mouth. However, my teeth never felt gross, because just the act of rubbing them removes a lot of buildup – thank you, Elizabethans.

Alberto Angela. A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome. New York, NY: Europa Editions, 2009.

Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Visitor’s Guide to the Fourteenth Century. New York, NY: Touchstone, 2008.

Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2014.

Book Review: Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake 1805

June 6, 2020 / / 1 Comment

My sister chose this book for me to read, and boy am I glad she did! The Diary of an Early American Boy, written by Eric Sloane, is so unique, and makes a delightful, easy read for both children and adults. With numerous illustrations, it’s not a huge commitment for busy people 😉

The book is based on the real diary of Noah Blake, who turned 15 years old in 1805. Need perspective? Blake mentions a day of remembrance for General George Washington, who died only 6 years prior.

Throughout the book, Sloane quotes directly from the diary. In-between those excerpts, he fills in the story with conversations and elaborations. He explains all the terms and activities Noah writes about that we might not understand as 21st century readers.

A talented artist, Sloane illustrated the entire diary. The pictures make unfamiliar tools and processes understandable, and I was able to really appreciate the work that was described because of it.

I loved finding out the origins of terms and customs. For example, Sloane notes that in the word “plumb” meant “lead,” and so men who worked with lead were called “plumbers.” At first, water pipes were made from lead, so plumbers worked on them, and the name stuck (pg. 74).

I also enjoyed noticing things in my life similar to what I was reading about. At one point, Noah writes that he helped with stump-pulling. Sloane explains that oftentimes the stump’s root balls were pulled into a line to serve as a fence (pg. 29). Just down the street from me, there is a house sporting a rough fence made up of logs and root balls propped up on their sides.

Seeing the author’s commentary on the present day (already from over 50 years ago!) was thought-provoking. Sloane interjects that we’ve lost knowledge of the moon and weather because it’s no longer necessary. He encourages every child in America to plant an apple tree. And he says that being disconnected from making the things in our life easily leads to unawareness of the wonders of life, (pg. 40). This made me immediately think of my post on Cræft, which is a whole book devoted to practically the same subject!

Book Review: Cræft

What if society is losing something? Irrevocably discarding innately satisfying skills that have sustained us for millennia? What are we missing in our commercialized culture? Lately I have been craving a way to make “creating” a regular part of my life.

I only have a couple criticisms. 1. Sloane never gave the name of the town Noah Blake lived in! (just my own curiosity), and 2. He simplified Noah and Rachel a bit much in my opinion. It was probably in order to give answers to their questions, but Noah seemed to be portrayed as too childish for a 15 year old with a love interest.

However, those hardly detract from the whole of this wonderful book. The Diary gives a great picture of what tools, projects and relationships were like in 1805 farm life. It’s a very personal account that shows how people – just like us – lived in totally different circumstances over 200 years ago. And it gives us pause that not everything is better now – we could still stand to learn things from those in the past.

Home – Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum

The Eric Sloane Museum was created through a partnership between the Stanley Tool Works, the State of Connecticut, and author and artist Eric Sloane (1905-1985). The museum was completed in 1969 and houses Eric’s extensive collection of early American hand tools and a re-creation of his studio.

This interesting video about Eric Sloane is featured on the Friends of the Eric Sloane Museum’s website. (Skip to :30)

Eric Sloane Museum // Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures

Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures is a new series of 50 five-minute vignettes that profiles a variety of the state’s most notable cultural resources. Connecti…

Potash, Pearlash, and Pancakes

May 23, 2020 / / 1 Comment
Chemically-Risen Pancakes

Without a second thought, we frequently grab baking soda or baking powder out of our cabinet to use for whatever cookie, biscuit, or cake recipe we want. But the common use of chemical leaveners – for that’s what baking soda and baking powder are – is actually a fairly recent phenomenon.

While I was reading through the American Frugal Housewife, I came across several recipes calling for a little bit of pearlash (pearl-ash). One of them was a pancake recipe that otherwise had pretty standard ingredients. I was stumped.

So I did some research and fell down a rabbit hole of chemical leavening.

First of all, I discovered that pearlash is a refined form of potash (pot-ash). The refining process removes most of a smoky flavor from the substance. Which lead me to the question: what exactly is potash?

Potash is substance that was originally created by running water over wood ashes. After evaporating the water, you are left with a mix of potassium carbonate and other chemicals. Pearlash is composed only of potassium carbonate.

Now, in the 21st century, potash is actually mined from huge, underground deposits, which you can learn more about in the video below.

Nutrien: What Is Potash?

Learn more about potash, an essential crop nutrient that improves crop yields worldwide. With over 20 million tonnes of potash capacity at our six mines in S…

Thanks to Jas. Townsend and Sons’ YouTube channel, I learned in their “Exploring Colonial America: Chemical Leavening” series that these types of rising agents may have been in use as early as the 14th century! But that knowledge was held in total secrecy.

In the 1300’s, the Netherlands was famous for its gingerbread, but there was one town in particular known for its delicious, fluffy gingerbread. The unique sweet contained a special ingredient that was so secret not even the bakers knew what it was. The local burgermeister would visit each bakery to add in the ingredient to the rest of the prepared dough. Coincidence? Probably not.

Chemical leavening also occurred by accident in England, where millers were supplementing their poor flour with chalk, a base. When bakers began adding alum – an acid – to bleach the bread whiter, they unwittingly provided the other ingredient for a chemical reaction. Though ignorant of the chemical process, they did notice that the bread rose more fully with the additional ingredients.

But chemical leavening was not commonly used in households, yet.

In the 1750’s, a dutch cookbook was published that is suspected to be the first great unveiling of those long-held dutch bakery secrets. Further research translating manuscripts and comparing recipes is required before the connection can be declared certain. But the likelihood of confirmation is very high.

For, in the late 1700’s, where did recipes calling for potash begin to emerge from? None other than the dutch-settled Hudson River Valley of New York.

These recipes were advertised as something that could be quickly whipped up for unexpected guests. No long wait times for rising yeast were required. One can definitely see the appeal when you think of how often we use baking soda or powder as a speedy alternative to yeast.

The use of chemical leavings spread quickly in the U.S., with many 1830’s cookbooks including potash and pearlash’s successors, baking soda and powder, as leavening. However, chemical leavening was slower to take hold in the U.K., possibly because of prior scares of poison in bakers’ bread.

Another source I found online was the blog Four Pounds Flour: Historic Gastronomy. (NOTE: I will link it below, but I recommend reading through the comments and using Jas. Townsend as a more reliable source.) The author writes that her cookies turned out bitter because of the pearlash. However, an astute commenter notes that pearlash is a leavening comparable to baking soda: if you use too much, it will be bitter.

On the Spruce Eats website (linked below), they say that for every 1 teaspoon of pearlash, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

So I decided to try making Mrs. Child’s pearlash pancakes, but just use baking soda instead. Fortunately, even if something went wrong, I reasoned, the recipe is easy and inexpensive.

The Pancakes:

The original recipe doesn’t call for the dry and wet to be mixed separately first. It went exactly how you’d expect: the cinnamon clumped together. I decided to wait to add some of the baking soda until I added the flour, since I wasn’t sure how much I would need.

1 1/2 cups of flour seemed to cause “the spoon to move… round with difficulty,” as Mrs. Child recommends.

The Batter

Instructions regarding the oil/fat in the original recipe were a bit confusing. I started out with olive oil, but it gave too strong of a flavor to the pancakes. I would recommend going with butter. Mrs. Child states the more fat in your pan, the better, which I think is why the pancakes reminded me of funnel cake. But they did need a certain… je ne sais quoi.

  • Pan-Fry in Cast Iron
  • Tasty with Fruit and Cheese

With that, here is the recipe which I have not touted so well, XP. After more experimentation I shall post a new one that’s better and tastier, but this is a good base that you could add more flavors to. To be clear they are not bad: all of them were eaten 😀

Mrs. Child’s Standard PancakesDownload

Child, Lydia Maria. The American Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy. 12th ed. Carlisle, MA: Applewood, 1985.

Chemical Leavening Discoveries Part 1

Part 1 of an in depth discussion on the history of Chemical Leavening. Our Website – http://www.townsends.us/ Cooking Blog – http://www.savoringthepast.net I…

Pearl Ash

2oz of Pearl Ash also known as Potassium Carbonate. Packaged in a modern plastic bottle with a safety lid. According to the Oxford Symposium on Food and Drink, Pearl Ash (potassium carbonate) was used as a chemical leavening agent as early as the 14th century in certain Dutch Baking.

American Potash Cake 18th Century Cooking with Jas Townsend and Son S5E17

Today’s episode is another companion piece to our Chemical Leavening Discussion. It’s a recipe found in a letter to the editor in the Monthly Magazine (Londo…

The History Dish: Pearlash, The First Chemical Leavening

Pearlash is powdery and slightly moist. The History If you were to scoop the ashes out of your fireplace and soak them in water, the resulting liquid would be full of lye. Lye can be used to make three things: soap, gun powder, or chemical leavener.

Recipe Substitutions for Pottasche or Pearlash

Pottasche is a common ingredient in traditional German recipes. It may also be written as potash or pearlash, potassium carbonate, salts of tartar, and carbonate of potash. All of these terms refer to the same ingredient. It is usually present in classic German gingerbread ( Lebkuchen) recipes.

Make Your Own Easy Baking Powder

Baking powder is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. It’s a dry leavening agent that is made from a mixture of carbonate or bicarbonate, a weak acid, and a filler. When a liquid is added, the baking powder creates an acid-base reaction, which releases carbon dioxide gas into the batter or dough.

Potash and pearlash even affected our quarantine-banana bread ;P

Banana bread is having a moment

If there’s an unofficial snack of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a sweet, soft loaf of home-baked banana bread. Celebrities like Chrissy Teigen love it, and ttreat has been the most searched-for recipe across all US states for the last 30 days.

Apple Pie: A Historical Way

May 16, 2020 / / 2 Comments
The Finished Pie

Everyone knows how to make apple pie right? Apples, cinnamon, and sugar mixed together and thrown into a piecrust. Maybe you add butter or flour, or nutmeg and lemon zest, but this classic recipe that we take for granted started out differently.

I found this pie recipe on Colonial Williamsburg’s website (which I’ll link to below). The first thing they pointed out is that apple pie is not American, despite what we may think, it’s actually British – interesting.

The pie crust recipe came from The American Frugal Housewife, by Mrs. Child, which was printed in 1833. I enjoyed the challenge of interpreting this recipe from its original form – most of the historical recipes I try have a modern version next to them that is easier to understand. In continuing with that, I have created my own modern version of the recipe that I will attach below if you would like to try it. Or just experiment with the 1830’s recipe!

The main differences between this apple pie and any modern apple pie you might be accustomed to are the spices and the method of construction. There is no cinnamon! Only sugar and whole cloves.

Then you must layer it. At no point does the recipe say to mix the fruit and seasonings together in a bowl. Instead, you lay a layer of peeled, cored, apple slices into the bottom of you pie crust. Then you dust sugar and some whole cloves over the apples. Put more apples on top, add more sugar and cloves, and repeat.

Once you have used up all the apples, lay the second pie crust over it, and press the edges together. Williamsburg’s beautiful picture of the pie included pie crust decor. So I cut a few leaves and long strips out of my crust scraps and created a small design on top.

The recipe doesn’t call for it, but I decided to beat an egg and spread it over the top. Upon further inspection of the photo, I realized that only the decorative crust pieces must have had egg wash to make them stand out. Oh well, it was too late.

The Pie Before Baking

I baked it at the recommended 450˚ for 10 minutes, then 350˚ for 40 minutes. It smelled wonderful.

I must admit I was a little suspicious of sprinkling whole cloves throughout my apple pie. But they were very easy to pick out. And having only the cloves and no cinnamon gave it a different flavor that definitely seemed historical 🙂 I loved the taste, and judging from how much of it was eaten, my family enjoyed it as well!

However, it would have been improved by salt. The recipe does not call for salt. And for the pie crust, I used unsalted butter. But it turns out that I should’ve used salted butter. Why? Because Mrs. Child talks about butter earlier in her book. She instructs her readers to “pack your butter in a clean, scalded firkin, cover it with strong brine…” and it will last indefinitely. A strong brine would certainly add salt to the butter.

I love how something as simple as apple pie has changed and developed over time. Next time you’re wishing for some homemade apple pie, try this easy recipe! (Even easier if you skip the pie crust for store-bought.)

Here’s my modern version of the crust recipe alongside the original!

Mrs. Child’s Piecrust RecipeDownload

Here is Williamsburg’s recipe:

To Make An Apple Pie

Pastry (homemade or store bought) 8 Granny Smith applies ¼ – 1 cup granulated sugar or castor sugar 1 tsp. rose flower water (optional) 2 tsp. whole cloves Instructions Preheat the oven to 425°. Remove one piece of dough from refrigerator and let stand until soft.

Child, Lydia Maria. The American Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy. 12th ed. Carlisle, MA: Applewood, 1985.

Ipswich, Massachusetts

March 29, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Flashback to last October, on Massachusetts’ North Shore: Ipswich, not far from the New Hampshire border, is a gem of natural and historical sites. We drove (approximately a two hour drive from Boston) with the intention of visiting the famously beautiful Castle Hill on the Crane Estate. However, when we arrived, the gate was shut. The park was closed in order to clean up trees that had fallen in a recent wind storm. But we were determined to still enjoy Ipswich, and we most certainly did.

  • Looking Back Towards the Beach Parking Lot
  • The View Along the Beach

A park employee, advised us to drive to the nearby – and apparently popular – Crane Beach. The day was sunny, windy, and bone-chilling, but the beach was magnificent. Sand dunes speckled with brush spilled toward the water, where the water thrashed in the wind. Islands and promontories were visible, and marshes spread out on our right.

If we peered closely at the hill behind us, the mansion was just visible in a clearing of the trees. So, other than opulent beauty, what makes the Crane Estate such a cool place to visit? First, there’s a wonderful beach nearby, but the Trustees (the organization in charge), list several other reasons.

Fun Fact: the Crane Estate was used for scenes of Europe in the 2019 movie, Little Women.

Look Closely – the Estate Lies on the Hill’s Left

To start, Castle Hill and Castle Neck were first owned by John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, beginning in 1637. Two centuries later, the estate was bought by the Brown family. They added roadways and planned plantings to the property. They also renovated what was a farmhouse into the so-called “cottage.”

But in 1910, Richard T. Crane Jr. purchased the land and determined to change it dramatically. Crane was a wealthy industrialist from Chicago, who owned a company manufacturing valves, pumps, and bathroom pieces. He used his wealth extravagantly. The property was landscaped, and even included a completely-functioning farm.

The most striking of the estate’s new features was the house. At first, the Cranes built an Italian-style villa, which was finished in 1912. But they soon changed their minds, and had an English-style mansion constructed in its place! With 59-rooms, it must be impressive.

However, even though we didn’t get a chance to view this monstrous palace up close, now it’s just an excuse to go back. After our fun at Crane beach, it was time for lunch, so we drove into the downtown of Ipswich.

  • The Town Hall
  • The Visitor Center

We elected to dine at the Heart and Soul Cafe, a warm, tasty little restaurant right in the center of town. Once we had filled up on a delicious salad, pancakes, and a burger, we set out to walk around. We had passed by a tiny old bridge, visitor center, museums, and cute shops. Unfortunately, I didn’t snap a photo of the streets downtown, but you’ll have to believe me that it was a perfect example of a quaint, bustling New England town.

Everywhere there were signposts and plaques revealing the history of the town. The Visitor Center had some great signs about the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway, which is huge, with a lot of places to discover. Zoom in on the photos below to see for yourself 🙂

The Choate Bridge, originally completed in 1764, and a small dam crossed over the Ipswich River, which runs right by the downtown. There was also a fish ladder nearby.

  • View from the Bridge

A pamphlet we picked up at the Visitor Center listed all the First Period (before 1725) Homes in Ipswich. A great idea! Though designed to be a walking guide and map, we used it to drive past a bunch of houses before we headed home. This one town has 60 First Period Homes! And there are 46 listed on the map.

We briefly walked around the John Whipple House. But it was closed at the moment, along with the Ipswich Museum, which lay right across the street. Judging from their website however, I’m sure they’d both be interesting to go inside.

  • A First Period Home
  • The Ipswich Museum
  • The John Whipple House

So. I most definitely would like to return to Ipswich, and I hope you’d like to go too. There’s so much more that we didn’t even get to last time. I’m sure you could make a very full day out of everything. And even if you can’t – or don’t want to – go to the Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, there’s plenty to do that is fun and doesn’t even cost a penny.

Castle Hill on the Crane Estate | Ipswich, MA | The Trustees

Experience the grandeur of a seaside estate and its marvelously landscaped grounds, notable for a broad, undulating lawn running down to the shore. What makes Castle Hill a special place? Centuries before becoming a grand summer estate owned by one of America’s wealthiest families, Castle Hill was well known by Native Americans, who called the area Agawam, referring to its rich fishery.

IPSWICH MUSEUM | Ipswich Museum | Long and Rich History of Ipswich

The Ipswich Museum offers an array of exciting lectures, exhibits and classes that are open to the public. Check back throughout the year for the most up to date list of events.

Book Review: Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier

March 1, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Warning: this post is not for the squeamish.

Lice, death, and soapy peas. The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier is a unique–albeit gruesome–account of Napoleon’s conquests. It’s told from the perspective of a peasant, Jakob Walter, which is a rare occurrence. All other accounts of these wars are from the more well-to-do.

Walters was also ahead of his time in giving an even-handed recounting of the war’s events. Though we applaud telling both sides of an issue nowadays, in the late 18th/early 19th century, it was much more common to write only in favor of one side.

In addition to being innovative and historically piquant, Walter’s diary is also just an honest account of a man’s life during bleak times. It’s not an authoritative text on the tactics of war, dates of battles, and characters of leaders. Instead, Walter tells it like it is: war that is hungry, savage on both sides, and either freezing cold or blisteringly hot.

While reading, I found myself squirming a lot. Walter describes the rampant infestation of lice the army dealt with. At one point, his captain asks him to help him, as his lice are really bothering him.

“…for this reason he asked me to kill the tormentors in his shirt collar. I did it; but, when I had his collar open, his raw flesh showed forth where the greedy beasts had gnawed in. I had to turn my eyes way with abhorrence and reassure the master that I saw nothing, telling him that my eyes hurt so much from the smoke that I could not see anything. These pests, however, were no less to be found on me, thousands of them.”

Jakob Walter, (78)

Walters does a really good job of depicting the desensitization that was required of soldiers just in order to survive the horrors they were experiencing. He sees thousands killed and wounded, but there is no way to save the wounded, so they are left to die as well.

One night, while trying to find a place to sleep in the dark, Walter curls up next to his horse on a bit of ground that is softer than its surroundings. In the morning, he discovers that he slept atop a dead man’s belly that hadn’t frozen solid yet. And then he moves on.

He also talks of his desperate search for food when traveling through frozen Russia. He and his comrades would head towards burning villages to scavenge any hidden food stores. I couldn’t help but think of the hungry peasants the soldiers left behind when they were victorious.

Walter and some of his comrades combine some of their meagre food supplies for a memorable meal. A rare pot of seasoned peas with lard, they are forced to throw away – the “frozen lard” was actually soap.

Uniforms of La Grande Armée - Wikipedia

To put Walter’s account into a historical perspective: Napoleon’s campaign in 1812-1814 sent 650,000 men into Russia. 200,000 were captured, and only 30,000 soldiers returned. Miraculously, Walter was one of those who returned to his family.

Walter gives all the credit for his survival to God. He notes that “since I did not suffer the misfortune of being wounded, I thought: ‘God, Thou hast allowed me to live till now. I thank Thee and offer up my sufferings to Thee and pray Thee at the same time to take me further into Thy protection,” (Walter, 49). With all the horrific misadventures Walter endured, it’s hard to believe his survival was anything but supernatural.

Book Review: The Last Dickens

December 31, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Sometimes historical fiction hits the spot when a thick tome of erudite research seems too difficult to read. Or perhaps you’re just in the mood for an intriguing story set in a different time. Either way, The Last Dickens, by Matthew Pearl, is an excellent selection.

The Last Dickens is set in the 1860’s, based around the death of Charles Dickens, who was in the midst of writing a serial mystery novel when he died.

The Boston publishing firm, Fields, Osgood, and Company, was Dickens’ legal American publisher. But the firm is threatened by Dickens’ death and pirates in the book trade. In order to save his firm, James R. Osgood must discover how Dickens intended the mystery to end.

Sailing across the Atlantic with his loyal bookkeeper, the publishing agent finds himself the center of attention in dangerous circles.

Pearl skillfully weaves fact and fiction together, creating an intricate story based on a real-life mystery. The Last Dickens made me interested in the 19th century publishing trade and the fate of Dickens final book.

The research to write this book must have been exhaustive, for many elements throughout the book are from Dickens’ actual life, even including the loss of a diary.

I have read one other of Pearl’s books, and I’ve noticed his fascination with publishing, authors, and their writing. Pearl’s unique take on history provides a fresh prospective on an era filled with Civil War accounts and reconstruction controversies.

Pearl is a superb writer, and if you pick up any of his works, you’re in luck!

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