Antique recipes and such

[Catwoman]

OK, all you foodies out there...here's the place to start putting out some of your antique recipes.  My contribution to this:

Barrel Cured Meat

8 lbs. salt
3 lbs. white sugar
8 gal. water
100 lbs. meat

Bacon....................7 days
Hams/Shoulders.....21 days

[Catwoman]

Oh...and regarding the question about how old I am...I'm old enough to know better and still young enough to do it!   My antique recipes come from relatives and friends that have made their transitions to a better life.  It makes me feel good to give the recipes a good airing out here...it gives them a chance to live on!

[Chelle]

OK Catwoman, My mother in law has told me that we have a quince tree on our 80 acres.  Do you have any recipes for "quinces"?  The tree does bear fruit late in the summer.  Let me know and I will try it.

[Catwoman]

I dug through all of the recipes and found these, in order of having found them:

(1)  For quince jelly:  Quince is too strong flavored to use alone.  Pick when green, just before they ripen.  They are very hard but will cut with a good, sharp knife.  Cook in plenty of water - rinds, seeds and all.  Use with apple juice or pear, etc.  One quince will flavor a whole dish of baked, tasteless apples or pears.  Usd the pulp in jams or butter.  I have used the ripe ones but they are not so good.

(2) Apple Quince Jelly:  2 lbs. apples, 2 pounds quinces, sugar.  Wash apples.  Remove stems, seeds, and blossom ends.  Do not pare.  Cut in quarters.  Cover with water.  Cook until very soft.  Drain through jelly bag.  Wash quinces.  Remove stems, seeds, and blossom ends.  Do not pare.  Cut in small pieces.  Cover with water.  Cook slowly until very soft.  Drain through jelly bag.  Combine apple and quince juice in equal proportions.  Usd 2/3 cup sugar for each cup juice.  Boil rapidly until jelly sheets from spoon.

(3)  Cranberry Quince Jelly:  2 quarts cranberries, 6 quinces, 3 quarts water, sugar.  Wash quinces.  Remove stems, seeds and blossom ends.  Chop.  Combine with stemmed cranberries which have been washed.  Add water.  Cook until fruit is very soft.  Pour into jelly bag and drain overnight.  Empty juice into large saucepan.  Boil hard 20 minutes.  Measure and add an equal amount of hot sugar.  Boil rapidly until jelly sheets from spoon.

(4)  Quince Marmalade:  3 1/2 lbs. quinces, 1 orange, 4 1/2 lbs. sugar, 1 cup orange juice, 2 c. water.  Wash, quarter and core quinces.  Quarter, seed, but do not peel, orange.  Chop quinces and orange together.  Add sugar, water, and orange juice.  Simmer slowly, stirring frequently, until juice sheets from spoon.

Hope these give you and yours a place to start...sounds like the almighty quince is a rather strong little fruit.  Let me know how your efforts turn out! 

[Diane Amberg]

I've got a very old one for Maryland Biscuits that I'll share when I have a little more time.

[Diane Amberg]

Maryland Beaten Biscuits....from my family's 1886 cookbook, exactly as written


1quart flour      1teaspoon of salt   1 large tablespoon of lard

     Add the salt to the flour, then rub the lard thoroughly into it with the hands. Put a half-pint of milk and a half pint of water into a pitcher, add it gradually to the flour,stirring and kneading all the while-- add just enough to moisten the flour, for the dough should be very stiff; knead 5 minutes, and beat with an axe thirty minutes.  Then form into small found biscuits, stick with a fork here and there over the surface, and bake in a moderately quick oven about twenty or twenty five minutes. They should be browned on top and the sides almost white.
     They should be as white as the driven snow inside, with a slight crack around the sides.   

Today you would know these as oyster crackers.

[Catwoman]

Sounds good, Diane...I'll have to give these a try with my homemade veggie soup. 

[Diane Amberg]

Please clean the chicken blood off the axe before you use it. 

[Catwoman]

Not a problem...I've scalded and plucked plenty in my time...and spent more time on the business end of an axe than I'd like to admit.  For expecting me to be a complete lady, my parents were curiously also adamant that I would pull my own weight.  I tried to argue that no complete lady would be caught dead doing manual labor...but they weren't buying it! lol

[Chelle]

Thanks for the quince recipes!  I guess about now I should pick them because they are green??  I will try and make some jelly to see if it is any good.