c a mp u s
was healthier.” Obviously, the national cuisine borrowed from many traditions, starting with the cookery of Native Americans. But the Longone Archive also demonstrates that American cooks took a fierce pride in the American-ness of their home kitchens, as distinguished from the storied cuisines of Europe. The committees of women who solicited recipes from all over the United States in honor of
the nation’s centennial summed up the point in the preface to their National Cookery Book (1876): “Have you no National Dishes?” is a question that has been asked by foreigners travelling in this country. The Committees believe that the answer to this question may be found in their unpretending book. Hotels, with their French cooks and gregarious customs, are not the true exponents of the inner life of a people! n
Samples From Your Great-grandmother’s Kitchen In the p r seldom e-processed e ra seen in (1866), today’s , American co th Americ e earliest co supermarket oks made goo an, Mrs o d d . Malin kbook known isplay cases. use of anima da Rus In to l pa A Dome h a v e sell offe stic Coo rts red this been written Calf H k b : y a n Africa Book ead S n
oup
Dress th eh the mea ead and boil un t from th til done , remov eu with cho e the bo pped po pper part of th nes e head tatoes a and a li a nd chop from the meat, n ttle d carrots take all fine, an , chives a hash o butter. Stir a litt d put it , peppe le flour f the me into the r, salt, p and mil at from eggs as soup, a rs k togeth the und for an o er to thic ley, sweet marg er jaw. T melet, tu per. Me ery, a k e ke the b rn this o lt some rains fro n the soup. Ma ver the butter a the tong k m e b ra n th d turn o ins afte ue; put n. Set it r season e head, beat up into a s in the o in aucepa g with ven to c n, with b ook slow salt and peputter, pe ly. Skin pper, an and slic d salt. S e tew dry.
inthe most basic ingenious with ered this recipe: be to s ok co ed off Hard times forc tional Cookery Book (1876) Na gredients. The
in n’s Pudding a M r o o P A Kansas Times ll Grasshopper ed, half a cup fu
of rice, uncook ilk, one cupful ls of salt and Two quarts of m two teaspoonfu t, nu al w a of times during r the size of sugar, butte stirring several s, ur ho e re th r Bake fo spice to taste. . ur ho the first
62 n LSA fall 2009
The process of curing foreshadowed modern meat-processing—but without synthetic chem icals. Senator Harry Flood Byrd of Virginia contr ibuted these instructions to The Congressional Cook Book (1933):
Recipe for Curing Hams
Kill your hogs when the wind is from the northwest. Take a string of red peppers and make a strong tea the night before the meat is salted; into every two gallons of tea put two heaping tablespoons full of saltpeter; pour this strong tea onto the salt; salt the meat lightly the first time to run off the blood ; let the meat lie packed three days; overhaul and put one teaspoonful of pulverized saltpeter to the flesh side of each ham and rub in thoroughly; then rub with molasses mixed with salt; pack close for 10 days; again overhaul, rub each piece and pack close again; within three weeks from the time the hogs were killed the meat should be hung. Befor e hanging, wash each piece in warm water and, while wet, roll in hickory ashes; smoke with green hicko ry wood. In February tie in good strong cotton sacks and hang up with the hock down; the hams will be ready to use in 10 months.