Kudos to recipe testers: Marilyn Allen, Jeany Aupperlee, Eve Boe, Wendy Dahlgren, Janelle Draayer, Vanessa Finch, Debbie Galbraith, Janet Gifford, Cate Grinzell, Megan Groen, Anne Hays, Karen Kapovich, Madra Likkel, Sue Likkel, Blair Sweeney Maurer, Lisa O’Brien, Susan Olsen, Ruth Posthuma, Krysten Reimann, Esther Templin, Monica Todd-Klopfer, and Nancy Tupper. Your comments about creating 19th century recipes in 21st century kitchens have been entertaining and valuable, and the results have been surprisingly tasty. A special thanks to a project sponsored in Windham County, Connecticut chronicling newspaper recipes from the late 19th century where some of the following recipes that appear in the novel originated.
FISH CAKES
Take cold boiled fish, either fresh or salt, remove the bones and mince the meat; take two-thirds as much warm mashed potatoes as fish, add a little butter and sufficient beaten eggs or milk to make the whole into a smooth paste, season with pepper, and make into cakes about an inch thick; sprinkle them with flour and fry brown in butter in cast iron pan.
EGG TOAST
Beat an egg smooth with half a teacup of evaporated milk.
Dip slices of stale bread in this and fry a nice brown in butter.
If for “the men,” add a pinch of pepper and salt to the egg. For children, omit these and give them honey or syrup with it.
CHOW-CHOW
In the evening, soak two heads of cabbage for two hours in scant amount of water and a generous handful of salt.
Rinse cabbage and add two onions, a half-dozen green peppers, one dozen cucumbers, all chopped fine; sprinkle another generous handful of salt over mixture and let sit for two more hours.
Lastly, add two quarts tomatoes and let sit overnight.
In the morning drain off the brine, and season with one tablespoonful of celery seed, one ounce of turmeric, half-teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, one teacupful of brown sugar, one ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of allspice, one ounce of black pepper, one-quarter ounce cloves, vinegar enough to cover, and boil two hours.
Process in water bath for ten minutes.
Store in cool, dark place.
POTATO OMELET
Take five ounces of potatoes mashed, pepper, salt, and a little nutmeg; mix in with five eggs previously well beaten separately. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, and fry nicely in pancake-sized rounds.
Add any herbs as you have so, or top with cheese if serving for company.
Take raw potatoes, peel, and cut in rings the thickness of a shilling; throw slices into cold water until you have sufficient; drain on a cloth; and fry quickly in plenty of hot fat in cast iron pan; dry them well from the grease and sprinkle with salt.
When nicely done, and piled up properly, they make a fine side dish, which is always eaten with great relish. Or cut a potato lengthwise the size and shape of the divisions of an orange, trim them neatly, and fry them with or without sliced onions; they are an excellent garnish to pork chops, sliced cod, red herrings, or with a rasher of bacon.
SCOTCH BROTH
Put a teacupful of pearl barley into four quarts of cold water, let boil, add two sliced onions, two diced turnips, two carrots cut in slices, and one carrot grated; add any meat bones—mutton, beef, or ham hock—and herbs, if available.
Boil slowly for three hours; do not rush the boil.
Add generous amount of salt and pepper to taste before removing from fire.
JULIENNE SOUP
To make this soup, cut carrot, potato, turnip, and celery root into neat bits and fry them thoroughly in butter, partly boiling them first if old and tough. Add them to some clear vegetable broth just before serving. Season with salt and pepper and any fresh or dried herbs as you have them.
Boil two carrots, two turnips, two onions, three stalks of celery, three potatoes; add half a pint of split peas, boiled and rubbed through sieve; then pass all the vegetables through the sieve; add one quart of good vegetable stock, and half a pint of cream or good milk; season to taste.
GREEN PEA SOUP
Take one and a half pints of green peas, boil them in water with salt and a little mint; when thoroughly cooked, pound them and pass them through a sieve.
Put a pat of butter into a stew pot; when melted put in an onion and a carrot cut in thin slices, fry until they begin to color.
Add a quart of stock, a little salt, pepper, and a pinch of white sugar. Leave it to boil for a quarter of an hour, then stir in the puree of peas, let it come to the boil.
Serve with a small slice of bread fried in butter.
WELSH RAREBIT
Melt three tablespoons butter with three tablespoons flour, whisk over low heat until a roux forms.
Add one teaspoon of dry mustard to roux and whisk quickly.
Add one large stein of beer, at room temperature, and continue to whisk until mixture thickens.
Add a hefty portion of grated cheese and one-half teaspoon prepared horseradish; mix with a wooden spoon coated with lard. Add black pepper as desired. For those who refrain from alcoholic beverages, substitute ginger beer; the taste will be somewhat different, but will not cause distress. Serve over toasted bread.
OX-TAIL SOUP
Take two tails, wash and put into a kettle with about one gallon of cold water and a little salt.
Boil, then simmer.
Skim off the broth.
When the meat is well cooked, take out the bones and add a little onion, carrot, and tomatoes, if you have any. It is better made the day before using, so that the fat can be taken from the top.
Add any combination of chopped vegetables the next day, and boil for a half-hour longer.