From the 3rd floor
of the Webb City Public Library
Webb City Area Genealogical Society
Today, many people share recipes and household tips on different social networking sites such as Facebook or Pinterest. However, over a century ago, people shared their helpful hints through community cookbooks.
These cookbooks were published by church groups, schools, community clubs and political groups, often as a means to raise money. One of the earliest charity cookbooks was “A Poetical Cookbook,” by Maria J. Moss, which was published and sold in 1864 to subsidize medical costs for Union soldiers injured in the Civil War.
Webb City has had its share of cookbooks, and the Webb City Area Genealogy Society has a donated edition from 1910. It was published by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. The cookbook is very much like the cookbooks of today, with recipes for drinks, desserts, eggs, meats and salads. The main difference is that many of these recipes do not contain detailed cooking instructions, such as oven temperatures or baking times. Most homemakers of this era would have been cooking on a wood stove, without a thermostat to tell them the temperature of the oven. Many of the recipes say to bake in a “not too hot oven” or a “moderate oven.”
One recipe for Suet Pudding instructs the maker to put the ingredients into a greased bucket and place this into a bucket of hot water to cook for three or four hours. There are recipes for many things that most of us would not consider cooking today, such as calf’s heart and boiled tongue.
The good news? In addition to these, there are also many tasty-sounding dishes.
Here are a few recipes from 100 years ago. Hopefully today’s cook can make modern-day adjustments for a few of the ingredients or amounts.
by Ida Berry
Put all into Golden Gate Flour but milk; heat it and add ammonia well pulverized by tying in a strong cloth and pounding.
Let come to a boil and add to the rest. The baking ammonia must be fresh and you’ll have success with your cookies. This will make lots of cookies, but they will improve with age.
Six pints grapes; simmer until soft; then put through a colander; add 1 quart brown sugar, 1 pint vinegar, 2 tablespoons allspice, 2 of cinnamon, 2 of cloves, 1 of salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons mace, 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper. Boil until thick. Bottle.
Mrs. Chas. Davis
1 1/2 lbs of round steak, chopped fine, 4 chili peppers, 4 pips of garlic or 1 large onion, 10 cents worth of comina seed, a part of a bottle of chili powder, 1 can of tomatoes, 1 tablespoonful of lard, 2 cups of chili beans, salt.
Soak the red chili beans overnight. In the morning, cook until tender in plenty of water; add the meat and cook slowly for an hour longer, then add tomatoes, garlic, peppers, cut fine, and all other ingredients, except the chili powder, and after cooking for 5 minutes, stir in chili powder to taste; cook an hour longer, closely covered.
