Victorian Era Cooking

When antiquing I always make it a point to stop off at the book section to look for the books that are oldest and most worn, ones that were well-loved like a best friend, carried everywhere and stashed bedside each night.  I like to search such books for traces of their old soul mates.  Notes, scribbles, dedications.  Those are the books I carry around the store anxiously reading their annotations, and by the small chance that they are written in a book that I loved just as much, then that book comes to live with me.

Wandering some antique stores this week, I happened upon a cookbook section.  Despite my love for all things old, it had never occurred to me to look at antique cookbooks.  What book could be more loved, more close to one’s heart, than a person uses to feed their family? Sure enough, bent pages, scribbles of different measurements and alternate ingredients adorned the pages. 

Looking at a book published in the 1910′s by Ryzon, a company that manufactured baking powder, I found that it included customer-submitted recipes.  I found this incredibly interesting, because while we all can pick up a recipe book from an illustrious french cook that uses truffle oil and saffron, it doesn’t mean we’re necessarily going to be making those for dinner.Â

These were recipes that the common housewife (or possibly her cooks) made her family for dinner, my favorite of which must have been the Hot-Dog Dainties submitted by a woman from Washington D.C.   Now, in the early 1900′s the hot dog was conceived and named,  of this I am well aware.  However, I always imagined them as more stadium fare.  Apparently, the kindly folks of Ryzon saw a revolution a-coming as did Mrs. John W. Tolson.  I just love the imagery, can you imagine the lovely Mrs. Tolson sitting down to tea with a couple of her lady friends in full Victorian garb, putting their gloves on and devouring what basically sound like Pigs in a Blanket? 

In case any of you would like to live like your great-grandmother for a day and enjoy some delectable dainties with your friends and family this weekend:

RYZON “HOT-DOG” DAINTIES
BY MRS. JOHN W. TOLSON, WASHINGTON, D. C.

4 level cupfuls (i pound) flour.
I level teaspoonful salt.Â
5 level teaspoonfuls Ryzon.
I pound small smoked sausages.
4 level tablespoonfuls (2 ounces) lard.
About 2 cupfuls milk — or milk and water.

Brush each sausage with mustard.
Sift flour, salt and Ryzon together. Work in
lard and gently mix in milk enough to make a
smooth dough, soft enough to be handled easily
without being stiff. Roll out about 1/4 inch thick.
Cut in small squares. Lay one smoked sausage
in each square; roll up and fasten securely by
pinching dough together.  Place in a pan a little
distance apart and bake in a quick oven until
brown. Sufficient for fourteen dainties.

Ryzon Baking Book: A Practical Manual for the Preparation of Food Requiring Baking Powder, Compiled and Edited by Marion Harris Neil, M.C.A.

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