1895 Pineapple Custard and an Old Fashioned Codfish Pie

When I'm not sewing, painting furniture, or staring at Pinterest, you'll find me doing genealogy or other history-oriented things. One of the things I love to do is find historic recipes in old newspapers and make them. I'll leave you with a few (some look good, others not so much).



On tonight's menu is Pineapple Custard from 1895.
And french toast with the leftover egg/milk/nutmeg mixture ... it seems that 6 eggs and a pint of milk were too much. I even put in two cans of Dole pineapple, one crushed and one chunked. I served it with Cool Whip. I love me some Cool Whip. Unfortunately, this got mixed reviews at our house. My son loved his first bite. I have a feeling it was a bite of 100% Cool Whip. He spit out his second bite. *Sigh* I think it's alright, but I probably won't be making it again. It's pretty eggy. Or perhaps I would halve the amount of milk and eggs in the recipe and add yet another can of pineapple.

Pineapple Custard, 1895
"Fill a deep dish with a can of 'Home Guard' pineapple, cut into small pieces; add five large tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Beat six eggs very light, mix them with a pint of milk and four more spoonfuls of sugar, adding some grated nutmeg. Pour this over the pineapple, set the dish into a moderate oven and bake half an hour. Serve when cold. This will make a delicious custard."

Steamed Corn Bread, 1893
"Did you ever try steaming corn bread in place of baking it? If not, do so. Use my favorite recipe. This one has proved very satisfactory: Two cupfuls of cornmeal, a cupful of lour, 1 1/2 cupfuls of buttermilk, half a cupful of molasses, butter the size of an egg, a teaspoonful each of salt and soda. Steam 1 1/2 hours, bake 10 minutes."

Corn Beef Hash, 1902
"Equal parts of boiled prime corn beef and potatoes are prepared. The beef is chopped as fine as possible, the soft, mealy potatoes are cut into tiny cubes. A small onion is minced to add flavor to the mass, and the dishes are rubbed with a head of garlic. Another garlic head is wrapped in a piece of the fat and thrown into the center of the mass. The whole is then mixed thoroughly and nicely browned in a big skillet or frying pan. During this operation disks of Bermuda onions, cut so that each round shows every ring of the onion, are thrown into a deep dish of pure lard and browned separately. When these disks are crisp, they are used to garnish the edge of the platter, and the hash is served garnished with parsley or herbs and the usual condiment is a squeeze of a lemon."

Blackberry Shortcake, 1902
"Sift together three cups of pastry flour, a tablespoonful of salt and six level teaspoonfuls of baking powder. With the tips of the fingers, well floured, work in a third of a cup of butter, wet with about a cup and a half of milk and water and mix to a soft dough; spread in two buttered pans, smoothing the dough with a knife of spoon. When baked, butter the under crust and put together with two baskets of blackberries that have been standing with sugar sprinkled over them."

A Fruit Sandwich, 1902
"If other sandwich-fillings fail, try one of dried or candied fruits. A recipe to fill fifteen sandwiches calls for a quarter of a pound of candied cherries, a quarter of a pound of seeded raisins, and a quarter pound of dates chopped very fine. Mix, add a quarter of a pound of grated cocoanut, and moisten with the juice of half an orange and a quarter of a cupful of grape juice. Cut thin slices of white sandwich bread info fancy shapes, butter and spread the filling between." {I want to try this one!! Seems kid friendly and a good way to get in more fruit without all the added sugar in jams and jellies}

A Fruit Cake Recipe, 1893
"If fruit cake you essay? to make,
One pound of sugar you must take
Three pounds of raisins, flour one pound,
Two pounds of currants, cloves, well ground,
Three quarters pound of butter, one
Gill of molasses. This being done
One and one quarter pounds you'll take
Of citron and eight eggs you'll break
One nutmeg and one half, and one
Half gill of brandy add this done,
And all well mixed, with care you'll bake,
Twill make eight pounds of fine fruit cake."

An Old Fashioned Codfish Pie, 1890
"The codfish pie of our grandmothers makes a famous dish for frugal Friday and Lent. Here is an old recipe for it by a Connecticut lady. Line a deep baking dish with a good pie crust, or with a good soda biscuit crust made in the following manner. Sift together four cups of flour, one heaping teaspoonful of soda and two of cream tartar (or three heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder), and one teaspoonful of salt. Rub in one half cupful of shortening. Add milk enough to make a medium soft dough- about a pint. Some flour takes more than others. For the upper crust spread butter on twice and fold and roll out. Cut out a round piece in the center.
Take a pint of picked up salt codfish, cover with boiling water, let it stand two minutes, drain, pour on more water, let stand and drain dry, put a layer of this codfish in the dish which has been lined with the crust, sprinkle with bread crumbes, pepper and a little salt if the fish is very fresh, put on bits of butter and some cream sauce which has been made by thickening one point of boiling milk with two tablespoonfuls of flour, and seasoning with salt and pepper, break in three or four eggs according to the size of the dish, piercing the yolks, repeat the codfish, bread crumbs, cream sauce and eggs, put on the top crust, and bake a delicate brown."

Um, not so sure about that last one...