Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings

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Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings

Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings is found in The New York Times Cook Book from 1961 and it’s a recipe that I had to make twice to end up with something edible. I had to veer from the original cooking method and I recommend adding some additional ingredients to amp up the flavour. The recipe gives the instruction to “shape into small balls” and since small could mean many sizes, I decided to make my dumplings the size of a Timbit.

That’s where the rambling nature of this blog post begins. I realized that most people who read my blog don’t live in Canada and might not know what a Timbit is. I started there, which led to explaining what Tim Hortons is, which led to writing about the first Tim Horton’s restaurant ever in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. And then...since measuring something in Timbits is a very Canadian measurement, at the end I have a look at some very Canadian measurements on COVID-19 social distancing signs in Hamilton and Toronto. I’d love to hear what the COVID-19 signs are like in your part of the world, so please leave a comment!

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Queen of Puddings

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Queen of Puddings

Queen of Puddings comes to us all they way from Toronto in 1877. The Home Cook Book is Canada’s first community cookbook with recipes contributed by women as a fundraiser for The Hospital for Sick Children. Queen of Puddings must have been popular in Toronto in the late 1870s because this recipe (with various names) was submitted by 5 different women to the Puddings chapter of the book!

I had plenty to share with friends & family and I described it to the people I gave it to as a lemony soufflé bottom with a jam layer and meringue on top. The reviews I received were: no response, that it was delightful, “it was very good and had a unique texture”, and it was weird to eat with mint ice cream.

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Pineapple Nut Stuffing

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Pineapple Nut Stuffing

Pineapple Nut Stuffing will probably be the recipe I select the next time I make a Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey. The earthiness of the walnuts and the sharpness of the celery would complement the additional flavour of the turkey juices and the pineapple in the recipe is only perceptible by a slight sweetness.

This recipe is found in the 1950 The American Woman’s Cook Book and the introduction to the chapter on Stuffings for Fish, Meat, Poultry and Game lists alternative ways to prepare stuffing. Instead of cooking my stuffing inside of a fowl, I decided to try three of the methods listed in this paragraph: baked, steamed and fried in croquettes.

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Cheese Straws

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Cheese Straws

Today’s my 2nd Blogaversary! 2 years ago today, I nervously and excitedly hit “publish” on my very first recipe post, which was Cayenne Cheeses from the 1861 cookbook Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. I selected Cayenne Cheeses because it was – and it still is – my favourite historic recipe that I’ve ever made and eaten.

A year later, I started the tradition of posting a similar recipe each year on March 31st to celebrate my blogging milestone. Last year’s recipe was Cheese Hooies from the 1965 Stillmeadow Cookbook by Gladys Taber, and 2020’s twist on baking flour, butter, cheese, salt and cayenne pepper together is Cheese Straws. This recipe come to us all the way from the 1891 Tried and True Cookbook, a community cookbook compiled by the “Ladies Aid Society and Friends of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Deadwood, South Dakota”.

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Hot Crabby Punch

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Hot Crabby Punch

Hot Crabby Punch is a warm mulled apple cider and cranberry juice punch with cinnamon, cloves and allspice. The recipe’s got such a cute name because it’s from the 1977 The ideals Junior Chef Cookbook, which is from the first cookbook I’ve ever owned, given to me by my aunt and uncle on my 7th birthday.

I made Hot Crabby Punch for my family when we celebrated Christmas together at my brother’s house. They seemed to like having Hot Crabby Punch around, so maybe making mulled warm beverages will become a new Christmas tradition. The most sound-bite friendly review was coined by my niece: “Tastes like pie!” I was told “That punch is good, Julie” a few times, “It would be good with vodka” and also “I don’t normally like warm beverages that much, but I liked it”.

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To make fine pippen Tarts

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To make fine pippen Tarts

To make fine pippen Tarts is a handwritten recipe from an early 1700s English manuscript in the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It’s a recipe I’ve wagered in the battle to use up apples from the gargantuan apple tree in my back yard, and also a recipe that was interpreted in 2017 on the food history blog Cooking in the Archives. On this blog, Dr. Marissa Nicosia recreates Early Modern recipes from 1500- 1800 for the contemporary kitchen, and she is also one of my most enthusiastic supporters on twitter! You’ll find Cooking in the Archives at https://rarecooking.com/ and on twitter and Instagram as @rare_cooking.

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Apple Leather

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Apple Leather

If you have a look at all the recipes in the “Fruit” category on this blog, you’re going to notice that most of my fruit recipes feature apples. I just did the math, and as of today, we’re talking 62.5% of my fruit recipes. Here’s the reason why: when we moved into our current home in Hamilton, we didn’t realize that the giant tree in our backyard was in fact a very prolific old apple tree!

August is my unofficial Apple Month, when I try to keep as many apples out of the compost bin as possible. Do you want cooking apples next summer? Let me know if you do and they are yours! This Apple Leather recipe is from one of the Victorian cookbooks that I turn to again and again, Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery from 1851.

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Oeufs au fromage

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Oeufs au fromage

Oeufs au fromage (Eggs with Cheese) is probably the most delicious scrambled egg recipe I’ve ever made! The flavours of the Gruyere cheese, parsley, green onions, nutmeg and white wine combine beautifully and the recipe itself is simple to pull off. I found this recipe in the 1825 edition of La cuisinière bourgeoise, which was the first cookbook to be published in Canada and this is also my first bilingual post in both English and French.

Oeufs au fromage est probablement la plus délicieuse recette d’œufs brouillés que j’ai jamais préparée! Les saveurs du gruyère, du persil, des oignons verts, de la muscade et du vin blanc se marient à merveille et la recette est simple à réaliser. J'ai trouvé cette recette dans l'édition de 1825 de La cuisinière bourgeoise, le premier livre de recettes publié au Canada. C’est aussi mon premier poste bilingue en anglais et en français.

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Carrot Fritters

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Carrot Fritters

Carrot Fritters are very delicious, but they taste like oranges, not carrots. I think sneaky parents of picky eaters could puree the carrots very smoothly, call them Orange Pancakes and use this recipe to get some vegetables into their kids.

I made this recipe from the 1787 The Lady’s Assistant for Regulating and Supplying the Table at a recipe testing day at Nelles Manor Museum in Grimsby, Ontario. I’ll be teaching 3 open hearth cooking classes on July 28 & 30 at Nelles Manor and as of today, there are still tickets available for all three classes. Contact Nelles Manor at info@nellesmanor.ca or 289 – 235 – 7755 to reserve your spots

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Rhubarb and Banana Fool

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Rhubarb and Banana Fool

One evening recently, I found myself driving home from visiting my Mom with a small harvest of fresh rhubarb from her garden in the passenger seat. Basically as soon as I set foot in my door, I searched for a historic rhubarb recipe that wasn’t Rhubarb Jam, Stewed Rhubarb or Rhubarb Pie (the things I do for fun!). Rhubarb and Banana Fool, from the 1900 cookbook Mrs. Beeton’s Cold Sweets, was the most intriguing to me.

A good description of this recipe in today’s terms would be a low-sugar banana and rhubarb smoothie, with a suggested whipped cream topping. Discovering the Rhubarb and Banana Fool recipe made me wonder: “When did people start eating bananas in North America?”, so I delve into answering that question by having a look at American and Canadian cookbooks and the establishment of the Boston Fruit Company. You’ll also find a bit of bonus info about Cochineal, an insect used as a red dye.

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Chicken with Chili

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Chicken with Chili

If you ask me over to your house to babysit, I will snoop in your kitchen while your baby sleeps and search for old cookbooks. That’s where I found The Hundred Menu Chicken Cookbook from 1972, which has the tagline “One-pot chicken recipes that are easy-to-make and a treat to serve” and boasts that it contains recipes from over 20 countries.


Chicken with Chili is a warming full-flavoured chicken dish that would be an excellent slow-cooker recipe. I was intrigued by Chicken with Chili because it claimed to be an Ethiopian recipe and I was skeptical about how accurate it would be, but it turns out that it is reasonably similar to Doro Wat! A couple of ingredients that are typically served in Doro Wat are missing and the traditional spices have been substituted for spices that would have been found in the kitchens of most American families in 1972. What you end up with Chicken with Chili is an echo of Doro Wat without the spicy heat.

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Icing for Cake

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Icing for Cake

Icing for Cake saved the day when I had about 5 dozen bland Ammonia Cakes that needed some extra pizzazz! Both Ammonia Cakes and Icing for Cake are found in the 1898 The New Galt Cookbook, which is a community cookbook compiled not far from where I grew up and where I live today. Icing for Cake is a simple white sugar and milk icing that hardens within minutes and you could drizzle it on cakes, cookies, donuts or squares.

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