1917 Cookbook

A Thousand Ways To Please A Husband
By Louise Bennett Weaver & Helen Cowles LeCron
Published: 1917 
Britton Publishing Company, Inc.
285 pages (excluding the 3 pages of ads)

1. This hybrid cookbook/novel follows the newlyweds Bettina and Bob as they return from their honeymoon and start their life together. The cookbook reads like a novel, as Bettina transitions to being a dutiful housewife. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 2: Bettina’s First Real Dinner
   
   Bob: “So you marketed today, did you?” 
   Bettina: “Indeed I did! I bought a big basket, and went at it like a seasoned housekeeper. I had all the staples to get, you know, and lots of other things. After dinner I’ll show you the labelled glass jars on my shelves; it was such fun putting things away!”
2. There are illustrations throughout the book of little cherubs helping Bettina get through her cooking (illustrations by Elizabeth Colbourne). I keep reminding myself this was published in 1917.
3. The monthly limericks, GEMS!
   
   June
   No, you cannot live on kisses, 
   Though the honeymoon is sweet, 
   Harken brides, a true word this is, 
   Even lovers have to eat.
   
   October
   Oh hazy month of glowing trees,
   And colors rich to charm our eyes!
   Yet- not less fair than all of these are Mother’s fragrant pumpkin pies!
   
   
4. There are a thousand recipes, many might need to be ‘modernized’
5. Bettina’s emergency shelf, slightly different then mine
   

I have attached a handy conversion guide to the oven temps per Wikipedia

From Chapter XLIII
The Dixons come to Dinner

Prune Whip
1/3 lb. Prunes
3 egg whites
1 T lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Pick over and wash the prunes, then soak for several hours in cold water, enough to cover. Cook slowly until soft, about fifteen minutes. Rub through a strainer. Add sugar and lemon juice and cook five minutes; The mixture should be the consistency of marmalade.
Beat the whites until stiff, add the prunes when cold, pile lightly into a buttered dish and bake twenty minutes in a slow oven. Serve with cream.

Chapter XXII
Bettina Gives A Porch Breakfast

Potato Doughnuts
1C mashed potatoes, hot
1 1/2 C sugar
2T melted butter
3t baking powder
1/2t salt
1/2C sweet milk
2 eggs
3C flour
1/8t grated nutmeg
1/2t powdered cinnamon

Beat the eggs, add the sugar. Mash the potatoes and add the butter and the milk. Add this mixture to the eggs and sugar. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon sifted together. Roll one-fourth of an inch thick cut with a doughnut cutter, and fry in hot deep fat.

Chapter LXXXIII
A Luncheon For Polly

Ground Pork Croquettes
1C chopped, cooked pork
1/8t paprika
1/4t celery salt
1/8t onion salt
1/4t salt
1T pimento cut fine
1/2T butter
1T flour
1/3C milk
1/3C crumbs
2T egg
1T water

Melt the butter, add the flour, paprika, celery salt, onion salt, salt and pimento. Gradually add the milk and cook thoroughly for one minute. Add the meat and allow the mixture to cool. When cool, shape into the desired shape, preferably conical. Roll in the crumbs, dip in the egg and water mixed, then dip in the crumbs and allow to stand for fifteen minutes or more. Fry in deep fat.

Chapter LXXI
A Fireless Cooker For Aunt Lucy

Meat Balls
1C raw beef
1/4 C bread crumbs
2T milk
1 egg yolk
1/4t salt
1/8t paprika
1t chopped parsley
1/4t onion salt
1/4t celery salt
3T bacon fat

Soak the crumbs, milk and egg together for  five minutes Add the beef, salt, paprika, parsley, onion and celery salt. Shape into flat cakes one inch thick, two and a half inches in diameter. Place the fat in the frying-pan and when hot, add the cakes. Lower the flame and cook seven minutes over a moderate fire, turning to brown evenly. Serve on a hot plater. Garnish with parsley. serve with egg sauce

Egg Sauce For Meat Balls
3T flour
2T butter
1t chopped parsley
1C milk
1/4t salt
1/4t paprika
1 hard-cooked egg, cut fine

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix well, add the milk, and cook for two minutes. Add the hard- cooked egg sliced, or cut in small pieces. serve hot with the meat balls.

*BONUS Recipe*
Burnt Sugar Cake

½ cup butter
1 ½ cup sugar
2 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups flour
4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Caramelize two-thirds of a cup of sugar. When the sugar is melted and reaches the light brown or the caramel stage, add the water. Cook until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved in the water. Allow to cool.
Cream the butter, add the rest of the uncooked sugar, and then add the egg yolks. Mix well. Add the salt , flour, baking powder, vanilla and the cooled liquid.
Beat two minutes and add the egg whites stiffly beaten. Pour into two pans prepared with buttered paper. Bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Ice with confectioner’s icing