Something for those of you still up to your ears in the white stuff:
Snow Fritters.Take of light new fallen snow, three table-spoonsful for every egg you would otherwise use--that is, if you would wish the quantity that three eggs would make in the usual way, take nine table-spoonsful of snow, and stir in a quart of rich milk that has been setting in a very cold place, so that it will not melt the snow, and destroy its lightness; put in a tea-spoonful of salt, and enough wheat flour to make a stiff batter; have ready a frying-pan with boiling lard, and drop a spoonful in a place as with other fritters, and set the remainder in a cold place till the first are done. Eat them with wine sauce, or sugar, butter and cream, or any thing you fancy.
From Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers. by Elizabeth Ellicott Lee. Baltimore: Cushings and Bailey, 1869.
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3 comments:
sometimes one wonders; did anyone ever really make these recipes?
I can imagine someone did. And back then the snow was probably not as dirty as it is now.
I remember, when I was a child, and with my grandparents, (they were farmers, they had their big slaughtering day during winter time. O.K. if you are squeemish don't read on - they put a big paot full of snow and caught the blood of the slaughtert pigs in it, after it was filled, the pot went on the stove. I don't know what else they put in it, but they stirred a lot (child's view) and finally there was something eatable called "black pudding". I remember that no part of the pig was left unused. I have an old recipe book written during war time, were they had to substitute for everything, those sound real strange, and I would never think of using any of it. Too weird and sometimes quite unhealthy.
I remember reading that during "sugaring," when people would collect sugar maple sap and boil it down into syrup, it was a big treat for kids to pour the hot syrup into snow in fancy patterns and then eat them when they were cooled.
Did you hear the NPR story about bacteria in snow? Some things I'd rather not know. I thought "There goes another simple childhood pleasure, catching snowflakes on your tongue."
Monika, I'd love to see your recipe book--I bet it's fascinating. I've got a cookbook of my mother's that was published during WWII and has hints for how to cope with rationing, though of course it was never as bad in the US as in Europe. It also has menus for 4 different levels of income: Liberal Diet ($3,000 or over annual income), Moderate Cost Adequate Diet ($2,000 to $3,000 annual income), Minimum-Cost Adequate Diet ($1,000 to $2,000 annual income), and Restricted Diet for Emergency Use ($1,000 or less annual income).
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