Potato Paste/Peppermint Chocolates (1912)

 Candy-making Revolutionized: Confectionary from Vegetables

Readers may recognize this book as the origin of the disastrous potato fondant.  But my love for potatoes overcomes all, and I gave it another go!  

Potato Paste 

As the foundation for one sort of decorative confectionery, potato paste must be made. Steam or boil Irish potatoes, drain them, and force them through a fine sieve,—the finer the better. With one-half cupful of Irish potato, so prepared, mix one tablespoonful of corn starch. Gradually and carefully work in enough confectioner's sugar so that the mixture can be rolled.

A Cheeto, grapes, and a banana!

A banana tree!

A rose!

Peppermint Chocolates.—Potato paste—described on page 52—is the basis for them. Make a softer paste by using less sugar, work in peppermint to taste, form it into balls, flatten and dry for a couple of hours. Then dip them in chocolate as usual. After the finished candy has stood for a time long enough for the chocolate covering to have mellowed the center, the result will be a cream of excellent flavor and a texture unusually attractive because of its grain. The difference between this and the ordinary peppermint chocolate is so great that they really are not the same confection.

Verdict: I once again riced the potatoes to make them nice and smooth. I say I, but in fact I convinced my 12 year old to invite a friend over and do it for me. We made green peppermint, yellow banana, orange pineapple, purple raspberry, and pink almond. After some trial and error, I ended up with about 2 T of cornstarch and 2 T. of powdered sugar. If the mixture ends up wet, add cornstarch, not powdered sugar. The powdered sugar liquifies and makes it wetter and wetter the more you add, despite what the book says.  

I turned it over to my child sweatshop, and they swiftly made a variety of shapes. The leftovers were formed into patties and dunked in chocolate (also by the child sweatshop team).  

The flavor of the potato paste is… fine. I would much rather eat a cake covered with potato paste than fondant. I think it could really shine in a decorative capacity. I mean, are sprinkles delicious?  No. Are those weird crunchy candy letters for birthday cakes delicious?  Also no. But this tastes better than either of those!  

It is also a very good homemade Play-Doh recipe!  Lots of other ones are either inedible, difficult, or expensive. This one is dirt cheap, easy, and just good enough to nibble at, but (unlike the honey/peanut butter/dry milk recipe) not delicious enough to gorge on and low fat!  The powdered sugar being a structural liability rather than a necessity means you could use sugar substitute as well!  

 Verdict when covered in chocolate: Pretty nice!  The texture is weirdly satisfying and pleasant. The kiddos and husband came back for more.  

All in all, I will keep this recipe in my back pocket!  Especially if I have to entertain some kids who love potatoes. 

A Potatoe Pudding (1797)

The Accomplished Housekeeper, and Universal Cook: Containing All the Various Branches of Cookery; Directions for Roasting, Boiling and Made Dishes, Also for Frying, Broiling, Stewing, Mincing, and Hashing. The Different Methods of Dressing Poultry, Game, and Fish ... Directions for Carving. With a Catalogue of the Various Articles in Season Every Month in the Year (1797) 

A potatoe pudding

Having boiled a quarter of a pound of potatoes till they are soft, peel them, and mash them with the back of a spoon, and rub them through a sieve to have them fine and smooth. Then take half a pound of butter melted, half a pound of fine sugar, and beat them well together till they are smooth. Stir six eggs, well beaten, into a glass or sack or brandy: and if you think proper, you may put in half a pint of currants. Boil it half an hour. Pour over it melted butter, with a glass of wine in it, and sweeten it with sugar. 

Verdict: If you are thinking to yourself, “Self, is that not a ludicrous amount of butter?”, you are wise indeed. This thing is pretty much melted butter, with eggs and some potato starch trying to hold it together. Sadly, all of the structural support those ingredients lent were insufficient to hold in all the melted butter. Yes, I did not dump more melted butter over the top. That pool of butter is just what could not be contained by the pudding itself.

 I used sour cherry juice in place of the wine, as I am a teetotaler. I thought that would give it a nice color, but instead it immediately turned the batter Prison Wall Grey.  The taste wasn’t terrible (I mean, with that much butter, I’d probably eat straw).  It is kind of mousse-ish?  Everyone grudgingly ate one bite, after verifying it was not cat food.  To fix this, I’d probably quadruple the potato, quarter the butter, and use some liquid that doesn’t turn grey. 

I put it in the fridge so I could peel off the hardened butter and use it for cooking, but in the end, it was so unpleasant to look at I slid it into the trash. I say “slid,” but the butter had sealed the pudding and the plate together, so I had to use a cottage cheese lid to get it off.  

Potato Fondant (1912)

 Candy-Making Revolutionized: Confectionary Revolutionized (1912) by Mary Elizabeth Hall 

Vegetable candy, to my mind, is ideal confectionery. Of its purity, there can be no doubt. Moreover, it furnishes the valuable element of sugar so combined with nutritious vegetable bases that, because of the bulk, there is no temptation to overeat. This quality of the new confection would seem insurance against the evil effects of gluttony! Before an undue amount of sugar is consumed, the very mass of the vegetable base has satisfied the appetite.

 

Cooked Potato Fondant.—With one-half cupful of potato, prepared as for the uncooked fondant, very thoroughly mix two cupsful of sugar and thin with two-thirds of a cupful of milk. Place the mixture on an asbestos mat over the fire and cook until thick—to the sticking point. Pour the mass on a cold, damp marble and "cut in" like plain fondant. Knead small quantities at a time until the whole batch is smooth. Pack in tins lined with wax paper. The fondant can be used without additional sugar and does not stick to the hands. It is particularly useful as a covering.  […] Potato fondant shows particular superiority over the almond paste in the making of small objects and all fine and thin work.

Let me say first: I think this is the most mess I have ever made with the least number of ingredients.  Take a deep breath, and let’s dive into what happened here.  

    I put the potatoes through a potato ricer, in lieu of the fine sieve instructed.  This was the last enjoyable part of this process, because it was after this that things began to go wrong  

Having decided that “thick” and “to the sticking point” probably meant soft ball, upon consultation with other more normal fondant recipes, I foolishly chose a pot that I soon realized was comically small when it started to foam  

It’s fine, I have a nice heavy bottomed pot!  That will do to replace the ASBESTOS mat intended to regulate the heat. Wait why is it brown 

OH NO.  

Procrastinate until fondant has cooled too much. Use hands to smoosh handfuls of earwax-substitute into the mixer. 

Whip until the mixer makes angry sounds and it smells like overheated machinery. Perfect. Just like it said, it doesn’t adhere to the fingers at all  

Verdict: *weeping*. My kitchen is full of sticky things. Some of the sticky things include me and my children. And the floor. I have a pan with sugar cement in the bottom, and the fondant in the mixer bowl has also, weirdly, hardened into concrete. Pray that hot water and time will solve these problems, or CALAMITY. 

Japanese Rice (1908)

 365 Foreign Dishes: A foreign dish for every day in the year

15.—Japanese Rice.

Boil 1 cup of rice; add 3 chopped shallots, 1 teaspoonful of soy and salt to taste. Place on a platter, cover with chopped hard-boiled eggs, sprinkle with salt, paprica and chopped parsley. Garnish with some thin slices of smoked salmon.

Since I am not an expert in Japanese cuisine, I crowdsourced opinions on how close this was to Japanese. The general opinion was that it was possibly trying to be salmon donburi or tamago gohan, except substituting Japanese ingredients with ingredients that were visually similar,available in Philadelphia in 1908, and appealing to western cooks. Hard boiled eggs=raw egg or soft boiled, parsley=mitsuba or shiso, shallots=green onion, paprika=shichimi or ichimi togarashi, and smoked salmon=plain salmon, raw salmon, or katsuobushi? 

And yes, I did boil the rice. Sigh. 

Verdict: The temptation here is just to make fun of this.  But you know what?  Someone tried.  And with limited resources, I think the attempt is worth respect.  I personally love when different countries make a stab at American cuisine and end up with something only tangentially related.  That said, is this authentically Japanese?  No.  No it is not.  But is it delicious?  Also no.  I suspect by “shallot” the author meant scallions/green onions of some kind, because three scallions would be fine, but three shallots is A LOT OF SHALLOTS.  It’s almost equal volume shallots to rice.  

So very, very much shallot.  Everyone ate around the shallots, and everything around the shallots was fine.  The smoked salmon was spectacular, and when I granted permission to just pick the good bits out, the kids fought over it to the last shred. 

You deserved better. 

So if you wish to make a turn of the century Americanized Japanese dish, this is not a bad way to go!  If you are, in fact, Japanese, make this just for the giggles.  Just make sure to use scallions, not shallots!  

Wartime Chop Suey (1943)

 Cooking on a Ration; cooking is still fun! (1943), by Marjorie Mills 

“What’s the plan for dinner?” asked my husband. “Wartime Chop Suey!” I said. 

 “In… in what way is it ‘wartime?’”

“It’s full of secrets?”

“What is chop suey?” asked 10 year old. 

“It’s a Chinese-American dish.  I don’t think you’ve ever had it.” 

“Oh. If it’s bad, do we have to eat it?” 

“Nope.” 

“Okay!” 

 Above: 12 year old makes sure the dog is in the picture. Also, 3x as much meat as the recipe calls for. It was the smallest package I could find. 

Wartime Chop Suey 

2 tablespoons fat (I used bacon fat, to give it the best possible chance) 

1 cup sliced onion 

1/2 pound fresh pork, cut into strips 

1/4 cup uncooked rice 

4 bouillon cubes 

4 cups water 

3/4 teaspoon salt 

1 cup green pepper 

1 cup celery strips 

1 1/2 teaspoon Soy Sauce, or 2 tablespoons ketchup (I used both!  Wheeee!) 

2 cups ready to eat rice cereal 

1 tablespoon butter

Hear fat in heavy frying pan. Add onions and meat; cook until lightly browned. Add rice and stock (made by dissolving bouillon cubes in hot water). Add salt; cover and simmer about 20 minutes.  Add green pepper, celery, and Soy Sauce or ketchup.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes longer. Serve at once with rice cereal which has been heated in butter. 

Mmm, fried in butter 

Why is there only 1/4 cup of rice to a quart of liquid? And WHY COOK THE RICE FOR 40 MINUTES

Verdict: Not… actually that bad?  With the ratio of liquid to rice, it’s really on the soup or stew side. Everyone finished their servings, unforced.  Kids said it was better than most of their school lunches, and then argued with each other over whether the school’s chili was good or not.   Afterwards, I saved the leftovers and said it was fair game for someone to pick the tasty bits out of later, by which I meant the pork, as the rice was almost dissolved and bell peppers are meh. Both kids scampered over to the pan of butter fried generic Rice Krispies, and polished them off. Because they were DELICIOUS. 10 year old said she would like a bowl full of butter fried Rice Krispies in broth, like a cereal soup. 

Wedding Cake (1924)

  The Home Maker’s Cookbook: Containing Tried and True and Tried Recipes by the Tewksbury (Mass.) Congregational Church Women’s Missionary Society (1924) 

This is the most traditional style of wedding cake: lots of fruit and richness to wish fertility and abundance on the newlyweds. 

Wedding Cake 

1/2 lb. butter 

1/2 lb. sugar 

4 eggs—adding whites last 

2 tablespoons molasses 

1/2 teaspoon soda (scant) dissolved in 2 tablespoons milk 

1 small jar maraschino cherries 

1/4 teaspoon clove, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon 

10 oz. flour 

1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice 

1 lb. raisins 

1 lb. currants 

6 oz. citron, shredded 

Bake in moderate oven about two hours. —Alice E. Ramsay

———

My grocery store only sells candied fruit around Christmas, so instead I candied some orange peels and made my 10 year old and her friend eat the insides.  I also realized while assembling everything that I had forgotten currants.  As going back to the store would make me scream, I pulled out some dried prune plums from my tree last year to replace them.  

Verdict: Amazing!  Dense and rich.  I took it to a get-together with friends, and everyone who tried it said they liked it.  One friend said it was the first fruitcake she had ever liked!  I would be very comfortable serving this at a wedding now.  Nice work, Alice E. Ramsay!  

Update: I dropped some cake off with a neighbor, who texted me “[Husband] never left the plate! He loves it sooooo much!!! We should have married in the 20s!” 

Redaction: 

Wedding Cake 

1/2 lb. butter 

1/2 lb. sugar 

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons molasses 

10 oz. flour 

1/4 teaspoon each clove, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice 

1 jar maraschino cherries, halved 

1 lb. raisins 

1 lb. currants 

6 oz. citron, shredded

4 egg whites, whipped to stiff peaks 

Cream butter and sugar together until butter is light and fluffy.  Add egg yolks and molasses.  In a separate bowl, mix together flour, spices, and baking soda.  Add to butter mixture alternately with maraschino cherry juice.  Mix in raisins, currants, and citron. Gently fold in whipped egg whites. Pour in greased and floured cake pan, and bake at 325 F. for about 2 hours, covering with aluminum foil if the top starts getting too brown.  

Shredded Wheat Pudding (1924)

 The Home Maker’s Cookbook: Containing Tried and True and Tried Recipes by the Tewksbury (Mass.) Congregational Church Women’s Missionary Society (1924) 

The idea of publishing and selling a cook book was undertaken by a committee from The Women’s Missionary Society of the Tewksbury Congregational Church, consisting of Mrs. H. W. Pillsbury, Chairman, Miss M. Esther Marshall, Secretary; Mrs. John H. Nichols, Treasurer; Mrs. Arthur C. Tingley, Miss Blanche King, Mrs. Frank Gulliland, Mrs. H. P. Dinsmore, Mrs. Gertrude E. Bailey. They began the work in October, 1923, as their special gift toward a fund for an organ for the new church. After months of earnest work, the committee presents to the public The Home-Maker’s Cookbook as the result of their united efforts and painstaking thought.

This cookbook offers the 1924 version of a balanced diet. Whereas the current 2024 recommended diet is My Plate, 1924’s is as follows: 

EVERY WELL-BALANCED MEAL SHOULD HAVE:

One protein dish, two carbohydrate dishes, one mineral dish, one fat, one water dish (beverage).

Proteins: — milk, meat, eggs, poultry, fish, cheese, nuts, cereals.

Carbohydrates: — cereals, potatoes, rice, bananas, breads, macaroni, tapioca.

Minerals: — Fruits, green vegetables, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, onions.

Fats: — Cream, butter, oleo, meat fats, vegetable fats, nut oils.

 

Also note that grains can also count as the protein.  So conceivably, 75% of your plate could be carbs.  

A beverage rather than necessarily dairy could actually be fine, as long as you’re getting some good source of calcium.  

And, of course, every church cookbook has to have The Recipe That Is Actually a Figurative Device. There is always at least one in every church cookbook.  It could be a recipe for happy marriage, or for friendship, or for raising children, but in this case, it is for life in general. 

 A RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE

Take a large quantity of Cheerfulness and let it simmer with¬ out stopping. Put with it a brimming basinful of Kindness, then add a full measure of Thought for other People.

Mix into these a heaping tablespoonful of Sympathy. Flavor with essence of Charity. Stir well together and then carefully strain off any grains of Selfishness.

Let the whole be served with Love sauce and Fruit of the Spirit.

Mrs. Grace M. Taylor

But onwards to the recipe! 

SHREDDED WHEAT PUDDING

 2 shredded wheat biscuits 

3 eggs

½  cup molasses

 2 tablespoons sugar

A little cinnamon and salt

Put into medium-sized pudding dish, fill dish with milk, and bake. Mrs. Josephine Dows Harmon

 

Mixy mixy, poury poury

Cover with milk, sprinkle with cinnamon because you forgot to add it in 

Bake for like 30 minutes at 350 F. and chill

Serve to SUPER EXCITED family 

Verdict: Just kidding, no one was excited. I was hopeful, as this would be a good way to use stale cereal from food banks and whatnot. If it were good. Husband had one bite and said, “huh.” 12 year old had one bite, and said it tasted like cold, plain oatmeal.  10 year old finished a small serving, and said it tasted like nothing. I finished my serving. All agreed they would rather eat all the ingredients individually. Even if you think “breakfast” rather than “dessert,” it’s just cold, soggy… stuff.  “But wait!” you say, “doesn’t molasses have a taste?” to which I say, yes!  It does!  And if for some reason you have to eat a lot of molasses but do not want to taste it at all, and also hate chewing, this is the recipe for you! 

V(ictory) Loaf (1943)

 Cooking on a Ration: Food is Still Fun Marjorie Mills, 1943 

V Loaf 

2 cups cooked rice 

½ cup fine dry bread crumbs

½ cup chopped nut meats 

1 cup cooked tomatoes 

1 egg

1 small onion, chopped 

½ teaspoon salt 

⅛ teaspoon black pepper 

2 tablespoons chopped green pepper

4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine 

Mix all together to form loaf. Bake in greased loaf pan in moderate oven (350 degrees) 30 minutes.  Cover with mashed potatoes; put back in oven to brown. Serve with Tomato Sauce. Serves 6. This defies detection as a substitute meat loaf and is very good. 

Ever since the apple Brown Betty recipe, we keep a breadcrumb bag in the freezer

Weirdly meatloaf colored?  

Cover your sins with mashed potatoes! 

Verdict:  Much better than expected, actually?? Visually, it’s pretty spot-on. Texturally, also reasonably close, but mushier. Reminds me of porcupine meatballs.  All agreed that if someone whose meatloaf they weren’t familiar with served them this meatloaf, the first thought upon tasting wouldn’t be “this isn’t meat” but rather “this person does not make very good meatloaf.”  When I told my husband it was Victory Loaf and he asked what it was made of, I told him victory.  The person who guessed the most ingredients was promised a prize. The prize was another helping. 

If you are one of those vegetarians who swears that black bean burgers, tofu, and seitan are just like meat, you will be blown away by this recipe. It’s very bland, but hey, it’s the 1940s!  The cuisine of the 1940s is not known for seasoning. With some more seasoning, this could go from “Huh.  Okay.” to “Well that’s kind of neat!” 75% of those polled agreed they would rather have this than just rice, walnuts, a piece of bread, part of an egg, a potato, etc.  and would rather have this than a tv dinner meatloaf.  100% rated it “inoffensive” and remained emotionally resilient. One child finished off seconds (because she was hungry, she hastens to add, not because it was that good).  

Macaroni and Cheese Custard (1943)

Cooking on a Ration: Food is Still Fun Marjorie Mills, 1943

It’s not necessary to be grim and determined about food; the nutrition pronouncements we try to follow aren’t an endless task or substituting something “good for you” for something you would rather eat. 

Macaroni and Cheese Custard

3 cups cooked macaroni 

2 ½ cups milk 

1 ½  t salt 

¼ t paprika 

1 T melted butter or margarine

2 eggs 

1 cup finely cut cheese 

Heat milk; add butter, cheese, and seasonings, and pour into slightly beaten eggs. Put macaroni in greased baking dish and pour over the milk mixture. Let stand in pan of hot water and bake gently about 30 minutes in a moderate oven (350 degrees), or until firm in the middle. Serves 6.   

Method: I microwaved the milk and butter together, then whisked everything else in and poured it over the noodles. I didn’t do the water bath, because my modern oven has more even heat than a 1940’s one. 

Verdict: This took about as long to prep as boxed macaroni and cheese, although there was a half hour of oven time as well. Everyone liked it!  It isn’t as good as homemade macaroni and cheese, but I think it’s better than boxed. My family said they slightly preferred boxed, but it was close enough that could be down to familiarity and nostalgia value. It’s certainly healthier than either, with only a tablespoon of butter and a cup of cheese (extra sharp cheddar, of course!) As a bonus, making this helps fight Hitler, and you can’t argue with that. 

In conclusion: give it a try!  See what you think. Is it worth it for you?