Fresh From Your Grocer's Shelves, 70 Proof Cookery

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
store grocery.jpg
Advertisement for Thomson & Co, a grocery, could have been anywhere. Advertised goods seem typical- except for all that alcohol! Banished for more decades than a lot of us have been alive, era cook books at least gave housewives an excuse for picking some spirituous ingredients.

Slowly making their way back into grocery stores across all 50 states, I'm always so surprised shopping outside of Pennsylvania and seeing GASP alcohol actually SOLDI N GROCERY STORES, We're a little slow here... . Things are just kicking in. Again.

A few to start, @donna , do you have any era recipes inclusive of alcohol?

BRIDES CAKE

3 pounds of raisins , 2 of currants , 12 eggs , 1 pound of flour , 1 pound of sugar , 1 wine glass of brandy , 2 nutmegs , 1 table spoonful of cinnamon , a half one of cloves , 1 of allspice , citron , and bake in a quick oven , it will require 3 hours ; this cake must be * covered with icing .

RUM JELLY

Clarify and boil to a syrup a pound of loaf-sugar; dis solve one ounce of isinglass in half a pint of water; strain it into the syrup while half warm; when nearly cold, stir in a quart of white wine; mix it well and add two table-spoonfuls of Jamaica rum; stir a few minutes and pour into glasses.

ORANGES FOR DESSERT

Peel and slice oranges ; arrange nicely in a glass dish, with powdered sugar sprinkled between each layer. If you like, add Madeira wine and more sugar when served.

APPLE FRITTERS

Take 4 good apples ; cut each in 6 slices ; take out the core with a vegetable cutter ; peel and put them in a basin, with 1 gill of brandy, and 1 oz. of pounded sugar; toss gently, to impregnate the apples with the sugar and brandy ;
When wanted, drain them well on a cloth, otherwise the batter would not adhere to them ;
Make 1 pint of frying batter.
Warm about 3 lbs. of fat in the frying kettle ; when hot, place it on the stove corner ;
Dip each piece of apple in the batter, and put them in the fat ; accelerate the fire, when they are nearly cooked ; when crisp and dry, and of a nice yellow colour, drain the fritters on a cloth, sprinkle some pounded sugar over both sides ; pile them up on a napkin on a hot dish ; and serve.

EEL SAUCE

Cut the eels into large pieces and put them into a stew- pan with a few slices of bacon, ham, veal, two onions, with all sorts of roots, soak it till it catches, then add a glass of white wine and good broth, a little carrot, three or four tarragon leaves, chervil, a clove of garlic, two spices, and a bay leaf j simmer for an hour, skim it vejy well and sift it in a sieve for use.

I ran out of time looking for recipes inclusive of plain, old whiskey and gin. They're out there although guessing would be in someone's home recipe book rather than ' Old Dominion ' or ' A Lady of Philadelphia '. Please feel free to add any ( era ) recipes inclusive of what our ancestors could buy at their store, even in Pennsylvania.
 
Not wanting to lead away from the topic, I cannot help but notice the lack of 'spiritous establishments' in the east during the Civil War.
May I ask if any representations have been found of 'men at the bar', such as in the pictures of the old west?
Lubliner.
 
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