Authentic Thanksgiving Recipes

[donna]

Ami you asked for authentic Thanksgiving recipes.

Here is one for Pumpkin Pudding (Pumpkin Pie) 1824

Pumpkin Pudding

"Stew a fine sweet pumpkin till soft and dry, rub it through a sieve, mix with the pulp six eggs quite light, a quarter of a pound of butter, half a pint of new milk, some pounded ginger and nutmeg, a wine glass of brandy, and sugar to your taste. Should it be too liquid, stew it a little dryer, put a paste round the edges and in the bottom of a shallow dish or plate, pour in the mixture, cut some thin bits of paste, twist them and lay them across the top and bake it nicely."

"The Virginia House-Wife", Mary Randolph, with Historical Notes and Commentaries by Karen Hess (University of South Carolina Press Columbia) 1984 (p. 154).

 

[donna]

Stewed Peaches

"Take fine cling-stone peaches, that have been nicely pared and dried in the sun; wash them very clean. Put them into a pan with water to cover them, cover the pan and stew them gently till they become soft and the syrup quite low; then mash them to a pulp. Season peaches with sugar and nutmeg."

From: "The Kentucky Housewife", Lettice Bryan, 1839.

 

[ami]

thank you thank you!

 

[donna]

Ami

Here is old Turkey Recipe. It from "American Cookery" published in 1796. They would still be doing turkey this way in Civil War Era.

"One pound of soft bread, 3 ounces of beef suet, 3 eggs, a little sweet thyme, sweet marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew up, hang down to a steady fire, basting frequently with salt and water, and roast until a stream emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cranberry sauce, mangoes, pickles, or celery."

Note: Beef suet is a beef fat used for cooking. You can substitute margarine or Crisco. A gill of wine is 1/4 pint.

 

[ami]

awesome! I am going to add this one as well!

 

[nitrofd]

For thanksgiving I always smoke a turkey, for our preference I use about 90% pecan wood with about 10% blackjack oak.turkey always moist and has great flavor.if you can get some fruit wood it also gives a nice flavor also.

 

[Northern Light]

This is a little after the war but not much!

1867 Pumpkin Pie with Chicken Shortening Crust
Author: Mrs. Ellis's Perfect Instructor Cookbooks
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 35 mins
Total time: 1 hour 35 mins

This pie recipe is from the 1867 cookbook, Mrs. Ellis's Perfect Instructor Cookbook.
Ingredients

• For the Crust:
• ½ pound of shortening
• 1 pound of flour
• Butter for oiling pie pan
• ---
• For the Pie Filling
• 1 pie pumpkin or other squash (I used butternut), yielding 4 cups
• 3 Eggs
• 4 cups milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. molasses
• ½ tsp. nutmeg

Instructions

1. For a good common pie-crust, allow half a pound of shortening to a pound of flour. Pie crust looks the nicest made entirely of lard, but it does not taste so good as it does to have some butter used in making it...
2. When the shortening is thoroughly mixed with the flour, add just sufficient cold water to render it moist enough to roll our easily.
3. Divide the crust into two equal portions-lay one of them one side for the upper crust, take the other, roll it out quite thin, flouring your rolling board and pin, so that the crust will not stick to them, and line your pie plates, which should be previously buttered.
4. [Heat oven to 450 degrees]
5. Halve the squash, take out the seeds-rinse the pumpkin, and cut it into small strips-stew them over [medium heat in a heavy saucepan], in just sufficient water to prevent their burning to the bottom of the pot.
6. When stewed soft, turn off the water, [cover the pan] and let the pumpkin steam...for fifteen or twenty minutes.
7. Take it from the [oven], and strain it when cool, through a sieve.
8. Mix the sugar and the eggs,
9. [Once pumpkin is cool, mix the pumpkin, milk, molasses, and nutmeg with the eggs and sugar.]
10. [Pour in a pie crust and cook in a very hot oven for 35-45 minutes or until filling is no longer liquid.]
11. **Notes from the cookbook to be followed after Step 8 if you so choose: "If you wish to have the pies very rich, put to a quart of the stewed pumpkin two quarts of milk and twelve eggs. If you like them plain, put to the quart of pumpkin one quart of milk and three eggs. The thicker the pie is of the pumpkin, the less will be the number of eggs required for them. One egg, with a tablespoonful of flour, will answer for a quart of the pumpkin, if very little milk is used. Sweeten the pumpkin with sugar, and a very little molasses -- the sugar and eggs should be beaten together. Ginger, grated lemon rind, or nutmeg, is good spice for the pies.

From the website "A Sense of Taste"

 

[donna]

What would Thanksgiving be like without Cranberry Sauce! This Cranberry Sauce recipe is from Eliza Leslie's "Directions for Cookery", published in 1851.

Cranberry Sauce

"Wash a quart of ripe cranberries, and put them into a pan with about a wine-glass of water. Stew them slowly, and stir them frequently, particularly after they begin to burst. They require a great deal of stewing, and should be like a marmalade when done. After you take them from the fire, stir in a pound of brown sugar. You may strain the pulp through a cullendar or sieve into a mould, and when it is in a firm shape send it to table on a glass dish."

 

[donna]

Sweet Potatoes and Apples, Recreated

6 medium sweet potatoes
6 medium apples
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the sweet potatoes in the skins for I hour or until tender. Remove from the heat and reduce oven to 350 degrees. When sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and cut in slices about half inch thick. Peel, core and slice the apples. Layer the sliced potatoes and apples in a buttered pan. Sprinkle each layer with sugar, and a dash of nutmeg. Dot with butter. Cover and bake 30 to 35 minutes.

From: "Old-Fashioned Celebrations Recipes and Traditions from Conner Prairie Museum", Bear Wallow Books, page 27.

 

[nitrofd]

This one may be worth a try, sounds very tasty.

 

[E_just_E]

here is a compilation from Thanksgiving recipes from Godey's Lady's Book. The compilation was done in 1887, but I suspect that lots of those recipes are much earlier...

 

[diane]

Ami

Here is old Turkey Recipe. It from "American Cookery" published in 1796. They would still be doing turkey this way in Civil War Era.

"One pound of soft bread, 3 ounces of beef suet, 3 eggs, a little sweet thyme, sweet marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew up, hang down to a steady fire, basting frequently with salt and water, and roast until a stream emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cranberry sauce, mangoes, pickles, or celery."

Note: Beef suet is a beef fat used for cooking. You can substitute margarine or Crisco. A gill of wine is 1/4 pint.

Mangoes! Did they mean pickles or real mangoes? Wonder if they got them from England? Mangoes weren't grown in this country until 1861 - Florida.

Wonderful recipes!

 

[donna]

When Mangoes were first imported to the Colonies in 17th century they had to be pickled.

See: http://fooducopia.com/product-2100-mango-in-vinegar.html

 

[Seduzal]

Donna, thanks for this recipe. I just love sweet potatoes.

Had one like this one but can not find it.

 

[nitrofd]

My wife has been enjoying this thread so she will part with one hers, be back shortly with it.

 

[Littlestown]

When Mangoes were first imported to the Colonies in 17th century they had to be pickled.

See: http://fooducopia.com/product-2100-mango-in-vinegar.html

True Donna. I know many people who refer to green peppers as mangoes. Maybe this explains the confusion ...
"When mangoes were first imported to the American colonies in the 17th century, they had to be pickled due to lack of refrigeration. Other fruits were also pickled and came to be called 'mangoes', especially bell peppers, and by the 18th century, the word 'mango' became a verb meaning "to pickle."

Now excuse me while I go eat the cucumbers I mangoed last summer."

- See more at: http://www.thepacker.com/commodity-fruits/mangoes/244267351.html?page=2#sthash.O9gikP9G.dpuf

 

[nitrofd]

This is my wife's recipe called "SWEET POTATO PRALINE".When it comes to the holiday's if she doesn't make this she would have around 20 family members starting a riot.

5 lbs sweet potatoes (boiled and mashed)
2/3 cup sweet butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1tsp.vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg and allspice
MIX TOGETHER
TOPPING
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup small pieces pecans
1/2 cup hard butter
Mix topping ingredients till crumbly

Place potatoes in deep casserole dish and bake at 350° till nice and bubbly and dig in.

 

[Northern Light]

This is my wife's recipe called "SWEET POTATO PRALINE".When it comes to the holiday's if she doesn't make this she would have around 20 family members starting a riot.

5 lbs sweet potatoes (boiled and mashed)
2/3 cup sweet butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1tsp.vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg and allspice
MIX TOGETHER
TOPPING
1 cup light brain sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup small pieces pecans
1/2 cup hard butter
Mix topping ingredients till crumbly

Place potatoes in deep casserole dish and bake at 350° till nice and bubbly and dig in.

That sounds good! I think I'd have it for dessert, and since I'm the only one who likes sweet potatoes, I'd get the whole thing to myself!

 

[nitrofd]

Northern light, when your other people try this they will like sweet taters.

 

[Northern Light]

Northern light, when your other people try this they will like sweet taters.

Oh, but then I'll have to share!