In writing my American History Cookbook, I especially enjoyed the early American cakes with lots of cream and butter. Eliza Leslie's 1827 Lafayette Gingerbread is delicious, and so is her pound cake from the same book, which I used to explicate a manuscript recipe for "Preble Cake" of 1832.

The spiced ketchups in Andy Smith's Pure Ketchup are very tasty.

I also made the 18th century chicken fricassee in "Martha Washington's Book of Cookery," which Martha probably never made, and it is delicious, but so rich you can only eat a little as a side dish to plainer fare, which is how it was originally eaten.

The first historical recipe I ever made was Lydia Maria Child's recipe for baked beans (no molasses or sugar) and I often come back to that one.

The 1877 hermit cookies in my book are very good, also. They are white spice cookies with chopped raisins.

Yield: About 100 cookies.1 cup salted butter, and some to grease baking sheets2 cups sugar1 cup raisins3 medium eggs (or two jumbo eggs)1/2 teaspoon baking soda3 tablespoons whole milk1 rounded teaspoon nutmeg1 rounded teaspoon cloves1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon6 cups flourEquipment: rolling pin and board, round cookie cutter or glass tumbler, food processor, two or more baking sheets, standing mixer or pastry blender.1. Remove butter from refrigerator an hour before starting.2. Chop raisins in a food processor by pulsing briefly. Do not grind to a paste.3. Cream together butter and sugar in food processor, or with a standing mixer, or with a pastry blender or a large fork.4. Mix flour with spices. Grease baking sheets and dust with flour.5. Dissolve baking soda in milk.6. Beat eggs until creamy and light.7. Work eggs into butter-sugar mixture, than add flour, raisins, and milk mixture in turns.8. Work into a stiff dough but do not knead. You may need a little more milk.9. When dough sticks together well enough to roll, flour the board and rolling pin.10. "Roll about one-quarter of an inch thick and cut with a round cake cutter." Arrange cookies on baking sheets.11. Gather scraps and roll out with the next portion of dough until all the dough is used up. (You can also refrigerate or freeze dough and bake the rest another day.)12. Bake about 12 minutes at 375 degrees.

--
-Mark H. Zanger
author, The American History Cookbook, The American Ethnic Cookbook for Students
www.ethnicook.com
www.historycook.com

"Warren Okuma" > wrote in message ...
> So what is your favorite historical recipe that you tried?
>
>