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Old recipe Book

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
We went down to Mr Lilly's grannies today (she's 101 and in a nursing home) to get a wooden biscuit bowl that we made for her years ago. One of his uncles told us if we wanted it back that we better go get it now, before someone ended up breakin in the house and stealin things (ya never know) Anyway while we were there, I remembered that she kept her recipes in a drawer in the kitchen. Found the one I was lookin for, to bring home and copy recipes down from, but also found another one that belonged to her mother. Faded crispy pages all written in pencil.

Some real interestin soundin recipes in there, but none of em tell what temperature to bake things at, or for how long, some don't even give instructions, just ingredients. (guess your sposta just know) :roll:
There's an ingredient that I"m perdy sure is the same thing as Lard or shortenin, but it's written Spry.....was that a brand of lard? or is that another word used in place of the word lard? Anyone know?
Everywhere it calls for flour, it says Pillsbury's best flour, and if it calls for cake flour it says SnoSheen cake flour(which I've never seen in the store) I'm sure any cake flour will do, but it's neat to see things in recipes that are no longer available........now if I can figure how long to cook em and at what temperature.......
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
And I forgot to mention....some kinda critter been knawin on it. LOL

2006-04-16-010-recipe-book-.jpg


2006-04-16-009-recipe-book.jpg
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Jersey-- You are right- Spry was a brand name of lard-- I haven't heard that in sometime- my mother used to call it that sometimes......
 

islander

Well-known member
Well Jersy thats pretty neat to find somthing like that she most likey cooked on a wood stove or some thing . Guess it will be trial and error for you to figure out what works . I could ask my grandma as she is really a great cook with those old would stoves as to temps and such. So are they cakes and breads and such?
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
Thank you all fer lettin me know that Spry was what I thought it was LOL
100 years from now our great grandkids will be wonderin what Crisco is.....and Butter flavored Crisco LOL

There's cakes, pies, custards, several biscuit recipes that I've gotten to so far, I sat down and copied recipes for about 2 hours this evenin.

Here's one that has me stumped:

Gingerbread

1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp soda
1/2 c butter
1/2 c lard
1 tsp cinnammon
1 egg
1/2 c brer rabbit???????????
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 c flour
1 c hotwater

What the heck was brer rabbit LOL???
 

Rowdy Ranch

Well-known member
How neat,Lilly! I to have a few of my Grandmothers recipes and the same brand names are used. They too are written in pencil and no instructions-guess they just knew-like you said. I do not like to cook or bake,but those recipes with a history are really interesting. I bet I could try a recipe and It would not turn out like Grandmas did.
 

HAY MAKER

Well-known member
Lilly,I must be gittin old,I thought you could still buy brer rabbit at the store lol...........good luck
PS its mighty nice of you to be preserving the old recipes for the next generation,lil Lilly may be using em some day.
 

FarmDogMamma

Well-known member
It is so interesting to read some of those types of recipes, I have a few of my grandmothers cookbooks and it calls for things such as a 10 cent can of this or that, or box of something that is now sold in packages or cans or not at all. Makes you realize how lucky we are today that we can just go to the store and buy most things instead of having to bake or cook them, such as breads, cake mixes, shortening, altho I sure would love to have grandma around again for her wonderful cooking!!
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Do you think those ladies knew what 350 degrees was? Was that on those old stoves? I thought they just knew when the temp was right. Maybe that is why there are no temperatures.

I have a 1945 Old Missouri cookbook that is a hoot. I have saved it as it was my aunts. Some good recipies in there too. Lots of cream, lots of butter, lots of lard...

There is a recipe for sausage rarebit that is one of our favorites. Sausage, eggs, cheese. If any of you want the recipe I will post it.
You cook it all together and eat it on toast. MMMMM...good!
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
These recipes were Mr Lilly's great grandmothers .....she was born in 1882. I also picked up the other recipe book I was after, that belongs to his granny.
I guess the main reason I didnt know what brer rabbit was is because the only syrup I've ever used was Karo......and down here, they made alot of their own cane syrup, I have pictures from back in the 1980s a couple times when we came down for Thanksgiving, they were makin syrup.
Cuttin it, squeezin it thru the mill, cookin the juice, then puttin it in jars. We finally had to take the old mill down, too many people were stoppin to ask if we wanted to get rid of it. We were afraid that someone would take it down for us LOL
I've seen wood stoves that had temperature guages on the outside of the oven door, but most times they were broke. They probably just knew, and that's probably where the old toothpick trick came from.Cook it till the toothpick comes out clean.
I love to bake. Lil Lilly is learnin. I want her to know somethin other than how to open a box or a can and heat somethin up. Don't get me wrong, that's convenient, but I still want her to know that you can bake with ingredients instead of always dependin on a box. Them old recipes are sooo much better than box food. She helps me make jelly, and can vegetables in the summer. I"ve helped granny can deer meat a few times, would love to teach her how to do that.
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
HAY MAKER said:
Lilly,I must be gittin old,I thought you could still buy brer rabbit at the store lol...........good luck
PS its mighty nice of you to be preserving the old recipes for the next generation,lil Lilly may be using em some day.



Must be gettin' old HECK you are OLD. :wink: :cowboy:
 

cowboyup

Well-known member
Brer Rabbit was the main character in a set of books my first grade teacher used to read to us. Sure wish I could find out who wrote them as they were very fascinating to a country boy who didn't have much contact with civilization at that time.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
cowboyup said:
Brer Rabbit was the main character in a set of books my first grade teacher used to read to us. Sure wish I could find out who wrote them as they were very fascinating to a country boy who didn't have much contact with civilization at that time.

You made me curious to who did write the Uncle Remus tales- so I looked it up... Apparently the Brer Rabbit stories are folklore stories that were written down by Robert Roosevelt- Teddy's uncle and later popularized in the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris books.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brer_Rabbit
 

cowboyup

Well-known member
Thanks Oldtimer, I don't know exactly what version she had but now I have a starting point. I do remember her books were old blue cloth bound type with pages that were yellow with age, not from misuse as she was a lady who treasured her books. Also the titles were just plain Brer Rabbit and the Briar patch, Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby, I think there might have been two others but I don't remember. This was about 1972 and she was close to seventy five years old and the books were probably close to the same age. Thanks again


Cowboyup
 

nr

Well-known member
That Brer Rabbit molasses is a very dark, almost black, sulphury tasting
molasses. We always used it in ShooFly pies rather than the sweeter golden Turkey molasses. Makes you wonder how they decided on the names!

It has always been a mystery to me how anyone could bake and not burn using a wood stove/oven. Especially while tending to a huge family.
One more thing I should have asked my Grandma. :roll:
 
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