The Browning Club Cookbook 1923

Pat Baker, the Easton's favorite music teacher, loaned me a copy of The Browning Club Cookbook of 1923. I don't have my History of Easton, Volume 2 in front of me this morning to check out the Browning Club, but it was one of many woman's clubs around town in the decades around the turn of the century. From the contributors to the cookbook, the club had a decidedly South Easton clientele.


Today, we have become used to exact measurements and detailed cooking instructions in our recipes, but in 1923 recipe writing was in transition. You were much more likely to get exact measurements than you were several decades before when instructions like add "butter the size of a hen's egg" were common. On the other hand you darned well had to know how to cook because information about cooking time and temperature was scant at best. This was probably due to the fact that wood stoves and early gas and electric stoves were not very standardized and each cook had to get to know her appliances.

The Browning Club Cookbook is strong on desserts like Caramel Cake, Snicker Doodles, and Clove Drop Cookies all with precise measured ingredients and no instructions on baking. The Caramel Cake doesn't explain where the caramel in the name comes from since the only flavoring is chocolate. There are also a few recipes that we would consider "oddball" today although they were popular back then. See for instance this recipe for "Condensed Milk Salad Dressing."

Condensed Milk Salad Dressing

Mix in the order given
1 can condensed milk (small)
1tablespoon mustard
1tablespoon salt
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 or 2 eggs
1 to 1 1/2 cups vinegar

Do not cook


Much more "today" is the "Carrot Salad" submitted by Mrs. W. P. Howard, the editor of the cookbook.

Carrot Salad

6 carrots
2 onion
3 hard boiled eggs
6 stalks celery

Grate the carrots and dice the other ingredients.
Season to taste. Mix with lemon dressing.
Set aside to cool.
Serve with lettuce

The "set aside to cool" throws me a little. Was the lemon dressing heated? No recipe is provided so assume it was a simple mix of olive oil and lemon juice and the set aside instruction was just to provide time for the dressing to mix with the ingredients. This sounds like a refreshing lunch entree for a summer day.

One final recipe for "Corn Oysters" is my favorite.

Corn Oysters
Place a can of corn on the stove and let simmer 20 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt, a little pepper, a teaspoon of butter, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Let cool and then add 2 well beaten eggs and 1 cup fresh, crisp cracker crumbs.

Fry sliced bacon and drop corn mixture by tablespoonfuls in the hot bacon fat and fry until brown on both sides.

Now anything fried in bacon fat is fine by me, but I'd suggest opening the can of corn and placing the contents in a pan as an important first step. Bet the lady who wrote the recipe did that too!


I don't really fry things in bacon fat preferring olive oil or better yet grapeseed oil purchased at the NRT Farmer's Market, but I do enjoy one pat of butter on my breakfast egg sandwich (made with Sheep Pasture eggs, available at 3 dollars a dozen at the Carriage House). Recently, Stephanie Danielson of Easton's Planning Department told we about Kate's Butter from Maine. Its old fashioned fresh cream only butter from cows that were fed hormone free feed. Available at Roche Brothers, you can learn more at Kate's Butter.