More Recipes from the Dark Ages

My mother's mother left a small collection of recipes from the era between 1910 and 1930 with an emphasis on the early period shortly after she had become a bride. I had made a file of those recipes a few years ago, and they popped up on the computer a few days ago. Like most recipes from the era they lack cooking instructions for the most part. Apropos of our earlier discussion of chowders here is her recipe for Oyster Chowder including rare preparation directions.

Oyster Chowder

1/2 pint oysters

1 quart milk

6 small potatoes

1onion

3 thin slices salt pork

1dash of cayenne

1 dash of salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Cook potatoes to mush in a little water. Add to milk. Fry diced onions lightly in chopped pork. Season and add oysters 13 to 15 minutes before done. Thicken with flour.

The missing instructions probably included add onions to milk and bring to a simmer but don't boil. When at a simmer add oysters. One wonders with the potatoes as thickener whether flour would actually be needed. 

A recipe from February 14, 1913 gives us a salad dressing:

Salad Dressing

1 cup vinegar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons mustard

1 tablespoon salt

1 egg beat up good

A piece of butter

Unfortunately no instructions are included. Caesar Salad Dressing wouldn't be invented for another 11 years and many salad dressings of this era are cooked, but it seems that the egg is used raw along with the butter as the emulsifier here. Raw egg leaves some concern about salmonella although many people believe the vinegar kills any bacteria. Some modern recipes for caesar salad briefly coddle the egg before adding to the dressing. Haven't tried this recipe myself, but it looks like it might be tasty.