Pearls of Wisdom - Circa 1922

The following are some pearls of wisdom gleaned from the Woman's World Cookery Calendar on Nutrition and Economy that I picked up at the flea market on Saturday.

How could the following not be helpful in our current economy?

"Woman's World Cookery Calendar is economical, and the careful home manager will realize what it means to have in the kitchen library a cook book that jealously guards the egg basket, the butter crock, the flour barrel, and the sack of sugar, so that every ounce of raw material counts. "Let There Be No Waste in the Mixing Bowl!" is the motto of the the Woman's World Cookery Calendar!"

The book begins with a long article entitled The A, B, C of Balanced Menus by Winifred Harper Cooley (Ex-National President , Associated Clubs of Domestic Science). Winifred has a bit of a flair for the dramatic.

The stomach, although a delicate membrane bag, so to speak, is abused worse than any football. We make of it a human garbage pail. It is the receptacle of all the hot and cold mixtures of all chemicals known to man, except those believed to be deadly poison. Is it not strange that we live at all; and should we wonder that lassitude and stupidity. . .are common to nearly all persons?

Dr. Emerson of Boston states that one-third of all American children are under-nourished all the time. Think of that, Mothers. So many malnourished persons mean such a large number are inadequately prepared for life's labor, and so many are contributing to criminality and insanity.

Can I get an amen??

Each month is then listed in the book, along with a dozen appropriate recipes to serve your family. This gem is from Our Twelve Best Recipes for January, along with the accompanying illustration.

Jellied Meat with Harlequin Salad
2 pounds knuckle of veal
1 onion
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. each mace and peppercorns
juice of one lemon
3 boiled potatoes
1 boiled beet
2 stalks celery
2 tbl. each salad oil and vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
paprika and parsley

Cover the meat with cold water, bring gently to a boil and simmer for 4 hours. Slip out the bones and cut the meat fine. Add half a small onion, chopped and the next 5 ingredients. Cook again, until very thick, then add the strained lemon juice. Turn this out into a mold and let stand over night. If it's warm weather, you might want to add some gelatin to be sure the meat holds the shape of the mold.

For the salad cut potatoes and beet into fine dice and mix with celery that has been chopped and the other half of the onion that has been minced. Beat together the oil and vinegar, salt, sugar and paprika. Toss this with the potato mixture. Unmold the meat onto a large platter and surround it with the salad.

I don't know about you, but if I were forced to eat this on a regular basis I might be added to the list of those who fall into her categories of lazy, stupid and criminally insane!

There is a recipe for celery sticks stuffed with ground tongue mixed with mustard, broiled sheep kidneys, egg balls and molded fish salad. Not everything seems so unpalatable though. There's a recipe for Carrot Sunshine and Huckleberry Pancakes. How bad could they be?

The recipe that most caught my imagination however was one called Surprise Cakes. Basically, it's an almond flavored cake that you form into individual potato-like shapes. (Yes. . .you shape them to look like potatoes!) After baking the little gems you paint them with egg whites and then roll them in powdered cocoa. Then you make little holes in the cakes with a skewer in a random pattern and insert either almonds or peanuts in the holes so that they look like the eyes on a raw potato! To quote the recipe - "A little care will produce wonderfully natural looking potatoes!"

That simply leaves me stunned. And asking. . .Why??

Stay tuned tomorrow because we did find something amazingly cool on Saturday, that really won't make your stomach turn! I promise!