This selection is from the Inglenook Cook Book from 1911. My edition of the book is from 1927 and is in poor form--the spine is cracked and duck-taped, the pages are torn and heavily yellowed--but I love that when I open the book, faded, handwritten recipes fall from between the pages. It seems like every time I open the cookbook new, mysterious pages present themselves to me. For instance, today when I was looking for a new recipe to write about, this little memoranda fell onto my lap:
This recipe is for pepper relish. It's hard to read, but it looks like the recipe calls for red peppers, green peppers, onions (put through a grinder--what's a grinder?), boiling water, vinegar, salt, and a whopping 2 cups of sugar! The real mystery is the note written in pencil at the bottom. I can make out the words "out of my book you copy," "send back" and "Mother." I wonder if the recipe ever made its way back to Mom. Hmm... Anyway, I'm off to the farmer's market with hopes of finding some red and green peppers to make this relish for a later post!
Do you have any old cookbooks? Find anything special between the pages?
Happy adventuring!
Haha I love the hygenic way to prepare onions...I'm still trying to figure that out!
ReplyDeleteThe pepper relish sounds like something I've been making recently with all of our cayenne peppers. I put peppers (some seeded, others left alone) with garlic in a food processor, boil it in water and vinegar, add sugar and cook it down until the peppers aren't as spicy. Then I add a little cornstarch & water to thicken it up, and it's almost exactly like Trader Joe's Thai Sweet Chili Sauce!! I'm sure that basic recipe would be great with any kind of peppers/onions too. Let me know if you try it and like it!
The 'grinder' is a word used in some parts of America for one of these :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/TALA-6250-Meat-Mincer/dp/B000W0AVSO
The only reason I could see for the boiling water after peeling is to either soften the onions ready for the relish or to dilute the taste.
What a fascinating find. Thanks for sharing.