Welcome to Family Recipe Friday: the West Virginia Wesleyan College Club Cook Book Edition!
This cookbook was published in 1909 and we’re exploring the recipes and the lives of the women who submitted them. (Want to know more? Read the intro here.)
Please remember to use 2014 food handling safety practices when attempting to make 1909 recipes!
Pages 9-12
Transcription
Soups
Blest be these feasts with simple plenty crown’d,
Where all the ruddy family round
Laugh at the jest or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale,
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.
–Oliver Goldsmith.
SOUP.
Two lbs. upper round of beef, 1 whole beef shin and 1 knuck of veal; add to this 1½ gallons cold water and a little salt. Put on back of stove and simmer gently nearly all day. Keep skimming until no more skim rises, then add 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 turnip, 1 parsnip, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves and a little nutmeg, with pepper to taste. When all is thoroughly cooked remove the vegetables and strain the soup, with meat, through a wire sieve, using a potato masher to extract all meat juice. When cold take all grease from top. When ready to serve reheat and season more if necessary.
–Mrs. C. L. Barlow.
LIMA BEAN SOUP.
Boil lima beans with a slice of bacon until perfectly tender. Run through a colander to remove skins. Flavor with tomato juice, salt and pepper. If not thick enough to suit taste, add a little butter and flour mixed together.
–Mrs. C. G. Doney.
OYSTER SOUP.
Wash 1 quart of oysters; season with salt, pepper and a small lump of butter, and let heat until oysters ruffle, then add 1 quart of hot milk, or 1 pint each of milk and water which have been brought to the boiling point; add a generous lump of butter and serve as soon as they come to the boiling point.
–Sue W. Lindsay.
TOMATO SOUP WITH STOCK.
One quart of tomatoes, 2 slices of onion, 1 tablespoon of sugar, pinch of sayenne [sic] pepper, salt to taste. Cook thoroughly and strain. Have ready 2 quarts of stock; add tomatoes and thicken with full tablespoon of cornstarch or 2 tablespoons of flour.
–Sue W. Lindsay.
BOUILLON.
Two pounds of lean beef, 1 quart of cold water, 1 small onion 1 bay leaf, 1 stalk of celery, 1 sprig of parsley. Free the meat from all fat and gristle; put the meat in the soup kettle with the water, onion and celery, and put kettle on the back part of the range for two hours; then place it over a good fire and skim at the first boil. Now place it over a moderate fire and let simmer for four hours, then strain, put it in the kettle and add salt and pepper. Beat the white of one egg with one-half cupful of cold water until well mixed. Wash the egg shell, mash it and add it to the white. (In breaking the egg be careful that none of the yellow gets into the white, as the smallest portion will prevent the bouillon brom being clear.) Now add the white of egg, shell and watter to the bouillon; let it boil hard ten minutes; then throw in one-fourth pint of cold water and boil five minutes longer. Take the kettle of the fire and strain through flannel bag; add salt to taste. Color with caramel–one-half teaspoonful to a quart.
THE CARAMEL.–Put one cupful of granulated sugar in an iron or granite sauce-pan; stir it over the fire until it melts and burns; as soon as it begins to smoke and boil add one cupful of boiling water; let boil one minute; put in bottle and cork tightly. This is used for coloring soups, puddings and sauces.
–Mary Cooper.
CROUTONS TO SERVE WITH SOUP.
Butter slices of stale bread; cut into dice, set in oven to dry out well and toast quickly a rich brown, or for extra occasions use a doughnut or jumble cutter that has an inch hole in center. With this cut rounds from stale bread. For each of these rounds cut two strips a third of an inch thick and about three inches long. Toast all a pretty brown and put two sticks through each round and lay on bread and butter plate with butter ball.
–Mary P. Barlow.
FRUIT SOUP.
These soups may be made from currants, oranges, cranberries, or a mixture of currants and raspberries. One pint of juice, one pint of boiling water, one tablespoon of arrow root, sugar to taste. Moisten arrow root in a little cold water, add the boiling water and sugar, boil a moment and add the fruit juice. At serving time half fill a punch bowl with cracked ice, pour in the fruit juice, and it is ready to serve. Serve in punch glasses. Fine for hot weather.
BEEF SOUP.
Take a soup bone with plenty of meat upon it. Put on in cold water, boil several hours, skim off grease; put in one hour before serving, turnips, carrots, onions, cabbage and potatoes, chopped fine, in quantity as desired, a few tomatoes and a little celery, three tablespoonfuls of rice; drop in a few noodles.
DROP NOODLES.
One egg, two teaspoonsful baking powder, small lump butter, four tablespoonsful of milk, flour enough to make a stiff batter; drop in soup; cook twenty minutes.
Who were they?
Oliver Goldsmith: The epigraph for the Soups chapter was written by Oliver Goldsmith, an Irish novelist, playwright and poet.
Mrs. C. L. Barlow/ Mary P. Barlow: Born Mary Poundstone to Alexander M. Poundstone and Arminta/Araminta M. Mccormick (1, 2) in about 1858 in Ohio (2), she married Chas./Charles L. Barlow on June 1, 1881 at Upshur County, West Virginia, where they also resided (3, 4). They were parents to Wilson Palmer Barlow (4, 5). She died May 13, 1922. (1) She left a will that highlights many family connections, and proves her dedication to the College Club with a $200 endowment for the Agnes Howard Hall (5). (A cursory review of West Virginia Wesleyan College: the first fifty years, 1890-1940 indicates her father was deeply involved on the College’s Board of Trustees and building committee (6).) More importantly, her will also captures her seemingly gentle and loving voice.
Mrs. C. G. Doney: Jennie A. Evans was born to Hugh and Rachel A. Evans (1) in Granville, Ohio, date uncertain but around 1864-1866 (1, 11) or in November 1869 in Ohio (2), She married Carl G. Doney on September 6, 1893 in Franklin County, Ohio (3). Following them through the Federal Census proves interesting: they lived in Delaware OH in 1900 (2), Buckhannon WV in 1910 (4), Salem OR in 1920 (5) and 1930 (6), and Columbus City (in Franklin County–home again!) OH in 1940 (7). A stillborn daughter was born to them at Columbus OH on October 23, 1905 (8). They had two surviving sons, Paul H. Doney and Hugh A. Doney (4, 5) and a son, Carl H. Doney (9) and daughter, Emily M. Doney (10), who perhaps died young. And here’s a point of interest: the Doney family sailed from Liverpool and arrived at the Port of New York on August 22, 1914 (11), maybe returning from visiting family, as her father was born in Wales (1).
Sue W. Lindsay: Susan W. Quarry, born about July 1862 in Ohio, was a daughter of Mary Quarry (1, 2). She married Lemuel H. Lindsay at Harrison County, Ohio on February 20, 1890 (3). They lived at Buckhannon WV in 1900 (4) and 1910 (2), but by 1920 had relocated to Orlando, Orange County, FL (5). In 1922, a “Sue W Linsay” died in Orange County FL (6), but a lack of detail prevents me from stating for certain that she is the same person as the cookbook contributor.
Mary Cooper: Mary Josephine Cooper was born to George Cooper and Louisa Lorentz on June 30, 1856 in Upshur County, West Virginia (1). Her parents married June 21, 1855 at Lewis County (then VA, now WV) (2, 3), and her grandparents were Samuel and Mary Cooper and John and Rachel Lorentz (2). On November 13, 1857, the Columbia Lodge No. 98, I. O. O. F. ran a series of resolutions lamenting George F. Cooper in Cooper’s Clarksburg register (4; please note that no relationship between the family and the newspaper has been proven or disproven). Whatever happened to them, I’ve been unable to find, but by 1880, Mary lived with her uncle Levi Leonard’s family (5). He was the spouse of a Mary Cooper (6) who was probably Mary Josephine’s father’s sister. The Federal Census suggests she passed the years in Buckhannon WV with her spinster cousins, Florence Leonard (who passed away in 1935 (6) and Olive C Leonard (7, 8, 9, 10, 11). Her will turns up an interesting detail: a sister named Georgie who was to receive all of Mary’s estate, only on condition that neither Florence nor Olive were left alive to receive it (12). Mary died in Buckhannon WV on June 9, 1945 (1), three weeks shy of her 89th birthday.
(All numbered sources are cited and linked in the index.)
Tweetables
Fruit Soup, 1909. “Fine for hot weather.” #history #foodie
Use 2014 food handling safety practices when attempting to make 1909 #recipes! #protip
Thanks for reading and see you next week
If you are researching one of the ladies credited here, please email me. I’d love to hear your story!
