Recently, a 100-year old family friend gave me her mother's cookbook. The cookbook was purchased at Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia way back when (according to a sticker in the back of the book). Published in 1921, it is called The Settlement Cook Book and it was compiled by a Mrs. Simon Kander. (The subtitle on the front of the book reads "The Way to a Man's Heart".) I'm especially interested in the book since it ties in with some of the genealogy and local history that I've been doing around the 1921 time period.
This morning, I thought I'd try a pancake recipe from the book for something a little different. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of flour, 1 cup of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 3 separated eggs. I followed the instructions for combining the ingredients and wondered why more flour wasn't called for. Once I completed the recipe, I thought I had more of a crepe rather than a pancake.
So, this little cooking experiment made me wonder "What is a Pancake?" and isn't it interesting to prepare a recipe from a cookbook from a time period different from the one I grew up in. As a side note, for years we made our pancakes using Bisquick.
One of the other things that tickled me was the heading in the front of the book entitled "Care of Ice Box." My father was born in 1916 and referred to our fridge as an ice box. Meanwhile, my mother born in 1925, approximately six miles from my dad, and she used the term Frigidaire which was the name of a type of refrigerator.
Anyhoo, the shelves should be wiped of every morning (yeah, right). Also, the pipes and drain should be freed from sediment that could come because of the melting ice. Wow! There is more information about 'ice boxes' that we could consider. I'm thrilled we have electricity and a modern fridge.
