Saturday George and I hit a couple of estate sales. Neither one had anything that we needed. But the Landmark sale had something I wanted, besides the CFL lightbulbs we purchased for 50 cents each; two really old cookbooks. From 1919 and 1921. The book from 1919 is called Lessons in Cooking Through Preparation of Meals by Robinson and Hammel, published by the American School of Home Economics in Chicago, Illinois. The second book is called Lowney’s Cook Book Illustrated. It is the revised edition from 1921. It was put out by the Lowney’s Chocolate company http://www.lowney.net/chocolates/ which is no longer in business. The book was written as ” A new guide for the housekeeper, especially intended as a full record of delicious dishes sufficient for any well-to-do family, clear enough for the beginner and complete enough for ambitious providers.” The revised edition included “admirable colored plates on three inserts which show the two most common methods of cutting meat…”
The books are fragile with broken bindings but they were well worth the $2.50 I paid for each of them. I will share some of the information from the books in future blogs. Today I want to share the courses found in a formal dinner from teh Lowney’s cookbook. I suggest you loosen your belt as even reading this will make you feel sated:
First Course – Appetizers, cold hors d’oeuvres eaten prior to dinner to stimulate the flow if digestive juices.
Second Course – Oysters or shellfish. Tiny brown bread sandwiches are passed with this course.
Third Course – A clear Soup. More Hor d’oeuvres are passed with this course.
Fourth Course – Fish, broiled, fried or bakes; sometimes with potatoes and generally cucumbers and tomatoes, dressed, are served.
Fifth Course – Entrees
Sixth Course – The Meat Course (My question – What the heck are the entrees?) served with one vegetable besides potato.
Seventh Course – Frozen punches or cheese dishes
Eight Course – Game or poultry and Salad
Ninth Course – Hot or Cold Desserts
Tenth Course – Frozen desserts, Cakes and Preserves
Eleventh Course – fruits
Twelfth Course – Coffee and liqueurs
And I thought I did a lot with a seven course New Years Eve Dinner. Apparently I have some catching up to do!
Can you imagine? How could anyone eat this amount of food… let alone all the work in preparing (and we with all of our new fangled-equipped kitchens.) Thank you for sharing I did enjoy reading and would love to see the cookbooks!