Cooking Recipes
W
orking with basic ingredients, Early Americans were quite adept at creating very simple yet extremely satisfying meals. Here are some common elements of a colonial dinner from beginning to end!
Start the meal with the ‘basic-of-basic’ dishes in early America. Note that the meat shouldn’t be limited to beef but could be chicken, turkey, or pork.
COLONIAL STEW
Ingredients:
1 lb. beef
6 carrots
2 potatoes
5 celery stalks
1 cup of peas
1 cup of beans
1 cup of corn
10 tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
5 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups water
Preparation:
Brown the meat thoroughly. Mix vegetables and seasoning in soup pot. Add vegetables and water to taste. Stir in meat, reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 1 hour.
To go along with that hearty stew, serve these biscuits warm with plenty of butter.
COLONIAL BISCUITS
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
Dash of salt to taste
1/2 cup butter milk
Preparation:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add butter (still cold) cut into 4 or 5 pieces, work into flour mixture with pastry blender. Add cold milk, a little at a time, blending with a fork (use only enough milk to hold dough together). Roll dough about 1/2" thick onto a lightly floured board, cut with a small biscuit cutter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 450°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until biscuits are lightly brown.
Makes 20.
Finish off this hearty meal with a nice dessert of gingerbread or the traditional apple pie!
COLONIAL GINGERBREAD
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup molasses
3â„4 cup buttermilk
1â„2 cup sugar
1â„2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1â„2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
Preparations:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Butter and flour a 9x9x2 inch pan. Measure all ingredients into a large bowl. With mixer at low speed, beat until blended, constantly scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the speed to medium and continue beating for 3 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. Pour into pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
COLONIAL APPLE PIE
Ingredients:
Pastry for double crust 9 inch pie
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
8 medium cooking apples, pared and sliced
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoon water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon butter
Preparation:
Line a 9 inch pie pan with half of the pastry. Combine sugar and juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add apple slices; cook slowly uncovered until fruit is tender. Lift apples out carefully and place in pie shell. Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to syrup mixture. Cook until thick. Add salt, vanilla and butter. Pour over apples in pie shell. Roll out remaining pastry, and cut into strips about 3/4 inch wide. Place over filling; seal edges. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes. Hint: Use a deep pie pan so juices don’t run over and onto the bottom of the oven.
