by Tyler Ingram, Ridgefield Historical Society Collections Manager
As we approach the holiday season, it’s nearly time to start planning the dishes that will grace our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tables. Whether you use an old family recipe, or a recent Tik-Tok favorite, each table has its own staples and traditions.
This month’s item from our collection is a cookbook back from the early 1900s, put together by the women of Jesse Lee Memorial Church (2022.047.014). Printed by the Ridgefield Press, this book was likely circulated amongst the families of the church to share easy staples and gourmet family favorites. You will notice that common recipe inclusions, such as oven temperatures and seasoning amounts, are not present. These recipes are much simpler, likely because those cooking them were expected to have been taught basic kitchen skills already.
To start, let’s look at a Thanksgiving side dish that’s also a year-round favorite: mac & cheese. This recipe comes courtesy of Mrs. Lester Sherwood, and reads: “Cook the desired quantity of macaroni in salted water 20 minutes, then place in a baking dish with ½ can tomatoes and bake 1 hour. When nearly done take out and stir grated cheese through the macaroni and over the top. Put back in the oven and brown.”(insert recipe image here) Perhaps Mrs. Sherwood purchased the macaroni, tomatoes, and cheese for this recipe at A. Bertotti’s grocery store on Bailey Ave., which is advertised in the recipe book. (insert grocery store ad here).
For the main course, a recipe for a typical Thanksgiving turkey is not included, so we will look at Mabel Briggs Cable’s recipe for a boiled Christmas ham, which she likely purchased at D. A. Robinson’s Meats and Provisions, who also placed an advertisement in the book. (insert image for butcher/recipe for ham here) The recipe reads: “Boil ham 20 minutes to the pound in plenty of water with a bay leaf in it. When done, take off rind, sprinkle lightly with sugar and put in oven just long enough for sugar to brown.”
Finally, for dessert, we will use Mrs. F. T. Brundage’s recipe for a fall classic: pumpkin pie. It reads: “1 cup pumpkin, 1 egg, ½ cup sugar, ½ cup molasses, 1 teaspoonful ginger, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1 tablespoon flour, milk to fill plate; this is for one pie.”(insert recipe image here) Whether or not Mrs. Brundage’s pie has a crust or is baked remains to be seen. If pumpkin pie is not to your liking, there was always Charles H. Stevens’ Baker and Confectioner on Main St., whose advertisement in the cookbook may have been helpful to those without a set of baking skills (insert image).
While this is just a sampling of what may have been on holiday tables back at the turn of the 20th century, it is clear that recipes back then were much less structured, giving home chefs an easy base to work off of rather than a list of steps and ingredients. Still, some foods never go out of style, and perhaps in 100 more years our palates won’t have strayed too far from the classics.
