I have a copy of
The Pennsylvania Dutch and their Cookery (subtitle: "Their history, art, accomplishments, also a broad collection of their food recipes") that seemingly received wide circulation among a group of friends in 1937 and 1938.
The book was written by J. George Frederick (author of
Cooking as Men Like It, For and Against Technocracy, How Bright Is Your Child? and
Humanism as a Way of Life, among other titles) and published in 1935 by The Business Bourse of New York. When Frederick died in 1964, his obituary noted that he was also the president of the Gourmet Society of New York.
On the blank first page, someone — we might presume that it was Emma Smith — pasted a sheet of paper to serve as a circulation sheet. The book went first to Helen Raub and then continued to others on two-week intervals from late 1937 through the summer of 1938, when it was scheduled to return to Emma Smith.
Here are the other names on the list: Edna Eshleman, Della Book, Grace Hassler, Joe Groff, Anna Miller, Velma Aument, Blanche Eshleman, Ethel McClure, Olive McClure, Edna Miller, Rebecca Pollock, Vera Forbes, Margaret Groff, Mary Boyce, Edna Groff, Sena Reynolds, Mary LeFevre, and Winona Newswenger.
I wasn't 100% sure that Sena was correct for that one first name, but there was a Sena Groff Reynolds who lived in southern Lancaster County during this time period, so I think I'm correct. Many of these, in fact, are traditional Lancaster County family names.
In the preface, the author writes: "Let us make no mistake about it: The Pennsylvania Dutch provided a far greater proportion of the bone and sinew of American tradition and value than the small size of their territory would indicate."
And that brings us to some recipes! While the book collects recipes for everything from Dutch Eel Soup to Sauerkraut Tulpehocken, I thought I'd merrily focus on some sweets that would certainly be appropriate for the Christmas season.
Philadelphia Pudding
- 6 or 8 apples
- 1 or 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cream (or milk)
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Wash and core but do not peel the apples (of the tart kind). Arrange in bake pan with plenty of space. Dot each apple with butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and put some raisins in the cores. (If there is cider, pour some in each core). Bake until soft. Then make a batter of the egg whites, the sugar mixed with the egg yolks, the cream or milk, almost a tablespoon of butter and the flour into which the baking powder has been sifted. Pour this batter over the apples and bake until brown. Serve hot — perhaps with hard sauce.
Schwingfelder (Potato) Cakes
- 1 cup potatoes mashed
- 1/2 cup lard
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 yeastcake
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
Mix 1 cup of sugar and the hot mashed potatoes; after cooling add 1 cup flour and yeast, dissolved; beat and let rise 3 hours. Mix lard, butter, 1 cup of sugar, eggs and salt; mix this with the sponge and beat vigorously, and stir stiff. Let rise overnight, roll out, cut, place biscuits in pans, spread with melted butter, sift brown sugar over them. Bake 20-30 minutes in moderate oven.
Blitz Kucha, Ephrata
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1⅓ cups flour
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup black walnuts, chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Cream the sugar and butter, blend with the eggs, beaten. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, and then add alternately the milk and the vanilla. Pour into a bake pan, sprinkle with the cinnamon and the sugar and the chopped walnuts. Bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven.
Bonus Photo #1
From the photo shoot for this post.
Bonus Photo #2
My assistant complicated the writing of this post.
