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| Dearest Druid cover closeup |
Yesterday, I finished writing the next to last chapter in Dearest Druid, Texas Druids book three.
At one point, I needed to know what kind of cold drink a sharecropper’s wife
might offer guests. Turning to the internet, I learned ice tea, now the
“national drink of Texas," wasn't widely in favor until the early 1900s. Also, tea would likely have been too expensive and hard to get for a poor family in 1876.
Not finding a solution on the net, I turned to my bookshelves and pulled out The First Texas
Unfortunately, the book didn't answer my
cold drink question, so I improvised. I love hot mint tea, and I know wild mint grows in parts of Texas. It wasn't hard for my fictional hostess to pick some and brew up a batch of mint tea. Sweetening it with honey, she serves it over ice from the family’s ice house. I’m
not sure they’d have one, but for my purposes, they do.
Meanwhile, I was charmed by theTexas Texas
Meanwhile, I was charmed by the
The preface calls the book “the first enterprise of its kind
in our state.” The unnamed writer goes on to list several historical tidbits
about Houston
- The city’s population was estimated at around 20,000.
- The barroom of the Capitol Hotel (later the Rice Hotel) had electric lighting installed a few months prior to the book’s publication.
- Ten
railroads served
- The
city boasted a mile of plank “paving,” eighteen blocks of gravel
streets and two blocks paved with stone. “The rest, as a rule, was dirt,
or in
In the forward by Mary Faulk Koock, written in 1986 for the facsimile edition from Eaken Press, she says one man submitted a recipe for Yacht Pie. “His tongue-in-cheek recipe suggests that ‘the more ladies you have on board, the more onions should be used.'” I think that's an insult, not sure.
Ms. Koock went on to say “Many recipes show that the women
of one hundred years ago favored the use of wine and spirts in their cooking. One
of the recipes for mincemeat included ‘four pints white wine, one pint brandy.’
And a recipe for making vinegar included ‘three quarts of whiskey.’” Wooee! I'd be wary of pickles soaked in that stuff.
The preface to the book, written in 1883, states “As many of
the very excellent cook books published contain receipts [the old spelling of
recipe] not suited to the requirements of our climate, and, as far as we know,
no complete treatise on the subject of cookery has been published in our
latitude, it has seemed well to supply this deficiency.” Talk about flowery
writing!
Okay, now for some recipes from the book. Excuse the punctuation or lack
thereof.
Stuffed Eggs
“Boil some eggs hard, remove the shells, and cut them [the
eggs, not the shells] in half lengthwise, take out the yelks [old spelling of
yolks], mash them fine and season with butter, pepper and salt, chop some cold
boiled ham fine and mix with the yelks, fill the halved whites with this mixture
and put them in a pan, set in the oven and brown slightly.” ~~No author cited
Kind of rich but it doesn’t sound bad, does it?
Cold Slaw—No.1 (of 3
recipes)
“Have your cabbage finely shred and place in a salad-dish.
Put in a sauce-pan one pint vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar to taste, with one
tablespoon butter; set over the fire; break in two or three eggs, and stir
constantly until it thickens; them add two tablespoons cream. Pour while hot
over the cabbage; then cut two or three hard boiled eggs over the top.” ~~ Mrs. J. D. Sayers, Bastrop
Hot cold slaw, that's a new one on me.
Spiced Beef
“Get a round of beef weighing ten pounds, tie it close
together in good shape (round) with tape, take one tablespoon ground mace, one
of cloves, one of allspice, and one of saltpeter, and rub the meat well with
the spices mixed. Place the meat in a deep dish, set aside, and turn over every
morning for ten mornings. When ready for cooking, place it in a pot, with the
spices, liquor and all. Cover with water and cook four hours. To be eaten cold
for luncheon or tea.” ~~No author cited
Ten mornings? Not
me! But note this from the preface: “The receipts given have been obtained from
our best housekeepers and cooks.” So, they did the turning, not the lady of the house.
I’m really tempted to give you the gentleman’s recipe for
Yacht Pie, but he kind of rambled on. Instead, here's my own favorite
brisket recipe. I think it originated in Memphis ,
so it’s not Texas
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| A brisket packaged in plastic with fat side up. |
24-Hour Brisket
One 5-6 lb. beef brisket 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup strong coffee 2 Tbsp. liquid smoke
2 cups ketchup 2 Tbsp. mustard
10 oz. Coke, Pepsi or other cola ¼ tsp. tobasco sauce
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
Twenty-four hours ahead, place brisket fat side up in large, deep
roaster or Dutch oven; pour coffee over meat, cover and bake at 200° for 24
hours. The next day, remove from oven, carefully lift meat from pan and set aside. Pour off greasy liquid (expect a lot)
into a large plastic or metal container. My husband cuts the top off a gal. milk
jug. Trim off fat (a bit messy) and return brisket to roasting pan. In
medium bowl, combine all remaining ingredients, mix well and pour over meat.
Bake at 200° for at least one hour. Meat will be fork tender. You can slice it
and serve with side dishes or cut up smaller and serve on hamburger buns. The sauce is sweet and tangy.
Note: The brisket can be frozen, but freeze the sauce
separately. It’s fine reheated in the microwave. In fact, I often prepare it
ahead, layering the meat and sauce in a Corningware Dutch oven I’ve had forever,
and heat it up when our company arrives. You can also double the recipe. Just
buy a bigger brisket and make sure your roaster is big enough to hold all the grease it produces. Enjoy!