Like to prowl yard sales for vintage cookbooks ? So do I, among other "treasures, " to uncover. A recent find was, The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, by Fannie Merritt Farmer, copyright 1918.
In 1902, Mrs. Farmer left the Boston Cooking School and founded Farmer's School of Cookery. In addition to running her school, she traveled to speaking engagements around the United States and continued to write cookbooks. In 1904, she published Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent, which provided food recommendations for specific diseases, nutritional information for children and information on the digestive system, among other topics.
Farmer's expertise in the areas of nutrition and illness led her to lecture at Harvard Medical School. Farmer died January 15, 1915, at age 57. After her death, Alice Bradley, who taught at Miss Farmer's School of Cookery, took over the business and ran it until the mid-1940s. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook is still in print today.
Here's a sampling of a special treat from this vintage cookbook.
Cherry Fritters
2 cups scalded milk
1/4 cup corn-starch
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup Marachino cherries
Mix corn-starch, flour, sugar and salt. Dilute with cold milk and add beaten yolks; then add gradually to scalded milk and cook fifteen minutes in a double boiler. Add cherries, pour into a buttered shallow tin, and cool.
Turn on a board, cut in squares, dip in flour, egg and crumbs, fry in deep fat, and drain. Serve with the Marachino Sauce.
Marachino Sauce
2/3 cup boiling water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn-starch
1/4 cup Marachino cherries, cut in halves
1/2 cup Marachino syrup
1/2 tablespoon butter
Mix sugar and corn-starch, add gradually to boiling water, stirring constantly. Boil for five minutes, and add the cherries, syrup and butter.
(The Boston Cooking School Cookbook 1918)
