In addition to old cookbooks, my mother recently came across her grandfather’s World War I diary, from 1917 to 1919.
I never met my great grandfather and quite enjoyed this rare connection to the past. He didn’t relay much personal sentiment in his journal; most of it is a simple chronicle of events, often a sentence or two, and he wasn’t wildly consistent. There is no reference to the horror of war. It makes me wonder if the gaps in time were spent in trenches, and if he didn’t mention it because he wanted his thoughts elsewhere when recording them.
When he isn’t talking about the death of Teddy Roosevelt, or how five men were swept overboard and lost from the U.S.S.G.W., he frequently talked about food. Quite often, in fact. There truly is nothing like a great, warm meal.
Subsistence: Bacon, Beans, Beans Baked, Bread, Coffee, Flour, Fruit, Lard, Meat – Fresh Beef, Milk, Onions, Potatoes, Salt, Sugar, Vinegar, Tomatoes, Pepper
On foregoing page 16 is giving list of subsistence of the main food stuffs as used in the Army. To follow this list closely is not only a good principle for the army but also for the home. To buy staples, especially flour, dry groceries, potatoes, etc in quantity is a big money saving proposition, also a time saver as it does away with ? daily shopping trip which time could be used by better advantage. It is also a good idea to follow the army’s way of planning supplies and meals four or five days or more ahead, will save a lot of worry.
December 25, 1917
Saw <> steamer towed in torpedoed, bow sunk, stern in air. Christmas dinner. Menu on board U.S.S.G.W.
Steak – Ham – Onion Sauce
Mashed potatoes – Peas – Bread – Butter
Coffee – <?> and Pumpkin Pie
Jan 1 1918 (in France)
Had dinner in a restaurant. Menu. Ham omelett, bread, butter, leg of chicken, French fried potatoes, coffee, rice pudding.
While going through some old photos with my mother we came across some old cookbooks, mostly numerous versions of the Metropolitan Cook Book and Royal Baking Cook Book, published by an insurance company and baking powder producer, respectively. I found it interesting to see the types of food made, old technique and now uncommon ingredients. Some dishes don’t exist in their old form because they have been improved upon, others because we are lazy or because no one can find a particular ingredient. Good luck even finding beef suet around Atlanta. The books are from 1911 to 1927. I’ve included a few photos below that may or may not be worth checking out.
This recipe for soup calls for one pound of meat, three cents of soup greens, one penny worth of barley, and noodles.
“A high-priced article may have little food value, while a low-priced article may have high food value.”
True that.
“Cookery for the Sick”.
Wow, I’d heal right up if I had to eat Wine Whey, which consists of scalded milk and wine. I think they call that “Prison Wine” now.
Mmmm, cream toast. I still prefer biscuits and gravy. This must be a yankee cookbook.
Some egg recipes, including “Plain and Fancy Baked Eggs” and “Scotch Woodcock”, the latter sounding like a bechamel sauce with chopped hard boiled eggs, ham, and spices.
Here are some wines I picked up at Capital City Package store at the corner of Collier and Howell Mill. Now, a few people commented on a recent post, saying they tend to glaze over when I post about wine. But one person did elaborate, saying I tend to talk a lot about wines that aren’t readily available around town. Guilty.
As mentioned in my recent Le Caveau post, I do want to purchase more wine in Atlanta – develop a relationship, talk to someone in person who knows more than I, and support their efforts (and our local economy).
Capital City is under new ownership since the end of this past summer, and over the last few months they’ve made significant renovations and capital improvements, including a much larger wine selection. The person managing the wine program is David Metz, whom I’ve had the chance to talk with a few times about these changes, and he’s pointed me in the direction of some cool wines, such as the Zind Humbrecht selections above. Dave is very friendly, knowledgeable (he’s sportin’ a fly CSW), with a broad interest in many types of juice, from more popular large production California wines, to quirky small scale Italian producers, or maybe you fancy the lush but acidified sweet Grand Cru riesling from Alsace that I purchased (and drank) this past Friday. It was really excellent.
For you ballers, Capital City has installed a separate fridge for some big time 1st growth Bordeaux from the early 80′s and 90′s. I’m eyeing the ’81 Haut Brion, my birth year. If you refresh this page 130,000 times I’ll get enough ad revenue to afford it. Get clicking!
