Preparing and Serving a Dinner for Threshers
“Beef is the best and most convenient meat to serve. If you buy a pound for each man to be fed and two or three pounds extra, you will always have enough meat and just a little extra.
“Be sure to have your pickles ready and put aside for use, as thrashers always enjoy them. Beets and cucumbers are both very nice.
“Lay aside all ‘style’ in serving, but give the men good, clean, wholesome food, and of the very best that your larder contains. Remember that you are serving your neighbors and that they are working hard.”
Farmer’s Daughter
Prairie Farmer Magazine
July 31, 1905
Menu
Beef Pot Roast*
Mashed Potatoes
Corn Relish* Green Beans Carrots
Rochester Cake*
Beef Pot Roast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
3 to 4 pound sirloin tip roast or other roast
water
10 whole cloves
10 whole peppercorns
Rub the meat with salt and pepper. Heat a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Carefully brown the meat on all sides without using any fat or oil. Take your time with this step, turning the meat several times until it is well browned. The original instructions call for taking 30 minutes. I suggest at least 15 to 20. Pour warm water around the meat, coming about halfway up. Cover the meat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours until it is tender, turning the meat a couple of times during the process. Let the meat stand 15 minutes before carving. Strain the cooking juices to remove spices , thicken and serve as gravy.
Corn Relish
1 2/3 cups sweet corn cut from the cob (about 5 large ears)
1/2 green pepper, chopped 1/8 inch pieces
1/4 red pepper, chopped 1/8 inch pieces
1 1/4 cups finely chopped cabbage (1/2 small head)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 1/4 cups vinegar
3 tablespoons corn syrup
Chop the vegetables by hand or in a food processor. Combine the vegetables in a large cooking pot. Add the sugar and mustard, then the vinegar and corn syrup. Stir until well blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat, lower temperature and simmer until the vegetables are soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Ladle mixture into sterilized jars and process according to USDA recommendations, or store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Yield: about 4 cups relish.
Rochester Cake
3 eggs separated
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter
1 cup milk
3 cups flour (sift before measuring)
2 teaspoons baking powder
To half the mixture add
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup chopped raisins
1 tablespoon each cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg,
Preheat the oven to 3500 F. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Add the baking powder and half the flour, then the milk, and finally the remaining flour. Mix well after each addition. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Grease and flour four 8-inch cake pans, Pour half the batter into two of the pans. Stir the molasses, raisins and spices into the remaining half of the batter and pour into the two remaining cake pans. Bake until the layers are firm to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 to 10 minutes and finish cooling on wire racks. Frost between layers with a vanilla butter cream frosting.
Copyright 2008 Rae Katherine Eighmey. All rights reserved.
At the turn of the 19th Century, most of the harvesting was done by horse and man power, as neighbor helped neighbor bring in the crops. Feeding these volunteer crews was a huge and important task. Some farm wives were said to begin planning their menu as soon as the seeds were in the ground. Hamlin Garland’s A Son of the Middle Border presents an evocative narrative of Midwestern family farming including harvesting by hand.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thresher’s_Dinner_1905
