““Clear the deck of the chowder an’ set some water a-boilin’,” returned the flustered proprietor of the Dolphin. “My eye, but I’m thankful you’re at hand! I hardly know where to ketch a-holt. Let me think. There’s fruit cake somewhere; I remember hearin’ Althea say she’d baked a batch of it ’cause ’twould keep. An’ there’s molasses cookies, too. I ain’t sure but there’s pies tucked away under some of the big yaller bowls; there often is. You might cut up some bread while you’re waitin’. Give ’em good thick chunks--not those little lace slices you can see through such as Mattie Bearse deals out. If folks are comin’ here to eat I mean they shall get their money’s worth.” He paused to wipe the perspiration from his dripping forehead, then continued: “The tea dishes are in the pantry. You’ll spy ’em on the shelf. They’re green. Tote ’em out.””
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
the bottom of a deep sauce-pan and fry it brown; take it out, and put in layers of potatoes, onions and fish sliced, seasoning each layer plentifully with salt and pepper; using about three pounds of fish, and a quart each of potatoes and onions; cover with cold water, bring gradually to a boil, and cook slowly for thirty minutes; then add two pounds of sea-biscuits soaked for five minutes in warm water, and boil five minutes longer and serve. This receipt calls for the addition of half a pint of port wine, and a bottle of champagne to be added to the chowder just before serving; but it is quite good enough without, and far less expensive. 20. =Club House Fish Cakes.=--Wash and boil one quart of potatoes, putting them on the fire in cold water enough to cover them, and a tablespoonful of salt.
Sources: The passage is from Sara Ware Bassett, The Green Dolphin, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Corson, The Cooking Manual of Practical Directions for Economical of 1877, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — plum cloth, teapot stamp.