Literary Feast  ·  Read the passage. Cook the meal.

The Trail of the Hawk

by Sinclair Lewis

2 meals in this book

THE TRAILOF THE HAWKSINCLAIR LEWIS
Our binding, not the publisher's
A bill of fare

“He had brought out, from the pack, granite-ware plates and cups, a stew-pan and a coffee-pot, a ruddied paper of meat and a can of peas, rolls, Johnny-cake, maple syrup, a screw-top bottle of cream, pasteboard boxes of salt and pepper and sugar. Lamb chops, coiled in the covered stew-pan, loudly broiled in their own fat, and to them the peas, heated in their can, were added when the coffee began to foam. He dragged a large log to the side of the fire, and Ruth, there sitting, gorged shamelessly. Carl himself did not eat reticently.”

1861  ·  Beeton
TO CLARIFY SUGAR OR SYRUP

1513. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of sugar allow 1/2 pint of water and 1/2 the white of an egg. _Mode_.--Put the sugar, water, and the white of the egg, which should, be well beaten, into a preserving-pan or lined saucepan; and do not put it on the fire till the sugar is dissolved. Then place it on the fire, and when it boils, throw in a teacupful of cold water, and do not stir the sugar after this is added. Bring it to the boiling-point again, and then place the pan by the side of the fire, for the preparation to settle. Remove all the scum, and the sugar will be ready for use. The scum should be placed on a sieve, so that what syrup runs from it may be boiled up again: this must also be well skimmed. _Time_.--20 minutes for the sugar to dissolve; 5 minutes to boil. _Note_.--The above two recipes are those used in the preparation of dishes usually made at home.

Recipe from The Book of Household Management of 1861.

A dish that matters

“While the New York June grew hotter and hotter and stickier and stickier, while the crowds, crammed together in the subway in a jam as unlovely as a pile of tomato-cans on a public dump-heap, grew pale in the damp heat, Carl labored in his office, and almost every evening called on Ruth, who was waiting for the first of July, when she was to go to Cousin Patton Kerr's, in the Berkshires. Carl tried to bring her coolness. He ate only poached eggs on toast or soup and salad for dinner, that he might not be torpid. He gave her moss-roses with drops of water like dew on the stems. They sat out on the box-stoop--the unfriendly New York street adopting for a time the frank neighborliness of a village--and exclaimed over every breeze. They talked about the charm of forty degrees below zero. That is, sometimes. Their favorite topic was themselves.”

1861  ·  Beeton
ROLY-POLY JAM PUDDING

1291. INGREDIENTS.--3/4 lb of suet-crust No. 1215, 3/4 lb. of any kind of jam. _Mode_.--Make a nice light suet-crust by recipe No. 1215, and roll it out to the thickness of about 1/2 inch. Spread the jam equally over it, leaving a small margin of paste without any, where the pudding joins. Roll it up, fasten the ends securely, and tie it in a floured cloth; put the pudding into boiling water, and boil for 2 hours. Mincemeat or marmalade may be substituted for the jam, and makes excellent puddings. _Time_.--2 hours. _Average cost_, 9d. _Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons. _Seasonable_.--Suitable for winter puddings, when fresh fruit is not obtainable.

Recipe from The Book of Household Management of 1861.

Sources: Every passage above is quoted verbatim from The Trail of the Hawk, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipes come from cookbooks of the period, also free in full. All are in the public domain in the United States. The binding is ours — teal cloth, teapot stamp.

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