1876 Thanksgiving Dinner: Mustard Turkey, Onion Mashed Potatoes, Strawberry Cake

1876 Thanksgiving Dinner
The Centennial Cook Book and General Guide

Common Vegetable Soup
Centennial Buns
Potatoes Mashed with Onions
Beignets of Spinach
Red Cabbage, Stewed
Sage and Onion Stuffing
Mustard Turkey
Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry Roll
Strawberry Cake

Common Vegetable Soup
3 potatoes
3 turnips
3 parsnips
3 carrots
Green peas
Salt
Stock
Three potatoes, three turnips, three parsnips, and three car- rots, boiled in a gallon of water, with a handful of green peas, until reduced to nearly half the quantity; add a little salt, and some weak stock, if thought requisite.
Did we eat it? Yes
Would I make it again? Yes

Centennial Buns,
4 ounces butter
2 lbs flour
A little salt
4 ounces sugar
A dessertspoonful caraway
1 tsp ginger
Warm milk or cream
Yeast
Rub four ounces of butter into two pounds of flour, a little salt, four ounces of sugar, a dessertspoonful of caraways, and a teaspoonful of ginger ; put some warm milk or cream to four tablespoonsful of yeast ; mix all together into a paste, but not too stiff; cover it over, and set it before the fire an hour to rise, then make it into buns, put them on a tin, set them be- fore the fire for a quarter of an hour, cover over with flannel, then brush them with very warm milk, and bake them of a nice brown in a moderate oven. Did we eat them? Yes
Would I make them again? Maybe
Notes: Halved this recipe. The ginger and caraway added a nice light taste.

Potatoes Mashed with Onions.
Onions
Mashed Potatoes
Prepare some onions by putting them through a sieve, and mix them with potatoes; in proportioning the onions to the potatoes, you will be guided by your wish to have more or less of their flavor.
Did we eat them? Yes
Would I make them again? Yes
Notes: It did not say how to prepare the onions. I sautéed them in butter and then pureed them.

Beignets of Spinach
Spinach
4 egg yolks
Butter
4 ounces sugar
Bread crumbs
Take some washed and picked spinach; mix the yolks of four eggs, some butter, and four ounces of sugar, with some bread-crumbs; add this to the chopped spinach, form it into round cakes, and fry them in butter.
Did we eat them? Some of them
Would I make them again? No
Notes: I only used half the sugar.

To Stew Red Cabbage
1 small red cabbage
Salt and pepper
Butter
2-3 spoonsful vinegar
Slice a small, or half a large, red cabbage; wash and put it into a sauce-pan with pepper, salt, no water but what hangs about it, and a piece of butter. Stew it till quite tender, and when going to serve, add two or three spoonsful of vine^ gar, and give one boil over the fire. Serve it for cold meat, or with sausages on it.
Did we eat it? Yes
Would I make it again? Yes
Notes: If I made it again might add a little sugar

Sage & Onion Stuffing
Bread
1 lb butter
Salt and pepper
2 onions
Sage
Make the stuffing of bread, crumbled fine, one pound of butter, salt, pepper, and two onions chopped fine, stuff it, sprinkle it with salt, pepper and flour. Two hours and a half will cook it, unless very large. Baste it frequently.
Did we eat it? Yes
Would I make it again? Yes
Notes: Used a loaf of bread without crusts and 1 tbs of sage.

Mustard Turkeys and Fowls
Turkey
Mustard
Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Take the first and second joints of a roast turkey and cut deep gashes in them, and into these gashes put a little mixed mustard, a little salt and Cayenne pepper; lay on the gridiron until heated through; then place on a very hot dish, and spread with butter. Serve immediately.
Did we eat it? Yes
Would I make it again? Yes
Notes: I didn't make gashes in the turkey. Instead I made a rub of the mustard and cayenne and put it under the skin. Replaced the salt with a little onion powder.

Cranberry Sauce,
1 quart cranberries
water
1 lb brown sugar
A quart of cranberries are washed and stewed with sufficient water to cover them; when they burst mix with them a pound of brown sugar and stir them well. Before you take them from the fire, all the berries should have burst. They will be jellied when cold.
Did we eat it? Yes
Would I make it again? Yes
Notes: Was asked for the recipes and someone who doesn't usually eat cranberry sauce even liked it.

Cranberry Rolls
We did not like the cranberry rolls.

Strawberry Cake,
1 quart flour
1 tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten
1 teacup cream or melted butter
Milk
Strawberries
Sugar
Mix a quart of flour with a teaspoonful of salt, four beaten eggs, and a teacup of thick cream, or melted butter. Add sufficient milk to enable you to roll it out—roll it out thin, line a shallow cake pan with part of it, then put in a thick layer of nice ripe strawberries, strew on sufficient white sugar to sweeten the strawberries, cover them with a thin layer of the crust, then add another layer of strawberries and sugar—cover the whole with another layer of crust, and bake it in a quick oven about twenty-five minutes.
Did we eat it? Yes
Would I make it again? No

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