Vintage Rainy Day Food!

It's been incredibly rainy here today and it started me thinking about food that would have been made in weather just like this about a hundred years ago.  In my recipe collection (the oldest one) I found some recipes for soup, sandwiches and baked apples that would more than likely have been served on a cool and rainy day.  If you would like to learn about all things soup check the link! Enjoy reading the soup recipe and be thankful because...well, you'll see.

Chicken Soup

3 lbs. chicken
3 qts. water
1 Tbsp. salt
1 onion
2 stalks of celery or 1/4 cup celery root, diced
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Method

1. Select an old hen.
2. Singe, clean and joint; then salt and let stand for several hours.
3. Put on to cook in cold water and let come to a boil quickly.  Thoroughly skim if clear soup is wanted.
4. Let simmer slowly for at least three hours. 
5. Add the vegetables.
6. Boil one hour longer.
7. Strain, remove fat and add seasoning to taste. 
8. Serve hot with any soup garnishing.

Note:  Remove the chicken from the soup before the meat falls from the bones, and use the meat for salads or croquettes or serve with a tasty sauce.

Amount - 10 servings

Simple, right? Think of that next time you're at the store and realize you can skip the 'selecting an old hen' portion of the instructions.  I don't even know what 'singe, clean and joint' means nor do I care to!  This was an all day event.  However, while it was standing in salt for hours and simmering for hours more you would have plenty of time to prepare some of these 'sandwich recipes'.  Because you have to have a sandwich with your soup.  You do.

Sandwiches

Spread graham bread with cream cheese and currant jelly.

*That's the 'recipe'.  Really.  Here's another one:

Chop about an equal amount of stuffed olives and walnuts.  Mix with a little salad dressing and spread on bread and butter.  Sandwiches can be made of dates, nuts, lemon juice and salad dressing.

Nut Sandwiches

Mix equal parts of grated cheese and chopped English walnuts, season with salt and cayenne, and spread between thin slices of bread slightly buttered.

Onion Sandwiches

Mix together two white onions peeled and chopped, a small cupful of chopped celery, eight chopped stuffed olives and sufficient mustard dressing to make a paste that will spread.  Spread thickly on a crisp lettuce leaf and use between buttered slices of wheat or rye bread.

I have other, more complicated, sandwich recipes but I'll save them for a later date.  They involve meat and eggs.  Enough said.  Below is a dessert type recipe to go with this meal for a cool, rainy day.  Of course, you would be getting ready to go apple picking.  You do have a tree or two in your yard...don't you?

Baked Apples

Into a rather deep two-quart pan put a full teacupful sugar, grate about one third of a small nutmeg and add a cupful of water.  If the apples are of the juice less sort they will require a half cupful more of water.  pare, quarter and core enough apples to make two quarts after they are prepared.  Empty these into the pan and place in the oven, keeping a steady but moderate heat, so that the apples cook slowly until tender and the tops are delicately browned.

Well, then.  The women that went before us were just - better.