Hundred-Year-Old Recipes for Cold Winter Days

Meat loaf, halibut, squash pie, and frozen fruit pudding. What more could you want in a meal?

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Back in 1917, The Country Gentleman — a sister publication of the Post — paired two warm winter meals with a frozen pineapple pudding. The dessert chef promises “although it is rich and takes some time for its concoction, it pays!” But if frozen treats sound like a bad follow-up to a warm winter meal, don’t worry. The editors also threw in a hot option for dessert: a yummy squash pie.

Recipes to Use on Cold Winter Days

Originally published in The Country Gentleman, January 6, 1917

Perfection Halibut

  • 3 pounds halibut, thick slice
  • 4 or 5 slices of onion
  • ½ bay leaf
  • 4 or 5 thin slices of salt pork
  • cracker crumbs
  • minced parsley, for garnish

For sauce

  • butter
  • flour
  • milk or cream
  • salt, pepper, cayenne

Put the fish in a baking pan with two or three tablespoonfuls of water. Put the pork, and the onion chopped fine, the half bay leaf, and a few cracker crumbs on the fish. Bake for three-quarters of an hour.

Make a white sauce of one heaping tablespoon of butter and the same amount of flour melted together, and one large cupful of hot milk or cream; stir until it bubbles, season with salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne.

After the fish is cooked, push the flavorings off into the pan. Put the fish on a hot platter. Add one hot cupful of water to the contents of the pan, stir all together and let boil up; strain into the white sauce and pour round the fish. Sprinkle finely with minced parsley all over.

Meat Loaf

  • 2 pounds of lean beef
  • ½ pound of pork
  • 1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley
  • ½ cupful of bread crumbs
  • ½ cupful of strained tomato
  • 2 teaspoonfuls of salt
  • ½ teaspoonful of onion
  • ½ teaspoonful of pepper
  • butter
  • tomato sauce

Grind the meat very fine. Add the other ingredients and press into a firm roll. Bake 30 minutes. Have a hot oven to sear the surface, then cook more slowly. Baste with a liquid of one tablespoonful butter and half a cupful of hot water. Serve with tomato sauce.

Squash Pie

  • 1 ½ cupfuls of squash, steamed or boiled soft
  • 1 pint of milk
  • 1 cupful of sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • grated rind of half a lemon
  • 2 level tablespoonfuls of cornstarch, moistened with milk
  • 1 cupful of shredded coconut

This recipe is sufficient for two pies. The crusts should be baked separately, first pricking them with a fork to prevent puffing. Mash the squash smooth; add the milk, hot; stir in the sugar, grated lemon rind, cornstarch and yolks of eggs, and boil 4 minutes, stirring slowly. When nearly cool, fill the baked crusts and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

A Family Favorite: Mrs. Wood’s Frozen Pudding

  • 2 cupfuls of sugar
  • 1 cupful of chopped pineapple
  • 1 cupful of Sultana raisins or mixed candied fruit, chopped
  • 1 pint of cream, whipped
  • 1 pint of milk
  • yolks of 8 eggs

Mix all but the fruit, and freeze [i.e., chill]; then open and stir the fruit in carefully; let it stand an hour, and then pack in molds if wished. This rule makes enough for a 2-quart freezer. The whites of the eggs may be used in angel cake; or use half the number of whole eggs, made with the milk and sugar into a custard.

I have used this recipe for frozen pudding ever since it was given to me by a notable housekeeper when I was just beginning to keep house. I serve it on most company occasions and for family festivities. Although it is rich and takes some time for its concoction, it pays! —Florence Spring

Article clipping
Read “Recipes to Use on Cold Winter Days”. Published January 7, 1917 in the Post.

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  1. my husband put the magazine in his name so you make me jump through hoops trying to look at covers. forget it. BARBARA FANO MRS JAMES FANO

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