I love to read old recipes and imagine the pioneer women cooking up a batch of Hopping John or Son-of-a-Biscuit Stew or Molasses Cookies on their wood stove. I can just see them getting out their ingredients and setting to work building a fire and getting it the right temperature.
Old-time recipes called for a smidgen of seasoning, a pinch of this, a dab of that, or a dollop (usually butter) the size of a walnut. And sometimes the recipe called for a dash of something or “enough flour to make a stiff dough.” I’m guessing that housewives pretty much cooked by trial and error and adjusted things to suit them because it would be extremely difficult to know what these measurements meant.
Is a smidgen more than a dash or a dab? I doubt anyone knows. If you do, speak up.
My mother rarely used a recipe. She’d get out her ingredients and start mixing things together until it looked, tasted, or felt right. I used to love watching her cook. It was an amazing sight. And boy, did her dishes taste wonderful! She must’ve had the pioneer spirit instilled in her.
For the record, that talent was not passed down to me!!
I can cook just enough to get by.
But to demonstrate what I’m talking about, here’s an old recipe for Gingerbread:
½ cup sugar
2 dollops of butter
1 egg
1 cup syrup Enough flour for a soft dough
1 ½ small spoon soda Smidgen of cinnamon, ginger, cloves Pinch of salt
1 cup hot water
Mix all ingredients together and bake in a medium oven.
A medium oven? Precisely how hot is that? Good grief!
* * * *
With Thanksgiving being a week away, I wanted to share this old recipe for Indian Pudding that was derived from the English Hasty Pudding. It was supposedly prepared by the housewives of Plymouth, Massachusetts at the first Thanksgiving. The recipe even traveled West with the settlers and eaten at gatherings. This recipe makes a lot. (I’ve used modern measurements.)
Indian Pudding
7 cups milk divided
1 cup molasses
1/3 cup sugar ¼ cup butter
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon ¾ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup packed cornmeal
Heat the oven to 350 F. Lightly coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Combine 6 cups of the milk, the molasses, sugar, butter, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg and cook over medium heat until just about to boil.
In a medium bowl, mix together the remaining cup of milk and the cornmeal. Whisk this mixture into the pan of cooked ingredients. Return to fire and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly until nicely thickened.
Transfer to a baking dish and bake for 90 minutes or until pudding is set at the center. It may puff during the baking, but will flatten when cooling. Let cool slightly before dolloping with whipped cream.
* * * *
As a side note, pioneer women gauged the heat of an oven by holding their hand inside and counting. If she could hold her hand inside for a count of 40, it was right for baking bread. A count of twenty would be sufficient for baking cakes and pies.
So, I’m wondering how many of you could cook using the smidgen, dab, dash, dollop, or pinch measurements. Aren’t you glad our recipes read much clearer today?
Mark your calendar for this release the first of February!
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My MIL still cooks like this – a “pinch” or a “dab” or a “little”… it’s very difficult to get a recipe from her LOL!
Interesting post.
PamT
I once worked with someone who was very… compulsive about his cooking. He’d read somewhere that a pinch equaled about 18 grains (like with salt) and he’d actually count them out.
I always have to laugh at the ‘chefs’ who say you have to measure extremely accurately when baking or your wonderful dessert won’t turn out. Along with the wonderful bakers of the past, I disagree. I do a lot of cooking by sight and feel. And nothing feels quite so sensuous as a perfect bread dough.
But I digress.
Oh, and a medium oven is 325-350 degrees. I’m gonna try the hand count method sometime.
What a fun post!
I haven’t used a measuring spoon in 20 years. I pour it into my hand until it looks right.
My mother-in-law has an old, old recipe that she talks about, one of the ingredients is:
Butter-size of an egg
Something like that. So this is absolutely true, and you know what? I’ll bet they didn’t have measuring cups. One more thing to cart across the prairie on the covered wagon.
As a matter of fact, has the concept always been to measure things in cups? …I mean exact 8 ounce cups, and fractions of those cups.
And seriously don’t you ever look at a recipe and see ONE TSP SALT, ONE TSP BAKING SODA etc. and think, “What are the chances REALLY that ONE TSP or an exact FRACTION of a TSP is the correct amount?
I mean….c’mon! So that means the recipes pick these amounts (as my mother in law would say) ‘by guess and by gosh’
and they’re not even important if you’re a little high or low.
I even have a very casual attitude toward cups of flour, no leveling a cup carefully with a knife.
The one thing I don’t get to casual about is pie crust. That seems to get snippy if you don’t measure things out right.
I think I’ll go research measuring cups.
Hi Pamela,
Yeah, I know what you mean. I hated to ask my mother how much of something went into a bowl. She’d always smile and say “Just ’til it feels right.” Very frustrating.
Thanks for stopping by to comment. Hope you have a good day!
Hi *lizzie,
Great to see you here this morning. How funny about the person that counted grains of salt! LOL It would’ve taken them forever to make anything. Good Lord, I’m all for getting it over with fast if I have to cook anything! Yes, that is really compulsive all right.
Thanks for explaining the medium oven. I really had no idea. Now, you know how very little I cook.
Appreciate you coming by to post to my blog. Have a great day!
Hi Mary,
I should’ve known you’d be like the pioneer women when it came to cooking. After all, you live on a farm. I’ll bet you’re a great cook and make some wonderful dishes. I think I’ll come over to your house on Thanksgiving! Bet I wouldn’t go home hungry.
Linda I understand about smidgen, pinch, dab when I was little and I used to watch my grandma bake she would use those terms and I would get upset and say how am I ever going to learn to cook if you always say that. But as the years have gone by I understand my girls get upset with me when I say that now. The funny thing about it a few years ago I found some measuring spoons that use those terms and I had to laugh about it. If only grandma was here to see this.
GREAT blog, Linda!
Brenda, I bought myself a set of those eetsy measuring spoons because I think they’re hilarious. I’ve never used them, of course. I covet Brenda’s appliances – she has a gorgeous convection oven.
I am one who cooks either way, I can use a recipe just fine or I can wing it. And I often adjust a recipe to suit preferences. My youngest daughter has a fit because I try to explain how to make something, and she’ll ask, “Well, how much is that?” Cooking is often intuitive, and if you don’t have it, you don’t have it.
Mary, I’m waiting to hear about measuring cups…
tap tap tap
FYI Miss *lizzie is an excellent cook and I often get samplings of the yummy things from her kitchen.
Linda, it would really stink to have to hold my hand inside the oven to gauge the heat – but you know I’ve had a few ovens over my lifetime that were about that bad. LOL
I did not know that little tidbit about the heat and counting! My something new to learn today!
Hi Linda – My grandmother cooked like that. I remember asking her for the recipe and she’d say, it’s in my head. She never used a measuring cup, and her food was always perfect!
Boy, I’d burn my hand every time using that counting method. Stick your hand in and count – right!
Love your cover and can’t wait to read your anthology. You get the yummiest cowboys!!
Love the blog and the recipes, Linda. Both my grandmothers had those big black stoves and I remember them well. One grandma was a great cook. The other made bread loaves that looked like bricks (guess whose talent I inherited?)
My great cook grandma made the best pies and pastries ever. The magic ingredient?? Lots of lard!
My grandmother still had a woodburning stove in her kitchen, but she also had an electric stove. I could never figure out why she left that wood burning stove there, in the end it was a glorified counter top. She used it when I was younger though, I remember this tool she had to hook the iron circles off the top, lift them, and throw in a chunk of wood.
And, the last umpteen years of her life, she always, always, always had a big pot, like a three gallon oh…..spagetti pot or something, huge old thing…sitting on the back burner of her electric stove, on low.
I asked her once why she always kept a pot of hot water like that and she just said something like, “You never know when you’re going to need hot water.”
It made NO SENSE.
I’m not sure if her mind was going or what. Maybe she thought of it like a water well in an old cast iron stove and she forgot she had a perfectly functioning hot water heater.
Grandma got kinda crazy toward the end.
Hi Brenda!
It’s weird the things we pick up as we age. I’m sure I do a lot of things my mother did. I know I say a picked up her funny colloquialisms. But I did not inherit her cooking talent. No mistaking that. Just ask my kids. LOL
How neat that you found some measuring spoons labled with smidgen, dab, dash, etc.
Thanks for coming by to comment!
Hi, Linda –
I can’t believe holding one’s hand in the oven to take the temperature! What a gem. I guess I never thought about how they’d gauge the temperature.
And, speaking of hot, the cover of your book is just that.
I walked through a historical museum a few years ago in our county, and the ‘historical’ kitchen was just my grandma’s.
Kinda scary to find out your own life is now ‘historical’.
Hi Cheryl,
I see you’re talented in other areas besides crafting wonderful stories. I envy people’s ability to throw ingredients together in a haphazard way and have everything come out very tasty. That takes true talent in my book. I guess it comes down to really understanding what each spice tastes like and what each ingredient does to contribute to the dish. Once you understand that, I guess the rest is a snap.
I’d hate to see the ovens you had in your lifetime where you about had to stick your hand in them to gauge the heat. Ouch! They must’ve been pretty bad. As for me, I’d hate to have to stick my hand in the oven. Boy, that’d be lotion time for me!! Ha! Imagine how that would dry out your skin.
Glad you liked my blog. It was fun to write.
Hi Colleen,
Glad you picked up something you didn’t know. We always strive to please our visitors and bring little unknown tidbits to your attention.
Thanks for stopping by to comment!
Hi Charlene,
Your grandmother must’ve been a jewel. I never knew any of my grandparents. They were all gone by the time I was born. I envy people who grew up with them. But, those women back then all had the art of cooking down to a science. And they were fast. They could whip up a big meal in nothing flat and a lot of times out of nothing at all.
Yeah, sticking your hand in the oven would be a good way to get burned. One thing for sure, you’d better have plenty of lotion because that’d sure dry out your skin.
Thanks for the compliment re the cover of my anthology. He’s pretty sexy all right. Muscles rippling on his back and tapering to his lean waist. Oh man! And what about the horses in the background? I love ‘em.
Hi Elizabeth,
Oh yes, I remember when everyone cooked with lots of lard. But, you know, they were all slender. Isn’t that weird? And I can’t remember too many having a heart attack or stroke. Their arteries must’ve been really clogged though.
But folks back then used lard for everything–candles, soap, hair gook, seasoning. And the American Indians even smeared bear grease or lard on their bodies to keep from getting mosquito bit. It kept the flies off too. It was the magic ingredient for so many things.
Hope you have a wonderful day and get lots of writing done.
Mary, I’m sure keeping the water on the back burner was probably just a habit. They had to do that in the old days before hot water heaters. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve read about some versions of those old wood burning stoves that had a water reservoir built into the back of the stove. Ones who had one like that had hot water all the time and they didn’t have to boil it on top of the stove.
Yes, I’ve seen those old cast iron stoves that had the long device to lift up the lids so the person could add wood. Pity the person who lost that iron rod!
I love going to museums and seeing the “old” things they used to use. And like you, I find lots of things we used when I was growing up. It’s a funny feeling to know how “historical” we are. lol
Hi Janet!
Great to have you stop by. You had a busy weekend and got lots of comments. Congratulations!
Yep, sticking a hand in the oven would’ve been the only way I guess to see how hot the temp was. In the book I got that tidbit from, they talked about soaking a broom in water and laying it on top of the stove. When the broom dried out, whatever was baking inside was done. A primitive timer!!
Thanks for the compliment re my book cover. I’ve been really lucky to have gotten such hot cowboys. Kensington did a wonderful job.
Hi Linda! Great blog! My mom cooks like this and when I was younger it was really frustrating. I decided to write down some of her wonderful recipes when I was first married, and forced her to measure everything out for me as she cooked each one. At least the info is now down on paper and my daughter will have them. You brought back some great memories. Thanks for the post!
Just like I write by by instinct, I cook by instinct. Heaven help anyone who asks me for a recipe. A little of this, and a little of that, I say. And the dish never turns out the same. Great blog. I love the judging of temperature.
Linda I forgot to tell you how hot the cover of your book looks. Can’t wait to read it.
Hey, Linda! Chiming in with everyone else in saying my Italian grandmother cooked the same way. I honestly don’t remember her ever having a cookbook on the shelf, but she must have had at least one!
We ate over there often, and when we did, we often had the same Italian dishes. We never complained, tho. They were always sooo good. I miss her cooking still.
So – have you ever made the Indian pudding? Is it a dessert?
Hi Kate,
You were lucky you got your mom to measure things out and wrote them down. Most of us don’t think to do that until too late. One of the best things I remember my mom making was her banana bread. That melted in my mouth. So good. I also loved her cornbread which I cannot make, not even with the bought mix. Mine just never comes out right. It’s always flat and dense, not light like my mom’s. I sure miss her cooking.
Glad you liked my post.
All I got from my admittedly lackadaisical research into Measuring cups was the info that Julia Child’s famous??? Pyrex measuring cup is in the National Museum of American History…okay, can you say ’starved for display items???’
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=168
Hi Patricia,
There is an art to getting things to turn out right and some people (like you) have the talent and some (like me) don’t. I shudder to think what’d happen if I started throwing things into a bowl. But, I guess it couldn’t turn out any worse. LOL
Yes, I thought that tidbit about judging heat of an oven was interesting. Pioneer women also soaked a broom in water and laid it on top of the stove. When the broom dried out, whatever was in the oven was done. Kinda neat bit of trivia.
Glad you enjoyed my blog!
Brenda,
You’re so sweet. Thank you for the compliment about my cover. I think they gave us another really good one. That cowboy should sell a lot of copies!
Hi Pam,
Yes, the Indian Pudding is a dessert. It can either be served with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream. I haven’t ever made it though but I’ve wanted to. I think it’d be interesting to taste something that the Pilgrims might’ve eaten. I’ve heard of this pudding all my life but never knew what was in it. It sounds yummy!
Mary, how funny! Yes, you can definitely say they needed to fill up their museum with something. That Pyrex measuring cup isn’t old. Good grief! I’m sure the Pioneer women, if they used anything other than their hands, probably had those tin cups. I have a set of tin measuring cups that are used for dry ingredients. You can’t measure flour in a Pyrex cup.
Hello everyone, My mother-in-law was a cook who used smidgen,db,etc. for years. Recently, however, she hasn’t seemed to be able to cook anything without a recipe and, sadly, nothing tastes as good as when she went from memory. She is now in a rest home and I wish I had paid attention to her dabs, etc.
I was in Bath and Beyond the other day and they actually have spoons that say smidgen, pinch, etc. I was tempted to buy a set just for the novelty of it.
ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com
Charlene – my grandmother (Mama) was the same. I remember asking for her pancake recipe once because they tasted so much better than Mom’s. You’d think I’d lost my mind from her response.
I hate porridge but always ate it at Mama’s farm. My Mom said I was just spoiled. :-0
Over the years, I’ve come to believe it was the iron content in Mama’s well water. It gave everthing from the pancakes and porridge to the coffee and powdered juices a unique taste.
I love this post, Linda!! A pinch and a dollop is my kind of cooking
I hardly ever mreasure anything. Really enjoyed those facts and cozy-kitchen images 
I just got a book called LOG CABIN COOKING that is fab–told about the hand-in-the-oven thing and has little historical tid-bits and pictures amid old recipes
I agree the best cooks are the ones who really don’t measure and the best meals are the ones where you just use a litt of this and a little of that. My newphew’s wife just asked me for my stuffing recipe and goodness I couldn’t give her any specifics but gave her the gist of it – that’s how I got it from my mom. The thing I regret the most is that my aunt learned to do all the cooking and my mom learned to do all the cleaning (yuk) so I never learned to make a lot of the dishes (and my aunt had two sons that weren’t interested).
Hi Linda, we’ve been gone on a little wine-tasting/golf trip (didn’t take the laptop) so I haven’t been to the junction for a bit. Oh your recipes make my mouth water. I love gingerbread. I do not cook much; hubby is the chef around here, and he is a great one for eye-baling amounts etc.
The putting the hand in the oven and counting is NOT something I would want to do. But as I often say, I am a big baby compared to these old-time women.
Congrats on your new book. Can’t wait.
I know when we were kids our ‘one cup’ measurer was a pink coffee cup. Mom said it was one cup and she always used it and I believed her and used it too. It probably was. Close enough anyway, it doesn’t HAVE to have markings on it.
Another thing about baking – I’ve taught my kids to bake. My 17 yo teen dd takes pride in going into the adult categories of the local fairs against me.
We both use the same recipe and yet have totally different results.
Her cakes are moist, her biscuits fluffy and her raise light and high. We won’t talk about mine.
But,I’m better at pies, cookies and quick breads.
We both use the same measuring cups.
I’m a fairly good cook, having won several cook-off awards, but I’ll never be the cook my mother and her mother were! In fact, the day before he passed away, my Daddy was full of praise for the great cook that Mother had always been! And recipes were not always a rule of the day!I’m pleased to say that my eldest son has become a great fourth-generation cook and my 14-year-old grandson will be our fifth-generation in the kitchen!
Pat Cochran
Connie,
That’s sad about your mother. Breaks my heart when our loved ones’ memories fade. I know she must’ve been a wonderful cook. But, you know, it’s like everything else. If you don’t practice a lot the ability vanishes.
Hi Abi,
I didn’t know until several of you told me today that there are actual measuring spoons with smidgen, dab, etc. labeling them. That would make a really neat gift for someone for Christmas!
Hi Anita Mae,
Thanks for dropping by to comment. I’m glad you enjoyed my blog. I had fun writing it.
I guess the iron content in your grandmother’s well water could explain why everything tasted good. I know the taste of water can make all the difference in the world.
Stacey,
I’d love to get a book like your Log Cabin Cooking. It sounds like a great resource for all kinds of things. Did you order it or find it in a store somewhere?
Glad you enjoyed my blog. It was fun to do. Hope your writing is going smoother now. You’ve sure had a time.
Hi Jeanne,
Thanks for dropping by today. Yeah, a lot of those old cooks learned by touch and taste more than by following a recipe. They just threw things together and it always tasted wonderful.
Hi Tanya,
I hope you had fun on your wine tasting/golf trip. Sounds like fun. We missed you around here though, believe you me.
Yeah, you and me both. I wouldn’t made a horrible pioneer woman. Glad I live in today’s time.
Hi Pat,
Congratulations on your eldest son and your grandson on becoming good cooks! That’s wonderful. Most people generally think of a kitchen as a woman’s domain. I’m glad to see they have a knack for making luscious dises.
Hi Linda! I love the Log Cabin Cooking book–it’s thin but packed with neat info and only 5.95. Here’s the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Log-Cabin-Cooking-Pioneer-Recipes/dp/1883206251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227110028&sr=1-1
Another super book was Cowboy Slang. I had bought two of them, and Cowboy Lingo turned out to be my LEAST favorite-I had a link on my last post. But Cowboy Slang is fantastic
http://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Slang-Colorful-Sayings/dp/091484623X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227110064&sr=1-1
I am looking for a recipe for molasses cookies. My grandmother made them with a “smidgen” of this and “dab” of that and a “handful” of that until it looks right. They were a large round cut out cookie and she would put them in a covered crock in the basement and not let anyone eat them until the next day. She said they had to “age.” I know she used lard.
If anyone has an old recipe from 1880’s through early 1900’s it would be appreciated.
Thanks!