Apple Snow-Balls - A recipe from the American Civil War

In 1830 in Philadelphia, Louis Antoine Godey began publishing Godey's Lady's Book offering advice for women regarding fashion, current events, popular culture, and more.  

In 1837, Sarah Josepha Hale took over as editor where her high standards and willingness to publish original works from women writers, as well as her advocacy for women's rights and responsibilities, helped to expand readership.  When she took over, it was at 10,000 and, by 1860, it was over 150,000.  

The most popular features of the magazine included hand-tinted fashion plates in each issues, patterns for women to use in making garments at home, sheet music for piano, and short stories by authors like Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49), Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64), Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-94), and Washington Irving (1783-1859), among others.  It also included news and features. (click here for citation)

Godey's also contained recipes, as listed under the general heading of "Receipts, &c."  This section included advice on running and maintaining the kitchen, and sometimes on health and medicine, because often the woman of the family was responsible for treating the family's ills.

Last year I participated in a Civil War reenactment as a cook, and I was in charge of desserts.  One that I prepared was such a hit - and easy! - that I wanted to share it on my blog.  It was published in the January 1863 edition, found on page 90.

I did not have the room in my kettle at the reenactment or at my home to make six of these.  My recommendation is to make up to as many apples as will fit in the pan that can hold the boiling water.  Think 2 to 3 servings per apple to help you plan for your meal.  

My Redaction

Per apple:

1 apple

1 long slice of lemon zest

1 to 2 inch long piece of cinnamon bark or 1 to 2 whole cloves

1/4 to 1/2 cup rice

1 large cloth napkin, big enough to wrap around the apple and still have some room

1 piece of string long enough to tie up the napkin

One big kettle of hot water

Don't forget the cloth!

Get the water to boiling (it takes a while), then keep it at a simmer until you put the apples in.

Dampen the cloth and spread it out on the counter.  It should be moist, not dripping.  Set the string nearby.

Cut each apple into fourths, cutting from the top down.  Remove the core, stem, and flower end.  Start reassembling the apple, placing the zest and spice into the space left from the core.

Pour the rice into the middle of the cloth, then spread it around in a circle with a radius about the same as the height of the apple.

Holding the parts of the apple together with one hand, set the apple in the middle of the rice layer.  Use your free hand to start pulling the corners and sides of the cloth up over the apple.  Work around the cloth; after doing half the cloth, use the free hand to hold the apple and cloth together and the other hand to pull up the rest of the cloth.

Bring the corners and edges together over the top of the apple.  Do not pull them snugly around the apple, but don't make them too loose.  Tie them with the string.  Make sure all the edges are above the string.

Set the bundle into the simmering water.  After all the bundles are in, make sure the water reaches to the top of the apples (where the tie is).  

Bring the water to a gentle boil and set the timer for 45 minutes.  About halfway through, turn the bundles over.

They are done when you poke the side with your finger and you can feel that the rice is soft.

Pull a bundle out of the water, letting it drain for a few seconds.  Place on a plate and remove the tie.  Open the cloth about halfway off the apple, then place another plate or bowl on top.  Flip the two and then remove the cloth.

With luck, the result will look just like a snow ball.

Quartered.

Cored.

Nice long lemon zest.  Use more cinnamon.

Spread that rice.

Reassembling the apple.

Hold it while bringing up the sides of the cloth.

A nice bundle.  

Get the water up to the ties, if possible.

Put the entire bundle in the water!

My Notes

It does take a while to heat up the large amount of water, so start early.  I recommend filling it to a bit less than you think you'll need to cover the bundles, because the level will rise when they go in.  Then add more hot water as needed when starting to cook.

I used one red (Gala) and one green (Granny Smith) apple.  Green apples tend to be tart.

The first time I did this, I just used zest as I didn't have whole cinnamon quills and not everyone likes the bold taste of cloves.  This time I used zest and cinnamon.

The amount of rice is up to you.  I didn't measure it the first time; for a reenactment, I just scooped and poured until it looked "right".  This time I used 1/2 cup.

Make sure the cloths are completely inside the kettle in the water, not hanging over the edge as one picture shows.  You don't want to set the cloth on fire.

I used my hand to pull the bundle out of the water.  It is hot.  You could use tongs or a slotted spoon instead.  

Out of the pot.

Start opening it up.

Flipped!

The Verdict

I served them with these garnishes:  butter, cream, maple syrup, and a cardamom-sugar mix.  My guest taster and I could put any or all of these on our servings.

At the reenactment, they looked just like perfect snowballs.  At home, they were close but had broken open around the apple.

Not perfect, but so what?

The rice was cooked through and the apples were tender.  It was easy to use a serving spoon to scoop up a piece of apple and some rice.  Then we added toppings as we liked.

One serving (of many)

We both tried both apple bundles separately.  My guest liked the tartness of the green apple best, and I liked the sweetness of the red apple.

The first thing I noted was that if you don't put the butter on right away, it won't melt into the rice.  We both agreed that it didn't need butter anyway.  We liked adding a little cream, and we especially liked the maple syrup.  The cardamom-sugar mix was also very tasty.

We loved the texture and the flavor of apple mixed with rice.  The lemon was lightly persistent throughout, as was the cinnamon.  Adding more toppings just made it better.

Success!

At the reenactment, people enjoyed it very much.  One person came back for seconds and then for another helping for a family member.  

We found it to be a "wholesome and satisfactory food" for everyone!

A thought I had later was that you could season it differently - using more savory spices such as black pepper - and serve it as a side dish to roast meat.  

Final note:  I have been going through Godey's to collect the recipes in one place.  Then I discovered that many of their recipes are word-for-word copies of recipes from N.K.M. Lee's The Cook's Own Book, published in 1832/1833.  That is another good source of period recipes.  Lee's book has several versions of snow balls.

To Make a Creamapple Pie

Much of my historical cooking demonstration experience revolves around the Elizabethan period, that is, food from the reign of England's Queen Elizabeth I in the late 1500s.  It is acceptable to cook medieval recipes for this time period, but it really helps to have resources that match up with that era.  

One very good resource is Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book:  Elizabethan Country House Cooking as brought to us by Hilary Spurling.  Ms. Fettiplace was married to Sir Richard Fettiplace of Appleton Manor in Oxfordshire.  You can read more about her here.  Ms. Spurling is an author who cooked from the book for ten years before publishing it.  You can read more about her here.

Ms. Fettiplace wrote her receipt book (we use "recipe" instead of "receipt") by hand, passed it on to other family members who added to it and then passed it on.  Ms. Spurling acquired the book when it was inherited by her husband, John Spurling.

What I like about it is that the receipts are closer to what "ordinary" people would have made, keeping in mind that the Fettiplace family had more wealth than the average lower class worker.  When you read the recipes, you see many simple and tasty dishes and not the elaborate ones used by the very wealthy to impress at feasts.  

I chose a receipt on page 58, To Make a Creamapple Pie.  There are so many other receipts I want to try!

ISBN 0-670-81592-6

The way to format receipts in the Elizabethan times was in paragraph form.  This uses less space than our modern format.  It also gives few (if any) measurements and cooking times.  Measurements depend on the quantities you have available and cooking times depend on the size of the oven and the size of the fire that heats its.  Ms. Fettiplace assumes you have, or will get, experience in judging all this.  Fortunately, Ms. Spurling gives us her redaction, which I used but organized to our modern standards.

Original Receipt

Take your apples, & slice them, & put some butter & sugar to them, & so put them in the paste, & bake them, when they are baked cut open the pie, & put in a great deal of sweet cream, & stir it well togither, & then let it stand a little, till it bee somewhat cold, & so serve it to the boord.

Redaction

2 pounds tart cooking apples (see notes)

4 rounded tablespoons brown sugar

"a good-sized knob of butter" (I used nearly 1/4 cup)

1/2 pint cream (I used more)

dough for a two-crust, 9-inch pie

Two pounds apples is just four of these.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (or 350 degrees if the pie pan is glass or ceramic).

Line the pie pan with the bottom crust.

Quarter and core the apples, then slice thinly, leaving the peel on.  Spread in pie pan, piling it up higher in the middle than at the edge of the pan knowing they will settle while cooking.

Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of the apples.  

Cut the cold butter into chips and slivers, and sprinkle them across the top of the apples.  I just held the knob over the pan and chipped away at it, letting the pieces fall onto the pie.

Cut several holes in the top crust then place on the pie.  Seal the top and bottom edges together.

Bake for 45 minutes.

As soon as the pie is out of the oven, use a funnel to help pour the cream into the holes.  Pour in as much cream as it will hold without overflowing.

Let cool to room temperature.  

Notes

I live in California, so the apples Ms. Spurling recommends, Bramley, are not available.  The internet told me that Granny Smith, Braeburn, Cortland, or Winesap are good substitutes, so I got Granny Smith.  These are green, tart cooking apples and are known to hold their shape when cooked. 

I bought 2 pints of cream and was glad because the pie took 1 1/4 pints until it was full.  Maybe because I used a 9-inch pan and piled the apples up so high?

I wanted to try Ms. Fettiplace's idea of cutting open the pie, but modified the idea to baking the top crust with parchment paper along the edges to keep it from sticking to the bottom crust.  You will see the paper in the pictures.  This idea did not work out as the top crust stuck to the apples and started to break when I attempted lifting it.  So I used Ms. Spurling's idea of using a funnel to pour the cream into the vent holes once I pulled the paper strips away.  The top sealed to the bottom anyway while cooling.

This crust experience makes me think that Ms. Fettiplace used a more robust and/or flexible pie crust than the store-bought one I used.  She felt you could cut it open and not have it break up at all.

Use this many apples

With sugar and butter

Skip the paper strips.  Just add the crust with vent holes.

Beautiful!

Now it is a creamapple pie.

The Verdict

It looked beautiful out of the oven and cooled.  

Cooled and ready to eat.

It sliced wonderfully.  The cream had set during the cooling process and did not pour out of the crust once it was cut.

No runny cream!

My regular guest taster and I loved it.  It was not an apple pie as our taste buds expected as it didn't contain the spices such as cinnamon that our tastebuds expected.  But the apple flavor was there and the cream added a richness and, well, creaminess to the experience.  The crust delivered a nice crunch, too.

I felt I should have sliced the apples thinner.  Not that they were bad, but I felt that some needed a little more cooking.  So perhaps I could have left it in the oven another 10 minutes or so, but I worried I would burn the crust.

We both tried to imagine if cinnamon or cardamom or other spices would be a good addition.  Maybe.  But the pie as it was had a unique flavor, and I'm not sure I want to change that.

Two more guest tasters tried it.  One did not like it because she tasted a "tang" that reminded her of sour cream, which she dislikes.  The other enjoyed it but noticed that it was not the "usual" apple pie - she missed the spices she expected.  So she wasn't thrilled as we were but she liked it.

Ms. Spurling commented that the pie should not be served cold as the butter coagulates and is not pleasant to eat.  We warmed our refrigerated leftovers in the microwave for just long enough to remove the chill from the pie.  That worked out well.

Success!  Give it a try but be prepared for something different than what our tastebuds have been trained to expect from an apple pie.  You might use red (less tart) apples instead of the Granny Smiths.

Apples and Onions -- One of My Most Favorite Recipes

I reserve the last post of the year for one of my most favorite recipes.  This is my 13th year of food blogging (!), and I struggled to decide what to write about.  I have favorites, but which one should I pick?  One day I realized that a very quiet favorite -- one that I cook often but really don't think about much -- was a side dish that was both versatile and historical:  apples and onions.

Versatile:  I use it as a side dish to a main course such as baked chicken, a robust stew, or grilled salmon. It is fabulous with pork.  It is wonderfully supportive because it adds sweet, tart, and savory notes, depending on the ingredients you choose.  But it is also a good side dish for breakfast foods, such as French toast, pancakes, or omelets.  It adds the same notes but its overall flavor profile can be adjusted according to the spices and their ratios.

Historical:  I keep finding recipes or references to it in a variety of cultures over a wide span of time periods.  It seems that if a culture has both apples and onions available to it, it has discovered how wonderful the combination is.  The main differences are which spices are utilized.  In other words, once people taste it, they like it, and they pass that information to future generations.

The quantities I choose depend on my use.  My questions are:

Do I want more apple than onion?  Or more onion than apple?  Or a balance of their flavors?

I typically use spices such as black pepper, cinnamon, and salt.  Sometimes I throw in saffron or nutmeg or ginger or cardamom, depending on my mood and goal for the meal.  So I also ask:

Do I want it leaning towards savory or sweet?  

What are the spices used in the rest of the meal?

The answers direct the ratios.  Savory means more black pepper than cinnamon; sweet means more cinnamon than pepper.  Use both, as they complement each other well as I have learned from cooking medieval English recipes.  I might also include some herbs.

Another choice I make is about the fat used to cook the apples and onions.  Olive oil works well for the savory direction and butter for the sweet direction.  

I also decide how I want to cut up the apples and onions.  Do I want chunks or thin slices?  Often I will chunk the apples and thinly slice the onions, so I get a contrast of shapes.

The final decision is the type of apple:  a tart cooking apple really contributes a tang to the final dish, which goes well with savory meats and sweet breakfast breads.  But an eating apple that stays firm when cooked adds more sweetness, and that can be lovely, too.

I made it for this blog with the idea it would be a side dish to a main course of baked chicken.  I had very tart cooking apples and brown (yellow) onions.  I used black pepper and cinnamon in equal measure and salt to support them.  And I used olive oil.

Apples and Onions

2 tart apples

1 small yellow onion

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon or less of olive oil

Peel and then thinly slice the onion.

Heat olive oil in a fry pan.

Add the onion and slowly saute it.

In the meantime, quarter and core the apple.  Cut into bite-sized chunks.

Add to the onions.  Mix well.

Saute apples and onions together, stirring occasionally.  If it looks dry, add a splash of water.  If you are in a hurry, put a lid on the pan to steam the apples, which cooks them quickly.

Stir in the spices (to taste).  Cook a little while longer to allow the spices to flavor the dish.

Taste and adjust spices as desired.  Serve hot.  (Also good reheated.)

My Notes

Well, most of my notes are written before the recipe.  When to add the apples?  When the onions are almost cooked to where you want them.  Do you want them transparent?  Browned?  Your choice!

How long to cook the whole thing?  Until the apples are tender.  Or further, if you want the spices to really infuse.

The spice range is to your taste.  I used the upper values for the pepper and cinnamon.

This quantity is good for 2 to 4 people.

Thinly sliced.

Chunks.  Leave the peel on!

Apples and onions cooking together.

With the spices just added.

Done!

The Verdict

This is always good.  I've been known to eat it as a meal in itself.  

My guest taster thought the spices were just right.  I thought that maybe they would be too strong for people not used to them.  Use your good judgement.

Success!

And cheers to the end of 2024.

Mermelada de manzana -- Apple Jam, a Pinedo recipe

It is spring time and my orange tree is full of fruit.  My Pakistani mulberry is producing well this year.  Other plants in my yard are leafing out and I know they will have fruit on them in a few months.  Fruit!  I'm so excited about it!

So that is what I was looking for when I skimmed over the Pinedo recipes.  I wanted to make something with fruit in it. (In case you don't know what I mean by the Pinedo recipes, do a search on this blog for the keyword "Pinedo.")

Many of her fruit recipes involved sugar, and lots of it.  Of course -- she was putting up jellies, jams, and other preserves to last the year, and she did not have refrigeration.  But as much as I love sweet food, I really like to let the flavor of the fruit come through.  This is why I don't can my fruit preserves, but I do like to freeze them.  Last week I made a mulberry and apple spread that had just a little sugar, a splash of lime juice, and a bit of cardamom to deepen the flavor.  It was lovely, especially as a side condiment to some grilled pork chops.

What I chose to make was her apple jam because it looked more like a chutney or compote than just jam, and it didn't have as much sugar as many of her other recipes.  There are a few recipes with the same title, and this one is on pages 162 - 163.

My Translation:

Apple jam.

         Six large, sour apples, chopped; two tablespoons of very fresh butter. If the apple is too dry, add four tablespoons of fresh water.

         When the apple is soft, add two cups of sugar, half a cup of honey, a cup of citron, two teaspoons of vinegar, the juice of two oranges and part of the yellow rind, a cup of raisins and another of currant, two teaspoons of cinnamon, a teaspoon of cloves, two teaspoons of pepper and a teaspoon of nutmeg.

 

Use one lemon

Ingredients as a list

6 large green apples

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 cup citron (I used the zest of 2 lemons instead.  You might want to use less.)

2 teaspoons vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

juice from 2 medium oranges, and the zest from one

1 cup raisins

1 cup currants

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves (I suggest less)

2 teaspoons pepper

1 teaspoon nutmeg

My Notes

My apples were not dry, so I did not add any water.  I started the butter melting in a big Dutch oven, then started coring and chopping the apples.  They were not peeled.  As soon as I chopped 1/4 of an apple, the pieces went into the butter to start sautéing.  Every time I added more, I stirred what was in the pot.

Once all the apples were tender, I added the other ingredients.

It is the wrong time of year to get citron, so I chose to use fresh lemon zest that was finely chopped.  I also shredded and chopped the orange zest.

Once the other ingredients were mixed well, I brought them just to a boil, then lowered the heat so they simmered.

I let uncovered pot simmer with an occasional stirring until the mixture was thick and starting to look a little dry.

Then I let it cool for a taste test.

The Verdict

Whoooo!  It is spicy!  I was a little worried that 1 teaspoon of cloves would be too much, and I think my worries were justified.  I think 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon would have been better because the cloves really dominate the flavor profile.

Also, the flavors hadn't really blended much.  The lemon zest was still somewhat uncooked, and I did not like how I kept getting a chewy bite of it.  Basically, the whole mixture seemed like it needed more cooking.

So I added about 1 cup of water, stirred it in well, then got the mixture back to a simmer.  This time I put the lid on.  I let it simmer about 40 minutes more, stirring it sometimes and checking to see if the lemon zest was cooked all the way.

It was much better!  The zest was more subtle, the flavors more blended.  The cloves were still too much but they weren't off-putting.

My guest taster and I both had a small bowlful and accompanied it with a small glass of chardonnay.  Neither of us were very hungry, and this made a perfect little snack.  

It was spicy, sweet, fruity, savory (from the pepper, I think), tart, and floral from the two citrus zests.  I would love to have it as a condiment next to roast meat.  We also both agreed it would be a great topping on a scoop of quality French vanilla ice cream.  Success!

You can see that it is truly like a chutney (without the nuts) or a compote in that the individual chunks of fruit are still there.  Nothing went to a puree like in a regular jam, and the chunks were more dominant than what we typically see in a marmalade.

Miss Pinedo's recipe did not make the great quantity that is usual for when someone wants to can the results.  I think this is just the right amount to put out for a large gathering, like for a barbeque or picnic or potluck.  

This is a keeper, although I strongly recommend cutting back on the cloves and using the zest from one lemon.

Mrs. Fisher's Cheese Pudding

Abby Fisher was born a slave in South Carolina circa 1832.  After she was freed she moved to northern California where she distinguished herself by her cooking skills: 

she had clearly long been steeped in the best traditions of Southern cookery and was a fine practitioner, so recognized in her day.  ... she was awarded medals and diplomas at various fairs in California ... 

So impressive were her skills that a "committee of residents in San Francisco and Oakland <were> responsible for recording her knowledge of the art from dictation."  You see, neither Mrs. Fisher nor her husband were literate.

These quotes, from page 75 of the book What Mrs. Fisher knows about Old Southern Cooking, brings to our attention that her book appears to be the first cookbook written by an African-American that was published in the United States.  It was published in 1881.

ISBN 978-1-55709-403-2

I had the good fortune to recently visit Charleston, SC, where I found this reprint of Mrs. Fisher's book in a gift store.  It didn't take much perusing to decide that this book needed to come home with me.  It contains 160 recipes that address breads, meats, croquettes, cakes and other desserts, pickles, sauces, salads, sherbets, soups, and miscellaneous.

I saw several intriguing recipes I would like to try.  But the first was Cheese Pudding, recipe #159, partly because the ingredients caught my interest and also because we are directed to send it to the table "as a vegetable."  That made me laugh, because my first reading made me think it was a dessert!  However, I think she meant it to be a side dish to cooked meat, which is how I decided to serve it.

Cheese Pudding (159)

Have mild cheese; grate half pound of cheese and half pound of apples, add to this half pint of sweet milk, beat four eggs very light, and add to above.  Before mixing apples with cheese, put to it one tablespoon white sugar; stir all well.  Season with nutmeg, and pour it into a dish and put to bake, putting one tablespoon of butter over it in small pieces.  Twenty minutes will bake it, and send to table as a vegetable.

My Redaction

1/2 pound mild cheddar cheese (I used a mixture of mild and sharp cheddar), shredded
1/2 pound apple, cored and then shredded
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
ground nutmeg, to taste 
1 tablespoon butter

This is enough for two batches, except for the butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a baking dish that has at least four cups capacity.

Put apples and cheese together; mix well.  Add the nutmeg and mix well.

Shredded apples!

Apples and cheese

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until they lighten in color.  Add the milk and beat again.  Pour this liquid over the apple/cheese mixture and shake the baking dish a little to push out the air bubbles.

Dot the top with the butter and place in the oven.

This is the deeper baking dish

This is the shallower dish

Bake until the center is firm and the surface is lightly browned.  This took much longer than 20 minutes.  See notes.

My Notes

I was preparing to feed seven people with this, so I doubled the recipe.  I baked it in two separate containers, one that was wider than the other which affected the cooking time. 

It was easy to prepare; I was visiting with my company while fixing it and didn't worry that I would make mistakes.

The wider pan cooked for 30 minutes and was almost ready, although still too soft in the middle.  I think it should have cooked at least another 10 to 20 minutes. 

The deeper pan was cooked for a total of 50 minutes and was just right -- lightly browned on the top, puffy, and firm in the middle.

The Verdict

I didn't manage to get a picture of the deeper pan, despite it being cooked just right.  But here is the shallower one:

Close but not quite right yet

We scooped it out using a ladle and that worked well considering how soft it was.  The sides of the pudding were firmer, much closer to what I expected.

This was from the firmer side region of the baking dish

Letting it cool a little before serving helped with the firming up process.  But cooking it further would have been better.

I served it as a side dish to a lovely smoked beef brisket and a tossed green salad.

Three of us had the softer version and four had the firmer version.

First, everyone thought it was delicious!  Basically it was a cheese custard with the sweet flavor but more importantly the slightly crunchy texture of the shredded apples. 

The criticism I would make (and some of the others agreed) was that it was too oily -- perhaps the cheddar cheese was oily enough that I didn't need to put on the butter or that the butter wasn't necessary at all.  If I did this again, I would consider a different cheese that wasn't as oily.  It is hard to tell what would be good considering the cheese has to be firm enough to shred. 

I felt that apples went with cheddar, so that is why I picked it.  I think a good Swiss-style cheese would be good, too.

The apples kept the pudding from being too uniformly a fine-textured custard and the sweet cut through the oily enough to keep it from being heavy.  It was rich so a small serving was appropriate but it was tasty so many of us had second helpings. 

It was definitely not a dessert but I think you could serve it as such, especially if you put some chopped, toasted pecans on the top.  Apples and cheese and nuts all in one dish would certainly make a tasty dessert accompanying a good wine!

If twenty minutes cooked it to firm, then I think Mrs. Fisher used a hotter oven than I did.  350 degrees, maybe?  I'm not sure but it would be interesting to try it at that temperature another time.

So I call it a success.  I enjoyed my small taste of an old Southern recipe. 

Thank you, Abby Fisher, for sharing your well-honed cooking skills with us!