Dining elegantly in the early 20th century
Volante, Cármen. Resetas de Cocina: Refrescos, Reposteria, Dulces. ca. 1910-1919. TX716 .M4 V653 1910. Mexican Cookbook Collection. UTSA Libraries Special Collections. [Digital Surrogate]
During September and October, La Cocina Histórica will feature recipes from recently digitized manuscript cookbooks.
Resetas de Cocina: Refrescos, Reposteria, Dulces is one of eleven school notebooks belonging to Hortensia Volante between 1900-1928. This particular volume is the only one ascribed to a different author, most likely one of Hortensia’s relatives.
At almost two hundred pages, this cookbook contains an impressive array of recipes not only for desserts and sweets (as the title implies), but also savory dishes and several menus for fairly elaborate dinners.
The handwriting of the menus is much more upright than that used for the recipes. This might suggest that a different author contributed the menus, or perhaps the menus were written at a later date when her handwriting habits had changed. It is worth noting that several of the recipes after around page 160 also appear to be in a different, less elegantly polished hand.
The title page (beautifully illustrated with wildflowers) contains this menu in French:
- Pota[c]e a la Julienne / Potage
- Omelette au jambon / Ham omelette
- Canard aux salsi[f]is / Duck with sauce
- Macaronie L’italienne / Italian Macaroni
- Sole au gratin / Sole (fish) gratin
- Filet de Boeuf roti / Fillet of roast beef
- Desserts. The. Café. Liquers / Desserts, tea, coffee, liqueurs.
Page 46 contains four more menus. Although predominantly in Spanish, French and English words are used periodically.
Menu
- Sopa de tapioca / Tapioca soup
- Huevos al raspado / Egg dish made with strips of bread [1]
- Coles de Bruselas / Brussels sprouts
- Vaca á la moda / Beef á la mode
- Macarrones con leche / Macaroni with milk
- Fricasse de pollo / Chicken Fricasse
- Pina. Melón / Pineapple. Melon.
- Crema á la vainilla / Vanilla cream
Menu
- Sopa de poro / Leek soup
- Pescado en salsa blanca / Fish in white sauce
- Huevos Rusos / Russian eggs (deviled eggs topped with caviar)
- Pichones en almendra / Squab with almonds
- Alcachofas / Artichokes
- Pollo asado / Roast chicken
- Fresas con nata / Strawberries with cream
- Crema de café / Coffee cream
Eleven more menus can be found on pages 49–50, most of which are entitled “Diner,” and make heavy use of French, as in the two examples below:
Diner
- Potage purée de pois / Pureed peas potage
- Vol-au-vent / Filled puff pastries
- Veau a l’oseille [oviera?]/ Veal with sorrel
- Salade russe / Russian salad
- Oie rotie [ganso] / Roast goose
- Crema saute groselle / cream with red currents?
Diner
- Potage de arroz / Rice Soup
- Croutes ause champignons / Crusts with mushrooms
- Sole au gratin / Sole (fish) gratin
- Pommes de terre roties / Roasted potatoes
- Purée de Marrons / Mashed chestnuts
- Desserts / Desserts
- Le Café / Coffee
[1] The recipe for Huevos al raspado follows on page 47 – it appears to be something like an egg casserole, with raw eggs broken over a bed of bread crumbs, butter, anchovies, chopped parsley, and yolks of hard boiled eggs, and baked until the raw eggs set a little. Note: Many thanks to Dan Fromm for the interpretation of this recipe.
