One of my most precious possessions is an old cookbook from of my parent's marriage. It is The "White House Cookbook, Revised for Both Small and Large Families," and is so old, I have to keep it wrapped and protected. The pages are yellowed and cracked and the front and back covers are attached with tape. It is undated and may have belonged to either my maternal or paternal grandmother. In my dad's handwriting, a note written on a sheet of paper says: "White House Cookbook, 1923." It could even be older. My mom and dad were not married until many years later. I remember my mother using it from time to time.
In one of the recipes for a cake, the directions tell the home cook to, "Bake three or four hours, according to the thickness of the loaves, in a tolerably hot oven, and with steady heat." No oven temperature is mentioned so the cooks had to be really adept and intuitive at baking, in particular. And, they really had to love what they were doing.
Here is the recipe for English Pound Cake copied exactly as written:
"One pound of butter, one and one-quarter pounds of flour, one pound of pounded loaf sugar, one pound of currants, nine eggs, two ounces of candied peel, one ounce of citron, one ounce of sweet almonds; when liked, a little pounded mace. Work the butter into the cream; add the sugar, then the well-beaten yolks of the eggs, next the flour, currants, candied peel, which should be cut into neat slices, and the almonds, which should be blanched and chopped, and mix all these well together; whisk the whites of eggs and let them be thoroughly blended with the other ingredients. Beat the cake well for twenty minutes and put it into a round pan, lined at the bottom and sides with strips of white buttered paper. Bake it from two hours to two and a half, and let the oven be well heated when the cake is first put in, as, if this is not the case, the currants will all sink to the bottom of it."
Beating heavy batter with raisins by hand for 20 minutes straight! Now, that is real love!
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