Old Timey Food

Life magazine cover. A woman in profile, wearing a salmon-colored dress with a white apron tied at the waist, carries a platter with a cherub on it. Baby angels: it's what's for dinner

Okay who's carving?

Charles Dana Gibson
November 1903
Internet Archive

"So gladly we welcome the happy day, That comes when the summer is o'er, When the scattered friends we love so well. Round the home hearth meet once more! A peanut doll dressed in blue and white crepe paper in Puritan costume, holding a few heads of wheat, makes an appro- / priate and dainty Thanksgiving favor. Decorate the table with autumn leaves. Corn, husked and tied together, is most effective, suspended here and there from the walls and between the doors, As Thanksgiving is the one day of the year when all America gives praise for prosperity and freedom, an unusually well-filled board is not only in good taste, but is expected. To make a unique Thanksgiving dessert, cut a small pumpkin across the top. Carefully scoop out the inside. Place on a dish and fill with Floating Island; replace the pumpkin top. Garnish the platter with generous sprigs of autumn leaves, and on these lay a variety of sliced cakes.

menu "let us eat and be merry." - luke 15:23 BREAKFAST Grapes Oatmeal Country Sausages Scrambled Eggs Browned Potatoes Entire Wheat Griddle Cakes Maple Syrup Coffee DINNER Oysters on Half Shell Mutton Broth Celery Turkey, stuffed with oysters Cranberry Sauce Mashed Potatoes Baked Squash Boiled Onions, with cream sauce Peach Pickles Waldorf Salad Cheese Wafers Mince Pie Pudding, Puritan style SUPPER Cold Roast Turkey Tea Biscuits Cottage Cheese Sweet Tomato Pickles Thanksgiving Cake Fruit Glace Tea Nuts Fruit Coffee As this is a day of general rejoicing, see that the poor are not forgotten. Don't forget the adage, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Thanksgiving menu

The National Course in Home Economics: How to Practice Economy in the Home
Internet Archive
1917

TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING DAY DINNER APPETIZERS Fruit Compote with Champagne Chilled Fruit Juices Filete of Herring in Sour Cream Relish Trays SOUP Cream of Mushroom SALAD ENTREES’ ROAST VERMONT TURKEY, DRESSING 8. 25 BAKED VIRGINA HAM, FRUIT SAUCE 8.25 ROAST LEG OF LAMB, MINT JELLY 8.25 BOILED STUFFED SHRIMP WITH CRAB MEAT 9.25 ROAST PRIME RIBS OF BEEF, AU JUS 11.50 VEGETABLES: Turnips, Cauliflower, Yams, Mashed Potatoes DESSERT Pumpkin Pie Apple Pie Minced Pie Rice Pudding Ice Cream Children under 14, half price

Traditional Thanksgiving day dinner menu

Metuchen Golf and Country Club
Edison, NJ
1915

I'm making one! I do a relish tray every year because it's my favorite part of Thanksgiving, we always had one when I was a kid.

I adore the handwritten ones.

thanksgiving day fruit cocktail consomme, pate d'italie boston clam chowder radishes celery sweet gherkins cherry and pineapple preserve queen olives boiled codfish, hollandaise braised sweetbreads provencal fresh mushrooms on toast bartlett pear fritters, glace' new jersey turkey, roasted, cranberry sauce roast prime ribs fo beef au jus mashed potatoes boiled sweet potatoes boiled onions, naturel stewed corn fresh green beans steamed rice cole slaw, pimientos lettuce with french or mayonnaise dressing peach tapioca pudding, hard sauce mince pie pumpkin pie charlotte russe angel cake macaroons lady fingers assorted cake pineapple cherry ice cream american and swiss cheese saltines california oranges bananas pitted dates coffee nov 26/31 pine tree inn the inn in the pines lakehurst, n.j.

Pine Tree Inn Thanksgiving menu
Lakehurst, NJ
November 26, 1931

THANKSGIVING DAY THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1948 Served from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Chicken Okra Louisiana Consomme Royale Jellied Consomme Grapefruit Juice Tomato Juice Cranberry Juice Fresh Jumbo Prawn Cocktail Baked Half Grapefruit au Rum Wafers Celery Ripe Olives * * * * Roast Young Turkey with Oyster Dressing, Giblet Gravy 2.50 Broiled New York Cut Sirloin Steak, Maitre D'Hotel 3.50 Roast Long Island Duckling with Apple Sauce 2.50 Broiled Half Lobster with Melted Butter and Shoestring Potatoes 2.50 Filet of Genuine Sole Saute in Butter, Meuniere 1.90 Omelette with Creamed Oysters, Poulette 2.00 Broiled English Lamb Chop with Pickled English Walnut 2.50 Half Avocado Stuffed with Fresh Crab Meat Salad 1.95 Hot Butterflake Rolls and Butter Candied Yams or Baked Buttered Idaho Potato Fresh Broccoli, Hollandaise or Creamed Kernal Corn Waldorf Salad with Walnuts Chantilly Dressing **** Hot English Plum Pudding with Hard and Brandy Sauce Apple or Pumpkin

Menu for Thanksgiving at an unidentified restaurant
November 25, 1948
Culinary Institute of America

Thanksgiving Pretty trimmings of the season- Golden touch for turkey Fluffy yellow chrysanthemums make the turkey drumsticks festive. (Snipsome from your living-room bouquet!) Platter garnish one more flower plus pineapple rings topped with small bunches of sugared green grapes. Colorful accent-crab apples Remove cores from stem end of spiced crab apples; poke on ends of drumsticks. Or, anchor fluffs of parsley to drumsticks. Quick platter trim rounds of jellied cranberry sauce, topped with pineapple rings, split and twisted in S-shape. 88 Pumpkin-pie cornucopias... Cut slice of American proc ess cheese in half on diag-onal: roll each piece on long side. Anchor cornucopias with whole cloves. Arrange in pinwheel shape in center of pie (one per piece). ... or whipped-cream "daisy" Each snowy petal takes 1 large spoonful of whipped cream. To make petal, turn spoon sideways and flip oval island of whipped cream onto pumpkin pie. Form five or six petals one for each

Trimming ideas for turkey and pie

Holiday cookbook: special foods for all special occasions
Better Homes and Gardens
1959
Internet Archive

Royal Salad. Cut out the core of pared apples and scoop out a well in center, fill with minced celery, nut meats broken fine. and top with a mayonnaise tinted delicate green with vegetable coloring.

Celery nut salad in an apple with green mayonnaise on top

The San Francisco Call Bulletin
Sun, Nov 25, 1900

Plenty of turkeys, cheap, seen by Commissioner of Markets Turkeys are to be plentiful and cheap for Thanksgiving, says Markets Commissioner Edwin J O'malley. Retail prices should be in the neighborhood of 60 cents a pound for the best birds and as low as 45 cents for cold storage turkeys. The Commissioner bases this estimate on the wholesale price of 40 cents a pound for the best live turkeys. Commissioner O'malley issues this optimistic statement despite the fact that this year's supply of turkeys is less than last year's due to the warm weather and the drought in Texas. Up to now, turkeys had been bringing a high price in the local market because of warm weather. But it is expected that Virginia and the other southern states, where New York gets most of her turkeys, will ship a large enough supply between now and next Wednesday to warrant a considerable slump in price.

The Brooklyn Daily Times
Nov 20, 1925

My time to shine

An image of a woman in a bonnet standing next to a wall decorates the menu cover. In the lower right corner of the cover is an image of a Native American man with the words "Algonquin Club." A portrait of an unidentified man is opposite the menu. The names of the Committee on Admissions are listed in the menu.

MENU BUFFET RUSSE CAPE OYSTERS POTAGE CHASSEUR PLANKED POMPANO VERMONT TURKEY Aux BRAISED CELERY Au SWEETBREADS SORBET BUTTERBALL oucKS WILD RICE CROQUETTES WALDORF SALAD CAMEMBERT CHEESE PLOMBIERE APPROPOS COFFEE

idk what Plombiere Appropos is but I want it

Algonquin Club, Boston, Nov 3, 1912

Historic New England

I don’t know what “apples, goblin style” are, but I want them served at my funeral.

HALLOWEEN SUPPERS Club Sandwtchas Apples, Goblin Style Doughnuts Individual Pumpkin Pies Salted Peanuts celery Olives Cheese Sandwiches Ram and Pickle Sandwiches Butter-Scotch Pies Cider Apples

The Chicago Defender
Sat, Oct 31, 1925

purple hooded sweatshirt with a golden eye peering out the center, surrounded by trippy golden stars outlined in black. The sleeves have stars too.

black hooded sweatshirt with a skeleton figure with arms flung high, a gun in each hand.

navy blue crewneck with art deco type ladies reading. Text reads "books for everyone."

hunter green tee shirt with vintage historical poster on the front. Text: Oriel Theatre, Glencoe. 1 Midnite Show Only, 11:15 pm. Tues May 15. Warning! This is a "scare" show. Not recommended for children under 12. Mel Roy on the stay. Midnite Spook Party. Talking Skulls, Spirit Slate Writing, Spirit Table Raising. Ghosts from the dead. Text and background are a mixture of purple and orange.

So in all of my wandering through old shit on the internet, I find some cute old (public domain) shit that I just want to put on a t-shirt or a mug or whatever, and so I have a shop where I do that. And I'm bored, so all the shirts are 25% from now til Halloween. Spooky! www.etsy.com/shop/DamesAn...

I sometimes think that some of these recipes must be practical jokes

this feels extremely "people are arriving and I forgot to get ingredients" but then a lot of the old time recipes feel like that

WHITE SALAD 1 quart cabbage (chopped) 2 cups almonds 2 cups marshmallows Chop cabbage very fine. Chop almonds Cut marshmallows in small pieces. Mix and serve with a whipped cream dress- ing. Servings, 8.

🤷‍♀️

Modern Priscilla Cookbook
1924

BAKED BEAN SANDWICH. Press one-half cup cold baked beans through a Sieve, add one tablespoon tomato catsup, one-half teaspoon made mustard, and a few drops of onion juice. Place between slices of brown bread or whole wheat bread.-Mrs. E. F. ONeil.

CELERY SANDWICHES Mix one cup of tender celery stalks, one-quarter cup each of English walnuts and olives chopped fine; moisten with mayon- naise dressing and spread between slices of brown bread cut in rounds with a cooky cutter.- -Mrs A. Wesley Stetson.

Modern life may have its pitfalls but at
least we've advanced sandwich-making technology sufficiently that we're not
eating baked bean or celery sandwiches

The Brockton hospital cook book
1910
Internet Archive

advertisement for the dining cars of a train line, Mobile and Ohio RR. Christmas, 1903. Drawing of a man and woman in pilgrim style clothes sitting across from each other at a table. He is serving her turkey or chicken. All trains All meals Ala carte All the way All the time

All trains
All meals
Ala carte
All the way
All the time

1902
NYPL

This is an abomination

Menu: Bluepoints, deep shell Soup: Clear Green Turtle, Julienne Fish: Penobscot Salmon a la hollandaise, smelts a la tartare Removes: Saddle Kentucky mutton w/ caper sauce, Fillet beef with mushrooms Entrees: Fresh mushrooms on toast, roman punch Game: Red Head DUck Sweets: Omelette Souflee, frozen pudding, roquefort and cream cheese, olives, grapes, candied fruit, pears, ice cream, sherbet, coffee.

I really wish there were a date on this! What a delightfully unexpected menu

Historic New England
Undated

A VALUABLE TABLE TO weigh without scales: Ten eggs--1 pound. Soft butter size of egg—one ounce. One pint A sugar—twelve ounces. One pint brown sugar—thirteen ounces. Two teacupfuls n. (level) granulated sugar—one pound. . Two teacupfuls (well heaped) A Sugar one pound. . Two teacupfuls soft butter—one pound. One pint liquid—one pound. One pint chopped meat, one pound.— National Magazine.

From recipe scrap book

Historic New England
undated

A white and red bi-fold menu for Mac Arnold's Lobster Pound in Buzzards Bay, Mass. The menu features an illustration of a chef making a clam bake in a stone oven. The menu includes the "Canal Special" meal of clam chowder, lobster, potatoes, vegetables, and a dessert. It also includes specials, luncheon specials, and dinners. Inside the menu is a card that reads: "Special To-day, Martini Cocktail 35 cents."

interior of menu with three columns of a la carte items, ranging from stuffed or queen olives for 25 cents to lobster thermidor for 1.75. Categories are: Apps, Chowders and Soups, Clams and Fish, Lobsters, Chicken, Steaks and Chops, Salads, Cold Meats, Sandwiches, Spaghetti, Potatoes and Veg, Cheese, Desserts, and Beverages.

I'll have a martini or three, the stuffed olives, a lobster club, potatoes julienne, the fudge cake and some coffee

Historic New England
1936

HEARTY MEALS LOVE RAISINS a pot of beans with raisins, a piece of meat with raisins and a cheeseburger with raisins CALIFORNIA RAISINS ADD A TOUCH OF MAGIC TO ANYTHING YOU MAKE.

ad for "the universal food chopper" showing a manual food processor with a line of animals (pigs, lobster, goats, pheasant, fish, cow, chickens) and vegetables (carrots, coconut, apples, potatoes, celery, lettuce) rushing to get in it--as the ad pronounces, "A few of the things it chops"

The universal food chopper and a few of the things it chops

Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
1899
Library of Congress

The Longton Gleaner Fri, Sep 29, 1911 Sandwiches made of finely chopped violets spread over thin slices of but- tered bread are being sold in New York grill rooms. Evidently cloves are too plebeian for some of the New Yorkers.

Violet sandwich vs clove sandwich, a legendary and bloody battle in the class wars

DRINK EAT At 10-2 & 4 Dr Pepper It's delicious ask for it anywhere

"Drink a bite to eat at 10-2 and 4"

1940

Okay, gang, it’s 1946 and Bette Davis has just finished A Stolen Life in the midst of moving to Glendale, so she’s understandingly tired and needs a good local restaurant and Donnelly’s fits the bill. She’s treating so what are we having?
#TCMParty
#VintageMenus

SHANLEY'S Famous for Dinners and Suppers Cabaret Extraordinaire Climax Twenty Acts Every Evening 7 to I of thc Evening's Superior Six - Course Outmg Luncheon, 75c (Music)

CAFE BOULEVARD* Telephone. Broadway and 41st St 4220 Bryant. LUNCH 50c. DINNER ONE DOLLAR Famous Hungarian Orchestra DANCING GRILLE FROM SIX.THIRTY TO CLOSE.

"paris in new york" cafe des beaux arts 40th st & 6th avenue "really different"

Dinner and dancing, 1915

New York Tribune