Cooking Beans

"If, my dear aunt, J. R., you ever should wish,
For breakfast or dinner a tempting dish,
Of the beans, so famous in Boston town,
You must read the rules I here lay down;
When the sun has set in golden light,
And round you fall the shades of night,
A large deep dish you first prepare,
A quart of beans select with care;
And pick them over until you find
Not a speck or a mote is left behind.
A lot of cold water on them pour,
'Til every bean is covered o'er,
And they seem to your poetic eye
Like pearls in the depth of the sea to lie;
Here, if you please, you make let them stay
'Till just after breakfast the very next day,
When a parboiling process must be gone through;
(I mean for the beans and not for you);
Then if in your pantry there still should be
The bean pot, so famous in history,
With, all due deference, bring it out,
And, if there's a skimmer lying about,
Skim half the beans from the boiling pan
Into the bean pot as fast as you can
Then turn to Biddy and calmly tell her
To take a huge knife and go to the cellar;
For you must have, like Shylock of old,
'A pound of flesh,' ere your beans grow cold;
But very unlike that ancient Jew,
Nothing but pork will do for you.
Then tell once more your maiden fair,
In the choice of the piece to take great care;
For a streak of fat and a streak of lean,
Will give the right flavor to every bean!
This you must wash, and rinse, and score,
Put into the pot and round it pour
The rest, till the view presented seems
Like an island of pork in an ocean of beans;
Pour on boiling hot water enough to cover
The tops of the beans completely over,
Shove into the oven and bake till done,
And the triumph of Yankee cookery's won."

from The Cook's Friend: A Collection of Valuable Recipes compiled by the ladies of the Broadway Presbyterian Church, Logansport, Indiana, 1878, pp. 46-47.(Retrieved from the University of Michigan libraries special collections)

Come Cook Corn (California Style)

"They say" that you should develop a pattern for a party -
For this we choose twelve jovial guests with appetites most hearty -
We ask them simply to come at seven and "help us cook cor" -
Most of them find they've never eaten so many ears since the day they were born -
The corn should be fresh-picked the day of the feast -
And we've learned to allow upwards to six a piece.
Keep the handle, the silk, and all of the shuck -
Tender and young without worms is our good luck.*
Soak in a tub of icy water til later when the charcoal's hot
And the guests their second drink have got -
We put the ears on the grate to cook.
Keep turning them over till right charred they look.
The husk and silk come off with each other
And everyone brushes them generously with butter.
Each guest is supplied with a dish towel bib
Which is handy later, too, with the barbecued rib!
It is good to have other food in store,
Though they often exclaim "Do you mean there's more!"


*Wash thoroughly, but disturb the silk as little as possible in checking for worms.

from Recipes'____________ Collected by the Junior League of Columbus, Georgia, 1957. p. 25

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Stewed Duck and Peas

I give thee all my kitchen lore,
Though poor the offering be;
I'll tell thee how 'tis cooked, before
You come to dine with me.
Then stew'd with butter well,
And streaky bacon, which reveals
A most delicious smell.


When duck and bacon, in a mass,
You in a stewpan lay,
A spoon around the vessel pass,
And gently stir away;
A tablespoonful of four bring,
A quart of water plain,
Then in it twenty onions fling,
And gently stir again.

A bunch of parsley, and a leaf
Of ever verdant bay,
Two cloves, -- I make my language brief, --
Then add your peas you may;
And let it simmer till it sings
In a delicious strain,
Then take your duck, nor let the strings
For trussing it remain.
The parsley fail not to remove,
Also the leaf of bay;
Dish up your duck, -- the sauce improve
In the accustom'd way,
With pepper, salt and other things
I need not here explain;
And if the dish contentment brings,
You'll dine with me again.



From Poetical Cook-Book by M.J.M. (Maria J. Moss), Philadelphia: Caxton Free Press, 1864.

A Curry from London "Punch"

Three pounds of veal my darling girl prepares
And chops it nicely into little squares.
Five onions next prepared the little minx,
The biggest are the best her Samviel thinks,
And Epping butter nearly half a pound
And stews them in a pan until they're browned.
What next my dexterous little girl will do?
She pops the meat into the savory stew
With curry powder tablespoonfuls three
And milk a pint, the richest that may be.
And when the dish has stewed for half an hour
A lemon's ready juice she'll o'er it pour.
Then, bless her - then she gives the luscious pot
A very gentle boil, and serve it quite hot.


(1810) From "What Salem Dames Cooked", compiled and published by the Board of Managers of the School, 1933, Salem, MA (p. 17)