Weekend Cooking - Civil War Era Recipes Compiled by Julia Hutchins

Last week I spotted this e-book available via Amazon. I was intrigued, so downloaded the book.

Contained within the e-pages was a collection of recipes from heritage publications and some great and interesting recipes. Here is one that caught my eye

Salad Dressing (1870)

1 boiled egg
teaspoon of ground mustard
teaspoon of salt
a little Cayenne pepper

beat together until perfectly smooth then add

1 raw egg yolk and stir until the dressing becomes thick and creamy.
Add vinegar to taste. If too much of the vinegar is used then add a small lump of ice.

Originally extracted from "Famous old recipes used a hundred or more years ago in the kitchens of the north and south. Contributed by the descendants 1908.

How on earth do you make ice without refrigeration? I guess it is possible. Other recipes that caught my eye were:

• Creme de menth
• Lemonade to Carry in your pocket (1863 Dr Chase Recipes)
• Civil War Lemonade (1861 Housekeepers Encylopedia)
• Snail broth for obstinate coughs
• Pigs Head
• Bread sauce for birds

At the end of the book was some really useful links to other websites detailing more recipes from this period, Civil War historical documents and Civil War Re-Enactor groups and a link to the author's website, where you can currently subscribe to the newsletter and get a free download of original Civil War recipes. You can also follow via Twitter the author

Taking part in Weekend Cooking hosted by BethFishReads

A pension surprise

Over the last year or so I have looked at the Financial Times online, mainly with a view to us doing some preparation for the future. This morning I spotted an article "Pensions: a long and a happy one - but not for trustees"

This article can be found at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6353fcca-eace-11df-b28d-00144feab49a,_i_email=y.html

The article mentioned the company that I work for, but what was especially interesting was that a barrister had ploughed through old cases to provide examples to illustrate the risk of pension scheme members living longer than expected.

The fascinating example provided was of a widow from the US called Alberta Martin who died in 2004 who had been in receipt of a war pension from her late husband who had fought in the American Civil War of 1861-1865.