This episode was originally published on May 27, 2025
Sarah: I'm Sarah Barry. It is my pleasure to welcome Paul Daybell, the Book Arts and Rare Books Curator at Utah State University Libraries. Paul was kind enough to join me today to talk about historic cookbooks. So, Paul, tell me a little about the cookbook collection in the library archives.
Paul: Well, thank you so much for having me on the show, Sarah. So, the library's special collections have a great collection of historic cookbooks. The majority of these cookbooks are collected with sort of an emphasis on the regional food culture of northern Utah and southern Idaho.
But we also have a good variety of the seminal early cookbooks from the late 1800s and mid-century modern and modern Utah cookbooks. We've picked two books from the collection to spotlight today. The first one is called “Breakfast, Luncheon, and Tea,” which was written in 1875.
Sarah: Paul, what do you know about this book?
Paul: So, “Breakfast, Luncheon, and Tea” was written by Marion Harland. So, that was actually the pen name for Mary Virginia Terhune. So, Mary was an American author. She specialized in what was sort of known as plantation fiction of the time, before pivoting to nonfiction work after she married and settled into domestic life, and so “Breakfast, Luncheon, and Tea” was part of the “Common Sense in Households” series, which was a major domestic piece.
Some of these recipes are interesting. There's salmon cutlets, arrowroot pudding.
Sarah: Is there anything in this book that sounds especially good to you, Paul, or something scary?
Paul: Yeah, so I was fascinated by the plethora of puddings that it had. I'm generally really big fan of cornmeal, so the multiple cornmeal puddings sounded really tasty to me. But some of the other less so. The various sweet macaroni puddings did not sound particularly appetizing. What caught your eye?
Sarah: Well, a few things, and I actually made a couple, as you know, the ones that were interesting. Chocolate blanc mange. That was good. What do you think?
Paul: It was not a looker, but it was a real taster.
Sarah: It tasted like a chocolate creamy in gelatin form, and it was absolutely delicious. The other one I really liked was the ambushed trifle, and you know I saw that name. I have to make that. That just sounds interesting.
Paul: That one sounded like it was more of an ordeal to make.
Sarah: It was, it was. It is a sponge cake that you take the top off and you scoop out all the insides and you replace it with custard and jam, and then you put the top back on. What'd you think of that one?
Paul: That one was also didn't look the best initially, but it was actually delicious.
Sarah: It tasted sort of like a tres leches. It was like almost like a soaked cake with the custard inside. It was really, really good. That was going to be kind of the wild card. Like, let's just try this. But it was really good.
Paul: Yeah, they were. It was. It was a big fan.
Sarah: So, so luckily for all of you, this book is digitized and available to view in our digital collections. All right, what's our next book, Paul?
Paul: All right, so our next book is called “Crumbs of Comfort.” So, it is from 1893, and it was a cookbook compiled by the Saint Agnes Guild of St. Peter's Church in Helena, Montana. So, one fun aspect of this book are the interesting advertisements for area businesses, sort of like Leslie's tooth powder, JB Lockwood's, and you know ads for Egyptian lotion.
There's also a section dedicated to food for invalids, which I found pretty interesting. Starting with a lovely recipe for oatmeal gruel, and includes a bit of humor too, with a chapter on how to best cook a husband.
Sarah: Oh, well, aside from the recipe for husband, did you find anything in there that sounds interesting?
Paul: Yeah, so I really was interested by the numerous pickle recipes and for various ketchups as well. So, they had a mushroom ketchup that sounded interesting, and also watermelon pickles.
So I loved sort of the specificity of the instructions for the watermelon pickles, requiring one to like pour the boiling syrup over the rinds for quote “three mornings in succession.”
Sarah: Well, sadly, this one has not been digitized yet. But if any foodies out there are interested, you can come to the library and request to see it in person in the reading room.
So, I have a final question for you. The most important, I think, our theme this season has been comfort foods. What are your favorite comfort foods?
Paul: So probably my go-to comfort mood, which I think is just a perfect vessel for so many other different lovely comfort foods, is cornbread. You can do so many things with it. It's versatile, but also, it's just like it goes with everything.
Sarah: Well, great. Well, thank you. Sincere thanks to Paul Daybell for joining us today. Be sure to come visit us at the library or check out our digital collections at digital.lib.usu.edu.
Join us next week for more food history and culture every Sunday at noon, right before “The Splendid Table” on your UPR station.
Crumbs of Comfort (1893)
St. Agnes Guild of St. Peter’s Church, published by C.K. Wells Co. Printers and Binders (Helena, MT)
Part of the SCA General Book Collection, Call number: 641.5 C8885. Not digitized.
Breakfast, Luncheon and Tea (1875) by Marion Harland, published by Scribner, Armstrong & Co. (New York). Part of USU’s Jay Anderson Foodways Collection, FOLK COLL 17, no. 12
The digitized copy is found here
Chocolate Blanc-Mange
1 quart of milk
½ package gelatine, dissolved in 1 cup cold water [2-3 modern envelopes of plain gelatine]
1 cup sugar
3 great spoonfuls grated chocolate [3 tablespoons]
Note: Sarah recommends using unsweetened baking chocolate or dark chocolate for authenticity. Solid milk chocolate was invented in 1875 and would not have been widely available yet.
Vanilla to taste [1-2 teaspoons]
Original instructions: “Heat the milk; stir in sugar and soaked gelatine. Strain; add chocolate; boil ten minutes, stirring all the time. When nearly cold, beat for five minutes – hard with your “Dover” egg-beater, or until it begins to stiffen. Flavor; whip up once, and put into a wet mould. It will be firm in six or eight hours.”
Sarah’s notes on the instructions: To cool the gelatin faster, put the bowl or pot on ice or place in the fridge until it is almost cold. Dover egg-beaters were hand cranked, but you can use an electric hand mixer on the lowest setting. The purpose is to make it smooth and aerate the mixture, not to make it stiff like a meringue. Don’t overmix. A 4-cup jello mould will be your best fit, or use individual moulds.
An Ambushed Trifle
A round stale sponge-cake
1 pint milk
1 teaspoonful cor starch
1 cup sweet jelly or jam. “Crab-apple jelly is very nice”
3 eggs beaten light
A pinch of salt
Vanilla, lemon, or bitter almond flavoring [1-2 teaspoons]
2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar
“Cut the top from the cake in one piece and lay it aside. Scoop out the inside of the cake, leaving side walls and a bottom about an inch thick. Coat these well with the jelly. Scald the milk; beat the eggs with the sugar, and stir into this when it is almost boiling. Crumb the cake you have scooped out very finely, and beat into the hot custard. Return to the fire and cook, stirring all the while until thick and smooth, when add the corn-starch, previously wet with cold milk. Cook a minute longer and take from the fire. When nearly cold, flavor and fill the cake with it. Cover the inside of the lid you have laid aside with jelly, ft neatly into its place; brush the whole cake with white of egg, sift powdered sugar thickly over it, and set in a cool, dry place until wanted. A simple delightful dessert.”
Sarah recommends vanilla extract and apple jelly. Remember that custards are delicate and should always be cooked on low heat. Aim for a temperature of 170-180 degrees so your egg custard is cooked through but does not curdle.
