One hundred years ago the operators of Western Canada Flour Mills Co. decided to feature the company’s Purity Flour in a new cookbook.
The first book was published in 1912 to rave reviews from homemakers and thus with new developments in flour production and changing cooking methods, the company decided another cookbook would be a popular edition.
The 1912 publication might sell today for $50 while the 1923 edition varies in cost from $9 to $29, depending on the seller. A Purity Flour cookbook from 1937 was discovered on one internet site for $119.48 while a 1977 version is available for $60 on the same site.
“. . . contains the best recipes of our last book to which have been added the carefully tested and selected recipes of experts adapted to the changes and improvements in culinary methods and apparatus,” the publishers said in the cover pages of the 1923 edition.
The book is further described as “invaluable to the new — and helpful to the experienced housewife.”
This week’s recipes come from the 1923 Purity cookbook.
• • •
Brown Sugar Cookies
- 3 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup softened margarine
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. soda
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- about 5 cups Purity Flour
Cream together the margarine and sugar, add the eggs, well-beaten, the milk, vanilla and half the flour sifted with the salt and soda.
Add more flour, enough to make a dough that can be rolled. Cut in any desired shapes and bake about 10 minutes in a 400 degrees F oven.
• • •
Farmer’s Fruit Cake
- 1 1/2 cups butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup golden syrup
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/2 tsp. ginger
- 1 cup currants
- 1 1/2 cups Purity Flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. allspice
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Mix in other ingredients, dredging an additional 2 tbsps. of flour over the fruit.
Bake in a moderate oven about 45 minutes. Cool and ice, if desired.
• • •
Milk Toast
Toast the required amount of stale bread until brown and crisp. Then butter it, cut it in fingers and arrange on a hot plate or porridge dish.
Have ready some scalded milk, season it with salt and pour over toast and serve it very hot.
“This makes a nice change from porridge and is good for children.”
• • •
Mock Duck
Take a piece of round steak cut thick. Split like a pouch and stuff with dressing. Put in a pan. Cover steak with small pieces of bacon. Cook 2 hours, basting often. (There should be a small amount of water placed in the pan, and replenished as it cooks down.)
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
