Whipped Cream Pie—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

Sometime before Christmas, Exile 1981 sent me a link to the Michigan State University Digital Library, specifically to the “Feeding America:  The Historic American Cookbook Project.  https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa  It boasts 76 of the most important and influential American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century.  You can look at the actual images of the original books, or read more quickly through the searchable full-text transcriptions.  Perhaps copy and paste the recipes of interest to you. 

No, I haven’t gone through all the books yet.  I haven’t even made it through one.  With the following warning, I thought it best to approach the cookbooks cautiously.

Content warning: language and content in resource descriptions and collections may be biased, harmful, and oppressive due to the historical nature of the content.

I wouldn’t want to get triggered.  That, or I’ve got a lot of other things to do besides peruse old recipes, or “receipts” as they seem to be termed everywhere. 

While the chocolate book enticed me, “Aunt Babette’s cook book : foreign and domestic receipts for the household : a valuable collection of receipts and hints for the housewife, many of which are not to be found elsewhere” is where I landed first.  Perhaps because a good friend in middle and high school was named Babette. 

A treasure trove of information lies buried in just this one, with recipes even the most prepared people may lack.  I suppose truly experienced cooks may do quite well without; however, I most definitely need a recipe for preparing chicken feet, sweetbreads, and squabs (pigeons).  Apparently, the latter are a great delicacy particularly suited for those recovering from illness.  Given that little chestnut of intel, I shall make greater effort to avoid illness.  And with that encouragement, I shall have no problem recommending them to people who are sick and their family members.  We want them to recover as quickly as possible, and who can argue with Aunt Babette?

As this book was written in the late 1880s, the recipes were developed without the benefit of refrigeration or thermostats in ovens to regulate and inform of the temperature.  I’ve updated it so that neither one of us has to research (again) to determine what a rich crust, hot oven, or teacupful are.

Whipped Cream Pie

Aunt Babette declares that this pie is so simple and nice that it deserves to be better known.  I can assure you I’ve never seen such a recipe nor tasted such a dessert.  But it looks easy and food-storage friendly. 

1 (rich) single crust pie shell (recipe follows)

1 pint jelly or jam

1 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spread jam on the hot pie crust.  Let cool completely.

In a small, chilled bowl, combine cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Whip until stiff peaks form.  Spread onto cooled jam.  Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Family reviews:  I used blackberry jam, my last jar from the epic 2012 berry season in Missouri, our last one there.  So yes, 13+ year old jam.  Blueberry Girl suggested that raspberry or lemon would taste better, and I replied that raspberry seeds are even more plentiful than blackberry seeds and jam isn't usually made from lemons.  We ate the whole pie within 24 hours.  It's nowhere near our favorite pie, but it's not bad at all and I could be perfectly comfortable taking it to a picnic.  Though I do think it would be a lot more honest to call it a jam pie.  And as far as the whipped cream goes, aquafaba cool whip works just as well.  No need to use heavy cream.  

Rich Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt

½ cup lard

5-6 tablespoons cold water, enough to form dough

Preheat oven to 400°F. 

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in the lard until mixture resembles fine cornmeal.  Gradually stir in the cold water until dough forms into a ball.  Divide in half.

Roll each half out between two sheets of waxed paper.  Transfer bottom crust to a pie tin.  Bake per instructions for the pie you are making.  Otherwise, bake bottom crust for 15 minutes. 

References:

https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/4