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Like April's Corn Bread, this month’s recipe is drawn from Ella Hall’s manuscript cookbook, which will be available to purchase as a facsimile from the University of Michigan Press in June. One of the first recipes that caught my attention when I read through this book was “Sweet Pickled Apples,” credited to "Mrs. Rhea on Ann St." As Dr. Jessica Kenyatta Walker notes in her forward to the new facsimile, Ella Hall’s notebook functions not just as a collection of recipes, but almost as a kind of neighborhood rolodex. 

For many years, Mrs. Hall ran the Fifth Ave. house as a boardinghouse for Black students at the University of Michigan. These lightly pickled apples might well be one of the dishes that students enjoyed at Mrs. Hall’s table. 

1 quart good vinegar 3 lbs sugar A little ground cloves A little gound cinnamon Seven pounds of sweet apples Boil vinegar, sugar and spices for 10 minutes then add apples and boil until tender. If too much vinegar, take apples up and boil vinegar a little longer, then pour over apples. 

Ella Hall's recipe only lists vinegar as the sole liquid in the ingredient list. In doing an internet search of modern pickled apple recipes, I found that the vinegar is most often mixed with an equal portion of water, as in these “Quick Pickled Apples” from Food52. I began to think that Mrs. Hall had probably just left water off her ingredient list because she knew it would be equal in amount to the vinegar and her notebook was just to jog her memory. 

However, when I did a search of historical recipes for “sweet pickled apples” in Hathi Trust, I was surprised to find that recipes from The Orange Judd Cook Book (1914) and The Modern Priscilla Cook Book (1924) are very specific in their ingredient list and instructions, and they do not include water! Now, this is a limited sample, of course, and another near contemporary cookbook, The Barton Cook Book (1913), does include water. But I ultimately decided to prepare Mrs. Hall’s recipe as written, although I did substantially cut it down in size since 7 lbs  would be a couple dozen apples!  

I used apple cider vinegar to complement the taste of apples and regular granulated sugar. I also ended up only using 3 apples instead of 5 because the ones I had on hand were super-sized Pink Ladies and I could tell as I was slicing them that the volume of sliced apples was already going to be exceed the volume of vinegar. I decided to follow The Orange Judd Cook Book’s lead and leave the peels on.

After boiling the vinegar, sugar, and spices for 10 minutes, I added the apple slices and simmered for about another 5 minutes. The results were delicious! The apples don’t taste “pickle-y” at all. Instead, the vinegar adds a nice, tart undertone that complements the sweetness of the apples. If you choose one recipe to prepare for yourself from this monthly recipe series, make Mrs. Hall’s Sweet Pickled Apples. It is definitely going into my own recipe notebook. 

Reduced Recipe for Sweet Pickled Apples 

1 cup vinegar

1 ⅔ cup sugar

¼ tsp ground gloves

½ tsp ground cinnamon

5 apples 

Read more!

Miss Parloa's Young Housekeeper (1897) by Maria Parloa (left) and The American Cottage Cookery-Book (1856) by Emily Thornwell (right)

Our latest recipe of the month features Malinda Russell's cornbread recipe from A Domestic Cook Book, published in Paw Paw, MI in 1866 and the oldest known cookbook by an African American woman.

Indian Meal Batter Bread One quart Indian meal, half pint flour, three eggs, two tablespoons melted lard, one cup and a half of sour milk, half cup hot water, one teaspoon soda; stir well together, bake in a quick oven

Indian Meal Batter Bread Note: Halved and in modern measurements 2 cups corn meal  1/2 cup flour 1 egg + 1 yolk 1 T. melted lard ¾ c. sour milk ¼  hot water ½ t. Baking soda.  Mix the corn meal, flour, and baking soda together in a mixing bowl. Separately, combine the milk, eggs, hot water, and melted lard. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix until just combined. Pour into an 8 inch square pan and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. 

I’m usually a devotee of Joy of Cooking’s Northern Cornbread recipe, with generous additions of wheat flour, sugar, oil, and baking powder. Malinda Russell's recipe produced something quite different from my usual “corn cake” (as perhaps it should be called instead of corn bread!) However, fresh from the oven, I can see it being a tasty complement to soups, stews, or pots of beans. It also seemed like it would go well with honey, and in a spirit of experimentation, I slathered one slice with margarine and drizzled it with maple syrup (perhaps a commodity that Malinda Russell would have embraced, living in a Michigan lumber town like Paw Paw). I tried one bite for the sake of documentation and before I knew it, I had devoured the whole slice. The dense crispness of the cornbread went beautifully with the fat in the margarine and the added flavor of the syrup. Almost like cornmeal pancakes!

In Special Collections, our books don’t leave the building, but sometimes the recipes sneak out for a trip to the kitchen. Last week, the U-M Library Art Alliance (a staff interest group), the William L. Clements Library, and the Special Collections Research Center teamed up with Student Life Sustainability for a small, hands-on staff event, where we brought two nineteenth century cookie recipes to 21st century tastebuds. 

For this historical cooking experience, we prepared a recipe titled simply “Cookies” from  the Washington Sarah Dunkin Washington Cookery and Confectionary Book from the William L. Clements Library, and a “Ginger Cake” recipe from Dr. Chase's recipes; or, Information for everybody… in the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. For December’s Recipe of the Month, I’ll focus on Dr. Chase’s Ginger Cake, which in modern parlance is not a cake at all, but much closer to what we could call a cookie. 

Ginger Cake - Molasses 2 cups; butter, or one-half lard if you choose 1 ½ cups; sour milk 2 cups; ground ginger 1 teaspoon; saleratus 1 heaping tea-spoon.  Mash the saleratus, then mix all these ingredients together in a suitable pan, and stir in flour as long as you can with a spoon, then take the hand and work in more, just so you can roll them by using flour dusting pretty freely; roll out thin, cut and lay upon your buttered or floured tins; then mix one spoon of molasses and two of water, and with a small brush or a bit of cloth wet over the top of the cakes; this removes the dry flour, causes the cakes to take a nice brown and keep them moist; put into a quick oven; and ten minutes will bake them if the oven is sufficiently hot. Do not dry them all up, but take out as soon as nicely browned. 

The most notable thing about Dr. Chase’s gingerbread cookies is that there is no additional sweetener besides the molasses, reflecting the fact that in 1860s Michigan, sugar was still a luxury for many people. Compared to modern cookies, these taste barely sweet - almost savory - with a dry texture that makes them more like a thick, soft cracker or a thin biscuit than a cookie. Reactions from our fellow library staff  varied from “This is awful and I need to get this taste out of my mouth!” to “These are amazing and I am obsessed!” Consider adding these to your holiday cookie rotation and see for yourself what your reaction will be! 

Add-a-Leaf Hostess Book by Betty Beldon, et al, published by Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc., 1926. University of Michigan Library, Special Collections Research Center (Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive)

Popular culture depictions of the “roaring twenties” often focus on speakeasies and illicit cocktail consumption. However, as prohibition (1920-1933) pushed alcoholic beverages into shadowy corners, soft drinks took center stage in cookbooks for home cooks and party hostesses. This month’s recipe for a "Canada Dry Mint Julep" comes from Add-a-Leaf Hostess Book (1926) by Betty Beldon, in collaboration with Ida Bailey Allen!

Canada Dry Mint Julep  (individual Service)

Pluck leaves from a few sprigs of mint. Crush a few mint leaves with thin strips of peel from half a medium-sized lemon. Add the juices of half a lemon and one lime. Stir in one scant tablespoon of powdered sugar and place on ice an hour. To serve, strain, pour in a tall glass and fill with sparkling cold Canada Dry. Garnish with a creme de menthe cherry, and a sprig of fresh mint.

Photograph of Ella Hall, Ann Arbor, MI, undated.

Keeping with last month's theme of cornbread, this month’s recipe is also corn bread, but from the 20th century. Ella Hall was a Black landlord and cook who lived in Ann Arbor from the early 1920s until she passed away in 1962. Her manuscript cookbook resides in the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive and a facsimile edition will be released by the University of Michigan Press in June 2026. 

This manuscript cookbook, self-titled “The My-T-Fine Recipes,” was preserved by Susan Wineberg, who received it from her friend and landlord, Bailey Rodgers, himself a tenant and friend of Ella Hall. The recipes are wide ranging. Today’s blog post features Ella Hall’s shorthand notes for cornbread, but she also recorded recipes for dandelion wine, grape drink, popcorn balls, ice box cookies, English fruit cake, and waffles for [an] electric iron. Ella Hall seems to have been an adherent of Swans Down Cake Flour and her recipe book includes several colorful clippings of cake recipes. If I get ambitious this summer, I may attempt Pineapple Layer Cake or even Lady Baltimore Cake for our monthly recipe. However, for today, please enjoy and consider trying this quick and easy cornbread: 

Corn Bread 3/4 c. cornmeal 1 1/4 c. flour 1/4 c. sugar teaspoon baking powder 1 c. milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1/2 tablespoon melted butter

As is fairly common in personal recipe books, Ella Hall recorded only the ingredients for this recipe, a kind of shorthand memory aid for a recipe followed steps she knew well. For my version of this recipe, I mixed the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, combined them in a greased 8x8" pan, and baked for 20 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The result was quite tasty, and if I had time to combine it with other dishes, I think it would go beautifully on a summer’s day with Mrs. Hall’s Green Tomato Pickles and Pepper Hash! 

Miss Parloa’s Young Housekeeper: Designed Especially to Aid Beginners : Economical Receipts for Those Who Are Cooking for Two or Three (1897) by Maria Parloa (Special Collections Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive  Cookery 1897 Pa)

Miss Parloa was a household name in late 19th century America. As the author of numerous well-known cookbooks, teacher of cooking schools in Boston and New York, and the domestic editor for The Ladies’ Home Journal, Maria Parloa rose far above the obscurity of her origins as an orphan and domestic servant. Her recipe for fried apples is a winner, especially if you can obtain Northern Spy apples!

Miss Parloa's Young Housekeeper: Designed Especially to Aid Beginners: Economical Receipts for Those who are Cooking for Two or Three (1897) offers a wealth of advice for young women setting up house, from managing servants (or managing without servants), from a furnace to setting the table, and several hundred recipes to serve a small family. Among them is this recipe for “Fried Apples:” 

Fried Apples 1 quart of tart apples 2 tablespoonfulls of drippings 1 tablespoonful of sugar Pare and slice the apples. Put the drippings in a frying pan and set on the fire. When hot, add the apples. Cover the pan and cook until the apples are tender, turning them often. Add the sugar, and cook ten minutes longer. These are particularly good when served hot with fresh pork.

Recipe of the Month: Baba Ghanouj (1981)

Our latest "Recipe of the Month" features baba ghanouj from The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two (1981) by Anna Thomas.

Baba Ghanouj Serve with crackers or with hot pita bread as a first course 1 lb eggplant ¼ cup Taratour Sauce (page 105) ¼ cup fresh lemon juice 1 tsp. Salt, or more to taste ¼ tsp. Pepper 1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. Olive oil 2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves), or more to taste Prick the eggplant with a fork in several places and roast it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 45-55 minutes, or until it is soft throughout. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, cut it in half and scrape out all the pulp.  Mince the eggplant pulp and add to it the Taratour Sauce, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Stir the mixture thoroughly, taste it, and correct the seasonings.  Spread the eggplant mixture evenly in a shallow serving dish, drizzle the remaining olive oil on top of it, sprinkle with chopped cilantro, and chill for several hours before serving.  Serves 4 to 6.