By the year 1900, cookbooks had become quite common in household kitchens. It is interesting to look at cookbooks of the period, because they offer an insight into the types of foods served in homes. This particular book is titled "Gritli in der Küche" published in 1904 (mine is a second printing from 1905). It's author, Emma Coradi-Stahl (1846-1912) was born in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, but little is known of her. Emma Stahl grew up in Dozwil, received training in handicrafts and learned French in Neuchâtel. In 1885 she co-founded the non-profit organization Gemeinnützigen Frauenvereins Aargau (Women's Association Aargau), and 1888 the Schweizerischen Gemeinnützigen Frauenvereins (Swiss non-profit Women's Association (SGF). She wrote cookbooks, and was an editor of the Swiss magazine Schweizer Frauenheim which she founded in 1893. From 1896, she traveled throughout Europe as a federal expert in commercial and domestic education.
It is a book that would remain relevant for many decades and was an epitome for the middle class household of the period, and is centred around Gritli, a young, inexperienced girl from the country, who is introduced to the secrets of the art of cooking by the master cook Rosine. It is a follow-on from a 1902 book which deals with household issues, Wie Gritli haushalten lernt (How Gritli learns to keep house). Gritli learns to cook both fine foods, and more economical meals. The first portion of the book is focused on a series of experiences that Gritli undertakes while learning to cook, while the remainder of the book contains 530 recipes with little in the way of illustrations, apart from two illustrating the various cuts of beef (later editions included more illustrations).
The author mentions in the introduction that the recipes were taken from French, Austrian, and south-German cuisine, provided alongside Swiss recipes. She goes on to mention that the book is a product of experience and research, a mixture of new and old, and of home and gourmet cooking. The "inaccuracies of most older cookbooks are avoided", and measurements are found based on numerous experiments, with precision being an overall factor. There is also a large section devoted to soups and vegetables to promote "physical and mental wellbeing". Ms. Coradi-Stahl even goes on the apologize for the fact that the work will not be perfect, partially due to the succinctness of the instructions (a requirement to fit in everything that was needed), but it was hoped that the book would become a real "textbook for the kitchen", rather than the traditional cookbooks of the period.
Now these books can be challenging to read (or indeed automatically translate), because they often are printed in German-looking fonts, the main one of which is Fraktur, as it was the most used typeface in the German speaking world from the mid-16th to the beginning of the 20th centuries. Here is Recipe 323 - Aargauer- or Rüblitorte, i.e. carrot cake (note the instructions are original).
Ingredients
250g sugar
250g almonds
250g yellow carrots, finely grated
Juice and zest of one lemon
5 eggs
1-2 spoons rum or Kirsch
1-2 tbsp potato or corn flour
Whisk the sugar and egg yolks for half an hour until fluffy. Add the grated carrots and stir vigorously. Add the remaining ingredients, including the whipped egg whites, and pour the mixture into a well-buttered and flour dusted pan. Bake at a moderate heat for an hour.
There is no mention is made of what should be done with the almonds, but we presume they are grated. What is interesting here is that the recipe specifies yellow carrots, as most don't. This is likely because of the Küttiger Rüebli, (KOO-tiger ROO-eh-blee), a carrot from the town of Küttigen, Aargau, which comes in many differeng colours, from white to pale yellow.
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