With the cold weather the past two weeks, I have been indulging in comfort foods. Food that my mom taught me how to cook. Namely, oxtail soup last week and this week I made clam chowder.
After going through my recipes with a friend over the phone, I decided to check out how my great-grandmother’s recipes were different from mine.
This is the title page of the soup book. You can see my great-grandmother’s signature at the top of the page. This copy was a Christmas present to a relative or friend.
My great-grandmother, Ella Leighton Upton Owen, published a series of miniature cookbooks from 1898 to the early 1900s. I find it interesting that she went by her married name, “Mrs. Dewitt C. Owen” rather than her name — Ella Owen.
This soup book was the seventh in her series. I don’t know why she called them “Ripley Series of Cookbooks.” My great-grandfather, Dewitt Owen was a newspaper man in Dixon, Illinois. Eventually, they moved west to Washington state where he continued the trade. Great-grandmother Ella used her husband’s printing press to create her cookbooks. She had to set the type by hand! Can you imagine?
My mom told me that they hauled the printing press by covered wagon across our country. Don’t think the dates match up for that.
The cookbooks were sold throughout the country to women’s church auxiliary groups. At times, Ella supported the family with her ingenious little books.
I wrote more about her books HERE with excerpts from her “Sick Room Necessities” booklet. Two years ago, I wrote a post about comfort foods and shared snippets of the Soup book. You can read it HERE. When I wrote this post yesterday, I thought it was a brand new subject. You can imagine how I felt when I discovered I wrote the same title and subject matter two years ago! But no worries, I have more information in this post, than the one two years ago!
The recipe above is similar to my oxtail soup that I learned from my mom. But I quit dredging the oxtails in flour, because I like a clear broth. I also don’t use cayenne, wine or Worcestershire sauce. I skip the turnip cut in “fancy shapes” and I don’t “par-boil” the veggies. I do use lots of garlic and a bay leaf.
Another secret, is to refrigerate the soup overnight. The next day, I get rid of the fat that solidifies on top of the soup.
For clam chowder, I use canned clams. I cut bacon into small bits with my kitchen scissors (no fat salt pork — whatever that is) and fry it up. Then I add onions, celery and garlic to the bacon. I boil cubed potatoes in a separate pot. After the onions are clear, I stir in Wondra Flour and cook it in the bacon mixture. Add milk, let it thicken, then add clams and potatoes with the potato water. Delish and very comforting in our cold weather.
What are your favorite comfort foods?
So good, Elizabeth! I’m with you — soup is the best ever comfort food. 🥰
Yes, soup is the best. Especially on cold days!
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You’ve inherited a wealth of knowledge and talent from your grandmother and mom.
Thank you! It’s amazing to look back and see how much we absorb without realizing it.
You’re welcome, and so right 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
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I love old cookbooks! So much fun to see how things have changed… or not. Good clam chowder is still good clam chowder.
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I love clam chowder. I’m thrilled when I find good clam chowder in a restaurant. I do have to say though, that mine was pretty good!
A big bowl with a salad and a crusty loaf of bread? The perfect meal…
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Yes, that sounds perfect!
I have three favorites in the winter cold weather:
I do a soup every week to have for lunchs or a light dinner. Different focus- vegetarian and lots of plant protein (lentils and chickpeas are my favorite) and tons of warm spices (think curry, garam masala, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano…) plus I use coconut milk for a creamy touch and the small bit of sweetness plays well against any/all of those spices.
Curries over brown jasmine rice. Yum and so easy to change up ingredients.
I also like to do simple baked potatoes (russet or sweet) and top with veg (steamed broccoli, sauted mushrooms/spinach, roasted veg, beans. Baked potatoes make a great base for so many toppings and I love getting to the crispy skin at the end!
All three sound delicious. I love making soups and my kids have introduced me to amazing lentil dishes. They live on mostly vegetarian food. I’m also a fan of baked potatoes and veggies.
Comfort food? How about when the temps start to go crazy like this week . . . we call it Survival food. Ha, ha, I’m not a big soup eater, but when it gets really, really cold, it’s one of the few things that warms me up! Ha, Hal
The soup helps while I’m complaining about cold. We are around 30 degrees. My husband flies home from Madison today and I saw it was negative five this morning! Better him than me.
Love your last line! Ha ha, better him than you. It was -4 here this week, now up to the 20s!
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Macaroni and cheese, plain pasta with olive oil and parmesan cheese, subway subs, chicken soup.
All good! Many of my favorites, too. I love Trader Joe’s Mac and Cheese.
Very cool to have these cook booklets by your great-grandmother. I agree with you about the wagon story. I suspect Ripley stated the series and the market for them and sold the name to her. Even into my parents generation most married women went by their husband’s name. I was instructed to address mail to my aunt as Mrs. Treslin Halse after she was widowed. Same for my grandmother. I have obituaries for many women who aren’t even given their own names when they die!
Can you further explain about Ripley? I have tried to look it up but can’t find info that works in the same years she produced the books. Isn’t that sad about women not having their own names in their obituaries?
I meant that someone named Ripley produced similar works prior to your great-grandmother and he (or she) sold her the rights to the name, because it gave her a ready-made audience.
Thanks. I wish there was family still around who is old enough to know.
I’m a big fan of soups. So nice you have your great-grandmother’s cookbooks.
I look for the cookbooks online. I’ve found them on ebay and other sites. Yes, I love soups.