1878 Gulf City Methodist Cookbook

This 1878 cookbook from the Methodist Church South in Mobile, Alabama is a historic treasure! This one predates the oldest cookbook in the collection at the United Methodist Archives by 20 years. Our United Methodist Table has tried some recipes from the 1898 Ware Cookbook, published by the ladies of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ware, Massachusetts. Check out this recipe for potato puffs from the Ware Cookbook. Now, we take a look at treasured recipes from 1878.

It’s 1878. Thomas Edison just patented the phonograph, if you have a refrigerator, it cools with a hundred pound block of ice, and your food might be cooked in a fancy wood stove like the one advertised in the back of The Gulf City Cookbook. Compiled by the Ladies of the St. Francis Street Methodist Episcopal Church South in Mobile, Alabama, The 1878 Gulf City Cookbook features recipes for fried eels, gopher soup, and stewed or broiled squirrel.

The Gulf Coast is known for abundant seafood. This cookbook has page after page on how to cook, fish shrimp, crabs, and… oysters get a whole chapter, 25 recipes including, fritters, macaroni and oysters, and this handy recipe for making 100 pickled oysters at a time.

There lots of recipes for turtle soups and even turtle au gratin, cleverly baked in a turtle shell.

The desserts are nice. Fruitcake was very popular. I don’t know how well that oven worked, but this fruitcake bakes for 5 hours!

Yes! There’s a whole chapter on ice cream!

Methodists have a long history as teetotalers, but this cookbook has recipes for corn beer, blackberry wine, and whiskey cocktails!

And there’s home remedies. Have a headache? Soak your feet in hot water and eat some charcoal. Vomiting? Put a piece of toast soaked with brandy and nutmeg on your chest. If that doesn’t work, a STRONG mint julep just might do the trick!
 

You can flip through this entire cookbook thanks to the folks at Internet Archive.

For more favorite Methodist recipes, and food and fellowship stories, visit our webpage: UMC.org/OurUMTable or our page on Pinterest.

This video was produced by United Methodist Communications in Nashville, TN. Contact is Joe Iovino.
This video was first posted on December 4, 2023.

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