A Collection of Odd Beverages from 1846

If you are interested in 19th century American cooking look no further than Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book by Catherine Esther Beecher. The 1846 edition was intended to be a supplement to her other book called Treatise on Domestic Economy. A digitized copy can be found here.

The book contains an entire chapter called “Temperance Drinks,” which features recipes for coffees, home-brewed beer and mead substitutes, syrups, ice cream and other unusual [mostly] alcohol-free beverages. According to Mrs. Beecher, “The great abundance of delicious and healthful drinks that are within reach, leaves no excuse for resorting to such as are pernicious.”

Coffee with Cod?

Skin your fresh cod or codfish fillets, rinse, then dry them at the lowest setting in your oven. Perhaps you could even use a dehydrator? Cut into 1-inch squares and use one square per 2 quarts of coffee.

I initially assumed the square would be…