Now you, too, can eat doughnuts prepared just like those eaten by your Civil War ancestors.
The “Sanitary Fair Cookbook Bangor 1864” contains 99 recipes for foods prepared for an 1864 fundraiser in Bangor. Among the recipes is one for doughnuts.
Here is the original recipe:
“One cup of sugar, two thirds of milk, one egg, two teaspoonsful melted butter, one teaspoonful cream of tartar, half of soda. To be mixed as thin as can be rolled easily. The fat to be very hot before dropping them in _ ..”
And that’s where the 1864 recipe ends. The Bangor Museum and History Center is publishing a modern version of the original cookbook. Each recipe will be presented in its 1864 version and its 2012 version — and more than one 1864 recipe ends abruptly, at least by modern standards.
“The fun and frustrating part of this project is [that] the [unidentified] author wrote recipes in such a manner that she assumed a reader already knew quite a bit about cooking,” said Jennifer Pictou, who heads the BMHC. “The recipe is translated exactly, so that’s where the original recipe ends.”
Here is the modern recipe for 1864 doughnuts:
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
2 T melted butter
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp baking soda
3 cups flour
Canola or other oil for frying
Heat oil over medium heat.
Sift together dry ingredients. Wisk together egg, milk, and butter and stir into the dry ingredients. The dough should be relatively stiff. Dump dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to about ½ inch thick. Cut out doughnuts.
When oil is hot, fry doughnuts, turning as the underside turns golden brown. Drain on a rack over paper towels. Serve immediately. Makes 24.
Serving suggestion: Roll doughnuts in powdered sugar or a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
Nutritional Information (per doughnut, before frying): 103 calories, 1 grams fat, 20 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams protein, 33 mg sodium, 0 grams fiber.