The Challenge: Comfort Food. Make a dish that you are comfortable with, or that is comforting to eat.
The Recipe: Brandy Cocoa from The Mendelssohn Club Cook Book
Brandy Cocoa--Three tablespoons cocoa; 1 1/2 cups boiling water; 1/4 cup sugar; 4 cups milk; 3 teaspoons cooking brandy. Prepare as Reception cocoa, then add brandy before beating.
[Scald milk, mix cocoa, sugar, and salt, adding enough boiling water to make a smooth paste, then add what water remains, and boil 1 minute; pour into scalded milk and beat 2 minutes with egg beater.*]
*The reception cocoa differs from the brandy cocoa by having half as much water, no brandy, and "a few grains of salt".
The Date/Year and Region: 1909; Rockfort, Illinois
How Did You Make It: I boiled water (in my electric kettle, very much cheating), while scalding the milk over the stove. I added 1/4 cup of the water into the sugar and cocoa, whisking it into a thin paste (I probably should have used less water to get a proper paste). I then whisked in the other 3/4 cup of water, having accidentally measured out 1 cup rather than 1 1/2 cup. I brought the cocoa-water up to a boil for another minute, then poured it into the scalded milk, added the brandy and spent two minutes whisking it together thoroughly.
Time to Complete: 19 minutes
Total Cost: Literally everything was left over from other projects.
How Successful Was It?: It tastes a little more tart than I usually make cocoa, but it's warm, and chocolatey, and I'm drinking it in quantity. It didn't taste as rich as I expected to, what with the whole milk, but that might be a combination of the water, and the relatively low amount of sugar. I didn't really taste the brandy at all. Normally when I make hot chocolate, I use heavily pre-sweetened mix in skim milk without any water, so this was a bit different.
I found it interesting that the recipe on the cocoa box eleven decades later is very similar to the "reception cocoa" in the 1909 cookbook: for the same 4 cups of milk, it uses 1/3 more cocoa, twice as much sugar, the same amount of salt, and about half as much water. It would seem that either this cocoa powder is a bit off from the period version or that modern tastes run rather sweeter and a little more chocolatey.
How Accurate Is It?: I used 1 cup of water instead of 1 1/2 cups, but considering the reception cocoa used that amount, I daresay it's within period norms. For a more representative 1909 cooking experience, a coal or gas range would be better, but the main difference I'd expect in this instance is cooking time. I used whole milk (which is probably closer than the skim I usually have on hand), and unsweetened 100% cocoa powder (which seemed to fit the cook book's description of 'cocoa' on page 28). Considering the recipe on the cocoa container is so similar, I think the modern product was actually a pretty good analog of the period one. I did use a whisk, having no egg beater, but it mixed the cocoa adequately.
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| It begins... |
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| One disadvantage of this method is the amount of dishes it dirties. |
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| A single batch does make a solid 4-5 mugs of cocoa. |
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