[MerrieLea]

This is my first time posting, so here goes.
I recently was given 2 books of OLD recipes that belonged to my Grandfather. I found dates of 1928-1933. He was a pastry chef in a bakery\confectionery.
My question is I don't know some of the lingo
There are 63 candy recipes that all contain GLUE. Could this glue be Glucose???
There is also a recipe for Sugar Cookies that contains ammonia. Could the be right???
I am sitting amazed at the recipes and am so thrilled to have them. I would like to make something, if Only I could understand, and reduce these recipes.

[bubbamom]

Welcome! How lucky to have your Grandpa's books -- they are a treasure, to be sure. Don't know about the glue, but the amonia is absolutely correct and you could get it at the druggist's (powder form). It's not the liquid amonia you're probably thinking of. Enjoy the books.

[Mezzaluna]

If you're willing, can you post the recipe? This might provide information that would be helpful to the experienced bakers in our midst.

I'd like to welcome you to Chef Talk and hope you enjoy the articles, cookbook reviews, and recipes as well as the forums. We have a good search tool to help you locate topics you don't see in the current threads.

Mezzaluna

[MerrieLea]

Thanks for the info!!!I never knew there was a powdered ammonia.
I told my husband and kids that I was going to try some recipes and they said anything but the amonia sugar cookies. We'll see!

[MerrieLea]

Carmals
5#sugar
4# Glue
Add water to dissolve. Bring to boil.1/2 Doz. eggs beatin.
1/2 gal. single cream.
Add at intervals. Boil to 243-246 degrees. Pour on greased marble slab, let cool and cut in Squares.

[nofifi]

I've seen "single cream" in some of my old books ...so please enlighten me, is that light cream?

[Breton Beats]

"single cream" is more of a british term it generally means cream that is lighter in butterfat. Sort of what we call 1/2 & 1/2 about 12-15%.

Double cream is what we call whipping cream or heavy cream. (46% or so).

I have never used "lite" cream so don't know what it is. But I would probably use part 1/2 and part heavy cream.

[siduri]

What a treasure to find old recipes like that.

ammonia, I believe, is what i found in a scandinavian cookbook as salt of hartshorn and is some ammonia salt. Maybe look up salt of hartshorn - google it - and see if they tell you. I think it used to be used instead of baking powder and the book i have said you can substitute one for the other.
glue could be gelatin - gelatin is glue, as i found out in italy where it is called "colla di pesce" or fish glue. But also our gelatin is made of animal cartilege and is actually a sort of glue.
Or it might be gum arabic, which is another ingredient i've seen in old cookbooks that is a sort of glue. (glue used often to be called gum, i believe)

[bigbuns]

You can buy baker's ammonia on the King Arthur Flour site. They also have a cookie recipe using it.

[home_cook]

You have a real treasure. Old culinary books now part of the history. And my be most of the old recipes not suits for modern cooking, but they have to be saved. In 1885 in Russia worked famous French cook Olive Liusen. He invent his famous Olive salad. After his death salads recipe secret has been lost. There are so many variations of this salad ( eggs salad,winter salad, Russian salad, potato salad....) but they are only pity attemps to revive those famose salad. I wish I would have this old book like yours.

[Ishbel]

I have a family 'receipt' book, started by a newly married ancestor in 1816!
What is amazing is that many of the traditional Scots recipes that I make today are still almost the same as the ones she wrote about almost 200 years ago