The University of Alabama Press reprinted a cookbook published in 1878 by the women of the St. Francis Street Methodist Church, Mobile. The new edition, with an introduction by George H. Daniels. Taken as a whole, Gulf City Cook Book illustrates the diet, economic situation, and some of the traditions of Mobile's upper-middle class at the end of the 1870s. In Alabama Heritage Issue 18, a portion of Professor Daniels' introduction is reprinted along with selected recipes. Below is a recipe for Oyster Soup and Sliced Sweet-Potato Pie.
OYSTER SOUP
To two quarts of strained oyster-liquor, boiling, add one hundred oysters, with salt and pepper to taste. Let all boil together till the edges of the oysters curl, skimming constantly. Remove the oysters to the tureen, and thicken the soup with one table-spoonful of flour, rubbed in two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Boil in a separate vessel-to prevent curdling-one quart of sweet milk, and pour in the tureen, pouring in the soup last.
SLICED SWEET-POTATO PIE
Parboil and slice two medium-sized potatoes; put them into a deep pie-plate that has been previously lined with puff-paste; pour over the potatoes a sauce made of one cup of sugar, half cup of butter, and one cup of boiling water; flavored with a tea-spoonful of cinnamon, tea-spoonful of cloves and allspice mixed, and the juice and grated rinds of two lemons; cover with paste. Bake in a slow oven.
To two quarts of strained oyster-liquor, boiling, add one hundred oysters, with salt and pepper to taste. Let all boil together till the edges of the oysters curl, skimming constantly. Remove the oysters to the tureen, and thicken the soup with one table-spoonful of flour, rubbed in two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Boil in a separate vessel-to prevent curdling-one quart of sweet milk, and pour in the tureen, pouring in the soup last.
SLICED SWEET-POTATO PIE
Parboil and slice two medium-sized potatoes; put them into a deep pie-plate that has been previously lined with puff-paste; pour over the potatoes a sauce made of one cup of sugar, half cup of butter, and one cup of boiling water; flavored with a tea-spoonful of cinnamon, tea-spoonful of cloves and allspice mixed, and the juice and grated rinds of two lemons; cover with paste. Bake in a slow oven.