What’s cooking in our archives! A taste of the past

The Museum’s Archives collection includes nearly 1,000 cookbooks and recipe pamphlets produced between the mid-18^th and early 21^st centuries. Many were booklets published to promote a specific product or brand. Others are compilations of recipes carefully written out by hand or assembled in scrapbooks, chronicling timeless family traditions or, conversely, the latest trends of the day.

Appealing in more ways than one, the collection offers information about changing eating habits, social norms surrounding meals, the role of women in the family home, advertising, and the development of new culinary practices.

As part of International Archives Week, Museum employees had fun revisiting the recipes from this collection.

Sandra Ferreira, a member of the Museum Foundation’s board of directors, also joined the fun by preparing a salad from the Joys of Jell-O booklet published in 1962.

For those willing to try some of the recipes, it is also a wonderful opportunity to rediscover the tastes of yesteryear!

→ Visit the Recipes and Food Collection to discover more recipes
→ Share your creations on social media with #McCordMuseum and @museemccord

Mocktails

• • Punch bonne chance

Snacks

• • 7-Up Fluffy Baking Powder Biscuits
  • Sandwiches au beurre d’arachides
  • Garniture pour sandwich olives-cornichons

Main dishes

• • Eggs Benedict
  • Casserole aux oeufs et au fromage
  • Salade fusée
  • Jell-O Vegetable Salad
  • Chou-fleur entier en surprise
  • Brochettes des crevettes et de fruits
  • Mediterranean Layers
  • Marrow Pudding

Desserts

• • Macarons
  • Carrés aux fraises et à l’ananas
  • Chocolate Ice Cream
  • Jell-O Crown Jewel Dessert
  • Tarte à la pichoune
  • Carrot Pie
  • Pumpkin pie
  • Apple Pudding
  • Bananes au Rhum
  • Individual Orange Soufflés

• • Salmon Omelet
  • Cherry Crumb Pudding
  • Midget Donuts
  • Strawberry-Pink Meringues
  • Macarons

Meals hold pride of place in our childhood Christmas memories. I remember the smell of candles and the aroma of meat pies and pâtés baking in the oven. I also recall the sound of the baster my aunt used to keep the turkey nice and juicy, the texture of the stuffing, the creaminess of the mashed potatoes, and the hours my mother spent preparing and browning a mountain of meatballs for the stew.
Read the text by Alexis Curodeau-Codère, Factry intern

• • Great Mistletoe Drinks
  • Coronation Cocktail
  • Spirales dorées au fromage
  • Creamed Chestnut Soup
  • Christmas Cucumber Mould with Dill
  • Tourtières miniatures
  • Ragoût du jour de l’An
  • Saucisses cocktail fumées « au Porter » (chaud)
  • Riz à la crème « Molson »
  • Sandwichs roulés à la gelée
  • Bâtonnets à la mélasse
  • Biscuits napolitains
  • Gâteau Streusel aux cerises
  • Egg-nog Ice Cream
  • Chocolat au moka

Decorations

• • Arbre fleuri de jujubes
  • Anges

The debate sparked by last year’s publication of the new Canada’s Food Guide is a reminder of how diet can be a very sensitive topic. Some people perceived its redesign as an attack on the country’s heritage and food traditions. If the issue raises such strong feelings, it is because how and what we eat is indeed a matter of culture and values.

To learn more about changing eating habits, social norms surrounding meals, the role of women in the family home, advertising, and the development of new culinary practices.