Turn-of-the-20th-century Oatmeal ads

To follow up on that last post about oatmeal, here are a few US newspaper ads from the 1890s/early 1900s that touted its supreme benefits. This seems to be when oatmeal really took off in the US as a breakfast food. Better late than never, our Irish, English, and Scottish cousins were probably thinking!

The Paducah Sun – Kentucky, 25 November 1902 (Credit: Library of Congress Digital Newspaper Archives)

The Evening Star – Washington, DC, 30 Oct 1910 (Credit: Library of Congress Digital Newspaper Archives)

The Portland Daily Press (Maine), 23 June 1894 (Credit: Library of Congress Digital Newspaper Archives)

A glimpse of Madame Jule De Ryther

The Hamilton (Ohio) Evening Journal, 6 December 1913, page 12 (Used with permission of Newspapers.com, ‘erichardson’ 5-20-20)

An image of Madame De Ryther has at last surfaced.

It’s not the best image, but I’ll take it. I have to thank Bill Simpson of Charlotte, NC, for pointing out this image’s existence to me (quite a long time ago, actually). Because he found it on newspapers.com, he did not feel he could share it for me to post, and of course I agreed with him on that. While the copyright has expired, sites like Newspapers.com and Genealogy Bank have user agreements that prohibit users from sharing their finds willy-nilly. Some get around this problem by finding articles on those sites and then looking for those same articles on free digital archive sites. But this particular Ohio newspaper—The Hamilton Evening Journal (published between 1908-1933)—was only available on newspapers.com.

So I had put this image out of mind—until recently, when I decided to take a closer look at the user agreement and discovered that “public domain content” can sometimes be used in very small quantities publicly if proper permission is obtained. So I sent off an email to ask newspapers.com for permission to publish on a non-commercial family history blog.

As you can see, fortunately for me, they said “yes.” Timing-wise it’s kind of spooky since Jule is discussing cleanliness and germs (albeit bacterial); on the other hand it’s good to see such discussions were in the news at that time. Forewarned is forearmed. We all know what happened in 1918/19.

Jule, who was born in Little Falls, NY, died in NYC of pneumonia on March 14, 1915, at age 69, so this article’s publication came towards the end of her career. She was living in a hotel at the time. Bill told me that he had discovered information indicating that she had been evicted from her home of 30 years prior to her death. A very sad end for a woman of such tremendous talent.

This may well be the only image ever published of her. I hope I am wrong about that.  If anyone ever comes across another one, please let me know.

Past posts on Madame De Ryther:

• Madame Jule A. De Ryther—Early-20th-century American food writer
• 1904: “Some Dainty Luncheon Dishes” by Madame Jule De Ryther
• 1906: Food writer Madame De Ryther journeys to Jamaica & comments on ship cuisine
• 1904: “Two Good Cakes” from Mme. De Ryther, “the best gentlewoman cook in America”
• 1904: Madame Melba prompts Madame De Ryther to write about puddings
• 1903/1904: Quince jam, plum jelly, and salad recipes from Madame De Ryther
• Jule & Juliet, 1896: Madame De Ryther’s “Roast Saddle of Venison” — a recipe from the Adirondacks
• “Family” recipe Friday: 1904—Madame de Ryther writes about custards and blackberry pie

Monday miscellany: “Oatmeal as Human Food”

Augusta, Georgia, Chronicle and Sentinel, 10 July 1845 (Credit: Digital Library of Georgia – newspaper archives)

This 1845 article appeared in The American Agriculturist* before making its way into the newspapers. The Augusta (GA) Chronicle and Sentinel** is where it caught my eye while I was looking for articles on a different topic.

I’d forgotten that here in the US, oatmeal hasn’t always been considered an acceptable and even desirable food for humans. Back in 1845, oats were for horses and other animals, and farmers were focused on wheat and rye for human consumption. Today, many Americans appreciate its nutritious value, but it is still nowhere near to enjoying the popularity it experiences in a place like Scotland where it has been a staple for hundreds of years. The US is not among the world’s top oat producers, which include Russia, Canada, Australia, Poland, China, and Finland. Soybeans and corn are more profitable.

Perhaps, this article, which pulls on material published in Blackwood’s Magazine (Edinburgh and London), got some Americans talking about this subject especially since a challenge of sorts was laid down. Whether anyone took them up on that, I don’t know. Of course today, somebody would—you’d see Americans of Scottish descent loading up on “oatcakes, porridge, bannocks, and brose” and those of English descent getting their fill of “wheaten abominations” before fighting it out on YouTube or Instagram.

As superior and tasty as oatmeal may be, I did enjoy reading through the rather vast list of “wheaten abominations”, most of which sound delicious ;-):

Baking bread by Helen Allingham, English artist (1848-1926) – (Public domain due to expired copyright)

• home made bread
• baker’s bread
• household bread
• leaven bread
• brown Georgies
• fancy bread
• raisin bread
• baps
• scones
• rolls
• muffins
• crumpets
• cookies
• bricks
• biscuits
• bakes
• rusks
• Bath buns
• Sally luns
• tea cakes
• saffron cakes
• slim cakes
• plank cakes


The Highland Shepherd by Rosa Bonheir, 1859 (Public domain image on Wikimedia Commons uploaded by “botautus”)

• soda cakes
• current cakes
• sponge cakes
• seed cakes
• girdle cakes
• singing hinnies
• short bread
• currant buns

**************************************************
Having lived in England a number of years, I recognized the baps, Bath buns and Sally Lunns. But some, like “brown Georgies” and “singing hinnies,” left me stumped. Turns out that singing hinnies are a kind of scone-like griddle cake that is popular in Northern England. Girdle cakes are thin scone-like griddle cakes cooked atop a stove rather than in the oven. I guess rusks are something you dip in your tea—like biscotti? No idea about plank cakes or brown Georgies. Please illuminate me, if you can.

Well, strangely enough, while I did enjoy oatmeal for breakfast this morning, I am suddenly feeling the need for a “wheaten abomination.” Best wishes to everyone for a safe and productive week. 🙂

*Volume 4, page 163.
**Published 10 July 1845.

Update 5/21/20: Meanwhile, another curious article from a test undertaken across the pond in 1852:

The Mountain Sentinel – Ebensburg, PA, 10 July 1852 (Credit: Library of Congress Digital Newspaper Archives)

Resources:
The Food of London by George Dodd (London: Longmans, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1856) – click here
“Is Oatmeal Healthy? Hear What the Experts Say” by Markham Heid, TIME online, published August 15, 2018 – click here

“Family” recipe Friday: 1904—Madame de Ryther writes about custards and blackberry pie

I’ve written so much about opera-singer-turned-food-writer Madame de Ryther, she almost feels like family, so I think it is safe to include her thoughts and recipes in this Friday’s post.

The Rome Citizen, October 1, 1884; Credit: Fulton History dot com

But before I do that, I wanted to mention that quite some time ago, blog reader Bill S., who also developed a bit of an obsession with Jule, alerted me to the fact that he’d come across information proving that Madame de Ryther had indeed once been married. Prior to that, I’d wondered whether she had adopted the name because it sounded somewhat exotic and would have been useful for her singing career.

Bill sent me a couple of obituaries for Jule’s husband John de Ryther, who died “at home” in his room at the Arlington Hotel in Rome, New York, on September 30, 1884. He was roughly 50 years of age. The cause of death was given as lung congestion and “asthmatic difficulty.”

The Rome Citizen article indicates that John had not been well for a number of years. I wonder whether a fall he’d taken in an elevator shaft the previous year had perhaps hastened his demise. Surely it could not have helped.

The Syracuse Sentinel, October 3, 1884; Credit: Fulton History dot com

The Utica Morning Herald, April 18, 1883, reported under the heading “Rome Matters”: “John De Ryther. who fell thro’ the elevator well at the Arlington yesterday, is much more comfortable this evening.” I found another article in the Rome Citizen dated July 13, 1883, that mentioned a little girl had fallen the same distance as John down an elevator shaft (24 feet), but that she came away unscathed, while he had been “disabled for weeks”. Such a fall certainly could not have helped someone who already had a history of health problems.

In any case, it’s clear from the obituaries that John was a highly beloved and popular citizen who had held many important positions. At the time of John’s death, Jule was in her late 40s and living in New York City, where her singing career was still going strong.

Bill also sent me a ton of links to loads of Jule’s food and recipe articles, and he even managed to find an image of Jule’s face in an old newspaper he found on Newspapers.com. Unfortunately, I cannot display it here until I find it on a website like Fulton History that places no restrictions on usage. Bill wondered why, given Jule’s success in life as an opera singer and food writer, that he could find no bona fide photos of her anywhere. I find that quite strange too. But hopefully one or more surface some day so I can include them here.

I found the two Jules De Ryther articles below on Fulton History; they are from 1904. The custard article, which includes instructions and ideas for custard pies and baked and boiled custards, would have been good to include in the post I did with my great-grandmother’s custard recipe, but, alas, that ship has sailed.

As for the blackberry pie recipe, it really sounds heavenly. I am going to give it a whirl when blackberries are in season and at their best (and the price is reasonable). Her recipe calls for 1.5 quarts per pie, and she insists that no lard be used for the crust and that the pie should be eaten immediately and never refrigerated.

Finally, for anyone planning to try Jule’s recipes that require baking, a reminder that oven temperatures were referred to differently back then:

• Slow Oven = 325°F (163°C)
• Moderate Oven = 375°F (191°C)
• Hot or Quick Oven = 425 °F (218°C)
• Bread or Pastry Oven = 360°F (182°C)

Happy Friday!

New York Press, 1 May 1904 (Credit: Fulton History dot com)

New York Press, 1904 (Credit: Fulton History dot com)

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Jule & Juliet, 1896: Madame De Ryther’s “Roast Saddle of Venison” — a recipe from the Adirondacks

Hound and Hunter (1892) – by Winslow Homer. [image cropped] Per Wikimedia: Homer’s watercolor sketch for Hound and Hunter showed, lying behind the boy, a rifle that the artist later painted out. When this final canvas was exhibited in 1892, its subject was condemned as a cruel sport then practiced in the Adirondacks. Some viewers believed the youth was drowning the deer to save ammunition. The artist curtly responded, “The critics may think that that deer is alive but he is not—otherwise the boat and man would be knocked high and dry.”

One new thing I’ve learned about late 19th-/early-20th-century food writer Madame Jule De Ryther comes from the New York Times, March 1, 1896, article “The Secrets of the Carver; An Early English Dinner. Studies in the Operative Surgery of Animals” by Juliet Corson. It featured a roast saddle of venison recipe, “traceable to Adirondack hunters and guides,” that belonged to Madame De Ryther, “the descendant of a line of hunters and hosts whose forest cookery has long been famous.”

John George Brown (American, 1831-1913) Claiming the Shot – After the Hunt in the Adirondacks

While Jule De Ryther, a famous concert soprano, found a second career discussing and sharing her knowledge about food, Juliet Corson (1841-1897) spent her whole career trying to educate the public about food and cookery, and healthy and economical eating, particularly among society’s poorest. She was a proponent of letting nothing go to waste and making the tastiest and most nutritious meals possible no matter how small the budget. At 35, she founded the New York School of Cookery and operated it for seven years before ill-health forced her to close it down. She traveled the country, between bouts of ill-health, to promote the need for cookery classes in public schools. The French Consul General in NYC even consulted with her to see how her methods could be adapted to France.

Miss Corson’s numerous publications included Fifteen-Cent Dinners for Workingmen’s Families, published by the author for free distribution to working-people earning $1.50, or less, a day (New York, 1877), Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six (1879), and Practical American Cookery & Household Management (1886); for links to other publications, click here. I’ve not had time to read any of them, but I am sure she has plenty of tips that could apply to us today. Many of us are always looking for economical ways to feed our families and maximize our resources. One can only speculate what else Corson may have taught us had her life not been cut short at age 56 by a debilitating tumor (NYT obituary – “Death of Juliet Corson; The Well-Known Writer and Teacher of Cookery and Dietetics Expires Almost Alone”).

Juliet Corson (Credit: Wikipedia)

By the time Miss Corson penned this article in 1896, she was near her life’s end. You can tell from the article how passionate she is about food, and how knowledgeable. I was going to include just the portion about Madame De Ryther, but decided to include the entire article since it contains so much interesting information on the history of food and the preparation of game, an art that was already being lost in this country back then when venison was “the only wild meat ever seen freely in the New York market,” and is now in most places a great rarity, which is understandable of course, but it’s still interesting to get a sense of how our ancestors lived and worked, and what they ate. And how they may have prepared it.

Have a good Monday, all!

PS: Receipts = recipes; frumenty = thick wheat porridge usually served with venison (in Medieval times).

1903/1904: Quince jam, plum jelly, and salad recipes from Madame De Ryther

Merchant’s wife on the balcony – by Russian painter Boris Kustodiev, 1920

Quince (Credit: Wikipedia)

Growing up, I had heard of quince (Cydonia oblonga), but never actually tried this “exotic” fruit until I was studying Russian in Moscow several decades ago. I was having tea at the apartment of two elderly ladies I’d befriended, and they gave me a jar of homemade quince jam (варенье из айвы – “varen’e iz aĭvy”) to take back to my dorm. It was delicious, and a tinge of sadness crept over me when it came time to scrape the last remnants off the sides and bottom of the jar. After that, I started noticing quince in Moscow’s big city markets. Much of that quince hailed from Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, areas within the quince’s native territory of SW Asia, Turkey, and Iran. And during a subsequent trip to Tbilisi and Yerevan, serendipitously at harvest-time, I saw quince everywhere—along with an abundance of grapes, apples, and other fruits.

Per Wikipedia, today’s top producers (in order) are Turkey, China, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Iran, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Spain, Serbia, and Algeria. Most quince you find in the US, if you can find it, comes from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. While, it can be found in orchards in places like Oregon, its general scarcity in the US is allegedly related to the reluctance of commercial growers to cultivate quince due to its susceptibility to ‘Fire blight’ disease.

Cydonia oblonga –  copyright exp’d due to image age (Source: from ”Koehler’s Medicinal-Plants” 1887)

Can you eat quince raw? I bought a kilo at a Moscow market, and quickly discovered that they are very tough, sour, and generally unpleasant that way. That said, I’ve since learned that some cultivars do exist that are okay to eat raw, e.g., ‘Aromatnaya’ and ‘Kuganskaya’ from Russia, and ‘Mellow’ from Ukraine.

On the surface one might think that jams, jellies, butters, and preserves are the formats in which the highly aromatic quince shines most brightly. However, enterprising cooks have come up with other uses, e.g., syrups, liqueurs, butters, and wine, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you search for quince-related blog posts around the web, you’ll find dozens of recipes from just the past few weeks–for pies, tarts, stews, curries, breads, cakes, and more, demonstrating that this fruit has fans worldwide. While how often you run into the actual fruit offline, in the real world, seems largely to depend on where you live, via online shopping the quince can come to you in the form of jam, jelly, paste, relish, balsamic vinegar, chutney, marmalade, and even throat lozenges.

View of the West Front of Monticello and Garden, depicting Thomas Jefferson’s grandchildren at Monticello, watercolour on paper by Jane Braddick Peticolas 1825

Our ancestors living in Colonial times would have been very familiar with quince trees. Jefferson had one in his gardens at Monticello. Quince seeds are an excellent source of pectin for making preserves so it was considered essential to have at least one on your property. But the appearance of Knox gelatin toward the end of the 19th century changed all that, and the quince’s decline began. For an interesting and entertaining article that includes those little factoids and much more, read the May 2, 2012, New York Times article: In Praise of the Misunderstood Quince.

Basket of Graphes, Quinces and Pears – Claude Monet, 1882-1885

Today’s blog post includes a 1903 column by Madame De Ryther on making quince preserves and plum jam, and a 1904 article on salads. Obviously, 110 years ago, the quince still had a place in mainstream American cuisine. The article on salads appeared in spring, but I thought I’d include it here in the run-up to Christmas, since it’s always nice to include something lighter on the table during this season of heavy eating. I’d hoped to try making quince preserves, but no grocers in this area sell the fruit; one of them offered to special order some for me, but I did not want to deal with the added expense.

As for the salads, Madame De Ryther has tons of interesting ideas and tips on combinations I’d never considered. The one recipe that stood out to me the most was the one for cucumber salad since that is the way my father always made his cucumber salad, and I am sure he picked up his technique from his mother (b. 1882) who was a passionate cook and baker and would have followed columns like Madame De Ryther’s with great interest. Or perhaps that is just the way her own mother made cucumber salad. So much that goes on in the kitchen is passed down from one generation to the next.

If you end up trying any of Madame De Ryther’s recipes, please leave a comment! Best wishes to all for a good week ahead.

Still Life with Dish of Quince – Francisco de Zurbaran, 1633-1664

Quince – some resources:

• USDA – Quest for Quince, 2007
• USDA – Cydonia oblonga: The Unappreciated Quince, 2009
• Russian blog Chez Maximka– quince jam recipes (in English)
• Modern Farmer website: “In Season: Quince,” 2012

Indianapolis Journal, October 18, 1903

New York Press, 12 June 1904

1904: Madame Melba prompts Madame De Ryther to write about puddings

Australian opera singer Nellie Melba (1861-1931), 1896 (Credit: United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3b11681–Public domain in US)

Well, it’s the Monday after Thanksgiving, and food is now the farthest thing from my mind. I’ve cooked and baked enough in the last week to happily sail through the next few months without doing either, but I promised you a series of “Madame De Ryther Mondays” until Christmas… So here is a 1904 article in which she discusses how to make puddings: rice pudding, tapioca pudding, chocolate pudding, and one other whose name is concealed by the Fulton History site’s logo label. Since I honestly can’t bear the thought right now of unwrapping another stick of butter or spooning heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar into anything, I am currently psychologically unable to try any of these recipes out myself. But don’t let that stop you if you have managed to remain “on your kitchen feet,” both mentally & physically, in the aftermath of Thanksgiving ;-).

In her article, professional-singer-turned-food-writer Madame De Ryther opens with a comment made by Madame Melba (1861-1931), an Australia-born, world-renowned opera star, with whom Madame De Ryther was obviously acquainted, their singing careers, perhaps, having brought them together at some point.

Who was Madame Melba?  Per Wikipedia: Dame Nellie Melba GBE (19 May 1861 – 23 February 1931), born Helen Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century. She was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym “Melba” from Melbourne, her home town. And, yes, “Peach Melba,” “Melba toast,” “Melba garniture,” and “Melba sauce” were all created in her honor by a French chef named Auguste Escoffier. I must admit that I often heard mention of Melba toast and peach Melba while growing up, but it was not until writing this post that I’d heard of Madame Melba (I’m embarrassed to say) and was able to put 2 and 2 together (much like discovering Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini last year, and making the link with Chicken/Turkey Tetrazzini). (Note: Viewers of season 4 (2013) of Downton Abbey would have seen Madame Melba (played by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand’s famed soprano) perform for Lord and Lady Grantham; I was not a Downton viewer at that time.)

Australian children’s classic: The Magic Pudding (1918) by Norm Lindsay; Yes, Madame Melba was from a country that most certainly knows a thing or two about pudding! (Credit: Wikipedia – Image in Public Domain in US)

Getting back now to the article, Madame De Ryther reports that Madame Melba had once lamented to her the lack of good puddings in America, and having traveled the world and sampled desserts along the way, she indeed must have known a thing or two about the topic. In 1904, when this article appeared, everyone in America would have heard of Madame Melba, so using Melba’s opinion about America’s lack of good puddings was certainly a clever way for Madame De Ryther to hook her readers.

However, the food writer is not all that excited about replicating European puddings, more specifically English puddings, which she considers to be too heavy by American standards (and if you’re familiar with British cuisine, you know what she means—puddings here in the US are very different; Jello-type pudding comes to mind or rice pudding or tapioca, not hearty, classic fare like sticky toffee pudding, bread & butter pudding, spotted dick, and the like—puddings that I personally like, albeit usually in small doses).

The recipes Madame De Ryther includes here are for much lighter and “daintier” versions that she feels would suit the American palate better than English-style puddings which were designed to “to drive the heavy fog from [English] stomachs,” according to one French chef.

Of course, at this point neither a heavy pudding nor a light one could drive away the heavy Thanksgiving fog in my stomach! But that is neither here nor there. I’m sure Madame De Ryther’s recipes helped her readers “whip up” some divine puddings.  I’ll just wait ’til I’m fully “recovered” to give them a try! 😉

PS: With Christmas fast approaching, for a fun and superbly informative post on English Christmas puddings that has lots of great images, click here. And for a few Madame Melba YouTube videos, scroll down below the article. Have a great day, all!

New York Press, 1904 (exact date unknown) – Credit: FultonHistory dot com

1904: “Two Good Cakes” from Mme. De Ryther, “the best gentlewoman cook in America”

Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper for Publishers, Advertisers, Advertising Agents and Allied Interests, Fourth Estate Publishing Company, 23 January 1904, p. 16.

New York Press, 1 January 1904 (Credit: Chronicling America dot loc dot gov)

To continue with “Madame De Ryther Mondays” in the run up to Christmas, I would be remiss if I did not first mention (on Thanksgiving Eve) that a post I created last year contained Madame’s recommendations for a festive Thanksgiving dinner (click here).

Now back to this post. Here is a clipping from 1904 that offers recipes for two cakes.

The first, which is for a molasses/gingerbread cake, includes ground mace, a spice that seems to be absent these days from most grocery stores. I am not sure why that is, but, in any case, you may have to go to a specialty store or order it online. Amazon carries it in both the ground and blade form. Mace is the outer covering of the nutmeg seed and blade form seems to be more highly praised for its flavor than ground. But for this recipe, it seems logical to go with the ground version.

The second recipe, for “Surprise Cake,” contains nothing that most kitchens would not have on hand. So I decided to try this one. It’s short and sweet, and to the point. After doing a bit of investigation, I learned that “sweet milk” simply means whole milk as opposed to buttermilk. I only had skim on hand, so that is what I used. The addition of all that baking powder resulted in a very robust-looking batter. The recipe calls for a little grated nutmeg; I only had ground on hand so I added 1/8 tsp.

After getting the batter in a cake pan, I put it in a 350-degree oven for 25 minutes but checked it with a toothpick (not a “broom splint,” as Madame directs) and decided it needed an extra five minutes. That seemed to do the trick (bear in mind, we are at a very low elevation, so more time may be required for those not in low-lying locations).

For the icing, I cheated horribly and used a tub of Betty Crocker’s vanilla icing (Madame De Ryther no doubt did an eye roll) and then sprinkled chopped walnuts on top (see image below).

I served slices of the cake for dessert with a bit of pistachio frozen yogurt. My “guinea pigs” gave it “two thumbs up.” The cake was very moist and light. The nutmeg was not too overpowering, but I do think I’d use a little less next time or try vanilla or lemon flavoring, alternatives the recipe suggests. But, overall, Madame De Ryther delivers what she promised: a cake that is “cheap, easy to prepare, and much better than the store-bought article.” Well, I can’t honestly say it is better than store-bought given how many superb bakeries exist today, but—straight from your oven—it will certainly be fresher.

At the start of her article, Madame De Ryther described cake-making as becoming a lost art among city women—thanks to the rise in popularity of store-bought cakes. I don’t think my grandmother on my father’s side would have been swept up in that trend. She would have been 22 at the time this column appeared, and she was quite the baker. My Dad used to wax lyrical about her culinary specialties. She probably would have devoured anything and everything Madame De Ryther wrote. My Mom’s mom, on the other hand, would definitely have been one to head to the bakery! She just did not enjoy cooking or baking, although she had the know-how. Let’s face it, some love to bake and some don’t. As the saying goes, “To each their own,” and Vive la différence!

Well, if anyone out there tries either of these recipes, feel free to share your results below!

Madame De Ryther’s “Surprise Cake”

1906: Food writer Madame De Ryther journeys to Jamaica & comments on ship cuisine

The Atrato, owned by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

In early spring 1906, 60-year-old American food writer Madame Jule de Ryther sailed from New York to Jamaica on the Atrato, a luxurious 6,000-ton steamer belonging to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. At that moment in history, according to De Ryther, Jamaica had become “the most popular resort in the world” and was “the mecca of most of the fashionable tourists of America.” The British steamship company tapped into that burgeoning demand, sending an increasing number of its ships to the West Indies on tours ranging from 12-53 days at a price of $90-$240. Madame De Ryther was extremely impressed by the Atrato‘s steady offerings of culinary delights: “There seems to be no limit in the provision of food products on board these steamers. Table luxuries and delicacies from all parts of the globe are set out at every meal.” Below is part of an article she wrote for the New York Press that describes some of her observations from that journey. The excerpt was published on May 14, 1906, in the Rome Daily Sentinel, a month after she arrived back in New York on the ship La Plata (on April 13, 1906, per Ellis Island records).

View from Fern Tree Walk Jamaica, ca. 1870, by Martin Johnson Heade (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

New York Press, 13 January 1908 (Credit: fultonhistory dot com)

Rome Daily Sentinel, 14 May 1906 (Credit: Fulton History dot com)

1904: “Some Dainty Luncheon Dishes” by Madame Jule De Ryther

New York Press, 31 Jul 1904 (Credit: Fulton History dot com)

As promised last Monday, here is one of Madame De Ryther’s numerous food columns; this one from 1904 features “Dainty Luncheon Dishes.” She offers recipes for items with which most of us are probably familiar: chicken croquettes, turkey hash, minced ham with poached eggs, and a club sandwich which she insists must be served hot. Of those, I lean towards the croquettes (anyone remember Howard Johnson’s shrimp croquettes from the 70s?—loved them), but, as I am trying to watch my waistline, Madame momentarily lost me at “heaping tablespoon of butter” and “gill of cream.”

But once I learned that a gill of cream is only four fluid ounces, I felt I could give Madame’s recipe a try. With no chicken on hand, I opted for ground turkey. (The recipe calls for 1 pint which is about 1 lb.) And I used canola oil in a deep-fryer set to 350 degrees F. instead of “a kettle half full of fat over the fire.” I served them with some cranberry jelly, mashed potato & vegetable, and I must say, they turned out pretty well—everyone at the table thought they were tasty in spite of their truly unphotogenic appearance; and it was only after dinner that I showed them where I got the recipe.

Image from The Fun of Cooking (1915) by Caroline F. Benton

I would definitely make these croquettes again (I’d never tried making them before this), but next time I would make my two heaping tablespoonfuls of flour more heaping than I did this time around. And, while I did let the mixture cool down, next time I would refrigerate it for a bit after it cooled down to make it easier to handle.  I might also spice it up a bit with a dash of chili flakes, or use a bit more red pepper.

So there you have it. All in all—a winner for dinner, but definitely too time-consuming for today’s world of ‘grab-and-go’ lunches.

Have a good Monday!

P.S. I would say that the recipe feeds 4-6 depending on how hungry everyone is.

Madame Jule A. De Ryther—Early-20th-century American food writer

It’s already November, and simply thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas is enough to expand my waistline by several inches. Where did the year go? Blink your eyes and Christmas will be here. Yes, Christmas is coming; the goose is getting fat…

This past year, while perusing old newspapers, I frequently stumbled upon early-twentieth-century food columns written by the exotic- and mysterious-sounding Madame Jule De Ryther (1845-1915). Apart from conveying her opinions on all things culinary, she touched on attitudes and social mores of the day, often with blunt humor, and even covered such topics as bacteriology and the importance of clean dishes and properly washed milk bottles¹.

The Concert Singer by Thomas Eakins, 1892. Depicted artist: Weda Cook (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Expired copyright)

Over time, I quickly grew to admire Madame De Ryther, a ‘Martha Stewart’ of her time, and on further research, I found even more reason to place her on a mental pedestal: before her food career began, she had been a highly regarded soprano, performing in prestigious concerts around the United States. I assume that’s where the “Madame” came from, and while her first name may have been Jule, I suspect “De Ryther” was a stage name. I never found evidence of a marriage.

In her younger years and into middle age, Madame De Ryther was enjoying a busy musical career. She sang regularly at the Church of Divine Paternity and the Anthon Memorial Church (today known as All Souls Episcopal Church) in NYC.

Henryk Wieniawski, before 1870 (Wikimedia Commons)

She had been the celebrated soprano of the Wieniawski Troupe during its 1873 concerts in California. At that time, Henryk Wieniawski, a Polish violinist and composer, was recognized as being one of the world’s greatest violinists, having been the solo violinist of the Emperor of Russia².

New York Herald, May 30, 1873 (Credit: fultonhistory.com)

On August 23, 1874, she sang the Star Spangled Banner at a concert benefiting the Women’s Training School in Long Island, a school supported by Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant. President Grant was in attendance for the event³.

From The Letters of Sidney Lanier (Cambridge University Press, 1899)

The 1899 book Letters of Sidney Lanier, which contains correspondence of the famous 19th-century American musician, poet, and author (d. 1881), includes a January 9, 1875, letter describing an upcoming concert in which Mme. De Ryther was to appear: “Our second concert comes off to night and we are to play such beautiful music as makes my heart tremble even to think of. First comes Beethoven’s Second Symphony, one written before the dreadful deafness had come upon his ears and pierced into his heart. […] Then Mme De Ryther, a lady in form and manner and stage appearance much like our dear departed G_______, is to sing with a glorious contralto voice a noble aria, Handel’s little known opera “Rinaldo.”

New York Dramatic Mirror (Credit: FultonHistory dot com)

During its 1879-1880 run at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York, Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera “Trial by Jury” included the talents of Mme De Ryther who took over the role of Little Buttercup, “a manifest improvement” over the previous performer, according to the New York Dramatic Mirror.

Scene in the Arctic by William Bradford, cir. 1880, De Young Museum, San Francisco (Wikimedia Commons-Public domain in US)

And, in 1886 she performed in a traveling lecture series presented by prominent painter, photographer, and explorer William Bradford (1823-1892) whose seven voyages to the Arctic in the 1860s, accompanied by other prominent photographers, resulted in dozens of images—“the only complete collection of views in existence of the Arctic Regions”⁴. These images, which provided the basis for many of Bradford’s subsequent paintings, were projected on a large screen. As the images unfolded during the lectures, Jule would sing Eskimo and old Norse songs and hymns “in the native tongue”; her “wonderfully sympathetic voice” was “heard to advantage in this weird music”^5. (To view a gallery of Bradford’s paintings, click here.)

William Bradford, painter, explorer, photographer (Image from Wikimedia)

I’m not sure when Madame De Ryther’s singing career came to a close, but it was likely sometime in the 1890s. The last mention I found made of her musical talent was in The Printing World (pub. 1891, p. 298):

Here is a specimen of musical criticism in California. The San Jose Mercury, in an article on the Wienawski troupe, says of Madame De Ryther: “She is marvellous on the low notes, and she sings with a pathos calculated to lift a sensitive reporter right out of his boots.”

Her first newspaper job was as a society reporter with the New York Recorder. Later she worked for other papers, including the New York Herald and the New York Times. Her food columns started to appear in the New York Evening Mail and the New York Press in the early 1900s^6.

Jule was born in Little Falls, New York. Her father Albert W. Churchill was the proprietor of the Benton House (later known as Garvan House) in Little Falls. He managed a number of hotels in Rome NY from 1858-1870: the American Hotel, Stanwix Hall, the Railroad House, and Curry’s Eating House⁷. Her mother was Susan E. Churchill. Jule’s early education was in Little Falls; she later moved to NYC to study vocal music under Madame Seguin⁸. Jule had four siblings: Fred B. Churchill; Emma Churchill Belden; Frances Churchill Waters; and Cornelia Churchill Russ. She died of pneumonia at age 69 on March 14, 1915, at the Hotel Vanderbilt in NYC⁹. Funeral services were held two days later at the Church of the Transfiguration in NYC, and she was buried in the Churchill family plot in Little Falls¹⁰. When I discovered that last bit of information, I created an entry for her on Find a Grave, and did my best to link the Churchill family together. (Update 5/15/20: Bill Simpson of Charlotte, NC, advised me that he found two more morsels of information about her: “ONE… it seems she was being, or was evicted from her home of 30 years… just before her death. TWO… her brother, a NYC lawyer, in 1885, committed suicide under a strange set of circumstances.”)

Using the fultonhistory.com website, I have been able to accumulate numerous Madame De Ryther’s columns, many of which were likely read by our ancestors who lived at that time, so, in her memory, between now and Christmas, I am going to publish “Madame De Ryther Monday” posts (on Mondays, of course!), with or without commentary on my part. I may actually attempt some of her creations, and if I do, I will surely tell you about it. Perhaps, by Christmas you will have as much admiration as I do for this wonder woman of yesteryear!

Here is the first article, from October 11, 1903: “Madame De Ryther’s Receipts for Two Excellent One-Dish Dinners”

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END NOTES:
1. “The Subject of Clean Dishes”, The Springfield Union, November 20, 1913
2. Reported in the Sacramento Daily Union, July 1, 1873
3. Reported in the New York Herald, August 24, 1873
4., 5. “The Bradford Recitals,” Elkhart, Indiana, Daily Review, October 19, 1886
6. Jule de Ryther Obituary, Utica Herald Dispatch, March 15, 1915
7. William Churchill obituary, Rome Citizen (NY), January 23, 1885
8. Jule de Ryther Obituary, Utica Herald Dispatch, March 15, 1915
9. Jule de Ryther New York Times Obituary, March 15, 1915
10. Jule de Ryther funeral announcement, Rome NY Daily Sentinel, March 16, 1915