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Hi, and welcome to Cooking 100-year-old
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Recipes. I'm Stephanie. I'm so glad
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you're here. In this video, I've
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compiled five dishes that I've made on
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the channel over the years that I think
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would make a great addition to a holiday
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table. And for it to qualify, it has to
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be a crowd-pleaser. The main ingredient
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has to be something everyone is familiar
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with, so there's nothing unusual or
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strange showing up on the table. Each
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time I would taste them during a taste
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test, all of them had the same reaction
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in my mind, and that is that it would be
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great on a holiday table. Let's look at
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each of them and see if maybe you want
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to consider one of these for your
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holiday and also a little history behind
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the main ingredient and how it came to
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the United States for this American
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holiday we're celebrating in this video.
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No doubt many of us are giving thanks
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The potato may seem humble now, but it
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was once a revolutionary ingredient.
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Introduced to North America in the
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1700s, it became an essential crop for
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immigrants, particularly the Irish. By
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the early 20th century, potato stuffing.
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It was a thrifty and filling side dish.
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It stretched the bread supply by
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blending mashed potato with onions,
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celery, and herbs into a rich, buttery
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mixture. Sometimes even used to fill
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poultry. It's a dish that's both
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comforting and practical. A true
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reflection of American ingenuity in the
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Next is probably what I'm going to
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recommend the highest on this whole
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list, and that is escaloped Brussels
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Tender sprouts baked in a creamy
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bashameal and finished with buttery
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crumbs. In the early 1900s, Brussels
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sprouts were a relatively new arrival to
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American kitchens. They were first grown
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commercially in Louisiana and California
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by Belgian immigrants in the late 1800s,
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and by the 1920s, they appeared
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regularly in cookbooks as a fashionable
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modern vegetable. This dish reflects the
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era's love for anything escalloped, a
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word that meant baked in a rich,
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comforting sauce. Now, what I found so I
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don't know, maybe intriguing about this
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dish is the addition of celery in it.
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Now, celery lightens it up and adds an
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extra textural element. However, at the
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time, and I will link this video in the
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description, when I spoke about celery
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during a Victorian Christmas menu video,
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I learned how difficult the crop was to
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cultivate at the time. And as a result,
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it was quite difficult to come by and
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when you did, it was pricey. Therefore,
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reserved for special occasions and the
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I mentioned that if you were at a I
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don't know Gilded Age dinner party and a
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member of the upper class and you were
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presented with a bouquet of celery and a
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celery glass. Yes, there are celery
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glasses. You would have been very
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impressed to have this beautiful bouquet
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of a vegetable presented in front of
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you. After all, when is Thanksgiving
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nowadays without celery.
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Few vegetables are as ancient or beloved
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as the onion. They arrived in North
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America with the earliest colonists and
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quickly became essential in every
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kitchen. By the 1800s, onions were
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considered both medicine and food.
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Believed to ward off colds, cure sore
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throats, and strengthen the blood.
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Stuffed onions became a centerpiece dish
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in the Gilded Age and early 20th
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century, offering both beauty and
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flavor. filled with bread, stuffing,
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herbs, and sometimes sausage. They're a
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perfect reflection of the era's refined
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decorative style of cooking. Now, when I
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made this dish, there was a little
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challenge getting used to getting the
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center core out of the par-boiled onion.
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But once I stuffed it and baked it, then
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enjoyed it, oh my goodness, I was very
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impressed and immediately thought how
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gorgeous it would be to have a casserole
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of these beautiful individual stuffed
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onions on a holiday table. What a lovely
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Look at this beauty. Wouldn't it impress
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Cauliflower wasn't always common in
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America. It began appearing in US
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markets in the late 1800s, grown mainly
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by Italian and French immigrants.
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Because it was considered a delicate and
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somewhat exotic vegetable, recipes for
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cauliflower were often found in upper
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middle class cookbooks.
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Whole roasted cauliflower, often served
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with a white sauce or grated cheese, was
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a showstopper on the table, as you can
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see, proving that vegetables could be
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just as impressive as a roast.
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Now, cabbage, while it may not have the,
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oh, shall we say, curb appeal some of
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the other vegetables have on this list,
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it's a beloved vegetable, and frankly, I
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personally don't know anyone who does
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not love it. This dish is a way to bring
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cabbage to your holiday table with some
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Cabbage was one of the most important
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vegetables for early American families.
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Hardy, affordable, and easy to store
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through winter. A scalloped cabbage was
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a farmhouse staple that appeared in
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cookbooks from the 19th century onward.
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It combined cooked cabbage with milk or
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cream, butter, and sometimes a sprinkle
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This dish has that old-fashioned
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simplicity that defined depression era
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home cooking using pantry staples to
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make something satisfying and elegant.
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It is very similar to the escalloped
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brussel sprouts earlier in this video.
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However, it does not have that elegant
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If you're enjoying this video, please
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consider subscribing and hit the like
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button. It really helps the channel.
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Now, I want to leave you with one final
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note. I've mentioned all five recipes I
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recommend considering if you'd like
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something new this year on your holiday
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table. But, of course, to finish, we
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generally all have a pumpkin pie
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somewhere on the table. Now, this book
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does have a very simple pumpkin pie
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recipe which I have made on the channel
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and there's a tip in there I highly
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recommend you watch if you find your
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pumpkin pies to be a little bit watery
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or flavorless. This works for fresh
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pumpkin pie or canned pumpkin if you
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prefer the convenience of that. Please
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go and watch it. I'd love you to have
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the best tasting Thanksgiving ever. and
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tell me in the comments which side dish
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you're possibly considering trying this
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year for your family table. Thanks for
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watching and I look forward to hopefully
