Gail L. Jenner - Sourdough Biscuits and Pioneer Pies: The Old West Baking Book

Gail L. Jenner is a former secondary history and English teacher and is married to a fourth-generation cattle rancher in the mountains of northern California. She and her husband live on the 150-year-old original homestead. She has spent forty-six years working with her husband while maintaining a large garden, working outside the home, raising children and chickens, cooking for family and hired help, and now writing full-time. She is the author of Ankle High and Knee Deep and other titles for Globe Pequot and TwoDot. She is an avid cook and gardener and has sold recipes to Better Homes & Gardens, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Country Woman, and A Taste of Home, and a family recipe was recently included in Sherry Monahans The Cowboys Cookbook: Recipes and Tales from Campfires, Cookouts, and Chuck Wagons in 2015 (TwoDot), as well as in a recent issue of True West magazine.

As a ranchers wife, teacher, writer, cook, and gardenerand lover of all things historicalpreparing this book has been a great adventure. It involved hours of research and hours of contacting people who, like me, collect recipesparticularly vintage or family recipes. To put it simply, it was exciting to find so many like-minded individuals, and I could not have compiled this wonderful collection if they hadnt gone into their own family histories to locate or recover forgotten recipes. Some even reconnected with family far away in their hunt for those precious memories. Their generosity made this volume possible.

They include (in alphabetical order): Judy Ahmann; Nancy Barnes; Vonita Bishop; Liz Dillman Bowen; Jennifer Bryan; Lynne Bryan; Steve Burton; Margaret (Peggy) Campbell; Craig Cogburn; Mark Crawford; Patricia Custer; Alan Davenport; Teresa Davis; Toni Lynn Downey; Margi Elgin; Doris Eraldi; Jeannine Erhart; Sharon Erickson; Dona Young Farnam; Sharron Farrington; Melanie Fowle; Janice Gaynor; Lisa Gioia; Monica Jae Hall; Jessie Hammond; MaryAnn Hanna; Shanna Hatfield; Roger Hiett; Ruth Hinkle; Martha Hubbs; Stacey Jackson; GloryAnn Jenner; Marilyn Kilpatrick; Virginia (Ginny) Laustalot; Carol Maplesden; Rita March; Dave Martin; Marlene Martin; Cindy Leal Massey; Susan M. Mayfield; Elaine McMurry-Kuck; Ron and Nancy Mencuso; Meg Mims; Sherry Monahan; Cliff Munson; Janet Muzinich; Native Daughters of the Golden West, Eschscholtzia Parlor No. 112; Katherine OConnor; Carol Oxley; Pat Peterson; Carmen Peone; Sacred Heart Altar Society; Shari Fiock Sandahl; Anne Schroeder; Selma Schwartz; Mary Shaw; Siskiyou County Cattlewomen; Siskiyou County Museum; Loralyn Smith; Bernita Tickner Family Collection; Alice Trego; Carla Truttman; Florence Wilkins.

I want to acknowledge and thank my editor, Erin Turner, along with Globe Pequot/TwoDot (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group) for offering me the opportunity to compile this book. Their combined dedication to preserving the history and culture of Americans from many different perspectives is deeply appreciatedand so very important. We should never forget those women who pioneered and struggled to make homes for their husbands and children, who took what little they had to make life better for their communities as well as for their families. Although these stories and recipes offer only glimpses into the past, I found in them women of substance and characterwomen to be admired and celebrated. Certainly women to be remembered.

I also want to thank my husband and family who (truly!) put up with so much as I put together this book. Piles of old printed recipes, scribbled on scraps of paper and stuck in old notebooks and cookbooks, covered the dining room table for months. Late nights at the computer, hours spent gathering, researching, collecting, talking, and e-mailing meant my husband cooked more than a few meals when I just couldnt... and, for a hardworking rancher coming in from the cold or after ten- to twelve-hour-long days, I can only say I am blessed and grateful for his support. Of course, he and many in my family (including our grandchildren) got to enjoy the fruits of my labor as I cooked my way through many, but not all, of the recipes in this collection.

Finally, I want to thank my daughter, Patricia M. Laustalot, whom I hired as my photographer during this production cycle. It was a delight to be able to share this project with her. She is also a lover of history, genealogy, and family stories.

18801899 Cookbooks. http://vintagecookbooks.healthyeatingandlifestyle.org/1880-99.html.

ApplesThe Pioneer Way. www.kusemuseum-naturepreserve.org/Media/docs/TeachingResources/Apples/ApplesThePioneerWay.pdf.

Arthur, T. S., ed. Arthurs Home Magazine. Vol. XXXIII. January to June, 1869. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015074624688;view=1up;seq=15.

Bader, Dr. Myles H. 6001 Food Facts and Chefs Secrets. San Diego: Mylin Publishing, 1995.

Cakes and Desserts. Chicago: Womans World Magazine Co., Inc., 1927.

Calkins, Erica. Hatchet, Hands & Hoe: Planting the Pioneer Spirit. Caldwell: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1996.

Cupids Book of Good Counsel. Oakland: E. F. Kiessling & Son, 1910.

Farmer, Fannie Merritt. The Boston Cooking School Cook Book (revised 7th edition). Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1944.

Fisher, Abby. What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking, Including Soups, Pickles, Preserves, Etc., 1881.

F. W. McNess Cook Book. Freeport: Furst-McNess Company, 1908.

F. W. McNess Cook Book. USA: Furst McNess Company, 1935.

Ghiradellis Heritage: 160 Years. https://www.ghirardelli.com/media/wysiwyg/our_story/ghirardelli_timeline.pdf.

Gill, J. Thompson. The Complete Bread, Cake and Cracker Baker. Chicago: J. Thompson Gill, 1881.

Gold Medal Flour Cook Book. Minneapolis: Washburn-Crosby Company.

Greer, Carlotta C. A Text-book of Cooking. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1915.

Gourmet and Everyday. Fullerton: First United Methodist Church, 1973.

Hensley, Tim. A Curious Tale: The Apple in North America, 2005. www.bbg.org/gardening/article/the_apple_in_north_america.

Hiller, Elizabeth, and Dorothy Darneilee. Old Timer Recipes. Josephine County Historical Society, 1962.

Home Helps: A Pure Food Cook Book. Chicago: The N. K. Fairbank Company, 1910.

Hoods Combined Cook Book: Number One. Lowell: C. I. Hood & Co.

Loyalty Cook Book. Sebastapol: Native Daughters of the Golden West, 1948.

Mariani, John F. Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. New York: Lebhar-Friedman, 1999.

Mary Todd Lincoln Cake. www.visit-gettysburg.com/mary-todd-lincoln-cake.html

Neil, Marion Harris. Mrs. Neils Cooking Secrets and The Story of Crisco. Cincinnati: The Procter & Gamble Co., 1924.

Olver, Lynne. Food Timeline: American Presidents Food Favorites, 2015. www.foodtimeline.org/presidents.html.

Parloa, M. Appledore Cook Book: Containing Practical Receipts for Plain and Rich Cooking. Boston: Graves and Ellis, 1872.

Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking. Gettysburg: A Conestoga Crafts Product, 1978.

Pictorial Review. New York: The Pictorial Review Company, May 1928.

Recipes and Remedies from Early American Farm Days. Fullerton College, 1976.

Royal, Charles E. The Trail of a Sourdough: Rhymes and Ballads. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Publishers, 1919.

Scott Valley Favorites. Fort Jones: Sacred Heart Altar Society.

Shute, Miss T. S. The American Housewife Cook Book