Holiday & Historic Recipes at the library

With the colder weather and holidays fast approaching, winter offers a great time to try out new recipes, rediscover old favorites, and swap dishes with friends and neighbors.

In collaboration with the Helena Branch of the Lewis & Clark Library, the Lincoln Library is hosting a month-long program through Dec 12 to encourage recipe and story sharing. Residents can participate in the Trading Traditions Holiday Recipe Swap by submitting recipes online through the library website or in person at the Lincoln Library. Participants are encouraged to share their unique family story along with their recipe submission. Recipes and stories will be compiled by the library and shared throughout the holiday season. Each recipe submitted earns an entry for a gift certificate from the Pan Handler store in Helena.

Historic Montana cookbooks and recipes can be found in the Montana Memory Project, with several offering seasonal and Thanksgiving recipes. Because the cookbooks are digital, they can easily be searched for keywords or specific recipes.

The Round-up Cook Book was published in 1913 by the the First Presbyterian Church Ladies Social Circle in Miles City. Like many of the cookbooks from the era, it includes hundreds of recipes where much of the detail is left up to the imagination, such as this recipe for Thanksgiving Fruit Cake from Mrs. Wm. Wolff:

"One pound each of butter, sugar and flour, ten eggs, beaten separately, one-half pound citron, two pounds seeded raisins, two pounds currants, two pounds walnut meats, broken, two teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon each of allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and mace. Flour the fruit so it will not settle in bottom of cake. Bake in slow oven four hours."

The Ladies Aid Society Cook Book was published in 1917 by the First Baptist Church in Butte and includes a cranberry sauce recipe from Mrs. E. A. Mergel that states, "This is an unfailing recipe for a most delicious cranberry sauce, very fine with turkey and game."

Longtime Lincoln residents may remember The Lincoln Cookbook which was published in 1977 by the Pine Grove Extension Homemakers. The 400-page cookbook has recipes for all varieties of dishes, including seasonally-themed pumpkin dishes like Pumpkin Squares submitted by Alesa Wright and Pumpkin Mousse submitted by Ruby McClure. This cookbook is available at the Lincoln Library, along with hundreds of other physical and digital cookbooks for all seasons and palates. Visit https://www.lclibrary.org/394/Trading-Traditions for more information.