1 c. molasses
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. baking powder (”saleratus”)
flour

One cup molasses, one-half cup butter, one-half cup buttermilk, two eggs, one table-spoonful ginger; one tea-spoonful saleratus, flour enough to make a stiff batter.

From Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agriculture Society, blue ribbon winners at the Wisconsin State Fair of 1860. Item entered by Miss Josephine Peffer in the “under 12 years” category

Comment: We found these gems of Midwestern contest cookery in a small eBay purchase of long ago bought for research into some other topic entirely. If you were fortunate enough to inherit your grand- or better yet great-grandmother’s “receipt box” you are probably familiar with the style: simply a list of ingredients and no further instructions. These were  prompts for personal memory, unlike a cookbook written for strangers and designed to instruct the ignorant in the “arts of cookery.” Our grands and great-grands back throughout time started cooking at about the age of three and when they stopped, the funeral was usually a day or two later.