“People are taught that it is inelegant and indelicate to express their approval at the theater, and if it is getting so that actors and actresses hardly have any applause on their entrances and exits. Please be more demonstrative. It’s the only way we have of knowing whether or not you like us. Actors and actresses keep young because they give vent to their feelings. The laity should try the same thing.” — Mabel Taliaferro
Source: 1915
Peggy, the Will o’ the Wisp (1917), a lost film directed by Tod Browning.
Mabel Taliaferro’s Boston Brown Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups yellow Indian cornmeal
1 cup rye meal
1 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 cup molasses
.5 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
Directions:
Mix ingredients together well and pour into a greased brown-bread mold. Steam it for four hours. Dry off 10 minutes in oven set to a medium temperature.
Mabel Taliaferro’s Asparagus Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
1 envelope gelatin
1 cup cold water
2 cups vinegar
3 slices onions
3 cloves
3 cups asparagus tips
1/4 teaspoon salt
Crisp lettuce leaves (for presentation)
Directions:
Soak gelatin in cold water for five minutes. Add onion slices and cloves to vinegar and bring to boil in saucepan. Strain and add soaked gelatin. When mixture stiffens, add asparagus tips, and turn into a mold, first dipped in cold water. Chill and remove to platter lined deep with crisp lettuce leaves.
Mabel Taliaferro’s Parker House Rolls Recipe
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups milk
Directions:
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Melt butter and add to milk; stir milk into flour, etc. With spoon mix to a smooth dough easily handled. Flour moulding board, turn out dough, knead and roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 3-inch circles. Press pencil down across the middle of each; rub edges with soft butter. Double each, lay 1 inch apart on flat, greased pans. Brush with milk and bake in hot oven until done.
Mabel Taliaferro’s Orange Cream Sherbet Recipe
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon gelatine
1/2 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups sugar
Two oranges – grated rinds
1 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups orange juice
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Soak gelatin in cold water for five minutes. Dissolve gelatin and sugar in boiling water. Add orange rind, lemon juice, and orange juice. Place mixture into freezer and let it freeze to mush. Beat cream until stiff, and add sugar and salt. Separate yolks from whites of eggs. Beat yolks until thick and lemon-colored and whites until stiff. Add both to cream. Mix into frozen mixture and continue freezing.
Mabel Taliaferro’s Waffles Recipe
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking poder
2 cups milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons shortening
Directions:
Sift and mix dry ingredients into bowl. Add milk and melted shortening. Separate egg; beat in yolk and fold in well-beaten white. Bake in hot, greased waffle-iron.
