Perusing cookbooks from this period, I was intrigued by one of my grandmother Clay’s, published in 1921, called the “Gem City Cookbook,” compiled by In His Name Circle of King’s Daughters of Salisbury. Recognizing many of the names, I pored over it and began looking through others such as “The Old North State Cookbook,” “The Mary and Martha Guild Cookbook” from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and one from the turn of the century called “The Table: How To Buy Food, How to Cook It, And How To Serve It,” by Alessandro Filippini, chef of Demonico’s, the first actual fine restaurant in America, established in 1838.

In reading through these volumes, several trends are apparent. First of all, the recipes, or receipts as they were still frequently called, were quite vague. These cooks assumed that you (or your cook) knew what “some” means, as in “add some carrots, a few peppercorns, and a handful of chopped onion.” Because they were dealing primarily with wood stoves until the late teens, oven temperatures and times were generally not listed. A cake recipe may not even tell you what steps to take, only the ingredients — and then, not necessarily in the correct order.

With a scarcity of ingredients to begin with, cookbooks relied heavily on the basics — items that were kept in the pantry, or taken from your henhouse or dairy. One used about a quarter of the variety of fruits and vegetables we customarily find in our markets today. Meats were treated with reverence because of limited availability due to transportation, and seafood even moreso.

One can find many simple, traditional American recipes, but there was still an awe for anything French. Other than home cooking, nearly all dishes sported French names and sauces to a ridiculous degree. Nearly 80 percent of Delmonico’s cookbook recipes had “a la” in them, with obscure names for sauces.

The types of foods normally served at the table are interesting to a modern reader, too. I’d always wondered why I inherited so many small glass and crystal dishes from my grandmother until I remembered that there was a preponderance of pickles, chutneys and relishes served at all meals; presumably these seasoned up dishes that seem pretty bland to us.

Few vegetable recipes are listed, but one finds a myriad of soups, with much emphasis on bouillon. Eggs were eaten at all meals, not just for breakfast. Aspics were considered a delicacy because they had to be iced carefully. Many types of meats we rarely find on tables today were eaten frequently, such as brains, liver puddings and wild fowl. Beef was generally very lean, as the fattening of beef cattle was too expensive a proposition in those days.

Bread, sometimes from bakeries but most often baked at home, was the major staple of the South, made in many forms, from biscuits, to loaves, to cornbread, Sally Lunns and rolls. The salads relied very little on lettuce; more often, fruits, nuts or chicken or salmon were the norm, all being on the sweet side. Sandwiches were exclusively what we’d now call the finger variety; I’m sure our hamburgers, hoagies and subs would horrify those from the olden days with their size.

Desserts were numerous and the most varied of all the recipes. Many cakes and pastries are listed; but, once again, they seem to be assuming that everyone knew how to make a pie. I was fascinated by the number of custard and pudding recipes I found.