German composer and pianist Felix Mendelssohn's birthday was February 3, 1809 once upon a time, and then a century later in 1909, The Mendelssohn Club of Rockford, Illinois published a cookbook (also still in print and available on Amazon and Alibris, et al). The ladies of the club wanted to raise funds for Rockford's then-new Mendelssohn Hall, so they put together a collection of favorite recipes and spirited interludes, with everything from tea sandwiches and teas, punches, salads and salad dressings, sauces, soups, chowders, cakes, pies, cookies, breads, muffins, meats, fish, vegetables, souffles, dumplings, puddings, canning, preserves and pickles, homemade beer, ciders and wines -- and let's not forget the general household hints and etiquette advice.
As the introduction states, the Club was troubled by the myth that "the artistic temperament and the domestic sciences have little in common; that they blend about as harmoniously as the proverbial oil and water." The cookbook preface also made sure to let us know that despite their love of music and the arts, these ladies hadn't neglected their domestic lives, and this all-purpose cookbook with its wealth of knowledge from how to clean and gut fish to planning a many-course wedding supper is surely proof of that.
I haven't tried this Mendelssohn Club recipe for Baked Pears but it does sound kind of intriguing:
Core and pare nice large pears. Stuff with sliced candied ginger. Bake slowly in the oven with only enough water to keep from burning. When done, place in a dish on ice. Cut marshmallows up in small pieces, soak in sweetened cream for several hours. When ready to serve, pour cream mixture over the pears.
Also despite there being plenty of labor-intensive dishes, this one sounds like a quick and elegant dessert for Valentine's Day, substituting those pre-made sponge cake shells they usually sell in the produce section near the fresh berries for the angel food individual cakes:
Use angel food individual cakes...[f]ill with a chocolate custard to which has been added sliced blanched almonds. Pour over all stiffly whipped cream. Put a Maraschino cherry on top and a row of chocolate almonds around the edge of each cake.
All in all, it looks like the work of the Mendelssohn Club, which was already 25 years old in 1909, continues on impressively today with Rockford's Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center.
