What’s cookin’? 100-year-old recipes offer
look at daily life in Kerrville

Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on March 22, 2025

Between 1924 and 1925, recipes were submitted to the Kerrville Mountain Sun by women in Kerr County. These women were married to prominent men and were well-known in the community in their own right, but none of them were identified by their own names. They were identified by the men they were married to: Mrs. L.W. McCoy, Mrs. G.M. Doyle, Mrs. W.M. Wheless, Mrs. John Burney, etc.  

Among the recipes submitted and faithfully published on page two of the Sunday paper were chocolate-potato cake, hot tamales, layer cake with lemon-jelly and banana filling and fruit salad.

Recipes 100 years ago read a lot like current-day recipes, but there are a few differences.

The first thing I noticed about these recipes is there were no oven temperatures given for baked goods. Most ovens in Kerr County at the time were heated with wood fires or were gas ovens that were not regulated by thermostats. Terms like “moderate” and “slow” were used to convey the optimum heat for baking.

A term that reoccurs in many of the recipes is “sweet milk.” This is a term used for fresh, whole milk. Recipes had to differentiate fresh milk from sour milk or buttermilk. Very little went to waste, so when the milk went bad, the domestic goddesses of the day found ways to use it.

Another term found in these recipes is “camina seeds” or “comena seeds.” This was a name used for both cumin and caraway seeds. The plants are closely related, and the seeds look similar. Considering the recipes I am featuring here, I believe the ingredient is cumin for both of them. Garlic cloves were referred to as “corns.”

Beef suet, the hard fat surrounding the loins and kidneys of cattle, was a staple ingredient in many dishes of the day. Suet was used for deep frying due to its high smoke point, it made a flaky crust for pastry production and was also used to create an airtight seal for meats, preserved fruits and vegetables. It was easily available and relatively inexpensive, so it was commonly used for home cooking. Suet had many household uses, including use in medicinal ointments, lamps and soap making.

Another ingredient not often seen in today’s recipes is lard, a purified pork fat. The fat was used to make flaky pie crusts and in frying. It was also used in cooking the way butter is used in making cookies and biscuits today. 

Sometime in the mid-50s, lard fell out of use because it was considered unhealthy and was replaced in kitchens with seed oils. It’s funny that here we are, 100 years after these recipes were penned, replacing seed oils with the animal fats that were commonly used due to health concerns.

In this week’s column, I am featuring a few of those recipes and short biographies for two of the contributors. 

MRS. E.E. PALMER (Ida Robinson Palmer)

Edward Ernest and Ida Palmer

Ida Palmer was the wife of Dr. Edward Ernest Palmer. She was born in 1871 in Gonzales County and moved to Kerr County in 1902 with her first husband, Cecil Robinson, a druggist and rancher. Cecil and Ida were married from 1889 until 1906, when Cecil died.

Dr. Edward Ernest Palmer came to Kerrville in 1892 from England on a vacation. He loved the area so much that he decided to stay and practice medicine in Kerrville. He married Ida in 1912, and they were married until the couple were killed in a car crash in 1936.

The medical office of Dr. E.E. Palmer was located at 625 Water Street in Kerrville

Ida was a member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and was known for her church and social work. She had three daughters and a son. 

In the series of recipes published, Ida is the only housewife to submit two recipes.

 ANGEL FOOD CAKE

Ingredients (use level measurement):
Whites of 12 eggs
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoonful cream of tartar
1 teaspoonful vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cake flour

METHOD: To the egg whites add pinch of salt and beat until foamy, then add cream of tartar and beat until stiff, add teaspoonful vanilla, then sift slowly the sugar into the mixture, add the flour, which has been sifted four times, very slowly. Bake at once in an ungreased pan for about 45 minutes in a slow oven.

MRS. JOHN R. LEAVELL (Kathryne “Kate” Lestarjette Leavell)

Kate Leavell was the wife of county Judge John Randolph Leavell. She was born in Cotulla in 1887 and worked as a legal secretary in a Cotulla law firm as a young woman.

John Leavell was born in Center Point in 1882. He married Kate in San Antonio in 1912, and they made their home in Kerrville, where John established a law firm. They had one daughter.

Kate was known for her beautiful handiwork and flower gardens, particularly her Shasta daisies, which were “the brightest white ever seen.”

DRY CHILI

2 3/4 lbs. chili meat
1/4 lb. beef suet
3 level tablespoons lard
18 pods dry chili pepper
3 cups boiling water
4 tablespoons flour 
1/4 teaspoon camenas seed
8 corns of garlic
Salt to taste

METHOD: Place the ground meat, suet and lard in a kettle and cook until the meat is almost done. To the prepared pepper (which is made ready by removing seed and cooking in 3 cups of boiling water until tender, then put through a food chopper), and one cup of water in which pepper is cooked, add the minced garlic and camenas seed. Stir in the flour and mix well. Put the mixture in a loaf pan to harden. Slice as much as you wish to serve and add boiling water. Well-cooked brown beans may also be added if desired. This chili will keep for several days in cold weather. This recipe makes one loaf of chili.