This goal of this article is to summarize and contextualize the World’s Fair Souvenir Cook Book by Sarah Tyson Rorer, published in 1904 and offered for sale at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. This book is out of copyright and now in the public domain, which is why I can freely share it with you.
Selections from this book can be found at the end of this post, but I also encourage you to peruse the entire book, which is linked below. Also linked below is the homepage for my antique cookbook collection, containing details and scans of more books in my collection.
About the Author
Sarah Tyson Rorer (1849-1937) is one of the most famous, and prolific, cookbook authors of the late 19th and early 20th century. Dubbed “The Most Famous Cook in America” by the Ladies Home Journal in 1897, Rorer was a household name.
In addition to teaching cooking classes and writing cookbooks, she also appeared in magazine columns, radio shows, and advertisements for household supplies. Rorer has also been called “America’s first dietitian”, and her scientific approach to cooking was likely heavily influenced by her father, who was a chemist. She was known for her quick wit and humor, especially in her classes and demonstrations, but some of this is evident in her writing as well. Rorer is my personal favorite cookbook author, and I’m currently striving to collect all of her published works.
About the Book
Given Rorer’s fame during the beginning of the 20th century, it’s no surprise that she was selected to lead the cooking demonstrations and a restaurant pavilion at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. The preface of the book states that it had two goals, to share some of the recipes used in the fair’s cooking demonstrations and restaurants, and to impress that “the object in teaching cookery is not to increase or complicate the work, not to make it ceremonial, but to point out the simple and easy way”. Unfortunately, it’s unclear which recipes were served or demonstrated at the fair, and which were added to round out the book. The book doesn’t contain “fair food” type recipes, or recipes for dishes popularized at the 1904 World’s Fair such as the ice cream cone.
Though the preface of the book directly mentions the eastern restaurant pavilion, I don’t believe that’s the building shown on the cover. I’ve looked through many photos of the fair and haven’t been able to match the cover drawing to any of the buildings I’ve seen.
This cookbook was only available for sale at the World’s Fair, so there are far fewer copies in circulation than many of Rorer’s other works. One source I’ve found states that the cookbook was sold at the fair for 50 cents, but I’ve been unable to confirm this with other sources. 50 cents (about $17 in inflation adjusted 2023 dollars) would have been pretty cheap for a cookbook of this quality in 1904. Given the prices of Rorer’s preceding works, I would have expected this book to sell for somewhere between $1-$1.50 (inflation adjusted, $34 -$51).
Being born and raised in St. Louis, I can tell you that the people of St. Louis still take great pride in the 1904 World’s Fair. The site of the fair, Forest Park, is still the crown jewel of St. Louis, home to the St. Louis Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, and more – all of which offer free admission to the public. The aviary from the fair (at the time, the largest in the world) is still in active use at the St. Louis Zoo. My copy of the 1904 World’s Fair Souvenir Cook Book is by far the most prized piece in my cookbook collection.
Format
The recipes in this book are written in the 19th century style, which are paragraph descriptions. There is no stand-alone ingredients list, the ingredients are listed in the body of the recipe. This format is very compact, and an average page of the book contains 2 to 4 recipes.
Introduction
Selections
I have not counted the number of recipes in this book, but estimate that it’s between 400 and 500. I’ve read the book cover to cover and selected the recipes below that were of greatest interest to me. In general, these selections fall into one of a few categories:
1. The recipe sounds good, and it’s something I might like to make myself.
2. The recipe is an interesting sign of its time, typically in ingredients, method, or name.
3. The recipe contains an interesting or funny comment from the author.
These selections are by no means the only recipes of value in the book, it was very difficult to narrow it down from over 400 to the 33 recipes shown below. If you’re interested in reading further, I strongly suggest checking out the complete copy here.
Rather than pressing through a colander, blending with an immersion blender or standard blender would likely achieve similar results. I love the ending comment, “this is delicious if properly made”, implying that if it isn’t delicious, you’ve done something wrong.
Suet is a form of beef fat. Butter, lard, or vegetable shortening are all acceptable substitutes for suet. Rather than pressing through a fine sieve, an immersion blender or standard blender may be used. This is one of the few recipes in the book where the author comments on the price of the materials needed, just 5 cents. Note, a half pint is one cup.
This recipe actually lists the ingredients at the top, which is very rare in this book (although, it’s missing a few things like breadcrumbs and beaten egg). Unfortunately, she doesn’t give a weight for the “nice, heavy crabs” so it’s hard to say what size crabs these may have been. If desired, you could recreate this recipe using canned crab meat and bake in small ceramic dishes rather than the shells of the crab.
This note on shrimps is really just a note, not a recipe, and no recipes calling for shrimp appear in the book. The note seems to imply that readers may not be familiar with shrimp at all. This is one of the only brand recommendations made in the book.
This recipe for fried scallops is very simple, and seems like it would be very delicious. I hope to test out this method sometime soon.
“Upper side of round” beef is what we now call top round, this is a very lean cut of beef. The process of “larding” a piece of meat is to stick pieces of lard (pork fat) into another cut of meat, typically lean meat. To replicate this, you could use lard, or sub in a fatty cut of pork that may be a little easier to find these days, such as pork belly or bacon.
This recipe reads just like a meatloaf recipe, but the addition of the lemon juice is something I’ve never seen in a meatloaf before. It’s a very small amount of lemon juice so I don’t know how much it would impact the recipe, but I like the idea of adding a little acid to balance the richness of a meatloaf. Modern parchment paper could likely be substituted for greased paper. Here a “quick oven” implies a hot oven, around 425 F is likely a good temperature for this, though I haven’t tested it myself yet.
Seeing curry in an American cookbook from 1904 is probably surprising to many people (including myself), but curry powder has appeared in American cookbooks as early as the 1800s. Note, mutton is the meat from an adult sheep.
Unlike modern day “fried chicken” which is typically breaded in a thick batter, this chicken is only lightly dusted with flour. It’s unclear how much fat or oil you should include in the pan, but given that you need to turn the meat, it seems like this is a shallow fry rather than a deep fry.
This recipe was intended to use up cooked chicken leftover from another meal, and could be perfect for using up leftover rotisserie chicken. I’d recommend greasing the custard cups (or ramekins) with oil to make removing the boudins easier at the end. A good temperature for a “moderate oven” is 350 F. Note, one pint is two cups.
These are simple sauces that can be made quickly and accompany many of the dishes in the book. Most of these sauces haven’t changed mush in 100 years and are similar to popular recipes today.
This is a very unusual omelet recipe which contains apple sauce. The final result is clearly a sweet dish, and is topped with powdered sugar. Putting the apple sauce through a colander is meant to blend/purée it, so you can skip this step if using smooth apple sauce (note, one pint is two cups). Two ounces of butter is equal to 4 tablespoons, so this is a very rich recipe. Here a “quick oven” implies a hot oven, around 425 F is likely a good temperature for this, though I haven’t tested it myself yet.
Another unusual omelet recipe that uses the pulp from some fresh ears of corn. This recipe seems to make a much more standard omelet by our terminology than the baked Friar’s Omelet. Butter the size of a walnut is 2 tbsp of butter, a “saltspoon” is about 1/4 tsp.
This recipe calls for cold mashed potatoes, which I would generally assume to mean leftover seasoned mashed potatoes, however the amount of seasoning it calls for seems to indicate the opposite. Here a “quick oven” implies a hot oven, around 425 F is likely a good temperature for this, though I haven’t tested it myself yet.
This recipe is very similar to the potato puff recipe above, but instead of baking in an oven, the mixture is breaded and deep-fried.
This is really just boiled cabbage with cream sauce, but it’s one of the few recipes in the book that Rorer explicitly calls out as “delicious”, so this recipe may be surprisingly good.
This is a very simple pie, and the recipe assume you’ll be making multiple. “Paste” is meant to mean prepared pastry dough, which the book has multiple recipes for beginning on page 102. Here a “moderately quick oven” implies a medium-hot oven, around 400 F is likely a good temperature for this, though I haven’t tested it myself.
We don’t often use potato in modern desserts, but this potato custard doesn’t sound too bad. This is really a potato custard pie, given that it is added to a pie dish lined with pastry dough (“paste”). The book has multiple recipes for pastry dough beginning on page 102. Here a “moderately quick oven” implies a medium-hot oven, around 400 F is likely a good temperature for this, though I haven’t tested it myself.
Doughnuts haven’t changed much in 100 years, though I’m surprised she doesn’t call for these to be served with a dessert sauce. I think it’s interesting that she gives a time of day recommendation, so the reader can be sure they’re ready to go the following morning.
This is a very interesting recipe with a great name. Clearly, this was to help give some new life to old cake, but I’ve never seen a recipe that calls for toasting cake slices before. I’d love to know where this name originated.
These breaded and fried bananas sounds absolutely delicious, I’m planning on giving them a try sometime soon.
These simple dessert sauces are made to accompany many of the dessert recipes shared in the book. Similar sauces can also be found in this section of the book, such as Peach Sauce and Vanilla Sauce.
This simple recipe could easily be recreated in a modern ice cream churner. A farina boiler is a type of double boiler, so a double boiler may be substituted for this recipe.
Many of us may think of a frappé as a modern beverage, but this term for a blended iced drink has been around for a while. This recipe could be prepared in a modern ice cream churner or slushee machine.
If you think sweet, creamy iced coffee is a modern fad, think again! Check out the amount of sugar and cream in this recipe for just one pint of coffee!
I’m so intrigued by both of these recipes, I might give one or both a try! Pressing the boiled carrots through a colander is meant to purée them, so an immersion blender or standard blender may be used instead.
I’ve never thought to make my own mustard from mustard powder, and now I’d really like to try it out. The tarragon vinegar and other seasonings for this all sound fantastic. Note, a half pint is one cup.
It sounds bizarre, but I don’t want to knock it til I try it, and I’m definitely willing to try it. Note, one gill is 1/2 cup.
Bills of Fare
“Bills of Fare” are essentially a meal plan for a whole day that is suggested by the author. The end of this book contains quite a few bills of fare, but I’ve selected just a few to share – two standard bills of fare, ideas for Christmas, and ideas for certain kinds of parties.
Bonus – Loose Recipe
My copy of this book contained a handwritten recipe from a previous owner, so I’ve included it here as well!
I was extremely pleased to uncover this site. I want to to thank you for your time for this particularly wonderful read!! I definitely loved every part of it and I have you saved as a favorite.