Farmer’s Dinner

In 1891 the Kickapoo Indian Remedies salesmen were handing out a “Family Cook Book” heavily larded with testimonials to their products’ efficacy. Their Sagwa Tonic (Blood, Liver, Stomach & Kidney Renovator) cured Melancholy and Malaria alike. While the “miraculous cures” and lurid descriptions of diseases are hilarious, the recipes are quite sound and sober. The author laces her instructions with such maxims as “It is not what a man earns, but what his wife saves that makes him wealthy.” Accordingly, this recipe, with my comments in brackets: