How to Modernize an Antique Recipe

I have gorgeous antique cookbooks that I've collected, plus who doesn't love Mrs. Beeton and her recipes for crazy amounts of manc blange? And just what is manc blange anyway and how does it taste?

Well, I decided I'd love to find out how to modernize an antique recipe. It took a bit of imagination and I haven't made anything yet, but I was able to come up with the general steps. In addition to the antique recipe, you'll need some notepaper, a pencil and a calculator. Google helps, too! Here's how you would go about it:

STEP 1:
Select a recipe to update for the modern recipe format. It is best to start with an easy recipe that requires fewer than five ingredients.

STEP 2:
Write down each sentence of the recipe in separate sections. For example, an antique recipe for mashed potatoes reads: "Boil the potatoes or steam them, peel and mash them." Write down, "Boil or steam potatoes. Peel, quarter and then mash." Update the language for today's cooks.

STEP 3:
Write down the ingredients and amounts needed for the recipe. If no ingredient amount is listed, then find a comparable modern recipe and copy the amount. In the antique recipe for mashed potatoes, a quantity of 2 lbs. is given.

STEP 4:
Update antique cooking methods for modern electric and natural gas stoves. When a recipe lists, "moderate oven," then the temperature is 350 degrees F. When a recipe lists, "gentle fire" or "gentle heat," then that means to cook at a medium-low temperature on the stove.

STEP 5:
Calculate the exact time the recipe needs to cook. Some recipes give vague cooking times, since most antique kitchens did not have clocks or timers. Either find a comparable modern recipe or research approximate cooking times for the recipe's ingredients.

STEP 6:
List all of the cooks' tools needed in the recipe. Hand mixing can be replaced by a stand mixer and finely chopped ingredients can be put in a food processor. If a dish needs to simmer for more than two hours, it can be put into a modern crock-pot.

STEP 7:
Write down the updated recipe. List the ingredients first and then the method. Add the exact cooking times and temperatures. Incorporate the cooks' tools as well. The recipe is now ready to try.

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What do you think? Of course, to truly modernize an antique recipe is to get rid of such nuggets as prerefrigeration preserving methods. Instead, write: "Refrigerate for X number of hours."

Okay, ladies, a word of warning as well: Please research any unfamiliar ingredients to make sure they are not harmful or illegal. Adhere to modern safety precautions and cleanliness standards. We don't want to poison ourselves, dears. :)

Happy cooking!