How to Read a Recipe

A Glossary of Terms to Help Decipher Old Recipes

EDITED: The up-to-date version of this list has been migrated to The Recipe Graveyard website! All future updates will be there.

What is “pet milk”? What temperature is a “slow oven”? What is “nippy cheese”? Depending on where and when you grew up, terms can pop up in recipes that you’ve never heard before. This post will be updated with words you might stumble across in your vintage recipe reading that leave you stumped.

Leave a comment if there are any words you think should be added to the list!

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Eagle Milk: sweetened condensed milk; for a few decades, the Eagle Milk evaporated milk brand was so popular it was referred to by its brand name exclusively

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Hot Oven: 400-450*F; Prior to oven thermometers, a series of adjectives were used to describe the correct oven temperature. This was determined by how long it would take a piece of white paper to turn brown, how long you could hold your hand in the oven, or another similar test. Oven thermostats were not introduced until the early 20th century, and did not become common until some time after that.

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Moderate Oven: 350-375*F; Prior to oven thermometers, a series of adjectives were used to describe the correct oven temperature. This was determined by how long it would take a piece of white paper to turn brown, how long you could hold your hand in the oven, or another similar test. Oven thermostats were not introduced until the early 20th century, and did not become common until some time after that.

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Nippy Cheese: a now discontinued Kraft cheese spread in a roll that contained horseradish; frequent ingredient in appetizers during the 1970s-1980s

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Pet Milk: evaporated milk; for a few decades, the Pet Milk evaporated milk brand was so popular it was referred to by its brand name exclusively

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Slow Oven: 300-325*F; Prior to oven thermometers, a series of adjectives were used to describe the correct oven temperature. This was determined by how long it would take a piece of white paper to turn brown, how long you could hold your hand in the oven, or another similar test. Oven thermostats were not introduced until the early 20th century, and did not become common until some time after that.

Sour Milk: milk that has been made acidic by adding vinegar or lemon juice; often used as a substitute for buttermilk; typical ratio is 1T acid to 1c milk

Sweet Milk: whole milk, NOT sweetened condensed milk; this AllRecipes article is a great summary explaining the name

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