“Claire stirred herself to help him prepare dinner. It wasn't much of a dinner to prepare. Both cars had let provisions run low. They had bacon and petrified ends of a loaf and something like coffee--not much like it. Scientists may be interested in their discovery that as a substitute for both cream and sugar in beverages strawberry jam is a fallacy.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Take a peck of Quinces, put them into a kettle of cold water, hang them over the fire, boil them till they are soft, then take them out with a fork, when cold, pair them, quarter or halve them, if you like; take their weight of loaf sugar, put into a bell-metal kettle or sauce pan, with one quart of water, scald and skim it till it is very clear, then put in your Quinces, let them boil in the sirrup for half an hour, add oranges as before if you like, then put them in stone pots for use.
Sources: The passage is from Sinclair Lewis, Free Air, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Simmons, American Cookery of 1796, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — teal cloth, boar stamp.