“The weather was hot, very hot, one of those still, boiling days, when not a leaf stirs. The table had been placed out of doors, under an apple tree; and from time to time Sapeur had gone to the cellar to draw a jug of cider, everybody was so thirsty. Céleste brought the dishes from the kitchen, a ragout of mutton with potatoes, a cold rabbit and a salad. Afterwards she placed before us a dish of strawberries, the first of the season.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
5 quarts of boiled cider. 8 quarts of pared, quartered, and cored sweet apples. Put the fruit in a large preserving kettle and cover with the boiled cider. Cook slowly until the apples are clear and tender. To prevent burning, place the kettle on an iron tripod or ring. It will require from two to three hours to cook the apples. If you find it necessary to stir the sauce be careful to break the apples as little as possible. When the sauce is cooked, put in sterilized jars. In the late spring, when cooking apples have lost much of their flavor and acidity, an appetizing sauce may be made by stewing them with diluted boiled cider, using 1 cupful of cider to 3 of water.
Sources: The passage is from Guy de Maupassant, The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 1: Boule de Suif and Other Storie, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Parloa, Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies of 1887, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — teal cloth, pear stamp.