Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@Tobey - I agree that pig breeds and rearing techniques will certainly have changed. (Incidentally, I didn't buy a slab of Hormel but Saran-wrapped, salt-packed fatback from a small Polish deli.) But I spend a lot of time studying old recipes and my instinct is to say that our changing tastes are just as important, if not more so, than our evolving ingredients. Things that are commonplace in one era can be downright repellent in the next. We no longer put beef in mincemeat pies, either.

But back to the recipe: If the fat needed to be blanched, the author of the recipe neglected to mention it, and the book is quite meticulous otherwise. Still, I love the texture and spicing of the cake, and will definitely consider making it again, as @dholby suggests, with rendered lard.

@dholby Roosevelt had them tailed in '41. By '42 his wife was writing an introduction to this very book. The file has some excellent testimony from a Benedictine friar named Father Otto, who makes some pretty salacious claims.

@stickywicket I like your enthusiasm!

@alohabc How did you like it? If it actually contained ground pork it probably couldn't last indefinitely the way many fruitcakes seem to.

Southern cooking is possibly the best example of American cuisine. My family are all from the South and I was raised on endless streams of dishes from Savannah (mother), New Orleans (Father) and other relatives in Atlanta, Biloxi and Charlotte. The downside is that I have fought weight problems for my entire life as a result. "If it doesn't move, fry it!", was a favorite refrain. But, oh my...it is good!