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Here are five baked onions recipes from around 1920 from ladies in the San Francisco area.  Ladies included are: Mrs. De Graf, Mrs. Farnlof, Mrs. Garlinghouse, Mrs. Somers and Mrs. Wright.

Mrs. De Graf’s Baked Onions Recipe

Peel and slice onions; grease a casserole or baking dish and place in it a layer of onions; sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour, season with salt and pepper and dots of butter or substitute.  Place alternate layers of onions and seasonings until dish is filled, almost cover with water or milk, cover the dish and bake until onions are tender.

Mrs. Belle De Graf – San Francisco Chronicle – 9 Jan 1921

Mrs. Farnlof’s Baked Onions Recipe

Take six good sized onions, or more if desired; remove the centers and chop fine.  Make a dressing of toasted bread, the chopped onions, a little canned tomato, chopped bacon, salt and pepper, moistening it with hot water and melted butter.  Fill the onions well with this dressing and place in a covered baking pan with a few slices of bacon and a little water.  Bake one and a half hours.  When serving pour tablespoon of cream over each onion.

Mrs. J. H. Farnlof, 54 Sebastopol avenue, Santa Rosa – San Francisco Chronicle – 17 Aug 1919

Mrs. Garlinghouse’s Baked Onions Recipe

Select medium-sized white onions, peel, and with apple corer make hole in center half way; pour melted butter in this hole, add salt and pepper to taste; put onion cap back on, and bake in pan containing a bit of water fifteen or twenty minutes or until done.

Mrs. Ralph Garlinghouse, 1539 Arch, Berkeley – San Francisco Chronicle – 12 Dec 1920

Mrs. Somers’ Baked Onions Recipe

Grind round steak in food chopper to the amount of one teacupful to one cup of bread crumbs, season the ground steak with salt, cayenne and one teaspoonful sage.  Put into fry pan two tablespoonsful of cooking oil; when hot pour in the steak “loose” and stir until well seared, removed from flame and add the crumbs and enough sweet cream to mix it, not too soft.  Select rather large onions, peel and trim out the centers, allowing one onion for each person served.  Parboil the onions for 10 minutes then add one teaspoonful baking soda and pour of the water immediately.  Place the onion cups in a baking dish, fill with the mixture, dust with pepper and pour a cup of hot water or meat stock around them.  Add a tablespoonful of butter, a pinch of salt and baste frequently.  As the liquor boils down add more water.  Bake until onions will pierce with a fork.  Removed from oven and add a little thickening to the gravy, dip over the onions and serve.

Mrs. Anna Somers, Oakland – San Francisco Chronicle – 22 Aug 1920

Mrs. Wright’s Baked Onions Recipe

For serving with roast mutton use medium-sized onions, peel and boil them for a quarter of an hour, then throw them in cold water for a short time; dry them and slice them evenly; lay them in a single layer in a greased baking tin and brush the top size over with butter; baste now and then and cook until brown and tender.  Drain and serve hot, with a dust of cayenne over if approved; small onions may be parboiled and baked whole.

Mrs. Marie Wright, 1298 Union Street – San Francisco Chronicle – 3 Jul 1921