A few months ago, in my quest to find more campfire-capable recipes for my repertoire, I flipped through one of my favorite medieval cookery books, The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi. I don’t even have the words right now to tell you how much I love this book. In fact, it probably deserves its own post,
Thoughts: I had my doubts about this one, but once again, our culinary ancestors were onto something. There are countless recipes for syllabubs throughout historical cookbooks, at least back into the 16th century. They also seem to come in two basic versions- in the first, a cow was milked directly into a jug of cider
Thoughts: During the colonial period in America, many early cookbooks made references to “indian” dishes, or “indian meal”. This simply meant dishes that included cornmeal, which was a primary staple food for many native tribes, and a somewhat novel ingredient to the European colonists. Indian Pudding was essentially the New England counterpart to traditional English
Thoughts: Now, don’t get too excited by the term “cake”, because these are much more like flapjacks, johnnycakes, or pancakes that a proper fluffy birthday cake sort of a treat. They’re based on a recipe from 1786 for “Indian Slapjack”, from the book, “American Cookery”, one of the earliest American recipe collections. I tried a
So some of you might remember that I posted this photo on FB with some obscure hints about holiday cooking: Well, here is the big reveal: They’re breadsticks in the shape of wheat sheafs! How fun is this? That photo above was just the practice run, and I decided that I wanted to get something
“Arrived at Dr. Tufts where I found a fine Wild Goose on the Spit and Cranberries in the Skillet for Dinner” – John Adams, April 8, 1767 For the first of my colonial Thanksgiving recipes, I’m starting with the basics. Even I, a former picky eater, would have to agree that no Thanksgiving is complete without cranberry
“Thanksgiving we eat and drink of ye best.” Dated Nov. 24, 1748 from William Haywood’s journal, Charlestown, NH Without gushing too much, I have a lot to be thankful for this year, but on a daily basis, I’m surprised and delighted by waking up in my new old house. The oldest part of it
“The boy is fond of sweets… Cakes and pies, jams and jellies, honey on the comb. Perhaps a pinch of sweetsleep in his milk, have you tried that? Just a pinch, to calm him and stop his wretched shaking.” -A Feast for Crows People of the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn is upon us, and that
So, when I asked on Facebook and Twitter what you all suggested for real-world foods that would be at home in Castle Black, a number of you suggested Pemmican. I’d never heard of it, but when I looked it up, I knew you’d nailed it. Pemmican is a Native American Indian food consisting of dried
When I survived a week of pulling an average of 3 squash a day from the garden, I knew that more drastic measures were called for. A nipping in the bud, as it were. Literally. These squash blossoms are stuffed with soft goat cheese, lightly battered, then fried to a crisp golden brown. The