Historic Cookery

The focus of this past week’s final Fireside Feasts workshop
at Wyckoff was the one-pot dish. Take a meat or fish, put it
in a kettle with a vegetable or two, add spices, stew the whole
for several hours, and you’ll have a meal for today, tomorrow,
and maybe even the next day. There’d be enough to feed just
a [...]

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Well, this summer’s Fireside Feasts historic
cooking workshop series out at The Wyckoff
Farmhouse Museum here in Brooklyn has
come to an end. This past week’s final session,
which focused on one-pot dishes, was another
rounding success. Everyone dined on delicious
food and enjoyed some mighty fine company.
My thanks to all who attended, assisted, and
participated. HUZZAH to you all!
I’ll be [...]

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At this week’s session of Fireside Feasts out at Wyckoff,
we’ll be preparing a dish I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
We’re gonna jug a hare!
Or, rather, jug a rabbit, as that is the available animal.
(and yes, there’s a difference*)
So, I contacted a vendor at my local Farmer’s Market, we
discussed what I needed, [...]

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I’ve been diligently working on plans for the fourth and final
Fireside Feasts workshop out at Wyckoff this coming Thursday.
One of my tasks has been hunting down and purchasing all
the various ingredients we’ll need. Most I’ve found at local
supermarkets, but a couple were a little more illusive, namely
saffron and dates. They required a trek down to [...]

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It’s just arrived, all the way from jolly ol’ England. My latest
acquistion, purchased on e-bay. What is it? A simple, yet
remarkable, little nutmeg grater. HUZZAH!
So, of course, I just HAD to try it out:

According to the seller, it’s an antique, dating “probably” from the 1820s.

It’s made from a coquilla nut, which is Spanish for [...]

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Summer has finally arrived here in NYC. June was cool and rainy.
July was cool, but not so rainy. Then August arrived, complete
with its typical heat and humidity. We even had an “official” heat
wave when temps hit 90 and higher on four straight days. yikes.
Hence, I’ve tried to think cooling thoughts in an effort to [...]

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I was asked recently about the spice cardamom. Now I’ve not
used it often, if at all. I haven’t really noticed it in too many
historic receipts, either, although I’m sure there are a few.
Cardamom, native to India and China, belongs to the ginger
family. It was imported into Europe sometime during the 11th
or 12th [...]

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Check out this video of a goofy conversation about food blogging,
featuring Anthony Bourdain and Steven Shaw (incidentally, both
of whom have such blogs), sitting street-side here in NYC. Yes,
I’m one of the “poor misguided souls” who took “sage” Steven’s
class, but also, the woman he describes as “an expert on historical
hearth cookery” is ME. Hey, a [...]

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I’ve been nose-deep in historic cookbooks the past few days,
searching for just the right receipts to use for the next session
of my Fireside Feasts program out at Wyckoff. The focus
will be one pot dishes, so I’ve been looking at potted this and
that, hodge-podges, pottages, hutspots, even plain ol’ “soopes.”
Then, as is typical when I embark [...]

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Several people have asked me for specific directions on how
to make Mrs. Lydia Child’s Raspberry Shrub from The American
Frugal Housewife (1833). Since summer is waning fast and berries
are becoming scarce, I reckon I better do it now!
First, here again is Mrs. Child’s receipt:
Raspberry Shrub
Raspberry shrub mixed with water is a pure,
delicious drink for summer; and [...]

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