So the Old Colony Cake didn’t turn out too bad! While the ingredients were identical to traditional cake recipes, the ratios were a bit different. The result was very thick batter and a dense cake, but the lemon added a much needed bright flavor. Not sure which way to add the lemon, I added both [...]
With winter upon us, and snow (finally!) on the ground, I thought it would be a good time to fire up the old hearth, so to speak, and return to some historic recipes. This time around, I decided to explore our manuscript cookbook collection. These handwritten recipes include as much variety as one would find [...]
David Whitesell, curator of books, reports on a recent acquisition: Die Wahre Brandtewein-Brennerey, oder Brandtewein- Gin- und Cordialmacher-Kunst: wie auch die ächte Färbe-Kunst, Blau, Roth, Gelb und Grün zu färben, auf Baumwalle, Leinen, und Wolle … [Reading, PA?: Gottlob Jungmann and Carl Andreas Bruckmann?], 1802. Very rare third of four recorded editions of what might [...]
I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving feasts! Hopefully you didn’t overload too much on pumpkins, squash and sweet potatoes. If you can still stomach thinking about food, read on about the results of my historical pie adventure. I chose to follow the pumpkin pie recipe (from The White House Cookbook, 1877), but to mix [...]
While Thanksgiving is still more than a month away, it’s never too early to begin planning. And since this year I will be hosting my first Thanksgiving, and cooking my very first bird, I thought I’d begin to look for some advice from the past. We all have our passed down recipes from family members [...]
So I must confess. I didn’t make the chocolate ice cream. I had my eggs and cream and, well, not the best French chocolate, but chocolate nevertheless, ready to go, when I read an even more intriguing recipe that I just couldn’t pass up. Fellow AAS staff member Paul Erickson sent along the following recipe [...]
Schoolmarm, 1870
