Cambridge Butter - Sold by the yard

Cambridge "yard butter" was described in 1727 as long rolls put in long baskets, hung in the cool well and cut when at market. It's quality was described over a hundred years later as: "The Cambridgeshire butter is produced from cows that feed one part of the year on chalky uplands, and the other on rich meadows or fens, which alternation is thought to explain its excellence."

Roasted Butter. on a spit. before a fire!

Years ago I was intrigued by roasting butter on a spit. An Irish woman in Ellis's 1750 book made it many times over Christmas "to accommodate a Friend with a Slice or two, as we do Cakes or minced Pies here." Hannah Glasse had it roast over oysters, then when done "lay it on your oysters." After some recipes is a descripton of wooden spits, Ivan Day's attempt to roast butter (which convinced me not to try it), and upcoming zoom talks: Fun foods (CHoW), Spam, Expat Cookbooks, Ceramic ice pails and ice cream by Ivan Day, Dinner with Dumas (Three Musketeers), Why bees change their minds, and more.

Apple butter and Snitzing parties

Since many apples were required to make apple butter by the Germans in Pennsylvania, the neighbors would gather to help with the work. Snitz (dried apple slices) was added to cider and cooked down into apple butter or eaten as delicious Schnitz un knepp. Click images to enlarge.

Baltimore's Patapsco Baking Powder

William Pitt Clotworthy (1829Ireland-1902) of Baltimore created and patented Patapsco Baking Powder. The following excerpt from Howard's The Monumental City [Baltimore] 1873, is about its contents and unnamed earlier competitors – Bird (1843), Horsford (Rumford 1859) and Royal (1866).

Virtual talks: Anchovies; OPA rationing in WWII USA; Henry Orr, a Black Caterer in Federal DC; Appalachia (NC)...

Eliza Leslie's two Jelly Cakes

The first "Jelly Cake" using cake in an English language cookbook was in the third edition, of Philadelphian Eliza Leslie’s Seventy-five Receipts, 1830, in the Appendix. Almost thirty years later, Miss Leslie (1787-1858) updated her Jelly Cake recipe.

Bread for soldiers in 1821 manual

General Regulations for the Army included instructions for quartermasters to inspect the bakery and officers were to read articles on "Baking" in..... encyclopaedias. Printed in Phila.

Thanks to all those in the military and veterans.

Fried Beets 1723

This early beet recipe with a lovely wine and cloves flavor is a delicious and different way to use beets this fall.  An earlier post details various ways to prepare beets from 1717 to 1916. HERE

World War I trenches - dining & baking

Memorial Day - never forget.

Soldiers had a rough time in the trenches, and civilians at home were asked to...
"FEED A FIGHTER Eat only what you need – Waste nothing – That he and his family may have enough" 1918.

Click to enlarge images.

To clean hanging paper (wallpaper) with a loaf of bread

If your loaf of bread becomes stale, you can clean “wall-paper that has become darkened by smoke." Following are a sampling of instructions from 1831, 1885 and 1903.

WWI and WWII bakers and cookery schools

A World War I recruiting poster. Enlist as a group and serve with your "pals" in a Company of Bakers. For experienced or trainees up to 45 years old.

A World War II school in the desert in Egypt used ovens out of petrol tins and oil drums. Both images from Library of Congress.

Silk bolting for flour mills 1790s

By 1794 a "manufactory for making bolting silk" was started in Wilmington, Delaware by Robert Dawson. He applied for a patent (got it), and petitioned the US House of Rep to not pay duty on imported raw silk (denied).

Army bake oven with a barrel

Memorial Day - To remember all who sacrificed their lives to preserve our democracy.

The Manual for Army Cooks 1896 image of an above ground dirt oven and an iron dutch oven.

Maria Massey Barringer - Dixie Cookery, 1867

Maria Amanda Massey Barringer (1827-1901) was born in Philadelphia to Quaker parents who moved to North Carolina. Her husband fought for the South, President Jefferson Davis stayed at their Concord NC home on April 18, 1865 while evading Gen. Grant's troops. President Grant granted her husband an international position in 1874, so they spent 20 years in Egypt.

Amelia Simmons

The first cookbook written by an American was American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, An American Orphan in 1796. But who was she? Perhaps Pamela Cooley has found her! After extensive research, she presents a convincing case for Amelia Simonds/Simons (1767-1796) of Windham, Connecticut.

Medieval taped talks

There have been many Medieval talks, one this month on the archaelogy of a Jewish German oven.
Image from book: Ein Köstlich new Kochbuch by Anna Wecker, 1598.

Dining in America late 1820s - from the British point of view

Mrs. Frances Trollope (1779-1863), the mother of Anthony Trollope, travelled and lived in the US from 1827-1831. She wrote her observations - "Almost everyone drinks water," Pic-nics were rare, "dessert (invariably pronounced desart)" was common.

Food Diversity Day taped talks and more

Terrific talk on Swiss cows move to alpine meadows (CH of Chicago). 11 panels of speakers promoting diversity of cheese, bread, seeds, oceans, lentils and more, developed by Dan Saladino (Eating to Extinction).

Temperance Drinks ... 1850

It's Dry January, so here are over 25 recipes in Temperance Drinks section in Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book. NY: 1850. Image (click to enlarge) of coffee urn cart with free bread, from a temperance group. Harper's Weekly. NY: 1880.

Flour mills taped talks - Tidal, Floating, Water, Wind

Tidal mills cleverly run by tides, mills built on boats (famed Alexis Soyer used naval ships as a mill and bakery), windmills, mills in many states and countries are all described in tapes of talks or written excerts, below. Removing mill dams for river restoration.

Marking King George II dishes with the cook's name

This story from 1827, in The Table Book, was copied for years.