Friday, July 31, 2009

Luis Melendez - Still Life: fruits, vegetables & cooking utensils

The superb still life paintings of Luis Melendez [1715-1780] depict tomatoes, melons, cauliflower, fish, bread, pomegranates, artichokes, fruits with cooking utensils, and the 18th century cork wine cooler.  Many are online...

Monday, July 27, 2009

Library of Congress

As the largest library in the world with 530 miles of bookshelves, LC’s collection of books, manuscripts, prints… anything and everything, is phenomenal. Cooking and related materials include eleven editions of Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery and two of her extremely rare Complete Confectioner, La Varenne, children’s cookbooks, handwritten receipt manuscripts, herbals, Diderot, other early encyclopedias, and much more.  The conveyor system, 1/4 mile of pneumatic tubes, history and collections are detailed...

Monday, July 20, 2009

Landis Valley Cookbook

The Landis Valley Cookbook: Pennsylvania German Foods and Traditions is back in print! The first edition in 1999 was terrific, and this is even better. The 2d edition contains over fifteen additional recipes, more of the pictures are in color (88), and the spiral inside the hard binding allows the book to lay flat when in use. ...

Monday, July 6, 2009

Raffald's Chocolate Puffs

To begin this blog, here is my modern interpretation of one of my favorite receipts [recipe]. It is easy to make, and is always among the samples for my chocolate talks. Raffald's 1786 recipe is very clear and easy to make.