Researching Food History

Salmagundy is a layered salad with colorful greens, meat, anchovies, and eggs among the variety of ingredients, with a vinegar based dressin...

There were several methods, in addition to roasting on a plank or encasing in clay , to prepare fish by a fire. The Lewis and Clarke exped...

The term Sparrow Grass , was occasionally used in the 18th and 19th centuries to refer to Asparagus. "Sparrow-Grass. A vulgar pronuncia...

When was the term "summer kitchen" first used? The separated kitchen building we refer to as the summer kitchen has been built for...

A picture of Slater's Patent Steam Kitchen, 1812. Click to enlarge. 

This engaging and thoroughly researched (150 pages of endnotes) work delves into all aspects of Madeira from the growing of the grapes on th...

One way of preserving foods, but also for “present use” [Hale] was by potting. Many cookery books from the 18th (almost twenty) into the 20t...

George Cruikshank illustrated the custom of tossing the pancake on Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday, in the 1837 edition of Comic Almanac. A desc...

The large snowfalls (45") in the mid Atlantic area has caused a sudden popularity of Snow Cream recipes on the internet, and local news...

For centuries cooks have used the gridiron as one way to prepare meat, fish, poultry, and vegetables. Hearth cooks often misuse the gridiron...

The candy thermometer did not become available to most housekeepers until the early 1900s when appeared in advertisements and recipes. The p...

Whether silver or part of a china set, the tureen is a glorious piece for the table. During the Federal period it was generally placed at th...

Two pictures, from 1869 and 1794, show celebrating Twelfth Night and the cakes. 

Sometimes called New York Cookies since several New York authors, including Washington Irving, included the imprinted cookies in their ficti...

The 'Christmas' Plum Pudding during the Victorian Era became distinguished from the centuries old plum puddings. It contained rich i...

"Christmas in the South - Egg Nog Party" from Harper's Weekly , Dec. 31, 1870.  Links to recipes and literary references... ...

A huge variety of baskets have been used over the centuries to take produce to market, as seen in this Market Scene from 1550 by Aertsen. Cl...

The James River and centuries old methods divide the Virginia hams prepared in Colonial Williamsburg from those by the Edwards’ Ham Company ...

Eliza Leslie included a recipe for Cranberry Sauce in 1840 using brown sugar.